{"id":727392,"date":"2017-08-17T00:11:30","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T04:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=727392"},"modified":"2017-08-17T00:11:30","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T04:11:30","slug":"minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Wild Sign Matt Cullen To 1-Year Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

A while back, the Minnesota Wild admitted that sending away Andrew Brunette<\/strong> after the 2005-06 was a mistake as he had been a key performer in the team’s most notable playoff run in franchise history. \u00a0Maybe the chance to correct itself was a partial motive as the club brought back another player it probably wished it still had the last few seasons. \u00a0“Welcome back” was the refrain by many Wild fans across the Twitterverse as news quickly spread the team was able to reach a deal with fan-favorite Matt Cullen<\/strong>. \u00a0Cullen returns after having played the 4 last seasons in Nashville and Pittsburgh respectively. \u00a0The 40-year old is coming off back-to-back cups with Pittsburgh and many felt that the former Moorhead Spuds star would opt for retirement but he chose to come back for a 20th NHL season instead.<\/p>\n

The 1-year, $1,000,000 deal is has a lot of incentive-based bonuses (bonuses said to be close to $700,000) built in which should keep him motivated if playing well in front his hometown fans wasn’t enticement enough. \u00a0Cullen didn’t really want to leave Minnesota back in the summer of 2013, but the club decided to go in a different direction. \u00a0Obviously it didn’t work out too badly for Cullen, but it is interesting he did have an offer to return to Pittsburgh so the chance to play in his home state was too good to pass up. \u00a0Cullen had 13 goals, 31 points in 72 regular season games plus 2 goals and 9 points in last year’s playoffs as he went on to win his 3rd Stanley Cup in his career. \u00a0He was a Selke candidate last season which should make him an ideal fit for the Wild’s 4th line who is looking to fill in the hole left by Erik Haula<\/strong>‘s departure in the NHL Expansion Draft this summer.<\/p>\n

As to who will be playing on the wing with Cullen remains to be seen. \u00a0One would think Marcus Foligno<\/strong>, who has yet to reach a deal with the Wild will be one of his linemates but after that there are a lot of potential possibilities including Chris Stewart,<\/strong>\u00a0Landon Ferraro <\/strong>or rookie Luke Kunin<\/strong>. \u00a0Personally I like Cullen playing with faster linemates as it allows Cullen to use his speed to its fullest advantage. \u00a0After Cullen’s deal, it leaves the Minnesota Wild with about $2 million left in cap space<\/a> which will likely be mostly used to re-sign Foligno placing the club air tight against the cap ceiling. \u00a0Yet the addition of Cullen does give the team a little more offense, and his production last season was roughly the same as much-liked Haula so it seems like it was a sensible move.<\/p>\n

Center depth was a concern after letting Haula and Martin Hanzal<\/strong> go and while the reality is that the team really couldn’t afford to keep them, adding Cullen to help fill that void at least for this season makes a lot of sense. \u00a0Dailyfaceoff.com<\/a> has the Wild forward lines as the following.<\/p>\n

Parise-Staal-Coyle<\/p>\n

Zucker-Koivu-Granlund<\/p>\n

Niederreiter-Eriksson Ek-Ennis<\/p>\n

Stewart-Cullen-Foligno \/ Ferraro<\/p>\n

I could live with that. \u00a0Does that mean I think the Wild are set up for a deep run to the post season? \u00a0Not quite, but I think they have improved their roster in a way that was necessary in order to at least be close to as good as they were a season ago when they had a franchise-record 106-point season. \u00a0In the meantime we’ll celebrate the return of a favorite son and hope he can deliver more than just on sentimental value alone so in that spirit we serenade him with the ultimate ‘welcome back’ song in “Welcome Back, Kotter.” \u00a0Welcome Back Matt Cullen!<\/p>\n[youtube=https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xZzEzDkeHzI&w=560&h=315]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A while back, the Minnesota Wild admitted that sending away Andrew Brunette after the 2005-06 was a mistake as he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":259,"featured_media":727395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[605037366],"tags":[590870683,359434,1996],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMinnesota Wild Sign Matt Cullen To 1-Year Deal - The Sports Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minnesota Wild Sign Matt Cullen To 1-Year Deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Sports Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-17T04:11:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/695037200.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Derek Felska\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sportsdailytsd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sportsdailytsd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Derek Felska\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Derek Felska\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7627fa9ef13e065b643e8b0e4ddd6e0d\"},\"headline\":\"Minnesota Wild Sign Matt Cullen To 1-Year Deal\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-17T04:11:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-17T04:11:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/\"},\"wordCount\":636,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/695037200.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"2017-18 NHL Season\",\"Minnesota Wild\",\"NHL\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Wild\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2017\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/\",\"name\":\"Minnesota Wild Sign Matt Cullen To 1-Year Deal - The Sports Daily\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/695037200.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-17T04:11:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-17T04:11:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/695037200.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/695037200.jpg\",\"width\":683,\"height\":1024,\"caption\":\"NASHVILLE, TN - JUNE 11: Matt Cullen #7 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates with the Stanley Cup trophy after they defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 in Game Six of the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at the Bridgestone Arena on June 11, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Bruce Bennett\/Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Minnesota Wild Sign Matt Cullen To 1-Year Deal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Sports Daily\",\"description\":\"Sports News | Rumors | Videos | Highlights | Opinion | More\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Sports Daily\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/cropped-thesportsdaily_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/cropped-thesportsdaily_logo.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":52,\"caption\":\"The Sports Daily\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sportsdailytsd\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7627fa9ef13e065b643e8b0e4ddd6e0d\",\"name\":\"Derek Felska\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/avatar_user_259_1663923098-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/avatar_user_259_1663923098-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Derek Felska\"},\"description\":\"I am a hockey blogger originally from Elk River, MN. I have been blogging about Minnesota hockey for over 13 years and I like to cover it from the NHL on down to High School hockey. I try to provide honest, objective perspective from a 'non-homer' sort of fan. I hope my work reflects this approach.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/author\/stateofhckynews\/\",\"jobTitle\":\"\",\"email\":\"stateofhckynews@thesportsdaily.com\",\"sameAs\":[\"\",\"\",\"\",\"\",\"\"],\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Minnesota Wild Sign Matt Cullen To 1-Year Deal - The Sports Daily","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Minnesota Wild Sign Matt Cullen To 1-Year Deal","og_url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/","og_site_name":"The Sports Daily","article_published_time":"2017-08-17T04:11:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":683,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/695037200.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Derek Felska","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@sportsdailytsd","twitter_site":"@sportsdailytsd","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Derek Felska","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/"},"author":{"name":"Derek Felska","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7627fa9ef13e065b643e8b0e4ddd6e0d"},"headline":"Minnesota Wild Sign Matt Cullen To 1-Year Deal","datePublished":"2017-08-17T04:11:30+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-17T04:11:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/"},"wordCount":636,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/695037200.jpg","keywords":["2017-18 NHL Season","Minnesota Wild","NHL"],"articleSection":["Wild"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2017","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/","name":"Minnesota Wild Sign Matt Cullen To 1-Year Deal - The Sports Daily","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/695037200.jpg","datePublished":"2017-08-17T04:11:30+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-17T04:11:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/695037200.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/695037200.jpg","width":683,"height":1024,"caption":"NASHVILLE, TN - JUNE 11: Matt Cullen #7 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates with the Stanley Cup trophy after they defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 in Game Six of the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at the Bridgestone Arena on June 11, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Bruce Bennett\/Getty Images)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/minnesota-wild-sign-matt-cullen-to-1-year-deal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Minnesota Wild Sign Matt Cullen To 1-Year Deal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/","name":"The Sports Daily","description":"Sports News | Rumors | Videos | Highlights | Opinion | More","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization","name":"The Sports Daily","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/cropped-thesportsdaily_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/cropped-thesportsdaily_logo.png","width":300,"height":52,"caption":"The Sports Daily"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/sportsdailytsd"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7627fa9ef13e065b643e8b0e4ddd6e0d","name":"Derek Felska","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/avatar_user_259_1663923098-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/avatar_user_259_1663923098-96x96.jpg","caption":"Derek Felska"},"description":"I am a hockey blogger originally from Elk River, MN. I have been blogging about Minnesota hockey for over 13 years and I like to cover it from the NHL on down to High School hockey. I try to provide honest, objective perspective from a 'non-homer' sort of fan. I hope my work reflects this approach.","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/author\/stateofhckynews\/","jobTitle":"","email":"stateofhckynews@thesportsdaily.com","sameAs":["","","","",""],"mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":""}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/259"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}