The Minnesota Wild have signed Yakov Trenin to a four-year deal.
The Minnesota Wild have signed Yakov Trenin to a four-year deal.
Recent reports by Elliotte Friedman and Michael Russo and confirmed with money and term by PuckPedia, Yakov Trenin and the Wild have agreed to a deal. The Minnesota Wild have signed Trenin to a four-year deal worth $3.5 million a year.
Trenin, 27, is a bottom-six forward who is extremely physical. He is also very good at killing penalties.
After the season ended, Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin said the team needs to get their identity back. Their identity is to be a hard team to play against and being physical.
"We have to find our swagger again. And when you talk about those six-on-five goals and stuff like that, we had swagger, we had confidence, we had a lot of FU in our game. And we need to find it, and we didn't have it this year," Guerin said. "In my mind, to be a playoff team, to be a championship team, you have to have that confidence and that swagger and that resiliency to be able to overcome things like injuries."
There is no doubt the 6-foot-2 forward will help the team get their swagger back. he recorded 207 hits last season in 76 games between the Nashville Predators and the Colorado Avalanche.
Trenin played under current Wild head coach John Hynes in Nashville for a few seasons. He recorded 34 goals, 25 assists, 59 points, and 452 hits in 202 games across three full seasons under Hynes in Nashville.
The Russian forward has 705 hits in 299 career NHL games and is known for his physicality and penalty-killing efforts but he has also scored double-digit goals in each of the last three seasons with a career-high of 17 in 2021-22, under Hynes.
According to PuckPedia, after this signing, the Wild now have $2,531,410 left in cap space. Minnesota still has Declan Chisholm unsigned but will likely give him a contract somewhere near $1 million.
The Wild are going to be right up against the cap again this year. They still need a fifth goalie in the organization and one more defenseman in the AHL. Plus a few depth signings. It's going to be tight.
Make sure you bookmark The Hockey News' Minnesota Wild page for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more.