NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Wild's last game of the regular season had no bearing on the standings, but that's not how Frederick Gaudreau played.
A long-time minor-leaguer, including in Nashville's pipeline, Gaudreau finished with a flourish, scoring twice in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Predators on Thursday at Bridgestone Arena and in between his goals the Wild announced a five-year, $10.5 million contract extension for Gaudreau.
"There's been many bumps on the road, but it's a great journey," Gaudreau said recently. "It's been awesome, and right now I'm here with this team and it's awesome to be a part of this locker room. I feel so grateful to have this opportunity. When you've gone through the ups and downs, it makes you even more grateful for what you have now. I feel very grateful to be here."
After appearing in all 82 games, the center racked up a career-high 19 goals, which is just as many as he had in his entire NHL career (179 games) coming into this season and 14 of those were with the Wild in 2021-22.
Overall, Gaudreau, 29, added 19 assists for 38 points.
But his production isn't all that established Gaudreau as a bonafide NHLer with the Wild after parts of six seasons and 300 games in the minor leagues.
Since coming over as a free agent in 2021 on a two-year deal, Gaudreau has become a versatile option who can rove up and down the lineup while playing both sides of special teams.
Last month, he became the first player in team history to score two short-handed goals in a game (he had four all season) and his eight shootout goals led the NHL.
Gaudreau's also the one the Wild tabbed to take Joel Eriksson Ek's spot alongside Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson went Eriksson Ek went down with injury last week, an opportunity that should shift Gaudreau into a key role come playoff time.
His new contract, which has an average annual value of $2.1 million, also includes a 15-team, no-trade clause.
"It's something I've always kept inside of me as a dream," Gaudreau said last weekend. "There was that little voice that always told me I could. I always knew I could become an important player on a team. I just had to figure out how and when. But the most important thing was to just keep grinding and keep focusing on doing the right stuff, even with all the send downs."
Against Nashville with the Wild resting several regulars and having two players make their NHL debut and another in his second game after already locking up the third seed in the Central Division, Gaudreau was one of the leaders.
Nashville seized control of a Wild power play, the Predators' game of keep-away culminating in a redirect by Mark Jankowski at 8 minutes, 2 seconds of the first period. The Wild power play went 0 for 1, while Nashville was 0 for 3.
Gaudreau responded at 14:19 with a one-timer but only 2 minutes later, the Predators retook the lead after Kiefer Sherwood was left all alone to swipe in a loose puck.
Cue Gaudreau.
At 10:46 of the second period, he crashed the net to bury a bouncing puck.
Gustav Nyquist assisted on both goals and is up to five points in three games with the Wild since healing up a shoulder injury that delayed his debut after a February trade from Columbus.
With 5:56 to go in the third, Nashville's Yakov Trenin polished off a give-and-go, but the Wild answered back 16 seconds later on Nic Petan's first NHL goal since March 2, 2019.
Jusso Parssinen shrugged off the Wild for good 2:44 into overtime with a between-the-legs shot.
Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves for the Wild, ending the season 22-9-7. Juuse Saros had 21 stops for the Predators.
