Minnesota Wild General Discussion - 2023-24

[Digitalbooya]

This doesn't seem fair to most of the posters here. Zuccarello was a liability away from Kaprizov this year, Boldy was not. Boldy is young and improving, Zuccarello is old and declining. Please don't confuse patience as a double-standard. If Boldy stopped developing and began to perform as badly as Zuccarello at 5v5, there would be plenty of complaints about him.

I'm not convinced that Boldy is a line driver, but I'm also not convinced that he isn't. He's developing still, give him a year or two more to see if he can turn that corner.

Re-read the last 8 words I said.

I'm just saying there is a nice double standard. Boldy didn't exactly light the world on fire away from Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek. Even the year before, it took Johansson playing out of his mind for that line to look really good.

Kap-Ek-Boldy was put together around February 7th from what I can tell.

Boldy before February 7th: .76ppg
Boldy on and after February 7th: 1.09ppg

Kaprizov had an absolutely ridiculous 51 points in 33 games during that time frame February 7th and on. 1.55 ppg (127 point pace). He was most certainly the line driver. The other two were not close.

Tkachuk would be the least important guy on a line with Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek too, and he definitely wouldn't be the line driver for that group. Boldy drives offense more than Ek does too, which is what the conversation was about before you moved it to "better two-way play" to force the point about Boldy being the least important player there.

If you can only keep one and you lose the other to the abyss, who are you keeping Ek or Boldy?

Tkachuk would be my target to drive the 2nd line. Similar to how Kaprizov and Fiala never played together. I don't view Boldy as that guy. He needs someone better than him on his line.

 

[DANOZ28]

boldy with fiala was magic, just imagine when we add a solid winger so boldy on the 2nd line will be a massive 1-2 punch. i expect a healthy boldy to be a 25-30G scorer for his career with the wild. what if a 2nd line with boldy / jee / ? eiserman?

 

[saywut]

Who is this team going to sign in FA? Noe going to list exact lines, more of just a general depth chart

Kaprizov-Ek-Boldy
Zuccarello-Rossi-xxx
Foligno-Hartman-Johansson
Ohgren-Khusnutdinov-Gaudreau
Heidt

Seems like we need a 2nd line wing. Russo has said Perron. Mentions it’s gonna be a 1 year, maybe 2 year deal. The plan is obviously to get back to being a ~100 point team with better health to convince Kaprizov that this team with an extra 15M in cap space is worth staying and playing with.


Kane is a dream scenario. I like the idea of Tarasenko but he probably gets term and is looking for a contender. Don’t see many good options that are realistic, maybe it forces Guerin to look more in the trade market.

Honestly with how Guerin hands out contracts I hope we don't sign anyone for our top-9. Could see Sam Carrick on the 4th line though, character guy who can handle RH defensive zone/PK face-offs. Want to buy low on Tomasino if that's doable, he produced quite well under Hynes in what should've been his first 2 pro seasons. Brunette does not seem to like him at all. Hard to gauge his value and what Nashville actually wants. Wouldn't hate Glass either, though wouldn't give up much for him.

Also think Rossi and Zucc need to be on separate lines, didn't see them meshing at all when they played together. 2 more bodies is the count I'm at expecting Marat on the team, Shaw as the 13th/14th depending on the other rookies, Freddy as the 12th/13th. Maybe one is just a 4th line plug who can drop the gloves, we are soft upfront, especially for the third of the season Foligno's bound to miss.

 

[AKL]

If you can only keep one and you lose the other to the abyss, who are you keeping Ek or Boldy?

What does this have to do with anything?

Tkachuk would be my target to drive the 2nd line. Similar to how Kaprizov and Fiala never played together.

Just because you label a guy a line driver doesn't mean he can produce at an elite level without adequate help. You wanna highlight Boldy's stats before and after Kaprizov, but Kaprizov's numbers improved by even more after your February 7th date.

Boldy pre 2/7 had 33 points in 42 games, 0.79 p/g pace.
Boldy post 2/7 had 36 points in 33 games, 1.09 p/g pace.
A 0.30 p/g increase, 38% increase

Kaprizov pre 2/7 had 45 points in 42 games, 1.07 p/g pace.
Kaprizov post 2/7 had 51 points in 33 games, 1.55 p/g pace.
A 0.48 p/g increase, 45% increase

Boldy is not better than Kaprizov, and he's not the primary line driver, but it would be silly to suggest he didn't play a major role in Kaprizov's production increase as well, like Kaprizov played a major role in Boldy's increase.

Tkachuk wouldn't be doing any better than Boldy did on our second line. It's not a Boldy problem, it's the fact that outside of Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, and a rookie Rossi, we had literally nothing worth putting in a top six role on this team. Even line driver's need good players to reach their production potential.

 

[AKL]

Also worth pointing out that Boldy's 0.79 p/g prior to 2/7 wasn't that far off Tkachuk's 0.85 p/g in his 22 year old season, and Tkachuk spent a lot of time with Batherson and Norris that year

 

[AKL]

Tkachuk is a great player and if he's actually available then we should be checking in on the value, but it should be to supplement guys like Boldy (and obviously Kaprizov et al) that are already here, if you actually want to get better. Not just a swap of the two, because that's a mostly lateral move that doesn't fundamentally change where the team is at.

 

[Digitalbooya]

What does this have to do with anything?



Just because you label a guy a line driver doesn't mean he can produce at an elite level without adequate help. You wanna highlight Boldy's stats before and after Kaprizov, but Kaprizov's numbers improved by even more after your February 7th date.

Boldy pre 2/7 had 33 points in 42 games, 0.79 p/g pace.
Boldy post 2/7 had 36 points in 33 games, 1.09 p/g pace.
A 0.30 p/g increase, 38% increase

Kaprizov pre 2/7 had 45 points in 42 games, 1.07 p/g pace.
Kaprizov post 2/7 had 51 points in 33 games, 1.55 p/g pace.
A 0.48 p/g increase, 45% increase

Boldy is not better than Kaprizov, and he's not the primary line driver, but it would be silly to suggest he didn't play a major role in Kaprizov's production increase as well, like Kaprizov played a major role in Boldy's increase.

Tkachuk wouldn't be doing any better than Boldy did on our second line. It's not a Boldy problem, it's the fact that outside of Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, and a rookie Rossi, we had literally nothing worth putting in a top six role on this team. Even line driver's need good players to reach their production potential.

Assume the reason you didn't answer is because it would be Ek? Because if it came down to the same scenario with Tkachuk and Ek, I think I'm taking Tkachuk. He gives off "it" factor vibes. Don't let Ottawa's terrible defense and goaltending block people from seeing that Tkachuk would be an absolute force to be reckoned with in the playoffs.

I literally already said most of the rest of your post. I also already said that Boldy is immensely good at being a complementary piece and that has a lot of value. He brings out the best in high level players. Which is exactly what you pointed out and exactly why he has high value as a player.

I beg to differ that Tkachuk wouldn't do much better than Boldy on our 2nd line. But there's no way for either of us to prove it one way or the other.

 

[AKL]

Assume the reason you didn't answer is because it would be Ek? Because if it came down to the same scenario with Tkachuk and Ek, I think I'm taking Tkachuk. He gives off "it" factor vibes. Don't let Ottawa's terrible defense and goaltending block people from seeing that Tkachuk would be an absolute force to be reckoned with in the playoffs.

I literally already said most of the rest of your post. I also already said that Boldy is immensely good at being a complementary piece and that has a lot of value. He brings out the best in high level players. Which is exactly what you pointed out and exactly why he has high value as a player.

I beg to differ that Tkachuk wouldn't do much better than Boldy on our 2nd line. But there's no way for either of us to prove it one way or the other.

Okay so to recap, most of this is you just really liking the player, not actually anything fact based about what Tkachuk is capable of?

What we can actually point to shows us that the difference between Boldy and Tkachuk up through the age Boldy is now is negligible. Anything after that is your opinion and speculation, not fact.

I didn't answer because Boldy vs Ek is irrelevant to any of this and I had already tacitly agreed that Boldy was the third most important part of that line, last year, at 22.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Tkachuk is a great player and if he's actually available then we should be checking in on the value, but it should be to supplement guys like Boldy (and obviously Kaprizov et al) that are already here, if you actually want to get better. Not just a swap of the two, because that's a mostly lateral move that doesn't fundamentally change where the team is at.

While I agree, the salary cap exists. We can't add an $8.2M player with just picks and prospects.

Literally everyone with a cap hit of $3M or higher has a NMC or some form of no trade protection on this team except for Boldy and Gus. Hard to make the salary work.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Okay so to recap, most of this is you just really liking the player, not actually anything fact based about what Tkachuk is capable of?

What we can actually point to shows us that the difference between Boldy and Tkachuk up through the age Boldy is negligible. Anything after that is your opinion and speculation, not fact.

I didn't answer because Boldy vs Ek is irrelevant to any of this and I had already tacitly agreed that Boldy was the third most important part of that line, last year, at 22.

I like the better scoring player with a higher level ability to withstand physicality. Yes, I like Tkachuk better than Boldy. Yes, I think Tkachuk would be more impactful than Boldy in the playoffs No, it doesn't mean I hate or even dislike Boldy as some others have tried to say. Yes, I think Boldy's contract is much more valuable than Tkachuk's.

I see Florida trade a 115 point player + top 4 dman (arguably top pair) + 1st for Matthew Tkachuk (104 point winger at the time). Do you think Zito should have listened to the facts on that trade? Huberdeau's had 115 points, 11 more than Tkachuk, why would they trade him for Tkachuk? Huberdeau had four straight point per game seasons. Tkachuk had ONE. Why would they ever consider giving up Huberdeau for Tkachuk? Why would they include a top 4 dman as well? That's insane! A 1st as well? Complete blasphemy! The facts say this is horrible for Florida and amazing for Calgary.

 

[AKL]

I like the better scoring player with a higher level ability to withstand physicality. Yes, I like Tkachuk better than Boldy. Yes, I think Tkachuk would be more impactful than Boldy in the playoffs No, it doesn't mean I hate or even dislike Boldy as some others have tried to say. Yes, I think Boldy's contract is much more valuable than Tkachuk's.

I see Florida trade a 115 point player + top 4 dman (arguably top pair) + 1st for Matthew Tkachuk (104 point winger at the time). Do you think Zito should have listened to the facts on that trade? Huberdeau's had 115 points, 11 more than Tkachuk, why would they trade him for Tkachuk? Huberdeau had four straight point per game seasons. Tkachuk had ONE. Why would they ever consider giving up Huberdeau for Tkachuk? Why would they include a top 4 dman as well? That's insane! A 1st as well? Complete blasphemy! The facts say this is horrible for Florida and amazing for Calgary.

Well Huberdeau was what, a 30 year old pending UFA that they obviously didn't want to give 10.5M to? Boldy is not that.

Also, not going to go as far as accusing you of not liking him, but you're definitely the first person here to harp on his mistakes in the GDT's, call out the perceived double standards that you think exist, and you weren't able to have this conversation without somewhat denegrating Boldy for not being able to score 80+ points playing on Fiala Island. So you can see where they're coming from, surely.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

If somebody likes Tkachuk more, I guess I can't really argue since he does bring different stuff to the table. But I'm not exactly buying the idea that he's going to be a better player than Boldy going forward.

I still really want Konecny.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Well Huberdeau was what, a 30 year old pending UFA that they obviously didn't want to give 10.5M to? Boldy is not that.

Also, not going to go as far as accusing you of not liking him, but you're definitely the first person here to harp on his mistakes in the GDT's, call out the perceived double standards that you think exist, and you weren't able to have this conversation without somewhat denegrating Boldy for not being able to score 80+ points playing on Fiala Island. So you can see where they're coming from, surely.

29. The top pairing dman was also 28.

Boldy didn't put up point per game with Fiala either. He finally reached point per game in just under a half season's worth of games playing next to a guy who was putting up an absolute heater pace (127 per 82 game).

I just think some of you are so infatuated with Boldy as a player, that you just gloss over any time he is playing poorly or he blows an opportunity. The dude went over a month without a goal. The dude constantly does a Clutterbuck "high and wide" shot impression. My expectations of him as a player are that he needs to do better. Maybe your expectations aren't that high. Or maybe you don't care how he does and think he's above being criticized. I don't know.

I would have no problem keeping Boldy and trading Yurov++ for Tkachuk if it could work cap wise (as previously shown in this thread). And I like Yurov more than anyone on this board. Hell, I took on this whole entire board in the Yurov vs Faber debate in last year's prospect polls.

Nobody is above being traded. Nobody is above being criticized.

 

[AKL]

29. The top pairing dman was also 28.

Boldy didn't put up point per game with Fiala either. He finally reached point per game in just under a half season's worth of games playing next to a guy who was putting up an absolute heater pace (127 per 82 game).

I just think some of you are so infatuated with Boldy as a player, that you just gloss over any time he is playing poorly or he blows an opportunity. The dude went over a month without a goal. The dude constantly does a Clutterbuck "high and wide" shot impression. My expectations of him as a player are that he needs to do better. Maybe your expectations aren't that high. Or maybe you don't care how he does and think he's above being criticized. I don't know.

No one thinks Boldy is above criticism or can do no wrong, and plenty of other people besides you talk about how he can and should be better at times.

Most other people here just recognize that, at 22 (now 23), he isn't done developing, he already does far more good than bad, and he's already the second biggest offensive threat this organization has, and choose to focus their energy on bigger problems than Boldy. Most people don't want to lead the crusade against a player like that because why would they?

Most other people in this specific conversation have preached patience because they see all the good Boldy does and hope for that instead of focusing on the bad, like you seem to, for some reason (again, not accusing you of disliking him though, but it begs the question).

I would have no problem keeping Boldy and trading Yurov++ for Tkachuk if it could work cap wise (as previously shown in this thread). And I like Yurov more than anyone on this board. Hell, I took on this whole entire board in the Yurov vs Faber debate in last year's prospect polls.

Nobody is above being traded. Nobody is above being criticized.

No you don't, you're just louder about it.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

29. The top pairing dman was also 28.

Boldy didn't put up point per game with Fiala either. He finally reached point per game in just under a half season's worth of games playing next to a guy who was putting up an absolute heater pace (127 per 82 game).

I just think some of you are so infatuated with Boldy as a player, that you just gloss over any time he is playing poorly or he blows an opportunity. The dude went over a month without a goal. The dude constantly does a Clutterbuck "high and wide" shot impression. My expectations of him as a player are that he needs to do better. Maybe your expectations aren't that high. Or maybe you don't care how he does and think he's above being criticized. I don't know.

I would have no problem keeping Boldy and trading Yurov++ for Tkachuk if it could work cap wise (as previously shown in this thread). And I like Yurov more than anyone on this board. Hell, I took on this whole entire board in the Yurov vs Faber debate in last year's prospect polls.

Nobody is above being traded. Nobody is above being criticized.

Is the expectation that he should've been point-per-game as a rookie? Because that's the only time he played with Fiala.

He does this so much, and yet he still paced for 70+ points over a full season in his 3rd year in the league. He must be pretty decent, I guess.

Everybody blows opportunities all of the time. Everybody shoots high and wide. If they didn't, it would be a much higher scoring game. His net hit rate was within 3% of Kaprizov's last year.

In his 22 year old season, Brady Tkachuk went from 12/16 to 2/7 without scoring a goal. Looks like there might've been an injury in there, but still 15 games played. Boldy didn't go over a month without scoring a goal last year. He did the year before though.

 

[Digitalbooya]

If somebody likes Tkachuk more, I guess I can't really argue since he does bring different stuff to the table. But I'm not exactly buying the idea that he's going to be a better player than Boldy going forward.

I still really want Konecny.

Define "better" though. Different skillsets mean different things.

I doubt Guerin even tries for Konecny given his size, unless you're trading Rossi for him.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Define "better" though. Different skillsets mean different things.

I doubt Guerin even tries for Konecny given his size, unless you're trading Rossi for him.

Generally, I want my top 6 forwards to produce goals first, other things second. I don't think Tkachuk will be notably better at producing goals than Boldy will, going forward (and by this I mean overall production, points).

I'm open to trading Rossi for him, and I'm definitely not itching to trade Rossi away.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

By the way, we could give Konecny and Faber both $9M and it works out cap-wise for 2025-26.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Generally, I want my top 6 forwards to produce goals first, other things second. I don't think Tkachuk will be notably better at producing goals than Boldy will, going forward (and by this I mean overall production, points).

I'm open to trading Rossi for him, and I'm definitely not itching to trade Rossi away.

I certainly think Boldy will produce very well if he stays on a line with Ek and Kap. I’m not fully convinced he will be a consistent 35-40 goal guy, but definitely ppg.

Did you see/hear that Russo is starting to walk back that Guerin is open to trading Rossi? Basically said on his Worst Seats podcast that they had a meeting about a week or so ago and came to the conclusion that it would be better to wait another year and re-evaluate.

By the way, we could give Konecny and Faber both $9M and it works out cap-wise for 2025-26.

How does it look with Kap going to $11-12M?

 

[Sweetnut]

I certainly think Boldy will produce very well if he stays on a line with Ek and Kap. I’m not fully convinced he will be a consistent 35-40 goal guy, but definitely ppg.

Did you see/hear that Russo is starting to walk back that Guerin is open to trading Rossi? Basically said on his Worst Seats podcast that they had a meeting about a week or so ago and came to the conclusion that it would be better to wait another year and re-evaluate.


How does it look with Kap going to $11-12M?

Yeah, that's what I thought. He was just talking out of his ass.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I certainly think Boldy will produce very well if he stays on a line with Ek and Kap. I’m not fully convinced he will be a consistent 35-40 goal guy, but definitely ppg.

Did you see/hear that Russo is starting to walk back that Guerin is open to trading Rossi? Basically said on his Worst Seats podcast that they had a meeting about a week or so ago and came to the conclusion that it would be better to wait another year and re-evaluate.


How does it look with Kap going to $11-12M?

I didn't hear/see that, but I'm glad about it. It's what I've been pushing since all of the Rossi talk came up (because I don't actually think that a "big" trade like Konecny or Necas is going to happen). There was no reason that we couldn't see another year from him before deciding on anything.

I'm essentially planning on Kaprizov getting Zuccarello's $4.125M since they both expire at the same time, so no real effect on things. Good up to $13.125M for Kaprizov. Only place it'll get complicated is if Yurov and/or Wallstedt deserve biggish money on their 2nd contracts.

And I'm still not crossing off Boldy being PPG or PPG+ away from Kaprizov.

 

[NHL1674]

I will never understand the Boldy hate

Most people don't.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Most people don't.

If it’s any consolation prize, I told my roommate about this conversation about trading Boldy and her response was

*scoffs*
“I thought you liked Boldy!?”
(Me) “I do, but we could be getting a better player.”
*frowns*
“What happened to being loyal to your guys?”

So there. I’ve been scolded on the internet and in real life over this conversation

 

[Digitalbooya]

I didn't hear/see that, but I'm glad about it. It's what I've been pushing since all of the Rossi talk came up (because I don't actually think that a "big" trade like Konecny or Necas is going to happen). There was no reason that we couldn't see another year from him before deciding on anything.

I'm essentially planning on Kaprizov getting Zuccarello's $4.125M since they both expire at the same time, so no real effect on things. Good up to $13.125M for Kaprizov. Only place it'll get complicated is if Yurov and/or Wallstedt deserve biggish money on their 2nd contracts.

And I'm still not crossing off Boldy being PPG or PPG+ away from Kaprizov.

It did seem odd there was a push to trade him while he was still on his ELC. That never really computed.

That's true. Khusnutdinov and Chisholm will likely be looking for raises. Hopefully some of the LD prospects can make a dent worth a raise too.

Yeah, that's what I thought. He was just talking out of his ass.

I don't know if that's necessarily true. An offer for Cutter Gauthier was definitely made.

 

[PariseNation]

got some game used buckets from the wild store today with my STH rewards/cash
would be sweet if they were signed

wanted some fluery but out of my ballpark $
always loved brodin, have a few things from him