The Minnesota Wild avoided a catastrophe before the season started after they signed superstar Kirill Kaprizov to the richest contract in NHL history. But so far this season, the play on the ice hasn't been great for the Wild team as a whole. Through 14 games, the wild have a 5-6-3 record, resulting in them sitting in seventh place in the Central Division. Things have started off so poorly, that the team held a players-only meeting, held by Jared Spurgeon.
Since that meeting, the Wild had won two consecutive games, bringing an end to their skid. That since ended after a 4-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. But during said losing streak, the wild have apparently been working the phones.
In his latest "32 Thoughts" column, Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Wild were "among the most active teams" last week in terms of moves. Friedman said on the podcast version of his column that he's heard the Wild were "looking around" but not on the verge of making a move.
Wild reportedly made calls around league during rough stretch of season
"Minnesota and St. Louis were among the most active teams last week — probably to make sure they weren’t missing any possibilities," writes Friedman. "The Wild won two straight to temporarily calm the waters, but the Blues’ performance Wednesday in Washington won’t make them any happier."
Credit can be given to general manager Bill Guerin for being active on the phones to gauge what moves could be made to help improve the roster. Yes, it's still early in the season, and Minnesota has plenty of time to truly turn things around, but it doesn't hurt to have contingencies in place in case.
The Wild thus far have averaged 2.79 goals scored per game (23rd in NHL) and 3.64 goals allowed per game (fourth highest in NHL). So, the team does need some help everywhere.
The Fourth Period NHL insider David Pagnotta revealed in a recent interview with Irfaan Gaffar of DFO Rundown Insider that the wild have been looking for scoring help.
“They’re definitely exploring,” Pagnotta said, h/t The Fourth Period. “Coming into the week, the narrative from that perspective was they’re looking for a mid-six guy, somebody that could be interchangeable, provide them with secondary scoring depth, and be a guy that can play in the second line, play in the third line and just be versatile.
“Yesterday (Tuesday), I started to hear that maybe they have up those efforts, maybe into a top-six guy and then eventually move somebody on the current roster down. We’ll see kind of where that goes. But my understanding is that Minnesota is going to be looking and trying to see if there’s a scoring winger that they can add to the mix.”
It will be interesting who the Wild could target in terms of scoring help. The Wild have been linked to New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin, but there has been no indication that the Rangers are in a rush to trade him away before he hits free agency in the summer.
There is still plenty of season to go for the Wild. But fans can take solace in the fact that the team is taking tabs on the rest of the league to see if there is any external help available.