The Minnesota Wild just wrapped up an impressive eight-man draft class, and now, with the free-agent market set to open next Wednesday, they focus their attention to the upcoming group of free agents. The team has a few players set to hit free agency, although they took one of those players off the market Thursday, re-signing Marc-Andre Fleury to a two-year extension. Two players Wild GM Bill Guerin won’t be giving extensions, as relayed by Michael Russo of The Athletic, are mid-season pickup Nicolas Deslauriers and Minneapolis native Nick Bjugstad.
The Wild acquired Deslauriers, 31, from the Anaheim Ducks for a third-round pick last season, and he added some grit and physicality to the bottom of their lineup. He looked like a decent fit in Minnesota, but with the pressure of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts heavily squeezing Guerin’s financial flexibility this summer, it seems they don’t have the necessary cap room to retain him. Guerin did say that he expects Deslauriers to garner “a lot of interest,” which likely means Deslauriers has priced himself out of a return to the state of hockey. Bjugstad is coming off a year where he was a depth forward for the Wild, and he has not scored double-digit goals or more than 20 points since his impressive 49-point 2018-19 campaign with the Florida Panthers. It’s unlikely that Bjugstad sees the same level of leaguewide interest as Deslauriers when he too hits the market.
Now, for some other notes on information that has come out after the draft:
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