There had been some rumblings that Brock Boeser and the Minnesota Wild could be a match in free agency. Boeser, a Minnesota native, might be looking for a fresh start, and the Wild had a ton of cap room that could accomodate the financial requests for one of the top free agents. Instead, it appears that Boeser is staying in Vancouver after all.
Reports are that the veteran winger signed a 7-year deal with an average annual value of $7.25 to stay in Vancouver. The 28-year-old forward has 204 career goals in 554 NHL games, all with the Canucks. He posted a career-high in 2023-24 with 40, and followed that up with a 25-goal, 25-assist campaign in 2024-25.
The Canucks have been busy, as they also announced a 6-year, $36 million extension for Conor Garland, re-signed goaltender Thatcher Demko to a 3-year, $25.5 million extension, and while trading for Evander Kane earlier in the week.
These moves could have benefit to the Wild as it leaves Vancouver with virtually no cap space ($556,667 per PuckPedia), which would prevent them from re-signing Pius Suter. The 29-year-old left-shot center could be on Minnesota's list as Bill Guerin looks to stengthen the team down the center of the ice.
With Kirill Kaprizov in need of a big extension, adding Boeser to a long-term deal always seemed a bit of a luxury move for the Wild. While Minnesota seemingly has a comfortable amount of cap space at the moment, re-signing Marco Rossi would cut a significant chunk out of that space.
With Boeser off of the table, Nikolaj Ehlers, who isn't expected to make a decision today, remains the top winger on the free agent board. After that, it's a bit of a dip as Jonathan Drouin, Jack Roslovic, and Brandon Tanev are the next best available wingers.