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Minnesota Wild in Talks With Arizona Coyotes on Possible Swap

By Danny Lambert

Jan 7, 2016; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Arizona Coyotes center Martin Hanzal (11) celebrates his goal against the Calgary Flames during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Arizona Coyotes won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 7, 2016; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Arizona Coyotes center Martin Hanzal (11) celebrates his goal against the Calgary Flames during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Arizona Coyotes won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports /
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This past weekend most thought that a highly anticipated trade involving the Minnesota Wild would be finally completed.  Alas GM Chuck Fletcher did not make a move, but it is certain that he spoke to many teams to include the Arizona Coyotes about possible trades.

The Minnesota Wild had a quiet weekend.  There were so many expectations for a major move to be made, but after the last name was called in the First Niagara Center the Wild crew packed up and headed for the Twin Cities with only their four draft picks to show for what was an active week.  There’s no doubt that Chuck Fletcher spoke with a bunch of other GMs about possible deals, but sadly there was no deal to be made.

Overall though it can be said that the entire league was relatively quiet despite serious trade talks before the event.  Still what did come out of the draft was plenty of conjecture on what exactly deals were talked about and what were not.  It’s was reported that the Wild talked about the possible deals that we already know about for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Derek Stepan.  In addition to those two names another speculated trade deal was reported as the Wild looked to the Arizona Coyotes to see the availability of veteran Martin Hanzal and prospect Christian Dvorak.

This trade is a bit of a departure from most of the other trade rumors that we’ve seen before as the Wild look to be targeting a lower scoring power-forward in Hanzal.  RNH and Stephan are both 20 + goal scorers, whereas Hanzal has never scored above 15 in his nine NHL seasons.  There’s no denying that he’s a great two-way player and a strong center, and his $3.1 million cap hit is ideal for the Wild who will be looking to squeeze all available cap space out of the $14.16 million they’ll have available.

Hanzal does offer a great center option which is what the Wild need to open up the wing for Granlund and Coyle to play the wing.  Playing in Arizona is tough because of the talent level, and a change to a more talented Wild team might just be the spark that Hanzal needs to get over the 20 goal mark.  And what’s more with the likely departure of most of the Wild’s fourth line and penalty killers, could Hanzal be an acquisition to fill that void rather than the top 6-9 forward slots?

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Then there’s the other part of these trade talks.   Dvorak is a great goal scorer.  He’s tallied 93 goals his last two seasons with London in the OHL to include 52 last season.  He’s shown a ton of maturity and will certainly be AHL ready next season, and depending on how he does in training camp he could be NHL ready.  Some attribute his scoring success to his London linemates Max Domi and Mitch Marner.  But when he was called up to the Coyotes AHL affiliate in Portland at the end of the 2014-15 season Dvorak notched two points in two games.  That certainly proves he’s AHL ready, but also says he doesn’t need Domi or Marner to notch points at a level above junior.

Feb 18, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Coyotes center Max Domi (16) celebrates with center Martin Hanzal (11) and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (23) after scoring a goal in the second period against the Dallas Stars at Gila River Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 18, 2016; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Coyotes center Max Domi (16) celebrates with center Martin Hanzal (11) and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (23) after scoring a goal in the second period against the Dallas Stars at Gila River Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports /

The Wild will be looking to offer them the normal defensive players in exchange for Hanzal, Dvorak, or both.  The difference between most teams the Wild could be swapping players with is that the Coyotes are actually in the rare position of being under the cap floor.  They need to spend money rather than save it, so when looking at a trade they’ll be looking to take on salary.

That means that Dumba may not be as in play because he’s not going to get a big pay day even as an RFA and will not be able to eat a big chunk of the $6.4 million that Arizona is under the floor.  Brodin and Scandella both are making about $4 million, so they would offer a big hit into their floor issues especially if they are swapped for Dvorak who is only making $839,166.

Still you have to wonder if the Coyotes really are still looking for defense?  They just made a huge move to bolster their blueline by signing free-agent Alex Goligoski, and they also still have excellent defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Zbynek Michalek.  So could something else be in play like for a forward, or a package deal with a forward and defenseman?  It really could be a bunch of different senarios.

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So this weekend it looks like one of the phone calls Chuck Fletcher will make will be to the young Arizona GM John Chayka.  The Wild can certainly improve with the addition of either one of these players, but it seems that the more intriguing question in a possible trade with the Coyotes, is who they will want to acquire from the Wild.  Also their strange cap situation makes for more interesting considerations.  As always when it comes to a trade the Wild will need to be careful to make sure if a deal is done, it’s done at the right price.

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