A reported blockbuster trade by Wild could have changed series against Avalanche

An intriguing rumor emerged on Friday involving the Minnesota Wild, one that could have changed the series against the Colorado Avalanche.

As we know, the Avalanche bounced the Wild in five games. It was a hard-fought series, but Minnesota simply ran out of gas. Their Game 5 collapse underscored how the Wild lacked the sort of star power that the Avs exude.

The deal in question would have landed Robert Thomas from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Danila Yurov and Jesper Wallstedt. Yes, the Wallstedt that played in goal for the Wild.

Had the deal gone through, the complexion of the Avalanche-Wild second-round series in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs could have been significantly different.

Let’s start with the obvious piece. Thomas would have been the top-line center the Wild desperately needed. He would have teamed up with Kirill Kaprizov to create a truly powerful one-two punch.

Add Quinn Hughes to the mix, and the Wild would have had much more offensive clout to compete with Colorado. It’s safe to say that Thomas would have produced more than the goal and two assists that Yurov delivered in the series against the Avalanche.

Perhaps the biggest change would have been in the crease. By trading Wallstedt, Minnesota would have rolled with Filip Gustavsson as the starting goalie. Gustavsson is no slouch, but there’s no telling if the 27-year-old would have fared better than Wallstedt did.

Gustavsson played just one game in the entire postseason, which was Game 2. Gustavsson allowed four goals on 22 shots in the loss. In fact, the only reason the Wild turned to Gustavsson was that Wallstedt allowed eight goals in the 9-6 Game 1 slugfest.

Would Wild have gotten past Avalanche with Thomas in the fold?

Okay, so let’s head into an alternate timeline. In this timeline, the Wild have Thomas, but don’t have Wallstedt. The Wild have the offensive clout they lacked, and, most importantly, veteran leadership atop their lineup.

Assuming that Gustavsson would have provided decent goaltending, the Wild would have made life much harder for the Avalanche. In fact, Thomas could have been a menace to society, potentially being the x-factor that Minnesota needed to get past Colorado.

It’s tough to envision that Thomas would have been the missing piece for Minnesota. But then again, the ripple effect of having Thomas in the lineup could have created a much different outcome.

We’ll never know, but it’s safe to say that the Avalanche would have faced a much tougher test had the purported Blues-Wild trade actually happened.

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