After several summers of having their free agency plans handcuffed by the cost of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter contract buyouts, the Minnesota Wild enter the 2025 NHL Free Agent Frenzy with plenty of money to spend, but a dwindling cast of players to spend it on once the money faucets are opened at 11:00 AM CST. Still, there should be some new faces taking to the ice in the newly named Grand Casino Arena, hopefully Bill Guerin makes all the right bets over the next few days.
As of this morning the top names on the free agent board were winger Nikolaj Ehlers, defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, winger Brock Boeser, and center Mikael Granlund. After that, things drop off quite a bit. That's not necissarily a bad thing depending if Guerin can pick up some players without getting into a bidding war with other general managers.
Among those top names, the Wild were tied with Boeser, a Minnesota native, for much of the past few months. That has cooled a bit with the trade for Vladimir Tarasenko, and Winnipeg's reported pursuit of Boeser to replace Ehlers. While adding a 50-60 point winger that has a 40-goal season on his resume is never a bad thing, it's probably not the best allocation of the Wild's cap space.
Assuming the Wild find a common ground with Marco Rossi around the $7 million mark, and that Jesper Wallstedt starts the season in Iowa, the Wild will have a little over $6 million to play with later today. Chances are that is going to go towards a veteran goaltender, third-pairing defender, and depth forward. Guerin also has to take into consideration Kirill Kaprizov's extension, which could be (but probably won't be) announced as soon as today.
Finding a veteran back-up goaltender for a short-term deal should be relatively easy. Guering will want some sort of fallback option if Wallstedt isn't quite ready to assume the back-up role. Dan Vladar, Vitek Vanecek, and Alexandar Georgiev are all experienced netminders that can be had for around $1 million or less on a one-year deal.
While the Minnesota defense is looking like it's going to develop into a strength for the team, it never hurts to bring in some experienced, solid defenders in case the young kids struggle a bit early in the season. Not to go to the "He's From Minnesota!" well too often, but Nick Perbix (from Elk River High) is a right-shot defender that has put up steady underlying numbers for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Used in the correct role, he could be an excellent addition and is likely to sign for less than $3 million.
The center depth has rapidly dried up as free agency has approached. A lot of players that Guerin might have targeted have gone off the board, as they chose to stay with their current team. Not having resolution on the Rossi situation could cloud things a little as well. If they do sign Rossi, their need down the middle shifts to a bottom-six center. If they don't, Guerin is probably looking for someone with a little more production. It becomes a choice between the likes of Granlund or Sean Kuraly at that point.
He could also take a chance on a younger player looking for a bounce-back season to boost their market for next year. With the depth the Wild have up front, they could give a player like Taylor Raddysh or Arthur Kaliyev time on the third line, and maybe a little power play time to help them rebuild their value.
It should be an interesting day for the Wild, even if it isn't quite the free-agent Christmas they were expecting a few months ago.