takze par noviniek od Russoa a spol
As I wrote in Wednesday's paper, the Wild will be in contact with Steve Bartlett, the agent of Thomas Vanek. However, I also hear the Wild has significant interest in Paul Stastny if he gets to free agency (like many teams) and Matt Niskanen.
Stastny and Niskanen will command lucrative, long-term deals, so there's no way the Wild would be able to land both.
Vanek will also be seeking a long-term deal, but if he wants to play in Minnesota, he might have to settle for a short-term deal.
I wrote this in Wednesday's paper, but I asked Bartlett if Vanek would agree to a short-term deal, especially after Vanek turned down lucrative offers from the Islanders and Sabres.
“I don’t think we’re absolutely entrenched on anything," Bartlett said. "Vanek is a very confident guy, somebody that is, I think, going to look at everything – the financial side, the family side, the team side.
“I don’t think we have anything cast in stone come Wednesday or July 1.”
If he would agree to that, that would allow the Wild to also go after Niskanen. If the Wild opts to go hard after Niskanen, I believe he'll sign here.
u mna je poradie Niskanen, Stastny (keby bol Koivu buyout, bol by jednotkou), Vanek, ale
But Fletcher says the Wild’s at a stage where it doesn’t have to chase players. There is a specific price point and term the Wild’s willing to reach.
cez trejdy by som sa potesil Perronovi, Sharpovi, ale
Fletcher doesn't see Wild as major trade partner.
If the Wild can't re-sign Clayton Stoner, I believe the team plans to pursue former Wild Willie Mitchell. During this interview period, Stoner will get to learn if there's potentially a more lucrative contract out there than the one the Wild is offering.
"We're happy with our group," Fletcher said. "We certainly would like to add. We certainly have holes we need to address. But if you look at our team, we either have players right in their prime that are key contributors on our team, or young players that are just starting their career that we're really not that excited about moving.
"We don't have a lot of players in that 25- to 29-year-old age class that seem to be the prime trade candidates in a lot of cases. So, it's not to say we won't make a trade, but we're looking at options in free agency. Certainly there's a lot of UFAs that may be attracted to us as we get into the shopping period, and I think we're pretty interested in keeping our No. 1 pick."
"I don't think we have quite as many holes going into next season as we had in previous years," Fletcher said. "That's not to say you're still not trying to improve your team. But I just feel that this year there's not the sense of urgency that we have had in past seasons, that we have to add certain pieces in order to be more competitive."
This year, the restricted free agents for the Wild include Nino Niederreiter, Darcy Kuemper, Jason Zucker, Justin Fontaine and Jonathon Blum. Next year, Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund, Erik Haula, Jonas Brodin, Marco Scandella and Christian Folin are restricted free agents.