Solving the Mediocre Minnesota Wild

[ImJustJokinen]

Is the number one pick this year the key to start saving the Wild? Will Kaprizov maybe come through for them? It just baffles me how this team has been mired in absolute mediocrity year in and year out for their entire existence. When they had Gaborik their play looked a little lively at least, but apart from that its a struggle to watch them play. Even when they do make the playoffs, they seem destined to get walloped by the Blues or the Hawks. What gives?

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[Gjman2019]

Wild, Habs, and Jackets all in similar situations....Just enough good qualities to be serviceable but not elite.....No man's land....The absolute worst place to be in the NHL......

The hockey people in charge of these teams have to have the guts to strip in down completely or be very aggressive going all in to try and win.....In other words stop trying to do both and once and choose a side......If you don't do that you'll be stuck spinning your wheels in neutral for years and years......

And even if you do pick a direction nothing is promised to anybody but at least you're trying to do it properly.......Hard for a lot of hockey people to have the guts to choose a side though.....

 

[Gjman2019]

Jackets GM did a nice job last year going all in and really showed some guts...They had a true contender, just lost to a very good team.....

Can't live on that forever though.....They currently are a no man's land team again.....

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Weren’t the Wild on fire right before everything got shut down? And Fiala was providing more excitement than that team has seen in awhile, hope it can carry over into the future.

That said, I think drafting and developing are key now more than ever. It can definitely be difficult when you’re forever stuck in the middle of drafts, but a team like Boston has managed to find good pieces despite lacking top picks. They’re kinda the exception, because it is damned tough, but it can be done.

 

[Pitaya]

Minnesota winning Lafreniere would help a lot. It also keeps another 1OA out of the East (go Devils) and Arizona wouldnt bother me if they won either, except for the fact that they wouldnt give us the pick at 11 then

So go Minnesota in the lottery! (Sorry this means you have to lose in the play-in)

 

[Dr Salt]

Laf would give them a franchise face to go by and they would have two high end wingers with elite potential in them. But they still have to fix issues at goaltender and get a 1C to take that next step.

 

[jetsforever]

Some drafting luck would help

 

[Garbage Goal]

There are multiple teams who you can easily make the argument for that it’s better to tank the play in round now. Which is why this lottery is a farce.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

The Oilers were in this that bubble spot.

Basically got into the dance every couple of years based on hard work of grunts and teamwork, and absolutely no elite talent.

At 10-15th, your just hoping your player becomes a servicable depth NHLer. Once every a decade, you might get a Barzal or Larkin with that pick.



This is actually why I sort of like the draft lottery including all teams that miss the playoffs. It feeds a bone once in a while to those stuck in mediocrity who can't get an elite talent to sign with them.

Even if it sucks for the dregs of the league.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

I think this team is gonna have to get a little lucky and draft a superstar or two in the middle of the 1st

 

[absolute garbage]

You guys think Minnesota would drop down to 2nd and pick their center (Stutzle or Byfield) there if they win the lottery? Instead of going for another winger in Lafreniere with the 1st pick? We all know how desperately they need that 1C.

Would LA be interested? What would it take to make that move?

 

[P10p]

Winning Laf, along with having Fiala and Kaprizov would give the Wild some REAL firepower and it also opens up more possibilities of a trade for a center.

BUT...

Minnesota was the hottest team heading into the cancellation and Fiala was among the best players too. People saying they play boring hockey simply don't watch Minnesota play enough. This isn't 2005..

 

[Black Kevin]

Wild is such a boring team that I can see Lafreniere becoming a 25+35 kinda guy for them if they end up with the 1st overall pick.

 

[Kranix]

They need to part ways with Lemaire

 

[67Leafs67]

The Minnesota Wild have really worked themselves into an interesting situation moving forward. I personally like the Wild and think they have a good team still, that performed well this year in most every area but the crease. If they had league average goaltending or better, they'd be a much more highly regarded team. They might have the best team defense in the entire NHL, and their usual 6 or 7 man d-corps is fantastic. The other problem though, is despite having all kinds of great, responsible, play driving players, they don't have the dynamic finishing talent to match it...so the emergence of Fiala, and potential arrival of Kaprizov are certainly big for this team. They also have a good current prospect pool. Byron Bader's NHLe model predicts them to have the the 5th best in the league at the moment.

Obviously the concerning thing is a lot of long-term, big cap-hit contracts taking players to quite late in their careers, so they'll need to figure out how to navigate that. The big names are Suter & Parise, who still have 6 years left each, and are both 35 years old. Zuccarello's contract carries him until he's 36 as well. Spurgeon is a fantastic player with probably 3-4 years of elite play left, but who knows when he drops off, with a deal that goes until he's 38. Dubnyk (34) needs to be replaced, as discussed above, and Koivu (37) and Staal (36) are about to leave a bit of a hole down the middle.

Still, I think with Kaprizov, Fiala, Foligno, Hartman, Donata, Eriksson Ek, Kunin, & Greenway up front, and Spurgeon, Brodin, & Dumba on the back-end, they have a good cast of players with which to build the team up. How far they go really depends on how impactful Kaprizov can be for their scoring, and how well they manage and work around those aging, long-term assets.

 

[Emerz]

If Fiala is the real deal I think they will be fine, I like their d-core, need to hit on a few forward picks or bring in some good veterans.

 

[Mooserton]

I like where they are thank you very much.

 

[2Pair]

The Wild need a true #1C. Until that happens, middle of the pack playoff contenders is probably as good as it will get.

 

[bossram]

Lafreniere would obviously change the team.

But IMO, the Wild were actually a pretty solid team this year. Their problem is that Dubnyk is terrible. Goaltending is a relatively fixable problem.

 

[GOilers88]

Wild, Habs, and Jackets all in similar situations....Just enough good qualities to be serviceable but not elite.....No man's land....The absolute worst place to be in the NHL......

The hockey people in charge of these teams have to have the guts to strip in down completely or be very aggressive going all in to try and win.....In other words stop trying to do both and once and choose a side......If you don't do that you'll be stuck spinning your wheels in neutral for years and years......

And even if you do pick a direction nothing is promised to anybody but at least you're trying to do it properly.......Hard for a lot of hockey people to have the guts to choose a side though.....

That's the thing though, it's not as simple as you either go scorched earth hoping for top picks or you ice a competitive team each year.

In fact scorched earth is more of an HF obsession than anything. 99% of the time it's said on HF, it's usually not the answer.

Ask Nashville or San Jose fans if they're unhappy about their teams being competitive every year for like a decade. I bet most would take the track record without the cup. Unless maybe winning a cup once every 15-20 years and then sucking to get top 5 draft picks is what would make people happy, but I just don't see it.

You can be aggressive and competitive without having to tear down your team every five years. It's most certainly not a one or the other thing.

 

[57special]

They missed on a few players, but in general I'm fine with being a fan of theirs. To those in the East they might be a mediocre joke, but i can guarantee you that teams like EDM, VGK, and CO don't laugh when they have to face them. They play hard, and smart. If they hit on a couple/few of their prospects, get some talent at C, and get some good goaltending, then they will be a force to be reckoned with. I believe it can be done. They have the AHL Goalie of the Year ready to go as soon as this playoff, and some good NHL Dmen and prospects that would be attractive, if not earthshaking trade bait for a decent top 6C.

Their promising young forward core of Granlund, Nino, Coyle, and Zucker never were consistently good enough to make them a winner. Right now, the Wild are reloading, and have to hope that Fiala, Kaprizov, and at least one of Beckman/Boldy/Khovanov will be more impactful as top line players. They have good quality forward depth, and a very good D corps to back them up. Count me as one of those who thinks they need a Byfield more than they need Lafreniere.

Sort of the anti-Oilers.

 

[Frobbo]

They went out and tried to buy a team after years of so-so drafting to try to get over the hump. The Suter and Parise contracts will have to be skillfully worked around for them to not end up in cap hell when they try to sign FA's or extend their own players on their 2nd contracts. Post ELC's have become much more expensive as everyone has learned not to sign older guys to long term big contracts. Players want their money earlier in their careers. Their pipeline looks better than it has in years but will they develop into significantly better players than what they have now when their older guys age out? Kaprizov being for real will help but not every KHL "star" translates to the NHL. Is Fiala for real or did he just get on a hot streak? Their path in going forward is going to be interesting.

 

[Regal]

Wild, Habs, and Jackets all in similar situations....Just enough good qualities to be serviceable but not elite.....No man's land....The absolute worst place to be in the NHL......

The hockey people in charge of these teams have to have the guts to strip in down completely or be very aggressive going all in to try and win.....In other words stop trying to do both and once and choose a side......If you don't do that you'll be stuck spinning your wheels in neutral for years and years......

And even if you do pick a direction nothing is promised to anybody but at least you're trying to do it properly.......Hard for a lot of hockey people to have the guts to choose a side though.....

I think this sentiment is overblown. Tanking for talent can leave you mired at the bottom as, as can giving up on the future to try to win now. The Wild have been spinning their wheels a bit, but when you have a good but not great roster, sometimes it just take a few lucky bounces to get into that higher level. The Wild have been missing high end offensive talent for years, but Fiala showed signs of becoming that player in the last 40-50 games of the season and Kaprizov has that potential as well. I don't think staying the course, and trying to make good deals and draft well is any better or worse than selling off the team, as long as you don't get to the point where you wait until everyone is old and unmoveable and now you have no assets to show for it and the team is bad.

 

[Gjman2019]

I think this sentiment is overblown. Tanking for talent can leave you mired at the bottom as, as can giving up on the future to try to win now. The Wild have been spinning their wheels a bit, but when you have a good but not great roster, sometimes it just take a few lucky bounces to get into that higher level. The Wild have been missing high end offensive talent for years, but Fiala showed signs of becoming that player in the last 40-50 games of the season and Kaprizov has that potential as well. I don't think staying the course, and trying to make good deals and draft well is any better or worse than selling off the team, as long as you don't get to the point where you wait until everyone is old and unmoveable and now you have no assets to show for it and the team is bad.

Decent post but when you say spinning their wheels a bit , that's downplaying it...It's gone on for years and years and won't change until they drastically choose a side....

I guess there is exceptions to everything....Like you said maybe a little luck in the draft can help.......I still stand by my post though........Good luck .....

 

[Rebels57]

Really hoping they get Lafreniere.