The Minnesota Wild’s season ended with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night. While the Wild got out of the first round for the first time since 2015, the crash landing in the semifinals and a blown lead in Game 5 leaves a bad taste in their mouth and could lead to a busy summer.
With the need for a top-six forward, a No. 1 center and perhaps a revamp along the blue line, there could be plenty of new faces coming to Minnesota this summer. But it also means that several familiar ones have played their last game for the Wild.
Jonas Brodin
Brodin’s importance was highlighted when he suffered a lower-body injury blocking a shot against the Dallas Stars. A longtime fixture on Minnesota’s blue line, the Wild’s defense crumbled when he missed the entire series against the Colorado Avalanche and it gives the Wild a very good reason to bring him back for next season.
The problem with Brodin isn’t his effectiveness, however. It’s his availability.
Brodin missed the start of the 2025-26 season with an undisclosed upper body injury and missed more time in December before requiring surgery that forced him to miss playing for Sweden in the Olympics. While he was able to return for the final stretch of the regular season and play into the playoffs, his lower-body injury put him on the shelf again with no hint that he was ready to return.
Signed for two more years at $6 million per season according to Puckpedia, it won’t be easy to dump Brodin. But he also doesn’t have a no movement clause (NMC) like most deals on the Wild’s roster, making him easier to move. Whatever the case, the Wild can no longer rely on him like they did in the Avalanche series.
Vladimir Tarasenko
The Wild gave up “future considerations” to acquire Vladimir Tarasenko from the Detroit Red Wings last summer and when you consider the price, it was a successful move. Tarasenko matched his goal total from the 2023-24 season and put up 47 points as a middle-six forward during his time in Minnesota. But there are several reasons why he should move on as his contract expires.
At age 35, Tarasenko is a declining player. While he’s been a solid addition, he also has had moments where he looks lethargic on the ice and hasn’t been the same player he was during his time with the St. Louis Blues when he scored 262 goals and 553 points over 11 seasons.
Minnesota could bring him back for a price point lower than the $4.75 million they gave him last season, but it’s painfully clear they need an upgrade going into next season. While options on the free agent market will be more expensive, it may be a worthy tax to pay to draw attention away from Matt Boldy, Kirill Kaprizov and some of the Wild’s other stars.
Zach Bogosian
Bogosian is a grizzled veteran that adds leadership to the locker room. He also is an important piece of the Wild’s penalty kill unit, which ranked 16th with a 79.8% kill rate before cratering in the playoffs. His stats also don’t look terrible with two goals, six points and a plus-8 defensive rating over 41 games. But set to turn 36 in July he may be reaching the end of the line.
While he is playing through a lower body injury, the playoffs were not kind to Bogosian, who had no points and a minus-2 rating over nine games. He also could be part of a sneaky need for the Wild, who have an excellent top defensive pair between Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes but have an aging second pair in Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin and Jake Middleton, who is probably best served as a third pairing defenseman.
The only caveat here is that the Wild may not have any defensemen to fill in for Bogosian if he leaves. Carson Lambos, David Spacek and Viking Gustafsson Nyberg are all considered top defensive prospects but they all may be too young to contribute on a team that has its eyes on a championship. Even so, another free agent addition may be the way to go and Bogosian could be playing somewhere else next season.
Marcus Johansson
Similar to Tarasenko, the Wild lucked into a great situation after signing Johansson to a minimum-salary contract. In 75 games, Johansson was primarily on the second line, scoring 15 goals and 49 points and earning a spot on Sweden’s Olympic team. But while the overall numbers look good, they tailed off over the second half of the season.
Johansson played well, scoring 13 goals and recording 34 points over his first 46 games. But that production didn’t last as he had just two goals and 15 points over the final 29 games. The 35-year-old was redeemed a bit in the playoffs with three goals over 11 games, but it’s a familiar refrain where Johansson seems to turn things up only when there’s a new contract or another benefit on the line.
While Johansson loves Minnesota and his teammates love him, it’s unlikely the Wild will get him back at the $800,000 salary they got him for last season. There’s still a chance he could return, but the extra money that it would take to keep him would be better served finding an upgrade.
Jacob Middleton
It seems drastic placing three defensemen in this article, but it shows one of the Wild’s biggest tasks of the summer. A fan favorite for his mustache and shirtless interviews, Middleton is signed through the next two seasons with a 15-team no trade clause. But his playoff performance may convince Guerin that his time in Minnesota has run its course.
Middleton didn’t get a great hand in the playoffs, elevated into a leaky second pairing with Jared Spurgeon due to Brodin’s injury. But he didn’t hold up his end of the bargain, being on the ice for 13 of the 20 goals Colorado scored against a goaltender during the five-game series.
At 30 years old, Middleton is a locker room guy and someone that has helped establish the culture. But with his shortcomings on full display, the Wild need to take a good hard look and may believe that moving on would be the best thing for both sides.
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