2022/2023 NHL/Wild Offseason-Season-Postseason Thread

There might be 20 head coaches fired this off-season

Dumba has been terrible. Brodin was equally bad early, but has since turned it around. Our D just has not contributed offensively at all.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Our D just has not contributed offensively at all.

And neither are the forwards

The D being involved in the offense has been a Wild staple for years. And also a big part of the system Deano implemented. But it’s like that all just disappeared this year. The system right now is just no offense.

tswoboda wrote:

The D being involved in the offense has been a Wild staple for years. And also a big part of the system Deano implemented. But it’s like that all just disappeared this year. The system right now is just no offense.

No argument there. Not sure any of these lineup changes are going to make any difference, but they need to find their offense for sure.

I think after the awful defensive start to the season I think they have been focusing on getting their defense back to where it should be. Now that it’s playing better hopefully that means they will start to get the d men a little more involved soon.

It will be interesting to see what GMBG does this season…due to the underwhelming West, everybody is in play for a playoff spot, so you really can’t give up, but it doesn’t appear there’s any fixes internally for the Wild to use, so they’ll need to look externally for a player who could help…and I don’t think (other than a D prospect not named Faber or Lambos) he wants to give up much to get one…He’s certainly not giving up his 1st round pick this or the next few years with the quality of drafts coming up…

So ride the team for a few months and see if they can right the ship? if they can’t fix it, sell what you can and look to the offseason to-do list of signing Boldy and preparing for the Draft?

I just looked at Capfriendly and the Wild will have nearly $16M in deadline cap space. They could do a lot with that on an expiring contract for sure.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I just looked at Capfriendly and the Wild will have nearly $16M in deadline cap space. They could do a lot with that on an expiring contract for sure.

yes, but impact players don’t come cheap, especially at the trade deadline…I’ve seen nothing this season that tells me they could make any type of playoff run, they are waaaayyy to inconsistant and even their best game played sofar this season wasn’t impressive…maybe that will change in 2+ months, but I doubt it… if anything GMBG could turn that capspace into some good draft picks as a capspace mule for the contenders (if Leopold will let him)

Agree they are a middling team thus far. But they do have a few months to find that spark and show they’re worth spending on before the deadline. I still expect that’s how the season goes, just getting pretty bored waiting for it to start.

What have teams playing cap broker at the deadline got… 4th and 5th round picks. Yawn

Yeah being a broker doesn’t get me excited at all. Return is not great usually. I think Addy taking a seat for a game or two is fine. He’s a rookie and it can help to watch from a different prospective. There is just not a lot there in Iowa currently. Even the Great Wall of St Paul has been struggling. With the other teams so cap strapped that are contenders I could see them moving on some players especially if the are giving up D prospects.

The price is probably too steep and he will pick his destination anyway but…… I still think Patty Kane is exactly what this team needs. Play him with Boldy to replace the Fiala line from last year and put him on PP1 with KK. He’s not off to a great start so maybe the price really isn’t astronomical, IDK.

Maybe just say F it and grab Toews too

I could see Leipold pounding the table to make that happen

How about NJ on a 13 game win streak. With Lindy Ruff at the helm. Wow.

What about Horvat? Will be interesting to see where and what the Blues do at the deadline as they have some interesting UFA’s heading into next year.

I’m just saying being a capspace broker is a last resort move, if the Wild still has $16 million in capspace at the deadline and no desire go sign a rental why not get some picks for just spending some of Leopold’s cash (that’s why I said its upto him if GMBG can even do it)

We currently dont have a 3rd round pick this draft and I dont think you can ever go wrong giving Judd and the scouts extra picks to work with… those are the types of picks you take homerun swings at, oh and we’ve had some luck with 5th rounders before…oh and a few years ago Carolina got a 1st round pick from Toronto for taking on Patrick Marleau’s $6 million caphit, so you can trade for a huge anchor contract and get back significant compensation for basically making the final payments of a contract at the end of the season.

I’d love Horvat, but I don’t know how we could afford his likely $8+ million AAV the next 2 cap stapped seasons with Boldy/Addison/Duhaime/Goudreau needing to re-sign this offseason…even with the cap going up it would be really tight but nothing is impossible…

Dubnyk doing commentary on NHL Tonight. Not bad actually has some good insights, not spewing out too many word salads and seems pretty comfortable. Good for Devan he’s making some scratch in the hockey world still.

Not resigning Freddy hockey would be a start, but was more thinking rental if they in that position come deadline.

Would be pretty hilarious if the Nucks deal Horvat after extending JT Miller. They’ve been a gong show last couple years.

I’m not saying getting the picks for cap space is bad, just small potatoes likely meaningless picks. The Marleau comp is a massive reach, that deal was at the draft. Cap dumps get 1st and 2nd round picks in the summer and they get 5ths at the trade deadline. That comparison is way out in right field.

icex wrote:

Dubnyk doing commentary on NHL Tonight. Not bad actually has some good insights, not spewing out too many word salads and seems pretty comfortable. Good for Devan he’s making some scratch in the hockey world still.

Saw that. Didn’t really seem like a natural to me, but yeah good for him take it while you can.

Yeah, my bad on the Marleau trade, it was mixed into an article I was reading about deadline trade comp… disregard…. 4th and 5th rounders are great for moving up in the early rounds though to grab a player you like early.

Jost got in a fight his 1st shift in Buffalo

I guess he really took Deano calling him soft to heart.

True 4th line grinder.

Fiala with a three point night last night in a loss to the Rangers. Sitting with 21 points in 22 games. Don’t think he was even in double digits in points with us last year at this time. If he follows his regular habit of heating up and hitting his stride about halfway through the season the kid could be looking at 100 point season.

icex wrote:

Fiala with a three point night last night in a loss to the Rangers. Sitting with 21 points in 22 games. Don’t think he was even in double digits in points with us last year at this time. If he follows his regular habit of heating up and hitting his stride about halfway through the season the kid could be looking at 100 point season.

Pictures are the Kings and Wild ‘5v5 goals for’ rankings in 21-22 compared to 22-23. Wild went from 3rd to 29th and Kings went from 26th to 7th. I’m not saying it’s all Kevin but I’m just sayin….

I don’t think it’s complete coincidence with Fiala’s departure the Wild are having trouble scoring goals and Boldy is having a hard time getting started. I think we are finding out how much of the opposing teams defense was stunted because they had to deal with KK and Fiala and I think the question of who needed who more on the Boldy Fiala pairing is being answered.

Even if money wasn’t the issue the environment was approaching toxic levels between BG and Fiala and it had always been a bit of a hard road for him the entire time he was here. He was as ready to go as BG was to get rid of him.

So far Fiala seems to be fairing better from the split. However I think the Kings and Wild are pretty similar teams and have a good chance of a playoff meeting which should prove to be interesting.

nobody ever said Kevin wasn’t a great player and not worth the $ he got… the Wild simply couldn’t afford him even if he wanted to stay (which I don’t think he did) You also have to factor in how his new contract would effect the Wilds ability to afford the next contracts for Boldy, Wallstedt, Rossi (1-3 years from now) GMBG needs to think longterm just as much as short term (if he got Leopold’s blessing on his 4 year buyouts plan)

Fast forward a few years from now and i’m confident Wild fans will be happy with Liam Ohgren and Brock Faber on minimum caphits for at least 4-5 years (Ohgren will be playing 1st line wing for team Sweden at the WJC next month as an underage player, that’s pretty unheard of) We all know what kind of player Faber is…

icex wrote:

However I think the Kings and Wild are pretty similar teams and have a good chance of a playoff meeting which should prove to be interesting.

The Kings are 2-3 years ahead of the Wild in terms of their highly touted prospect pool is finally playing in the NHL now, they will be a force for years to come…The Wild is on a similar path, but were able to do it while making the playoffs (we missed once in 8 years?) and being a competitive team the entire time, Kings have sucked for many years…

Fiala left Boldy with nobody to play with, but Fiala stepped right into the Kings top line with Kempe and Kopitar…advantage Fiala, so of course his stats are going to be better…

another factor that I would bet $ was a HUGE factor in Kevin’s decision making was his new wife who’s a smokeshow model…would she rather live in LA or MN…hmmm I wonder what she would prefer??? GMBG’s hands were tied and he made about as good a deal as he could…

A lot of hype over Rossi. Hopefully he develops but haven’t seen much from him yet. I know he is young still so willing to be patient but wouldn’t count on him being a super star yet.

lindyrig79 wrote:

A lot of hype over Rossi. Hopefully he develops but haven’t seen much from him yet. I know he is young still so willing to be patient but wouldn’t count on him being a super star yet.

His floor is probably a 2C, typically superstar Centers are gone by the top 3 picks, Rossi went 9th…Koivu was mostly a 2C (forced to play a 1C role due to the lack of anybody else better) his entire career (he had maybe 1-2 years of 1C worthy stats) so they are tough to come by unless you’re drafting top 2-3 and one is available…I was encouraged by his preseason play and the fact that even though he has only 1 point, he’s still playing a pretty good overall game. Once he figures out how to play at NHL speed and gets comfortable, he’ll start showing the talent EVERY scout said he had…

Rossi put a ton of pressure on himself by all of the media and press he’s done since the day of his draft. He’s feeling all that pressure right now. The kid’s going to be fine, but he needs a shake up right now.

Aside from lack of production/offense, the most concerning thing for me is how soft he’s playing. He’s bottom 10 in the league in ‘hits+hits taken’ and that is NOT his game. Not that he’s a power forward by any means but he plays a physical game and so far he’s been extremely tentative in the NHL.

Agree on Rossi that he will be fine. What he turns into is still a problem for the Wild. To win cups in this league you need a stud 1C. Alfa male legit star. I don’t think Rossi is that. How the wild attain that I am not sure without getting lucky in a draft or tanking as those players really don’t hit FA.