The Wild continued to tinker with its lineup ahead of the NHL trade deadline on Monday, this time bolstering its strength by bringing in forward Nicolas Deslauriers from Anaheim on Saturday in exchange for a 2023 third-round draft pick.
Earlier in the week, the Wild switched up its fourth-line center by acquiring Tyson Jost from Colorado for Nico Sturm.
"Nic brings a certain abrasiveness to his game that we all like, and we agreed that he's a guy that would make us better," General Manager Bill Guerin said. "We saw him a lot last year, and we've been following him a lot this year. He brings a physical nature to the game, leadership, sticks up for his teammates. He kills penalties. He's definitely a good add."
Deslauriers led the Ducks in penalty minutes (90), and his 10 fights are tied for the most in the NHL.
Through 61 games, the 6-1, 220-pound left shot chipped in five goals and five assists and has 41 goals and 41 assists for 82 points in 486 career games with Anaheim, Montreal and Buffalo.
Originally, Deslauriers was drafted in the third round in 2009 by Los Angeles. The 31-year-old is on an expiring, two-year, $2 million contract and is eligible for unrestricted free agency in the offseason.
Guerin expects Deslauriers to practice with the Wild on Sunday before making his team debut on Monday vs. Vegas.
"Seems to fit the Minnesota Wild," coach Dean Evason said. "Plays a hard game. Plays gritty. He's got a skill set, too, that can score. [He's] going to provide us with size and bite and play up and down our lineup. We're excited."
Mixed bag
By upending the Blackhawks 3-1 on Saturday at Xcel Energy Center, the Wild swept the season series (4-0) but the team hasn't been as effective against some of the other competition in the Central Division.
Excluding Chicago, the Wild is 5-8-1 vs. its rivals with recent losses to Nashville and Dallas before two letdowns barely a week apart to Winnipeg coming out of the All-Star break.
"We're trying to climb the leaderboard," center Ryan Hartman said, "and that takes beating those teams in our division."
This latest victory by the Wild was the team's first in the division since the last time it faced the Blackhawks on Feb. 2; the Wild hasn't had a non-Chicago win vs. a Central opponent since it prevailed 5-2 against Arizona on Nov. 30.
And still to come are matchups with the Avalanche, Predators, Blues and Stars.
"Down the stretch, those are all four-point games," goalie Cam Talbot said. "So, no excuses this time of year. We just need to be better against those teams and if we play the way we've been playing these last few games, I like our chances."
On a roll
Talbot was the standout on Saturday, turning aside 21 shots with a handful of those attempts challenging stops.
Overall, he's won his past five starts, the third time this season he's gone on a 5-0 run or better.
"I feel as good as I've felt in a while," said Talbot, who is 24-12-1 on the season with a 2.92 goals-against average and .907 save percentage. "Sometimes it's just you get one win, and it was kind of a sloppy win in Philly there that started this, but it gives you something to build off of.
" After the third period in Philly when we came back there, I made some saves down the stretch and it snowballs from there. Once you get a little bit of confidence going, you just continue to build off that."
