NHL trade deadline day tracker: Will the Wild do anything?

It’s the NHL trade deadline day and we are pumped to do nothing all day but watch as the transactions roll in and wonder why the Minnesota Wild did not make that trade. It’s fun!

We’ll be here until the clock strikes 2:00 p.m. CT to keep you informed with what is going on throughout the day.

In case you need a refresher on what players are still out there that the Wild (realistically) can trade for, we have you covered here.

Let’s not waste any time and get to the dirty business of looking at what trades have been made.

All trades will be in reverse chronological order, with the most recent trades being at the top.

Nick Bonino to the Penguins

We woke up this morning to discover a former Wild center is on his way to the Pittsburgh Penguins, per Elliotte Friedman. He was one of the few remaining experienced centers available, so it looks like GM Ron Hextall and his team wanted to make a further splash after getting another former Minnesota man in Mikael Granlund earlier this week.

Jakub Vrana to the Blues

A Central team is getting in on some action. The St. Louis Blues announce that they have acquired winger Jakub Vrana from the Detroit Red Wings for forward Dylan McLaughlin and a 2025 seventh-round pick. So, essentially nothing. He is under contract through next season and since Detroit is retaining 50 percent of Vrana’s salary, he comes in at a cap hit of $2.625 million.

The Blues are one of the few teams that are willing to take the risk, but getting a potential 30-goal scorer for incredibly cheap is a shrewd move on their part.

Curtis Lazar to the Devils

Lazar is under contract for two more seasons after this one at a very cheap $1-million cap hit and is going to the New Jersey Devils from the Vancouver Canucks for a 2024 fourth-round pick.

Devils get a decent bottom-six forward and the Canucks get rid of a piece that looked decent earlier this season and was bound to provide some stability in the depth of that team.

Brendan Lemieux to the Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers made their first deal around the trade deadline and they have acquired Brendan Lemieux and a 2024 fifth-round pick from the Los Angeles Kings for Zack MacEwen. Lemieux is a pending UFA and MacEwen is a pending RFA, but they are essentially the same player (bad and angry). The Flyers getting a pick for this is kind of nice.

Vlad Namestnikov to the Jets

The San Jose Sharks are sending forward Namestnikov to the Winnipeg Jets for a 2025 fourth-round pick. A solid defensive forward that solidifies the Jets’ bottom-six and improves another Central division team’s depth.

A random depth deal

Nathan Schnarr is going to the Kings for Frederic Allard to the Montreal Canadiens. Cool.

Dmitry Kulikov to the Penguins

Oh! A familiar face is going to Pittsburgh. The Wild sent Kulikov to the Anaheim Ducks for literally nothing during the summer, and at the deadline he is getting dealt to the desperate Penguins for a third-round pick and forward Brock McGinn. McGinn was recently on waivers as a way to clear up cap space but is a serviceable middle-six winger and should get loads of opportunity in Anaheim.

Ron Hextall continues to confuse the entire league by spending a whole lot of assets to get worse, after getting Kulikov, Bonino, and Granlund.