Should The Wild Keep Sam Steel Around?

Welcome to the offseason series where we will look at each player’s impact this past season, what their future in Minnesota looks like and what to expect in 2023-24.

When Bill Guerin signed Sam Steel on a one-year deal for $825K in August after the Anaheim Ducks didn’t qualify their former 2016 first-round pick, it seemed like a low-risk move that could result in a high reward.

The young center started the year in the bottom six for the Minnesota Wild but once Ryan Hartman got injured in November, Steel got his first look as the No. 1 center between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.

In his first game as the first line center against the 10-6-1 Carolina Hurricanes, Steel scored to tie the game at 1-1 with two minutes and 37 seconds left in the third. Alex Goligoski then won it in overtime on the night of his 1,000th-game celebration.

In the first five weeks as the Wild’s No. 1 center, the speedy Steel recorded four goals and ten points in 16 games. But once the calendar flipped to 2023, the Steel experiment as the first line center came to an end.

Overall, Steel was not a bad player for the Wild. Only making $825K for the year, the 25-year-old finished the year with 10 goals and 28 points in 65 regular season games. He bounced in and out of the lineup while moving from the first line to the fourth and in everything in between.

Whenever he did get in the lineup, Steel and his speed made a big impact.

I feel like it is very possible for the Wild to bring back Steel. I don’t know if he will be a center though. With Joel Eriksson Ek locked up for six more years, Freddy Gaudreau for five more years, and the thought of Marco Rossi being a top-9 center, there isn't much room for Steel to play center on this team other than maybe the fourth line.

While I don’t think Steel will be a top-six forward on this team, I do think he is and will be a pretty good bottom-six forward. His speed is a plus and he really doesn't hurt you defensively.

But with his 48.66 faceoff winning percentage from last year and the way he skates with speed may make him a better option for the Wild on the wing. 

We saw what the Iowa Wild did with Sammy Walker. The former seventh-rounder by the Tampa Bay Lightning played four years for the University of Minnesota where he played center in every game. He never eclipsed over 15 goals with the Gophers. But in his first season with Iowa, they moved him to right wing where he used his speed to score 27 goals in 56 games.

Not comparing the two on the playing surface, but it is an example of what could happen.

Unless Steel asks for more than $1.5 million a season, I think it would be a smart idea to bring him back for at least another year. He provided the Wild with much needed depth and versatility which is hard to come by these days.

With Steel not hurting you on either side of the puck, being a cap-strapped team and likely not getting a huge contract, I think it would make sense to see Steel in a Wild sweater once again next season. 

Assuming Steel re-signs, here's our predictions:

Aaron's 2023-24 Steel prediction - 13 goals and 24 assists for 37 points

Dylan's 2023-24 Steel predictions - 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points

All data from NHL.com, Evolving-Hockey, and CapFriendly.