By Thomas Williams -
Before the craziness of the 2024 NHL Draft and free agency starts next week, the Minnesota Wild have made a trade to start shaping up their full team for the 2024-25 season.
Announced by the team on Friday morning, the Wild have traded Adam Beckman to the New Jersey Devils in a one-for-one swap for winger Graeme Clarke.
Parting ways with Beckman feels like a significant move for the Wild. The former third-round pick in 2019 has been right on the cusp of making the NHL full-time but has constantly just been back and forth between Iowa and St. Paul. We have followed him ever since putting up over 100 points in the WHL before coming and being a solid, professional hockey player.
The 23-year-old Beckman is a restricted free agent this summer and needed a new contract, but instead he is getting swapped for a fellow RFA and someone the exact same age.
In return for Beckman, the Wild are getting a player who seems to have been in the same position as him over in the Devils organization, but has actually produced at a higher level.
Clarke, a fellow former third-rounder from 2019 -- funny how these things work out -- is smaller than Beckman, but still stands at 6-foot, 174 pounds. But, while his frame is smaller, Clarke managed to score 25 goals and 49 points this past AHL season for the Utica Comets (roughly 0.09 more points per game than Beckman) and has previously put up 25 goals and 58 points in the 2022-23 season.
His NHL experience is less than Beckman, as Clarke has played just three point-less games this past NHL season, but that's so minimal of a difference that it shouldn't matter.
The one major thing that points out about Clarke is that despite playing his whole junior career in Ontario, and his family being Canadian -- like his brother Brandt, the top prospect for the Los Angeles Kings -- Graeme was born in Waconia, Minnesota, just outside of Minneapolis. He is not from here, but he also kind of is.
This player-for-player swap is certainly just giving two 23-year-old wingers a new home and fresh opportunity for a different team. Both might not be anything more than solid depth, but they deserve at least another shot.
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