Would Minnesota want Johnson

8 years ago, yes...but definitely not now!

I think the rumor mill is turning up Columbus.

that's fair. Minnesota is hurting for Centers though. Moving Staal was a massive mistake. The 3rd in the Donato deal was actually Pittsburgh's 2021 3rd, so it might be worth it as an experiment

Trading Staal was definitely not a mistake! He is WAY too slow and his hands are going, going, gone! He wont be missed at all!

I think Pittsburgh is going to stink next year, do that 3rd might have a little more value than you are giving it.

Regardless, if Johnson had 1 year left on his contract, maybe...but 4 years is not acceptable for the Wild!

I'm personally a massive fan of Eric Staal. Granted, I don't get to watch Minny hockey as often as I would like (big fan of Noah Cates off Minnesota-Duluth, so I'm sad not being able to watch Minny-area hockey), so I may not see the decline of Staal. Still think he has a few solid years left in the tank though. 47 points last season is nothing to scoff at.

I don't think you can ever really rule out Pittsburgh, at least until Crosby/Malkin hit like 37 years old, and even then they will likely have a late career resurgence like Datsyuk/Zetterberg and Thornton/Marleau.

Johnson (like Johansson) is 30, and is averaging around 35-40 pts/year. Not exactly the friendliest of deals per a points/cap statistic, but who knows what Guerin is doing. (Trading young talent like Donato for peanuts, trading older talented roster guys to get younger, less reliable talent, signing depth guys to Middle pairing/middle six money, having some unreliability in net, etc.)