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Minnesota Sorely Needs Speed, and Nikolaj Ehlers Has It
The Minnesota Wild could have a very interesting off-season this year. After Ryan Suter and Zach Parise’s contracts were unexpectedly bought out by general manager Bill Guerin, many predicted that the 2025 offseason would be their chance to begin acquiring players to compete. The idea was that, with their newfound cap flexibility, they could add a few seasoned players to flesh out their roster and use their abundance of youthful talent to build a legitimate contender around Kirill Kaprizov.
However, the Wild might be able to accelerate that timescale. The NHL declared this spring that the salary limit might increase by about $5 million league-wide, despite the fact the Wild are still stuck with nearly $15 million in dead cap hits for the 2024–25 campaign.
Many times, Michael Russo has stated in The Athletic that he believes the Wild are planning to use the $5 million boost to pursue a forward to take Marcus Johansson’s spot in their starting lineup. When we started combing through the possible free agency list a few weeks ago, they suggested David Perron as one of the top names.
Even though Perron is a veteran and would benefit the Wild, his ageing skill set limits him as an inspiring addition to a squad that wants to make the playoffs the next year.
Guerin may, however, use more inventiveness rather than going after the restricted free agency market. The Wild still has a strong pool of prospects, which includes blue-chippers Danila Yurov and Jesper Wallstedt, even after upgrading Marco Rossi and Brock Faber to the NHL team.
While it’s wonderful to have a large pool of prospects, the Wild obviously need to start winning and make it past the opening round of the playoffs. Even if Kaprizov hasn’t shown a desire to explore free agency after his contract expires in 2026, it’s still critical that they convince him they can compete by then. When those resources may be put to better use right now to strengthen his club, does Guerin really want to keep adding prospects to his pool?
Certainly not in our opinion. If the Wild are unable to add a game-changing player to their starting six through free agency, is there any chance they may do this through trade? Yes, in order to acquire a player rather than just a free agency contract, assets must be forfeited. But there isn’t room for them all on the St. Paul roster given their growing pool of prospects. This is the perfect opportunity, if there ever was one, to swap futures for an impact player.
It’s time to begin locating these kinds of targets. The Wild would have to find a player on a reasonably team-friendly contract with the intention of extending them at their market rate whenever they had the capacity beginning next summer, given their cap restrictions.
That brings us to our first target, Winnipeg Jets player Nikolaj Ehlers. Yes, I am aware of your thoughts: two divisional opponents would never consider involving a guy with Ehlers’ level of dynamic performance. You would also not be in error. But Ehlers is just the kind of player the Wild ought to and can pursue. Guerin would be prudent to overpay in this case if necessary, albeit it is unlikely.
Let’s start by examining why Ehlers is the ideal target for the Wild. His contract carries a $6 million cap hit for the final year. At 29, Ehlers is a proven 25-goal scorer with exceptional speed, so he probably deserves a rise as he searches for a new deal. This season marks the start of Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck’s extensions with Winnipeg. This summer is when key players like Tyler Toffoli, Sean Monahan, and talented rookie Cole Perfetti are expected to sign new contracts. Winnipeg might choose to extend players like Alex Iafallo, Gabe Vilardi, Mason Appleton, and Vladislav Namestnikov over Ehlers, even if projections are made for next summer.
Why? For over the years, Ehlers’ ice time with the Jets has been a little confusing. In addition to registering a career-high +27, Ehlers scored 25 goals and provided 36 assists just a year ago, arguably at his finest. However, when it comes to sending guys over the board, Ehlers finds himself in a similar position on Winnipeg’s roster as the previous year, finishing seventh among forwards and 12th overall in average time on ice. That was less time on the ice than Appleton, Vilardi, and Kyle Lowry—all three of whom Ehlers almost doubled in points.
It’s difficult to understand why Winnipeg’s coaching staff didn’t employ him more when you watch him play.
Ehlers is a real threat on the rush since he is a dynamic skater and puck carrier. When almost everyone on the Wild’s stick—aside from Kaprizov—had the puck, they had trouble in this area last year.
It’s simple to understand why Ehlers would be worth giving up future assets for when you compare his skill set to any of the free agent possibilities. Given that Rick Bowness, the coach of Winnipeg, has announced his retirement, perhaps the new coach will view Ehlers more favourably and want to include him more heavily in the offence. If not, it might be a good idea for Ehlers to hunt for a new team that can give him more chances.
How much would it cost the Wild to sign Ehlers? Fortunately for Guerin, he can draw a strong parallel from his summertime transfer of prolific scorer Kevin Fiala to Los Angeles. After a season in which he scored 85 points, Fiala was looking to turn that performance into a second-round prospect in Brock Faber and the 19th overall pick in that summer’s draft by Guerin.
Naturally, the Los Angeles Kings would have wanted to include another prospect in light of what we now know about Faber. However, at the time, a mid-first-round pick and a second-tier prospect were considered the trade value for a dynamic scoring winger. If that’s still the case, Ehlers probably wants a like outcome for Winnipeg. As a divisional opponent, the Wild would probably have to provide a little bit more than any other team.
In addition to the 19th overall pick the Wild received by dealing Fiala, would a jump to the 13th overall pick next month be the cherry on top? In addition, money would have to go, so maybe the Jets would be open to adding Filip Gustavsson as a backup to Helleybuck, the Vezina winner, in order to replace Laurent Brossoit, who is leaving in free agency? The Wild have an attractive enough package, if they include one of their many blue-line prospects, to get Winnipeg to send Ehlers to Minnesota.
If Guerin decides to take a creative approach with the vacant space on the left wing of the second line, the components are in place for Ehlers to fit perfectly into the Wild’s top six. Should Winnipeg decide to move him this summer, Ehlers would be their best bet.