The Minnesota Wild will open the season on Thursday night with a trip to visit the Nashville Predators, but it feels like something is missing. After spending all summer trying to pry Dylan Larkin away from the Detroit Red Wings, the Wild will open the year with several questions on the roster and it could lead to general manager Bill Guerin putting a secondary plan into action, such as trading for Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews.
The Wild were thrown out as a potential landing spot for Matthews at the beginning of the summer by ESPN’s Erik Johnson. But that hunch may have been thrown back just as quickly as the Maple Leafs made a blockbuster trade, acquiring star winger Kirill Marchenko from the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.
The deal gives Matthews another prime running mate in Toronto after an active offseason by general manager John Chayka and it may be enough to sabotage any backup plans the Wild may have had to finally address their need for a top line center.
The Wild could be left waiting as Maple Leafs are giving Auston Matthews reasons to stay
It’s no secret that the Wild have spent their summer trying to fill a big hole in their top line. While the Wild were Stanley Cup contenders a year ago, their center depth was exposed when Joel Eriksson Ek was injured in the Game 6 clincher in the first round against the Dallas Stars. As a result, Minnesota spent the entire second-line series trying to elevate Danila Yurov and Michael McCarron into the top six of their lineup, but it wasn’t enough as the Avalanche won the series in five games.
The hockey gods appeared to have smiled upon the Wild when Larkin's trade request became public in June. But despite controlling his future with a no-trade clause, the Red Wings did not budge on their demand for current assets in return and balked at the upside of Yurov and 2023 first-round pick Charlie Stramel as the reported center pieces of a deal.
Because of this, Larkin is a Red Wing for the foreseeable future and reportedly expanded his no-trade clause, which could lead to the Wild getting outbid. But Matthews seemed like a fine backup plan thanks to what was going on in Toronto.
Like Larkin, Matthews has a no-trade clause in his contract. But his deal is more moveable with an average annual value of $13.25 million and an expiring date after the 2027-28 season. It led to rumors that Matthews could put himself on the trade block by informing the Leafs he was not interested in re-signing with the team at some point, but Toronto responded with a busy offseason with Marchenko as the cherry on top.
The Maple Leafs got a little luck, winning the 2026 NHL Draft lottery and the right to select Gavin McKenna with the top pick in the draft. But Toronto also improved their shaky goaltending by signing Sergei Bobrovsky in free agency, acquired defenseman Darren Raddysh in a sign and trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning and made additions to the supporting cast including Jack Roslovic, Colton Sissons, Teddy Blueger and Brandon Duhaime.
While those moves haven’t made Toronto an instant Cup contender, The Athletic’s prediction model had their playoff chances jump from 44 percent to 52 percent after Monday’s trade and their Stanley Cup odds went from +6000 to +3500 according to FanDuel Sportsbook and 3% on Kalshi. And if the Leafs exceed expectations, there’s enough reasons for Matthews to re-sign and stick around.
Kirill Marchenko’s arrival could have Wild looking elsewhere for their next big trade
Of course, that would be bad news for the Wild. According to Puckpedia’s lineups, the Wild will have Yurov in the top spot with Eriksson Ek, Hartman and McCarron on the second, third and fourth lines. But if Yurov doesn’t take a second-year leap or follows a similar path as Marco Rossi, Minnesota will be looking for an upgrade.
As of now, it doesn’t seem like Guerin can scrounge up the assets to get Larkin from Detroit. While he could run into the same problem if Matthews became available, there would at least be time for some of those assets to improve their stock with a solid performance in the opening months of this season.
In that event, Guerin would be racing to the phone to try and trade for Matthews. But if Matthews is happy with the moves and the Maple Leafs win, it could leave Minnesota hoping that some other player crashes out and wants to get out of their current situation.
With a Larkin trade unlikely, Matthews would have been a name to watch. But with Marchenko, who scored 27 goals and recorded 67 points with the Blue Jackets and signed a six-year, $75 million contract extension to stick around, it may be enough to crush those dreams before they can come to fruition.
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