The NHL trade deadline is only a little over a week away and the Minnesota Wild are still on the hunt for goal-scoring help.
Could that be in the shape of Burnsville, Minnesota native Brock Boeser?
According to his agent Ben Hankinson, Wild GM Bill Guerin has been in contact attempting to make a deal work for the Vancouver Canucks winger.
Vancouver has given Hankinson permission to seek a trade for his client as the Canucks are in the midst of a season in which they’re 21 points off a playoff spot in the Pacific Division and 18 points from a Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
Hankinson told The Athletic Hockey Show he sees Boeser as a “a top-six scoring wing.”
Boeser’s goals (10) have dropped this year from his usual 20+ per season.
“He’s 25 years old. He can score. He’s not scoring at a great rate this year, but he’s putting up a lot of points,” Hankinson said. “But I think he’d be a great fit.”
While the goals have dried up Boeser has continued to rack up the assist numbers, already at 27 this season. His career high is 30 in 2018-19.
Boeser, 25, signed a three-year deal at $6.65 AAV just last offseason.
Minnesota’s cap situation becomes very tricky starting next season with Zach Parise and Ryan Suter’s buyouts costing $14.7 million against the cap, which is roughly 17 percent of the Wild’s salary cap.
“There’d have to be a lot of salary retained by Vancouver, and I don’t think that’s something they’re too excited to do, because they just signed Brock Boeser,” Hankinson said. “Billy [Guerin] would have to have them eat a big, big chunk of that $6.65 (million) to fit him in next year and the year after, because that’s when the cap gets really tight for the Wild.”
