As the golden leaves of autumn start to blanket the state of Minnesota, the air is crisp with anticipation. Fans of the Minnesota Wild are eagerly looking to training camp, hoping for a glimpse of what the upcoming season might hold. This season, however, there’s an unusual battle unfolding. Instead of multiple high-stakes competitions for roster spots or starting roles, the spotlight has focused on just one position: the 13th forward. Here is a look at this unique competition and what it signifies for the team’s depth and strategy for the 2023-24 NHL season.
Wild Money Reigns Supreme
It may have taken the entire summer, but the Wild finally signed their last free-agent roster player, Calen Addison, on the eve of training camp. It was obvious what that number would be, but they are now able to visualize exactly how much money they have left to spend under the salary cap, a meager $818,079.
That sum is insufficient to fill the 13th forward position with anyone making above the league minimum of $775,000. That means that the only players competing for the position at camp are returning veteran players, Steven Fogarty, Nick Swaney, Nicolas Petan, and the three offseason signings – Jacob Lucchini, Vinni Lettieri, and Jujhar Khaira.
Make no mistake, the Wild knew they would be in this position because of the buyout penalties, and they specifically acquired depth players on league-minimum deals for that reason. Hats off to the players’ agents who also recognized this conundrum and accepted that lower number to give their clients a better chance at getting some NHL ice time early this season.
13th Forward Likely Candidates
Being a 13th forward, or seventh defenseman, is undoubtedly one of the toughest positions mentally as you are part of the team and have to be ready to play every game but likely won’t end up in the lineup unless one of your teammates is injured. On the Wild, the player who gets injured will likely be the main determining factor for which one of their veterans is on the roster, but there are a couple of players who will be higher on the list than others.
Vinni Lettieri
When the Wild signed Minnesota native Lettieri early in the summer it was a sign that management knew they would have to rely on players on these kinds of deals. Lettieri’s contract is interesting because it is a two-way deal, meaning he makes a different salary if he plays in the NHL than if he plays in the American Hockey League (AHL), but the gap between those two salaries is not that large by typical standards.
Lettieri’s contract will pay him the league minimum in the NHL, but he still stands to make $550,000 if he spends the season in the AHL with the Iowa Wild. He may have only played a single NHL game last season, but was over a point-per-game player with the Providence Bruins, with 23 goals and 49 points in 48 games. He has yet to produce much at the NHL level but could be a serviceable replacement if any of the Wild’s smaller, speedy forwards get banged up.
Jujhar Khaira
The newest addition to the Wild, Khaira, is a great depth piece who is also on a two-way deal, and he will make less than Lettieri in the minors with a salary of $300,000. Khaira has three things going for him in the battle for the 13th forward: his size, his NHL experience, and his position.
Khaira has spent the last six seasons playing 336 NHL games as a center while also coming in at 6-foot-4 and over 210 pounds. He fills a spot that the Wild don’t have any other options for and could be a great addition to the bottom six. The real question with Khaira is if he will be able to stay healthy, as he has been plagued by massive time-loss injuries.
Nic Petan
Let’s not get wrapped up in the shiny new players and forget what the Wild already have. Petan is in the second season of a two-year, two-way deal signed in July of 2022 that nets him basically the same salary as Lettieri. Petan is not a question mark. The Wild know exactly what he brings to the table, and it is good.
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Not only did he put on a show in the AHL with 62 points in 53 games, he played 10 games in Minnesota, collecting a goal and two assists. He may have been unable to lock in an NHL roster spot over his career, but the fact that teams continually use his skills to fill holes created by injuries goes to show how trustworthy and hardworking he is. If the Wild are looking for a stop-gap without any surprises, Petan could be the man.
Wild Must Save Money
The biggest factor for the Wild here is saving money under the salary cap. Since the cap is calculated daily, there is a very strong chance that if there are no major injuries, the Wild will be calling lots of players up from Iowa for a game or two before sending them back down. Doing so would allow the team to create enough space to call up whoever they felt like later in the season.
It also allows them to call up whichever player they think suits their needs for a road trip or series of games, and then switch that player out if they need a change. The main goal for the players will be to maintain top performance levels so that when the time comes, and the Wild need a body, they stand out from the rest. That starts this week at training camp.
