Minnesota Wild General Discussion 2024-25

[BagHead]

I’m against trading Spurgeon. His age and injury history crater his trade value and he’s very good when healthy, and at the end of the day, still a captain. If he’s your 4D, you have an elite blueline.

If we do move him, it’d ideally be for a pure shutdown guy with some snarl. But those guys tend to be expensive.

Well that's just it. He's still very good when healthy. If he's not healthy, he's not your #4D, he's just a blank spot on the roster that's making you hold up a ton of cap space for no gain. I wouldn't expect good value back for him. The value in trading him is the roster spot and cap space it provides.

I also wouldn't make that trade unless I knew we had an NHL level replacement, preferably a prospect who shows he's ready, because 30 games of Spurgeon is probably better than 82 games of a poor replacement. I'd really hope Jiricek or Spacek prove themselves ready.

 

[Spurgeon]

I don't think it makes sense to move Brodin, unless we get something pretty impressive coming back. As good as Middleton has been playing this year, he is a middle pairing guy, who can't defend speed very well, and is limited in the breakout game. Also, Brodin's 6M cap hit will seem more and more reasonable as the cap continues to climb. Buium might end up as a 1st pairing guy, but he will likely need 2-3 years of seasoning and being sheltered, and with Jiricek also needing the same, losing a defensive rock like Brodin could hurt us.

Spurgeon, OTOH, is a different case. Faber is a direct replacement as #1RD now, not at some hypothetical future date. While Spurgeon is better than anything else we have at #2 RD right now, a combination of Bogo, Jiricek, Spacek, and a LHD (chisholm/Brodin) playing on the offside can fill in for him. Spurgeon is more expensive than Brodin, and his body seems to be falling apart a bit. While he is respected in the dressing room, and loved by management, there comes a time to be a cold hearted SOB and trade the guy if there is a deal to be made. That extra 7.5M in cap space(replaced by ELC Jiricek, or RFA Chisholm $$)would come in very handy.

Middleton - Faber
Brodin - Jiricek
Buium - Bogo
Chisholm

The above is not too bad. A lot depends on how Buium and Jiricek pan out, of course, but it's well past time that we stop stockpiling D talent and get some depth up front for a change, instead of trotting out players like Johansson/ Hartman/Foligno/Rask/Gaudreau and pretending like they are top 6 options.

To be clear, I am a Spurgeon lover. I think he is, or has been a terrific player for us. I just think that all well run teams have a hint of ruthlessness in the FO, and must think of the future rather than dwell on what a player has done in the past. Paraphrasing one of the all time great GM's, "It's better to trade a guy a year too early, than a year too late."

If you’re trading Spurgeon, you absolutely have to sign a younger replacement UFA defenseman. That’s be the only way I’d be behind a move like this.

We’re finally getting back to a stable defense core like the one we had last decade, except this one may be even better than the last. Having a defense of Brodin, Suter, Spurgeon, Scandella, and Dumba was a huge factor in how competitive we were with an average offense. The difference is we now have at least 3 (maybe 4) forwards that are better than anyone we were playing on those rosters.

Spurgeon is going to need to be replaced sometime in the next 3 seasons, but we don’t need to move Spurgeon for cap reasons. We have more than enough cap to bolster the offense already. We just need space to open up on the roster for those improvements.

—————————

Long-term, this is our projected forward group:

Kap - Rossi - X
Boldy - Yurov - X
Ohgren - Ek - Hartman
Foligno - Khus - Trenin
Gaudreau

Beyond these guys; Heidt, Stramel, and Haight are probably the only 3 forward prospects that have a ceiling of playing in a Top 6 spot.

Of all the upcoming UFAs, Boeser probably is the one that makes the most sense of being on this roster next season.

 

[NHL1674]

 

[BagHead]

That's tough for Jiricek after having probably his best game in a Wild sweater, but it's an understandable move if you look at it from management's perspective.
Other than feeling for the kid, I'm super happy with this news!

 

[MNRube]

If you’re trading Spurgeon, you absolutely have to sign a younger replacement UFA defenseman. That’s be the only way I’d be behind a move like this.

We’re finally getting back to a stable defense core like the one we had last decade, except this one may be even better than the last. Having a defense of Brodin, Suter, Spurgeon, Scandella, and Dumba was a huge factor in how competitive we were with an average offense. The difference is we now have at least 3 (maybe 4) forwards that are better than anyone we were playing on those rosters.

Spurgeon is going to need to be replaced sometime in the next 3 seasons, but we don’t need to move Spurgeon for cap reasons. We have more than enough cap to bolster the offense already.

I think we can afford to lose him, even without signing a major UFA. Maybe not this year, but probably next year.

Faber, Brodin, Middleton, Jiricek, Buium are the core of the blueline moving forward. The ideal 6th D in that group is someone like a younger Mayfield/Bortuzzo type.

Then you still have Spacek and Lambos (reported to be playing well this year). And who knows what happens to Chisholm.

I’m just not sure what you get back for Spurgeon and then there are the optics of trading a captain and one of the best players in franchise history. Maybe he agrees to waive for EDM if he doesn’t plan to retire in MN? You almost certainly aren’t getting much back in a trade for him with his age, injury history and contract.

That's tough for Jiricek after having probably his best game in a Wild sweater, but it's an understandable move if you look at it from management's perspective.
Other than feeling for the kid, I'm super happy with this news!

At least he’s heading back feeling good about himself, or at least he should be. He made a great first impression

 

[Spurgeon]

That's tough for Jiricek after having probably his best game in a Wild sweater, but it's an understandable move if you look at it from management's perspective.
Other than feeling for the kid, I'm super happy with this news!

I don’t agree with sending Jiricek down after his last game. It makes more sense to just waive Dermott and send Shore back down. Dermott’s useless and Iowa is at home over the same stretch of games as we are, so it’s easy to recall Shore if we need him to play due to a forward injury.

 

[Spurgeon]

I think we can afford to lose him, even without signing a major UFA. Maybe not this year, but probably next year.

Faber, Brodin, Middleton, Jiricek, Buium are the core of the blueline moving forward. The ideal 6th D in that group is someone like a younger Mayfield/Bortuzzo type.

Then you still have Spacek and Lambos (reported to be playing well this year). And who knows what happens to Chisholm.

I’m just not sure what you get back for Spurgeon and then there are the optics of trading a captain and one of the best players in franchise history. Maybe he agrees to waive for EDM if he doesn’t plan to retire in MN? You almost certainly aren’t getting much back in a trade for him with his age, injury history and contract.


At least he’s heading back feeling good about himself, or at least he should be. He made a great first impression

Need to see more from Jiricek and Buium before we make a move like that. If we’re getting back no assets for Spurgeon & we’re not signing a UFA to replace him, then we’d be choosing to get worse with no benefit. It’s somewhat comparable to trading Rossi with the assumption that Yurov can take his place.

The cap is an important component to consider. We already are going to have more salary cap than we need for the next several years. So if we move Spurgeon, there’s a good chance that we don’t actually utilize any of the savings.

You can give Kap $14M after next season and still have $20M available in the 26-27 season if the salary cap rises to $110M.