A 2022 offseason checklist for the Minnesota Wild

If the two sides would have been able to work out a long-term agreement last summer, that might have been enough to put an end to that speculation. Instead, Minnesota took the rare step of pre-emptively filing for arbitration before eventually settling on a $5.1M salary for this past season. Fiala then went and had a career year, picking up 33 goals and 52 assists in 82 games, all career highs. Overall, the Wild received really good value on that deal but things are only going to go downhill from here for them.

Fiala is now a year away from unrestricted free agency and while the Wild can’t take him to arbitration again, he can take them to a hearing, get a nice raise from the arbitrator, and hit the open market in 2023 in the prime of his career. A long-term deal could approach the $7.5M to $8M range and while Guerin probably wouldn’t mind giving that to him, they’d have to part with another core player to make that happen. At this point, it seems likely that the 25-year-old will be traded.

While Fiala doesn’t have a no-trade clause, he holds the hammer on this front as well. Fiala on a long-term contract has a lot more value than Fiala on a one-year deal. Teams can’t put conditional draft picks in a trade that are dependent on whether or not he signs either. Guerin will need to work hard to get maximum value for Fiala (likely in the form of futures or young roster players) but will also have to work hard with the pending RFA to find a suitor that he’s willing to forego the open market to sign with. There’s a lot of work to do on this front in a short period of time.

Sign second goalie

Guerin surprised some with the acquisition of Marc-Andre Fleury at the trade deadline in an effort to give them a second proven veteran goaltender for the playoffs. He was a little better down the stretch than he was with Chicago and that got him most of the playing time against the Blues. While it may have seemed like this was just a short-term pickup, Guerin has expressed a firm desire to keep Fleury around to split time with Cam Talbot next season.

While it’s certainly fair to say that Fleury will get considerably less than the $7M AAV he had on his expiring contract, he still should have enough interest out there to get half of that price tag. Even if Fiala moves for futures, Minnesota can’t afford Fleury at that price. They have two options on that front. One is to try to move a current roster player for someone making less and use those savings to afford Fleury’s new deal. The other is to work out an incentive-laden deal that gives them the ability to roll over the bonuses onto the 2023-24 cap. Of course, with the dead money going up, that’s only pushing the problem over, not fixing it.

If they’re unable to keep Fleury, Guerin will need to be aggressive on the open market for a replacement with Kaapo Kahkonen now in San Jose. Talbot will turn 35 in July and while he’s still a capable NHL goaltender, he’s not someone that can handle 60-plus games next season. They’ll need a fairly strong second option, one that will be able to play 30 or more games. That will put them looking in the high-$2M/low-$3M range even if it isn’t Fleury.  Jesper Wallstedt is their goalie of the future but he’s a few years away from being NHL-ready. They need to add another NHL option in the meantime over the coming weeks.

Re-sign Middleton

The player Minnesota received in the Kahkonen trade, defenseman Jacob Middleton, is also in need of a new contract. He’s a restricted free agent with salary arbitration rights and is a year away from UFA eligibility. This is one of those situations where finding fair value is going to be a challenge.

Middleton has just 80 career NHL games under his belt, 66 of which came this season. Heading into the year, he was a candidate for a deal around the $1M range but after a strong showing with both the Sharks and Wild, he’s going to get more. If it gets to an arbitrator, the award could be tricky to pin down because of the limited experience, but that doesn’t give Guerin the hammer by any stretch since a low-ball offer could force Middleton to file for arbitration and see what his value is on the open market next summer.

A long-term contract doesn’t seem likely at this point given his limited track record but a deal that buys out a couple of UFA years could be doable. The AAV would likely jump over $2M in that situation but it would be a justifiable price. Middleton’s case isn’t as prominent as some of the others but it has to stay in the back of Guerin’s mind as he works his way through Fiala’s situation and finding a second netminder.

Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.