Summer synopsis: Minnesota Wild

In 10 out of the last 11 years, the Stanley Cup playoffs have featured the Minnesota Wild. Unfortunately for the Wild, the playoffs have not featured them for very long, as the team has been unable to appear in the Western Conference Finals since the 2003 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Still dealing with the financial ramifications of buying out both Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, Minnesota has had little cap space to work with, but general manager Bill Guerin has done some solid work doing the best with what he has. After the 2024-25 season, the Wild will be off the hook for most of the financial penalty caused by the buyouts, and they are hoping to tread water with this team until then.

However, with the team continuing to age, especially the defensive core, it may prove to be a bit difficult for the Wild to become one of the top teams in the Western Conference. The team did well in retaining some key players this summer but mostly nibbled around the edges in terms of the free-agent and trade markets.

Draft

1-21: F Charlie Stramel, Wisconsin (NCAA)
2-53: F Rasmus Kumpulainen, Pelicans (U20 SM-Sarja)
2-64: F Riley Heidt, Prince George (WHL)
5-149: D Aaron Pionk, Waterloo (USHL)
6-181: D Kalem Parker, Victoria (WHL)
7-213: F James Clark, Green Bay (USHL)

In their first-round selection in Stramel, the Wild have found a player with a similar frame to Marcus Foligno, with a higher ceiling. Stramel is a solid player in the tight areas of the game, proving an ability to battle and score goals in front of the net. In his first season playing for the University of Wisconsin last year, Stramel played in 33 games, scoring seven goals and five assists. There are some concerns about Stramel, however; as many scouts have noted that his early growth spurt may have caused him to look more talented than he actually was at the time, noting that his development pace has slowed in recent years.

The team’s second-round pick, Kumpulainen, appears to be a bit of a reach. In last year’s U18 World Juniors Championships, he was a big part of Team Finland, scoring five points in five games, and playing in nearly all situations for the team. However, although he is incredibly competitive, meaning he could certainly will his way to the NHL level, his raw talent doesn’t strike much confidence in his development. It will be very difficult for the Minnesota development coaches to grow his skating ability to a professional standard, and that may prove too difficult to overcome.

Trade acquisitions

F Pat Maroon (from Tampa Bay)
F Maxim Cajkovic (from Tampa Bay)

Acquired in the same trade from the Tampa Bay Lightning back in July, the move to acquire Maroon is likely to replace the void left in the absence of Ryan Reaves. After being acquired from the New York Rangers in late November, Reaves provided a lot of energy and fire into the Wild lineup and became a solid leader for the club. Much like Reaves, Maroon should slot into the bottom six of the Minnesota forward group, and provide the same leadership and physical presence as he did with the Lightning.

A throw-in player for the most part, Cajkovic has split the past two seasons between the AHL and the ECHL. A third-round pick for Tampa Bay back in the 2019 NHL Draft, Cajkovic spent the majority of last season with the Orlando Solar Bears, scoring 10 goals and 17 assists in 41 games. There is a chance that he could earn a spot on the Iowa Wild’s roster next year, but his most likely landing spot will be with the Iowa Heartlanders of the ECHL.

Key UFA signings

F Vinni Lettieri (two years, $1.55M)*
F Jacob Lucchini (one year, $775K)*

* denotes two-way contract

This summer, most of Minnesota’s available cap space was reinvested back into the team, locking in players such as Brandon Duhaime and Filip Gustavsson, as well as seeing a big contract extension kick in for forward Matt Boldy. Keeping that in mind, it was no surprise to see the Wild only make a pair of two-way signings.

Both Lettieri and Luccini will spend the majority of next season in the AHL, and assuming the health of the Wild this year, may not see NHL minutes at all.

Key departures

D Matt Dumba (Arizona, one year, $3.9M)
D John Klingberg (Toronto, one year, $4.15M)
F Gustav Nyquist (Nashville, two years, $6.37M)
F Ryan Reaves (Toronto, three years, $4.05M)
F Sam Steel (Dallas, one year, $800K)
F Oskar Sundqvist (St. Louis, one year, $775K)

Fortunately for Minnesota, most players from this group were trade-deadline acquisitions, meaning they did survive for much of last season without much of this group. However, it is a lot of NHL talent to see walk away from your team over a summer. Due to the $14M of dead cap on their books for the next two seasons, there was just no possible reality in which the Wild could retain most of this group. Because Minnesota did lose so much talent and failed to replace them in any meaningful way, it is tough to say the Wild got better this offseason.

Dumba and Reaves will make up the largest holes for the team to fill in terms of leadership. Dumba had spent the last decade making up a significant part of Minnesota’s defensive core, and although his offensive numbers took a significant dip along the way, his presence will surely be missed by the Wild.

Salary-cap outlook

Over the next seasons, given their financial circumstances due to the Parise and Suter buyouts, the Wild will merely have to try and survive in a competitive Western Conference. In a top-heavy Central Division, there is a pathway for them to clinch a playoff spot as a third seed, but they are simply not improving enough to be considered a legitimate playoff threat.

Going into this year, the Wild have a touch more than $1.6M available to them in cap space, and much like they did last year, should spend a good chunk of that at next year’s deadline. They will have a bit of breathing room next summer, as the cap is expected to increase by a more favorable margin for them, but with Foligno and Mats Zuccarello scheduled to hit the unrestricted free agent market next offseason, there may be another repeat of some notable players walking out of the door.

Key question

What is this team missing? To put it into perspective, last year, the Wild had a 40-goal scorer star in Kirill Kaprizov, a formidable defensive unit (especially post-trade deadline), and a goalie with a SV% above .930. On the other hand, the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Vegas Golden Knights, only had one of those things during the regular season. Yet, once again, the Wild were simply outmatched in the first round of the playoffs, losing in six games to the Dallas Stars. Because the organization has put together some solid teams and continues to lose early in the playoffs, it has become difficult to point the finger at any individual part of the lineup.