Minnesota Wild: Franchise 5 Best Trades of All-Time

#5 Minnesota Wild Receive Dany Heatley

In July 2011, the Minnesota Wild and San Jose Sharks were fresh off of a blockbuster trade at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft (in St.Paul, MN) and unlikely trading partners to make a follow-up trade only 10 days later.

Despite this, then Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher and Sharks GM Doug Wilson kept the phone lines open and found another deal to be made after the Free Agency period had opened.

This trade involved the Minnesota Wild receiving the aging veteran forward, Dany Heatley, in return for another aging veteran forward in Martin Havlat in a player for player deal, with no other incentives added for either side.

Dany Heatley was coming off of career lows in Goals and Points, failing to reach 30 goals over an entire season for the first time since his rookie season. Meanwhile, Havlat had just completed a resurgent season, playing in more than 75 games and scoring more than 60 points for only the 3rd time in his career.

Chuck Fletcher took a gamble on this trade, seemingly believing that Havlat’s resurgence would be a career high point and maximizing his value while he had the chance. Dany Heatley was a gamble in return, however, as he had been on the backside of a fantastic career and aging poorly.

I consider this trade to be a win for Minnesota, entirely based on each player’s production after the trade.

Martin Havlat would struggle with injury for the remainder of his career, never playing more than 48 games in a season, while Heatley provided 3 solid years with Minnesota before fading off into retirement.

In 3 seasons with the Wild, Heatley would provide 47 goals and 102 points through 194 games played, adding 6 points in 11 games during the 2014 playoffs. Havlat would play the same 3 seasons with the San Jose Sharks, providing only 67 points in only 127 games played and 3 points in 8 playoff games before leaving San Jose.

I would say, in terms of overall value, the Minnesota Wild won this one. Heatley wasn’t huge for the team during his time in the State of Hockey, but he did provide a lot of value. Credit to Chuck Fletcher for making a smart move to send Havlat out of town at the peak of his production.

#4 – Minnesota Wild acquires Manny Fernandez

It was in this pre-expansion draft trading window in July 2000 that inaugural general manager Doug Risebrough made the biggest trade of his time as team GM.

Risebrough knew that starting goalies would be hard to come by in expansion, so he gave some of the future in order to have a starting goalie he thought he could trust.

The Minnesota Wild acquired goalie Emmanuel “Manny” Fernandez from the Dallas Stars along with defenseman Brad Lukowich in exchange for a 3rd round draft pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft and a 4th round draft pick in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.

Brad Lukowich never suited up in a game for the Minnesota Wild, as he was traded back to Dallas only 2 weeks later

Dallas actually dealt the 4th Round pick in 2002 back to the Wild in a trade to reacquire Lukowich, so in a way neither Lukowich nor that draft pick (which ultimately became Aaron Rome drafted by the Los Angeles Kings after further trading) ultimately play into this trade.

The 3rd round pick sent to Dallas ended up being Joel Lundqvist, twin brother of New York Rangers legendary goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Joel played parts of 3 seasons with the Stars, recording 26 points over 134 games before signing to return to his home in Sweden, never returning to the NHL.

Manny Fernandez, meanwhile, made his mark on every Minnesota Wild fan over 6 seasons as a tandem starter alongside Jamie McLennan, Dwayne Roloson, and eventually Niklas Backstrom. He played in 260 regular season games, with 113 wins, a 2.47 GAA, and a .914 Sv% along with 12 shutouts.

Backstrom also left a lasting impression on the State of Hockey in the 2003 NHL Playoffs, when he came into Game 5 of the 1st round as a replacement for Dwayne Roloson and proceeded to bring the team back from a 3-1 series deficit to upset the Colorado Avalanche in 7 games and win the first playoff series in franchise history.

Fernandez also co-won the William M Jennings Trophy with Niklas Backstrom in 2006-07 for fewest goals allowed by a team in the season. This is a fantastic list of accomplishments for only 6 seasons with a team. There really is no comparison here, Fernandez was clearly a huge win in this trade.

#3 – Kyle Brodziak, and a Draft Pick

At the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, the Edmonton Oilers were looking to acquire some earlier round draft picks while clearing some forward space. They found a willing trade partner in the Minnesota Wild, but it didn’t work out in the Oilers best interests.

Minnesota sent a 4th Round and 5th Round Draft Pick in exchange for the rights to restricted free agent forward Kyle Brodziak and a 6th Round Draft pick. On paper, a 4th and 5th round pick for a 6th rounder and a former 7th round pick is a bad deal, in actuality it turned into a steal.

Edmonton spent the fourth round pick on defenseman Kyle Bigos, a prospect who went to 4 years in the NCAA league after the draft and never got to play a single game at the NHL level.

The fifth round pick was then used on a goaltender, Olivier Roy, a highly ranked goaltending prospect who also never got a shot at the NHL level and most recently has been playing overseas in the German pro hockey league.

Kyle Brodziak would play in 6 full seasons with the Minnesota Wild, as a reliable faceoff center and consistent contributor on the scoresheet. In 446 games played Brodziak contributed 72 goals and 169 points, along with a 49% Faceoff percentage on over 6000 faceoffs taken.

Brodziak by himself would have been a steal, considering what Edmonton got in return, but he wasn’t the only piece.

Kyle Brodziak wasn’t the only piece Minnesota acquired in this trade. The 6th round draft pick from Edmonton became goaltender Darcy Kuemper.

Kuemper spent 5 seasons as a member of the Wild, he was dubbed the starter of the future, but never panned out that way. Darcy Kuemper provided 41 wins in 102 Games played as a backup with the Minnesota Wild.

His most lasting impact had to be what he did for the team in the 2013-14 playoffs. Kuemper came in during the second game of the playoffs to replace Ilya Bryzgalov, who was a late season trade acquisition, and stole the first round series for the Wild.

Unfortunately, Kuemper got injured in Game 7 of the first round, and was unable to return to the ice for the remainder of the playoffs. He started 2014-15 as the unquestioned starter, but after a terrible run of starts to begin the season was replaced before the season finished.

This one is unquestionable, Edmonton got nothing usable out of this trade and gave Minnesota 2 big pieces that were used as key parts of the team for many seasons. A huge win, but still not the top of our list.

#2 – Nino Niederreiter is stolen from New York

In June 2013, the Minnesota Wild pulled off one of his most lucrative trades to date by scoring a former first round, 3rd overall, draft pick. After one failed NHL season, the Islanders were already willing to ship off a top draft pick, and GM Chuck Fletcher jumped all over it.

In exchange for Nino Niederreiter, the Wild were forced to part with a fan favorite gritty energy player in forward Cal Clutterbuck and also included a 2013 3rd round draft pick to fulfill New York’s asking price.

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In the years since, this trade has been nearly as lopsided as it can get. Nino has provided 205 points through 5 seasons (so far), along with 637 hits and has developed into a true top line winger and a star for the Wild for years to come.

Clutterbuck has been a steady piece of the Islanders roster for the same 5 years but not nearly in the same role or capacity. Clutterbuck has recorded 96 points and over 1300 hits for the New York Islanders, filling the same energy line role he had in Minnesota.

The kicker here is that in the same amount of time spent with Minnesota, Clutterbuck had both more goals and more hits than he has had in Long Island. Nino clearly has more long term upside and potential to go with the top-line star scoring ability.

The 3rd Round draft pick New York acquired works as a negative on them in this case. It was used on goaltending prospect Eamon McAdam, who spent 3 years in the NCAA before reporting to the AHL. Eamon was recently traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, though, so he will not be suiting up for the Islanders anytime soon.

Honorable Mention

Before we get to the finish line, there was one trade that was on the cusp that I feel deserves recognition as a shrewd move by a Minnesota Wild general manager who knew his job was in jeopardy and needed to make a splash.

In the 2006 NHL Offseason, GM Doug Risebrough was looking to find a way to make his team competitive again after a season missed due to player lockout and then the first season back finished relatively mediocre.

Risebrough went out and found a top line player to play opposite superstar Marian Gaborik, to try to ignite the scoring on a defense-first team led by a defense-first coach. Not only did he succeed at this, but he did it (in hindsight) at a bargain price.

The trade should not have been as beneficial to the Wild as it was.

Risebrough traded away a 2006 1st round draft pick along with Patrick O’Sullivan, a former 1st round draft pick, for Pavol Demitra, an aging veteran winger on the back half of his career.

Demitra did not have extreme success for himself on this team, but his intangible was his ability to get the most out of Gaborik, his teammate, linemate, and friend. In 2007-08 when these 2 played the entire season together, Gaborik put up his best statistical season of his entire Minnesota Wild career.

Meanwhile, Patrick O’Sullivan bounced between a few teams as a mediocre bottom 6 center and winger, even coming back to Minnesota for a brief second stint. He never panned out as a 1st round draft pick, and Risebrough looks all the wiser for dealing him young.

Trevor Lewis was the draft pick of Los Angeles in the 2006 1st Round. While Lewis has been a consistent member of the Kings, including a member of the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup winning teams, his overall stats have been below average. He has earned his place by being a responsible 2 way player, but it not 1st round caliber by any means.

This one missed the cut largely due to Lewis’s contributions and successes in Los Angeles couple with the short amount of time Demitra spent with Minnesota. I felt it deserved mention, in large part, as a show of respect to the late Pavol Demitra.

#1 – Devan Dubnyk Is Bought Cheap

The 2014-15 NHL Season was not kind to the Minnesota Wild. Ilya Bryzgalov and Josh Harding both left in the offseason, Niklas Backstrom was no longer the player he had been for so long, and Darcy Kuemper was set to be the true starter and failed miserably.

There was no goaltending depth to be found in the Wild farm system. So when the team went on a mid-season losing streak and neither Kuemper nor Backstrom could pull them out of it, Chuck Fletcher was forced to look outside the team for help.

He found that help, in a huge way, and paid dirt cheap to get it. The Arizona Coyotes were a bottom feeding team, with no chances of making the playoffs, carrying a resurgent Devan Dubnyk in a backup goaltending role to their star Mike Smith.

Fletcher somehow managed to snag Dubnyk out of the desert for nothing more than a 2015 3rd round draft pick. Dubnyk came in and stole the show, posting an unfathomable 1.78 GAA in 39 games played, and carrying the Wild into the playoffs entirely on his back.

Dubnyk has played no less than 60 games, recording 32+ wins, posting franchise highs in GAA and Sv%,  and recording 5 Shutouts each and every season with the Minnesota Wild.

Dubnyk has been a 2 Time NHL All-Star (2016 & 2017), a Vezina Trophy finalist in 2014-15, the 2014-15 Bill Masterton award winner for perseverance and dedication to hockey, and the first 40 win season by a goaltender in Minnesota Wild history.

Prior to coming to Minnesota, Dubnyk had never been to the playoffs, he had never even posted a winning season in 5 years as a tandem starter for the Edmonton Oilers. Since arriving in the State of Hockey, Dubnyk has never missed the playoffs and has been the most reliable member of this roster for the better part of 4 seasons now.

As for the Arizona Coyotes, that 3rd round draft pick was used on forward prospect Brendan Warren who is about to enter his 4th year at the University of Michigan. Unfortunately for Arizona, if Warren does ever make the jump to the NHL it will not be for the Coyotes, as they shipped his rights off to Philadelphia..

To make matters worse, Mike Smith reverted back to mediocrity following Dubnyk’s departure and the Coyotes have since used 7 different goaltenders in the last 3 seasons. I bet they wish they had Dubnyk now.

That’s it for the list of best trades in Minnesota Wild history. Perhaps this one gets first billing because of a recency bias, or perhaps it was actually the biggest steal in Wild history. You be the judge. Leave me your comments if there’s a trade you think should have been on this list, and keep an eye out next month for my follow-up of the worst trades in Wild history.