The March 3 NHL trade deadline is fast approaching and the newest name linked to the Minnesota Wild is Philadelphia Flyers veteran forward James van Riemsdyk.
The 33-year-old has 8 goals and 13 assists in 32 games for the slumping Flyers, who are certainly to be one of the NHL’s sellers going into the trade deadline.
Enter SportsNet’s Elliotte Friedman, who when mentioning potential trade fits in his latest column, wrote: “James van Riemsdyk in Minnesota. The Wild are looking for scoring.”
Van Riemsdyk is a free agent after the season so Minnesota doesn’t have to give up a star prospect or high draft pick to get him. It’s just a matter of outbidding other teams that might be in on him, namely the Calgary Flames, whom Friedman says have expressed interest.
That’s a big one considering Minnesota, Calgary and Colorado are all tied with 58 points in the back end of the Western Conference playoff race.
Van Riemsdyk carries a $7 million cap hit this season. The Wild have about $3.78 million cap space, according to Spotrac, so at a pro-rated salary they would presumably be able to take on the rest of what he’s owed, though it would be even better if Flyers ate some of his salary.
The Minnesota Wild, who could be a potential landing spot for James van Riemsdyk if the Flyers are willing to eat 50% of his cap hit, have two scouts in attendance tonight in Philadelphia. JVR would be a nice addition to the help the 14th ranked Wild PP. #MNWild
— Brandon J. Sommermann (@B_Sommermann) January 12, 2023
