6 Potential NHL Cap Casualties Who Could Be Steals for Other Teams in 2024 | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

The Minnesota Wild are in salary-cap purgatory for one more year thanks to the buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. They're eating a $14.7 million dead cap hit this season, and they'll see that number go down to $1.6 million for four more years after that. That's the good news.

The bad news is they've got about $6.2 million in cap space for this offseason, which accounts for 19 players. Fortunately, all of their key players are accounted for, and they don't necessarily need to make any moves. But they've got a fascinating situation going on with goaltending.

Filip Gustavsson is their young star with a bright future and Marc-André Fleury is a legend whose career will end whenever he says it's over.

Gustavsson, 26, had a down year this season, particularly when compared to his breakout a year ago. Fleury, 39, also had a down season from a year ago, which indicates there were bigger problems elsewhere on the ice.

The Wild also have a wunderkind netminder on the way up in Jesper Wallstedt. He's been very good in the AHL with Iowa the past two years and is waiting in the wings for his chance to take over the NHL.

Considering the 21-year-old was their first-round pick in 2021, he's probably not going anywhere. Gustavsson, for as good as he was last year, isn't home-grown by the Wild and was acquired from Ottawa for Cam Talbot.

If the Wild want to free up a potential log jam and $3.75 million in cap space while also netting a big return in a trade, dealing Gustavsson to a goalie-hungry team would get it done.