If you’re a Wild diehard that’s been yearning for the roster to have a grenade thrown onto it, well, here you go: BOOM!
Departures: Months after the trade of Jason Zucker and more than a year after Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle and Nino Niederreiter were traded, Eric Staal, Mikko Koivu, Devan Dubnyk, Ryan Donato, Alex Galchenyuk and now Luke Kunin are all gone.
Arrivals: Marcus Johansson, Nick Bjugstad, Kirill Kaprizov, perhaps even first-round pick Marco Rossi and now two-time Stanley Cup champ Nick Bonino enter following Wednesday’s draft-day trade that brought the veteran center from the Nashville Predators along with second- and third-round picks for Kunin and a fourth-round pick.
Is this roster makeover a rebuild? Do the Wild still expect to be a contender next season? Or, both?
Yes, yes and yes again, Bill Guerin said after his first draft as Wild general manager.
“Every time we step on the ice, I expect us to…