Minnesota Wild General Discussion - 2023-24

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This is literally what the GM is suppose to do, you can't just make up an imaginary market.



Flower is probably going to retire after this year and is in the last year of his contract anyway, gus is a perfect stop gap until wally steps in, or they will be a great combo in the years to come.

A GM is supposed to pay market rate regardless of a teams financial situation? I thought a GM was supposed to get the best deal for their owner - market rates be damned.

I don't care if Flower is going to retire after this year - Gus is an unnecessarily expensive stop gap. The LA Kings have almost double our points spending a combined 2.5 mil on their tandem. Point being - there are smarter places to spend limited cap dollars than on a guy that has had 1 good year.
 
Correct. Sometimes you just get out-talented.
Point is it sounds like Zucc ran into a clash with Evason. Zucc thinks they're trying too hard, Evason says they must work harder.

I think I know what Zucc means, but it's kind of hard to agree with him. They've looked slow and lifeless out there. But what's being said now aint good.
 
Letting a 25 year old goalie, and one that was the 2nd best goalie in the league last year, walk because you don't want to pay him the 29th largest goalie cap hit in the league, would've been highly questionable, to put it mildly.

Point is it sounds like Zucc ran into a clash with Evason. Zucc thinks they're trying too hard, Evason says they must work harder.

I think I know what Zucc means, but it's kind of hard to agree with him. They've looked slow and lifeless out there. But what's being said now aint good.
It's not a huge surprise that an elder statesman on the would like to work less hard on their retirement contract.
 
Letting a 25 year old goalie, and one that was the 2nd best goalie in the league last year, walk because you don't want to pay him the 29th largest goalie cap hit in the league, would've been highly questionable, to put it mildly.

Really? A guy that was the backup in Ottawa until he came out of absolutely nowhere behind a solid team defense? Letting that guy walk would have been highly questionable? I mean I guess - right up until you look at is 4.48 GAA through 6 starts...and then it starts to look less questionable.

Lots of blame to go around - I think Gus has faced something close to 40 shots a game and Flower closer to 30....but still, he is playing borderline AHL starter hockey right now and making 3.75m to do it.
 
A GM is supposed to pay market rate regardless of a teams financial situation? I thought a GM was supposed to get the best deal for their owner - market rates be damned.

You try and sign the best contracts you can, we have several bargains, but there is still a market out there. Long term Gus could be a stud too, not sure why you just let that guy walk when flower is very old and Wallstedt might need some time yet.

I don't care if Flower is going to retire after this year - Gus is an unnecessarily expensive stop gap. The LA Kings have almost double our points spending a combined 2.5 mil on their tandem. Point being - there are smarter places to spend limited cap dollars than on a guy that has had 1 good year.

The kings situation doesn't happen too often and do you really want talbot back? 3.5 isn't that expensive, we really only have that dumb foligno contract, one more year of pain and suddenly we will have cap space to work with and we can plug some holes.

Obviously we aren't contending yet but with rossi hopefuly taking a big step in the right direction things are not as bleak as you seem to think they are. We have a pretty solid core, some decent prospects and some future cap money to spend.

This sky is falling trade kap and tear it all down stuff just sounds like a desperate moves to make changes for the sake of making change.
 
Really? A guy that was the backup in Ottawa until he came out of absolutely nowhere behind a solid team defense? Letting that guy walk would have been highly questionable? I mean I guess - right up until you look at is 4.48 GAA through 6 starts...and then it starts to look less questionable.

Lots of blame to go around - I think Gus has faced something close to 40 shots a game and Flower closer to 30....but still, he is playing borderline AHL starter hockey right now and making 3.75m to do it.
Yes, at the time it would've been.

And you don't want to win anyway, so what's your problem here if he ends up not being good? Only 2 more years and he's gone.
 
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Yes, at the time it would've been.

And you don't want to win anyway, so what's your problem here if he ends up not being good? Only 2 more years and he's gone.

I want to win - I just recognize the obvious...trying to compete with 1 arm tied behind our back is just going to put us in a worse position in the long run. This team has never played the long game - always trying to "be the best team we can be, always trying to win" or whatever other inspirational instagram quote they can come up with.

My preference would be we accept what we are right now - build our draft capital and make big moves once the cap recapture penalties are gone. Lets not tie up money on meh players that aren't a part of the long term vision. Could we have found an upgrade over Merrill or Addison for some of the money we spent on Hartman/Foligno/Gus? You're going to lose more games than you win - your focus should be to come out of this period with a core that is 1-2 FA signings away from doing real damage in the playoff's.
 
Genuinely surprised if Evason drops Zucc out of PP1.

Didn't he have Zucc out there for the brief 6-on-5 attempt late last game?
 
Genuinely surprised if Evason drops Zucc out of PP1.

Didn't he have Zucc out there for the brief 6-on-5 attempt late last game?
Zucc's comments tells me there's been an argument between him and the coach.

I think the Evason exit is close. Because not using Zucc on PP1 is bad asset management imo.
 
PP1 is 5 guys. One more is needed for a 6 on 5 ;)

I don't think Rossi was out there for the 6-on-5, so I was worried Evason was just reverting to factory settings in a do-or-die situation.

That's why seeing him actually adjust the PP1 afterwards is a relief.
 
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Zuccy furious:

“It’s not like these guys don’t f***ing work hard. We work hard every day. This is the hardest working team I’ve been a part of. Sometimes when it goes bad you just work too hard too.”

Report by Jessi Pierce.
Hey Dean, the guy who looks lazy and disinterested the most says they are working too hard. Perhaps Zucc should take a couple games and get his head and body right.
 
I think the Evason exit is close. Because not using Zucc on PP1 is bad asset management imo.
That might benefit Zuke, that way he´s going to get more rest between shifts and be more productive when he hits the ice next time. Stamina is a real thing and I think he is going to play with more fire if he have something to fight for.
 
Maybe Dean finally told Zuccarello he sucks and can't play with Kaprizov anymore and Zuccarello threw a tantrum over it?
I just realized this is right after Zucc was moved to unit 2. Definitely sounds like a vet throwing a hissy fit and that Dean told him behind doors that he’s not working hard enough.
 
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So all it took was two periods of being taken off the top line away from his BFF, and Zucc is already complaining? Guess it sucks to see Boldy and Rossi stealing your points.

But I thought Evason liked and respected him so much, which is why he kept him up there? Now, after just 40 minutes of moving him, he's gonna lose his job because Zucc is mad?

Seriously?
 
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It's the first time during his 14 years in this league that Zuccarello confronts his coach publicly, I'm kind of shocked. But this also says something about Evason. I guess the drama continues...
 
So all it took was two periods of being taken off the top line away from his BFF, and Zucc is already complaining? Guess it sucks to see Boldy and Rossi stealing your points.

But I thought Evason liked and respected him so much, which is why he kept him up there? Now, after just 40 minutes of moving him, he's gonna lose his job because Zucc is mad?

Seriously?

I think he's just not as much of a "leader" as we previously thought. I think he thought he'd come here and make a little money and coast along on Kaprizov's coattails until retirement. Now he's being held accountable the same way some of the other guys have been during his time here, and he doesn't enjoy it.
 
It's the first time during his 14 years in this league that Zuccarello confronts his coach publicly, I'm kind of shocked. But this also says something about Evason. I guess the drama continues...

Is he even calling the coach out publicly? Seems like a generic mix of frustration with poor play and trying to stay positive through it.
 
Based on Joe Smith's article, the full quote from Zuccs is:


“It’s not like these guys don’t f—ing work hard, we work hard every day,” Zuccarello said. “It’s the hardest working team I’ve been on. It’s just sometimes when it goes bad, you work too hard and you try to do too much. Everyone needs to stick to your game and do your job and trust each other. Play as a five-man unit. Stick together. In tough times, it’s easy to point fingers and yell at each other. But we’ve got to stick together. It’s 10 games. If we miss the playoffs, we can be angry. But it’s 10 games. We have 72 games to play. We need to bring some positivity, trust each other, believe in each other and have that swag to make plays. It’s a good league. If you make plays, you’re going to win games. We have to get back to that.”

I dunno, to me, it just sounds like your regular frustration. Now I don't agree completely with what he said (you can't just "trust" - losing makes that hard so its a vicious cycle) but it doesn't sound like he's pointing any fingers

That said, I'll point the finger. It's Dean's fault - as a manager, its your job/duty to make sure this type of frustrating environment doesn't come up to boil. You address problems earlier on rather than let it fester to 9-10 games where all of a sudden, it feels like jobs are on the line.
 
Is he even calling the coach out publicly? Seems like a generic mix of frustration with poor play and trying to stay positive through it.
Evason: We have to work harder.
Zucc: We're working too hard.

I think he should've replaced "working" with "pressing".

Judd Zulgad called Kaprizov and Zuccarello the new Parise and Suter. lol...give me a break. But Judd later said he joked about Kaprizov.

Maybe Zucc should just jump on Rangers' plane while they are here :sarcasm:
 
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