The Minnesota Wild are in a very difficult position ahead of the 2023-24 season. With the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter looming large, and barely any cap space to work with, dark times could be clouding this team for the next few seasons. The Wild were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Dallas Stars in 2023, with 18,000 fans booing them off the ice after Game 6.

This is a team that hasn't been past the first round since 2015, and there is an added layer of frustration as this latest playoff failure could be the squad's last chance at meaningful playoff success for the next few seasons. The mass exodus has already begun, with John Klingberg, Gustav Nyquist, Ryan Reaves, Sam Steel, Oskar Sundqvist and assumedly Matt Dumba joining new teams.

The Wild simply lack the cap space to make a splash in free agency. The biggest moves they have made are signing Vinni Lettieri on a two-way deal, adding Jacob Lucchini and locking up Brandon Duhaime. Goaltender of the future Filip Gustavsson has filed for salary arbitration, and until that gets resolved, it's tough to give a meaningful free agency grade. But we'll give it a try anyways.

Lost multiple impact players

Assuming that both defenseman Brock Faber and Marco Rossi will make the 2023-24 Minnesota Wild, the team only has around $5.4 million in cap space to sign their restricted free agents in Gustavsson and youngster Calen Addison. It is a very bleak situation, but the positive with arbitration is it means that those contracts will at least be sorted out in advance of training camp later this year.

Still, it's been a mass exodus out of the State of Hockey this summer. John Klingberg and Ryan Reaves are Toronto Maple Leafs, Gus Nyquist is a Nashville Predator, Sam Steel will play for the Dallas Stars and Oskar Sundqvist is back in St. Louis for 2023-24. The team will look a ton different next year, regardless of any additional moves made before training camp.

Re-signed Brandon Duhaime

One positive for the Wild was bringing depth forward Brandon Duhaime back into the fold for another campaign. The 26-year-old scored nine goals and 10 points over 51 games last season, although injuries hindered him throughout the year. After coming off a two-year deal with a $750,000 AAV, he will cost Bill Guerin and Minnesota $1.1 million next season.

Duhaime has amassed 27 points and a plus-four rating over 131 career regular-season games in Minnesota, and has skated in 12 Stanley Cup Playoff contests. Before joining the team, Duhaime scored 12 goals and 27 points over 87 career American Hockey League games with the Iowa Wild.

Star goaltender Filip Gustavsson heading for arbitration

One huge question mark for this team is getting their goaltender of the future in Filip Gustavsson locked up. That should be happening at the conclusion of his salary arbitration hearing in the next few weeks. The 25-year-old has been a difference maker since he was dealt from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Cam Talbot, setting career highs with 22 wins in 39 games played and three shutouts in 2022-23.

The Swede ranked second in the NHL with a 2.10 goals-against average and .931 save percentage, owning a sparkling 11-1-6 record with an outrageous 1.93 GAA and .939 save percentage in 18 starts after Feb. 11. He will absolutely be the starting goaltender for this team for the foreseeable future, but his contract status is also in question. He was a bargain at $787,500 average annual value over the last two seasons, and expect that to jump significantly after putting up some eye-popping numbers last year.

Final Grade: D

It's almost unfair to give the Minnesota Wild a grade at this point, as they genuinely lack the cap space to make a meaningful move and were unable to bring back any of their unrestricted free agents. That is very likely to include Matt Dumba, who is the best defenseman still available on the free agent market, and almost certainly not going to re-sign with the team for salary cap reasons alone.

There's a very real chance that the 2023-24 Wild are not playoff contenders, especially with the amount of talent that just left and the lack of ability to bring any more in. Duhaime won't move the needle too much, and Vinni Lettieri and Jacob Lucchini certainly will not.

The bottom line is, the Wild are in for a few very tough seasons, and that's assuming Gustavsson gets a decent contract in arbitration and plays the way he did last year. Goalies can be voodoo, and that isn't guaranteed. If he doesn't play lights out and the top line of Ryan Hartman, superstar Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello doesn't produce on a nightly basis, the nightmare could continue for fans of this franchise.