Wild Blog: Quiet Trade Deadline Day For The Minnesota Wild
By Craig D. Schroepfer (@CDSWCCO)
Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher has a history of being active at the trade deadline.
In 2013, Fletcher acquired Jason Pominville from the Buffalo Sabres. In 2014, Fletcher made a deal with Buffalo once again, this time acquiring forward Matt Moulson. Last year, Fletcher acquired defenseman Jordan Leopold from Columbus and Chris Stewart from the Sabres as the trade deadline expired.
So with the Wild fighting for a playoff spot, the state of hockey watched to see what deals Fletcher would make to improve the team.
When it was all said and done, Minnesota made three trades on deadline day. The first was acquiring defenseman Conor Allen from Ottawa for forward Michael Keranen. The next deal was trading forward Brett Sutter to Los Angeles for forward Scott Sabourin. The final trade of the day was sending goaltender Niklas Backstrom and a 6th round pick in the 2016 draft to Calgary for forward David Jones.
Not exactly the kind of trades Wild fans were hoping for.
The reality of the situation, though, is that the best thing Fletcher could do is make a couple of minor moves and keep the current roster intact.
Minnesota has about $3.5 million in cap space. It's almost impossible to make a major trade with that little cap space to work with. The Wild would have to move a big salary in a trade to add a player to the roster who would make an impact this late in the season.
The issue with that is Minnesota's five highest-paid players -- Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, Mikko Koivu, Thomas Vanek and Pominville -- all have no movement clauses, which restricts any flexibility Fletcher has in making a trade.
The other option Fletcher had was to trade away one of his younger players in hope of getting a number one center or a pure goal scorer, both areas where the Wild are severely lacking. Two such players that many NHL teams did inquire about at the trade deadline were defensemen Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba.
While both players would fetch a nice return in a trade, one thing Wild fans need to keep in mind is that both are young and still developing. Brodin is 22 and Dumba is 21. They are part of the core Minnesota will build around, and their best years are yet to come.
Looking at the players who were available at the trade deadline, it doesn't make sense to trade a young player on the roster for someone who may or may not help the Wild over the next 20 games.
Over the weekend Fletcher said that he believed Minnesota is still a playoff team and capable of making the postseason. If that is the case, the best thing for the Wild to do is go with who they have on the roster and see how the final 20 games of the season play out.
What Minnesota needs is for the players on the roster to start playing up to their capability. The Wild need Pominville, Nino Neiderreiter and Jason Zucker to start scoring again. The Wild need Vanek to play a more consistent game and not be streaky from week to week.
The Colorado Avalanche are in town Tuesday night. With the Wild chasing the Avs for one of the wild card spots in the Western Conference, that game should give a good indicator of where the team is headed.
And if Minnesota misses the playoffs, the best thing Fletcher can do is put everybody on the table this off-season when all 29 other teams are looking to improve their roster and go from there.
