Wild expected to be active when free agency begins on Wednesday

With the start of unrestricted free agency at 11 a.m. sharp on Wednesday morning, the Wild will be an active participant in the NHL's version of Christmas in July.
No need for qualifiers here either ... no "may bes" or "could bes" are required. General Manager Bill Guerin has indicated as much.
Barring some sort of late, unexpected flurry of trades that will fill each remaining need on the Wild roster, Minnesota will have several signings to announce on Wednesday.

That's not to say a trade couldn't happen.
"The trade market's not dead either," Guerin said over the weekend. "It's still an option. So we can work at it through free agency and we can work at it through the trade market as well."
Simply put, filling every hole via trade isn't an option. One look at the roster explains why. One can debate the quality, but what one cannot question is the quantity. The numbers - specifically on the blue line - are simply not there.
Minnesota began the day Tuesday with just three defensemen on its NHL roster: Jonas Brodin, Matt Dumba and Jared Spurgeon.
Even if you count rookie Calen Addison, and Guerin has indicated that he believes Addison needs stiff competition to make the team in training camp, the Wild will need to add at least two, and potentially three or four NHL-caliber veteran defensemen to the roster before the start of the season.
It also needs to add a forward or two to the mix as well.
And that doesn't even count filling out the needs of the Iowa Wild, even after re-signing players like Joseph Cramarossa, Andrew Hammond, Kyle Rau and Dakota Mermis in recent days.
Minnesota is set to enter free agency with more than $29 million in salary cap space, but that number is deceiving.
Restricted free agents Kirill Kaprizov and Kevin Fiala could account for half, or even more, of that space. The Wild also has to budget for dead cap increases next year and the following two seasons after the buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise.
That means most - if not all - contracts agreed to by the Wild on Wednesday will be of the short-term variety.
"You have to be really careful because free agency is where you can make some mistakes and sign contracts that you would want back in a year," Guerin said. "We're going to look at [short-term deals] as kind of the best options because of those cap hits."
So what is the Wild potentially losing in free agency? And who are some possible options to fill those gaps?

Forwards

Off the NHL roster, Nick Bonino and Marcus Johansson are the only two unrestricted forwards who will hit the market on Wednesday.
Of the two, Bonino has the clearest potential path to return. A two-time Stanley Cup champion acquired last offseason from Nashville, Bonino scored 10 goals and had 26 points in 55 games, playing mostly center and wing on the club's third and fourth lines.
As a veteran centerman with plenty of playoff experience, Bonino will certainly draw interest from teams around the League, and because of his relationship with Guerin dating back to his days with the Penguins, a reunion can never be counted out.
After one injury-plagued season in Minnesota, Johansson has likely played his last game in a Wild uniform.
Potential free agent options that could fit:Derek Stepan (OTT), Brandon Saad (COL), Nick Foligno (TOR), Mike Hoffman (STL), Casey Cizikas (NYI), Derek Ryan (CGY), Joel Armia (MTL), Mattias Janmark (VGK), Alexander Wennberg (FLA), Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (COL), Ondrej Kase (BOS), Nick Ritchie (BOS), Tomas Nosek (VGK), Jujhar Khaira (EDM), Derick Brassard (ARZ), Pius Suter (CHI), Frederick Gaudreau (PIT), Evan Rodrigues (PIT).

Defensemen

Like the group up front, the Wild has two pending unrestricted free agents on the blue line in Ian Cole and Brad Hunt.
And like Bonino, Cole has a history with Guerin, winning two Cups with him with the Penguins. Acquired early in the season in a trade with Colorado, Cole anchored the third defensive pairing with Carson Soucy, posting one goal, eight points and a plus-21.
At 32, Cole is what he is at this point in his career. He'll never be an offensive powerhouse, but that's not his role. He is a solid defensive defenseman and a gem in the dressing room, respected by teammates, coaches and certainly Guerin, who refused to close the door on a return to the Wild.
But Cole will seemingly hit free agency and gauge his market there before potentially circling back. He's someone to keep an eye on.
"Ian is a great guy. I'll never close the door on him. I don't know if it'll work out or not," Guerin said. "I know what he brought to the table and he helped us out a ton. I have a ton of respect for him and we're just going to have to be patient."
Speaking of dressing room gems, Hunt ranks right up there as well. Hunt has been a good soldier in the 2 1/2 years since a midseason trade brought him to Minnesota from Vegas. He was mostly a seventh defenseman last season, playing in just 12 games, but he never complained about his role publicly.
Hunt scored eight goals and 19 points in 59 games as recently as 2019-20, so there could be a market for the affable, under-sized former Bemidji State Beaver, who fancies himself a bit of a power-play specialist. But it doesn't seem like a return with the Wild is in the cards.
Potential free agent options that could fit: Alex Edler (VAN), Alex Goligoski (ARZ), Ryan Murray (NJD), Ian Cole (MIN), David Savard (TBL), Alec Martinez (VGK), Brandon Montour (FLA), Jake McCabe (BUF), Cody Ceci (PIT), Travis Hamonic (VAN), Zach Bogosian (TOR), Christian Djoos (DET), Derek Forbort (WPG), Jani Hakanpaa (CAR).

Goaltenders

With the Seattle Kraken's selection of Soucy in the Expansion Draft, goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen secured a return to Minnesota to serve as a backup to Cam Talbot, meaning Minnesota's goaltending duo from last season is currently scheduled to return, and at a total salary cap cost of just $4.391 million - one of the best values in the League.
Hammond, who served as the team's third goalie last season, re-signed for one year on Monday and will likely compete for playing time in Iowa with Hunter Jones, assuming normal roster rules return this season.
Unless there is a trade on the horizon, the Wild isn't expected to dabble in the free agency market for a goaltender.
Main photo by Brandon McCauley