Wild Acquire Red Wings' Former Stanley Cup Champion

Tarasenko, 33, signed a two-year, $9.5 million deal with the Red Wings as a free agent last offseason. Unfortunately, the Russian winger never quite fit in with Detroit, scoring just 11 goals and 33 points in 80 games while posting a minus-13 rating.

In the past, though, Tarasenko was one of the league's top scoring wingers. The 13-year veteran has 304 goals and 662 points in 831 games between the St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Florida Panthers and the Red Wings. He's also a two-time All-Star.

Tarasenko has notably won two Stanley Cups throughout his career, first with the Blues in 2019 and then with the Panthers in 2024.

The Wild have a good deal of cap space after being freed from the massive buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, with those cap hits going from nearly $15 million combined to less than $2 million combined. As such, they can afford to take on Tarasenko's $4.75 million cap hit to add some extra depth on the wings, especially considering they don't have many major free agents to sign.

After being eliminated in the first round yet again, the Wild should be pretty active throughout the offseason.