Minnesota Wild: Why Trading Charlie Coyle Makes Sense

The new Minnesota Wild General Manager, Paul Fenton is no stranger to sizeable trades. His promise to tweak the roster sure sounds like he’d be willing to trade anyone of value.

During his time as Assistant GM with the Nashville Predators, he saw Shea Weber and Seth Jones both leave in straight one-for-one hockey deals. Whether he seeks the same for the Minnesota Wild is an interesting question.

"I’ll look at small trades. I’ll look at big trades. Whatever is going to improve this organization going forward to give us a chance to win the Stanley Cup, we’re going to look (at). – Paul Fenton (1500 ESPN Twin Cities)"

Which brings us to Charlie Coyle.

He’s a versatile player, able to slot in anywhere within the forward ranks. Unfortunately, he is trending downwards after an average, albeit injury-hit season.

Last year, he only netted 11 goals after sitting closer to 20 the previous two years. Likewise, he tailed off massively from his 38 assists in the 2016-17 season. His final points total of 37 left a lot to be desired.

The Wild are a team that hasn’t had the greatest scoring for quite a long time.

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Of course, it’s always best to deal a player from a position of strength, so it may take the Minnesota Wild top brass choosing to showcase him early on, but he, to me, is a prime candidate for a good old-fashioned one-for-one hockey trade.

Coyle is the sort of player that requires a GM to take a bit of a gamble. However, he is also the sort of player that could easily turn his form around in a new environment.

Throw in a favorable cap hit and not just as a one year rental and he screams out ‘trade me’. The bigger question is which team might take the bait and whether they have anyone of value the Minnesota Wild could bring back.

If the Montreal Canadiens were willing to retain a little salary, I could see Max Pacioretty being a perfectly fair trade.

The Montreal faithful would no doubt not be pleased at trading away their captain, but it makes some sense.

Pacioretty would bring something different to the Minnesota Wild, with his wrist shot allowing him to offer great value as a sniper. That and he is a great option for them on an already top 10 in the league penalty kill.

In Coyle, Montreal would receive a player with a little bit of term; though whether he’d be comfortable playing in a somewhat hostile environment would be a big question mark.

Would he be willing to bear some degree of ire from the fans at being the trade piece for their captain?

Maybe I’m dreaming, but then again we are talking about the Montreal Canadiens. This team did trade P.K. Subban straight up for Shea Weber. Time for the Minnesota Wild GM to get on the phone methinks.