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Minnesota Wild: Would J.T. Brown garner any return in a trade?

By Luke Ryan

ST. PAUL, MN - NOVEMBER 17: J.T. Brown #23 of the Minnesota Wild and Casey Nelson #8 of the Buffalo Sabres eye a bouncing puck during a game at Xcel Energy Center on November 17, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Sabres defeated the Wild 3-2.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. PAUL, MN - NOVEMBER 17: J.T. Brown #23 of the Minnesota Wild and Casey Nelson #8 of the Buffalo Sabres eye a bouncing puck during a game at Xcel Energy Center on November 17, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Sabres defeated the Wild 3-2.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Minnesota Wild, at this moment, look on track to a seventh consecutive play-off appearance. With a new General Manager, maybe this year will be one without major rentals coming in. However, players like J.T. Brown could easily be moved out if need be.

Looking ahead on this season, it was easy to see where J.T. Brow fit in the Minnesota Wild line-up. He has lived up to expectations, with his place as a role player on the fourth line.

However this is a player, fourth line or not, that showed he has at least a little offensive acumen when given a small chance with the Tampa Bay Lightning, managing a 22-point campaign.

Floated by Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription required) as a potential trade chip recently, J.T. Brown offers exactly the sort of grit and skill needed these days on the fourth line of a playoff-bound team.

Whilst, I wouldn’t expect any huge returns, you only have to look at a guy like former Wild winger, Daniel Winnik to see that these sorts of guys can often garner a couple of draft picks and maybe a depth player too.

Even adding a couple of extra later round draft picks to the cupboard wouldn’t be a bad thing for the Minnesota Wild.

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Thing is, there’s enough depth with the Iowa Wild and even sitting in the Minnesota Wild press box that you could not miss J.T. Brown. The likes of Sam Anas, Kyle Rau or Luke Kunin could easily step in and do the job.

Even Matt Hendricks could step into the fold if you wanted a bit more of a veteran presence.

The time is now though is you’re going to start pumping players’ tires. If the Minnesota Wild could give J.T. Brown just that little more ice time and hope he takes advantage with a little more point production, you never know, maybe he’s worth a third round pick nearer the trade deadline.

Point is that Minnesota Wild General Manager, Paul Fenton needs to start thinking about these things now. A player like Brown on a very cap-friendly contract, regardless of the fact that he’s not headed to free agency, could look like a decent rental to a lot of teams.

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I think the Wild have the luxury of being able to surrender such a player, gain a pick and still prove competitive come play-off time.

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