Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those who don’t often see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2025-26 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia. We’re currently covering the Central Division, next up are the Wild.
Minnesota Wild
Current Cap Hit: $91,088,165 (below the $95.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
D Zeev Buium (two years, $966.5K)
D David Jiricek (one year, $918.3K)
F Liam Ohgren (two years, $886.7K)
F Danila Yurov (three years, $950K)
Potential Bonuses
Buium: $1MM
Jiricek: $1MM
Ohgren: $500K
Yurov: $2MM
Total: $4.5MM
Yurov is coming off a bit of a tough year in the KHL after a breakout 49-point effort in 2023-24 but he’s still expected to come in and play a regular role with Minnesota right away. His $1MM in ‘B’ bonuses are unlikely while he’ll need to play regularly in the top six if he is going to have a shot at his $250K ‘A’ bonuses, of which there are four of them. Ohgren’s first season in North America didn’t go quite as well as the Wild had hoped. He was a solid scorer with AHL Iowa but didn’t fare particularly well with the big club. Projected as more of a depth player this season, his ‘A’ bonuses seem unlikely while he’d be trending toward a bridge deal if he winds up in that limited role this year.
Buium was a late-season addition, getting into four playoff games where he held his own. Without a ton of firepower on the back end, he should be able to play an important role this season, including seeing some action on the power play. Reaching a couple of his ‘A’ bonuses should be doable while if things go as planned, he could be the type of player that they want to sign long-term quickly. Jiricek, on the other hand, feels likely for a bridge as well. He has yet to establish himself as a full-time NHL player and while he should get there this year, that won’t be enough to land a long-term pact. If he can lock down a regular third-pairing spot, he could potentially double his current price tag although his bonuses are unlikely to be hit.
Signed Through 2025-26, Non-Entry-Level
D Zach Bogosian ($1.25MM, UFA)
G Filip Gustavsson ($3.75MM, UFA)
F Marcus Johansson ($800K, UFA)
F Kirill Kaprizov ($9MM, UFA)
F Vladimir Tarasenko ($4.75MM, UFA)
F Mats Zuccarello ($4.125MM, UFA)
The timing of the multi-year cap increase couldn’t have been any better for Kaprizov. Already poised for a multi-million-dollar raise, his market value will only go up now. Recent speculation has a possible offer landing in the $16MM per season range which feels a bit much on the high side but if it gets a deal done, expect GM Bill Guerin to do it. When healthy, he’s one of the elite wingers in the league. Tarasenko was brought in from Detroit in a cap-clearing move from the Red Wings and is coming off a rough year that only saw him record 33 points, the lowest full-season total of his career. A rebound this season could keep him in this price range but if he has a similar showing in 2025-26, landing half of this could be tough.
Zuccarello saw his production dip last season but he still managed 54 points, a solid return on the first season of this contract. Now 38, it’d be surprising to see him land another two-year pact but if both sides are happy, he could land another one-year agreement. His next deal would be a candidate to be bonus-laden if Minnesota needs some extra flexibility next summer with an overall price checking around this one. Johansson opted to take just above the minimum to ensure he stayed with the Wild. He probably could have beaten that on the open market with something more in the $1.5MM range based on the season he had but as long as he’s content in Minnesota, they could keep him around at a price close to the minimum if he has a similar role this season.
Bogosian wasn’t quite as impactful last season as he was in his first year with the team but he still held down a steady third-pairing role while taking a regular turn on the penalty kill. This type of salary for that type of role is reasonable value but it would be surprising if he landed this much on his next deal when he’s 36. By that point, he may be better off in a seventh defender role who steps in when injuries arise.
While plenty has been said about Kaprizov’s situation (and justifiably so), Gustavsson’s expiring contract also looms large. After a tough 2023-24 showing that saw him lose the starting job at times to Marc-Andre Fleury, he rebounded quite nicely, making a career-high 58 starts while finishing sixth in Vezina Trophy voting. The starting goaltender market has gotten a lot more expensive over the last 18 or so months and while he’s not in the same echelon as the starters who passed the $8MM mark recently (Linus Ullmark, Jeremy Swayman, Jake Oettinger, and Thatcher Demko), there’s a case to make that he’s in the tier below them. That could allow him to push for $7MM on a long-term agreement which would be another sizable jump on their books.
Signed Through 2026-27
F Ryan Hartman ($4MM, UFA)
D Jared Spurgeon ($7.575MM, UFA)
F Nico Sturm ($2MM, UFA)
G Jesper Wallstedt ($2.2MM, RFA)
Hartman has shown some flashes of being a legitimate top-six threat over his six seasons with the Wild which earned him this vote of confidence. However, the first year of the deal wasn’t great while he has now dealt with injury issues in four of those six years. Still, a center who has 20-goal upside when things are going well should be able to command at least a little more than this on the open market two years from now on another multi-year deal. Sturm was Minnesota’s most notable UFA signing this summer, coming over from Florida to help the penalty kill and play in the bottom six. He’ll need to get back into the 20-point range with Minnesota to avoid being cast more into the fourth-line role which would lower his market value.
Spurgeon has been a big-minute, all-situations player for a long time but it has started to catch up with him in recent years. They’ve managed his minutes a bit more lately to the point where he was fourth in ATOI among Minnesota’s blueliners. While that’s an appropriate role for his age, this contract is definitely on the expensive side for someone in that role. If there’s an extension two years from now, it could be worth closer to half this amount, including incentives.
Wallstedt’s deal was a headscratcher when it was signed and it looks even worse now. Following San Jose’s path when they signed Yaroslav Askarov early, he struggled considerably with AHL Iowa last season, posting a .879 SV%. Had they waited, they probably could have signed him for half this amount. Nonetheless, he’s still viewed as a quality prospect and if he performs to those expectations, they should still get a good return on this deal. He’ll need to cut into Gustavsson’s playing time if he wants to get more than an incremental raise in 2027.
Signed Through 2027-28
D Jonas Brodin ($6MM, UFA)
F Marcus Foligno ($4MM, UFA)
F Marco Rossi ($5MM, RFA)
F Yakov Trenin ($3.5MM, UFA)
Few players were in as much trade speculation as Rossi was this summer. For months, it had been well known that he wanted a long-term, big-money contract while Guerin’s preference was a bridge deal. A suitable trade offer wasn’t made, nor did an offer sheet materialize and in the end, Rossi moved toward Minnesota’s preferred option. Coming off a 60-point season, this isn’t bad value for the Wild and notably, the contract is back-loaded, carrying a $6MM salary in 2027-28; that number becomes his qualifying offer when he’ll also have arbitration rights. If all goes as planned in his development, the big payday coming his way will be even higher than the contract he was originally seeking this summer.
Foligno also got an early extension a couple of years back like Hartman did. Unlike Hartman, the offensive upside isn’t there as he has only reached 30 points once in his 14-year NHL career nor does he play center. He’s still an effective third liner but this is on the high side of things for someone who is best known for his physicality. Considering he’ll be 37 when his next contract starts, he’ll probably be year-to-year on his next deals at a lower cost than this. Trenin’s deal was baffling at the time as giving someone who is best suited as a fourth liner this term and money was not necessarily the best of ideas. Clearly, they were banking on a bounce-back offensively and that didn’t come. Trenin can contribute, sure, but his value might be closer to half of this.
Brodin has been a key shutdown defender throughout his 13-year NHL career, playing big minutes and anchoring the penalty kill. Those players typically don’t get big contracts but Brodin, being one of the better players in that role, was the exception with this deal. As market values increase with the cap, this contract will hold up just fine, as long as he stays healthy. Unfortunately, that has been a consistent challenge for him lately.
Signed Through 2028-29
F Joel Eriksson Ek ($5.25MM, UFA)
D Jacob Middleton ($4.35MM, UFA)
Eriksson Ek dealt with some injury issues last year (a common theme for core players on the Wild) but he remains a legitimate top-six center offensively while being one of the top defensive middlemen out there as well. That combination isn’t necessarily a prototypical number one center but it’s a role he often fills with Minnesota. If he was hitting free agency now, he could likely land a contract starting with an eight. This has been a big bargain for a few years and should continue to be moving forward.
Middleton begins this contract that was signed last summer on the heels of a career year. He wasn’t able to duplicate that last season but he was still a key top-four defender who handled some tough defensive minutes. At first glance, this deal might seem a little high but with where market values are going, this should be a fair-value contract even coming off the dip in production a year ago.
Signed Through 2029-30 Or Longer
F Matt Boldy ($7MM through 2029-30)
D Brock Faber ($8.5MM through 2032-33)
Boldy’s contract looked like it had the potential to be a team-friendly one when it was signed. Yes, there was some shared risk with a long-term deal signed when he had around 100 NHL games under his belt but if he lived up to his potential, it would be a favorable one for Minnesota. Now, in a cap environment that’s going to crank up much higher than we’ve seen, it’s even more of a club-friendly deal. He could surpass Eriksson Ek as their best contract before too long while he’s on track to hit double digits for an AAV on his next deal.
Faber had a fantastic rookie season, earning him this deal after just one year; like Boldy, Minnesota moved to sign him early. His sophomore year (played on his entry-level pact) wasn’t quite as high-end but he was still a high-impact performer. It might take a year or two for the offense to come back but this deal should age well while it’s already being used as a new benchmark in contract talks for other young defenders.
Still To Sign
None
Buyouts
F Zach Parise ($833.3K to 2028-29)
D Ryan Suter ($833.3K to 2028-29)
Retained Salary Transactions
None
Carryover Bonus Overage Penalty
$1.1MM
Best Value: (non-entry-level) Eriksson Ek
Worst Value: Trenin
Looking Ahead
Heading into the summer, with the big dead cap charges gone from Suter and Parise’s deals, Minnesota had the flexibility they’d been lacking for a while now. They ultimately didn’t do much with it. The benefit to that is that with more than $4MM in room, they’re in a good spot to bank some space early and then have ample wiggle room to take a big swing or two in the second half if the right trade materializes. If not, they’ll be well-positioned to absorb the entry-level bonuses and avoid the overage penalty for next season.
Speaking of next summer, they have nearly $40MM in cap space, more than half of which will be needed to re-sign Kaprizov and Gustavsson. But after that, they’ll only have a handful of spots to fill. Things look even cleaner for the following year. After some lean years in their spending room, the Wild now have a very promising cap outlook.
Photos courtesy of Jerome Miron and Nick Wosika-Imagn Images.