NHL Rumors: Wild Forward Finished in Minnesota

The Minnesota Wild are getting ready to endure some salary cap hell as general manager Bill Guerin will have a ton of 'dead' money to deal with over the course of the next few seasons. Both Ryan Suter and Zach Parise's buyouts are costing the Wild over $12.7 million next season, and $14.7 million the following two. Needless to say there's going to be some business Guerin would like to complete but won't have the resources to do so, specifically when it comes to re-signing forward Kevin Fiala.

-Regarding Kevin Fiala, Guerin said, "We'd love to have Kevin back. I don't know if it's going to be possible." Guerin said "uncertainty" is a good word for the situation.

— Sarah McLellan (@sarah__mclellan) May 17, 2022

The 25-year-old Fiala is set to become a restricted free agent and thanks to a well-timed career season, he's likely priced himself off the Wild's roster. He recorded 33 goals and 85 points in 82 games during the 2021-22 season and chipped in with three assists in six Stanley Cup Playoff games.

While don't expect to see an offer sheet come his way, Guerin knows his best bet is to find a trade partner to take Fiala off his hands so he can shift his resources into something cheaper for Minnesota. The Wild want to win-now though which is the hard part here so the GM will have to get creative to ensure he receives a worthy return on investment and saves money on the cap.

Two teams to watch are the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils as both teams will have interest and are expected to make trade offers. While it's not likely we see Fiala moved for a top-5 draft pick, we certainly could see a draft-day trade materialize with the Wild's forward involved.

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