Minnesota Wild: Will the Wild Make Another Deadline Deal?

The Minnesota Wild made a huge splash yesterday with the acquisition of Martin Hanzal and Ryan White from the Arizona Coyotes. GM Chuck Fletcher rewarded a high performing team with even more depth that could propel them on a long playoff run, but are the Wild done with moves before the deadline?

Minnesota Wild

In a Q & A with Michael Russo of the Star Tribune yesterday, Fletcher expressed his need to answer the team’s commitment to excellent play with a move to support his commitment to them and their potential to make a huge run. “I think the message that they sent to me is they believe we’re a team that can compete and contend and I think this was the appropriate response from management and ownership. Craig has been tremendously supportive. You never know. You never know what the future holds. But I know our team believes that we have a chance, and hopefully this message is appropriate for how well they played this year.”

No Wild team in franchise history has achieved this point total at this point in the season ever. Being tops in the Western Conference and looking at a resurgent Blackhawks team that is chasing them down, the Wild needed to get better than they are now to ensure they keep their advantage. The fact they made the Hanzal/White trade without losing a single piece of the team now is pretty telling as to what they think their chances are now to possibly win it all.

Feb 13, 2017; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Arizona Coyotes center Martin Hanzal (11) during the warmup period against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports /

The question seems to be with about two days left till the trade deadline, will the Wild make another deal considering their “All In” stance with regard to this season?

Fletcher himself explains it in a very complicated way to Russo later in the Q & A saying “We have to make sure we have depth coming down the stretch here in case of injuries. I’m happy with where we’re at. You’re never perfect. You’re never satisfied. Every situation you want to try to take care of. That’s the nature of the system now. I’m sure every team has holes they’d like to look at. I would assume we’re done.”

Dissecting that comment I’d say that it looks like Fletcher is done actively searching for trade partners. When he says “I’m sure every team has holes they’d like to look at” that makes me think that he’s looking for teams to approach him with deals. Right now there are a lot of teams still looking.

Sep 26, 2016; State College, PA, USA; Buffalo Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons (28) and Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Carter (18) battle for the puck during the third period during a preseason hockey game at Pegula Ice Arena. The Wild defeated the Sabres 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports /

Do the Wild need any more pieces? That’s the harder question to answer, but when you look at it simply the answer is no. They now have 12 NHL quality forwards to round out their lineup, with a spare in Ryan Carter down in Iowa getting his legs back under him. Defensively they have 7 players who are NHL seasoned and able to play night-in, and night-out. That says to me the team is good on depth unless an injury happens in the next 2 games before the deadline.

Additionally, Fletcher has stated many times that he does not want to trade any of the prospects the team has in the system right now. The rumor is that there have had offers for some of the Wild prospects, but with such a strong group on the cusp of being NHL-ready Fletcher is not looking to mortgage them. This group is why the Wild could afford the bevy of draft picks used to pull-off the Hanzal/White trade and still be enthusiastic about their future.

Jan 21, 2017; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Mikael Granlund (64) celebrates with forward Erik Haula (56) following the game against the Anaheim Ducks at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild defeated the Ducks 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /

However the elephant in the room with all of this is the offseason priorities that seem to be developing now. The need to resign players who will need pay raises like Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund, and Erik Haula still looms large considering the Hanzal deal did not clear any cap room. If a team approaches the Wild with a great deal to clear some cap room now, who’s to say they don’t do it?

The only issue is that the Wild would have to pull off a very hard trade to make this worth their while and in line with their current priorities. A trade that sees higher priced talent swapped for equivalent talent at lower price is hard to do for obvious reasons. In the salary cap era lower priced talent often becomes more desirable as teams face flat cap realties and smaller negotiating space.

But bottom line is the Wild can stay pat now and address clearing space in the summer if need be. One large cap clearer seems to be the expansion draft that would likely see a player selected that would clear $2 to $4 million in space, and that alone could pay for much of the re-signings. Also the traditional trade market in the offseason could clear some cap space as well when teams have a more open pocketbook.