Bargain Hunting With The Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild will be tight against the salary cap next season. Don’t expect GM Chuck Fletcher to make a big splash in free agency this year, as their roughly $10-million in cap space will greatly diminish once they sign RFAs Erik Haula, Mikael Granlund, and Christian Folin, and potentially bring back UFA Devan Dubnyk. Also a pending UFA, Jordan Leopold may also find himself back in Minnesota next season after his performance this past season and how he took on, as the Star Tribune’s Mike Russo mentioned, a mentor role to Matt Dumba. A relationship that Derek Felska pointed out was similar to Keith Carney’s with Brent Burns back in 2006-07 and 2007-08.

That doesn’t mean Fletcher can’t tinker with the roster and make some smaller additions. Frankly, it’d be shocking if he didn’t. With potential trades looming this off-season, the Wild’s cap space may expand a little.