Minnesota Wild Cap Space: Examining the Wild's salary in the off-season

The Minnesota Wild are still in cap hell due to the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, so GM Bill Guerin had a tough off-season from the start.

The Wild currently has just over $7.49 million in cap space, but still have three RFAs they need to sign, including Filip Gustavsson - who could be their starting goaltender next season.

With not much cap space, Minnesota wasn't active too active in free agency, but will likely be a playoff team next season.

The Minnesota Wild's quiet off-season

The Wild had several free agents leave, but none were impact players but they did see Ryan Reaves leave to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs. With the Wild losing their physical player, Minnesota acquired Pat Maroon from the Tampa Bay Lightning for a seventh-round pick.

Wild GM Bill Guerin said to reporters (via NHL.com):

“Not many guys have won more Cups than (Maroon). Like, he knows. He knows what winning looks like. He knows what the process is and the mentality is. That experience will be invaluable to our guys.

"He is tough. He is abrasive, and he’s a gamer. He’s a good player, too. He’s heavy down low in the offensive end. He’s got good hands. He’s got the ability to make a play, and that combined with all the intangibles, he’s a valuable guy for us.”

With the Minnesota Wild adding some toughness in Pat Maroon, the next move is signing RFAs. The biggest RFA to sign is Gustavsson who forms a nice tandem with Marc-Andre Fleury and both Guerin and Gustavsson have said it's only a matter of time before a deal is reached.

"We'll see what the timing is for Gus. There's no rush," Guerin said on the matter. "We're going to get it done like this (an extension) or through arbitration. I'm fine with whatever."

"I pretty much told my agent to call me when the contract is done," Gustavsson said. "And I'll see what it is."

Outside of signing Gustavsson, Minnesota still needs to ink defenseman Calen Addison who will likely sign a bridge deal. Then, the last RFA is forward, Brandon Duhaime who won't cost much.

Ultimately, Minnesota had a quiet off-season, in large part due to their limited cap space.

The next and likely final moves for the Minnesota Wild will be re-signing the RFAs, with Gustavsson and Addison being the focus to get them back on the roster for next season.