As the clock continues to tick towards the opening of free agent season at noon eastern time tomorrow, the Minnesota Wild got a jumpstart on improving their team as they acquired Vladimir Tarasenko from the Detroit Red Wings for future considerations. It appears the Wild will be absorbing the entire $4,750,000 cap hit for the final season of the 33-year-old's current contract.
Due to the Wild's willingness to take on the entirety of the contract, the cost of acquiring the 300-goal scorer was virtually nothing. Having cleared out some cap space prior to the draft with the trade of Frederick Gaudreau, general manager Bill Guerin had a little more room to maneuver in regards to adding some depth scoring.
Tarasenko is coming off of a down year in Detroit as he scored just 11 goals in 80 games while adding 22 assists. He had joined the Red Wings as a free agent last summer after helping the Florida Panthers win their first Stanley Cup as a deadline acquisition. The winger had 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists) in 19 games down the regular season stretch, and then added another 9 points (5 goals, 4 assists) in 24 games to lift the Stanley Cup for the second time (he won his first with St. Louis in 2018-19).
The Wild will look to him to add some middle-six depth as well as some veteran leadership as they expect to have young forwards Danila Yurov and Liam Ohgren in the line-up for long stretches of the season. Tarasenko might not be the perpetual 30-goal scorer he was in his 20s, but with the right usage he could help the Wild match-up in the tough Central Division this season.