Minnesota Wild Fans Want a New Top Six Center. The Issue is…

Restricted Free Agents

Here’s where there may be some interesting opportunities. Some good RFAs available who need contracts for this upcoming season.

Now, I’m going to nip the Offer Sheet notion at the bud. I can’t see an offer sheet happening. We thought last season was going to be a real chance to see an offer sheet occur. So many talented RFAs needed contracts and we barely saw fireworks. Montreal signed Aho to an unimpressive offer sheet, which the Hurricanes merely laughed at, matched, and retained Aho’s services.

This season, the talent in the pool is much shallower, with the highlights being Mat Barzal (very good player, the same caliber as many of last season’s talented RFAs) and Max Domi (solid player, hasn’t been on playoff-caliber teams). There’s also the issue of missing revenue from this pause due to COVID-19 and teams were already scared of ruffling feathers with offer sheets. I can’t see it happening while a pandemic is occurring.

Teams could trade for the negotiating rights to players contracts. The price likely will be steep.

Mat Barzal

The Prized RFA available, Mat Barzal has been phenomenal for the New York Islanders. In three full seasons with the Islanders, Barzal has 59 goals and 148 assists. Since Barzal’s first full season in the NHL, he has not missed a game due to an injury or healthy scratch. He’s easily a franchise player, has been the top scorer for the Islanders for three-consecutive 60point seasons and three-consecutive seasons as the Islanders top scorer.

Is he available? Depends. GM Lou Lamoriello is known for his hard-nosed negotiations, so potentially another team could try to be opportunistic, but again can’t see an offer sheet coming. As mentioned earlier, GM’s don’t like to ruffle one another’s feathers with offer sheets, but further Bill Guerin and Lou Lamoriello seem to have a decent relationship- Lou was one of Guerin’s mentors.

Another angle, perhaps Guerin and Lamoriello revisit a possible Zach Parise trade? We aren’t exactly sure what was in that trade package, but it was known that Andrew Ladd would have been a part of the deal. I struggle to believe that’s all we would be getting in return- he’s certainly not in Parise’s strata of production.

I also can’t see Barzal being a part of that package if Minnesota was only trading Parise. If they were to return to trade talks, could he be? I’m not sure. It’s difficult to build a trade that’s fair for both sides, where the Islanders still get Parise and Minnesota gets Barzal. It would maybe be something like Parise and good draft picks/prospect (first-rounder(s), near NHL ready prospects). Just can’t see the Islanders trading their 3-peat top scorer like that.

Anthony Cirelli

Cirelli is in an interesting situation. The Tampa Bay Lightning had a fairly tough time signing Brayden Point last season, but their own GM addressed the fact that this upcoming Free Agency period would be one of their toughest, and this was before the League was put on pause.

Cirelli has a solid two-way forward role. Luke Fox from Sportsnet characterizes Cirelli as

"Logs significant ice time (18:28), mostly against tough opponents. Ranks top-five among all NHL forwards in penalty-killing time (2:49 per game). Earning some Selke Trophy buzz for his two-way game."

It seems to me that the Lightning would prefer to retain Cirelli, going as far as to trade away more veteran forwards like Tyler Johnson or Alex Killorn, as Luke Fox mentions.

This is one where teams may take a shot at an offer sheet with how cash strapped the Lightning are. It may burn a bridge, but could be worth the risk. The Lightning can’t take on much money without running into the Cap, so to make the deal fairer, we’d have to give up solid prospect(s)/draft pick(s), which is not what the Wild are looking to give up right now.

Max Domi

Max Domi was a popular target for a potential trade deadline acquisition for Minnesota. He’s a bit undersized, but he has solid offensive skill, plays with a hard edge, and loves to be given responsibility- doesn’t back down from an opportunity. The Canadiens are in a weird fringe area of having some pieces to be a playoff team, but not good enough to be considered a threat.

Of the three RFAs mentioned here, I think Wild acquiring Domi is the most probable of the three. What they’re looking for, I’m not sure. Their forward group only has two players 30+, but their team scoring is 18th/31st in the league. In a similar mediocrity, their goal prevention is 23rd/31st. Maybe they’re looking for a quality defenseman, like a Brodin/Dumba-Esque caliber?

I like the fit of Domi on the Minnesota Wild. He seems to have the personality and work ethic that fits with the organization and the roster already. Minnesota’s forechecking is already extremely tough, adding Domi adds to that with some offensive skill.

We’ve covered both groups of free agents; now lets cover teams looking to make a change with big-time trades