Trade deadline acquisition Marcus Johansson signed a new two-year deal with the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday. He was a pending UFA.
Marcus JohanssonThe Minnesota Wild got started on their off-season with a new contract for one of their trade deadline acquisitions.
Forward Marcus Johansson signed a two-year deal with the Wild worth $2 million per season, the team announced Tuesday.
The 32-year-old from Landskrona, Sweden, was traded to Minnesota by the Washington Capitals for a 2024 third-round pick on Feb. 28. After putting up 28 points in 60 games for the Caps, Johansson caught fire in the State of Hockey, with 18 points in 20 regular-season outings. Since the trade, he ranked second in scoring among his Wild teammates, only trailing Matt Boldy’s 23 points in 21 games.
In Washington, Johansson averaged 16:05 in ice time per night, and 15 of his 28 points came at even strength. He already got to 12 even-strength points and averaged 17:43 in ice time in Minnesota.
His average ice time increased to 20:18 per game come the post-season, fourth among Wild forwards behind Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello and Boldy. Johansson scored two goals and no assists in Minnesota’s 4-2 series loss against the Dallas Stars – his second stood up as the Game 3-winner in a 5-1 Wild victory.
Johansson’s deal now brings the Wild to 15 contracts signed through the 2023-24 season with a projected $8.2 million in cap space, according to CapFriendly. They still have Gustav Nyquist, Oskar Sundqvist and Ryan Reaves among the remaining UFA forwards, along with RFAs Sam Steel, Brandon Duhaime and Mason Shaw.
On the back end, Calen Addison is an RFA, while Matt Dumba and John Klingberg are UFAs. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson is also an RFA eligible for arbitration.
While it’s nearly certain not all these pending free agents will return to the team, the Wild will need a plan in place to maneuver this tight cap space while having enough players on the team by the beginning of next season. Considering they haven't won a playoff round since 2014-15, including during their ongoing four-year playoff streak, the burning question will be if the Wild can improve their roster at all ahead of next season to avoid thoughts of a rebuild.
Johansson’s new deal is a raise from his one-year, $1.1-million contract for this season. It’s his first raise in his cap hit since 2016 when he signed a three-year deal worth $4.583 million per season. Ever since, his contract cap hit lowered to $4.5 million in 2019 and $1.5 million in 2021.
In fact, his 46 points this year are the most since 2016-17, when he tallied 58 in 82 games with the Capitals. Throughout his career, he has 453 points in 833 NHL games across six teams and 45 points in 109 playoff games.