The Minnesota Wild are in final preparations for the busiest stretch in the NHL offseason, a two-week frenzy of activity when the league crams in its annual award ceremony, general manager meetings, trades, the draft and free agency.
Moves made during this span will determine what new coach Bruce Boudreau’s roster will look like this fall.
First up on general manager Chuck Fletcher’s plate will be trade talks, which ramp up when GMs get together in Buffalo a few days in advance of the draft next Friday and Saturday.
Fletcher has a history of trade activity at the draft, and he said in April that he plans to improve the Wild roster this offseason.
“We need to upgrade our personnel,” Fletcher said at his end-of-season news conference in April. “I need to bring in a player or two to help upgrade the talent of our team. I’m certainly not passing the buck on that one. We need to get better.”
Fletcher will hold a news conference Monday, his first since hiring Boudreau last month, to discuss his plans. Here are items at the top of his long to-do list:
BUYOUTS
One name certain to be tossed around in trade talks: Thomas Vanek.
The 32-year-old forward posted career lows last season in goals (18) and assists (21). His ice time decreased to 15:37 per game, the lowest since his rookie season in 2005-06.
Combine that with the fact that Vanek has only one year remaining on a contract that carries a $6.5 million cap hit, and the former University of Minnesota star from Austria is an obvious candidate for a buyout.
The Wild have until June 30 to decide whether to buy out his contract — a move that would save $5 million in cap space next season — so that gives them time to shop Vanek around to other teams this week.
If Vanek is bought out, the Wild would be charged a $1.5 million cap penalty next season and a $2.5 million cap hit the following season.
Already on the Wild books for next season is a $1 million cap hit from when they bought out Matt Cooke’s contract last year.
Jason Pominville (career-low 11 goals last season) is another forward who could be bought out, but that seems less likely since Pominville, 33, still has three years remaining on his contract.
TRADES
Outside of trade deadline day, the NHL draft produces more trades than any other day in the league schedule.
This draft could yield even more transactions than usual because of a likely looming expansion draft.
At the league’s board of governors meeting Wednesday in Buffalo, the league is expected to approve an expansion team in Las Vegas. That team would field its roster from an expansion draft a year from now.
While the rules of that draft aren’t yet official, teams likely will be able to protect only seven forwards, three defensemen and one goalie, according to reports. That means teams will use the next year — starting with the draft — to position themselves so that they don’t lose a valuable player.
For the Wild, that likely means trading a defenseman now. If they can protect only three blue-liners — and are forced to protect Ryan Suter because of his no-move clause — they could only protect two of Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Marco Scandella and Matt Dumba, and risk losing one of them.
Trading one of them now makes sense.
THE DRAFT
Since few, if any, players selected in the draft will play in the NHL next season, the actual players selected often are overshadowed by the trades teams make on draft day.
But there’s still plenty of intrigue for a Wild team that has only four draft picks, tied with the Los Angeles Kings for the fewest. By comparison, the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs have 12 picks each.
Because the Wild don’t have picks in the second, third, fifth and sixth rounds, they could trade their first-round pick, No. 15 overall, to move back in the first round and accumulate additional picks.
The Wild have had two first-round picks the past three years. In 2015, they chose Swedish forward Joel Eriksson Ek. In 2014, they chose American forward Alex Tuch. They didn’t have a first-round pick in 2013.
