Returning to Minnesota after the Olympics when the U.S. team he constructed won gold, Wild general manager Bill Guerin left open a lot of possibilities he could explore ahead of the NHL trade deadline.
He also did not shy away from the area he wanted to improve the most: faceoffs.
Guerin made a move to address that concern Tuesday night, acquiring 6-foot-6 center Michael McCarron from Nashville. Minnesota sent a 2028 second-round pick to the Predators to complete the trade.
McCarron, who turns 31 on Saturday, has won 52.8% of his faceoffs through 59 games this season. The Wild are second-worst in the league in that category at 46.2%.
“He brings a lot, and faceoffs are one element of his game that we really like,” Guerin said after making the trade. “Faceoffs is something we’ve been needing to improve and looking to improve. I think Mike has the ability to be a really good faceoff guy and on the penalty kill, too.”
This is the second addition in as many days for the Wild, who on Monday claimed forward Robby Fabbri off waivers from St. Louis.
“He’s a competitive guy,” Guerin said of Fabbri. “He just needs a real good opportunity to play, and he’s been through a lot in his career and he keeps fighting through and he’s established himself as a solid NHL player. Sometimes it’s a change of scenery that can rejuvenate you or get you going again. I think a lot of times guys just need a different opportunity.”
But the Wild may not be done after getting McCarron, which doesn’t stop them from going after another center.
“No,” Guerin said. “Yeah, we can still add.”
The Predators weren’t done dealing either. Later in the evening, Nashville dealt forward Cole Smith to the Vegas Golden Knights, and acquired minor-league defenseman Christoffer Sedoff and a 2028 third-round pick.
In Smith, the Golden Knights add forward depth to a team that’s been slumping, having lost three straight following a 3-2 loss at Buffalo. The 30-year-old Smith is in the midst of his fourth full NHL season and has 23 goals and 62 points in 270 career games.
The Predators, meantime, continued stockpiling draft picks and now have nine in the 2028 draft.
Guerin did his blockbuster trade in December by getting elite defenseman Quinn Hughes from Vancouver. That included center Marco Rossi going to the Canucks, depleting the Wild’s depth there while getting better on the blue line.
While McCarron is a rental pickup on an expiring contract with a salary of $900,000, Minnesota has been linked to New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck, who is signed for three more seasons after this one at $5.625 million.
Trocheck, 32, was a key piece of Guerin’s forward group at the Olympics, killing penalties and defending on the way to the country’s first men’s hockey gold medal at the Games since 1980. Trocheck has been open about his desire to stay not far from the East Coast where his family is, and Minnesota may be close enough to work even though it’s the Western Conference.
Acquiring Trocheck would cost significantly more than McCarron but also give the Wild better chance to get through the Central Division in the playoffs, likely needing to go through Dallas and Colorado to get to the West final.
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AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow, in Buffalo, New York, and freelancer writer Mike Cook in St. Paul, Minnesota, contributed to this report.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
