The Wild have acquired defenseman Will Butcher from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade that provides depth to a depleted defense.
Minnesota sent forward Maxim Cajkovic to Pittsburgh in exchange for the 29-year-old defenseman.
Butcher was drafted in the fifth round of the 2013 NHL draft by the Colorado Avalanche. He made his NHL debut during the 2017-18 season with the New Jersey Devils, earning First Team All-Rookie honors.
Butcher spent four seasons in New Jersey, tallying 14 goals and 92 assists before getting traded to Buffalo in July 2021. He signed with the Dallas Stars after the 2021-22 season, spending the entirety of the 2022-23 season with the AHL Texas Stars.
The Sun Prairie, Wis., native signed a two-way contract with Pittsburgh this offseason but hasn’t made an appearance in the NHL, playing 14 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, scoring three goals and adding four assists this season.
The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported Butcher is “likely to start in Iowa.”
Cajkovic spent the 2023-24 season split between Minnesota’s AHL-affiliate Iowa Wild and ECHL-affiliate Iowa Heartlanders. The 23-year-old forward had scored one goal and had two assists for the Wild in five games, while registering 12 goals and six assists for the Heartlanders in 20 games this season.
