Less Is More

Three of the top four teams in the NHL’s Central Division were busy making moves to improve themselves as Friday’s trade deadline approached. The Dallas Stars acquired star winger Mikko Rantanen from Carolina. The Colorado Avalanche got center Brock Nelson from the New York Islanders and then added winger Charlie Coyle from Boston. The Winnipeg Jets obtained defenseman Luke Schenn from Pittsburgh and left winger Brandon Tanev from Seattle.

The only team that didn’t make a trade that moved the needle was the third-place Minnesota Wild. Bottom six winger Justin Brazeau was acquired from Boston late Thursday after veteran winger Gustav Nyquist was obtained from Nashville last weekend.

Will Wild general manager Bill Guerin be criticized for not doing more? Probably. Should he be? Absolutely not.

If Guerin had really wanted to deal for a player such as Nelson, Buffalo’s Dylan Cozens, who was moved to Ottawa, or Vancouver’s Brock Boeser, who wasn’t moved, he could have put Joel Eriksson Ek on long-term injured reserve with Kirill Kaprizov and kept both out until the playoffs opened in order to circumvent the salary cap.

But Guerin wisely elected to keep his top prospects and focus on the opening of free agency on July 1. That’s when the NHL’s salary cap will rise from $88 million to $95.5 million and when the dead cap hits of $14.7 million for the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter will shrink to $1.7 million.

The Wild and Avalanche both have 76 points, but the Wild are in third place because they have a game in hand. The Avalanche almost certainly will pass the Wild in the coming days, but Minnesota still figures to make the playoffs. A fantastic start to the season that briefly put the Wild atop the NHL standings has helped to give them an eight-point lead on Calgary, the second wild card in the Western Conference, and a nine-point lead on Vancouver, the first team out of the postseason.

But there is no way Guerin could have looked at his roster on Friday — especially once the Jets, Avalanche and Stars started making moves — and thought he had a team that could emerge from the Western Conference. The Wild missed the playoffs last season, were expected to miss again this season and ended up being a pleasant surprise that right now is without two of their top forwards, Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek, and a top-four defenseman in Jonas Brodin.

The what-if? game
While Guerin says he expects Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek and Brodin to return before the regular season is finished, no one knows how effective they will be if they do play again. Let’s say the Wild had acquired Boeser for a 2026 first-round pick — their 2025 first-rounder was dealt to Columbus for promising young defenseman David Jiricek — along with winger Liam Ohgren and a third-round selection.

Would Boeser have joined a team that had a full-strength Kaprizov? The Wild forward has played in three games of 27 games since Dec. 23 after initially being considered day-to-day. Kaprizov underwent surgery for his lower-body injury in late January and still hasn’t started skating. He might return, but will he be his normal explosive self? Clearly, Guerin and the doctors have no idea.

Eriksson Ek, the Wild’s best center, has missed the past five games because of what The Athletic reported is a broken bone in his leg. Wild coach John Hynes told The Athletic it might be a “usage injury,” meaning there is no predicting if Eriksson Ek will be fully healthy again this season. Brodin has dealt with injuries all season and is now out with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot against Colorado late last month.

Add it up and the only thing a significant trade by Guerin would have done is add a player, likely on an expiring contract, to a mix of guys who might be back at some point but also could and should be shut down at the first sign of trouble. The Wild are better off pursuing Boeser when he becomes a free agent on July 1 and not giving up anything for him.

Given Guerin’s penchant for making deals, the guess here is that it pained him to mostly sit out this deadline. But he did the right thing. The Wild’s long-term future looks bright because the cupboard is filled with prospects. Not moving some of them in the name of trying to make a run against what now appears to be superior competition was the type of restraint for which Guerin should be applauded.