The Minnesota Wild faced some serious challenges this off-season, particularly in potential salary arbitration hearings. They’ve taken care of the big obstacles in impressive ways.
Mere days after signing Nino Niederreiter to a five-year, $26.25 million contract to avoid arbitration, the Wild found common ground with another rising star forward in Mikael Granlund. In Granlund’s case, he gets a higher cap hit ($5.75 million) that only covers him for three seasons.
In total, Granlund’s three-year contract is worth $17.25 million.
Specifically, the 25-year-old receives $5.25M in 2017-18, $5.5M in 2018-19, and $6.5M in 2019-20.
After showing flashes of brilliance through his first four years in the NHL, Granlund blew away his previous totals, scoring 26 goals and 69 points.
“Mikael has been an important part of our club for the last five years, and he showed a great amount of growth with an impressive performance last season,” Wild GM Chuck Fletcher said. “People across the League are now surely aware of what our management group has always known: Mikael has a tremendous level of talent and skill. Coupled with his excellent work ethic and tremendous character, we know he’ll play a large role in the future success of our team, and we’re thrilled to have him under contract moving forward.”
Much like Niederreiter, Granlund may (reasonably) claim that his best years are in front of him.
This covers the headliners for the Wild, though they still need to strike a deal with RFA Marcus Foligno.
This also appears to be another summer where most teams avoid the more harrowing aspects of arbitration:
With Granlund under contract, only 2 players who elected for salary Arb. remain.
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) August 1, 2017
Calvin De Haan (NYI) - Aug 2
Nate Schmidt (VGK) - Aug 3 pic.twitter.com/CbC2y0HMXt