After not making any moves before the expansion draft trade freeze, Minnesota is either going to have to make a deal with Vegas or lose a quality defenseman for nothing. Minnesota can only protect either Jonas Brodin or Matt Dumba, with Spurgeon and Suter as their top two pairing. It is more likely for them to protect Dumba due to his offensive production compared to the more defensive style of Brodin. They need a center and Montreal has been shopping around Alex Galchenyuk. If Minnesota traded Brodin, they would free up just over $1 million in cap space. This would be nowhere near enough to resign upcoming RFAs, Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund, along with giving Galchenyuk an extension. On the other hand, Boston needs a defensive defenseman to play with the offensive minded rookie Charlie McAvoy. In exchange, the B's would send their 1st round pick (18th overall), Ryan Spooner, and a defensive prospect such as Linus Arnesson or Rob O'Gara. Spooner is expendable now that many centers in the system have grown, with Spooner being scratched for Sean Kuraly during game 6 of the Senator series. Although Spooner is a pending RFA, he would not demand as high of a price as Galchenyuk. The 1st round pick would be an upgrade on the pick they sent to Arizona in exchange for rental player Martin Hanzal, who they seem to have a bit of buyer's remorse on. If this move was made, the Wild would risk losing Marco Scandella, Jason Zucker, or maybe even Eric Staal, depending on their choice of protections. Those assets have significantly less trade value than Brodin. Unless Minnesota has made a deal with Vegas, they are going to lose a valuable asset in which they could have gotten a lot of value for.