With nearly $15 million in dead cap space, what improvements could possibly be made with such little wiggle room on the salary cap?
The forwards are next up in our continuing look at the changes to the Minnesota Wild’s roster for the upcoming season. Key additions, subtractions, and salary cap hell have all combined to make a slightly different looking Wild team upfront this year.
KEY DEPARTURES: Gustav Nyquist, Oskar Sundqvist, Ryan Reaves, Sam Steel
Generally, the departures on offense were kind of on the fringe of the roster, mostly depth and role players. Nyquist and Sundqvist had less than 10 points in the regular season, Reaves had 15 points, and Steel had 28 points, which ranked 9th in the team in scoring. In the playoffs, Nyquist popped off for five points in six games played, which was tied for the lead in scoring on the team. However, generally speaking, none of the forwards that departed are likely to have a significant impact on the offensive output for the team next season, with younger guys like Marco Rossi getting a chance for larger roles on the team.
Rossi, drafted 9th overall in 2020, could bring some much-needed depth to a team where centers are one of the weakest positions within the forward group. However, there are questions about whether the coaching staff has any trust in Rossi’s ability to be a consistent contributor every night in the NHL. After making the roster out of training camp, he played in just 19 games before being sent down to the American Hockey League. When injuries occurred in the playoffs, Rossi wasn’t inserted into the lineup in favor of other depth players.
However, they’ll be looking for him to make important steps forward this season to be an every night player at the NHL level.
KEY ADDITIONS: Pat Maroon, Vinni Lettieri
Maroon will bring some Stanley Cup winning pedigree into the locker room and is likely to help try to fill the leadership void left by Dumba’s departure. Lettieri is a journeyman hockey player who signed for his hometown team a two-year, two-way contract. It’s anticipated that he’ll likely be more of a depth role player in the AHL Iowa Wild.
PROJECTED LINES:
Kirill Kaprizov – Ryan Hartman – Mats Zuccarello
Matthew Boldy – Joel Eriksson Ek – Marcus Johansen
Marcus Foligno – Frederick Gaudreau – Brandon Duhaime
Patrick Maroon – Marco Rossi – Connor Dewar
OUTLOOK:
In the playoffs, the defensive match-up between the Wild and the Dallas Stars was supposed to be the big storyline between the two teams. What ended up happening was the Stars forwards found the back of the net at will for stretches of that playoff series. The Wild were eventually outscored 21-14 with the Wild mustering just 2, 0, and 1 goals in the three games after they took a 2-1 series lead. So after ending the regular season as the 28th-ranked offense in the league, and then getting outscored in the playoffs, it became apparent that upgrades to the offense needed to be the key focus of the offseason.
Unfortunately, with approximately $14.7 million in dead cap space thanks to the buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, and new deals needed for key RFAs, that didn’t leave a lot of room for the Wild to target an impact forward that would completely revamp the offense this season. All eyes will be on Rossi’s ability to come in and work his way into the top six of the lineup and provide the team with a stronger center lineup than they might start with at the beginning of the season.
Even with that unknown quantity, and assuming Kirill Kaprizov and Matthew Boldy can carry their big offensive seasons forward this year, the plan for the season looks pretty much the same as last year: good defensive structures, win close games, and get into the playoffs where (theoretically) anything could happen. It’s anticipated that the Wild will once again be a bottom-third offensive team in the league, barring major seasons by key forwards above and beyond what is expected of them.