According to a report from Michael Russo of The Athletic, the Minnesota Wild have acquired forward Michael McCarron from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2028 second-round draft pick.
McCarron, a six-foot-six center who is in the last year of a contract that carries a salary cap hit of $900,000, will provide affordable size, physicality, penalty killing acumen and depth to a Wild forward group that has ranked among the league’s best all season.
TRADE‼️
To MIN
– Michael McCarron (C)
🔁
To NSH
– 2028 2nd Round Pick
[per @RussoHockey]
The No. 25 overall pick from the 2013 NHL Draft by Montreal currently ranks 17th in the NHL with 165 assist. Minnesota’s bottom six already features Yakov Trenin, who sits atop the leaderboard with 300.
The move comes quickly after the Predators announced that McCarron would be held out of the lineup on Tuesday night for roster management reasons.
The trade is the second trade involving an NHL player coming to the Wild that general manager Bill Guerin has pulled off this season. The first was the blockbuster with the Vancouver Canucks that brought Quinn Hughes to the State of Hockey for a package built around center Marco Rossi and defenseman Zeev Buium.
The Wild are in a veritable arms race in the Central Division, where three of the current top four teams in the NHL reside. Minnesota currently occupies third place in the division, sitting three points behind the surging Dallas Stars and nine points behind the league-leading Colorado Avalanche.
For the Predators, the move adds a premium pick without signaling a total teardown of the roster. General manager Barry Trotz announced his impending retirement last month, but he will remain in charge of the organization until a replacement is found.
The Predators sit just four points back of the West’s second wild card spot, but with a first-round matchup with Colorado awaiting the team that claims it, the teams on the playoff bubble in the West may be more compelled to sell than they would in other seasons.
Nashville now owns an extra second-round selection in both the 2026 and 2028 drafts, and they could add to their stockpile with further moves ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.
