Sources: Wild hunting for middle-six forward in a trade
October doesn’t usually feature a lot of trades as the NHL’s first month back in action. With teams looking to assess what they have and all starting off on an even playing field – especially with the parity-filled, modern day NHL – there aren’t many teams aiming to break up their groups so early into the season.
There are exceptions to every rule, and Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin has never been afraid to be unconventional and break the norm. After all, he was the guy who executed two of the largest buyouts in NHL history at the expense of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. Speaking with a team source earlier this week, the Wild are in the market to bolster their middle-six forward group – even though we are less than a month into the 2025-26 campaign.
Viewed as a top-heavy team, according to an Eastern Conference executive, the Wild are thought to have been in need of an upgrade down the middle going back to last season. Speaking with Wild sources, the injuries to forwards Nico Sturm and Mats Zuccarello have hurt the team’s depth scoring and caused inconsistency in their top nine. Beyond the top line (highlighted by the $136-million man, Kirill Kaprizov) the offense has struggled to be consistent for Guerin’s club.
It was no secret that the Wild were on the lookout to add a center over the summer, specifically Sam Bennett or Brock Nelson. Unfortunately for Guerin, Bennett and Nelson re-signed with the Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche, respectively, before hitting the open market.
With the dual buyouts to Parise and Suter drastically lowering in regards to their respective dead-money cap hits this past summer, it was expected that the Wild were going to go big-game hunting. But due to the UFA batch being lessened before July. 1, the Wild had an uneventful summer, ultimately just adding Vladimir Tarasenko via trade from the Detroit Red Wings.
According to league sources, beyond Bennett and Nelson, it is believed that the Wild were going to take a hard run at Vancouver Canucks winger Brock Boeser; he also re-upped with his team before hitting the open market. Hearing that the Wild were in on Boeser (a Minnesota native) was a little surprising to me based on him being a winger, as Guerin had been thought to be on the lookout for an upgrade down the middle, as I previously mentioned.
Speaking with team sources, the Wild’s specific target at upgrading the center position directly correlated to then-RFA pivot Marco Rossi being at the heart of trade discussions. Rossi, 24, was rumored to be on the trade block going back to the end of the 2023-24 season; speculation only ramped up last offseason with the player being buried down the Wild’s lineup during the playoffs as the fourth-line center.
Though thought of as not the greatest fit in the Wild’s long term plans, league sources told me that Guerin was driving a very hard bargain for Rossi – one GM said that one of the asking prices was two first-round picks at one point over the past 12 months – which ultimately led to the player staying put in Minnesota. Signing a three-year, $15 million contract late in the summer, Rossi has 11 points through 11 games this season and is currently centering the Wild’s top line.
With Rossi staying put in Minnesota and performing well, there isn’t a specific need to add a center, a team source told me. Even if it is a winger, the priority for the Wild is adding offensive depth to their middle six – no matter the position.
The low-hanging fruit option is Calgary Flames center Nazem Kadri, who is the early favorite to be the top trade candidate as we inch closer towards the deadline in March. With the Flames’ season spiralling out of control, Kadri’s name has already been talked about quite a bit in the rumor mill.
Off to a modest start with three goals and six assists in 12 games, Kadri has already been connected to the Canucks and Montreal Canadiens. Though I have not heard that the Wild have directly reached out to the Flames regarding Kadri, I can say with certainty that there are those in the Minnesota front office who are fans of the 35-year=old. Kadri is not a rental, mind you, and comes with a $7 million AAV until 2029 along with a 13 team no-trade list in his contract.
Beyond that, a team I wonder about as one Guerin could look at is the Boston Bruins. The Wild and Bruins have done business before with swapping forwards, most recently last season when the former traded for Justin Brazeau ahead of the trade deadline.
Speaking with sources close to the situation in Boston, it is too early to say which forwards could be on the block for the Bruins. The Bruins are 6-7-0 so far this season and very much in the thick of the parity-filled Wildcard picture in the Eastern Conference, but this doesn’t seem to be the year where GM Don Sweeney will be looking to go for it; they are, by all accounts, in a period of transition.
Pavel Zacha’s name has been in the rumor mill and is a versatile forward that can play both on the wing and down the middle. Currently sitting with two goals and nine assists in 13 games this season, Zacha would be a nice fit for Minnesota’s middle six group up front. The 28 year old is under contract until 2027 at an AAV of $4.75 million and has an eight-team no trade list.
Acquired from the Avalanche in the Charlie Coyle trade at last year’s trade deadline, Minnesota native Casey Mittlestadt is another player who could make sense for the Wild. Turning 27 later this month, Mittlestadt has struggled to find his niche in the NHL and is more of a winger at this point. Currently playing left wing on the Bruins’ second line (alongside Zacha), Mittlestadt is off to a pedestrian start with three goals and three assists in 12 contests.
Like Zacha, Mittlestadt is under contract until 2027; he has an AAV of $5.75 million and, though he has no trade protection this season, will have a nine-team no-trade list kick in next year, according to puckpedia.com. Speculatively speaking, I would reckon that any team interested in the former Buffalo Sabres first-round selection would need salary retention from the Bruins.
It is still early to tie any specific names to the Wild, but it is for certain that they are looking for help up front. Given Minnesota’s slow start to the season at 3-6-3 and Guerin being a notoriously aggressive GM, we may see them pull the trigger on a move sooner rather than later. The problem is, it takes two to tango, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of teams itching to make a move like the Wild are right now.
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