2021 MN Wild/NHL Thread

Cuz I hear some of you guys like hockey……………

https://theathletic.com/2293398/2020/12/30/qa-with-nhls-bill-daly-on-schedule-flexibility-vaccines-and-more/

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

I just want somebody to beat Canada.

Grouse

And lets hope it is the US that beats them, nothing better than US – Canada hockey games.

Quinton Byfield is probably the top prospect in the tournament and has been pretty quiet until yesterday he put up 6 points in only 11 minutes – Team Canada coaches always seems to do weird things and for some reason Byfield is like 2nd to last on the team in playing time.

And the battle for future #1c begins…

Is that Rossi and the Russian kid? I’m on my phone so I can’t make out the names or numbers. Priceless pics if that’s who it is. lol

yep, they both took the opening face-off in last nights game too, cool moment…

Awesome match between Sweden and Russia last night. Russia wins in ot and guess who got the winner? Marat!

Key matchups today. USA vs Sweden and Canada vs Finnland. And can I just say go Finnland.

Grouse

CaptainMusky wrote:

Is that Rossi and the Russian kid? I’m on my phone so I can’t make out the names or numbers. Priceless pics if that’s who it is. lol

“whoo – snoot – DEEEE – nov” lol and yes that is him eating a cross-check from Rossi. He scored the OT winner against Sweden last night with 0:05 left in OT. Just from watching game highlights that Russia 1st line looks like one of the best in the tourney. Podkolzin is a beast (another Judd Bracket pick) and it looks like Khus is actually outplaying #15 pick Amirov, who is almost a full year older.

Here’s our first chance to see Kaprizov play with a Wild crest on his jersey! So pumped for the season to start:

Wild training camp scrimmages on Jan.8 & 10 will be streamed on the Wild’s YouTube channel.

I wonder if Rossi is on Leopold’s private jet yet since his tourney is now over for 15 minutes lol.
That poor austrian goalie! Faced 194 shots 60 shots at least in every game.
Marat has some spunk for sure. Craig Button kept lauding him along with Rossi. Said Marat was the fastest skater out of that draft which by my eye test seems to jive he is shifty and isn’t shy in the greasy areas since that’s where he got the ot winner from.

Marat has definitely gotten alot more comfortable out there each game and it shows, he’s still very young and should hopefully dominate in next years WJC

Rossi has to feel some relief he didn’t get hurt in a meaningless tourney for him since Austria was going nowhere, now he can focus on training camp…

Boldy tonight should be fun to watch!

Exciting times!!

I actually thought the Swedes would have put up a bigger challenge for US than they did. Cant take away their winning streak in Prelims though. 54 games in a row?! That is unreal. US has now gone 3 games without allowing a goal. I am sure that Knight would like a few back from the Russian game, but otherwise both goalies have played well since then. Nice to have 2 you can trust! Bring on the Slovaks!
Canada is going to be tough to beat, thankfully the US wouldnt have to meet them until the Gold Medal game if they get there.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I actually thought the Swedes would have put up a bigger challenge for US than they did. Cant take away their winning streak in Prelims though. 54 games in a row?

Pretty tough on the Swedish kids to go a full OT against Russia the night before and then 24 hours later face off with the USA. Despite Sweden’s win streak, that it wasn’t going to be easy with the way the USA is playing right now.

The US has a pretty favorable matchup in the quarters against the Slovaks. Let’s hope the Czechs can give Canada a run for their money and at least make them work for it.

Grouse

Looks like Spurgeon got the C.
DT

Wouldn’t it be nice if parise and suters feelings got hurt so bad by being passed over for the C they demanded a trade?

I have a feeling that Parise gets dealt. Its kind of interesting it doesnt even appear he has reached out to KK97 at all, but Foligno, Spurgeon and Suter, yes, even Suter have had him over to their homes. He was actually even on the pond with Suters kids when one of the kids fell through the ice LOL
Spurgeon was the right choice for Captain. I would have also liked it to be Foligno, but since his future on the team is up in the air it has to be Spurgeon.

Obviously the concerns trading away Parise will be:
1) How much of his salary will the Wild need to eat?
2) What will the Wild likely need to take back in the trade?

Team’s who would be interested in Parise will also likely want to dump a bad contract on us as well…what is BillyG willing to take back and is it ultimately worth it?

The rumored Andrew Ladd trade from last year didn’t look good at all since Ladd isn’t even playing in the NHL and his salary is $5+ million for the next 3 years…Parise has 5 years left so is the 2 years savings (minus any Parise salary retained) worth more than 3 years of getting nothing? at least we still get production from Parise…maybe he finds the fountain of youth and can give us something in final 2 years of his deal???

Watching the WJC has truly inspired a small amount of hope for the future of the MN Wild. Boldy is just the player the Wild are lacking, assuming he doesn’t go “soft” as it appears Greenway already has… And that 1st string russki, won’t even attempt to type his name. Holy, does that kid know his way around the rink.
Poor Rossi, his team was so underpowered as are so many in this derby. Future looks bright assuming the twin cities curse doesn’t greatly diminish their growth.

The WJC has been great. Boldy has certainly turned things around since about this time last year. I dont think Greenway has ever played with any grit at least for a consistent amount of time. Boldy seems to have high compete every shift and quite the playmaker. That no look pass in the last game was filthy.
Not sure if the US will get past Finland, but if they do it could be a very interesting Championship game assuming Canada wins. Our goaltending/defense seems to be an advantage potentially, but man is Canada stacked.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Obviously the concerns trading away Parise will be:
1) How much of his salary will the Wild need to eat?
2) What will the Wild likely need to take back in the trade?

Team’s who would be interested in Parise will also likely want to dump a bad contract on us as well…what is BillyG willing to take back and is it ultimately worth it?

The rumored Andrew Ladd trade from last year didn’t look good at all since Ladd isn’t even playing in the NHL and his salary is $5+ million for the next 3 years…Parise has 5 years left so is the 2 years savings (minus any Parise salary retained) worth more than 3 years of getting nothing? at least we still get production from Parise…maybe he finds the fountain of youth and can give us something in final 2 years of his deal???

I think concern #1 is still cap recapture. Right now if Parise or Suter gets traded they lock in at roughly $20m cap recapture… meaning the wild are on the hook for $20m in cap space for each of them if they are traded and retire at any point before the contract is over. I’m guessing that burden would be eased with retained salary, but either way the idea of chasing a disgruntled vet outta town is a non starter. After next season their actual salaries drop to $2m, $1m, $1m so retirement becomes a pretty easy choice if they want to stick it to the Wild. The players hold all the leverage and the Wild really do need to keep them happy.

The only real option for the Wild is that Suter/Parise get traded on their terms and leave happy or they finish the contract here in MN… Whether that is playing or on LTIR. So far every player eligible for cap recapture has gone on LTIR – EXCEPT Luongo, who isn’t exactly on good terms with the Canucks.

tswoboda wrote:

I think concern #1 is still cap recapture. Right now if Parise or Suter gets traded they lock in at roughly $20m cap recapture… meaning the wild are on the hook for $20m in cap space for each of them if they are traded and retire at any point before the contract is over. I’m guessing that burden would be eased with retained salary, but either way the idea of chasing a disgruntled vet outta town is a non starter. After next season their actual salaries drop to $2m, $1m, $1m so retirement becomes a pretty easy choice if they want to stick it to the Wild. The players hold all the leverage and the Wild really do need to keep them happy.

Cap recapture still exists, but it was very much amended as part of the return to play agreement before the NHL finished last season. The penalty remains, but its not as bad as it could have been under the old agreement:

https://www.ontheforecheck.com/2020/7/7/21316247/cba-changes-may-ease-shea-weber-salary-cap-recapture-penalty-fears-for-nashville-predators-for-now

I think picking Spurgy as captain was the right choice!

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Obviously the concerns trading away Parise will be:
1) How much of his salary will the Wild need to eat?
2) What will the Wild likely need to take back in the trade?

I hate to bring it up, but I have one more concern. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like the Wild are a little offensively challenged. You know. Like in the goal-scoring department. So….

Can somebody remind me again, why are we trying so hard to trade our #1 goal scorer from both last season and the season before?

Yes, yes, yes. We wish his contract were cheaper, had a move clause, etc, etc, etc. That wasn’t’ the deal that the Fletch signed though. Once again, the problem with the Wild isn’t Parise or Suter, it’s the weakness in the GM department that has haunted this team. Trading Parise just makes wish-we’d-have-done-it-differently deal into a bad deal because no way are we going to get a 40+ points guy in return for Parise.

So any trade for Parise would very likely mean LESS offense. Yes, yes, at hopefully a slightly lower $ cost, but I can’t see how this would be worth it unless the Wild suddenly were so offensively gifted that they could say, hey who needs another stinkin’ 20+ goals? Deal him. Just thinking about that makes me laugh a little…

Grouse

yes, just the caphit is locked in the books until the contract is over if either retires early and it is not deemed injury related, there’s no longer the crazy multiplier formula that used to exist…

I still don’t understand why the Wild would still be on the hook IF either is traded though…I would think that risk is part of their contract and goes with them to the other team? Thus why they are basically untradeable unless the Wild eats alot of the yearly $7.5 million caphit reducing what the trading team takes on long-term risk wise…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I still don’t understand why the Wild would still be on the hook IF either is traded though…I would think that risk is part of their contract and goes with them to the other team? Thus why they are basically untradeable unless the Wild eats alot of the yearly $7.5 million caphit reducing what the trading team takes on long-term risk wise…

I think its mainly due to how the AAV of the contracts were laid out versus the actual cap hit is why the recapture thing came about. I agree, if a player is traded so should any issues, but I think since the contracts are laid out with such strange AAV vs the cap hit, teams like the Wild would have saved a lot of money along with the way on the bottom line, but had the same cap hit. That is how I think about it anyway.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Obviously the concerns trading away Parise will be:
1) How much of his salary will the Wild need to eat?
2) What will the Wild likely need to take back in the trade?

I hate to bring it up, but I have one more concern. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like the Wild are a little offensively challenged. You know. Like in the goal-scoring department. So….

Can somebody remind me again, why are we trying so hard to trade our #1 goal scorer from both last season and the season before?

Yes, yes, yes. We wish his contract were cheaper, had a move clause, etc, etc, etc. That wasn’t’ the deal that the Fletch signed though. Once again, the problem with the Wild isn’t Parise or Suter, it’s the weakness in the GM department that has haunted this team. Trading Parise just makes wish-we’d-have-done-it-differently deal into a bad deal because no way are we going to get a 60+ points guy in return for Parise.

So any trade for Parise would very likely mean LESS offense. Yes, yes, at hopefully a slightly lower $ cost, but I can’t see how this would be worth it unless the Wild suddenly were so offensively gifted that they could say, hey who needs another stinkin’ 20+ goals? Deal him. Just thinking about that makes me laugh a little…

Grouse

I think the Parise (and Suter to some degree although I think he can still be effective for the length of his deal) trade augment has always been focused on the final 2-3 years of the contract and trying to get ahead of it by trading him now before diminishing returns starts to compound…He also has a history of back issues now and with the way he plays the game and is effective on the ice, that’s a HUGE red flag…

I don’t know anybody who has a legit argument about his deal value the first 8 years sofar, he’s been our best player most of that time.

Right, I dont WANT to trade him, but for the reasons Joe all stated would be reasons a trade would make sense. Depending on what the Isles would offer in return, to get out from under a lengthy contract before his body really starts breaking down could be desirable. I agree however that he has been consistently productive and the trade would most certainly not return his level of production, but rather roster flexibility.

The sooner we trade him, the “less worse” the return/result will be for the Wild..BillyG and the Wild front office all know this, but of course so does every other GM/front office in the league…so ultimately it’s going to come down to:

Step 1) Parise or Suter WANTING to be traded (They hold all of the cards and if they say no, you can’t move to step #2)
Step 2) How much of the $7.5 AAV is the Wild willing to eat?
Step 3) Is the bad contract & term/player we would likely get back to make the deal work improve the Wild’s current & long-term situation more vs just keeping Parise/Suter and rolling the dice that they can be productive enough for another 5 years…I’ll say this, the COVID effect on the 2019-2021 seasons has helped reduce the wear & tear on Parise/Suter’s bodies…

EVERY team has bad contracts on their books, It’s a tough call for BillyG but it’s part of the GM’s job to mitigate it as much as possible, but at least the long term picture of the Wild looks better now than it did a year or two ago…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

at least the long term picture of the Wild looks better now than it did a year or two ago…

100%. After this season the roster is going to really be different. It already is, but they have 6 UFA and 4 RFA. Lots of cap space too. Many of those players wont be back and as we have said could be used as deadline chips to get further draft or prospect capital.
I keep wondering where Mennell’s head is at with the Wild Organization. He was developing nicely and opted to sign in KHL this year. Wild still own his rights, but wonder if he did that because he thought he was too far down the depth chart? If the Wild move some D pieces like say a Dumba, does he return to Iowa next season for a shot with the big club?

Mennell is a small framed offensive minded defender, we have several of those types signed long term already and Calen Addison in the on-deck circle, we need more tough/sandpaper types on defense besides Soucy (who we’ll likely lose in the xpac draft) I just don’t see a spot for Mennell on our team unless he’s fine spot starting/replacing Hunt on the 3rd D pair getting 6-8 minutes a night… I think he’s a good player and should be able to fetch some return in a trade to a team that needs that type of defender…

My cap recapture comments were towards the “make them miserable so they want to leave” crowd. With cap recapture, those two hold way too much leverage over the organization for that to happen. Part of me wishes the big $20m+ single season cap hit would have happened to a team just to see how the NHL would have handled it – would the NHL actually dismantle an entire team just to prove their point those [perfectly legal] deals were not fair.

I don’t think most (reasonable) fans want to trade them because they’re bad players. (EDIT: TMSF says “no cup for the Wild = it’s the highest paid players fault!!!”) It’s just – how do they do a full rebuild with those two contracts (plus Zucc) on the book for 5 more seasons? Neither of their deals have been bad to this point – especially when you look around the league at the truly bad UFA contracts handed out in the 5 years. Lucic and Ladd are the first that come to mind – $5m+ AAV long term deals for players that are barely even still in the league.

Suter has no doubt outperformed his contract to this point. Parise has been about on par but the biggest issue has been injuries. The other part is he hasn’t had a single season in MN where he produced like he did with the Devils. Whether that’s due to Parise or the team around him, who knows.