It’s quite apparent that even after acquiring Quinn Hughes, the Minnesota Wild aren’t quite done tinkering with their roster. A quietly impactful move following the holiday roster freeze helped their depth, but Bill Guerin might be hunting for bigger game as the second half of the season looms. The problem he faces is financial. For an impact player to be added to the roster, a player with a decent salary likely has to leave.
On Monday, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period revealed that a long-time Minnesota veteran might be the player Guerin is looking to trade in order to open up cap space for another deal. On the Daily Face-Off Live Podcast, Pagnotta mentioned Ryan Hartman as a player Guerin has been “dangling” (conversation starts around the 24 minute mark).
"“Even before Hughes was in the range of possibility, Guerin was out there looking for a top-six guy. That hasn’t changed. The only thing I’m wondering about, and we’ve talked about this before, and others have brought this up before, is - do they go to the center position because they traded Marco Rossi?"David Pagnotta
The 31-year-old forward has been with the organization since the 2019-20 season and has one more year left after this one on a deal that carries a $4 million cap hit. He has 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists) through the first 36 games of the season as John Hynes has moved him up and down the line-up.
As Pagnotta mentions, Hartman does carry a limited no-trade clause that, according to PuckPedia, has 15 teams on it. Finding a deal for him won’t be easy, but the Wild do still have some prospects and picks that could sweeten a deal for the veteran forward.
If Guerin does have his heart set on upgrading the middle of his line-up, who is out there for him to deal with? While Gary Bettman might love the parity in the league right now, having just about every team in the league hovering around a playoff spot does make it kind of hard for general managers to justify trading away impactful players.
In the Western Conference only three teams (Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Chicago) are more than three points out of a playoff spot. In the East it’s just Toronto and Columbus (and they are both four points out of the second wild card in the conference). With the Hughes trade, Vancouver signalled that they are open for business, but that’s been about it.
Pittsburgh did deal Tristan Jarry to Edmonton, but then turned around and sent Danton Heinen and a couple of decent draft picks to Columbus for Yegor Chinahov, so it looks like Kyle Dubas might be trying to play it both ways as the trade deadline nears.
One team that could have a couple of players Guering is interested in would be Nashville. They are currently three points behind San Jose for the second-wild card spot, but it took a 7-3-0 run for them to get there and there are still three other teams they would have to jump over to claim a playoff spot. The Predators could be interested in moving a couple of their veteran centers for future assets as they try and build a more youthful line-up.
Ryan O’Reilly is 34-years-old, but still playing an effective two-way game as their top center. He’s sitting at 34 points (11 goals, 23 assists) in 38 games while boasting a 55.85 success rate in the face-off circle. His addition to the Wild line-up would give Hynes the option of putting him on the top line with Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov or adding some depth as the second center. That would also allow Hynes to ease the workload for rookie Danila Yurov.
With a cap hit of $4.5 million on a deal that also covers the 2026-27 season, it would be basically a wash financially for Minnesota after they cleared out Hartman’s contract.
Another veteran on the Predators that has seen his name pop up in trade rumors is two-time Stanley Cup winner Steven Stamkos. The long-time Tampa Bay Lightning captain signed a four-year deal with Nashville in the summer of 2024, and it’s been a rocky tenure in Tennessee as he hasn’t lived up to the production he had in Tampa.
At $8 million a year through the 2027-28 season, it would be a hearty investment for Minnesota for a player that might not be the solution for their problems. Stamkos has spent a significant amount of time on the wing in the later stages of his career and he’s usually relied on copious amounts of power play time to score. His even-strength numbers are pretty solid this season (14 goals, 5 assists), but that would be a huge cap hit to absorb for a player that might not crack the top-six in Minnesota on a regular basis.
It should be an interesting second-half of the season for Guerin and the Wild. He’s not likely done messing with his roster as the organization continues their quest to overcome Colorado and Dallas.