So long to Kyle Brodziak; Bargain options for the Wild; Updated depth chart

Good morning from the woods of Michigan, where I'm on a mini vacation.

Kyle Brodziak's long tenure officially ended last night when he signed a one-year, $900,000 contract with the St. Louis Blues.

While part of me is surprised at the contract Brodziak had to settle for, I had a feeling it would be difficult for him to get the third-line money he'd be seeking from the Wild and others. Not because of Brodziak the player, but because if you look at the rosters of most teams in the league right now, there were a number of fourth-line center/wing spots open, but not a lot of third-line center spots.

Some felt Arizona would be an option before free agency, but when the Coyotes reacquired Boyd Gordon from Edmonton, that took a landing spot away from potentially Brodziak.

As I wrote on a blog (that I can't find right now) recently, there is so little money in the system right now, it would behoove every free agent to sign early so they're not locked out of a spot by Day 2 and 3. After the first day of free agency, it would be very tough for some players -- even quality ones -- to find jobs. My guess in my Insider at the draft and free agency preview from Wednesday's paper was that Fletcher would be quiet on Day 1 and then wait into free agency to look for some bargains.

I know Fletcher said, "This is our team right now," Wednesday, but I still see holes and we'll see if that happens now. There are still some decent players available that may be forced to sign one-year deals and come cheap.

Fletcher said Wednesday, "never say never," about Chris Stewart. I took that to mean that if Stewart finds out in free agency that a $3 million-a-year deal wasn't out there and he'd come back for like $1 million, he'd still be in the cards. I think Stewart could still be an option.

Fletcher has said before that he doesn't want to "box out" the kids and then suddenly later in the summer pursues guys like Mike Modano and John Madden (eventually signing Madden) or signs Petr Sykora, etc. I can't imagine that the Wild really believes it doesn't need at least another NHL-caliber forward if it could get him on a bargain.

I know the Wild would love Tyler Graovac to make the team. But Fletcher has also told me there's no chance he wants him to be the Wild's fourth-line center.

Go to capfriendly.com or the other cap sites to see the free agents still available.

I like the Tyson Strachan signing. He has 184 games of NHL experience, has been a quality up and down defenseman and judging from the four or five text messages from beat writers yesterday, he's a good citizen.

As for Brodziak, it'll be weird walking into the Wild room and not seeing him in there. Only Mikko Koivu and Niklas Backstrom have been on the team longer.

Like Clayton Stoner though, I think the Brodziak haters will learn next season there was some real value to his game that the Wild will miss.

Besides the fact he's a solid penalty killer and a great teammate, as I've long said, Brodziak got so many scoring chances because he was usually in the proper position. He plays the system to a T. Yes, he's limited with the puck but very good without the puck.

That's it for now. Erik Haula remains unsigned. No worries here, even if he decides to file for arbitration by Sunday's 4 p.m. deadline. Christian Folin is also unsigned, but he's one of those weird Group 1 free agents where he's not really a free agent. He can't sign with any other team and the Wild owns exclusive rights. So basically, he has to take what the Wild wants to give him. I haven't looked it up, but I think his qualifying offer is a mandatory 5 percent raise (but not positive).

Here is the updated Minnesota Wild depth chart:

Here's a look at how the Wild is shaping up to look like next season. This will change throughout the summer as the Wild add and delete players.

In parentheses, each player's cap hits.

Forwards

Left wing Center Right wing

Zach Parise ($7.5+M) Mikael Granlund ($3M) Jason Pominville (5.6M)

Jason Zucker (900+K) Mikko Koivu (6.75M) Thomas Vanek ($6.5M)

Ryan Carter (625K) Erik Haula (RFA) ---------------------------

----------------------------

Vying for spots: Jordan Schroeder (600K), Tyler Graovac, (747,500); Brett Sutter (600K), Zac Dalpe, Ruslan Fedotenko, Michael Keranen (675K), Marc Hagel, Brett Bulmer (RFA), Kurtis Gabriel (667K), Zack Mitchell (615K), Brady Brassart ($836,667), Raphael Bussieres ($759,167), Grayson Downing (692,500), Pavel Jenys (688,333), Christoph Bertschy (575K), Jared Knight (761K).

Defensemen

Left Defense Right Defense

Marco Scandella (4M) Jared Spurgeon (2.66M)

Mike Reilly (2.025M) Matt Dumba (894,167)

Nate Prosser (625K)

Vying for spots: Christian Folin (RFA), Tyson Strachan, Jon Blum (RFA), Gustav Olofsson (795K), Guillaume Gelinas ($596,667), Dylan Labbe (692,500), Zach Palmquist (692,500), Alex Gudbranson (610K), Hunter Warner (598,333).

Goalies

Darcy Kuemper (1.25M)

Niklas Backstrom (3.42M)

Vying for spots: Brody Hoffman (925K), Stephen Michalek.

*Likely to sign a veteran No. 3 goalie

Total cap hit roughly: $68,096,342 ($71.4 million ceiling).

**Excludes Reilly's bonus for purposes of calculating the cap.

Available cap space: $3,303,658. This does not include players like Schroeder, the unsigned Folin and others vying for spots and Haula.

If injured goalie Niklas Backstrom is still on the roster as a third goalie come the season, the Wild would have to keep two extra skaters opposed to three. That could mean Folin starts in the minors if Reilly makes the team.