The NHL’s trading season has officially arrived.

The Carolina Hurricanes have acquired Nino Niederreiter from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Victor Rask.

There is no salary retained in the deal and is strictly a straight up one-for-one trade.

Both players still have three years remaining on their current deals, with Rask counting $4 million against the cap and Niederreiter carrying a $5.2 million hit against the cap.

At first glance this is an extremely curious move by the Wild because it is really difficult to see where they get better here other than saving a minimal amount of salary cap space and picking up a player that is one year younger.

When it comes to production and what actually happens on the ice, this would seem to be a step backwards.

Niederreiter has traditionally been a solid offensive contributor. The 26-year-old has reached the 20-goal milestone on three occasions and he set career-highs in 2016-17 with 25 goals and 57 points in 82 contests.

The Wild are shedding $1.25 million in annual salary by exchanging Niederreiter for Rask. That said, the Wild are getting the higher risk player here. Rask has just a goal and six points in 26 contests this season. He did have 48 points in 2015-16 and 45 points in 2016-17 though, so perhaps he can bounce back with this fresh start.

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