Brock Boeser? Tyler Bertuzzi? Wild running out of options to improve before trade deadline
With the hours ticking down until Friday's trade deadline, it's unclear what the Minnesota Wild will do. But one thing that is certain is the Wild's options are drying up.
Entering play Tuesday, the Wild sits third in the Central Division – one point behind second place Colorado and three points behind first place Dallas. Winnipeg is one point behind the Wild and owns the top wild card spot, so Minnesota's situation is very clearly a tenuous one and improving the roster via a trade could be a big boost.
Specifically, a trade would be beneficial for an offense that is 26th in goals per game, but The Athletic's Michael Russo doesn't see a deal that would make sense for the Wild.
"The most fascinating part to me when I look at the names that are available...right now, it just doesn't make me super excited that [general manager Bill Guerin] is going to do anything of significant substance," Russo said during an interview with KFAN's Dan Barreiro on Sunday. "Patrick Kane is going to the [New York] Rangers in a couple of days. Timo Meier...it sounds like he's either going to New Jersey, St. Louis or Vegas. ...Those are the two big names left."
Later on Sunday afternoon, Meier was traded to the Devils and another potential target, Evegenii Dadonov, was traded to the Stars before Russo finished the interview.
The deals followed a wild few weeks in the NHL that have seen Ryan O'Reilly traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Nino Neiderreiter dealt to the Winnipeg Jets. With the Chicago Blackhawks seemingly ready to trade Kane to New York at any moment, the rental market has dried up, leaving the Wild to turn to other options.
But Russo doesn't believe the Wild would be interested in Max Domi, who has 47 points in 58 games for the Blackhawks this season and he doesn't think a rumored deal for Philadelphia Flyers wing James Van Riemsdyk would help Minnesota's 5-on-5 woes, saying he would "slow down your second line in a lot of ways."
Russo brought up the possibility of acquiring Vancouver Canucks forward Brock Boeser, but he believes that process would be complicated not only by Boeser's two years of control but his $6.65 million cap hit for next season.
If the Wild were to make a deal for the Bloomington native, they would likely need to find a third party to retain salary in the same way that the Wild did in the O'Reilly trade and the one that sent Dmitry Orlov to the Boston Bruins.
Another name Russo says the Wild are interested in his Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi. His name re-entered the rumor mill Monday night with TSN's Darren Dreger reporting that Detroit is listening to offers again for the 28-year-old.
The issue with Bertuzzi is that, according to Dreger, the cost for him is a first-round pick and more. Guerin has openly stated that he doesn't want to trade high-end draft picks. Making Bertuzzi more complicated is that he's an unrestricted free agent after the season.
It seems like a reasonable cost for Wild fans who would like to see their team start putting the puck in the net, but Russo cautions that such a trade could come at the cost of their defense, which ranks eighth in the NHL with 161 goals allowed.
"What's the difference between the Wild and the Canucks if you make that trade?" Russo asked. "It helps [the Canucks] have much more firepower than the Wild up front but they absolutely stink and one big reason is that their blue line is horrific. The reason the Wild are even in [the playoff race] right now is that their defense has been exceptional all season long with the exception of a couple of blips on the radar."
The decision becomes even more complicated when considering that Matt Dumba and Calen Addison could be traded at the deadline, leaving the Wild in need of a suitable replacement.
When Russo asked Guerin later on Sunday about the possibility of trading Dumba – who will be an unrestricted free agent next summer – Guerin sounded like he wasn't going to deal the 28-year-old just to do something at the deadline.
Guerin reiterates on Dumba: "If somebody comes through & offers us a boatload for him, we'll think about it. But I actually think Matt's playing his best hockey of the year right now. I would probably bet that he's here through the end of the year, but I can't make that promise."
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 26, 2023
Even with nothing imminent, Guerin laid some hints that a trade could be coming after the Wild have won five of their past six games.
"They're showing me they're serious," Guerin said to The Athletic's Joe Smith. "We're going to dogfight until the very end. We'd like to be active. What we can do or whatever we would be able to do is another story. But we have to take a look at being very active."
The Wild have indeed put themselves in a position to make a playoff run but after suggesting that the team's issues needed to be fixed internally, it will be interesting to see how big of a splash Guerin is willing to make.
