Fletcher and the Wild face quite a roster conundrum with the arrival of the Golden Knights, as there aren't enough spots to go around to ensure protection for all their quality players.
Defenseman Ryan Suter owns a no-movement clause, meaning Minnesota has two spots to fill between Brodin, Dumba, Jared Spurgeon, and Marco Scandella should it choose the seven-three-one protection format.
Brodin, 23, is under contract for four more seasons at a $4.16-million cap hit. Last season, he averaged 19:34 of ice time across 68 contests, and set a career high in points with 25.
The 22-year-old Dumba, meanwhile, was selected seventh overall by the Wild in 2012, and recorded a career-high 34 points in 2016-17. He's slated to earn $2.55 million next season before hitting restricted free agency.
As several NHL teams look to add quality defensemen, Fletcher's phone is sure to light up over the next few days, as the league-wide trade freeze kicks in June 17 at 3 p.m. ET.
After a medical scare in April, Buffalo Sabres winger Kyle Okposo is expected to be ready for training camp.
Okposo was hospitalized and kept in the Neuro Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Buffalo General Medical Center for under a week after reportedly enduring a harmful reaction to medication for a concussion.
"From our standpoint, everything will be ready for him at the start of training camp," Sabres general manager Jason Botterill said, according to Matt Schneidman of The Buffalo News. "Just like all our other players."
"We've had conversation with him. Everything's looking great from Kyle," Botterill said. "He physically looks great and mentally looks great."
Okposo signed a seven-year, $42-million contract with Buffalo last offseason, and suited up in 65 contests in 2016-17, missing time with a rib injury as well as an illness toward the end of the season.
The 29-year-old recorded 45 points last season and represented the Sabres at the All-Star Game in Los Angeles.
The trade appears to be driven by the fear of losing a strong roster player to the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft, which the Lightning had with Drouin and their abundance of riches at forward.
With the deal finalized, both teams will have to tweak their strategies as they head into next week's draft. Here are some adjustments likely to be made, and the implications of the deal, for each team:
Lightning
Off the hop, it appears likely it was the Lightning driving the bus in this deal.
Heading into the expansion draft, Tampa was faced with a bit of a conundrum up front: they had more than seven forwards they wanted to protect.
With Drouin in the mix, the club would likely elect to hang on to him, meaning one of the seven above would have to be exposed, lest a side deal was made with the Golden Knights. So the trade means Vegas will walk away with a significantly less skilled player than they would have pre-trade.
Every team I've talked to the last few weeks is working on some variation of: "How do we give Vegas almost nothing?" Tampa pulls that off.
The deal allows the Lightning to safely protect their core forwards, while Sergachev will remain ineligible for the draft given he's still a rookie, so the team won't have to protect an extra defenseman.
Canadiens
For the Canadiens, the Drouin deal won't shatter any expansion draft plans, but certainly adds a wrinkle.
With Drouin in the mix, Montreal has another forward that will need protecting, meaning someone who might have thought they'd be protected going into the draft no longer will be.
This is the type of deal we all expected would come when the expansion draft parameters were laid out. Teams will try to find a way to make sure they won't lose one of their more valuable players for nothing.
Steve Yzerman and Co. were quick to notice that, and chances are they aren't the only team in that boat.
The contract caps off a wild couple hours for both parties after Drouin was acquired by the Canadiens in a trade for prospect Mikhail Sergachev and a swap of conditional draft picks.
The deal locks up Drouin for the foreseeable future at an average cap hit of $5.5 million per season. The 22-year-old was set to become a restricted free agent on July 1.
The contract also makes Drouin the second-highest-paid forward on the Canadiens' roster behind only Tomas Plekanec who is on the books for one more season at $6 million.
After a couple seasons of reportedly shopping forward Jonathan Drouin with varying degrees of desperation, Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman finally found an adequate match in the Montreal Canadiens and defensive prospect Mikhail Sergachev. Yzerman explained why the search took this long to complete.
Yzerman on Sergachev: “We think he has a chance to play in all situations in this league & it’s very hard to find players of that caliber.”
Sergachev, a No. 9 pick by the Canadiens in the 2016 NHL Draft, has played just four NHL games, but he scored 10 goals and added 33 assists in 50 games at the OHL level in 2017 with the eventual Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires.
Yzerman refuted claims of this being a move to simply rid themselves of Drouin, and mentioned Sergachev was a player the Lightning had been watching for some time.
Yzerman on Sergachev: “We watched him in juniors… He’s got good size, he’s very strong, he skates very well, he’s got an excellent shot.”
Sergachev goes from spending the past two training camps learning from the likes of P.K. Subban and Shea Weber to a potential top-pairing role alongside 2017 Norris nominee Victor Hedman. A pretty decent change of scenery.
Gudbranson, who was a pending restricted free agent, endured an injury-riddled first season in Vancouver, playing just 30 games.
The Canucks dealt forward Jared McCann, a second-round pick, and a fourth-round pick to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Gudbranson and a fifth-rounder on May 25, 2016.
"Erik is a big, strong, physical defender who I know feels has a lot to prove and has worked diligently in his injury rehab," said the club's general manager Jim Benning. "He has leadership qualities that will be important for our young team and we are excited to see him healthy and back on the blue line next season."
There's no questioning Gudbranson's size and physicality. He is listed at 6-foot-5, 220 pounds and has 820 hits in 339 NHL games split between the Canucks and Panthers, who drafted him with the third overall pick back in 2010.
Given that Benning gave up a former first-round pick in McCann, plus the two other draft picks, he clearly views Gudbranson as part of the solution during Vancouver's rebuild.
Gudbranson, however, has failed to establish himself as a legitimate top-four defenseman so far in his career. He has posted a minus-63 rating and a 48.6 Corsi For percentage in five seasons.
However, he is still just 25, and defensemen usually take much longer to develop than forwards. He will get a chance to log big minutes on Vancouver's blue line come next season and prove his worth.
Drouin is currently a restricted free agent, but Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin is already in the process of signing his team's new star forward. Taking on a player deemed a spare part by Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman has given the Canadiens some excess of their own.
I'm told Drouin's agent Allan Walsh and Bergevin are already working on a deal. Also told Galchenyuk being "actively shopped" as of now.
Galchenyuk played just 61 games this past season, but he scored 17 goals and finished with 44 points while splitting his time between left wing and center.
Moving him likely means Bergevin and head coach Claude Julien viewed him as a true winger. With Max Pacioretty, Alexander Radulov, and now Drouin slotting in on the wings, Galchenyuk may be moved out in order to address greater team weaknesses at center and on defense.
Bergevin pulled off another June blockbuster Thursday, acquiring 22-year-old Drouin in a massive trade with the Lightning, sending prized defensive prospect Mikhail Sergachev to Tampa Bay. Conditional picks are involved as well, with the Lightning set to receive a second-round pick in 2018 for a sixth-round pick if Sergachev plays 40 games for Tampa Bay next season.
Welcome home
The immediate reaction: This is a big win for Montreal. Drouin's young, with 164 regular-season games and 23 playoff contests already under his belt. He's coming off his most productive season on the heels of his coming-out party in the 2016 playoffs, which ended a tumultuous season that saw his trade request from Tampa Bay go public, eventually leading to his suspension by the club after he failed to report to the AHL.
The parties made nice, but that's all in the past now, as Drouin, a restricted free agent July 1, is set to sign long term with the team he grew up adoring. He's finally where he truly wants to be, and Montreal has its young, dynamic - and French! - star to build around.
Think of it this way: P.K. Subban and Sergachev for Shea Weber and Drouin. That makes it a little easier to swallow, right?
Offense needed
Montreal averaged 2.72 goals per game this past season, which ranked 15th in the league. Average. But not good enough.
The Canadiens had only two players score 20 goals or more during the regular season, and one of them was Paul Byron, who'd never scored more than 11 before this past campaign. Only two Habs broke 50 points - Max Pacioretty and Alex Radulov, who is an unrestricted free agent in a couple of weeks.
In the playoffs, the Canadiens managed only 11 goals in six games in their first-round loss to the New York Rangers. Yes, Henrik Lundqvist is both an obscenely talented goaltender and stupidly handsome, but Pacioretty - who had only one assist in the series - and Co. needed help. They got it in Drouin.
Give to get
Sergachev, drafted ninth overall last year, is thought to have a bright future. He's been a force on defense for the OHL's Windsor Spitfires, posting back-to-back seasons of 57 and 43 points. He'll be 19 on June 25. He could turn out to be very, very good.
In terms of readiness, Sergachev can be an NHLer for Tampa right away.
The thing is: Drouin's already proven he possess above-average offensive smarts. He's already a top-line player, and he's already been through a lot off the ice. And, let's face it, that's going to help him in Montreal, where the pressure's going to be dialed up about 467,738 times what it was in sunny Tampa Bay.
In the end, this trade was made for reasons to do with the expansion draft and the salary cap, and could turn out to be great for both teams. The Lightning could be looking at a Victor Hedman-Sergachev pairing for the next 10 years.
Questions remain
Bergevin's still got work to do, because even after acquiring Drouin, a lot of questions need answering:
Will the Canadiens move Drouin, a left winger, to center? If not, an already log-jammed wing position is one dynamic forward thicker.
If Drouin is moved to center, does that mean Alex Galchenyuk is traded?
Galchenyuk's only 23, and a restricted free agent himself. If Drouin is moved to the middle, can he stay in Montreal on the wing for good?
Does Bergevin dangle Galchenyuk for a center? Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, perhaps? Or does Bergevin try to trade Galchnyuk for help on defense?
Sergachev's departure means Andrei Markov's absolutely being re-signed, right?
Price's window
The bottom line: Bergevin can sacrifice depth on defense - even a stud prospect - when he's got Carey Price in goal. Only thing is, Price is under contract for only more season. He'll be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2018, and you have to think Bergevin doesn't let him get there.
In order to ensure Price's signature is on a new contract, though, Bergevin must show his prized goaltender that he's put together a team that can succeed, that can score. Drouin helps there, both in the short and long term.
The hope is: Drouin makes everyone forget about Subban, and keeps Price in Montreal for the majority of his career.
It's a strong bet, one Bergevin absolutely had to make. And he did.
Despite all the criticism the GM took as Subban and the Nashville Predators advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, Bergevin deserves respect, because the Canadiens are a far better and more dangerous team than they were Thursday morning.
Jonathan Drouin grew up about a two-hour drive northwest of the Bell Centre - home of the Montreal Canadiens - in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec, and the 22-year-old couldn't be more ecstatic he's heading home.
"His words to me when I told him he was traded was, 'This is my dream come true. This is my childhood dream,'" agent Allan Walsh said of Drouin, according to Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports.
Drouin infamously requested a trade out of Tampa Bay during the 2015-16 season. Though the two sides had appeared to patch things up, there's no question playing for his boyhood team was always at the top of his wishlist.
Montreal fans are likely just as excited. The Canadiens haven't had a francophone player of this stature since goaltender Jose Theodore in the early-to-mid-2000s. Before that brief stint of greatness, you'd have to look back to when Vincent Damphousse and Patrick Roy anchored the Habs back in the '90s.
Expectations will certainly be high for the former third overall pick, but, if he performs up to par, there's no doubt he'll be beloved by one of the NHL's most passionate fan bases.
