The Minnesota Wild have officially signed with left winger Mats Zuccarello on a five-year, $30 million ($6 million AAV) deal that includes a no-movement clause and a modified, 10-team no-trade clause for years four and five. Michael Russo of the Athletic broke the news on Sunday, and the deal was made official at the open of free agency at 11 a.m. today.
Considering the names being bandied about heading into the final weekend of the pre-free-agency negotiation window (Joe Pavelski, Wayne Simmonds, pipe dreams of Anders Lee), as well as general manager Paul Fenton’s mid-season claim that the Wild were “to get younger, faster and more skilled,” the signing of Zuccarello comes as a bit of a surprise to some almost everyone.