Wild rumors: Minnesota ‘badly wants to re-sign’ this veteran forward

Michael McCarron just enjoyed one of the best seasons of his NHL career, scoring 17 points split between the Nashville Predators and Minnesota Wild before adding four points in 11 Stanley Cup Playoff contests.

Although the campaign ended in disappointment in the State of Hockey — the Wild lost to the Colorado Avalanche in five games in Round 2 — McCarron certainly earned a raise from the $900,000 he made in 2025-26.

And that leaves Wild general manager Bill Guerin in a bind.

As The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported on Friday, the team has the cap space and “badly want to re-sign him, [but] McCarron almost certainly could make more on the open market since it just takes one team to throw a boatload of cash and term his way.”

“So McCarron will have to decide in the upcoming weeks whether he prioritizes a good hockey fit on a team that looks like it’s a contender or wants to wait until July 1 to see what he can get in terms of long-term security and money,” wrote the hockey insider.

It’s clear that the 31-year-old is high on the organization’s priority list after the veteran center made an immediate impact following his trade-deadline arrival from the Preds.

He quickly carved out an important bottom-six role, earning his keep as a hard-nosed, defensive-minded center who can win faceoffs. And that will be coveted in free agency this summer, with a glaring lack of pivots available.

The challenge could come down to price; McCarron is coming off the best stretch of his NHL career and is expected to generate legitimate interest on the open market this summer.

Russo and colleague Joe Smith recently suggested McCarron could command somewhere in the range of $4-5 million annually, a price point that could become difficult for Minnesota to justify given the organization’s cap situation.

McCarron fits head coach John Hynes’ style well, and it would be a tough pill to swallow watching him walk this offseason. The key question now is whether the Wild can offer him a deal lucrative enough to lure him away from unrestricted free agency altogether on July 1.

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