"He's a kid that I've watched since his draft year," Fenton said of Rask. "He could be a [No.] 2 or a 3 centerman, he has the capability of playing the wing as well. My experience tells me, you can't have enough centers. It's something that we're finding out in the League more and more."

One day after executing his first trade involving an NHL regular, Fenton made his biggest splash yet, acquiring centerman Victor Rask from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for forward Nino Niederreiter.

ST. PAUL -- After spending the first seven months of his tenure as general manager largely on the sidelines, the Wild's Paul Fenton has dove head-first into the trade market.

After scoring 21 goals and 48 points as a 22-year-old in 2015-16, Rask has seen his numbers decrease each season, dropping to 45 points in 2016-17 to 31 points last season.

But still just 25, Fenton said he believes Rask can easily get back to his numbers from earlier in his career.



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"I think he's gonna rebound here," Fenton said. "He's a guy that, in my mind, needed a change of scenery."

Niederreiter finishes his Wild career having played in 434 games and scoring 110 goals and 118 assists. Drafted fifth overall by the New York Islanders, the Wild acquired Niederreiter in a 2013 trade that sent Cal Clutterbuck and a draft pick to New York.

A fan favorite who played active role in the State of Hockey community, Niederreiter also played in 39 Stanley Cup Playoff games with Minnesota, scoring eight goals and 18 points, including the game-winning overtime goal in Game 7 of the 2014 Western Conference quarterfinals against the Colorado Avalanche.

The acquisition of Rask comes just 24 hours after Fenton added forward Pontus Aberg in a deal with the Anaheim Ducks.

Drafted by Fenton when he was in Nashville, Aberg skated with the Wild this morning and is expected to skate alongside Charlie Coyle and Zach Parise. He will also see time on the power play.

"I was looking for a right shot forward that had scoring capability. Very familiar with him after having drafted him in Nashville and having him in Milwaukee for three years," Fenton said. "I think he's a guy that can step into our lineup and score goals. He has a dynamic set of skills that you're always looking for. He's had a couple stops this year, but having the familiarity with myself and Dean Evanson who coached him in Milwaukee, I think it's a real positive."

Fenton said the timing of the deals comes at a good time for the players, who will be allowed to get their feet wet with their new team over the next week before using the All-Star break and the bye week to get their personal affairs in order.

Then it's time to get settled and get ready for the stretch run.

"I have been patient. I've been watching and letting our team mold themselves and find out where we are," Fenton said. "The things I was looking for, again, was a scorer, a guy who can be the way that we play: a consistent, two-way player.

"We've gone through the options that we're gonna have with various people and then evaluate the trade market and we found two things that we thought were gonna help us now and in the future."

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