Confirmed with Link: Marat Khusnutdinov and Jakub Lauko traded to BOS for Justin Brazeau
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BagHead
Registered User
It's entirely possible to seek answers to questions and situations without forming an opinion before you have enough information. Communication is a pretty important method for searching for answers, that's why you'd do so in a forum. I also don't have an opinion about it yet, but am reading all I can. Really, I still won't form an opinion until I've seen Brazeau play a good amount of games for the Wild, I'll just let the posts here inform me on how others perceive him, and maybe gain some insights on what to look out for in Brazeau's game from Bruins fans.
What I see with this move is Lauko being replaced by Brazeau, and Khusnutdinov being moved so they can fit Hartman back in without giving up Hinostroza, who has looked quite good so far. If I were asked which pair of players I'd rather have between Lauko+Khusnutdinov or Brazeau+Hinostroza, I'm not yet convinced I'd pick Lauko and Khus. The only thing I outright don't like about this move is that Brazeau is a rental, so if he looks good we probably still won't be able to keep him.
Spurgeon
Registered User
He bumped that 8 point pace up to a 12 point pace, watch out
Spurgeon
Registered User
They could’ve moved any other pick or prospect.
Khus didn’t get to play in a single AHL game to work on improving some of his deficits. There was absolutely no benefit to moving on from him this early. It’d be like moving Rossi after he only put up 1 point in 19 games.
We should’ve moved Rossi when he was on a 4 point pace instead of giving him time to grow in the AHL.He bumped that 8 point pace up to a 12 point pace, watch out
Minnewildsota
He who laughs last thinks slowest
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Yeah, there’s a difference between stress and something being mentally draining.
Right. Except Marat has put up 11 points in 73 games. Not really apples to apples.
Spurgeon
Registered User
Minnewildsota
He who laughs last thinks slowest
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I don't care about the trade. It's a bunch of meh.
Just wanted to point out that Marat K is a RFA at the end of the season and the Russian factor is real a thing.
Just wanted to point out that Marat K is a RFA at the end of the season and the Russian factor is real a thing.
Spurgeon
Registered User
Rossi needed 2 seasons in the AHL learning our systems and NA hockey. He also got to play in the NHL with better players than Devin Shore and Ben Jones.
I don’t understand why we couldn’t give Khus an opportunity to do the same here. There’s no reason we needed to cut ties with him for an older rental that doesn’t contribute offensively. We could’ve sent so much less than we did. This was not a good trade & I’m 100% confident in that opinion.
Spurgeon
Registered User
I hope you can mentally unwind from this triggering forum. Reddit is always there if you need a safe space.
Honestly I don't think anyone is pissed we trade Khusy...it's the value the Wild got back for a young cost controlled player. If Khus was in a bigger trade to improve the top 6 with a younger ish more established player coming back, no one would bat an eye. But basically the Wild basically gave two young players away for free or Justin is going to get a contract that no one is going to like.
BagHead
Registered User
What do you mean by any other pick or prospect? Teams don't just trade guys for just-whatever, they barter and end up on a middle ground that gets the trade made, and both sides feel like they both got something they wanted, and lost something equally valuable. Are you suggesting that the Bruins would have been open to a lesser player being swapped out for Khusnutdinov?
Trading Khusnutdinov right now is more like Ottawa trading Yegor Sokolov this year than it is like the Wild trading Rossi in his not-yet-rookie season.
Minnewildsota
He who laughs last thinks slowest
- Jun 7, 2010
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Not sure why you felt the need to attack when I was being nice
Because if he's like many other Russian players it's either the NHL or KHL. If they are sent to the AHL they bolt back to the KHL via contract termination. The AHL is a big paycut to either of those leagues.
Rossi also showed at lower levels that he was a substantially better player than Khusnutdinov.
Khusnutdinov did not produce well in the KHL outside of a brief stint next to Gusev.
Spurgeon
Registered User
Give him a 1-way contract extension then for $1M & keep him in the AHL. It would’ve been nice to see how he finishes out the year down there.
Would’ve also been nice to be able to call him back up for the playoffs if he shows strong progress down there in the next month and a half.
Dr Jan Itor
Registered User
This specific board does have a tendency to spiral, fully admit that I play into that sometimes. I assume it could be the same elsewhere. Every poster has their own quirks.
Spurgeon
Registered User
My entire point is that they traded him at his absolutely lowest value & didn’t give him any opportunity to increase that value.
He was never given a look in an elevated role. He was never given a chance to work on his offense in the AHL.
I find it very hard to believe we had to give up what we did for a 27 year old pending UFA that has put up no points in the past 13 games.
Can we at least see Brazeau play in a Wild uniform for 5 games before going off the deep end on this trade?
Nino Noderreiter
Registered User
I normally don't like these moves that Guerin does, but I think I'm actually okay with this one. We're not going to fix the speed issues this year. I think we will be a better skating team once Kaprizov is back. And future iterations of this team should include Buium, Jiricek, Ohgren, Yurov, and we bring back Nyquist who all either are fast or play/skate in a way that's aggressive and feels fast. There's players that the Wild have been rumoured to be interested in that would help as well. In addition to this, yes one of the issues that the Wild have is that they aren't a fast team. But mostly, what we are really talking about is that they don't have enough skill on the team.
Someone was saying he was on a 17 game scoreless stretch, all that tells me is that he had a stretch where he put up like 20 points in about 35 games. He looks like he scored pretty decently in the AHL and he's 6'5 ... bigger players develop later. I don't 100% mind trying to lean into size and physicality as the way we impose ourselves on the game this year. It's probably our best chance of being able to lean on something that we can say is an advantage that another team can't match.
I think there's a small chance this ends up like another Foligno trade. I like the idea of, when Ek gets back, trying to recreate the GREEF line with Brazeau-Ek-Foligno and have a physical massive checking line that can shut down opposing teams top lines. Also, I'm watching this highlight real and from goal #2 he actually doesn't even look slow and he looks like he has some hands.
I'm willing to see how it works out. I'm laughing at those who are now saying losing Lauko is something that we should be concerned about. Maybe it's a dumb trade but the whole reaction here is basically "I think Khus was the next Haula so this player is slow, bad, nothing, and has no potential".
Edit: and from reading some discussion from Bruins fans... at one point in the season they were trialing him in top 6 minutes because of his size, physicality, and puck skills (and some injuries). They did mention skating issues, but I want to see it on our team. I think there are different reasons why someone could "look" slow. I even go back to Jiricek and the skating issues Columbus fans were hammering on about. I understand why skating is something Jiricek needs to improve, but to me his specific skating issues are a lot more nuanced and in some ways he is a plus skater and in others there's stuff to work on but you can see how he can improve with the right coaching.
He's an older prospect but he broke into the league late as well. Let's see how a change of scenery, a different system, and a different coaching staff might help him find some more consistency. Let's see what he looks like on a north/south physical line with Ek/Foligno. If the Wild can get the 14 point in first 27 game player... I mean that's basically Foligno.
Khus has some potential but the actual reality with him is that there's a very strong chance he's never anything but a 4th liner with speed.
Someone was saying he was on a 17 game scoreless stretch, all that tells me is that he had a stretch where he put up like 20 points in about 35 games. He looks like he scored pretty decently in the AHL and he's 6'5 ... bigger players develop later. I don't 100% mind trying to lean into size and physicality as the way we impose ourselves on the game this year. It's probably our best chance of being able to lean on something that we can say is an advantage that another team can't match.
I think there's a small chance this ends up like another Foligno trade. I like the idea of, when Ek gets back, trying to recreate the GREEF line with Brazeau-Ek-Foligno and have a physical massive checking line that can shut down opposing teams top lines. Also, I'm watching this highlight real and from goal #2 he actually doesn't even look slow and he looks like he has some hands.
I'm willing to see how it works out. I'm laughing at those who are now saying losing Lauko is something that we should be concerned about. Maybe it's a dumb trade but the whole reaction here is basically "I think Khus was the next Haula so this player is slow, bad, nothing, and has no potential".
Edit: and from reading some discussion from Bruins fans... at one point in the season they were trialing him in top 6 minutes because of his size, physicality, and puck skills (and some injuries). They did mention skating issues, but I want to see it on our team. I think there are different reasons why someone could "look" slow. I even go back to Jiricek and the skating issues Columbus fans were hammering on about. I understand why skating is something Jiricek needs to improve, but to me his specific skating issues are a lot more nuanced and in some ways he is a plus skater and in others there's stuff to work on but you can see how he can improve with the right coaching.
He's an older prospect but he broke into the league late as well. Let's see how a change of scenery, a different system, and a different coaching staff might help him find some more consistency. Let's see what he looks like on a north/south physical line with Ek/Foligno. If the Wild can get the 14 point in first 27 game player... I mean that's basically Foligno.
Khus has some potential but the actual reality with him is that there's a very strong chance he's never anything but a 4th liner with speed.
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BagHead
Registered User
You've got a little Ek (or maybe even Hartman) to you.
You're right, they could have given him more time to see if he'd develop something in the AHL (or KHL again). The thing of it is that he may not have developed something and his value could absolutely go lower; we don't actually know that this is a low point because we can't see the future. Hell, this could be the highest it will ever again be. I love that you've got faith in him, I admire it even, but he's small, about a year or two from peak-age for most players, and hasn't shown much in the NHL, so you can't blame Guerin for not doing the same.
