Minnesota Wild Re-Sign Nate Prosser

by

The Minnesota Wild have re-signed defenseman Nate Prosser to a two-year contract at $1.2 million. The cap hit will be $625,000 per season.

The team announced the deal around 12:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Prosser scored two goals and added five assists for seven points and a plus/minus of -1 in 63 games during the 2014-15 season. He had a career-high 12 points (one goal and 11 assists) in the 2011-12 season.

He only played in one postseason game for Minnesota in the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs, seeing lots of bench time after the acquisition of Jordan Leopold at the trade deadline. Though, Prosser did appear in 10 playoff games in the 2014 postseason.

Prosser won’t be a top 4 defenseman, but he is a good depth blueliner for the Wild, who dealt with injuries most of the season on the blueline.

The move does cast doubts on whether hometown boy Jordan Leopold will be brought back by the team with the team having Ryan Suter, Marco Scandella, Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon, Matt Dumba, Christian Folin (RFA), Prosser and Mike Reilly on contract already. Leopold was acquired at this year’s trade deadline from the Columbus Blue Jackets, but was also a free agent. The St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Chad Graff speculated that there may not be room for Leopold.

Some fans are already not happy with the club bringing back Prosser, but he played key minutes when the Wild dealt with injuries to top four defensemen like Suter and Scandella. Defensemen are a hot commodity in the ultra-tough Central Division, where five of the seven teams made the playoffs.

Minnesota has already accomplished a lot this offseason by bringing back Devan Dubnyk and Mikael Granlund to the fold.

Follow all of Wednesday’s free agent signings with The Hockey Writers’ Free Agent Tracker.

RELATED: Mike Reilly Will Sign with Wild

[catlist categorypage=”yes” numberposts=3 excludeposts=this]