Speculation: Trade and Free Agency - 2024-25

[AKL]

Russo’s worse seats podcast post Utah game said that Guerin has not reached out to Rossi’s agent at all to discuss a contract extension.

That's a bummer, hope we get something good for him.

 

[MNRube]

Russo’s worse seats podcast post Utah game said that Guerin has not reached out to Rossi’s agent at all to discuss a contract extension.

Seems kinda dumb to me. Now with JEE out he’s soaking up all the PP1 time and playing with Kap and driving up his price. Or, I guess in Guerin’s mind he is increasing his trade value.

I’d consider a swap for McTavish. I think Rossi is better but if Guerin is hell-bent on moving him, we could do worse for a swap.

 

[NHL1674]

Russo’s worse seats podcast post Utah game said that Guerin has not reached out to Rossi’s agent at all to discuss a contract extension.

Hasn't reached out to Rossi's agent? Shocker.

 

[Digitalbooya]

That's a bummer, hope we get something good for him.

Seems kinda dumb to me. Now with JEE out he’s soaking up all the PP1 time and playing with Kap and driving up his price. Or, I guess in Guerin’s mind he is increasing his trade value.

I’d consider a swap for McTavish. I think Rossi is better but if Guerin is hell-bent on moving him, we could do worse for a swap.

Hasn't reached out to Rossi's agent? Shocker.

Could be a tactic to see if the AAV would go down based on how the season ends. A theoretical contract AAV has not been higher than it is right now. Rossi won’t be an UFA, so maybe it’s not a pressing discussion until after the 4 nations tournament is finished? Might be giving way too much benefit of the doubt to Guerin.

 

[keppel146]

Maybe he can be better than Merrill

 

[AKL]

Could be a tactic to see if the AAV would go down based on how the season ends. A theoretical contract AAV has not been higher than it is right now. Rossi won’t be an UFA, so maybe it’s not a pressing discussion until after the 4 nations tournament is finished? Might be giving way too much benefit of the doubt to Guerin.

You would still have reached out by now to test the waters

 

[NHL1674]

You would still have reached out by now to test the waters

He made sure to get guys like Freddy and Hartman locked as fast as he possibly could, so nobody can claim that this is just how he goes about contract talks. Mark my words, he's gonna treat negotiations with Rossi the same way he did with Fiala. There's no excuse for him not reaching out at this point. NO EXCUSE. He's such a petty man.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I guess he doesn't technically have to. Doesn't put my mind at ease though.

 

[MNRube]

He made sure to get guys like Freddy and Hartman locked as fast as he possibly could, so nobody can claim that this is just how he goes about contract talks. Mark my words, he's gonna treat negotiations with Rossi the same way he did with Fiala. There's no excuse for him not reaching out at this point. NO EXCUSE. He's such a petty man.

Yeah, seems clear Rossi is not one of Guerin’s guys. I’m expecting a contentious negotiation. Or a trade for a Brock Nelson or McTavish type. Hopefully one more like the latter.

Annoying thing is that Guerin successfully tanked Rossi’s value and then didn’t take advantage of that and sign him long term while the getting was good.

 

[Digitalbooya]

He made sure to get guys like Freddy and Hartman locked as fast as he possibly could, so nobody can claim that this is just how he goes about contract talks. Mark my words, he's gonna treat negotiations with Rossi the same way he did with Fiala. There's no excuse for him not reaching out at this point. NO EXCUSE. He's such a petty man.

Those two weren’t pending RFAs though.

 

[AKL]

Those two weren’t pending RFAs though.

No but Faber and Boldy were and he didn't really waste much time with them

Wallstedt played 3 NHL games and Guerin gave him 2M lol

 

[Minnewildsota]

Y’all just search for something to bitch about.

 

[north21]

I don't see a huge deal in letting rossi play out the season to see where he is at.

 

[Digitalbooya]

No but Faber and Boldy were and he didn't really waste much time with them

Wallstedt played 3 NHL games and Guerin gave him 2M lol

Don’t think anyone would disagree that Faber and Boldy are more important to have long term than Rossi. The Wallstedt contract is a real head scratcher.

 

[Circulartheory]

Y’all just search for something to bitch about.

This. 29 games in only, before Christmas/New Years holiday, dealing with massive injuries, prepping for midseason meetings, managing year ends finances, just finish dealing with Jiricek discussions/trading, I'm sure focus is on the special teams as well, prepping for WJC assignments, also 4-Nations soon etc etc.

 

[Minnewildsota]

This. 29 games in only, before Christmas/New Years holiday, dealing with massive injuries, prepping for midseason meetings, managing year ends finances, just finish dealing with Jiricek discussions/trading, I'm sure focus is on the special teams as well, prepping for WJC assignments, also 4-Nations soon etc etc.

Or the simple fact that maybe they don't want to distract a young player mid-season with contract talks.

 

[AKL]

Don’t think anyone would disagree that Faber and Boldy are more important to have long term than Rossi. The Wallstedt contract is a real head scratcher.

Well...Boldy vs Rossi is quickly becoming a discussion you could have. No debate on Faber. Agree on Wallstedt. But it also doesn't have to be an either/or situation with any of them. We could have all of them long term.

 

[AKL]

This. 29 games in only, before Christmas/New Years holiday, dealing with massive injuries, prepping for midseason meetings, managing year ends finances, just finish dealing with Jiricek discussions/trading, I'm sure focus is on the special teams as well, prepping for WJC assignments, also 4-Nations soon etc etc.

Boldy signed his extension in mid January, I'm sure he had reached out prior to January 1st. All of this stuff you mentioned doesn't prevent a GM from reaching out.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Well...Boldy vs Rossi is quickly becoming a discussion you could have. No debate on Faber. Agree on Wallstedt. But it also doesn't have to be an either/or situation with any of them. We could have all of them long term.

I’m not sold on Rossi being the 1C solution. Ideally he could be the long term solution at 2C or a top 6 wing. Or Guerin could swing another Fiala for Faber+1st type trade. To me, Rossi isn’t a player to bend over backwards for. It’s annoying that they don’t ever try him at wing to see if he can play that spot. He could be the long term Zuccarello replacement and most would be happy with that, including Guerin IMO.

It’s so clear that the bigger players get long term contracts. Ek got 8 years. Faber 8 years. Boldy 7 years. Gaudreau 5 years. Trenin 4 years. Foligno 4 years. Middleton 4 years. Hartman 3 years. Johansson 2 years. Zuccarello 2 years. Fiala 2 years and then 1 year. The only sub 6 foot guy getting 6-8 years is Kaprizov. Has he signed a shorter guy to 3 or more years aside from Spurgeon? He’s pretty consistent and I can’t think of one off the top of my head.

When you think of Stanley Cup winning centers, who do you think of? I’ve got Barkov, Crosby, Malkin, Eichel, MacKinnon, Toews, etc.

This team desperately needs someone, possibly Yurov when he is back to full health, to turn into one of those types of high end guys. Ek might be a Kopitar/Toews kind of player, but he’s becoming injury prone and he’s not as good as those two.

 

[AKL]

I’m not sold on Rossi being the 1C solution. Ideally he could be the long term solution at 2C or a top 6 wing. Or Guerin could swing another Fiala for Faber+1st type trade. To me, Rossi isn’t a player to bend over backwards for. It’s annoying that they don’t ever try him at wing to see if he can play that spot. He could be the long term Zuccarello replacement and most would be happy with that, including Guerin IMO.

I'm not advocating that anyone bend over backwards for Rossi, I just want to see him locked down with term while we have no better options. He's a good player that makes this team better, he's got chemistry with Kaprizov, and he looks like he could be one of the best offensive centers we've ever had, for whatever that's worth.

He may not be the long term 1C solution, but he's currently the best option we have, and one of the best we've ever had to fulfill that. I don't get why anyone would be weary about signing him to a fair value medium or long term contract. If for some reason he needs to be moved in the future, you can still trade him.

I'm even less sold on a collection of guys like Hartman, Foligno, Trenin, Gaudreau being the answer to anything. I'm also starting to wonder what Guerin's plan is for the forward group, because after Kaprizov and Boldy, assuming Rossi isn't in the picture long term, we have Yurov and Ohgren? And Ohgren certainly doesn't project as a first liner of any kind. We have plenty of depth guys, and very few guys to fill the top offensive roles.

We can't afford to give up on players like Rossi, unless a better option is coming back, which I'm doubtful of.

And maybe he'll still sign Rossi to a 4-5 year deal either this summer or next, but still, as of now, it's at least a slight concern that he hasn't even reached out to his agent yet.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

If Guerin doesn't want to go long-term right now, for whatever reason, then there's nothing to discuss right now and certainly a bridge deal likely wouldn't be signed mid-season.

Also, I'm not a huge fan at every key player having their contracts expire at 28/29 years old, as Kaprizov's, Boldy's and Faber's currently are. Sets you up for some bigger 30+ year old deals if you can't cut the cord.

I am not anti bridge deal, even if it ends up costing a few extra dollars.

 

[AKL]

If Guerin doesn't want to go long-term right now, for whatever reason, then there's nothing to discuss right now and certainly a bridge deal likely wouldn't be signed mid-season.

Also, I'm not a huge fan at every key player having their contracts expire at 28/29 years old, as Kaprizov's, Boldy's and Faber's currently are. Sets you up for some bigger 30+ year old deals if you can't cut the cord.

I am not anti bridge deal, even if it ends up costing a few extra dollars.

Would you consider a 4 year extension to be a bridge right now?

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Would you consider a 4 year extension to be a bridge right now?

I don't really consider 4 years to be an option since that brings him directly to UFA. Most times, teams seem to like to avoid that. Technically, I'm probably fine with it since it does the job of eliminating the 28/29 year old expiration.

But to answer the question, no, I have 1-3 years as "bridge" deals, 4-5 years as "mid-term" and 6-8 years as "long-term". Might just be semantics though.

 

[AKL]

I don't really consider 4 years to be an option since that brings him directly to UFA. Most times, teams seem to like to avoid that. Technically, I'm probably fine with it since it does the job of eliminating the 28/29 year old expiration.

Doesn't bother me so much, Boldy, Kaprizov and Faber's deal also bring them to UFA, only difference is like you said, Rossi would be signing his next long term deal at 27 rather than 29.

I'm all for a bridge deal too, and you're probably right, there's no need to hurry and get that done. I just mostly want some kind of indication that Guerin values what Rossi is doing and wants to keep him around.

 

[Digitalbooya]

I'm not advocating that anyone bend over backwards for Rossi, I just want to see him locked down with term while we have no better options. He's a good player that makes this team better, he's got chemistry with Kaprizov, and he looks like he could be one of the best offensive centers we've ever had, for whatever that's worth.

He may not be the long term 1C solution, but he's currently the best option we have, and one of the best we've ever had to fulfill that. I don't get why anyone would be weary about signing him to a fair value medium or long term contract. If for some reason he needs to be moved in the future, you can still trade him.

I'm even less sold on a collection of guys like Hartman, Foligno, Trenin, Gaudreau being the answer to anything. I'm also starting to wonder what Guerin's plan is for the forward group, because after Kaprizov and Boldy, assuming Rossi isn't in the picture long term, we have Yurov and Ohgren? And Ohgren certainly doesn't project as a first liner of any kind. We have plenty of depth guys, and very few guys to fill the top offensive roles.

We can't afford to give up on players like Rossi, unless a better option is coming back, which I'm doubtful of.

And maybe he'll still sign Rossi to a 4-5 year deal either this summer or next, but still, as of now, it's at least a slight concern that he hasn't even reached out to his agent yet.

The issue is that the Wild view Kaprizov, Boldy, Faber, and Wallstedt as top line/pair/starter quality for Cup runs. Not so sure they view Rossi as that (or any small player for that matter).Part of me wonders if they are pumping up his value by attaching him to Kaprizov so they can get a better return. Classic market manipulation.

Ideally he is signed. But if they do trade him, what would you want from another team?