Minnesota Wild Sent Lowball Offers to Newly Signed Free Agent

The league did one heck of a job setting up the first couple nights of the 2025-26 NHL schedule, which is packed with rivalries of all shapes and sizes. On Wednesday night, we got Canadiens vs Maple Leafs and Bruins vs Capitals.

Thursday night will feature matchups between the Rangers vs Penguins and Devils vs Hurricanes. For the Minnesota Wild, the 2025-26 regular season will start on the east border of Missouri, vs a familiar Central Division foe, the St. Louis Blues.

We’ll see what the final lineup looks like when the the Wild take the ice, but Kirill Kaprizov is health (and EXTREMELY well compensated) will be on the top line. More positive news: Jonas Brodin is charging his way back to full health too, after undergoing surgery on an upper-body injury over the offseason.

Minnesota Wild enter new season lacking in key area

When he returns, the MN Wild will have one of the more talented blue line crews in the entire league. Unfortunately, the organization is not feeling as good confident about its NHL forward depth.

Mats Zuccarello and Nico Sturm both went down with preseason injuries that are expected to keep both veterans off the ice well into the regular season. But with chaos comes opportunity.

And the absence of Sturm and Zuccarello at Wild training camp allowed high talent youngsters Liam Ohgren, Danila Yurov and Hunter Haight additional opportunities to make the opening night roster.

HUNTER HAIGHT TIES IT pic.twitter.com/yYEtnGw3c4

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) September 21, 2025

Some (Ohgren and Haight) grabbed the moment more aggressively than others (Yurov), but head coach John Hynes remains bullish on the futures of all three. Nonetheless, he pretty much admitted Wednesday that on opening night, the Wild are likely to go with the two rookies who have North American hockey experience.

That’s Ohgren and Haight. Remember, this is Danila Yurov’s first year out of the KHL. There was a lot of hope, not that long ago, that the 21-year-old uber-talented forward would immediately make the jump, but that is not how reality played out during camp. Instead, it will be the 21-year-old Haight running 4th line center vs St. Louis.

But that doesn’t mean the Minnesota Wild aren’t still on the hunt for more help on their forward lines, while they wait for Zuccy and Sturm to get healthy. In fact, there is one very intriguing NHL free agent currently sitting on the market that Guerin & Co. had been expressing interest in recently, according to Michael Russo (The Athletic).

Perfect fit free agent wanted more money from MN Wild…

Jack Roslovic is a 28-year old right-handed centerman from Columbus, Ohio, who has spent most of his 9-year NHL career between Winnipeg (4 years) and his hometown Blue Jackets (3.5 years).

Per Russo, the Minnesota Wild have “checked in on” the Miami (OH) alum, but they’ve yet to make an offer large enough to interest him in getting off the unemployment line.

There’s no doubt president of hockey operations and GM Bill Guerin will be paying attention to whether Haight can fill Sturm’s shoes. If not, they’ll need Yurov, who wasn’t nearly as good at center in training camp as he was at wing, to move to the middle, or they’ll need to look to Iowa or make a trade.

The Wild checked in with free agent Jack Roslovic this week, but even though he remains unsigned to start the season, he thinks he can sign for more money than Minnesota was willing to pay him.

Michael Russo – The Athletic

Jack Roslovic spent all of 2024-25 with the Carolina Hurricanes, who advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals before being eliminated by the Florida Panthers (3-1). Roslovic potted 22 goals and assisted on 17 more (39 points) in 13:49 TOI during the regular season, then added 1 goal and 3 assists (13:42) in the postseason.

Jack Roslovic signs with Edmonton Oilers

Russo believes that the Minnesota Wild are likely to keep their eye out for more help at center, whether that is Roslovic or not. If they were to strike a deal with the veteran forward, the Wild’s top insider says he’d slot in on the 2nd or 3rd line, depending on how Hynes and Bill Guerin would want to play it.

Jack Roslovic's got quite the stat line this season.

12 games. 8 goals. 0 assists.

He's also got five goals in his last five games! pic.twitter.com/gmzle23huE

— NHL (@NHL) November 8, 2024

It’s very possible Minnesota wants to wait and see how Ohgren and Haight play tonight, on the Wild’s 4th line, before making any rash decisions in free agency. They may even want to get a real look at Yurov first. But their patience this time around cost them the opportunity to sign a real difference-maker.

Because Wednesday night, Roslovic inked a deal with the Edmonton Oilers, after Connor McDavid took a two-year discount contract that likely helped make space for an addition like Roslovic. As we well know, Kaprizov made no such accommodations for the Wild.

Nonetheless, we know the Wild want to win and they want to do it now. So if the youngsters aren’t ready, some sort of addition up the middle feels inevitable. And Guerin has a little bit of cap space ($3.55 million per PuckPedia.com) in his pocket to play with, if he feels it’s necessary to use up this early in the season.