Minnesota Wild Rumors: Brock Nelson to Sign With Wild This Offseason

The Minnesota Wild finally have a ton of cap space to work with this offseason, as they won't have their hands tied financially due to dead money. The buyouts for Ryan Suter and Zach Parise are behind them, and look for GM Bill Guerin to make some significant additions up front.

According to Anthony DiMarco of Daily Faceoff, the Wild are linked to free-agent forward Brock Nelson, someone they also targeted ahead of the trade deadline this season, before the New York Islanders dealt him to the Colorado Avalanche. 

According to the source, the Wild are content with their defense and goaltending outlook heading into next season. By all accounts, the Wild’s focus is to bolster their forward group – specifically down the middle. Leading up to the deadline, the Wild were tied to Brock Nelson (ultimately dealt to the Colorado Avalanche) but passed on the hefty haul that was requested by the New York Islanders. Nelson, a Minnesota native, has history with Guerin with Team USA at this past season’s 4 Nations Face-Off, and it sounds like the Wild will target the 33-year-old in free agency this summer.

Aside from Nelson, Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett is another name I’m told that the Wild will target this summer. Bennett, who will turn 29, had a career year with 51 points and has become a force in the playoffs whose skill set was on full display for Team Canada at the 4 Nations. Bennett figures to be the best center available this summer and could garner upwards of $9 million per season; as mentioned before, the Wild may be poised to outbid any other interested teams.

The Wild will have over $20 million in cap space to work with this summer, and are expected to spend most of the money on upgrading their forwards. 

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