{"id":116024,"date":"2021-07-28T19:24:14","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T23:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=116024"},"modified":"2021-07-28T19:30:02","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T23:30:02","slug":"frederick-gaudreau-signs-with-minnesota-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2021\/07\/28\/frederick-gaudreau-signs-with-minnesota-wild\/","title":{"rendered":"Frederick Gaudreau Signs With the Minnesota Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Minnesota Wild kick off free agency with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2021\/07\/28\/alex-goligoski-minnesota-wild\/\" target=\"_self\">two quick signings out of the gate<\/a>, the second being centre <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/gaudrfr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Frederick Gaudreau<\/a>. The 28-year-old signs a two-year deal worth $2.4 million dollars.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/mnwild?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#mnwild<\/a> sign center Freddy Gaudreau. 2 years, $2.4M ($1.2 AAV), as we\u2019ve predicted. Dean Evason loves him from their time together in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RussoHockey\/status\/1420433230268928004?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 28, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Frederick Gaudreau to the Minnesota Wild<\/h3>\n<p>With Gaudreau, the Wild add some centre depth to their team. Gaudreau has played for two NHL clubs, most recently with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/penguins\/\" target=\"_self\">Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>, where he bounced back and forth between the lineup and taxi squad in 2020-21. The native of Bromont, Que. recorded 10 points in 19 games for the Penguins last season. It was a year that saw career highs in points assists and most importantly for the Wild, face-offs (53.7 percent).<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2016-2017, Gaudreau got his big breakthrough. After posting 25 goals and 48 points in 66 AHL games for the Milwaukee Admirals, the former Voltigeur was called up to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/predators\/\" target=\"_self\">Nashville Predators<\/a>. Gaudreau made his NHL debut during the Predators&#8217; run to the Finals. What&#8217;s more, he became the first player since 1944 to score his first three career NHL goals in a Stanley Cup Final. Overall, Gaudreau has recorded 4 goals and 2 assists in 14 career Stanley Cup Playoff contests.<\/p>\n<h3>What This Means for the Future<\/h3>\n<p>This certainly isn&#8217;t the big-name centre Wild fans were hoping for, but Gaudreau provides some nice defensive depth through the middle. The six-foot 179-pound centre will likely fill the shoes of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2021\/07\/28\/nick-bonino-signs-with-sharks\/\" target=\"_self\">Nick Bonino<\/a> as a bottom-six shutdown player. As a result, the Wild have essentially signed a cheaper but less productive version of him.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Freddy Gaudreau, signed 2x$1.2M by MIN, hasn&#39;t played much in the past few seasons but the resutls have always been good. Decent bet for a fourth line. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MNWild?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#MNWild<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8BdNGuuVvs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/8BdNGuuVvs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; JFresh (@JFreshHockey) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JFreshHockey\/status\/1420433312624123909?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 28, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The question is what does this mean for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/sturmni01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nico Sturm<\/a> and the Wild? Nico put together a solid rookie season last year and with the Wild parting ways with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/j\/johanma03.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marcus Johansson<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/boninni01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick Bonino<\/a>, all signs were pointing towards Sturm to take the next step in his development. With this signing, Sturm will most likely continue to be their 4th line centre.<\/p>\n<p>You would have to think the Wild are still without a number one centre unless they believe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/r\/raskvi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Victor Rask<\/a> is that guy. But what about the Wild&#8217;s number one prospect and 2020 9th overall selection Marco Rossi, you ask? Well, Rossi will likely not be in the Wild&#8217;s lineup come opening night but will certainly be a part of the team for more than half the games next year.<\/p>\n<p>As of right now, the Wild&#8217;s centres are Joel Eriksson-Ek, Rask, Gaudreau, Sturm, and possibly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/bjugsni01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick Bjugstad<\/a>. Therefore, when Rossi is completely cleared-to-play and is deemed ready, he will likely take Victor Rask&#8217;s spot in the top-six.<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota is probably not done just yet with free agency. Without Soucy, Menell, and Suter they will look for at least one more defenceman. But who knows. Wild GM <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/gueribi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bill Guerin<\/a> is on a mission and we should just sit back and enjoy the ride.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"pRPLmJM8SNhe0cxOMFlfww\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1232808123\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'pRPLmJM8SNhe0cxOMFlfww',sig:'dROmtZU7pmO7jbV1dlGcT03vYgYC8HW0C5AD4A7x_vk=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1232808123',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Minnesota Wild kick off free agency with two quick signings out of the gate, the second being centre Frederick Gaudreau. The 28-year-old signs a two-year deal worth $2.4 million dollars. #mnwild sign center Freddy Gaudreau. 2 years, $2.4M ($1.2 AAV), as we\u2019ve predicted. Dean Evason loves him from their time together in Milwaukee. &mdash; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3568,"featured_media":116063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,4547,34,4548],"tags":[6777,221,955],"class_list":["post-116024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wild","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","tag-frederick-gaudreau","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-nhl-news"],"modified_by":"Luke Flannigan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}