Offer sheets: I keep getting emails about this, so I figured I would set it straight. I thought Tom Lynn’s blog made this clear, but the Wild IS NOT signing any players to offer sheets.

The latest Internet rumor emailed to me has the Wild interested in signing Colorado’s Marek Svatos to an offer sheet. It’s completely inaccurate. It could not even be done if the Wild really wanted to get Svatos.

To do this, you need to have the ability to give up unencumbered draft picks as compensation. In other words, if you’re going to owe a first, second and third-round pick, but don’t have your third, for example, it can’t then be your third in 2010. Remember, the Wild has no second- and third-round pick next year, so the only way the Wild could get Svatos is if it offered him a deal at $6.539 million or higher.

Here’s the compensation table: Over $863,156 to $1,307,812 Third-round choice
Over $1,307,812 to $2,615,625 Second-round choice
Over $2,615,625 to $3,923,437 First-round and third-round choice
Over $3,923,437 to $5,231,249 First-round, second-round and third-round choice
Over $5,231,249 to $6,539,062 Two first-round choices, one second- and one third-round choice
Over $6,539,062 Four first-round choices

So now, for the rest of the summer, any rumors out there you’ll see about the Wild signing somebody to an offer sheet, you’ll know it’s 100 percent false.   As alluded below, the Wild re-signed D Kurtis Foster to a one-year, $1.025 million contract.

I am told by sources the Wild has made a contract offer to LW Markus Naslund, and like LW Kristian Huselius, the team is just waiting.

I will say this on Naslund — his agent is Don Baizley, and the Wild doesn’t have a better relationship with an agent.

The Wild also made a huge contract offer to Marian Hossa, it has been confirmed to me from outside the organization.

Wild Depth Chart

Here’s a look at the Wild’s depth chart for next season as it stands today. The Wild has 20 of a possible 23 players. They are possibly still in the market for a winger and center. In parentheses is the players’ 2008-09 salary, then their hit against the salary cap, which is the average per year salary of their entire contract:

Left wings

Andrew Brunette ($2.5 million, $2.33 million)

Mark Parrish ($2.85 million, $2.65 million)

Stephane Veilleux ($601,370, $601,370)*

Derek Boogaard ($850,000, $875,000)

Centers

Mikko Koivu ($3.3 million, $3.25 million)

James Sheppard ($765,000, $1.4 million)

Eric Belanger ($1.75 million, $1.75 million)

Right wings

Marian Gaborik ($7.5 million, $6.33 million)

Pierre-Marc Bouchard ($2.6 million, $2.6 million)*

Craig Weller ($600,000, $600,000)

Defensemen

Brent Burns ($3 million, $3.55 million)

Kim Johnsson ($5.25 million, $4.85 million)

Nick Schultz ($3.2 million, $3.6 million)

Marek Zidlicky (3.5 million, $3.35 million)

Martin Skoula ($1.9 million, $1.8 million)

Marc-Andre Bergeron ($1.653 million, $1.653 million)

Erik Reitz ($500,000, $500,000)

Kurtis Foster ($1.025 million, $1.025 million)*

Goaltenders

Niklas Backstrom ($3.1 million, $3.1 million)

Josh Harding ($750,000, $725,000)

Totals

$47,194,370 in salary; $46,542,703 against $56.7 million cap

Roster contenders

C/LW Benoit Pouliot

LW/RW Colton Gillies

RW Cal Clutterbuck

*This salary and cap hit is the price of the qualifying offer tendered to retain them. Those figures will increase for Bouchard and Veilleux, likely not Foster who plans to accept his qualifying offer.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 2:40 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.