On Jan. 17, the Minnesota Wild traded forward Nino Niederreiter to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Victor Rask – a move that immediately went south. Going into the offseason, it doesn’t seem like the team has learned anything from the experience.



On his new team, Niederreiter notched 30 points in 36 games while playing on the top line and maintaining a strong two-way game. He had finally fulfilled the potential that he had shown for years, but was never given much of a chance to prove. On the other side, Rask did exactly what he had been previously doing in Carolina: nothing. He earned just three points in 23 games with the Wild while patrolling the team’s fourth line. Disastrous is the best way to describe it.



What that trade didn’t need was any hindsight whatsoever. It was plain to see from the outset that the swap was one-sided and that was proven quickly. With the pain of that deal fresh on the team’s mind, you’d think...