Minnesota Wild: What the Sean Durzi Trade Means For Calen Addison

The NHL trade season is upon us with just under a week away until the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville. It started this morning when the Arizona Coyotes acquired defenseman Sean Durzi from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick.

So what does this mean for the Wild and Calen Addison, who has an uncertain future?

Durzi is an offensive defenseman who is good at generating offense at 5-on-5 and on the power play. The knock on him is how he defends in his own zone. 

Sound familiar?

Addison is a young right-shot defender who is good at generating offense in the power play, but he isn't known for his defensive play. 

According to Evolving-Hockey's RAPM tables, Addison generated more expected 5-on-5 offense than Durzi did, but he was much worse defensively. 

The former second-round pick by the Maple Leafs had eight goals and 22 points at 5-on-5 with one goal and 16 points on the power play. On the other hand, Addison notched three goals and 11 points at 5-on-5 with 0 goals and 18 assists on the power play. 

But Addison was a -17 during the regular season as opposed to Durzi's -12, and Addison's -0.9 even-strength defensive goals above replacement was much lower than Durzi's 1.8 EVD. 

The point is: if the Kings can get a 2024 second-round pick for Durzi, what could the Wild get?

After what happened last year, I would have to imagine Addison's trade value is probably at an all-time low. Addison was healthy toward the end of the season, but he was healthy scratched in the playoffs. That's probably something teams who would have interest in him don't want to see. 

With Durzi being better defensively and putting up more points than Addison as a right-shot defender and only getting a second-round pick, it would be hard to believe the Wild would get the same return. 

I would think you could get a third-round pick for Addison, which is something the Wild currently don't have for the 2023 Draft. 

But if you do trade Addison, who runs the power play? 

The Wild handled Addison's absence toward the end of the season and into the playoffs after trading for John Klingberg, who essentially replaced Addison. But with the Wild's tight cap space, it's evident the Wild won't be able to afford him unless he would basically take a league-minimum deal.

Without Addison, that would leave the Wild with Jared Spurgeon and Brock Faber as the only right-shot defenders. The left shot defenseman would be Jonas Brodin, Jake Middleton, Jon Merrill and Alex Goligoski. 

We saw a bit last year that Goligoski and Spurgeon as quarterbacks of the first unit of the power play, but are they capable of running the Wild's power play for the whole season?

I think so, but then who would replace Addison in the lineup? Either one of Goligoski or Merrill would have to play on their off-side, and I'm not sure if that sounds too intriguing. 

Maybe the Wild look to free agency to sign a right-shot defender. The cheapest options would likely be Troy Stecher, Connor Clifton, maybe Luke Schenn, Justin Holl or Scott Mayfield. But you'd likely want to sign one of them for under at least $1.5 million to keep you with the extra cap space for the other RFA's.

I would hold onto Addison and give him another year at the NHL level to prove himself even though he needs to show improvement defensively. He has shown he is valuable enough to run the top power play unit which clicked every time Addison was on it. Plus he is young enough where his game should continue to grow. 

It will be interesting to see what the Wild do during draft week with Addison's uncertain future, but it may be tough to find a replacement for him if the Wild trade him. But that could be a pill the Wild could swallow if it meant they get to move up in this loaded draft.