Minnesota Wild: Franchise 5 Worst Trades of All-Time

The Minnesota Wild are not exempt from their share of mistakes. As with all teams, there have been a number of extremely poor trades made by management.

Last month, I counted down the best trades in the short history of the Minnesota Wild. If you haven’t already read it, I recommend taking a look.

This month, we’ll look at the other end of the spectrum as I examine and sort the 5 worst trades in franchise history. We’re talking the bottom of the barrel, where the Wild got completely hosed for a solid player while receiving little or no value in return.

These trades are valued based on the production of the player(s) being traded away in comparison to the players that the Wild received in return. Games played, goals, points, +/-, awards, and deep playoff runs are all considered.

Picks and/or players that were traded further are not considered. These trades are taken at face value without consideration of further trades, as that can become an endless wormhole and is not a reliable means of valuating a trade.

This list is personal opinion, based on my personal perspective from extensive research and evaluation. Feel free to comment with your list of worst trades in the comments.

#5 Minnesota Wild Trade Anton Khudobin

It took 4 seasons of sitting in the minors, waiting for his day to take his rightful spot in the NHL, before Minnesota Wild draft pick Anton Khudobin had enough waiting. The Wild obliged his demands and sent him to the Boston Bruins.

Khudobin had a 1.39 GAA and a .955 Sv% in 6 career NHL games played with the Wild. By all rights, when Josh Harding was lost for the year in 2010 Training Camp, that should have been the year for Khudobin to have a true shot at being the Wild’s backup to starter Niklas Backstrom.

Instead, Khudobin was snubbed again when the Wild opted to sign Free Agent Jose Theodore to a 1 year deal. In January 2011, Backstrom and Theodore were both hurt and Khudobin performed fantastic in 4 games, with 2 starts.

Despite that, he was sent back to Houston again when Theodore and Backstrom came back, and it appeared he had enough of the Wild coaches ignoring his stellar performances. At the 2011 Trade Deadline, Khudobin was traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for prospects Jeff Penner and the rights to Mikko Lehtonen.

Penner was an undrafted free agent signing, who had played 3 years in Providence for Boston’s AHL affilliate including 2 NHL games for the Bruins prior to the trade. Penner would play 1 year in Houston, never reaching Minnesota, and then fade away and retire quietly from pro hockey.

Lehtonen had already left Providence to play in Sweden prior to this trade, having played in 1 NHL game each season with Boston. The Wild only acquired the rights to speak with him about returning to North America.

His entry level contract expired that year, and he has never come back from Europe. He has bounced around thorugh multiple European leagues, and last season played in both the Finnish SM-Liiga and the Austrian Hockey League.

This trade is a hard loss for the Minnesota Wild, due in a large part to the prospects received in return. Khudobin has bounced around the NHL, but is firmly recognized as an NHL calibre backup goalie now after signing a 2-yr $5 Million contract with the Dallas Stars this offseason.

Minnesota could have got much more on the trade market, but instead settled for trading an asset away for what amounted to nothing.

#4 Dwayne Roloson Traded to Edmonton

In the 2005-06 NHL Season, following the 04-05 NHL Lockout, goaltender Dwayne Roloson was struggling mightily in the net for the Minnesota Wild. One season prior, he had been an NHL All Star and the clear #1 goalie in the Wild goalie tandem.

At the 2006 NHL Trade Deadline, the Edmonton Oilers traded their 1st Round Draft Pick and a future conditional pick to Minnesota for Roloson.

The 1st Round Pick was flipped out of town at the 2006 Draft prior to it’s selection, ultimately becoming forward Trevor Lewis drafted by the Los Angeles Kings. At face value, the Oilers 1st Rounder therefore never played in a Wild jersey and was of no value as far as these rankings go.

The conditional pick became a 3rd Round Pick in the 2007 Entry Draft, but was also traded away prior to the 2006 Draft. It eventually became Spencer Machacek drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers, but again no value to the Minnesota Wild.

Roloson, on the other hand, found his game again and manned the Edmonton crease all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals that season. He would then play another 3 years for the Oilers as the unquestioned starter, keeping the team competitive while masking their overall team deficiencies.

Roloson would continue to be a starter all the way up until his retirement at 42, leading the Tampa Bay Lightning within 1 game (and 1 goal) of the Stanley Cup finals at the ripe age of 41.

It may be a stretch of the imagination, but Dwayne Roloson led 2 different teams on deep playoff runs after leaving Minnesota. Had he stayed, could the Wild have hoisted the Stanley Cup by now? There’s no way to know for sure, but I know the Wild didn’t get nearly enough value out of the pieces Edmonton gave them.

#3 The Tragedy of Nick Leddy

At the 2009 NHL Draft, the Minnesota Wild used the 16th Overall pick in the 1st round to select defenseman Nick Leddy. Leddy was coming off a fantastic year at Eden Prairie High School, as a Minnesota born and raised prospect, and was named Minnesota’s “Mr.Hockey” for 2008-09.

In the 2009-10 season, Leddy was playing as a freshman at the University of Minnesota, while the Minnesota Wild were struggling to be competitive in a tight Western Conference. In an attempt to boost the roster immediately the Wild were willing to gamble the future, and traded away their top prospect.

Leddy had broken his jaw at the start of the year, and missed time due to the injury. The Wild were apparently disappointed in the progress of the first year colleagiate player, according to Mike Russo of the Star-Tribune, and made the call to send him on his way.

“Trading Leddy was made easier by the influx of defensemen in the system — Marco Scandella, Tyler Cuma, being the main two, and the long-term future of Brent Burns. The Wild, I am also told, was very concerned about Leddy’s development at the U.” Mike Russo, Minnesapolis Star Tribune

In February 2010, less than 8 months since being selected as a first round draft pick, Nick Leddy was traded with Kim Johnsson to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Cam Barker.

Cam Barker was coming off a 40-point season for the Blackhawks in 08-09 and was originally a 3rd overall draft choice, so his prospect value was still high. But he was having a terrible follow-up season with only 14 points through 51 games.

That should have been the Wild’s first clue that they were overpaying, but instead the scouting team thought Barker could still develop into a skilled forward.

Barker never panned out, playing only 1 season as a member of the Minnesota Wild. He was plagued by injuries throughout the season, a hip injury in preseason, a groin injury in october, and a back injury in february/march. He finished with only 5 points in 52 games played, and was bought out of his contract in the summer of 2011.

Johnsson only played out the remainder of that season for Chicago, 8 regular season games and no playoffs before retiring.

Leddy has had a tremendous start to his NHL career as a contributing member of 4 playoff runs for the Blackhawks, including a Stanley Cup ring in 2012-13. He never missed a single game due to injury over 4 years in Chicago, and has established himself as a Top 2 defenseman in the NHL.

He is currently on the New York Islanders top pairing, still has never missed more than 3 games in any one season, and is developing into a consistent 40 point player for a below-average Isles team.

This was a clear miss by GM Fletcher and the Wild, and he has even admitted to that in an interview in 2011. To make matters worse, Tyler Cuma had even less NHL success than Barker, and was a possible option for the trade. This just as easily could have been a completely irrelevant trade had Fletcher given up Cuma instead of Leddy.

#2 Brent Burns is Sent to San Jose

The 2011 NHL Draft was held at the Minnesota Wild’s home in the friendly confines of Xcel Energy Center, and speculation leading up to the draft was running rampant. Everyone assumed GM Chuck Fletcher could try to make a big splash, but no one truly thought he would do what he did.

Brent Burns was coming off a career best season, with career highs in goals(17) and points (46), but he only had one year left on his contract and the Wild knew he would be looking for a sizeable raise.

Those two factors led to a massive draft day trade, that the State of Hockey loved on first impression. Seven years later, Wild fans look back on that day as a disappointing mistake on the part of the Minnesota Wild management and scouting team.

Brent Burns would be traded to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Devin Setoguchi, forward prospect Charlie Coyle, and the Sharks 1st Round Draft Pick (29 Overall).

Minnesota Wild

Setoguchi was coming off 3 consecutive 20-goal seasons, and was expected to be on the upward swing of his NHL career. he had signed a brand new 3 year contract the day before the trade.

Instead, Seto regressed greatly over the 2 seasons he spent in Minnesota. He had 19 goals in his first year, 11 in the lockout shortened 12-13 season, and was traded to Winnipeg after 2 underwhelming seasons with Minnesota. He has since found himself out of the NHL altogether.

Charlie Coyle is the key here, and still could potentially turn this trade to a win. As it stands right now though, Coyle is a 3rd line player who has once surpassed 50 points in a season. After 6 NHL seasons, expectations of Coyle have greatly dropped and he has become the common subject of many NHL trade rumors in the past year.

The 1st Round Pick was used to draft Zack Phillips. Phillips would play with Charlie Coyle on the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds top line at the end of 2011-12, and lead their team into the 2012 Memorial Cup. Phillips had 80 points in 60 games that year, Coyle had 38 points in 23 games, and expectations were high that he and Coyle could translate that success together to the NHL.

After 3 seasons in the AHL, the Minnesota Wild would trade Phillips to the Boston Bruins. He would never see an NHL game, and is now playing overseas in the Austrian Professional Hockey League.

Meanwhile, Brent Burns has developed into a consistent NHL All-star, a Norris Trophy winner, and a 2-time Nominee for the Hart trophy as the League MVP. He has 4 consecutive 60+ point seasons, and in 2016-17 he led all NHL Defensemen with 29 Goals and 76 points en route to his Norris Trophy win.

This one looked like a good move at the time, but in hindsight the Wild should have taken a more patient approach with Burns. The money that was used to pay Zach Parise and Ryan Suter their deals the following year (the same year Burns contract expired), could have easily been enough to keep Burns around for his entire career. Instead, they sold a star on the rise for prospects and a young player on the decline.

(Dis)Honorable Mention

With the Las Vegas NHL Expansion Draft looming on the horizon, and paranoia over who could possibly be lost to expansion, the Wild made a trade to try to safeguard some assets while getting something in return rather than losing a top player for nothing.

With that, Marco Scandella and Jason Pominville found themselves traded to the Buffalo Sabres along with a 4th Round Entry Draft Pick in exchange for Tyler Ennis, Marcus Foligno, and a 3rd Round Entry Draft Pick.

The most recent big trade by the Minnesota Wild is on the cusp of reaching this list, but it is still too recent to determine the long term reaching effects.

Scandella was a Top 4 D in Minnesota at the time, but would have to be left unprotected as he would be #4 and the Wild could only protect 3. Marco played all 82 games on Buffalo’s top defensive pairing, the majority of time spent with Top D Rasmus Ristolainen, finishing with 22 points on the year.

Pominville also played all 82 games for Buffalo, but recorded career lows with only 34 points for the season. He has become a bottom 6 forward, not getting top line minutes anymore, but appears to have enough left in the tank to be a weapon for the Sabres. Both players are still on the Sabres roster for the 2018-19 season.

In Minnesota, Tyler Ennis played only 73 games and recorded 22 points. He was frequently a healthy scratch for coach Boudreau, and when he was on the ice it was only as a 4th liner. His contract was bought out at the beginning of the summer, and he has since joined the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Marcus Foligno played 71 games for the Wild, recording 13 points, but his value was never highly projected for his scoring ability. Foligno is a strong back checker, and a power forward who has established a place in the lineup as a checking line player. He spent last year in an “energy” role with Joel Eriksson Ek on the 4th line.

Buffalo selected Linus Cranholm with the 4th round pick in this year’s draft, a stay-at-home defenseman playing in the Swedish Elite League. Minnesota used the 3rd round pick to select Jack McBain, a big center set to start his first year in the NCAA with Boston College

The draft picks, and the fact most players are still with their respective teams, make this one hard to judge. The buyout of Tyler Ennis after 1 season, as he was the expected prize of the trade, put this in the loss category so far, but McBain could prove to be a steal in the 3rd round.