Confirmed Signing with Link: [MIN] F Yakov Trenin signs with the Wild (4 years, $3.5M AAV)

Avs9296

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Jul 1, 2019
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After being pretty hyped about the pickup, he was pretty underwhelming on the Avs. Maybe that's because we put him at center and he just isn't a good center, but he just looked like a 4th liner to me.

If the wild put him on the wing I think he can play on the third line. But don't try him at 3C. He won't be able to do it effectively.
 
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Obvious Fabertism

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I think it’s pretty fair and a good move for the Wild, they need to fix the PK that was league worst for a large chunk of the past two seasons. And replace the physical play lost with Duhaime and Dewar out the door. This also fills in the organizational gap for this skill set as the prospect pool does not currently have anyone with similar projections, outside of maybe Kumpulainen. Milne is more of a pure energy guy.
 

cheesymc

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Really liked Trenin a few years ago, but I think he's lost his edge after a few beatings he received. This is a big contract for a player who got 12 goals the past 2 seasons and just 1 goal in 10 playoff games last year.
 

Lonewolfe2015

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I thought he'd sign around $2mil, wow. Loved watching him as an Av, but the skill just isn't there for this kind of cash or a permanent 3rd line role. He was tremendous on the 4th line with low expectations. This will hurt Minny fans if he doesn't find puck luck to start the year.
 

dgibb10

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I think this is a better contract than people think.

He's not a scorer, but this is one of the BEST PKers in the league, excellent defensively, physical, great 3rd liner.

I'd rather have Trenin on my team than Dakota Joshua for example
 

Obvious Fabertism

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I thought he'd sign around $2mil, wow. Loved watching him as an Av, but the skill just isn't there for this kind of cash or a permanent 3rd line role. He was tremendous on the 4th line with low expectations. This will hurt Minny fans if he doesn't find puck luck to start the year.
This shouldn’t hurt much, it only limits the Wild for the remaining of this off-season, but they have no other roster spots to fill. They could have gone for a 1 year top 6 wing instead but that doesn’t help in the years we are actually looking to compete. The Wild have numerous ELCs in the middle 6 of the roster with more expected to join throughout the end of the year into next season.

Getting quality depth players is more important than minimal cap savings, when cap space will not be an issue in less than a calendar year. This is not a role that the Wild have internal replacements for, the prospect pool skews heavily toward the skill department at the current moment.

The Wild have more than enough value contracts on the books to pay a slight premium for a depth player, the PK has been a major issue for a while, it needed to be addressed.
 

State of Hockey

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Oh, Billy, you just had to do it again. His love affair for grinding forwards is unmatched. Good for Trenin. This is one of the best deals in free agency from the player side. Unfortunately it won't be a big help for us. Trenin helps the PK, but he doesn't address the PK/EV faceoff problem. We have way too many contracts for players that should be playing the bottom-6, and there's plenty of grit there already, so there's little gain in that department. Trenin will help crowd out young players on cheap contracts, but maybe that's Guerin's plan all along.

Getting quality depth players is more important than minimal cap savings, when cap space will not be an issue in less than a calendar year. This is not a role that the Wild have internal replacements for, the prospect pool skews heavily toward the skill department at the current moment.

It's the opposite. If you're going to overpay, you want to do it with top players (and/or shorter term contracts) because there's scarcity in that type. There's a relative abundance of players such as Trenin. There's no need to overpay those types, and when you do this in multiple instances, it hinders or completely eliminates your ability to pay for top talent. This signing makes no sense when you look at the big picture and go back to what we did with Duhaime. He and Trenin and remarkably similar players. Both should be no higher than your 4th-line, physical PK winger, and they have very similar production rates per 60 over the past couple seasons. Yet Guerin kicks Duhaime to the curb, and instead signs Trenin for double the salary and term as what Duhaime signed for. It's poor management, and that's what separates those that contend and those that don't.
 

rynryn

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I wouldn't even consider him a deluxe grinder, he's a big slow guy that hits and tries hard. To me he's like a 2x2 guy.
the "tries hard" part is important, i think. Wild were missing some of that and "the room" seems to be a special focus for BG. It seems like too much money but then again I thought Reaves and Dumba's attitudes were missing last year. If this guy can carry some of that lode while also not completely sucking on the ice it might be worth it.
 

rynryn

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I thought he'd sign around $2mil, wow. Loved watching him as an Av, but the skill just isn't there for this kind of cash or a permanent 3rd line role. He was tremendous on the 4th line with low expectations. This will hurt Minny fans if he doesn't find puck luck to start the year.
cannot speak for anyone else but i'm not expecting any offense, I did enjoy watching our last non-effective "try hard" guy and I have to think Trenin is better than Mason Shaw.
 

dgibb10

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Yakov Trenin has played nearly 15 minutes a night the last 3 years that is not 4th line usage.

Dakota Joshua got 3.25 and nobody batted an eyelid
 

S E P H

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I am a huge, huge Trenin fan, but 3 million PER YEAR is crazy pill sort of insanity we're talking about here. The bloke's offensive game has dried up in a big way and why this contract doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
 

kanucks25

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Yakov Trenin has played nearly 15 minutes a night the last 3 years that is not 4th line usage.

Dakota Joshua got 3.25 and nobody batted an eyelid
I think I'd rather have Trenin than Joshua on my team tbh
Joshua paced for over 20 goals and 40 points, got injured fighting to protect a teammate.

And like Trenin he's physical, good defensively and good on the PK, just has more offensive upside.

Trenin's ceiling is 25 points.
 

dgibb10

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Joshua paced for over 20 goals and 40 points, got injured fighting to protect a teammate.

And like Trenin he's physical, good defensively and good on the PK, just has more offensive upside.

Trenin's ceiling is 25 points.
I don't have much faith in Joshua maintaining a 22% shooting%.

That shooting% is most of the offensive gap between them over the last 2 years.

And I think trenin is much more capable in virtually every other area.
 

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