Kyle Rau and Dakota Mermis will stay with the Wild after signing two-way contracts Tuesday, the day before NHL free agency begins.
Rau's one-year deal is worth $750,000 in the NHL and $300,000 if he's at Iowa of the American Hockey League. Mermis' two-year contract is also a $750,000/$300,000 split next season and $750,000/$325,000 in 2022-23.
A former Gophers captain, Rau played 14 games with the Wild last season and had two assists; he also skated in one playoff game against Vegas.
The 28-year-old Rau has played 56 NHL games over five seasons with Florida and the Wild, and has two goals and five assists. He has 204 points in 307 AHL games.
A third round pick (91st overall) by the Panthers in 2011, the 5-8 Rau was a state champion at Eden Prairie and Mr. Hockey in Minnesota that year. He had 164 points in 160 games in four seasons with the Gophers, and first signed with the Wild as a free agent in 2017.
His brother, Chad, played nine games for the Wild in 2011-12.
Like Rau, Mermis spent most of last season on the Wild's taxi squad.
Mermis appeared in three games with the Wild, registering 10 hits and four blocked shots. The 6-foot, 194-pound native of Alton, Ill., has a goal and three assists in 23 career NHL games with Arizona, New Jersey and the Wild. He has 87 points in 304 career AHL games, and the 27-year-old was originally signed by the Wild in 2020.
