Ryan O'Reilly 25% retention won't limit Wild's options ahead of NHL trade deadline

Former Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly is on the Wild's payroll but not in their lineup.

The top-flight center and longtime Wild nemesis was the main attraction in a three-team trade on Friday night that the Wild helped broker by eating up some of O'Reilly's contract during his move from St. Louis to Toronto.

But just because the Wild played facilitator in this deal doesn't mean they can't make their own splash: they still very much have the means to alter their roster before the March 3 NHL trade deadline.

"If we continue to play better, I wouldn't mind adding something," General Manager Bill Guerin said.

Although the Wild have been operating under a budget crunch amid the rising cost of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts, they do have flexibility right now.

The Wild entered the season approximately $3 million under the $82.5 million salary cap, a cushion that wouldn't have covered the contract Kevin Fiala secured from Los Angeles after the Wild traded him but a buffer that didn't leave the team strapped in the meantime.

But the Wild's actual spending power is far greater than their cap space.

That's because cap hits are prorated over the length of the season.

So, in the O'Reilly trade, the Wild acquired O'Reilly from the Blues in exchange for prospect Josh Pillar. They retained 25% of O'Reilly's contract and then sent him to the Maple Leafs and received a 2025 fourth-round draft pick; Toronto also landed Pillar and Noel Acciari from St. Louis, while the Blues gained Mikhail Abramov and Adam Gaudette from the Maple Leafs along with first, second and third-round picks.

O'Reilly is in the final season of a seven-year, $52.5 million contract, but the Wild are on the hook for only 25% of what's left on his deal at this point of the season. That amounts to $74,000 in salary and a $557,000 cap hit, the price tag for them ultimately snagging a fourth-round pick.

Even while using up roughly half a million of their salary cap space, the Wild could still take on almost a $10 million salary-cap hit, according to capfriendly.com, because of what the prorated cost would be.

By the time the trade deadline rolls around in March and there's even fewer days left in the season, that number is projected to be around $13 million.

That's quite a bit of wiggle room, but the Wild have other factors to consider.

With the Parise and Suter buyouts escalating to nearly $15 million next summer and most of the roster already signed, the Wild bringing in players on contracts that extend beyond this season would complicate their future finances.

Impending free agents make much more sense for the team. But the asking price for rentals could be steep, and Guerin said the Wild's first-round picks aren't in play.

They could also continue to leverage their cap space like they did in this deal with St. Louis and Toronto; teams can retain salary on up to three players.

Either way, the Wild have options.

Their last trade didn't shake up their lineup, but the next one could — a possibility that continues to loom over the Wild as they navigate a key homestand that resumes Sunday afternoon vs. Nashville after outlasting Dallas 2-1 in a shootout right before the Friday evening transaction was announced.

"We won't talk at all about it as a group," coach Dean Evason said. "Clearly, they all got their social media and their phones. I'm sure they're tracking different situations if that's what they do. But … they control what they can control [and] that's how they play the game on the ice.

"Obviously, if we have success, then there won't be moves or you as an individual won't be moved if you're doing what you're supposed to do playing the game."