While trade season usually doesn’t really pick up until the new year on the NHL schedule, the Minnesota Wild made two deals on Wednesday with the team on a road trip in New York.
On the first trade, the Wild sent 23-year-old defenceman Calen Addison to the San Jose Sharks for 22-year-old right winger Adam Raska (a seventh-round pick in 2020) and a fifth-round pick in 2026. Shortly after, the Wild sent a 2025 seventh-rounder to the Tampa Bay Lightning for veteran defenceman Zach Bogosian.
Why did the Wild seem to swap out a young offence-minded defenceman for Bogosian? It really comes down to what type of player the Wild felt they needed more of: an offensive player or a more defensive one with proven playoff toughness. Addison had seen his role on the power play diminish to the point where the Wild have used a five-forward unit, and since he’s an RFA at the end of the season, it was time to make a call on his value to the team.
What they’ve needed is to be better defensively. Minnesota is bottom 10 in the league in shots against per game and that’s where Bogosian comes in. A third-pair veteran, Bogosian himself is on an expiring, $850,000 contract, so this was a move made with playoff-style hockey in mind. Guerin gets the jump on a market that usually gets worked up in February and, with Jared Spurgeon hopefully not far from a return, the Wild still will have a blue line that’s eight veteran defenceman deep when healthy.
But will it work out? There’s no doubt Addison is the more skilled player with a longer run ahead, while Bogosian is at the stage of his career where he provides a very specific element that the Wild felt they will need more of later in the season. Minnesota is 5-5-2, fifth place in the Central division right now, with a grind of a season ahead to qualify for the playoffs. But it’s also true that they remain in a tough cap situation due to the Zach Parise/Ryan Suter buyouts into next season, when more money would have to be spent on Addison.
The Lightning move a player in Bogosian who they had only dressed four times this season, and get a draft pick back, while the Sharks get to take a cheap flyer on the young Addison, who adds a young talent to the rebuild.
For more on Addison and Bogosian, the major players in these trades, we turn to our scout Jason Bukala.
SCOUT’S ANALYSIS
Calen Addison is a young, still developing, right-shot defender who leans transitional defenceman/power play quarterback.
He’s a light, area defender in his zone. He relies on an active stick, body positioning, and his agility in tight areas, to keep opponents to the outside. Addison provides very little physical push back.
On the PP, he’s a distributor more than a shooter. He has the ability to pinch down to extend play and walk the blue line to open up lanes.
He’s a third-pairing defenceman at even strength and doesn’t have a role on the penalty kill.
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NHL ROLE 3RD PAIRING D  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | Provided By: Jason Bukala, The Pro Hockey Group / CapFriendly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Addison’s role, with Minnesota before being traded to the San Jose Sharks, was as a third pairing defender at even strength … but he was used as a distributor on the first power-play unit He’s a ‘transitional D’ who can lead the rush when he escapes pressure in his zone, or outlet pucks and join the rush as an extra layer. When he gets the edge off the rush, especially on his strong side, he has a gear and takes the play to the net. Addison is a light, area defender in his zone. He attempts to keep his check to the perimeter with an active stick and his small area agility. When his man sets up shop, in and around his crease, he is generally at a physical disadvantage at the NHL level. A young, right shot, defenseman who is very likely to QB the PP in San Jose and provide a second layer of offense. He averaged 16:48 TOI for the Wild. 12:36 ES – 4:11 PP – | ||||||||||||||||||
Provided By: Jason Bukala, The Pro Hockey Group / Sportsnet / CapFriendly | ||||||||||||||||||
The Wild brought in veteran defenceman Zach Bogosian to clearly add another layer of physicality to their group. The issue with Bogosian, at this stage of his career, is his foot speed is barely adequate for the speed of the NHL game. If he doesn’t arrive on time his physical element is a non-factor.
Bogosian is, at best, a third-pairing defenceman who contributes limited ice time at even strength and, potentially, the PK.