By Robert Brent -
The Minnesota Wild are entering one of their most pivotal offseasons in recent memory. The team could look much different on opening night with the long-awaited arrival of cap space, a looming contract extension for Kirill Kaprizov, and the Marco Rossi trade saga.
While those are the big stories, the Wild will make other moves. Michael Russo and Joe Smith recently wrote about which players will likely be moved in a potential trade this offseason.
One of the more interesting notes on that list is that they rank Frédérick Gaudreau in the “most likely to be traded” category.
Gaudreau is a relatively cheap ($2.1 million average annual salary) and experienced center, making him an interesting trade piece. Still, it doesn’t make sense for Minnesota to move on now.
Let’s start by examining why Gaudreau may be a trade piece for the Wild. Gaudreau struggled during the playoffs, and Minnesota has center prospects who need playing time.
“Some young centers coming from the pipeline (Danila Yurov, Hunter Haight, Charlie Stramel, Riley Heidt) could make him expendable,” Russo and Smith wrote.
However, the Wild can’t think that way because they must improve at center. The Athletic recently ranked Minnesota 17th in the league in center quality. The team entered the offseason with designs to remedy that weakness, but almost every impact free-agent center is off the board.
Sam Bennett and John Tavares are still available but will likely re-sign with their current teams. Once those names are gone, the remaining centers on the market are players like Pius Suter and Jack Roslovic.
The Wild don’t have the depth to move on from Gaudreau, especially if they trade Marco Rossi. The same article that ranked the Wild 17th at center puts them at 25th if they jettison Rossi.
If the Wild trades Gaudreau and Rossi, they would be taking half of the centers from last year out of the lineup. That would mean the Wild would only return Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan Hartman at the pivot.
Eriksson Ek only played 46 games last year due to injury, while Hartman played 69 games, partially due to a suspension. Bringing back only those two centers leaves the Wild without much continuity down the lineup.
That’s acceptable if they were to have a significant addition coming in, but making room for younger, unproven players is something rebuilding teams typically do. The Wild can’t afford to behave like a rebuilding team.
The Wild must try to contend every year they have Kirill Kaprizov. He’s a top-10 forward in the NHL, given that his 1.21 points per game since the 2020 season is ninth best in the league. If the Wild trade Gaudreau, it would have to be for a sizable improvement in the lineup, not to open up a spot for a player who’s never suited up for an NHL game.
Another issue with moving on from Gaudreau is that he’d be appealing to other teams because he’s valuable to the Wild. The forward may have struggled in the playoffs, but that six-game sample size doesn’t mean he isn’t a useful player. Gaudreau produced solid results for the Wild last season as a depth scorer who provided timely scoring and took over 1000 draws at the pivot position.
After his worst season for the Wild in 2023-24, where he registered only 15 points in 67 games, Gaudreau bounced back in a big way last year. His 18 goals and 19 assists were the second-highest markers of his Minnesota career, and he did that in a bottom-six role. Gaudreau’s 1.73 points per 60 minutes ranked tied for sixth among forwards, and his goals per 60 slotted in at seventh on the team.
After another incredibly disciplined season, Gaudreau also finished 18th in Lady Byng trophy voting. The center served only eight minutes in the penalty box, which was valuable to the Wild, who thoroughly struggled with a 72.4% penalty killing rate.
Gaudreau is a reasonably consistent depth scorer who plays center, stays out of the box, and has a cost-effective contract until 2027-28. The Wild would be interested in that type of player if he weren’t already on the team. Moving on from Gaudreau this offseason wouldn’t accomplish much for a team that desperately needs a center and scoring depth.
Still, Gaudreau’s status on the team comes with a caveat. He may be an interesting piece to move at some point, just not this offseason. As Russo and Smith mentioned, several new players could play an essential role in the middle of the ice for the Wild.
If some of the younger players vying for spots successfully transition to the NHL, Gaudreau would become expendable.
Some moves demand attention in the summer. Others can, and should, wait until the trade deadline. Gaudreau is a solid contributor who doesn’t cost much, so moving him this offseason doesn’t make sense. Therefore, the Wild should take a wait-and-see approach.
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