Wild extend qualifying offers to Kaprizov, Fiala, Shaw, and more

The Minnesota Wild have sent qualifying offers to five players on Monday afternoon, right before the deadline to do so.

Kevin Fiala and Kirill Kaprizov — the obvious ones — are joined by depth young forwards Will Bitten, Brandon Duhaime, and Mason Shaw. As previously reported, winger Dimitry Sokolov will not be getting a qualifying offer and is now an NHL unrestricted free agent, but is heading overseas to play in the KHL this season.

By doing this, the team keeps the rights of the player and the player can either negotiate a new contract, or accept the qualifying offer at 105 percent of their current cap hit and receive a new one-year deal with that as their salary. The latter rarely happens, as they can probably get more term or a higher salary by putting in the extra negotiation work.

All three of Bitten, Duhaime and Shaw spent their entire seasons in the AHL with the Iowa Wild. Duhaime scored six goals and nine points in 24 games, Bitten scored seven goals and 19 points in 31 games, while Shaw was able to get the highest of the trio with eight goals and 22 points in 30 games.

Now with their qualifying offer in-hand, they will be most likely participating in the Wild’s training camp when it opens later this fall.