By Tony Abbott -
When Bill Guerin told the media at his end-of-year presser that he would be looking for "centers" this offseason, we knew exactly what he meant. Minnesota native Brock Nelson was the guy the Wild had their eyes set on, and that wasn't just the local media saying it. In January, John Buccigross called Minnesota's desire to add Nelson in free agency "The worst-kept secret in hockey" on national television.
After Wednesday, the Colorado Avalanche kicked the tentpole of Minnesota's summer plans out from under it. The Avs acquired Nelson at the trade deadline and inked the center to a three-year contract with a reasonable $7.5 million AAV.
While some are relieved Minnesota didn't have the chance to outbid Colorado for Nelson's services, you can also understand why the Wild were so hopeful to land him.
The 6-foot-4 center would have fit the bill for giving the Wild a size upgrade down the middle, and he pairs his size with elite speed, which he's maintained even through his age-33 season. Was he the missing piece to get Minnesota on a deep playoff run? Well, he wasn't in Colorado this season. Still, he would have improved the Wild's depth on a decent enough free-agent contract.
Without Nelson as an obvious target, the free agent depth gets thin fast. The three best remaining centers on the market are Sam Bennett (No. 2 on The Athletic's FA Big Board), John Tavares (No. 3), and Matt Duchene (No. 11) -- three players on contending teams, for which no one would be surprised to see them re-sign with their clubs.
From there, it gets thin fast. The next three centers The Athletic has listed are Ryan Donato (No. 13), Mikael Granlund (No. 14), and Pius Suter (No. 15). All have their strong spots, but none are the do-it-all, bona fide top-six center Minnesota wants to land.
Of course, there's more than one way to land a center. Let's look away from the rapidly thinning free agent field and look to the trade boards. The Athletic's Trade Board has a 23-year-old, 60-point center at No. 2 on their trade board... which would be good news for Minnesota, if it wasn't Marco Rossi. Daily Faceoff also has Rossi as their top center on their trade board, which puts the Wild much closer to losing a top-six center than gaining one.
The rest of the names on the trade block aren't inspiring -- at least, not down the middle. The Athletic only lists Jean-Gabriel Pageau (No. 12) as a center option, and Pageau has had fewer than 1.0 Standings Points Above Replacement in four of his last five seasons, per Evolving-Hockey. Daily Faceoff has Elias Pettersson at 20th of 20 on their list, but besides that, it's uninspiring names like Erik Haula, Pavel Zacha, and David Kampf.
The State of Hockey's expectations for the summer are through the roof, and that's something the Wild have fueled from the top down. Minnesota owner Mr. Craig Leipold famously declared July 1 would feel like "Christmas Morning," and Guerin didn't do much to walk that back at his final presser, saying this summer was "without a doubt, the best position that this team has been in."
But as we at Hockey Wilderness wrote last month, July 2025 might just be the wrong time to strike. And that was back when the Wild had a shot at Nelson.
The Wild's front office can't make a free agent like Jamie Benn 27 years old again. They also can't slip Gary Bettman a hundred-dollar bill to get him to void Nelson's contract with Colorado, or force an also-ran team like the Buffalo Sabres to give up Tage Thompson.
So what can they do?
Increasingly, it looks like Minnesota simply has to bide its time. This isn't the right time to make a drastic move, and they have most of their team -- a squad that made the playoffs despite missing stars like Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek for about half a season each -- under contract for next year. They have star prospects like Danila Yurov, Liam Öhgren, Zeev Buium, David Jiricek, and Jesper Wallstedt looking to make the team next season. See what happens, see what shakes loose later, and go from there.
Part of that will likely mean finding a way to make nice with Rossi, though. The two sides are at an impasse in contract talks. Finding a way to keep Rossi in the fold would, at minimum, establish a floor for center play next season. Even if Guerin still looks to trade Rossi next season or beyond, having him under contract and productive would give Minnesota much more leverage than in their current situation.
However this offseason goes, it'll be fascinating to see what the Wild do now that their obvious Plan A at center is off the board. Can they pull a rabbit out of their hat? Can they pull a Rossi off the trade boards? Or will they find a way to tread water and fight another day?
With the NHL Draft and July 1 around the corner, we won't have to wait long to find out.
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