Minnesota Wild reach agreement with Brandon Duhaime on one-year contract
By Tim Johnson
The Minnesota Wild have avoided salary arbitration with one of the franchise’s restricted free agents.
The Wild reached to a one-year contract with forward Brandon Duhaime on Sunday for $1.1 million.
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Duhaime was selected by the Wild in the fourth round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and has 15 goals and 27 points in 131 career games with the franchise. He also has totaled 164 penalty minutes.
The 26-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2023-24 season. He made his debut with the Wild on Oct. 15, 2021 against the Anaheim Ducks and had his first-career NHL goal eight days later against the Ducks at the Xcel Energy Center.
Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson, who the team received in a trade with Ottawa last summer, also filed for arbitation earlier this month and the Wild can continue to attempt to reach a deal with him ahead of the hearing as well.
Duhaime, 26, had nine goals and an assist in 54 games with the Wild in an injury-filled season this past year in which he missed 30 games overall. That included an injury on Nov. 23 against Winnipeg which kept him out of the lineup until Jan. 7.
The Parkland, Fla., also had 42 penalty minutes and set career-highs in goals and with three game-winning goals. He also tallied a goal in consecutive games for the first time in his career on Feb. 23 and 24.
He did not have a point and had a plus/minus rating of minus 2 in a first-round playoff loss to the Dallas Stars in six games.
Duhaime has totaled 12 goals and 28 points in 87 career games with the Iowa Wild in the American Hockey League. He also had 103 penalty minutes and also, a plus-11 rating
He also led the Iowa Wild with three game-winning goals during the 2020-21 season.
Duhaime played three years of Providence College and helped the Friars reach the 2018 Frozen Four. He joined Providence after playing for the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League.