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

2. RW Nino Niederreiter

One of Fletcher’s best trades as Wild general manager brought Niederreiter from the New York Islanders for Cal Clutterbuck and a third-round pick in June of 2013. The fifth overall pick in the 2010 draft then delivered solid scoring, with 24, 20 and 25 goals in the 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, amidst wishes for more from the outside and surely internally.

A broken fibula played Niederreiter’s season this year, and he tallied just 32 points in 63 games. A report after the season pointed to his never being 100 percent healthy, which is not really surprising but also suggests he should have just sat out when he couldn’t bring anything to the table on the ice.

Niederreiter is still under contract for the next four seasons on an ill-advised contract extension Fletcher signed him to, with salaries of $6.075 million, $5.85 million, $4.25 million and $5.475 million. But he is still only approaching his 26th birthday (Sept. 8), and based on potential other teams could very sneakily line up to deal for Niederreiter if he’s made available.

For the Wild, or more specifically whoever becomes the next general manager, Niederreiter straddles the line of selling low coming off an injury-plagued season and trading him while he still carries the perception of potential. But as part of a roster reconstruction, that’s a line that has to crossed.