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Wild strike deal with Columbus for second trade Thursday originally appeared on Bring Me The News.
The Wild continued an active Thursday by executing their second trade of the day, this time acquiring 23-year-old forward Cameron Butler in a player swap with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Forward Brendan Gaunce is the player headed to Columbus.
After shipping Freddy Gaudreau to the Kraken earlier on Thursday, Wild GM Bill Guerin wasn’t done.
Butler tallied three points for the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters this past season, appearing in 37 games. The Ottawa Native went undrafted in the 2020 NHL Draft and has spent time with the Niagara IceDogs and Ottawa Generals of the OHL and the Monsters of the AHL over the past five seasons. He appeared in one NHL game with Columbus.
Butler’s most productive season came in 2022-23, when he scored 55 points in 63 games with the Generals. He’s a 6’4″, 210-pound forward who adds some size to Minnesota’s NHL/AHL forward pool.
He’s also quite a bit younger than Gaunce, a former first-round pick by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2012 draft. The 31-year-old appeared in 12 games for the Wild last season, registering an assist and 11 shots during his lone season in Minnesota. He now returns to the team where he previously spent three seasons from 2021 to 2024.
Credit: NHL Tonight
This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jun 26, 2025, where it first appeared.