The Wild would have enormous capacity to improve their team this offseason if it weren’t for that meddling dead cap space.

That will have to wait another year. In the meantime, general manager Bill Guerin believes he still can make his team a contender in 2024-25.

“We want to win now,” Guerin said Friday, a day after the 2023-24 season officially ended with a 4-3 loss to Seattle at Xcel Energy Center.

The Wild had been eliminated from the postseason for a little more than a week by then, marking the second time in 12 seasons they had missed the playoffs. Injuries were an issue in 2023-24; captain Jared Spurgeon played only 16 games, and key players such as Kirill Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin, Marcus Foligno, Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello all missed stretches. So was a 5-10-4 start that cost Dean Evason his job. And so was a handful of disappointing seasons from veterans.

But the biggest reason was something that isn’t going away this year, the $14.7 million in dead salary cap space the team carried this season, part of the penalty for buying out the identical 13-year, $98 million contracts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.

That cap hit was a big topic of discussion early because the Wild couldn’t afford to call up some of their higher-paid prospects until the team started getting long-term injury relief. The reality is the die already had been cast. Without veteran free-agent acquisitions, Minnesota spent the entire season relying on call-ups from the American League team in Des Moines.

By season’s end, players with little-to-no NHL experience were playing on special teams, including the league’s third-worst penalty kill.

As veteran winger Marcus Foligno said Friday, “You’re not gonna have these guys that come up from the AHL and fill in on the penalty kill and make it miraculously better. It’s not right for them to be put in that position.”

But they were because the Wild had no other choice, and it could happen again next season. Guerin wants to win now, but his capacity is limited to add veterans that might really help a team that finished with a minus-12 goals deficit.

And here it comes again, that $14.7 million dead cap hit. That shrinks to less than $1.6 million next season, but as Guerin said Friday, he wants to win now.

How?

“Obviously, if the cap goes up, we’ll have more money,” Guerin said. “I know everybody else will, too, but we can really use it. Like I said, we’ll do what we can. We’ll look at every possible option that we have, whether that’s free agency, trades, anything we can do to improve the team.”

The NHL salary cap is expected to rise from $83.5 million this season to $87.7 million for 2024-25, despite the fact that a lot of NHL teams are struggling with television contracts.

That extra cap space would really help.

Currently, the Wild have 15 players under one-way, NHL contracts for next season, plus Brock Faber and Marco Rossi, who just finished terrific rookie seasons and have one more year on their entry-level deals. Total cost is $64.13 million, which looks great without the addition of $14.7 million Guerin can’t spend. That brings the total to $78.8 million.

That could give Guerin roughly $9 million, minus a bit of cap cushion, to fill out a 23-man roster. He did a lot of work this season — signing veterans Foligno, Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman, Zach Bogosian and Marc-Andre Fleury to extensions — and is hoping some of those spots can be taken by young, inexpensive prospects.

Rookie Declan Chisholm, a restricted free agent acquired from Winnipeg on waivers in December, seems a lock to start on the blue line, and forwards Marat Khusnutdinov and Liam Ohgren finished the season with the NHL club, as did Mason Shaw, Adam Beckman, Jake Luchinni and Vinni Lettieri, all of whom started last season in Des Moines.

“We’re starting to see, I think, some of the patience pay off when you see some of these younger players getting into the mix,” Guerin said. “So, you want to continue that as well. But look, if there’s an opportunity to improve our team right away, we will do it.”

The most obvious potential for that seems to be a trade involving a goalie.

The Wild were counting on replacing Fleury and his $3.5 million contract with rookie Jesper Wallstedt and the last year of his $925,000 entry deal. Instead, they signed Fleury to a one-year, $2.5 million contract and now have Fleury, Wallstedt and incumbent No. 1 Filip Gustavsson as options.

After signing Fleury for the future hall of famer’s final NHL season, Guerin called the Wild’s goaltending situation “a position of strength.”

Wallstedt, 21, played three NHL games this season, and after a rough start — a 7-0 loss at Western Conference power Dallas — went 2-0 with a 1.01 goals-against average and .962 save percentage in starts at Chicago and San Jose. Gustavsson had a down year (3.06 GAA, .899 save %) but was one of the NHL’s best goaltenders in 2022-23, his first full season.

Fleury has a no-move clause, and Guerin didn’t sign him to trade him, anyway. Leaving Wallstedt in Iowa for most of another season makes little sense, as well, and Gustavsson — who turns 26 in July and has two more years on his deal — is an attractive trade target.

In fact, Gustavsson might be the only veteran trade target on the roster without a no-trade clause in his deal, and he’s due to make more than Fleury and Wallstedt combined ($3.75 million) next season.

There is a risk involved in relying on a 39-year-old veteran and a rookie with three NHL games under his belt, but if Guerin wants to win now, he could really use another veteran top six forward. Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy accounted for 42 percent of all goals this season, and only Hartman and Rossi added as many as 20 goals (21 apiece).

“One of our main objectives is to improve the forward group,” Guerin said.

WRAPPED UP

The Wild have 17 players projected to make the 2024-25 roster under contracts worth $64.13 million next season, well under the projected salary cap of $87.7 million. But they’ll also have $14.7 million in dead cap space to contend with.

Forwards                 Signed through      No trade?
Kirill Kaprizov            2025-26                   No
Joel Eriksson Ek       2028-29                   No
Matt Boldy                2029-30                   No
Mats Zuccarello        2025-26                   Yes
Marcus Foligno         2027-28                  Yes
Freddy Gaudreau     2027-28                   Yes
Marcus Johansson   2024-25                   Yes
Ryan Hartman          2026-27                   Yes
Marco Rossi             2024-25*                  No

Defensemen           Signed through     No trade?
Jared Spurgeon       2026-27                  Yes
Jonas Brodin            2027-28                 Yes
Jake Middleton         2024-25                  No
Jon Merrill                2024-25                  No
Zach Bogosian         2025-26                 Yes
Brock Faber             2024-25*                No

Goaltenders           Signed through     No trade?
Filip Gustavsson      2025-26                 No
Marc-Andre Fleury   2024-25                 Yes
*Entry level contract

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It wasn’t easy — nothing has been for the Twins this season — but finally, a week after they won their last game, the Twins got themselves back in the win column.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 20: Byron Buxton #25 of the Minnesota Twins hits a double against the Detroit Tigers in the second inning at Target Field on April 20, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

They used another solid start from Bailey Ober — he retired the first 13 batters before allowing a Tiger to reach base — and just enough offense, scoring three runs on sacrifice flies, to capture a 4-3 win over Detroit on Saturday afternoon at Target Field.

Ober, who threw six scoreless innings against Detroit last week, looked just as good on Saturday, working efficiently through the Tigers’ lineup.  He got eight of the first nine batters to fly or line out, and started collecting strikeouts later on, finishing with six.

The only run Ober allowed came in his last inning when he walked Riley Greene with a pair of outs and then allowed a Wenceel Pérez triple to bring him home.

He was pitching with a lead for most of the day as the Twins turned productive outs into runs, getting baserunners on, moving them over and then bringing them home on sacrifice flies from Willi Castro and Ryan Jeffers in the second and third innings.

The Twins took advantage of some shaky Tigers defense in the fifth inning, putting another pair of runs on the board to give them a four-run lead.

Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton (25) reacts after hitting a double during the second inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Saturday, April 20, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs)

But the Tigers chipped away, scoring a run in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings as the Twins made their way through the end of the game using contributions from Steven Okert, Cole Sands, Kody Funderburk, Matt Bowman and finally Griffin Jax, who nailed down the save.

Royce Lewis may still be a ways out from returning to game action, but the Twins’ third baseman is starting to move into baseball activities, a positive sign as he recovers from a severe right quad strain.

Lewis suffered the strain running the bases on Opening Day and head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta said they’re looking to get him into a running progression around the end of next week. Once he starts running, they’ll have a better sense of what his timeline for a return will look like.

“He’s still got some boxes to check for us, but heading in the right direction for him,” Paparesta said.

Lewis swung off a tee on Friday for the first time since suffering the injury on March 28. While Paparesta said Lewis has reported feeling ready to play now, it’s his job to make sure that they’re moving on an appropriate timeline and making sure they give the injury proper time to heal.

“I think sometimes people forget that we’re only three weeks into the season,” Paparesta  said. “He’s only been hurt for three week which, I know, only seems like it’s still a long time. … We are three weeks into the season and we need to be conscientious about the rest of the year ahead of us.”

Correa update

Just over a week after suffering a mild right intercostal strain, Twins shortstop Carlos Correa reported feeling much better and Paparesta said the shortstop’s symptoms are “improving dramatically.”

Correa has started doing rotation activity and has been making what he described as “good progress.” Sometime next week, he hopes to start swinging the bat.

“We’re making sure we take care of it and when I get back, it’s in a good spot so I don’t miss more time,” Correa said. “It can get kind of tricky with that area. If it gets a lot worse, you can end up missing months and that’s definitely not what I want to do.”

Other injury updates

While the Twins are expecting most of their injured players back at one point or another, they learned recently that reliever Daniel Duarte, a non-roster invite who made the team out of camp, will need elbow surgery. While it’s unclear if he needs Tommy John surgery or different procedure, it’s clear that he’ll be out for the rest season. His surgery is set for May 8 with Dr. Keith Meister, who will decide then exactly how to best treat Duarte, Paparesta said.
Reliever Justin Topa (patellar tendinitis) threw a game-simulated bullpen session on Saturday, which Lewis stood in on and tracked pitches. The Twins plan to have him throw live batting practice on Tuesday and if that goes well, then he’s likely to head out on a rehab assignment, Paparesta said.
Relievers Josh Winder and Zack Weiss, both dealing with shoulder issues, are still far off from a potential return. Winder has thrown live batting practice in Florida and is getting close to pitching in extended spring training but the Twins will use May to build him up. Weiss is even further, currently just long tossing.
Max Kepler (knee) and Jhoan Duran (oblique) are both relatively close to returning with Kepler on a rehab assignment currently and Duran set to rehab with the Saints next week.

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