In a rare moment for Minnesota sports, the Timberwolves and Wild felt like they crushed the first round of their respective drafts last week — while fans and pundits tended to agree.
Timberwolves, Wild are minor players in free agency for major reasons
Both the Timberwolves and Wild had to be thrilled with the way the first round of their respective drafts played out last week. Now they both enter free agency with very little money to spend for very different reasons.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
July 1, 2024 at 4:45PM
The Wolves earned strong draft grades for their aggressive move to add Rob Dillingham via a trade for the No. 8 pick as well as their patience in nabbing Terrence Shannon Jr. at No. 27. Both players could play key roles for Minnesota next season, and both could still be important parts of the organization in seven years when the 2031 first round pick the Wolves traded to San Antonio for Dillingham comes due.
The Wild took advantage of a volatile top of the NHL draft and then traded up one spot to get Denver defenseman Zeev Buium at No. 12 overall. His impact figures to be further down the road, but adding a top-10 talent at a position of need is always a good thing.
As Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Monday’s Daily Delivery podcast, fans of one or both franchises are often left to lament draft decisions at this time of year. Seldom do we see consensus glee on both sides of the river.
For considerably different reasons, however, the draft quite possibly will be the most excitement either franchise produces this offseason. Though each could produce a noteworthy trade, nothing is certain. And both largely will be spectators in free agency because they simply don’t have money to spend.
The Wolves are maxed out in a good way. They have paid a roster of capable stars and veterans a premium, and they want to see if that group can replicate or exceed this past year’s trip to the Western Conference finals. Adding two rotation-worthy draft picks was both an injection of young talent and a workaround for how teams must operate under the new collective bargaining agreement.
The Wild are maxed out (or at least close to it) in a far less desirable way (which is being kind). They either underachieved slightly last season in missing the playoffs or they properly achieved given their talent. Either way, their roster this year will largely be unchanged as they wait out the final year of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise counting almost $15 million against their salary cap.
In the NBA, $15 million might get you Kyle Anderson. In the NHL, it gets you two or three high-caliber players.
Both teams will be limited to adding complementary pieces at the most in free agency. The problem is one of them needs a whole lot more.
Here are four more things to know today:
*Even after going 0-for-4 in Sunday’s finale, Byron Buxton had quite a road trip for the Twins. He batted .407 with four homers, helping to carry the offense during a 6-3 trip.
*Reusse and I also talked about the U.S gymnastics trials, which predictably — in a good way — featured sparkling performances from Simone Biles and St. Paul’s Suni Lee.
*It looked like the Lynx might be headed for their second bad loss in a row before they clamped down defensively to defeat Chicago.
*Star Tribune Twins beat writer Bobby Nightengale is expected to join me on Tuesday’s podcast ahead of a home series against Detroit.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
