Minnesota Wild should start a rebuild at the trade deadline

The Minnesota Wild have been mediocre for far too long, and they need to get out ahead of their inevitable downfall for the good of the future of the franchise.

The Minnesota Wild are a team that has defined mediocrity over the last several years. Now with another season of seemingly the same thing, if not worse, on the horizon, it is time for the Wild to realize that this roster core isn’t coming anywhere near a Stanley Cup this year, or any year after that. With the trade deadline now under two months away already, now is the right time to start selling off some of their valuable assets and start building for the future, because at the rate they’re going, there won’t be much of one coming.

Make no mistake, this is not a slight against the Minnesota Wild, but rather a hard truth that has to be faced eventually by the organization and fans alike. The Wild are a team that has bothered me personally for a long time, because their fans deserve better. While the Wild are far from a bad team, they’re also far from a great team. They’re just good, that’s about it. They can play any team in the league really well, even beat plenty of elite teams on a good night, and be good enough to make the playoffs just about every season. This season however, they’ve been struggling with their lack of elite talent with a record of 4-7-1 in December, and find themselves on the outside looking in at a playoff spot.

As it stands right now, the Minnesota Wild sit four points outside of a wildcard spot with 39 points. Far from an insurmountable deficit, in fact, the Wild could absolutely make the playoffs for another year. But in the end, what would be the point in the long run? The Wild have made the playoffs for six straight seasons, and have done next to nothing with any of those appearances.

Lets look at the Wild’s playoff runs since they began their postseason streak in 2012-13.

2012-13: A 4-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round in their first postseason appearance since 2007-08.

2013-14: A 4-3 upset win over the Colorado Avalanche in the first round, before being beaten 4-2 by the Blackhawks again in the second round. This was their most successful run during this six year stretch.

2014-15: Another first round upset this time 4-2 over the St. Louis Blues, before being swept by the Chicago Blackhawks in the next round.

2015-16: A respectable 4-2 loss in the first round to the heavily favored Dallas Stars.

2016-17: Their best regular season of all time ends with a humiliating 4-1 loss to the St.Louis Blues in the first round.

2017-18: Trounced in every possible way en route to 4-1 series loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

With practically the same roster, what does this version of the Wild bring to the table to do anything in the playoffs this time around?

Let’s realistically look at where the Wild can finish this season. At two points out of a wildcard spot, and the top two spots in the central division all but locked up, that leaves the two wildcard spots and third place in the Central if the Avalanche fall off. If they get the second wildcard spot or third in the Central, that will match them up with the Winnipeg Jets or the Nashville Predators, who would annihilate the Wild again in another playoff series. First wildcard spot would be their best chance at playoff success, but even still that leaves one of San Jose, Calgary, or Vegas in their path and again, I can’t see how Minnesota would best them. After seven consecutive years of making the playoffs, do the Wild really want to sacrifice the future just to sneak back into playoffs for another year only to get soundly beaten again? Would it not be better to build a stronger team for the future?

Look at an example from last year, with the New York Rangers. It was almost the same scenario that the Wild find themselves in now, where they had to make a choice between pushing for making a playoff spot at the cost of the future, or selling off and building a stronger team for the down the road. Management realized that the Rangers roster was not going to win a Stanley Cup anytime soon, so they sold off plenty of high value trade assets in order to reload on top quality prospects to shape them into Stanley Cup contenders a few years down the line.

Like the Rangers, the Wild don’t have to sell off everything on the roster, just enough to net them solid assets to get younger and faster. Eric Staal should absolutely get dealt with him on the final year of his deal, and should net a decent return after a 41 goal, 76 point season last year. Though, they might’ve waited too long to sell high on him, now that he’s on a 55 point pace with 12 goals and 11 assists. Despite that, playoff hopeful teams desperate for center depth will pay a hefty price for a player like Staal, especially on a cheap contract, but the Wild need to be bold enough to make that choice.

Depending on how deep Minnesota would be willing to go with a retool at the deadline, there are plenty of other assets they could move in building for the future that they don’t need anymore. Jared Spurgeon could fetch a great price considering how many teams are desperate for right handed defense. Charlie Coyle’s name has already taken a swirl into the trade rumor mill, and wouldn’t hurt to check what return they could get for him regardless.

However, there are a few solid pieces in place to build for the future in Minnesota already. Matt Dumba is an excellent young defender and still has the room to develop into one of the top scoring defensemen in the league. Luke Kunin, Jordan Greenway, and Joel Eriksson Ek all look to be on pace to be top four forwards, but thats also where the positives run out. The average age of this roster is 29.5, and the last couple drafts for the Wild have frankly been terrible.

Since 2013, only one player the Wild have drafted has turned into a full time productive NHL player, the player being Alex Tuch, who they traded to the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft. They’re traded several first round picks, and when they had them, passed on current NHL stars like David Pastrnak and Brock Boeser in favor of “safer” picks. Even this past draft, the Wild used their first round pick to reach all the way off the board and pick defenseman Filip Johansson, who was projected to be a late second round pick. Trading their current roster for draft picks won’t do anything unless their drafting gets significantly better.

All in all, the Wild need to end the facade. They are not Stanley Cup contenders, they have nothing coming that will make them Stanley Cup contenders, and they’re only going to be worse off the longer they keep delaying the inevitable. The overall goal of any season, especially when time is winding down for a roster core like it is now for the Wild, is to win a Stanley Cup. If you can’t do that, why bother pretending that you can?

I think a fan base proclaimed to be “The State of Hockey” deserves better than what the Wild have given them this decade, and if the Wild continue to sit on their hands, it’s only going to get worse. It’s time to make the Minnesota Wild into a team worth cheering for, but it’s going to take a lot of sacrifices to get there.