Minnesota Wild General Discussion - 2022-23

[AKL]

If I'm being honest, it looks like six in one hand and half a dozen in the other to me. Different setup, and a different method of getting there, but probably the same overall result in terms of wins.

For three years. Then after the three years it's in a much, much better spot than we are on track to be now. And we're not realistically making much noise in those three years either way, so some might opt to take the option that sets them up better long term.

 

[thestonedkoala]

I'm going to be honest here. I was completely floored that the Blues won the Cup. Hot rookie goalie. etc.

I must admit that if you saw the potential of such, you are much more insightful than I am.

I'm merely pointing out for myself that hockey is a weird game. Strange things happen. Strange years happen. Not to suggest that this year's Wild have a big Cup chance. Rather to suggest that assuming, in the first year of an 8 year contract, that Kaprisov is never going to see a Cup run in Minnesota, and therefore, we should tank this year and next....I don't think that is good thinking.

Blues have always been dangerous in the playoffs. But they've always been the bridesmaid and never the bride until everything clicked and they got the talent.

The thing is, strange things don't happen. Talent begets success and 9/10 times, that talent is found at the top of the draft. Carey Price is probably going to be a HHOF Goaltender and is considered to be one of the best in the world at the time. He was a huge reason why Montreal had the success they did. The thing about tanking for Minnesota is to get them lined up to make runs when the cap penalties come off. Shave off cap space to make a couple runs at free agents at the time, make sure your prospects are developing correctly because you don't want a Rossi situation. No one is going, MINNESOTA SHOULD TANK FOR THE SAKE OF TANKING. There is a process.

What you don't want to do is stagnant or end up as a mediocre team that isn't in the playoffs but not bad enough to get a good lottery pick and waste your talent. Pick a lane and work within that confines.

Minnesota essentially wants their cake and eat it too.

That's why teams that are committed to rebuilds show cycles of bad and then good. Look at the Kings, they are finally coming out of their rebuild and are in third place in the West. They took the opportunity to pilfer Minnesota and benefit for their mistake.

 

[AKL]

I'm merely pointing out for myself that hockey is a weird game. Strange things happen. Strange years happen. Not to suggest that this year's Wild have a big Cup chance. Rather to suggest that assuming, in the first year of an 8 year contract, that Kaprisov is never going to see a Cup run in Minnesota, and therefore, we should tank this year and next....I don't think that is good thinking.

Kaprizov only has 3 years left after this one. And only one of those is without dead cap. And if we're basically punting on the dead cap years (not actively tanking, but understanding we realistically don't have much of a chance during those years), it's easy to see why some people don't have high hopes for the future. We'll basically have one single season to prove to Kaprizov we can contend going forward, but you also can't lose Kaprizov to UFA for nothing, so at a certain point it becomes necessary to trade him during the season if you don't have him extended before then.

 

[north21]

Kap is gone no matter what we do. We should trade him now instead of watching him Gaborik us

I think the simple answer is to trade Boldy and re-sign Steel and Gaudreau.

Right after we trade kap. Might as well ship the team off to another city so we can watch then win a cup while we are at it.

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

For three years. Then after the three years it's in a much, much better spot than we are on track to be now. And we're not realistically making much noise in those three years either way, so some might opt to take the option that sets them up better long term.

I think the exact opposite, in this scenario Boldy’s bridge ends and after 3 years of being underpaid and going PPG+, he’s asking for the world and we are looking at 3 wings making $8MM plus per year, hartman and Gaudreau are gone and we have zero cap left to fill out a roster. We have had a recent stretch of quality bottom lineup guys, but we went two decades with absolute trash in the bottom 6, getting league minimum players and having them be actually good is not easy or replicable.

 

[AKL]

I think the exact opposite, in this scenario Boldy’s bridge ends and after 3 years of being underpaid and going PPG+, he’s asking for the world and we are looking at 3 wings making $8MM plus per year, hartman and Gaudreau are gone and we have zero cap left to fill out a roster. We have had a recent stretch of quality bottom lineup guys, but we went two decades with absolute trash in the bottom 6, getting league minimum players and having them be actually good is not easy or replicable.

The easy answer would be to stop handing out short term bridge deals to guys like Fiala and Boldy and just sign them long term right away. Fiala "priced himself out" because Guerin didn't want to just commit on a long term deal, why would you wanna repeat that with Boldy?

Enough guys have proven that players are open to long term deals at a slightly lower AAV if it means security. We know Fiala was looking for a long term deal after his 2 year bridge, and we know Guerin f***ed that one up.

 

[Wabit]

Blues have always been dangerous in the playoffs. But they've always been the bridesmaid and never the bride until everything clicked and they got the talent.

The thing is, strange things don't happen. Talent begets success and 9/10 times, that talent is found at the top of the draft. Carey Price is probably going to be a HHOF Goaltender and is considered to be one of the best in the world at the time. He was a huge reason why Montreal had the success they did. The thing about tanking for Minnesota is to get them lined up to make runs when the cap penalties come off. Shave off cap space to make a couple runs at free agents at the time, make sure your prospects are developing correctly because you don't want a Rossi situation. No one is going, MINNESOTA SHOULD TANK FOR THE SAKE OF TANKING. There is a process.

What you don't want to do is stagnant or end up as a mediocre team that isn't in the playoffs but not bad enough to get a good lottery pick and waste your talent. Pick a lane and work within that confines.

Minnesota essentially wants their cake and eat it too.

That's why teams that are committed to rebuilds show cycles of bad and then good. Look at the Kings, they are finally coming out of their rebuild and are in third place in the West. They took the opportunity to pilfer Minnesota and benefit for their mistake.

MTL got lucky to get a top-5 pick in a year where there was no season. They were a Playoff team the year prior the year and after that draft.

Tanking is a multiyear process and there is a lot of luck in the draft classes, lottery balls, and making the correct pick. FA also don't want to join bad teams when they can get similar money from good teams.

If MN wants to be bad enough for a top-5 pick Kap needs to go, he's just too good and on too short of a contract. MN needs to be losing in regulation, or at worst OT and the SO.

 

[thestonedkoala]

MTL got lucky to get a top-5 pick in a year where there was no season. They were a Playoff team the year prior the year and after that draft.

Tanking is a multiyear process and there is a lot of luck in the draft classes, lottery balls, and making the correct pick. FA also don't want to join bad teams when they can get similar money from good teams.

If MN wants to be bad enough for a top-5 pick Kap needs to go, he's just too good and on too short of a contract. MN needs to be losing in regulation, or at worst OT and the SO.

They also got lucky that Vegas needed some players and got Suzuki.

But there is no reason to continuing debating this. Minnesota is going to go one and done in the playoffs for the next decade like usual. Maybe a playoff series win here or there.

 

[f7ben]

I don’t understand why Freddie or Sam have to go because Boldy had 3 good months.

 

[Wabit]

They also got lucky that Vegas needed some players and got Suzuki.

But there is no reason to continuing debating this. Minnesota is going to go one and done in the playoffs for the next decade like usual. Maybe a playoff series win here or there.

I don't think it's a next decade thing, I think it's only a Kaprizov years thing for the Playoffs. Unless Wallstedt turns into Hasek and drags the team kicking and screaming into the Playoffs.

 

[thestonedkoala]

I don't think it's a next decade thing, I think it's only a Kaprizov years thing for the Playoffs. Unless Wallstedt turns into Hasek and drags the team kicking and screaming into the Playoffs.

We can only hope. Minnesota definitely needs Faber to turn into the next McDonough or Doughty

 

[BagHead]

For three years. Then after the three years it's in a much, much better spot than we are on track to be now. And we're not realistically making much noise in those three years either way, so some might opt to take the option that sets them up better long term.

You're talking to someone who always plans for the future, but I don't know if we look better after those years, yet. That depends on what we do with the cap space we have open. We have the flexibility right now to go after a #1 center, if one becomes available. Unlikely, but possible. There's just not enough information yet for me to know which strategy ends up better.

 

[Prior]

Fiala was certainly welcome to contribute in the playoffs last year to make the Wild a better team. He didn’t and was a factor in their first round exit. The Kings acquired him to boost themselves into another tier to be a factor in the playoffs and they’re very much looking at another first round exit if they make the playoffs at all.

For the Wild, especially to be legitimate contenders, they have been and continue to be the weakest in the areas that matter the most in the playoffs. They are outmatched at the dot and up the middle by every team they will see in the playoffs. Defenseman like Brodin and Spurgeon are nowhere near good enough to play an effective defensive game when the game is called the way it is in the playoffs. And they haven’t had goaltending that is capable of stealing games they do not deserve to win.

Talented wings like Fiala are cute and all but I didn’t see him changing playoff games. I can’t get worked about about him not being on this roster when we’ve seen what the return was while also watching the centers that have moved the last two plus years with the roster this team has had.

 

[Minnewildsota]

They also got lucky that Vegas needed some players and got Suzuki.

But there is no reason to continuing debating this. Minnesota is going to go one and done in the playoffs for the next decade like usual. Maybe a playoff series win here or there.

Why both even following the team then?

 

[thestonedkoala]

Why both even following the team then?

Why bother even following sports?

Because they could surprise me and actually find a direction.

 

[north21]

Why bother even following sports?

Might be the best route for those who spent most of last season complaining when we were 2nd in the west. 31 other teams all trying to do the same thing we are, if it was easy they would call it drafting with hindsight, which is another fun topic.

 

[AKL]

Might be the best route for those who spent most of last season complaining when we were 2nd in the west. 31 other teams all trying to do the same thing we are, if it was easy they would call it drafting with hindsight, which is another fun topic.

Second in the west and still lost in the first round again because of the holes we can all see are there*

Pretty important footnote, wouldn't wanna leave that part out.

I personally don't understand why some people get so offended when others call out problems with the roster or management, but to each their own. But "don't follow the team then" is just such a weird response to someone talking about how they wish the team would improve.

 

[Sad People]

Itll be interesting to see how the Fiala trade works out here in a couple years.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Might be the best route for those who spent most of last season complaining when we were 2nd in the west. 31 other teams all trying to do the same thing we are, if it was easy they would call it drafting with hindsight, which is another fun topic.

You mean getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs? We are just following St. Louis

 

[north21]

Second in the west and still lost in the first round again because of the holes we can all see are there*

Pretty important footnote, wouldn't wanna leave that part out.

I personally don't understand why some people get so offended when others call out problems with the roster or management, but to each their own. But "don't follow the team then" is just such a weird response to someone talking about how they wish the team would improve.

The wild blues and flames were all pretty interchangeable last year, had we done worse and got sent out west we might have easily been a doormat for the avs, if you want to call the oilers season a success because they got a favorable draw then so be it but if we got stomped in the 3rd round (i think we put up a better fight then that) we would be in the exact same boat we are now. I don't know anyone here who is offended by calling out problems with the wild but at some point healthy conversation just becomes repeated attempts to fire or trade the coaches scouts gm and players every single season over and over.

 

[Sad People]

I don't know anyone here who is offended by calling out problems with the wild but at some point healthy conversation just becomes repeated attempts to fire or trade the coaches scouts gm and players every single season over and over.

Well said.

 

[AKL]

The wild blues and flames were all pretty interchangeable last year, had we done worse and got sent out west we might have easily been a doormat for the avs, if you want to call the oilers season a success because they got a favorable draw then so be it but if we got stomped in the 3rd round (i think we put up a better fight then that) we would be in the exact same boat we are now.

Kinda weird how the Wild always seem to get the unfavorable draw every year, isn't it? Almost like it has something to do with the Wild and not being good enough, as opposed to getting the unfavorable draw.

I don't know anyone here who is offended by calling out problems with the wild but at some point healthy conversation just becomes repeated attempts to fire or trade the coaches scouts gm and players every single season over and over.

Well said.

I think it might help you guys to know that the views discussed here are simply opinions of the posters that share them, none of them have any actual bearing on who gets fired or traded in any given season.

If someone wishes Dean Evason would be relieved of his duties in 2021, and then still believes that in 2022, it's just their opinion that hasn't changed. It's not that they're writing letters to the owner demanding those changes, certainly those people don't have any say in the matter. Rest easy.

 

[Sad People]

I think it might help you guys to know that the views discussed here are simply opinions of the posters that share them, none of them have any actual bearing on who gets fired or traded in any given season.

And here i am thinking those prospect threads are being shared with Billy G himself. Damn

 

[DigitalBoldy]

Just a reminder that Faber and Yurov/Ohgren were the return for Fiala, it is not possible for us to have them all and the proposed lineup probably seems better because it is including both Fiala and his trade value.

The lineup also doesn't include the trade value returned for Dumba, Foligno, and Greenway. Surely one of them could bring back a close to NHL defender like Faber.

Also, wasn't it speculated that Faber was going to use the college FA loophole to sign with the Wild anyways?

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

The lineup also doesn't include the trade value returned for Dumba, Foligno, and Greenway. Surely one of them could bring back a close to NHL defender like Faber.

Also, wasn't it speculated that Faber was going to use the college FA loophole to sign with the Wild anyways?

Yep.