The Minnesota Wild made one of their first moves of the offseason on Tuesday when they agreed with Bobby Brink on a one-year, $2.75 million contract. The decision to not extend a qualifying offer to Brink, caused some panic among Wild fans as they could lose up to 150 points of production in the start of free agency, but it paid off as they look to fill out their roster.
With Kirill Kaprizov’s contract with a $17 million AAV kicking in this season and a big extension for Quinn Hughes potentially on the way, the Wild have had to work between the margins to keep their spot as a Stanley Cup contender. But general manager Bill Guerin has been here before and he’s hoping that Brink can be the Wild’s next big bargain.
The Wild need Bobby Brink to outperform his new contract
The Wild promised Christmas last July but their free agent signings came off like socks and underwear. Marcus Johansson signed a deal for the veteran minimum of $800,000 to return to the Wild last summer and Vladimir Tarasenko followed, making $4.75 million but being acquired at the cost of “future considerations.”
While neither move was greeted with a warm reception, the Wild got plenty of value out of both moves. Johansson dispatched prospect Liam Ohgren during training camp and earned a top-six role, scoring 15 goals and recording 49 points over 75 games. Tarasenko also became a middle-six forward for the Wild, scoring 23 goals and recording 47 points over 75 regular season games and adding two goals and five points during Minnesota’s 11-game playoff run.
Johansson has since returned to Sweden and Tarasenko will hit the market when it opens on Wednesday. With Mats Zuccarello also hitting the market, the Wild need to find players to replace them and Brink could be that player.
Brink was acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers on March 6 but wasn’t much of a factor down the stretch. With the Wild preferring their veterans for the playoff run, Brink had two goals and four points over 13 regular season games and recorded one assist over four playoff games and it wouldn’t have made much sense for Minnesota to extend a one-year, $3.5 million qualifying offer or go to arbitration, where The Athletic’s Michael Russo estimated that Brink could have made close to $4 million.
Those numbers look even more damning considering the Wild’s to-do list this offseason. Trading for Dylan Larkin is the top priority, but even if the Wild came up with the assets needed for a trade, they only have $6.6 million in projected cap space according to Puckpedia. Minnesota math indicates that Larkin’s $8.7 million isn’t going to fit and even if the Wild move salary to accommodate the trade, they still need to use whatever money that is left over to revamp the blue line and add more talent at the wing.
Some of that can be accommodated with risk-reward signings like Anders Lee, Patrick Kane and Patrik Laine if the Wild go that route. But Brink would be an added benefit as he will turn 25 on July 8. If Brink performs well, he could work his way into Minnesota’s long-term plans and it could be easier to get a bigger deal when the Wild have a projected $45.13 million in cap space to work with.
In the end, both sides would benefit greatly if Brink outperformed his contract and it could be enough for the Wild to fill a hole at wing and potentially be able to find more in the margins to keep this team in the race for the Stanley Cup.
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