In an attempt to improve the Wild's depth up the middle and perhaps sign an eventual bargain, the Wild will bring veteran center David Steckel into training camp on a professional tryout agreement.
Steckel, who has played 419 games for four teams over eight NHL seasons, was one of the out-of-work victims of the shrinking salary cap this summer.
"It was a difficult summer," said Steckel, 31, a faceoff specialist who played 21 games for the Anaheim Ducks last season. "I'd like to still think that I can play in the NHL. I'm thankful Minnesota gave me an opportunity, so in the end, hopefully I can make an impression and stick with the team."
Steckel, who led the NHL in 2010-11 by winning 62.3 percent of his faceoffs for Washington and New Jersey and has the second-best career faceoff winning percentage among active NHLers (.583 since 2005-06), has a strong identity as a player, coach Mike Yeo said.
Knowing that he is not a scorer (79 career points), Steckel is a big body at 6-6 who is responsible defensively and a solid penalty killer.
The Wild is lacking a clear-cut No. 2 center after allowing Matt Cullen to depart via free agency for Nashville and third-line center Kyle Brodziak, who scored 22 goals two seasons ago, is coming off a down year (eight goals, minus-18).
Yeo said Charlie Coyle and Mikael Granlund, both 21, rookie Erik Haula and even Brodziak will get second-line center looks throughout camp.
"The center position is a position where we do have a couple question marks, and bringing in a guy with Steckel's experience and his pedigree — he could potentially answer one of those questions," Yeo said. "We're going to try a lot of different combinations and a lot of people at different positions, and he's now in that mix."
