As the hockey world mulls the steady stream of intriguing trades that have trickled in – the latest being Travis Hamonic‘s move to Calgary – it seems the Minnesota Wild are biding time until they too jump into the fray.
At least that’s what head coach Bruce Boudreau believes, as the veteran bench boss told the Star-Tribune’s Michael Russo that he sees general manager Chuck Fletcher making some changes.
“Something’s going to happen,” Boudreau told Russo on Saturday. “I just don’t know what it is. Chuck’s playing his cards close to his vest. But I’ve got to believe something will happen. Whether it happens today or in a month from now, I don’t think he’s in a hurry unless he gets what he wants to get.”
The Wild were reportedly mulling offers for a few of their talented young blue-liners, but they made it through the expansion and entry drafts without dismantling their defensive corps.
Fletcher still has a couple key names to lock up, most notably 2016-17 leading scorer Mikael Granlund and winger Nino Niederreiter, who finished third on the team in goal-scoring. With limited cap space, a trade to free up some room seems unavoidable, though Fletcher said he isn’t in a rush to shake things up. Should the trade market not offer up any viable moves, the Wild seem content to remain near the cap ceiling while waiting for better deals.
“We have some young guys ready to make the team that will carry good cap hits,” Fletcher said. “We like our group, the defence is the strength of our team, we’ve got three lines up front that we like… We might have to look at inventing a fourth line in free agency and through our guys in the American league, so that’ll be a change. Otherwise we can start the year the way we’re at.”
Boudreau echoed his general manager’s sentiment, acknowledging that the Wild aren’t in need of blockbuster deals. But the coach didn’t entirely rule out the possibility of something significant.
“We were the best team in the league for two-thirds (of) the year,” Boudreau said. “So I think a little tweak here and a little tweak there is going to be what’s necessary to get over the top. But we could do something big as well. I don’t know. I have all the confidence that if [Fletcher’s] going to do something, it’ll be a good move for us.”
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