Wild acquire Hunt from Golden Knights

The Minnesota Wild acquired defenseman Brad Hunt and a 2019 sixth-round pick from the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2019 fifth-round pick.

A few hours after the Wild defeated the Golden Knights in Vegas, they made a deal for the under-sized offensive-defenseman. Hunt, who has served as a healthy scratch for the majority of the season, appearing in just 13 of the Golden Knights’ 51 games, fell victim to a numbers game. The Golden Knights have carried eight defensemen since Nate Schmidt returned from his suspension and have a few players ready to come off of injured reserve. The emergence of Brandon Pirri and claiming Valentin Zykov off of waivers means that the Golden Knights needed to move a few bodies without losing players on waivers.

For Minnesota, their blueline is pretty thin since losing Matt Dumba for an extended period of time. Their bottom three defensemen consist of Nick Seeler, Greg Pateryn, and Louis Belpedio, so Hunt has an opportunity to be a regular in their lineup moving forward.

Hunt has compiled great numbers at lower-levels, tallying 57 goals and 152 assists (209 points) in 287 games across six AHL seasons. During his NHL career, he has seven goals, 27 assists (34 points) in 91 games with the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, and Golden Knights. From an analytical perspective, Hunt has carried a 56.5 CorsiFor% and +4.2 CF% relative in limited action this season.

Hunt has a massive point shot and is a candidate to see ample power-play time on the Wild’s second-unit. He likely won’t unseat Ryan Suter on the top-unit but this trade should allow him to be an intriguing daily fantasy hockey option but still has very limited value in season-long leagues.