MINNEAPOLIS — What is going on with Calen Addison and the Minnesota Wild?
The club made a qualifying offer to the defenseman back on June 30, which came in at a relatively paltry $787,500.
The 23-year-old is coming off a season wherein he recorded three goals and 26 assists for 29 total points. 18 of those points came on the power play, where he quarterbacked the top unit.
According to Seth Toupal of Locked on Wild, Addison has been in the area for most of the offseason, and the list of reasons as to why a deal hasn't been signed is small.
"Addison isn't going to get top four minutes," adds Alex Micheletti, "but that power play spot is huge, and you can get a lot of points playing with Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov ... why not bet on yourself, take that one-year deal, and try to get a long term deal next summer."
Addison is technically a restricted free agent after not yet signing the qualifying offer, but with very little leverage.
The Wild appear to be hoping he will accept that initial offer - or something close to it - because Minnesota is sitting on just $1.6-million in available cap space with 20 players signed heading into 2023-24.
The team's financial situation is extremely tight because there is $14,743,588 in dead cap on the books for the next two seasons thanks to buyouts for Ryan Suter and Zach Parise.
If Addison accepts the offer, takes on the power play role, and excels, the team will be able to reward him more handsomely in the future.
For now, there's not a whole lot of options for the player, nor many for the Wild as they look to fill that power play role in the event Addison isn't at training camp.