What’s the Deal with Calen Addison’s Contract?

The Minnesota Wild have had the type of off-season everyone expected. They re-signed Freddy Gaudreau and Marcus Johansson at the end of the season. The other trades from last year signed elsewhere. Adding Pat Maroon was unexpected but made sense with losing Ryan Reaves. Brandon Duhaime and Filip Gustavsson re-signed, even if it took a little longer than expected. The one outlier is Calen Addison.

Last season, Addison was great offensively. His specialty was quarterbacking the first power play. In 62 games played, Addison racked up 29 points. More than half of those points (18) were from the power play. Unfortunately, Addison’s defensive game was not up to snuff and once the Wild acquired John Klingberg in a last-second trade, Addison spent more time in the press box than on the ice.

At the end of the season, Addison committed to staying in Minnesota over the off-season to train and strengthen his defensive game. According to Michael Russo in this podcast, Dean Evason and the team want to keep Addison around, even if it seems like they are tough on him. So, what’s stopping Addison from signing a contract?

The Wild extended a qualifying offer of $787,500 to Addison on June 30. What should have been a straightforward re-signing has been drawn out into a strange game of chicken where both sides are standing still. Addison turned down the qualifying offer, seemingly to wait for more money. But as all fans know, money is sort of a big issue for the Wild.

The Wild only have $1.6 million in cap space. If Addison wants to sign for anything more than the qualifying offer, the team won’t have enough money to carry a 13th forward or call up anyone from Iowa in case of injury.

Not only is the money not there, but Addison’s body of work last year was iffy. He was great offensively but somewhat absent defensively. It wasn’t bad, but the coaches were hoping to see him play a slightly different way. Addison’s off-season training will hopefully reflect in a more balanced offense/defense game next season.

It would make the most sense for Addison to sign the qualifying offer, work hard to put his best work on the ice, and show why he deserves more money in his next contract. The Wild want to keep him, but if this contract negotiation is drawn out much longer, it might cause bad blood with the front office or other players. The Wild’s money issues are well-known. Asking for more than the team can afford without a large body of work is a bit of a puzzle. 

At the end of the day, Addison has little leverage in this situation, and the Wild don’t have extra cash to spare. Will Addison re-sign? Yes, but the more time he takes to sign, the more he risks alienating a team that wants to re-sign him. That’s a dangerous move for a rookie.