Does Victor Rask have a future with the Minnesota Wild?

 

Ever since Victor Rask was traded to the Wild in January 2019 in exchange for Nino Niederreiter, Rask has been either on the fourth line or a healthy scratch. In 66 games with the Wild, Rask has only racked up 7 goals and 9 assists (16 points).

Remember, Paul Fenton was the Wild’s general manager at the time the trade was made. This particular trade is looking to be one of the worst trades in the history of the Minnesota Wild. The question here is saving $1.25 million on the cap worth it (Niederreiter’s salary was $5.25 million/year). Fenton traded for a player who missed significant time (including training camp) before the trade was made due to having surgery on his hand after he sliced part of his hand in a kitchen incident. There were rumors that Fenton didn’t even send a scout to watch Rask play in person nor did Fenton even talk with Eric Staal, who played with Rask in Carolina for two seasons. In addition to the rumors about Fenton not scouting Rask, there were rumblings that the Hurricanes were going to buy Rask out of his contract before the trade.

What was Paul Fenton’s thinking on that—to trade for a player without doing any scouting? (This trade was among the list of reasons why Fenton was eventually fired after the 2018-19 season). There really hasn’t been much value to having Rask on the roster.

Rask is not that impressive of a player. As previously stated, he’s only appeared in 66 games with the Wild so far and has only racked up 16 points (7 goals and 9 assists). He’s not that great of a skater—which has been evident when watching him play. If you look at his career stats, he’s a career -27 (405 career games with 70 goals and 109 assists). For the Wild, this trade has basically been a bust.

Where does Rask fit into the Wild line up? Or does he? As of the time I was writing this article, the Wild currently have six centers (including Rask). With the additions of Nick Bonino, Nick Bjugstad, and Marcus Johansson, along with Joel Ericsson Ek and Nico Strum already on the roster. Rask isn’t close to being a top center-which the Wild desperately need. In my opinion (and I am not a coach or general manager at all), there should be some effort to move Rask. I don’t believe the current NHL CBA allows for restructuring of contracts.

What are the options with Victor Rask at this point?

• Buy out the remaining two years of his contract. This is one option; however, it’s a costly one. Rask has two years remaining on a 6-year, $24 million contract he signed after the 2015-16 season (when Ron Francis was the GM of the Hurricanes). The trade to the Wild also occurred before his trade clause went into effect, which the Wild are not honoring. Right now, Rask has a cap hit of $4 million for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. IF the Wild were to buy out those two remaining years, Rask would have a cap hit of $1.33 million through the 2023-24 season.  Would the Wild be able to afford that cap hit to free up a roster spot?

• Trade Rask. This could be considered a daunting task, considering Rask’s salary and lack of offensive production throughout his NHL career (405 career games with 70 goals and 109 assists). Can the Wild find a willing trade partner or is there a possibility that Rask would have to be part of a trade package? How much salary is the Wild going to have to retain? It’s going to be interesting to see if (current) Wild GM Bill Guerin can pull off trading Rask.

• Keep Rask until his contract expires. Are the Wild willing do that, especially at $4 million a year for the next two seasons? Right now, he’s still on the roster. But where does he fit in with the Wild having a total of six centers on their roster? Rask is not one of those players who can be moved over to a wing spot and depending on other factors, he could be spending a lot of time in the press box as a healthy scratch-albeit an expensive one. 

Time will tell what happens with Victor Rask and the Minnesota Wild. One thing is for certain is that the Wild should try to find a way to move on from this bad trade and cut their losses in a way that will help the Wild.

Sources:

https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/the-ugly-shocking-details-of-fenton-s-firing-in-minnesota 

1.    https://thehockeywriters.com/hurricanes-wild-niederreiter-rask-trade-revisited/

https://zonecoverage.com/2020/wild/revisiting-paul-fentons-2019-trades/

https://www.nhl.com/player/victor-rask-8476437