As we enter the longest stretch of the year where there are little to no hockey events or news to look forward to, it creates some time to reflect on the past and predict the future. As the Ryan Suter and Zach Parise cap hits finally reach maximum pain for the Minnesota Wild this season, they were again forced to move on from a group of unrestricted free agents (UFAs) due to simply not having any extra money to spend.
The latest additions to the group of former Wild have made it possible to create an entire lineup from everyone that the organization has moved on from in just the last three years, so I did just that. A couple of rules were set for this challenge:
- Players must have been on the roster at any point from the start of the 2020-21 season to the end of the 2022-23 season.
- They must still be active in the NHL with an active contract, or reasonable expectation they will receive one.
- They must have played at least one game for the Wild on the NHL roster.
Offense Shows Some Themes
Gustav Nyquist – Sam Steel – Kevin Fiala
Ryan Donato – Nick Bjugstad – Luke Kunin
Jordan Greenway – Tyson Jost – Oskar Sundqvist
Nicolas Deslauriers – Nico Sturm – Ryan Reaves
There is no question here about who the most talented player is. Kevin Fiala is the single biggest loss to the Wild as his $7.875 million contract that he received from the Los Angeles Kings was well outside of their ability to match. In return, they got Brock Faber and a first-round pick that turned into Liam Ohgren and thankfully it is looking like both players could be great additions.
There are two easily visible themes happening in this roster. The first is that it is weak down the middle as it contains a trio of former first-round picks that never quite lived up to their expectations. That should come as no surprise as the Wild have never been known for having great center depth and have taken to trying to find reclamation projects to turn around like Ryan Hartman. Obviously, it doesn’t always work out.
Related: Minnesota Wild Have a Center Problem: How Do They All Fit?
The second theme is big, tough bruisers that apparently every team wants in their bottom six. Half of this roster is 6-foot-3 or taller and the makeup of the bottom six would be a terror to play against. The Wild’s general manager Bill Guerin has not been shy about letting it be known that he values having a big, aggressive, energy-bringing player on his roster, and it becomes even more obvious when looking at a list of players that have moved on. Hopefully, the recently acquired Pat Maroon is the best yet to fill that slot.
Defense Holds a Lot of History
Ryan Suter – Matt Dumba
Carson Soucy – John Klingberg
Ian Cole – Dmitry Kulikov
That top pairing combines for over 1,250 games with the Wild. While both Ryan Suter and Matt Dumba have had their ups and downs with the organization and fans, there is no denying that the duo has spent a lot of years and a lot of their lives being minute-munching defenders for a team that has traditionally been known for being defensively strong. Whatever you think of them, they will have their names all over the Wild’s history books for a very long time.
Carson Soucy may be the one defender on this list that the Wild wish they had another opportunity with. The 6-foot-5, 210-pounder recently signed a new three-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks after spending two seasons with the Seattle Kraken as their selection from the Wild in the 2021 Expansion Draft. Soucy is similar to Jake Middleton in that he is a solid defender that doesn’t bring a lot of scoring potential but does bring size and reliability.
Goalies Are a Familiar Duo
Cam Talbot – Kappo Kahkonen
This should be a familiar tandem for Wild fans as they played multiple seasons together before being traded within three months of each other. Kappo Kahkonen was the first to leave as he was traded for Middleton after Marc-Andre Fleury was brought in to bring some experience for what was hoped to be an extended playoff run. Middleton has turned into a top-pairing defender after developing strong chemistry with captain Jared Spurgeon.
Shortly after, Cam Talbot was then traded for Filip Gustavsson after Fleury signed a two-year extension and some complications arose between Talbot’s agent and Guerin. Talbot struggled last season with the Ottawa Senators after dealing with some injuries and was consequently allowed to walk into free agency without a new deal. He will join Fiala with the Kings next season on a cheaper deal. The man he was traded for on the other hand absolutely took off and is expected to be the Wild’s starting goaltender next season.
Full Roster Surprisingly Weak
There is no doubt that the buyouts have forced some difficult decisions, and at times it feels like a major anchor holding the Wild back, but the only major player that was a direct casualty was Fiala. The lack of space has caused other issues of course, such as being unable to re-sign players, limiting trade possibilities and restricting UFA signings; however, they have done fairly well at retaining the important players because there are not many on this roster.