Vladimir Tarasenko’s name probably wasn’t on Minnesota Wild fans’ bingo cards when it came to expected offseason acquisitions.

But Tuesday’s free-agent market is lean, to say the least, especially with most players re-signing (including seemingly every Florida Panther). In searching for a scoring winger, Minnesota likely would have had to pony up a lot, and more term than it was comfortable with, for the likes of Nikolaj Ehlers, Burnsville’s Brock Boeser and company.

So the Wild felt good about taking a one-year bet on the two-time Cup winner, acquiring Tarasenko on Monday from the Detroit Red Wings for future considerations. Tarasenko’s production has taken a sizable dip over the past few years, but president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin believes a “fresh start” and a bigger role could help the motivated winger regain his old form.

What made him a fit?

“There’s a lot — his track record of winning,” Guerin said. “His track record of scoring. He’s a bigger body. He’s got a lot of experience. He’s a player that is in need of a fresh start. The contract and money and everything kind of fits.”

Of course, teams usually don’t give up scoring wingers for “relatively nothing,” as Guerin put it, so there’s some risk there. Detroit cleared some cap space to potentially make some bigger moves Tuesday. Tarasenko had just 11 goals (33 points) in 80 games for the Red Wings last season, playing primarily on the third line.

It’s been four years since the last of Tarasenko’s 30-plus-goal seasons, back in 2021-22 with the St. Louis Blues.

“He’s a little bit older than his St. Louis days — that just happens,” Guerin said. “But sometimes it’s just not the right fit. Sometimes you’re not in the positions that you’re used to being in. How do you handle that? How are you handling it personally? How is the team helping you cope with it and understand the role you’re in now?

“The more you communicate with players and help them understand where they are now is helpful to them. They appreciate that relationship, and they flourish.”

Guerin said coach John Hynes has already talked with Tarasenko about potentially spending some time with him this summer in Florida. The relationship between player and coach is important, Guerin said, and “there’s a lot we can do to help him.”

Tarasenko is likely to slot into a second-line role; his linemates remain to be seen, likely dependent on whether the Wild keep Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy as a dynamic duo on the top line. Guerin said that although Tarasenko’s offensive contributions in the past have been fantastic, “the experience of winning the Stanley Cup is more important than that.”

The Wild see Tarasenko as a strong influence, especially considering their younger players coming up, such as Danila Yurov and Liam Ohgren. They lost Marc-Andre Fleury to retirement, but with Tarasenko, they’ll at least have two Cup champions in the room (with Zach Bogosian the other).

Why does that matter?

“Because they know,” Guerin said. “You think you know, but if you haven’t been through it, you really don’t. For him to share his stories, his experiences in a room that doesn’t have a lot of Stanley Cup winners, it’s different, and that’s something he can bring to the table and help our guys with.”

Guerin said adding another Russian wasn’t really about making rookie Yurov or superstar Kaprizov more comfortable; Kaprizov is eligible to sign an extension as early as Tuesday.

“I don’t think it hurts,” Guerin said. “But I know in my past meetings with Kirill, he doesn’t care if you’re Russian, Swedish, American, Canadian, whatever. He just wants guys to help us win.”

The Wild still have around $12.96 million of cap space for next season, depending on who makes the team. Guerin said he didn’t want to blow it all in one day, knowing how useful it could be for impactful moves next season and beyond. But Minnesota still plans to sign some players during Tuesday’s opening of free agency, with the focus now on a bottom-six center/faceoff guy like Nico Sturm, Sean Kuraly, Radek Faksa or Christian Dvorak. The Wild are also on the lookout for a third goalie to play in AHL Iowa but serve as NHL insurance, as well as a depth defenseman after trading Declan Chisholm on Saturday, knowing Jonas Brodin will likely miss the start of the season.

With Tarasenko’s cap hit and expiring contract, the Wild still have some money to play with, and this gives them a year to evaluate their young players and what’s on the market, where they can potentially take bigger swings.

“I still believe having flexibility is going to be really important, now and moving forward,” Guerin said. “I think the one-year deal gives us that. Who knows? Vladdy could come in and play great, and that could be something different down the road. But right now, we still have quite a bit of flexibility in our payroll, and that’s a good thing.”

In other Wild news, the club made qualifying offers to Marco Rossi and Michael Milne and did not make qualifying offers to Ryan O’Rourke, Graeme Clarke, Adam Raska and Luke Toporowski.

(Photo of Vladimir Tarasenko and Yakov Trenin: Matt Blewett / Imagn Images)