The Wild team that fumbled a long-held playoff spot last month at the beginning of a swoon that spanned both sides of the All-Star break is the same team (minus a few injuries and call-ups) that has backpedaled into contention for first place in the Central Division.
Will Wild make NHL trade deadline deals? GM Bill Guerin says team in unique spot
The Wild have salary cap wiggle space to take on an expiring contract, but it seems unlikely they'll deal a high draft pick or other valuable assets.
February 28, 2023 at 12:29PM
This could also be the team that handles the rest of the playoff race, but the Wild do have the means to make a splash before the NHL trade deadline hits at 2 p.m. Friday.
"We always want to make the team better," General Manager Bill Guerin said, "but it depends on asking prices and cost and things like that. We don't want to make the team worse in any way right now or for the future. We just want to make sure that we're properly managing our assets."
Those priorities coupled with the team's current financial picture put the Wild in a unique position.
They're on the cusp of having nearly $15 million of their budget eaten up by the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts for two consecutive seasons, but they have flexibility right now. The Wild are under the $82.5 million salary cap and since cap hits on contracts are prorated, their wiggle room equates to approximately $11 million in salary cap space at the trade deadline, according to capfriendly.com.
That makes someone on an expiring deal a perfect fit for the Wild, but the costs in the forward market have been steep.
Check out these prices: St. Louis traded Ryan O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko and received a first-round draft pick in return in each of those deals. Vancouver also landed a first-rounder for moving Bo Horvat. More recently, Nashville secured five picks — including a first — and a player from Tampa Bay for Tanner Jeannot, a third-year NHLer who's coming off his only 20-goal season.
But picks and prospects are valuable currency for the Wild.
Not only have the Wild cultivated a prized pipeline, but homegrown talent on team-friendly contracts can help them weather the cap crunch from the buyouts.
"Where we are at this point in time, I don't think it would be smart for us to be giving up first-round draft picks and things like that," Guerin said.
As for their own players, Guerin made it clear the team was "not going to be just giving people away."
If the Wild are offered a "boatload," they'll think about trading defenseman Matt Dumba, a regular in the rumor mill who'll become a free agent when his five-year, $30 million contract expires this summer.
"I actually think Matt's playing his best hockey of the year right now," Guerin said. "I would probably bet that he's here through the end of the year, but I can't make that promise."
Should the Wild stay status quo, they'd be keeping together a lineup that rebounded from dropping three in a row twice in eight games to winning four straight during a 6-1-2 turnaround all while dealing with injuries to Marcus Foligno and Jonas Brodin.
"Coming out of the break, I didn't know what was going to happen," Guerin said. "We just weren't playing well. You're sliding down the standings, and things were looking pretty bleak. But I give the team and the coaches a lot of credit, kind of making adjustments and dialing back in and getting our game back to where it needs to be.
"Now, we find ourselves in a pretty good spot and that's just in the thick of things."
A showing like that could certainly be rewarded.
That's the approach Guerin took last year when the team added goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, defenseman Jake Middleton and forward Nic Deslauriers to a Wild roster that was rolling.
Just like he did two years ago when he was idle at the deadline, Guerin also can make a statement by not subtracting.
"If we don't do anything, I'm comfortable with that as well," Guerin said. "This team has proven to have character. We've got good goaltending. We've got a good defensive core. We've gone through stretches up front where we've struggled to score goals, but I still think our ability to score is there. We don't give much. We're pretty stingy.
"The group the way it is is fine with me, too."
The star forward came back from a brief injury absence, and two goals from Frederick Gaudreau helped Minnesota to another road victory.
