The Minnesota Wild was one of the biggest disappointments in the NHL this past season. The result should be a very interesting offseason. The Wild owned the best record in the Western Conference early on in 2017. However, Minnesota really struggled down the stretch en route to finishing second in the Central before eventually suffering a first round playoff exit at the hands of the St. Louis Blues. Now the Wild enter this offseason with some tough decisions to make regarding the immediate future of the franchise. Here is a look at the offseason plan for Minnesota.
3 Things The Wild Have To Work On
1. Deal With RFA’s
Mikael Granlund timed his breakout season perfectly heading in to restricted free agency. The 25-year-old scored 26 goals and finished with a team-high 69 points to earn what should be a substantial raise. Minnesota is projected to have just over $11 million in cap space so it will be important to sign Granlund to a reasonable bridge contract. Meanwhile, Nino Neiderreiter, Erik Haula and Jordan Schroeder are all set to become restricted free agents. The Wild will need to find a way to retain their existing young core at a reasonable price in order to build around them moving forward.
2. Sign A Star Scorer
Minnesota ranked second in NHL scoring last season with an average of 3.2 goals per game. It still wasn’t enough when the playoffs rolled around. The Wild were held to two goals or fewer in four of their five playoff games against the St. Louis Blues. The biggest issue was a lack of star power up front that ultimately cost them.
Minnesota’s key to success up front during the regular season was a sound foundational system and strong contributions from all four lines. Eight different players scored at least 15 goals for the Wild. None of them reached the 30-goal mark and only three hit the 25-goal mark. However, when the checking became tighter in the playoffs – as it typically does – the Wild didn’t see any of their guys carry the mail.
Minnesota has considerable depth up front but desperately needs a star scorer to help take their offense to another level. A free agent like T.J. Oshie is the perfect example of the type of player that the Wild needs. If Minnesota can’t sign Oshie, they might need to get creative in order to add at least one more star scorer to the mix. The challenge will be that they don’t have a lot of cap space to work with, so we’ll see what they do. Oshie is going to command a big payday.
3. Make A Decision In Goal
The Wild ran into trouble during the regular season when Devan Dubnyk struggled in goal. Dubnyk finished the season with one of the best goals against averages in the NHL at 2.25. However, he registered a 1.88 GAA before the All-Star break compared to a 2.82 GAA after the All-Star break. Dubnyk’s issues forced head coach Bruce Boudreau to turn to Darcy Keumper for a brief stretch. When Keumper struggled, Boudreau even went as far as to call up Alex Stalock in the final week of the regular season.
Keumper is set to become a free agent and likely won’t be back but Boudreau needs to recommit to Dubnyk in order to help restore his confidence. Dubnyk is under contract for four more years at a respectable $4.3 million per season so the Wild will need him to regain his All-Star form next season.
Key Free Agents
Granlund is due for a raise as an RFA this offseason but he definitely won’t make as much as he would have if he were an unrestricted free agent. Neiderreiter and Haula are two more forwards that Minnesota will hope to bring back at a very reasonable price tag. The Wild will try to sign Victor Bartley and Nate Prosser as UFA’s, but they won’t break the bank to bring back either one. Minnesota has some flexibility heading in to this offseason. It will be very interesting to see how they approach free agency after a disappointing finish to this past season.
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