On Monday, Michael Russo of The Athletic reported that the Minnesota Wild didn’t tender forward Bobby Brink a qualifying offer. According to Russo, "it’s likely the team is working toward signing the right wing to a contract lower than his going rate."
If the Wild can't re-sign Brink before the July 1st deadline, he will become an unrestricted free agent.
Bobby Brink's homecoming
The Wild acquired Brink from the Philadelphia Flyers back in March in exchange for defenseman David Jiricek. The Wild gave up a lot to acquire Jiricek; almost a year and a half earlier, Minnesota sent Daemon Hunt, their 2025 first-round pick, and two more draft picks to Columbus for Jiricek.
Last season, Brink struggled a bit when he came home to Minnesota. Brink scored two goals and four points for the Wild across 13 regular-season games. Brink only played in four playoff games for the Wild, and all four were in the first-round series against Dallas. Brink tallied one assist in those four playoff games.
No qualifying offer for Bobby Brink. I'm assuming the Wild have an extension up their sleeve; if not, one of the better July 1st targets. pic.twitter.com/ywy5EiHl9I
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) June 30, 2026
Though Brink struggled in his return home to Minnesota, you don’t have to look too far back within his career to find offensive production. Just one year earlier in the 2024-2025 season, Brink scored 12 goals and 41 points in 79 games for the Flyers. Those12 goals came on a three-year low 11.4% shooting percentage. 35 of Brink’s 41 points in 2024-2025 came at 5-on-5.
Last season, Brink scored 15 goals and 30 points in 68 regular-season games with both Minnesota and Philadelphia. His 15 goals were a career high. The biggest difference across the two seasons came in Brink’s assist numbers. Brink tallied just 15 assists last season compared to 29 in 2024-2025.
Digging deeper, Brink had similar primary assist numbers across the two seasons: 14 in 2024-2025 and 10 last season. Data suggests primary assists are more repeatable than secondary assists and more valuable in terms of their predictive ability. The similarity in primary assists across the two seasons indicates Brink’s 2025-2026 campaign was likely closer to his 2024-2025 campaign offensively than the raw numbers suggest.
The big difference across the two seasons, and the reason for the vast difference in points, was Brink’s secondary assists. Brink had 15 secondary assists in 2024-2025 and only 5 last year. The big drop-off in secondary assists makes the two offensive seasons look more different than they actually are.
Filling a need:
Entering his age-25 season, Brink has shown that he can be a valuable middle-six winger. Based on recent reports, the Wild may have a few middle-six opportunities on the wing that are about to open up.
It’s been reported recently that former Wild winger Vladimir Tarasenko is headed to free agency. Tarasenko provided valuable offensive depth last season, scoring 23 goals and 47 points in 75 regular-season games. Losing Tarasenko would seemingly open up a third-line wing spot and some power-play time for Bobby Brink.
On top of that, there have also been recent reports that Mats Zuccarello maynot be returning to Minnesota. Zuccarello’s departure would open a gaping hole on the wing in the top six and be a big blow to the Wild’s offensive depth.
At a time when the Wild's depth on the wing appears poised to take a big hit, the Wild can ill afford to add Bobby Brink to the list of wingers headed out the door in free agency.
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