Wild Want Granlund, Neiderreiter to Stay Long Term

The Minnesota Wild have had a busy off-season so far, but it is not done yet. With the expansion draft and salary cap issues, the Wild were forced to let some key names go. Erik Haula and Alex Tuch were given to Vegas for protection rights, Martin Hanzal left via free agency, while Jason Pominville and Marco Scandella were traded to the Buffalo Sabres to free up some cap space.

The new look Wild still have some familiar faces however. Two of those faces are Mikael Granlund and Nino Neiderreiter, at least they will be soon. The Wild are currently working on contract negotiations with the two parties. Earlier this summer both Granlund and Nino declared for arbitration. This is a tool most commonly used by restricted free agents who feel they should get a certain amount of money based off their previous success. "The player and team each propose a salary for the coming season, and argue their cases at a hearing. The arbitrator, a neutral third party, then sets the player's salary (Jamie Fitzpatrick, ThoughtCo.com)." Both players meetings are scheduled for next week but Wild General Manager, Chuck Fletcher is trying to get a deal done before that. Multiple sources have indicated that the Wild are looking for deal that lasts around 3-5 years and is in between $4-6 million per year for each player. 

If both Granlund and Neiderreiter get signed to a deal near the annual average cap hit of $6 million or higher, the Wild will be tight once again on cap space for the years to come and that is never a good thing. There is no doubt about it that the Wild should sign both of these young players but this could lead to some other prominent players being moved in the years ahead. 

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