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Isaac Vasquez, a cancer survivor, drops a ceremonial puck with Minnesota Wild left wing Marcus Foligno and Chicago Blackhawks left wing Nick Foligno on a Hockey Fights Cancer night (David Banks-Imagn Images)

Wild Bring In Exciting Players at 2026 Trade Deadline

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Mar 7, 2026 12:05 PM ET

The 2026 NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and the Minnesota Wild were fairly active, just not in the way everyone expected. On deadline day, Friday, Mar. 6, they brought in two players and traded away two. They brought in forward Bobby Brink from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenseman David Jiříček. Then they brought in Marcus Foligno’s brother, Nick, from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for future considerations.

They also traded away Vinnie Hinostroza to the Florida Panthers in exchange for future considerations. None of these were the big move everyone had started to expect, but they are exciting. In this article, we’ll take a quick look at each of the players they’ve added and the one they let go, starting with Hinostroza.

Hinostroza Made an Impact

Although he wasn’t scoring goals constantly or playing a ton of minutes, Vinnie Hinostroza did make an impact in different ways. He wasn’t afraid to throw his body around and make the big hit despite being on the smaller side, and when he was able to use it, he had a lot of speed as well. He fit in on different lines, and he was somewhat of a firecracker on the ice.

His bursts of speed could catch other teams off guard, and he could use that to get in behind the defense. Again, he was a solid third or fourth line player, but his play away from the puck was just as important as his play with it. He played in 48 games for the Wild this season and had three goals plus seven assists for 10 points.

It wasn’t a total surprise that the Wild chose to move away from Hinostroza, especially after adding Brink and Michael McCarron earlier in the week. The Wild will miss his speed and energy, but hopefully, he’ll be able to bring some of that to the Panthers.

Foligno Brothers Together

When fans think of the infamous “Bash Brothers” from the Mighty Ducks, the Foligno brothers may be one of the pairs that come to mind. Although Nick doesn’t get into fisticuffs nearly as much as his brother, they’ve both done their fair share of fighting. Now the Wild get to have both brothers together on the same team.

Nick is four years older than Marcus, so it’s likely his career is starting to wind down as he’s 38 years old, and he’s on final year of his contract, so the Wild can choose to keep him or let him go when the season’s over. He’s a strong center with a 49.4 faceoff percentage, which, of course, could be better but also way worse, and can help the Wild with their struggles.

He also brings with him more experience, and although the Wild do have a number of strong leaders, more never hurts. It’ll be interesting to see what role the Wild put him in and if he’ll see the ice on the same line as his brother this season. Hopefully, it happens at least once just to see them play together instead of against each other.

Brink Brings the Excitement

Bobby Brink is the name that appeared to cause the most excitement on this trade day for the Wild. He’s young, just 24 years old, and he has a lot of potential, which is what everyone is excited about. He brings a lot of speed and skill that earned him a spot on the second line with Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek, with Marcus Johansson out in their game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday, Mar. 6.

He fit in quite well on that line and even had some scoring chances for his first game in a Wild jersey, and played just over 13 minutes. He already has 26 points in 55 games played for the Flyers, with 13 of those being goals and 13 being assists. Six of those points were also on the power play, so he could possibly bring some of that as well.

The Wild did give up Jiříček for Brink, but it was probably the best option given Jiříček really didn’t have a spot in the lineup. As Guerin said after the trade in a post by Michael Russo, they wanted to give him a chance to play elsewhere. It’ll be interesting to see how Brink continues to fit into the lineup since his first game went pretty well.

The Wild bringing in another Minnesota native in Brink is pretty exciting because those fans love their Minnesota kids. He’s already fit into the roster quite well and hopefully continues to. While newcomer Nick Foligno is expected to join the roster for their game on Sunday, Mar. 8, in Colorado, and hopefully his transition is as seamless as Brink’s appeared to be.