5 Minnesota Wild players who could follow Chuck Fletcher out the door

With Chuck Fletcher not coming back as general manager, these five players may also not be back with the Minnesota Wild next season.

After nine seasons as Minnesota Wild general manager, Chuck Fletcher will not have his contract extended. The team has made the playoffs in six straight years, but advancing past the first round just once in that time was not the plan when Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were signed to matching mega-contracts on July 4, 2012.

Senior vice president of hockey operations Brent Flahr will become the acting general manager, and he’s theoretically a candidate for the permanent post. But a new general manager, whoever they are, will have some work to do. The current mix of players is not working, and the Wild’s salary cap situation will continue to prevent a major push in free agency.

There are a few mainstays, for better or worse, on the Wild roster. Parise, Suter and goaltender Devan Dubnyk top that list, followed by defensemen Jared Spurgeon, Matt Dumba and Jonas Brodin. Olympian Jordan Greenway also looks like a building block.

Some tough decisions are coming on a lot of other guys, though, and the real potential to sell low is prevalent in many cases. With Fletcher’s exit, which is a decision from owner Craig Leipold not to extend his contract rather than a dictionary definition firing, these five Wild players could be gone as well.

5. C Eric Staal

Staal led the Wild in scoring this year, with 42 goals and 76 points. After being left for something close to dead as he tallied a total of 39 points for the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers in 2015-16, he has enjoyed a nice career resurgence with the Wild over the last two seasons (65 points in 2016-17).

But Staal is also going to turn 34 early next season (Oct. 29), and a once-and-for-all decline could come fast. He’s also entering the final year of his three-year deal with Minnesota, at a reasonable cap hit of $3.5 million. That contract status will appeal to other teams.

Trading Staal would be difficult in many ways, but this is arguably the peak of his value and dealing him has to be an option.