Minnesota Wild Are Set Up for a Potentially Busy Free Agent Offseason

The 2026 NHL Entry Draft is officially over, which means free agency is just a couple of days away. Minnesota Wild fans didn’t get to see any first-or-second round picks made during the draft, but the Wild did make a couple of trades to move up in the rounds they did have picks in. Again, although they weren’t first-round picks, these additions will be key to their future as these players develop their games. 

The last big day or days of the offseason are when free agency starts on Wednesday, July 1. Now, everyone in the Wild market is waiting eagerly to see if two things will happen in either order. The first is trading for Dylan Larkin, and the second, of course, is re-signing Quinn Hughes. In this article, we’ll take a quick look back at the draft and then look forward to free agency and what the Wild faces. We’ll start with the depth they brought in at the draft and a quick look at each player. 

Wild Trade Up in Draft

The Wild originally had five picks in the draft, starting in the third round. Once the second day of the draft came around, that all changed. They traded their original third-round pick, which was 89th overall, and a fifth-round pick that was 153rd overall to the Los Angeles Kings so they could move up in the third round to 83rd overall. 

With that pick, they took Adam Andersson, a center, and as many pointed out on X, he has some size at 6-foot-4 and 218 pounds. He’s a Sweden native, and although he doesn’t earn a lot of points a season, he still has decent numbers and hopefully will become a strong center for them in the years to come. He was their only pick of the third round, but they traded again to move up in the fourth round. 

They sent their fourth round, 121st overall, and their sixth round, 185th overall, to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and they moved up in the fourth round to 112th overall. Forward Kayden Lemire was the Wild’s selection, and again, he’s a player with size. However, the Wild wanted him for another reason as well, according to Wild scout Patrick Baum. 

“Kayden is a big power forward that plays a heavy game. He moves well and provides a good net front presence. Operates well below the dots and behind the net,” Baum told Wild.com about Lemire. Hopefully, he can fulfill the net presence because that is definitely something the Wild can always use, now or in the future. 

Finally, the Wild didn’t make any trades in the fifth round, but used the pick they started the draft with at 137th overall to bulk up their goaltending prospects with Filip Ruzicka. For the third time at the draft for the Wild, and probably the most impressive, Ruzicka has size as he’s 6-foot-8, 229 pounds, and it’ll be interesting to see if he can make it to the NHL, but that size would hopefully be an advantage. 

Wild’s Free Agency Chaos

The easiest way to describe what the Wild have been going through the last couple of weeks is chaos. To recap, they re-signed Michael McCarron while Marcus Johansson decided to head home to Sweden to play. Dylan Larkin requested a trade out of Detroit, and the Wild were one of the few teams he was willing to go to plus they still have to re-sign Quinn Hughes.

At his Worst Seats in the House podcast last week, Michael Russo of The Athletic and his co-host Anthony Lapanta talked about Vladimir Tarasenko going to free agency and that Mats Zuccarello may follow. They also went on to discuss how to fill those potential holes, whether internally with Hunter Haight, Bobby Brink, etc or externally with players like Anders Lee and Patrick Kane. 

There has been a lot of debate on not re-signing Tarasenko and Zuccarello, and while both sides have very good points, it might be best to let them go. Although Tarasenko did have a strong season with the Wild, and it would be great to have him back, it has to be at the right amount, and after comparing contracts of similar age and amount on PuckPedia, Tarasenko was right in the middle of those players who were earning $4.75 million a season. 

Now going any higher would be too much, but staying around the same or less would be ideal if the Wild wanted to bring Tarasenko back. However, the way Russo made it sound, Tarasenko was going to try free agency and likely not be back. Zuccarello, on the other hand, sounded more complex and not a for-sure leaving decision.

Of course, everyone wants Zuccarello back because he pairs well with Kirill Kaprizov, but again, it has to be the right amount. According to PuckPedia, he was at $4.125 million, and again, comparing similar contracts for players of that age and amount, he was in the middle. He was making less than Tarasenko but had more points; however, fewer games played. The biggest factor is his age; he’s 38 years old and will be 39 by the time the season starts, and it’s hard to justify paying that much for a player of his age, with exceptions for certain players like Sidney Crosby. 

On the flip side, it’s also hard to argue with stats, and Zuccarello did have a respectable season once again. However, on Monday morning, June 29, Russo was on a local Minnesota radio show, KFAN 100.3FM, and he stated that it’s possible Zuccarello would’ve been willing to take a 35+ contract, and it’s not a done deal that he’s leaving, but it seems most likely since he has yet to be re-signed.

Regardless, the Wild have to make some money room, and it wouldn’t hurt for them to get a bit younger, either, but not too young, because they need veteran talent who can play on their roster. While fans want Zuccarello to stay with Kaprizov, it’s also important that Kaprizov learns to play with other players because, realistically, Zuccarello’s career is in its final year or years, and they have to face moving on. 

Wild Fans Should Keep An Eye Out 

While last offseason turned out to be fairly quiet in terms of big moves for the Wild, this offseason has the chance to tell a very different story. It looks like they’ll have some holes to fill, no matter what route they go, and in an ideal world, they keep everyone and bring in Larkin, but that isn’t likely. Not saying it couldn’t happen, but they do have to re-sign Quinn Hughes, put Larkin’s contract on the roster if he joins, and then they can address Tarasenko and Zuccarello if they’re still around. 

Now scrolling on X, I saw several fans point out if it’s worth it to allow that depth to leave in order to get Larkin, and while it seems hard to believe, that’s what teams do. They need to get more skill on their team, and although they have depth talent, they need more top-line talent. Plus, as Russo pointed out in the podcast, they do have internal talent they could bring up if those players leave. Both Haight and Brink could be either permanent fills if they succeed or temporary until they find others. 

Personally, I liked the idea of bringing in Minnesota native Anders Lee, but would be wary of Patrick Kane because of past injury issues, and he’s a couple of years older than Lee. It’ll be interesting to see which way the Wild go when July 1st hits, as they have quite a few different ways things could play out. 

Everyone is hoping the Wild re-signs Hughes, brings in Larkin, and keeps some of their veterans. Chances are, only one or two of those things are going to happen, and if they have to choose, most would want the first two. It would be hard to see Tarasenko and Zuccarello leave, but they have to add the big player when they can. Hopefully, the Wild will make news in a good way on July 1st, but fans will have to wait and watch to see what happens.