Busy summer in Minnesota

Following a disappointing 2020-2021 season where the Wild finished with the 5th worst record in the league, rumours about a full blown rebuild were aplenty. SouCHe, Minnesota Wild's GM, decided otherwise. ''When you got a player like Sid, you ought to do everything possible to give him a chance at the cup. That's what I will try to do this summer'' said SouCHe in June, in regards to his 34 year old captain, who isn't getting any younger, but has shown no sign of a massive decline in his play.  

Easier said than done, especially following Henrik Lundqvist retirement, Carter Hutton declining a contract extansion and Joe Pavelski asking for a trade at the deadline. The Wild were without any NHL level goaltender, no 2nd line center, and still missing a 5th defenseman. 

Before free agency even began, SouCHe contacted MatsLP from New Jersey regarding Ben Chiarot. Chiarot was about to become an unrestricted free agent in the next weeks. They agreed on a trade-and-sign. 6th round pick went to NJ, and Minnesota extended Chiarot to a 3 years at 3M AAV contract. Chiarot brings steadiness and physicality to the bottom of the blue line, a need for the Wild. 

Then SouCHe contacted Notor in L.A to inquire about Mike Smith, the 39 years old veteran goaltender. L.A had just acquired superstar goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (a former Wild by the way, but that's a different story for another time) and Smith was expendable. The Wild gave a 2nd round pick to secure him and his very friendly 1.75M contract. One goalie down, one to go!

As free agency began, SouCHe's priorities were a 2nd line center and a solid 1b goalie to split the workload with Smith. With limited options, he made a solid offer to Jeff Carter, a perfect fit for the team, both in terms of hockey attributes and personality/leadership. Carter signed a 2 year deal at 4.25M AAV, which should give young Jesperi Kotkaniemi time to properly develop as a center without exposing him too much. 

Finally, SouCHe made an enormous offer to Jake Allen. 4 years at 3.25M per with a 3.25M signature bonus! He simply couldn't refuse. Here's what SouCHe said about this signature : ''If I were to picture a perfect 1b goalie to support Mike Smith, it would be Jake. He's just a perfect fit, and I couldn't risk him signing elsewhere. We wanted him in Minnesota long term and we got him.''

So there it is. It remains to be seen how John Tortorella will work his lines in camp, but it could look something like this : 

B. Tkachuk  -  Crosby  -   Comtois

M. Tkachuk  -  Carter  -  Radulov

Drouin  -  Kotkaniemi  -  Byron

Roussel  -  Jankowski  -  Galchenyuk

McAvoy  -  Karlsson

Sergachev - Weber

Chiarot  -  Romanov

Smith

Allen

We'll see you again soon for a recap of the Draft, in which the Wild made some key moves to grab some very interesting prospects. Stay tuned!