MN Wild Sign Michael McCarron to Discounted Contract Extension
The Minnesota Wild have big plans for their 2026 offseason to-do list. And on Tuesday, they got the party started by signing their No.1 priority in-house unrestricted free agent, Michael McCarron, to a new contract that will keep him in St. paul through the 2031-32 season.
According to Michael Russo and Joe Smith (The Athletic) McCarron’s new deal is six years, $19.8 million ($3.3 million AAV), which is one to two million dollars less than what Russo believes the 31-year-old center could have fetched on the open market.
The Minnesota Wild have signed Michael McCarron to a six-year, $19.8 million contract ($3.3 million average annual value), league sources told The Athletic on Tuesday, securing the top target among internal unrestricted free agents.
Michael Russo and Joe Smith (The Athletic)
Finer Details on Michael McCarron’s new contract in Minnesota
Guerin loves to use no-trade clauses to negotiate down the dollar value of contracts he is negotiating with players he plans to hang onto long term. McCarron unsurprisingly has one in his new deal.
Should an NHL expansion draft happen in the near future, though, there is language in his new deal that the former first round draft pick would NOT require protection.
McCarron has a no-move clause throughout the contract. However, there is language in the deal that in the event of an expansion draft, he doesn't need to be protected. Columbus’ Charlie Coyle has similar language in his contract.
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) June 9, 2026
In the last three years of the deal, McCarron… https://t.co/2wJrMJok0o
Related: Dylan Larkin Trade List Includes Minnesota Wild
Last season, Michael McCarron scored 8 goals and added 9 assists. He three of those goals and totalled 5 points in 20 games for the Minnesota Wild, who acquired him at the trade deadline in exchange for a second round draft pick.
You don’t surrender an asset like that for one playoff run. There’s little doubt that trade haul played into president of hockey operations Bill Guerin‘s determination to extend McCarron so quickly.
McCarron could have gotten more elsewhere
With that being said, he was clearly on the board for multiple teams in need of depth centers, some of which were reportedly willing to pay upwards of $5 million, Russo reported in his latest “Worst Seats in the House” Podcast Monday night, about 12 hours before he broke the news of McCarron’s signing.
“I think they’re going to give him a lot of term to get that AAV down into that three, three and a half million dollar range, which, you know, I think he is going to be leaving a lot of money on the table. I think if he got to free agency, somebody out there would give him $4 or $5 million.”
Michael Russo – Worst Seats in the House Podcast
Now, the Minnesota Wild will turn their attention to their other pending free agents, along with their heated pursuit for Dylan Larkin or another a top-six centerman.
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