The Wild are bringing back Marcus Johansson.
They re-signed the forward to a one-year contract worth $800,000 to continue Johansson’s second stint with the team.
Last season, Johansson finished sixth on the Wild in scoring after recording 11 goals and 23 assists for 34 points in 72 games, including his 500th career point.
A veteran of 15 NHL seasons who has also suited up for Washington, New Jersey, Boston, Buffalo and Seattle, Johansson, 34, first joined the Wild ahead of the 2021 season before returning in 2023 as a trade pickup and then signing a two-year, $4 million deal.
He’s 17 games shy of 1,000 with 517 career points.
Keeping Johansson, however, doesn’t mean the Wild won’t eye change for their offense.
With approximately $15 million in salary cap space available to spend, they’ve identified center as a position of need and President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin said after the Wild were eliminated in six games by Vegas in the first round of the playoffs that he wouldn’t be opposed to also adding a scoring winger. (They’re set on defense and have two goalies under contract in Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt with Marc-Andre Fleury retiring.)
Already, the Wild have signed Russian forward Danila Yurov to a three-year, entry-level contract and plan to start him up the middle; Yurov was a first-round draft pick in 2022.
