Wild are already winners of the Jacob Middleton trade

The Minnesota Wild’s offseason wasn’t as busy as some fans expected, but one of the moves they did make was trading Jacob Middleton to the Calgary Flames. The Wild sent Middleton, a 2029 second-round pick, 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fourth-round pick to Calgary in the deal, but the return of forward Blake Coleman and defenseman Olli Maatta made Minnesota look like winners during Thursday’s season-opening 3-1 win over the Nashville Predators.

Maatta recorded an assist on the Wild’s first goal of the season, feeding Nick Foligno to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 9:35 of the first period. Coleman also made an impact, scoring the Wild’s first power play goal of the year and providing a physical presence on the Wild’s second line.

Together, the imported duo were key figures in the first game of the year and it may have already validated the decision to trade Middleton in an effort to improve this year’s team.

The Wild were right for moving on from Jacob Middleton

Middleton has been a key figure for the Wild since he was acquired in a trade with the San Jose Sharks during the 2021-22 season. In his five years in Minnesota, Middleton played in 322 games, scoring 21 goals and recording 82 points with a plus-20 rating, but in addition to being a mainstay on the blue line, he was also one of the Wild’s biggest characters.

The 31-year-old was a significant voice in the Wild’s locker room and became known for his outgoing personality and quotes to the media. Before “tarps off” became a national trend, Middleton was doing mid-game interviews shirtless and his play on the ice helped him earn a four-year, $17.4 million contract extension signed in the summer of 2024.

As it turned out, Middleton wouldn’t last in Minnesota long enough for that contract to kick in. Part of it may have been Minnesota’s sudden cap crunch coming into the season, adding Kirill Kaprizov’s $17 million AAV in September and trading for Quinn Hughes a few months later. But Middleton’s play didn’t warrant his new salary, scoring two goals with 16 points and a plus-2 rating in 75 regular season games.

The bottom fell out for Middleton during last year’s second-round series with the Colorado Avalanche when he was on the ice for 13 goals. Forced to play on the second line in the wake of Jonas Brodin’s injury, Middleton looked older and slower and with the way the Wild cratered after defeating the Dallas Stars in the first round, Middleton was used to add experience, speed and aggressiveness to this year’s team.

The Jake Middleton trade already looks like a million bucks

The Wild had to attach several draft picks to put the deal through and Calgary retained 50 percent of Coleman’s salary as part of the trade. But the Wild seemed to find a suitable replacement in Maatta on Thursday night.

Bumped up to the second line after Brock Faber fractured his skull in the Wild’s preseason finale, Maatta was a calming presence next to the similarly stoic Jonas Brodin. While he got on the score sheet with an assist, he also was a key figure in Minnesota’s penalty kill, which shut out Nashville on its four power play attempts.

If it were strictly a Middleton for Maatta trade, the Wild may have upgraded regardless. But getting Coleman in the deal was an added sweetener that paid off on Thursday night.

Coleman’s goal was one way to make an impact but he also added a gritty element the Wild didn’t have with Marcus Johansson. Another key figure on the penalty kill, Coleman, like Maatta, has the experience of winning a Stanley Cup and is already establishing tremendous chemistry on the second line along with Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy.

It’s only one game and the Wild will hope that both Coleman and Maatta continue to contribute. But after Middleton posted a minus-2 rating in Calgary’s 6-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night, the Wild already appeared to come out on top and acquired two players that could answer some of their biggest questions this season.