The off-season speculation on the Minnesota Wild began after they were eliminated from the playoffs. Who might walk in free agency with the Wild's cap crunch?
The Minnesota Wild face a significant salary-cap crunch for 2023-24. CapFriendly indicates the $14.7 million of the combined buyouts two years ago of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter leaves them with just $8.2 million in projected cap space for 2023-24.
Unless the cap rises by more than the projected $1 million to $83.5 million for next season, the Wild will have to part ways with several players.
The Pioneer Press' Dane Mizutani believes several veterans slated to become UFAs on July 1 won't be back. They include Matt Dumba and trade deadline pickups John Klingberg, Gustav Nyquist, Oskar Sundqvist and Ryan Reaves.
Dumba, 28, has spent his entire 10-season NHL career with the Wild. He wants to stay in Minnesota, but Mizutani doubts that's possible unless he accepts a significant pay cut. The veteran defenseman could get up to $6 million annually on the open market.
The Wild must also re-sign or replace RFAs such as goaltender Filip Gustavsson, defenseman Calen Addison and center Sam Steel. They could look at freeing up salary with a cost-cutting trade or two.
Addison could become a trade candidate. The Athletic's Michael Russo, Joe Smith and Shayna Goldman observed that he had a promising start to this season but struggled in the second half and was a healthy scratch after Klingberg was acquired at the deadline.
The trio speculated that Alex Goligoski might waive his no-movement clause after being a frequent healthy scratch this season. He's signed through 2023-24 with an average annual value of $2 million.
They wondered if Marc-Andre Fleury might accept a trade back to the Pittsburgh Penguins or his hometown of Montreal. However, the 38-year-old netminder said he's tired of moving and will finish his contract next season in Minnesota.