The Minnesota Wild are keeping two more minor-league pieces in the fold.
On Thursday, the team signed defenseman David Spacek and forward Caeden Bankier to one-year, two-way contracts. Each deal carries an NHL cap hit of $850,000 for the 2026-27 season. Per PuckPedia, Spacek’s AHL salary is set at $110,000, while Bankier will make $100,000 in the minors.
Both players were coming off entry-level contracts. Spacek’s NHL AAV had been $875,000, and Bankier’s was $925,000.
Spacek is the one who has already gotten a taste of the NHL. After spending his first two pro seasons in the minors, the Columbus, Ohio native made his Wild debut in mid-January of this past season. He didn’t record a point in that appearance, finished at minus-1 and averaged 10:45 of ice time.
His bigger body of work came with the Iowa Wild, where the 23-year-old put together career highs across the board in 59 games: seven goals, 29 assists and 36 points. Spacek also played for Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, picking up one assist in five games as the team reached the quarterfinals before falling to Canada in overtime.
In 192 career AHL games, Spacek has 14 goals and 65 assists for 79 points.
Bankier has carved out a role as a secondary scoring option for Iowa over his first three pro seasons. The White Rock, B.C. native has averaged well over 20 points a year for a club that has often sat near the bottom of the AHL’s Central Division. Last season was his best yet, as he posted 10 goals and 20 points in 66 games, along with a minus-13 rating that still marked the best plus/minus of his time in the organization.
Across 185 games with Iowa, the 23-year-old has 35 goals and 34 assists for 69 points.
Before turning pro, Bankier was a productive junior scorer and earned a spot on Canada’s roster for the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship, where he won a gold medal.
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