As the NHL Trade Deadline rapidly approaches, the Minnesota Wild are indeed indulging in some dealmaking. It's not, however, the explosive blockbuster that fans have been waiting for or that NHL insiders have been teasing for months.
Trading for Quinn Hughes accelerated Minnesota's timeline but he hasn't warped the speed at which Bill Guerin is adding to his roster. The architect of Team USA's gold medal this year has decided to be patient, waiting out the right price for Vincent Trocheck while making smaller deals that help fill out the roster in the meantime.
The latest of which was a deal with the Florida Panthers, who are in seller mode. On Thursday the Wild traded a seventh round pick in exchange for defenseman Jeff Petry.
According to Michael Russo over at The Athletic, the pick is conditional and will turn into a fifth-rounder if the Wild have some playoff success.
The condition on the pick: Becomes a fifth-round selection in the 2026 NHL Draft if Minnesota wins two playoff rounds and Petry plays in 50 percent or more of the Wild’s playoff games during those first two rounds. https://t.co/uJVvbFHXNv
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) March 5, 2026
That success is to be expected, and it's why so many eyes are on St. Paul to see if the Wild make another splashy trade before the deadline. So far it's been deals like this one for Perry, which are less blockbusters and more fliers that help fill in some gaps on the roster.
Perry's acquisition comes a ew days after the Wild flipped a second round pick to Nasvhille for 6-foot-6 center Michael McCarron. Neither deals are the ones fans have been waiting for but that doesn't mean they don't have some pretty great value for a team hoping to put together the right Stanley Cup roster.
McCarron is a brute who plays a heavy game, adding serious edge to Minnesota's secondary lines. We've all seen the clip of him getting into it with Mats Zuccarello, and Stars fans were quick to whine about how he roughed up Jason Robertson.
Petry isn't hired muscle, but he's logged eight assists in 58 games this year for Florida and offers Minnesota some decent blue line depth.
It's objectively great defensive depth for a Wild team that is struggling with injuries and can't afford to let any more pile up. Russo reported that Petry knows he's a depth addition with Brock Faber, Jared Spurgeon, and Zach Bogosian all ahead of him on the depth chart while providing some right-shot defensive depth.