It's been discussed in a few threads, but free agency is less than two weeks away. While I don't expect Minnesota to be that active, it's still one of the best days of the hockey year.
Wild UFAs:
Owen Nolan
Derek Boogaard
Shane Hnidy
Danny Irmen
Jamie Sifers
Wade Dubielewicz
Robbie Earl
John Scott
Andrew Ebbett
Wild RFAs (includes Houston):
Josh Harding
Nate Prosser
Guillaume Latendresse
Anton Khudobin
Matt Kassian
1. Matthew Lombardi | C -- Probably unlikely as I see him pricing himself out of the market for the Wild.
2. Maxim Afinogenov | W -- Looking for multi-year deal. May be a bit too risky.
3. Colby Armstrong | W -- Good fit for what the Wild need.
4. Matt Cullen | C -- Ideal fit but he'll likely want a team closer to contending than the Wild.
5. Aaron Asham | W -- Brings great toughness the Wild need with a little skill. Likely will price himself out of the market.
6. Chris Higgins | C -- Had some decent years in Montreal. Maybe he can find it again inbetween Lats and Havlat.
7. Raffi Torres | W -- Banger with some toughness and a little skill. Should be very affordable for his role.
Centers:
We need a top-3 line center. Chances are Matt Cullen will be looking for three years. That would be a good development time-line for a Nick Bjugstad or Ryan Johansen should we go that direction in the draft. 3 years, 7-8M, I could live with it.
Lombardi will be looking for Stajan money, 4 years at 3.5M per would be the minimum, considering the lack of option I wouldn't be surprised to see him get 4M per. That would be a tough commitment given our lack of cap space.
Jokinen could look for a 1-year deal to re-establish himself. Brendan Morrison looks like someone who is going to go year-by-year at this point as well. Andrew Ebbett could be brought back for peanuts as well.
Wingers:
We just need bottom-liners for cheap. Brad Winchester would be a cheap option that brings some size and toughness to our team. Eric Nystrom won't likely demand much either. We could leave a spot open for our prospects. If we want a goon then bring back Scott, or sign McGrattan/McIntyre.
D-men:
If we keep our current line-up, we just need a depth guy. Sifers returning on a 2-way would be ideal, as it gives us the option of sending him down if Scandella or Prosser earn a top-6 job in camp.
Goalies:
If we deal Harding, we'll probably sign Sabourin or Sanford or someone, possibly on a 2-way to compete with Khudobin for the back-up job.
Aside from a top-9 center, I don't see us paying anyone much more than the league minimum.
Yeah, we most likely won't be major players, but as has been covered in this thread already, we should just go after some bargain-priced players. I'd like to see Cullen or Plekanec here, but would probably command too much money.
I have a feeling that when sites post their "Free Agent winners and losers" columns, the Wild will be neither. Just don't see anything other than the most minor of deals, with more going out than coming back.
I'd love to see the Wild go after Marleau, but I think he'll stay out west and be too much money. Likewise, Plekanec probably wants too much. Instead, a 1-year reclamation project like Jokinen or Higgins might be better.
There are a ton of 3rd/4th line centers so maybe we can get one like Armstrong, who would take over Belanger's role. I'd be comfortable with a 3-year deal for one of these guys for under $2m. Cullen and Comrie likely are too much for what they are worth.
I'd love some sandpaper too...Burish and Asham or both UFA's and if you put one on a line with Clutterbuck, imagine how hard that would be to play against!
Seriously though, if we got a couple of these cheaper guys, we could roll a DECENT but deep lineup:
* yes I know Wellman or Shep may not be that second line guy this year, but it's worthless to put either of them on the fourth line, I'd rather have them in Houston
I'd also like to see us get a defensive D-man, someone to give some competition in camp and some depth to our fairly young lineup. If we can get a guy like Wallin, Lilja, O'Donnell, McKee...someone for $1.5m or less, that'd be great.
I'd love to see the Wild go after Marleau, but I think he'll stay out west and be too much money. Likewise, Plekanec probably wants too much. Instead, a 1-year reclamation project like Jokinen or Higgins might be better.
There are a ton of 3rd/4th line centers so maybe we can get one like Armstrong, who would take over Belanger's role. I'd be comfortable with a 3-year deal for one of these guys for under $2m. Cullen and Comrie likely are too much for what they are worth.
I'd love some sandpaper too...Burish and Asham or both UFA's and if you put one on a line with Clutterbuck, imagine how hard that would be to play against!
Seriously though, if we got a couple of these cheaper guys, we could roll a DECENT but deep lineup:
* yes I know Wellman or Shep may not be that second line guy this year, but it's worthless to put either of them on the fourth line, I'd rather have them in Houston
I'd also like to see us get a defensive D-man, someone to give some competition in camp and some depth to our fairly young lineup. If we can get a guy like Wallin, Lilja, O'Donnell, McKee...someone for $1.5m or less, that'd be great.
I can see us going for the players that won't cost that much. I'd like to see a Burish or Asham, but I think Asham will get paid quite a bit. The 2nd line center thing will probably tried to be hashed out at the draft, but I don't see much happening. It could happen though.
I'd much rather go for "team toughness" rather than an enforcer. We'll see what GMCF can pull off at the draft, obviously what he does there will significantly affect our FA plans as if we end up trading a D-man, we might be a bigger player for a replacement for that player. We'll see what happens.
