Wild getting what should be welcome interest in Mikael Granlund

As teams reportedly line up with interest in Mikael Granlund, Minnesota Wild general manager Paul Fenton should happily oblige by making a deal.

The Minnesota Wild have now won three games in a row to push themselves right back into the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. But general manager Paul Fenton is clearly open for business. After deals that have sent Nino Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle away, Michael Russo of The Athletic has reported the Nashville Predators are the top team interested in winger Mikael Granlund.

Granlund is the second-leading scorer on the Wild right now, with 49 points (15 goals and 34 assists). But his goal last Thursday night against the Rangers was just his fifth goal in his last 46 games, dating back to Nov. 13, and he’s a -8 over that span.

After looking like he was ready for a breakthrough in 2016-17, as he scored a career-high 26 goals and had a career-high 69 points, Granlund followed up with 67 points last year (21 goals and 46 assists). So this year stands as something of an underachievement, particularly with a prolonged goal-scoring downturn, even with the caveat that he has split time between wing and center.

Granlund will turn 27 on Tuesday, with one year left on his contract after this one at a $5.75 AAV. So he’d be more than a rental for an acquiring team, which adds to his appeal as a trade target along with bolstering the possible return the Wild can get.

In terms of who on Nashville’s roster may interest Minnesota, Russo specifically mentioned winger Kevin Fiala. Fenton was in the Predators’ front office when Fiala was drafted, which explains the interest, and even with a downturn from his 2017-18 breakthrough the 22-year old has put up a respectable 32 points (10 goals, 22 assists) so far this season. He’s also at the end of his entry-level contract, requiring only a qualifying offer just shy of $875,000 during the offseason.

Fenton may not oversee a full rebuild, but he’s clearly ready to break up Minnesota’s underachieving core. As time winds down before the trade deadline Monday, only the big contracts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter seem to be completely off the table in trade talks.