Report: Wild make offers to two core players

But GM Chuck Fletcher still has a ton of work to do…

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 6 years ago
Report: Wild make offers to two core players
Keystone Press

The Minnesota Wild have announced that they’ve tendered qualifying offers to eight players, including Mikael Granlund and Nino Neiderreiter.  A qualifying offer simply designates these players as restricted free-agents come July 1st, rather than unrestricted free-agents. It does not, however, mean that Fletcher’s work is done when it comes to the dynamic duo… far from it, actually.

Both Granlund and Niederreiter are both in line to receive sizeable raises over their 2016-17 salaries. In Granlund’s case, the Finnish sniper chose the perfect time to break out as an NHL star and will get paid handsomely as a result of his 26 goal, 69 point campaign from this past season. His $3 million salary could more than double this offseason. As for Niederreiter, he’ll also cash in thanks to a 25 goal, 57 point campaign in 2016-17. His $2.6 million annual salary will get a significant bump as well.

For Wild fans, it will be interesting to see how Fletcher handles these negotiations in particular. The Wild remain under cap duress as a result of Zach Parise’s and Ryan Suter’s matching $7.5+ million cap hits. Mikko Koivu’s $6.75 million and Jason Pominville’s $5.6 million complicate things further.

One thing’s for sure, Granlund and Niederreiter are both going to get PAID this offseason. It’s just a matter of which contract Fletcher manages to get himself out from under in order to circumnavigate the NHL’s salary cap. For the full list of the Wild's qualifying offers, check out the official announcement: