The NHL Trade Deadline is over, nothing works anymore.
The Minnesota Wild were busy luring half of Sweden to St. Paul. How is the team doing now and what are the short- and long-term effects of the recent trades for Marco Rossi?
questions that LAOLA1 scout Bernd Freimüller answered:
The Minnesota Wild and the weeks leading up to the Trade Deadline
In Minneapolis or St. Paul, where the Xcel Energy Center is located, there has always been an immensely large Swedish population of over 400,000. Wild general manager Bill Guerin didn’t quite manage to double that, but he’s left no stone unturned over the past few weeks. Strikers Gustav Nyquist, Marcus Johansson, Oskar Sundqvist and defender John Klingberg joined Filip Gustavsson, Jonas Brodin and Joel Eriksson Ek, the local IKEA has already ordered Köttbullar.
What are these trades supposed to do for the wild? Offensive of course, the streak of 2-1 wins that took the team to a fairly secure playoff spot won’t last forever. John Klingberg, who turned down a long-term offer from Dallas last season and certainly hasn’t improved his cards on his one-year contract at Anaheim, should be the No. 1 power play and provide offensive pinpricks even in 5-on-5s. Do his offensive contributions outweigh his defensive slacks?
Oskar Sundqvist knew Guerin from his work in Pittsburgh and appreciates his size, versatility and reliability in both directions. Averaging or slightly better in everything except skating, he should become an option for the Wild for a bottom-6-center role. He’s now moving into the lineup for Sam Steel.
Marcus Johansson has struggled with injuries over the years but has been consistently fit in Washington this year. It’s certainly not an offensive gamebreaker, but it might perhaps support Matt Boldy, who isn’t quite getting going. The wing already played in St. Paul in 2020/21, but was mostly injured at the time and, if fit, not a big factor.
The fourth in the Swedish league, Gustav Nyquist, will not play a role for the time being. With his shoulder injury, the Columbus Blue Jackets announced that the season was over for him, he himself believes in a comeback by the playoffs at the latest. His last two seasons (having been injured throughout 2020/21) have often seen him in defensive trouble.
Two wings (one of them injured), a center and a defender – only Klingberg promises an above-average offensive for a team that recently lived almost exclusively from Kirill Kaprizov. Guerin has certainly broadened the squad, but his movers do not promise a rapid offensive increase. It looks a bit like “more of the same”. On the one hand, Klingberg can bring in offensive contributions from the blue line, on the other hand, it can also punch holes in the defensive concept. However, his debut in the 4-0 win once morest the Calgary Flames turned out to be promising.
The Wild must continue to hope for excellent goalie performances (Filip Gustavsson is developing into a top man in the league), their team defense and Kaprizov. Any kind of improvement in the form of potential scorers like Ryan Hartman, Frederick Gaudreau, Marcus Foligno or Boldy would be good in the direction of the playoffs.
Short term implications for Marco Rossi
The Wild currently have five centres: Eriksson Ek, Hartman, Steel, Dewar and Sundqvist, although Gaudreau, among others, might move into the middle at any time. A short-term NHL comeback by the Austrian would come as a surprise.
Is Sam Steel staying? His place might be free for Rossi
Foto: © getty
However, the rules have changed with the trading deadline: The players who were on the NHL roster at that time can no longer be sent to the AHL.
Conversely, up to four players may be requested from the AHL team. In addition to these “regular recalls”, there are also unlimited emergency recalls if injuries or suspensions push the squad below the 20 men required for a game.
The squad limit of 23 players has fallen, but the salary cap still applies until the playoffs. The Wild still have more than $5 million to play with here, and they won’t have any trouble following Brodin’s expected return soon. With the Swede, the Wild then have eight defenders and 14 forwards (without Nyquist).
Once the Iowa Wild are out of the AHL (currently the last pre-playoff spot in their division), unlimited players can move up from there.
Long term implications for Marco Rossi
One thing to remember regarding the Wild is that their payroll for next season looks like this: upper salary cap (to be determined, $83.5 million expected) minus nearly $15 million for the Ryan Suter and Zach Parise buyouts. That’s already a significant competitive disadvantage, and one that Guerin needs to keep in mind at all times. So it’s good for him that he was able to trade Jordan Greenway and his contract, which runs until 2025 and is estimated at three million per season, to the Buffalo Sabers. For this year, his salary hasn’t been the problem, his declining performances (no goal in the last 25 games) and a sleepy team meeting have been.
The new cracks not only have Swedish citizenship, but also the fact that their contracts expire at the end of the season. Also in the summer history: the “Retained Salaries” by Ryan O’Reilly and Dmitry Orlov (Retained Salaries: How they work>>>). Guerin needs leeway for new contracts, especially for coach favorite Gaudreau and Gustavsson, who of course can expect a significant salary increase following this season.
For 14 players under contract plus the non-playing Suter and Parise, there are almost 71 million in the Wild books for the 2023/24 season. You don’t need a crystal ball to see that some young cracks with entry-level deals or low-cost contracts are needed.
This includes Rossi, but also Samuel Walker, who has already played six NHL games this year and leads the scorer list in Iowa with 43 points from 48 games. The Wild talent pool is considered to be very deep, but in the center position only the two should come into question for the NHL next season. It is quite possible that Steel, who has fallen sharply following a good start, will not get a new contract (even if it were cheap). The top centers in Minnesota would then be Hartman and Eriksson Ek, behind them there would be space, but at the same time little financial leeway for expensive solutions.
The Wild turned the screw before and following the trade deadline – draft picks flew in both directions, Guerin widened the roster. But a long playoff run would come as a surprise given the offensive woes, and Guerin may have to deal with the problems that loom next season sooner rather than later.