By Luke Sims -
The Minnesota Wild reshuffled their bottom six in the offseason. They said goodbye to fan favorites Connor Dewar and Brandon Duhaime at the trade deadline. To replace them, they traded for Jakub Lauko and signed Yakov Trenin from the Colorado Avalanche.
Trenin and Lauko project to play in the Wild’s bottom six. While it is still unclear how head coach John Hynes will deploy them, they will replace the Deweys.
While Duhaime and Dewar were easy to cheer for with their infectious off-ice personalities and gritty brand of hockey, is the Wild’s new foreign duo an improvement?
From a production standpoint, Trenin is the only clear upgrade. Duhaime and Dewar have not eclipsed 19 points in their careers with the Wild. Trenin’s career-high is not much better: 24 points in 77 games with the Nashville Predators in 2022-23.
However, Dewar is seen as more of a defensive specialist than an offensive play driver.
Lauko is essentially a bigger version of Dewar. While Dewar is more of a center and Lauko is a winger, they were effective in their roles. Lauko and Dewar played almost exclusively fourth-line roles. Dewar produced a bit more but played in 17 more games than Lauko. The former Boston Bruins forward scored only two goals in 60 games, but he brought a bigger physical pressure than Dewar. Lauko could still improve; he has played less than 100 games in the NHL.
Trenin is an upgrade over Duhaime in almost every way besides personality. Trenin is a little bigger, plays a more physical brand of hockey, and produces at a higher rate than Duhaime.
Trenin is also a little more disciplined than Duhaime. He is a similar player to Foligno and will probably play a lot with him. The analytics models are much nicer to Trenin than they are to Duhaime.
Trenin is also a better penalty-killer than Duhaime. Trenin is known for being a shutdown penalty killer. While Duhaime played okay with a man down in Minnesota, the Wild had one of the worst penalty-killing units in the league last season. However, they have a new coach and penalty-killing specialist this year.
The new duo is a bit more expensive. Duhaime and Dewar had a combined $3.03 million cap hit. The Toronto Maple Leafs gave Dewar a one-year, $1.18 million deal, and the Washington Capitals signed Duhaime for two years, $3.7 million.
Lauko and Trenin’s combined cap hit is $4.287 million. However, Trenin accounts for $3.5 million, and Lauko is on a $787,000 deal. The Wild have locked Trenin in for the next four years, after which he’ll be an unrestricted free agent. Lauko is only on a one-year deal, but Minnesota will hold his rights as a restricted free agent.
The biggest reason for the move may be their intangibles. Lauko and Trenin are big-bodied wingers who like to throw hits. They are part of Bill Guerin’s plan for the Wild to become a tougher team to play against. Trenin echoed this message when talking about playing against the Wild.
“When I played against them early in the season — when Marcus was healthy (and) Duhaime and Maroon (were there) — it was like a way different game compared to the last games in the season,” Trenin said. “It particularly got a little bit softer, and that’s why I can help with that.”
The Wild lost Maroon to the Chicago Blackhawks, but Foligno is back to full health and is a crucial cog in the Wild's desire to re-cultivate that identity.
“When you think particularly at our team, our nine to 12 forwards, we felt we had to have more of an identity: more speed, bigger, stronger, faster, guys that can play with an edge, guys that can tilt the ice, guys that bring energy to your team with the way that they play,” Hynes said. “That’s certainly something that he brings.”
While Duhaime brought that element, the Wild got great value out of him at the trade deadline, shipping him off to Colorado for a third-round selection. Dewar also provided solid value in a trade, netting a fourth-round pick, especially if the Wild were going to move on from him anyway.
The Wild moved on from two fan favorites to restore a hard-nosed identity, become a bigger team, and help fix the penalty kill. They wanted to become a tougher team to play against, and trading for Lauko and signing Trenin moved the team in the right direction. While Trenin costs more than Duhaime or Dewar, the Wild are only spending $1.257 million more on the Lauko-Trenin duo than the Duhaime-Dewar duo.
The Wild are tired of being an easy team to play against. Trenin and Lauko will bring an edge in toughness and size to Minnesota’s bottom six, an upgrade over Duhaime and Dewar. While the Dewwys were fun personalities off the ice, this will be a worthwhile cost for what the Wild hope to accomplish moving forward.
All stats and data via HockeyDB, CagWages.com, and Evolving Hockey unless otherwise noted.
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