NHL Trade Buzz: Shocking Twist in Minnesota Wild and Calgary Flames’ Offseason Plans!

The Minnesota Wild find themselves at a crossroads this season—desperately in need of reinforcements to ignite their middle-six scoring. It’s been a bit of a grind watching them struggle to find offensive consistency, especially with injuries sidelining Nico Sturm and Mats Zuccarello, which has only peeled back the thin layers of their depth. Despite having a decent payroll cushion this offseason, pivotal targets like Sam Bennett and Brock Nelson slipped through as they chose security with their current squads, and even a potential chase for Brock Boeser didn’t pan out. Rumblings about moving their prized center Marco Rossi fizzled out once the asking price—a steep haul of two first-round picks—proved too hefty. Rossi remains a key cog, performing at a point-per-game clip, but the Wild might need to pivot their sights toward wingers to fill that scoring void. Names like Nazem Kadri, Pavel Zacha, and hometown hope Casey Mittelstadt have surfaced as possible puzzle pieces to bolster the offense. The coming weeks will reveal if Minnesota’s front office can pull the right strings to finally complement their roster or if these gaps will continue to weigh heavy on the ice. LEARN MORE

The Minnesota Wild could use some middle-six scoring help

Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff: Sources have the Minnesota Wild looking for a middle-six forward, and have been looking for a center since last season. They’ve struggled to score and injuries to Nico Sturm and Mats Zuccarello have hurt their depth.

They had some money to spend this offseason, but centers like Sam Bennett and Brock Nelson re-signed with their teams. A source said the Wild wanted to take a run at winger Brock Boeser, but he re-signed as well.

There was offseason speculation that the Wild were looking to trade center Marco Rossi, but the price was really high. One GM said in the past year that GM Bill Guerin was looking for two first-round picks. Rossi is currently their No. 1 center and at a point-per-game. If Rossi stays at center, and with the Wild, a team source said they could look at wingers to help with the offense.

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Nazem Kadri‘s name in the rumor mill, as well as Pavel Zacha. Either could be a nice fit in Minnesota. Another Bruin, Casey Mittelstadt, who is from Minnesota, could become an option. Mittelstadt carries a $5.75 million cap hit through 2027.

Zayne Parekh is likely not heading back to Junior

Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on Calgary Flames rookie defenseman Zayne Parekh. He needs to play, but is likely not heading back to Junior.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

“Yeah, so we had the Flames earlier on , and Zayne Parekh did not play. He’s battling a bit of an injury. He’s at nine games, and many of you follow hockey know that if you get to 10, you burn a year of the entry-level contract. I don’t think the Flames are worried about that at all.

Now, Eric Francis had a really good story today about would the Flames actually send him back to Junior? I think Eric wrote that because there’s always a 1% chance, and you’ve always got to cover yourself.

I heard this year there was no way the Flames were sending him back to Junior, and I don’t think that’s changed at all. But what I do think is they realize he can’t just sit there and not play.

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So, whether it’s a conditioning stint in the American Hockey League before he goes to the World Juniors, they’ve got to, or get him back in the lineup as the season starts to go sideways on them. But I don’t see any chance he’s going back to Junior.

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