The Minnesota Wild are not playing up to their names recently, losing nine of their last 10 games, and 12 of their last 15. It is disappointing to see a team that started the season so hot see their playoff chances slip away, much like the Montreal Canadiens. Even though they are slumping hard, general manager Chuck Fletcher has stated that coach Mike Yeo's job is safe, but that other avenues need to be taken to salvage the season, such as trades.
"I don't feel pressure [to trade], because that's when you make mistakes. I don't think anything has changed. I'm approaching this the same as if we had won five or six in a row. If there's an opportunity to make our team better, I'll do it," said Fletcher. "Obviously I'm talking to GM's every day. This is the time of the year where you're in regular in conversations with your counterparts, and there may or may not be opportunities to do something," according to Twincities.com's Chad Graff.
The salary cap is not an issue for Fletcher either. "No, we have plenty of cap space. That's not an issue at this point. We've been able to accrue enough cap space where we're in a position to take on salary, and obviously we have a great owner. Craig [Leipold] has always been willing to do what it takes to help the team. But that's not an issue. There are a lot of teams looking for similar things right now. There are a lot of teams still in the playoff race, there are a lot of teams looking to improve their teams, so that's more of a challenge than the salary cap," said the GM.
"We have tradeable guy [sic]. We have picks, we have prospects, we have assets that other teams like, I can tell you that much from the conversations I've had. The question is: Are you going to make a good trade? That's the whole point right now," Fletcher continued. "I'm not interested in moving young assets for rental players at this point. But again, this group is capable of being a lot better than what we are right now," according to Graff.
Whether the Wild make some moves soon is still up in the air, but ESPN's Pierre LeBrun has stated that the Minnesota GM has been looking to make a big deal.
When I spoke to Fletcher recently he said he's been trying for two-plus months to make an impact deal. He wouldn't name names, but we know he was in hard on Ryan Johansen. He's trying on Jonathan Drouin," according to LeBrun.
Minnesota is currently sitting just above bottom feeders Winnipeg in the Central Division.
