The Minnesota Wild are heading into free agency with a problem that’s impossible to ignore: their wing depth is starting to disappear fast.
Wednesday morning brings the start of the new league year, and with it, a potentially messy reset for Minnesota. Marcus Johansson was the first notable departure when he chose to return to Sweden earlier this month.
Vladimir Tarasenko may already be out of the picture amid the possibility of tampering. And now, according to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, Mats Zuccarello is officially set to hit the market when free agency opens.
That leaves the Wild staring at the kind of wing crisis that can shape an entire offseason.
Minnesota’s bigger headline remains the pursuit of Dylan Larkin, but everything around that chase looks unsettled. The roster the Wild had hoped to refine after their playoff run is suddenly looking thinner by the hour. They did get past the first round for the first time since 2015, but their depth issues showed up quickly, and general manager Bill Guerin made it clear the offseason would be important.
He also said no player was untouchable, and the results have been dramatic. Johansson, Tarasenko and Zuccarello combined for 150 points last season, so losing all three would leave a huge hole. The Wild did retain Bobby Brink on a one-year, $2.75 million deal, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo, but his four points barely make a dent in that missing production.
The Larkin piece may be the one that determines how aggressive Minnesota can get. After Brink’s deal, the Wild have $6.6 million in cap space, according to Puckpedia, which is not enough to fit Larkin’s $8.7 million cap hit. A deal with only the Red Wings would be a tough fit, but a third team could change the equation by helping clear more space and potentially leaving Minnesota room to address the wing situation too.
Even with that path, the task won’t be simple. Last year, the Wild caught a break by landing Johansson on a veteran minimum deal and bringing in Tarasenko for cash considerations. Replicating those kinds of bargains would go a long way toward filling out the roster now.
There are a few names that could come into the conversation. Anders Lee told the New York Islanders he will test the market on Tuesday.
Patrick Kane, long a Wild nemesis, could be an option as a 35-plus contract with incentives. And Zuccarello himself could still be in the mix, even if Minnesota has signaled a desire to move away from the east-west style the 39-year-old brings.
However it plays out, the Wild have another glaring need on their hands. With free agency about to open, Minnesota has work to do if it wants to put the wing group back together and stay in the hunt next season.
In Other News...
Wild Fans Have A New Reason To Watch July 1 Closely
July 1 always carries a little extra weight around the NHL, but this year it gives Wild fans a fresh reason to keep an eye on the calendar. The leagues list of players who can begin negotiating contract extensions with their current clubs includes some of the biggest names in the sport, from Sidney Crosby and Nikita Kucherov to Macklin Celebrini, Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar. For Minnesota, the intrigue is less about the names themselves and more about how far the salary bar could keep climbing in a market already shaped by superstar money.
Hughes is expected to command one of the leagues biggest deals whenever his turn comes, while Makars next contract is being discussed in the same breath as the upper reaches of NHL compensation. Theres even been speculation about where his value might land relative to the current standard set by Kirill Kaprizov, with some observers wondering whether the next wave of extension talks could reset the market again. The exact timing and final number are still out there, but for a Wild team trying to keep pace at the top end, the ripple effects could matter well beyond one players paperwork. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Risk Repeating The Same Problem With Familiar Blue Line Fix
After another playoff exit exposed the same soft spots on the back end, the Wild are again staring at a familiar summer job: finding enough reliable help on defense without overhauling the whole group. A veteran stopgap like Zach Bogosian is part of that conversation, and his profile makes sense for a team that values size, experience and a player who can steady things in a pinch while the front office sorts out the bigger picture.
The complication is that Minnesotas blue line is not just about adding depth, but about protecting itself from more of the same strain next spring. Jared Spurgeon is approaching 37 and carries injury concerns, while the Wild also have to weigh whether to shop elsewhere for help or use assets to solve the problem a different way, even if that means considering a move involving Jesper Wallstedt. It leaves Bill Guerin with a defense decision that looks straightforward on paper and anything but once the options are laid out. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Face A Pivotal Zuccarello Decision They Can't Ignore
Mats Zuccarellos future is one of the first big summer decisions hanging over Minnesota, and it is not hard to see why. Even with age creeping up, he kept producing last season, piling up 54 points in 59 games and then adding nine more in eight playoff games, the sort of steady offensive touch the Wild have come to rely on in tight stretches.
Bill Guerin has already made it clear he would like to bring Zuccarello back, but the sides still have to find the right fit on term and money. For a player who has remained such a dependable part of Minnesotas attack, the question is less about whether he still matters and more about how the Wild structure the next deal before the summer market forces the issue. [Read more 🡒]