Minnesota Wild General Discussion XIX

[Joseph Nathan]

Being one of the best shutdown defenders means nothing if you feel you are trying to retain a franchise altering player. Just like being a supposed shutdown defender has meant nothing for Brodin when playoffs roll around. Players have and will continue to be traded with NMCs.



That’s the reality if you’re trying to keep Fiala. Moving off several deck chairs only to still need to replace them isn’t feasible to clear the money year after year. Especially when you are staring down new deals for the likes of Boldy. Some area of this team is going to be far below what we’ve become accustomed to with this team if they are going to keep Fiala.

No, it's not the only way. There are dozens of other ways. You don't move franchise dman like brodin and spurgeon over keeping fiala. Brodin and spurgeon also have nmc, so it doesn't matter.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Zuccarrello - Hartman - Kaprizov
Fiala - Jost - Boldy
Greenway - Eriksson-Ek - Foligno
Duhaime - Dewar - Shaw

Middleton - Spurgeon
Brodin - Addison
Goligoski - Merrill

Fleury
Someone cheap

Out:
Talbot (-3.6 million)
Dumba (-6.00 million)
Kulikov (-2.250 million)
Cap Space 8.18 million

That's 19.8 million in cap space alone

Three free agents Dewar, Fiala and Middleton. And then goalies.

Sign Fleury for 2.5 million, McIntyre for 1.5 million for 4 million, Middleton for 3.5 million and Fiala for 7.5 million. That's 15 million with 4.8 million in cap space. Dewar may take less than a million to sign.

Gets tricky in 23-24.

 

[ClayAikenFan77]

Zuccarrello - Hartman - Kaprizov
Fiala - Jost - Boldy
Greenway - Eriksson-Ek - Foligno
Duhaime - Dewar - Shaw

Middleton - Spurgeon
Brodin - Addison
Goligoski - Merrill

Fleury
Someone cheap

Out:
Talbot (-3.6 million)
Dumba (-6.00 million)
Kulikov (-2.250 million)
Cap Space 8.18 million

That's 19.8 million in cap space alone

Three free agents Dewar, Fiala and Middleton. And then goalies.

Sign Fleury for 2.5 million, McIntyre for 1.5 million for 4 million, Middleton for 3.5 million and Fiala for 7.5 million. That's 15 million with 4.8 million in cap space. Dewar may take less than a million to sign.

Gets tricky in 23-24.

I gotta think BG has Rossi slotted in as 2C next year. 50 points in 59 games in the AHL coming off a year of not playing. If so, I think we trade Jost and that frees up ~2m. Also missing Freddy here at 1.2m.

 

[57special]

Zucc(6M) - Hart(1.7M) - Kap ( 9M)......................................16.7M

Fiala ( 7.5M) - Gaudreau(1.2M) - Boldy (880K).....................9.58M

Duhaime( 750K) - JEE (5.25M) - Foligno(3.1M)....................9.1M

Delo(1M) - Dewar(1m) - Chaffee (1M)...................................3M

One of Rossi/Shaw/Rau/Beckman as back ups.....................1M

Total - 39.38M

Trade Jost for a 3rd/prospect. Trade Greenway for a late 1st/early 2nd/prospect. Take no NHL salary back.


Middleton(2.25M) - Spurgeon(7.5M)......................................9.75M

Brodin (6M) - Dumba (6M)......................................................12M

Goligoski(barf) - Addison(800K)..............................................2.8M

Merrill(1.2M)..............................................................................1.2M

Total - 25.75M


Trade Kulikov for a 2nd/prospect.


Talbot(3.67M)

back up(1.5M)

Total - 5.17M

McIntyre/Wallstedt as emergency callups.

total....................................70.3M
buyouts................................12.7M

Grand Total...........................83M against cap of 82.5M

You can see where the re-signing of Goligoski matters, as does the Jost trade (we could've let Sturm walk), if we have any thoughts of keeping both Fiala and Dumba. The lineup above is passable, and I think very conservative about our prospects upside. The goaltending worries me a bit.

2023-4 is a completely different animal cap wise. I would hope that the Cap Cavalry will arrive in the form of ROR/Lambos/Rossi/Wallstedt/Marat?/Beckman.

 

[57special]

I gotta think BG has Rossi slotted in as 2C next year. 50 points in 59 games in the AHL coming off a year of not playing. If so, I think we trade Jost and that frees up ~2m. Also missing Freddy here at 1.2m.

Rossi will have to have one hell of a summer if he wants to supplant Hartman, JEE or Gaudreau on the top 9, and his game is not really suited to #4C. He has been good down in the AHL, but his play has tailed off, and he isn't clearly the best player down in Iowa, IMO. Dewar is a better all round player, and Shaw/Rau/Chaffee are his equal.
Rossi average or below average in strength at the AHL level, has average or slightly above AHL speed, and his FO's are not good. It's not all negative, but his point totals are misleading because up till recently he has gotten the best linemates and lots of #1 PP TOI.
Gaudreau is faster, stronger, better on FO's and defensively. Hartman is faster, much stronger, and is playing out of his mind at a very low cap hit. Wouldn't want to mess with that.
JEE is a completely different animal.
If Rossi starts playing out of his mind in camp you maybe try him with Boldy and Fiala, pushing Gaudreau to JEE's line or centering the 4th. With the way Gaudreau is playing, do you want to mess with him and his 1.2M cap hit?
More realistically I can see Rossi coming up in early 2023, and paving the way for a trade at the TDL(Zucc?).

 

[kfan22]

Had to Google who this was, then had to add 'hockey' to the end of the search because he wasn't even one of the first few Tom McCarthy's to show up. Respectfully, no I don't think it's weird at all that they didn't honor him.

Any MN hockey fan over 45 will know Tom McCarthy. they have honored lesser known people

 

[57special]

Anyone find it odd the Wild didnt recognize Tom McCarthy last night? Maybe cause he was in prison?

He left the team with some hard feelings (though that had nothing to do with the present team), wasn't here for all that long(6 1/2 years), made a mess of things in MN when he came back after his career was over( prison stint), was deported, then spent the rest of his life up in northern Ontario/Mexico.
Not completely surprised. Not sure how much the Wild want to associate themselves with a problem child from a completely different team with the skeletons he had in his closet.
Good player, though.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I'm sure Rossi would be fine next year. You don't have to enter the NHL completely ready made.

 

[north21]

I think Rossi is doing some things at 20 that most of those guys can only dream of and doing it after a missed season and major medical event in a new league. He might need a little more seasoning but I expect him to be pushing someone by the end of next season. Dewar is nice but doesn't have the offensive chops at the next level. Freddy is doing some good work between two elite players but a lot of guys could thrive there so you always want a little more. Rossi is really the only guy with a chance to get significantly better and make and impact in the nhl. I am not sure how much more you can squeeze out of Hartmann or Freddy, you just hope they can repeat career years which isn't always easy, but happy to eat some crow on FG the 2nd half of the season.

 

[kfan22]

Do you think Wild get home Ice?? I think Blues get it based on easier Schedule to finish season unless Calgary and Colorado hold back some players last 2 games of year.

 

[DeagleJenkins]

Do you think Wild get home Ice?? I think Blues get it based on easier Schedule to finish season unless Calgary and Colorado hold back some players last 2 games of year.

its more likely that we fall to the 3 seed but at this point and time anything can happen. if the yotes can beat the avs, im not gonna say the blues will win just because opponents are out of the playoffs, sometimes that makes teams more dangerous as they just dont care what happens and want to wreck your hopes and dreams.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Do you think Wild get home Ice?? I think Blues get it based on easier Schedule to finish season unless Calgary and Colorado hold back some players last 2 games of year.

I think there's a pretty good chance that both will. Both will be set in their spots and the Colorado game is their 2nd of back-to-backs to close their season.

 

[Webster]

Evason talked about resting a few guys, I'm pretty sure he means Zuccarello and Kaprizov. The Wild should be able to beat teams like Seattle and Arizona without them. Or is it too much of a gamble when you want home ice advantage? I'd prefer a top line at 100% in the playoffs.

 

[kfan22]

I think there's a pretty good chance that both will. Both will be set in their spots and the Colorado game is their 2nd of back-to-backs to close their season.

They may want Presidents trophy if it has not been clinched by last game

 

[57special]

Evason talked about resting a few guys, I'm pretty sure he means Zuccarello and Kaprizov. The Wild should be able to beat teams like Seattle and Arizona without them. Or is it too much of a gamble when you want home ice advantage? I'd prefer a top line at 100% in the playoffs.

Brodin, too. Maybe JEE. He has played a lot of heavy minutes.

 

[DeagleJenkins]

I think there's a pretty good chance that both will. Both will be set in their spots and the Colorado game is their 2nd of back-to-backs to close their season.

calgary does have 2nd in the west to play for though, winning first round only to not have home ice in the second round maybe weighs on their minds?

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

calgary does have 2nd in the west to play for though, winning first round only to not have home ice in the second round maybe weighs on their minds?

True. I thought they were further up on us and the Blues than they actually are.

 

[Goose312]

calgary does have 2nd in the west to play for though, winning first round only to not have home ice in the second round maybe weighs on their minds?

The playoffs aren't reseeded this year. Calgary is guaranteed home ice until the WCF. They might still want to guarantee home ice in the WCF if it's not against Colorado should they make it, but they don't have to worry about round 2.

 

[TaLoN]

calgary does have 2nd in the west to play for though, winning first round only to not have home ice in the second round maybe weighs on their minds?

NHL playoffs, you play out of your division (plus wildcard) first. You win your division, you automatically have 2 rounds of home ice if you advance.

 

[north21]

I sure miss the conference seeding 1-8 they should bring that back.

 

[BagHead]

I sure miss the conference seeding 1-8 they should bring that back.

Honestly, I can see both good and bad in both the divisional format vs conference seeding format. Either way, the team that comes out of the conference is going to be the team that is playing the best in May, so from that point of view it's no different.

I like that it helps foster divisional rivalries, and it shortens up total travel time for the teams, but I dislike the lack of variety and that it punishes teams that are in a stronger division unduly. Personally, I'd go back to the 1-8 Conference seeding, but I can understand why others may prefer the current format.

 

[TaLoN]

Honestly, I can see both good and bad in both the divisional format vs conference seeding format. Either way, the team that comes out of the conference is going to be the team that is playing the best in May, so from that point of view it's no different.

I like that it helps foster divisional rivalries, and it shortens up total travel time for the teams, but I dislike the lack of variety and that it punishes teams that are in a stronger division unduly. Personally, I'd go back to the 1-8 Conference seeding, but I can understand why others may prefer the current format.

The current format honors what the league did for much of it's history. I enjoyed the division playoffs growing up and this is just going back to what I enjoyed growing up.

I do think you end up with better rivalries this way.

 

[DeagleJenkins]

The playoffs aren't reseeded this year. Calgary is guaranteed home ice until the WCF. They might still want to guarantee home ice in the WCF if it's not against Colorado should they make it, but they don't have to worry about round 2.

NHL playoffs, you play out of your division (plus wildcard) first. You win your division, you automatically have 2 rounds of home ice if you advance.

right right forgot that the 2nd round was not gonna be reseeded. less to play for then so you would think they rest but some players and coaches dont like cooling off like that. really depends on their philosophy i suppose.

Honestly, I can see both good and bad in both the divisional format vs conference seeding format. Either way, the team that comes out of the conference is going to be the team that is playing the best in May, so from that point of view it's no different.

I like that it helps foster divisional rivalries, and it shortens up total travel time for the teams, but I dislike the lack of variety and that it punishes teams that are in a stronger division unduly. Personally, I'd go back to the 1-8 Conference seeding, but I can understand why others may prefer the current format.

i did see one idea that was actually kind of interesting as a way to really make rivalries and create an interesting aspect of the playoffs. i forget where but someone suggested the top 3 teams get to pick their opponent in round one.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

i did see one idea that was actually kind of interesting as a way to really make rivalries and create an interesting aspect of the playoffs. i forget where but someone suggested the top 3 teams get to pick their opponent in round one.

I'm in favor.

 

[TaLoN]

i did see one idea that was actually kind of interesting as a way to really make rivalries and create an interesting aspect of the playoffs. i forget where but someone suggested the top 3 teams get to pick their opponent in round one.

I'm in favor.

I am NOT in favor of more gimmicks. I hate gimmicks.