The Minnesota Wild signed center Michael McCarron to a six-year, $20 million contract on Tuesday, taking one of their impending free agents off the market after his productive arrival following a midseason trade.
“He’s become an integral part of the team. I know in the locker room he’s a very popular guy with his teammates, and most importantly the way he performed on the ice proved to us that he was somebody that we wanted to be in business with for the foreseeable future,” general manager Bill Guerin said. “Between the way his teammates feel about him, the way the coaching staff feels about him, the way I feel about him and his desire to stay here, it just made it a perfect fit.”
The 31-year-old McCarron played in 20 regular-season games for the Wild after he was acquired from the Nashville Predators for a 2028 second-round draft pick on March 3. The 6-foot-6 McCarron had his best NHL season between Nashville and Minnesota in 2025-26, setting career highs with 109 shots on goal, 205 hits and 77 blocked shots. He had two goals, two assists, 27 hits and a team-leading 14 blocked shots over 11 games for the Wild in the playoffs. He also won 54.5% of his faceoffs.
After the Wild lost stalwart center Joel Eriksson Ek to a broken foot in the series-clinching win over Dallas in the first round, McCarron's role increased while playing on the second and third lines during the second-round series loss to Colorado. Even if his long-term fit is best on the third or fourth line, McCarron showed Guerin and the Wild coaches he won't be a liability if asked to take on more responsibility.
“Size, right shot, penalty killing, his faceoffs, all those things. Mike’s just a center. That’s what he is,” Guerin said on a video conference call with reporters. “If I’ve learned one thing over the last 15 years on this side of the business, it’s that anybody can play wing.”
Drafted in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens in 2013, the late-blooming McCarron made $900,000 this season on his expiring contract. The new deal through the 2031-32 season will carry an annual average value against the salary cap of $3.33 million. He'd never signed a contract longer than two years until now.
“Everything from top to bottom was right up there with the top of the league, I would say,” said McCarron, a native of Michigan who spent five-plus seasons with the Predators. “From my very first step in there to my last, it was a great experience for me, and there was no point in looking elsewhere in free agency.”
With McCarron signing in advance and Marcus Johansson having opted to return to his roots and play in the Swedish Hockey League, the Wild have two unrestricted free agents of significance remaining: forwards Nick Foligno and Vladimir Tarasenko. Guerin has promised to be aggressive this summer in continuing to try to upgrade the roster in pursuit of a Stanley Cup with their core of stars — forwards Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy and defensemen Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber — in their prime years.
“I think we’re in a great window right now, and that’s why I did want to stay," McCarron said. “With the Minnesota Wild, it gives me and my teammates a great opportunity to go chase that thing.”
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Dave Campbell, The Associated Press
