Minnesota Wild: Is It Fair To Keep Trading Charlie Coyle?

When in comes to suggesting a trade for the Minnesota Wild, the name often seen is Charlie Coyle.

Seldom does a hypothetical trade occur with him not leaving the Minnesota Wild. I’m guilty of it myself even!

The question is; is this really fair on Coyle or is there more beneath the surface that he can offer the team.

He seems to be a player that has very clear peaks and troughs in his game, as we detailed a season ago when he was in a bit of a funk then.

Charlie is a player that has been shuffled from wing, back to center, back to the wing and that can’t be great for his game. The Minnesota Wild coaching staff need to commit to one position for him to occupy if they truly want to get the best results out of the player.

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The biggest problem really is that the San Jose Sharks first-round pick from the 2010 NHL Draft carries a cap hit that suggests that the Wild should be getting more bang for their buck.

With a cap hit of $3.2 million if he can return to 2016-17 form and pull out a 50+ point campaign, he suddenly becomes a bit of a bargain. If, however, he is back to 35-40 point years, he doesn’t look as valuable.

Which brings us to whether he should keep being offered as trade bait.

I say that we should. The Minnesota Wild committed to some truly bad contracts, that with hindsight that may not have locked themselves in to. What they have in Charlie Coyle is a relatively young player (as they go), that has a decent amount of upside.

He has a level of positional versatility, can be relied upon in both zones and best of all isn’t going to break the bank in terms of salary.

Hence his value in every hypothetical trade suggested that involves the Minnesota Wild.

I’d like to see him stick around with the team; he’s not done anything to deserve being traded. Hockey, though is a business and it’s likely he’s an asset that can offer a lot of value to the Wild.

As such, it won’t surprise me if he’s left town before the season is done. Such is the life of an elite-level hockey player.