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Revealed: Minnesota Wild Top Trade Target
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- Revealed: Minnesota Wild Top Trade Target
Nick Wosika-Imagn Images
The Minnesota Wild restarted their 2026 regular season on Thursday with a victory in Colorado over an Avalanche team that's unanimously considered the NHL's best through 2/3 of the year.
Tonight, they will take the ice again in Salt Lake City vs the Utah Mammoth , looking for their seventh-straight victory, and second since three of their stars helped the United States capture its first Olympic Gold Medal in men's ice hockey since 1980.
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His team's hot play of late hasn't made president of hockey operations Bill Guerin less inclined to make a trade before the March 6 deadline, however.
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Instead, he appears more determined to make a deal and acquire more talent for his top six forward group than ever before. The question remains, however, WHO Minnesota is targeting.
Minnesota Wild working phones on centers before NHL trade deadline
We know the Wild would like to get their hands on an elite-level center, and in a piece co-authored today at The Athletic by Michael Russo and Joe Smith, they have been calling on every single one rumored to be available.
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Specifically, Rosso and Smith mention Robert Thomas ( Blues ), Nazem Kadri (Flames), Ryan O'Reilly (Predators) and Charlie Coyle ( Blue Jackets ) as the highest-priced centers Guerin has been monitoring.
There's no doubt Bill Guerin has been sizing up the center market and has called on everybody from Robert Thomas to Nazem Kadri to Ryan O'Reilly to Charlie Coyle.
If Guerin wants to swing for the fences and is willing to part with significant assets, likely including goalie Jesper Wallstedt , Thomas would fit the bill.
Related: MN Wild Patiently Waiting to Unite Hughes Brothers?
While the Minnesota Wild have the firepower available to get a deal done for just about any top center mentioned above, doing so would cost them young Swedish goalie, Jesper Wallstedt — who Guerin selected with the 20th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft.
If you have been paying attention, you know that the Wild have been dangling Wallstedt in front of teams with available top forwards since before the Olympic break.
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The 23-year-old was drafted as the future goalie of the organization, but the rise of fellow countryman Filip Gustavsson ( 27 y/o ) the past couple seasons has rendered Wallstedt expendable.
Minnesota Wild No. 1 target: Vincent Trocheck
However, Minnesota's PoHO is reportedly growing concerned that putting all the Wild's eggs into the 2025-26 basket could cost him an even better opportunity in exchange for his young talented rookie down the road.
That's why, according to The Athletic, Minnesota's No. 1 trade target before the deadline next Friday is New York Rangers 32-year-old stud center Vincent Trocheck, who also played a major role in Team USA's Gold Medal in Milan.
But the moment you give up Wallstedt, that likely takes you out of big-game hunting this offseason or into next season. The Wild's top target is Trocheck, the New York Rangers veteran who just won a gold medal in Milan with Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy and Brock Faber.
Trocheck is the exact type of top-six center the Wild are looking for. He's scored 20 or more goals and 50+ points in each of the past four seasons and he's arguably the best faceoff man in the NHL. Just as important, the New York Rangers' alternate captain would be an incredible addition to the locker room.
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Related: MN Wild Olympic Star Adds SNL and Tonight Show to Insane Schedule
Of course, Minnesota isn't the only team looking for a veteran talent up the middle on a reasonable contract. While he might not cost as much as some of the other centers mentioned above, Trocheck has a lot of pursuers and certainly won't be cheap.
That again brings more questions about how many of his chips Billy wants to push into the pot for this 2026 run, if it means he doesn't have anything left to work with in the future.
Trocheck has three years left on his contract with a $5.625 million average annual value. Because his contract is reasonable and there's such a dearth at the center position in the NHL, he will be highly coveted this week, and you can bet Rangers general manager Chris Drury will try to squeeze the best deal out of all interested teams. So the Wild will have to decide whether they're willing to give up the price required to get Trocheck, knowing the more assets they trade now, the more difficult it'll be to go after a big fish this summer or next season.
What about Steven Stamkos ?
On Thursday, The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun reported that Nashville Predators forward Steven Stamkos would accept a trade to three teams, the Dallas Stars , Tampa Bay Lightning and the Minnesota Wild.
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At 36 years old , Stamkos isn't playing center this year for the Predators, instead slotting in on either side of Ryan O'Reilly on Nashville's top line. Of course, that doesn't mean he couldn't play some center for the Wild, and he would undoubtedly cost less than what Trocheck or other centers will.
A recent report from Emily Kaplan (ESPN) says Minnesota Wild talks with Nashville surrounding Stamkos have centered around former first round pick Charlie Strammel, who's having a standout season right now at Michigan State.
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