NEW YORK — Wild general manager Bill Guerin waited till the last minute to sign Calen Addision this fall, giving the defenseman a one-year, $825,000 contract two days before training camp started in September.

Guerin must not have liked what he has seen from Addison this season.

The Wild on Wednesday traded Addison to the San Jose Sharks, currently the worst team in the NHL, for forward prospect Adam Raska and a fifth-round pick in the 2026 entry draft.

Addison started every game for the Wild (5-5-2) this season and had five assists and a plus/minus of minus-3. The timing of the deal might indicate the impending return of veteran defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who is with the team in New York for Thursday’s game against the Rangers.

Spurgeon, the team’s captain, hasn’t played since suffering an upper body injury in an Oct. 5 preseason game at Chicago.

Because Raska, 22, is likely to be sent straight to AHL Iowa, the move immediately frees up $825,000 in salary cap space for the cap-strapped Wild, who started the season scraping the $83.5 million 2023-24 cap and have since used NHL injury help to field a roster.

Guerin did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Addison, 23, set a Wild single-season franchise record for assists by a rookie last season with 26 in 62 games with the NHL club. He also scored three goals, putting him second in franchise points by a rookie defenseman behind Filip Kuba, 30 in 2000-01.

But Addison lost his job late last season, and was a healthy scratch for the Wild’s first-round playoff series against Dallas. During camp, the Wild were candid about expecting Addison to play as hard on defense as he did quarterbacking a power play unit last season.

Raska, a 5-foot-10, 185-pound native of Frydek-Mistek, Czechia, has skated in seven games with the San Jose Barracuda this season. He made his NHL debut on Jan. 11, 2022, against Detroit and has skated in eight NHL career games with the Sharks. In 110 AHL games, Raska has nine goals, 25 points and 182 penalty minutes (PIM) over three seasons with San Jose.