- Dave Campbell in the Star Tribune: The Wild’s top priority is to re-sign goalie Devan Dubnyk.
“There’s no secret that I’ve enjoyed my time here and want to be here, so there’s no point in hiding that,” Dubnyk said, “and I’d be happy to be here going forward. I’m certain we’ll do everything we can going forward to make sure that happens.”
- Michael Russo of the Star Tribune: GM Fletcher on Dubnyk.
“Like any unrestricted free agent, he’s earned the right to make the choice he wants to make,” Fletcher said. “He knows what we have here. We were a good fit for him, and I think he was obviously a good fit for us. Ultimately he’ll have the final say and we’ll do what we can within the parameters of the salary cap to keep him here.”
Dubnyk on his free agency.
“I’m not going to go look elsewhere if there is no need to, and obviously that depends on what comes and how those conversations are going,” Dubnyk said.
- Michael Russo of the Star Tribune: Chris Stewart would like to return to the Wild, but he could be too much for the Wild.
“Hopefully there’s an opportunity for me to come back here,” Stewart said. “Me and the family both enjoyed our time here. Thought the fit was perfect. It’s a good group of guys here. I think the future’s definitely bright here.”
Keith Ballard has been out since Dec. 9th with a concussion and isn’t sure about his playing future.
“I’d love to play, but I’ve got to feel better first,” Ballard said. “I don’t want to close the door and say, ‘Oh, I’m done,’ but I’m going to factor everything in and give it some time and see if I can get to a point where I can get on the ice and feel OK.”
GM Chuck Fletcher on their first round pick.
“We have our first-round pick. I didn’t trade that … yet,” Fletcher said, sarcastically, referring to the number of draft picks he has traded in recent years. “As I tell Brent , don’t get cocky, I’ve still got time. He just shudders and runs every time I walk into the room. But we’ll get another good player.”
The Wild haven’t had any talks with pending UFA Kyle Brodziak and he’s not sure what they are thinking.
The Wild could look buying out Niklas Backstrom.
“We’ll sit down and take a look at the overall picture and see what makes sense,” Fletcher said.
Since Backstrom signed a 35+ contract, the Wild would save $1.3 million, but would carry the $3.417 million cap hit. Fletcher will look to trade Backstrom first and retain some salary first.
“We haven’t made any decisions,” Fletcher said. “We’ve got a long way to go before we need to have any conversations like that.”
- Michael Russo of the Star Tribune: The Wild have roughly $10 million in cap space for next season and have to re-sign UFA Devan Dubnyk and RFA Mikael Granlund. GM Fletcher said that it isn’t a great free agent market and they won’t be a big player in it.