NHL insider: Blackhawks have leeway at trade time

Wild fans who have watched the past three playoffs know there's a gulf between the state of the Wild and the Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks, with a corps that includes Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews locked up until, gulp, 2023, are in win-now mode and always will be with the superstars who haven't even hit their prime. They can afford to toss away valuable assets left and right.

The Wild? Not so much.

This notion was further exemplified Thursday night when a half-hour after Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher said, "To give up a first-round pick for a rental I don't think makes a whole bunch of sense for most teams in this league," the Blackhawks did just that.

The Blackhawks are not "most teams." They've won three Stanley Cups in the past six years and are gearing up for what they hope is a fourth. So they can afford to trade young talent Marko Dano, a first and a conditional third to Winnipeg for 2010 Blackhawks Stanley Cup winner Andrew Ladd.

The next day, they were comfortable making two more trades, one including a young player and a second-rounder.

Now, Fletcher's right. With the Wild outside looking in that playoff window and losers of three in a row, there's no way Fletcher should trade his first-round pick, especially when now any non-playoff team can win the lottery.

But frankly, Fletcher probably shouldn't go the rental route — defined as players in the last year of their contracts set to hit unrestricted free agency July 1 — before Monday's 2 p.m. trade deadline anyway. Fletcher probably is past his quota of trading significant assets.

The Wild doesn't own this year's second-, third- or fifth-round picks or a 2018 second. Typically, teams acquire rentals by giving up high draft picks or massage things by tossing in young players, and that makes little sense for the Wild, which may not make the playoffs and, even if it does, likely would be staring at Chicago or Dallas in the first round.

"Ideally if you're trading a really good young asset or top pick, you'd like to get something back that you can utilize for more than a few months," Fletcher said.

Before the past three deadlines, Fletcher has traded a 2013 first- and 2014 second-round pick and two youngsters to Buffalo for Jason Pominville and a fourth; 2014 and 2016 second-round picks and Torrey Mitchell to Buffalo for Matt Moulson and Cody McCormick; a 2016 third-round pick to Florida for Sean Bergenheim and a seventh; and a 2018 second-round pick to Buffalo for Chris Stewart.

In 2014, although the Wild advanced to the second round, the slow-footed Moulson was a disappointment and ultimately injured. Last season, the Wild also advanced to the second round, but Bergenheim played three playoff games. Stewart could have been better, although some could argue the Wild has missed the now-Duck.

The rental moves haven't worked. What may make sense is making an actual "hockey trade" that could help now and the future. It did seem like Fletcher was positioning the team for one Saturday when he reassigned Jordan Schroeder and waived Chris Porter.

But with injuries up front and in Iowa, the Wild doesn't have a lot of depth to part with off its roster and should hold on to top prospects or assets like Matt Dumba. While it may make sense to eventually trade Mikael Granlund or Nino Niederreiter (each has a year left on his contract) or pending restricted free agents Darcy Kuemper or Jason Zucker, those type of deals usually happen in the summertime.

"It's safe to say if something made sense and was there, we would've done it [by now]," Fletcher said Thursday. "If we can do something, we will, but I don't want the message to be that we should be sitting around waiting for help. We've got enough talent and leadership in that room to get in. It's really incumbent on all of us to be better than where we are."

NHL Short Takes

Candidates all

If the Wild can add a scorer cheaply, GM Chuck Fletcher should consider it. Of course, it's debatable what cheaply would be.

One guy who may have made sense was Calgary's Jiri Hudler, who was traded to Florida on Saturday and would have made the Wild's small guys seem giant. Other potential rentals include Jamie McGinn (although how many more assets can Fletcher really give the Sabres?) or Calgary's David Jones.

The Wild has been linked to Loui Eriksson and Eric Staal, but they could cost a fortune in assets. Radim Vrbata is a scorer, but the price is high.

No chance

Lightning GM Steve Yzerman is trying to drum up business on Jonathan Drouin, who left his minor league team last month after going public with his request to be traded. The Wild showed interest, but it would be hard for a team looking for immediate impact to trade for Drouin since he's been skating and working out on his own for a month. Plus, Yzerman maintains he wants immediate help to his roster.

Happy guy

Jets captain Andrew Ladd, traded to Chicago, figured he was a goner after Winnipeg extended Dustin Byfuglien's contract.

"I think after Buff signed and we talked to [Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff], that's when I got the sense that it probably wasn't going to happen," said Ladd. "Then you obviously start thinking and hoping … you're going to go to a place that has a chance to win."

WILD'S WEEK AHEAD

Sunday: 2 p.m. vs. Florida

Tuesday: 7 p.m. vs. Colorado

Thursday: 6:30 p.m. at Toronto

Saturday: Noon at Buffalo

All games on FSN

Player to watch: Matt Duchene, Avalanche

The third overall pick in the 2009 draft behind John Tavares and Victor Hedman leads Colorado with 26 goals.

VOICES

"We had the best [first half] in franchise history and things never felt right."

— Former Wild coach Mike Yeo