ST. PAUL — After patiently approaching his season in charge of the Minnesota Wild, general manager Paul Fenton has taken his first steps toward remaking the roster.

If the Wild don’t pick up the pace in the Western Conference race, more moves could be coming soon.

The Wild traded left wing Nino Niederreiter to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday for center Victor Rask, a swap of underperforming but still-young players on long-term contracts between teams under new regimes.

The 26-year-old Niederreiter, a native of Switzerland, has nine goals and 14 assists in 46 games this season for the Wild. He’s in the second season of a five-year, $26.25 million contract that came after a career-best 2016-17 season.

For a team that currently ranks 22nd in the NHL in goals per game (2.83 entering play on Thursday against Anaheim), Niederreiter simply wasn’t producing enough. He scored his second goal in three games on Tuesday against Los Angeles, after being dropped down to the fourth line.

The Wild entered play on Thursday in eighth place in the Western Conference, their streak of six straight appearances in the playoffs in precarious position.