2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

Ripjiggen wrote:

To me Boldy with Fiala is a sign that KK is back in Pitlick spot real soon. Pitlick will then slide into Rask spot.

Agree except that I think Pitlick and Rask are both placeholders for KK and Duhaime. KK hoping to be back this week and Duhaime should clear protocol by Friday. Deano is not big on Pitlick lately, he could see a lot of the press box moving forward.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

if I were the Wild, I would slow play all of the injury returns and have them miss the next 2 games in order to get the extra 7 days of rest/rehab…missing 2 games is worth it vs having them come back early, re-injuring and being out longer term when we have tons of games sandwitched together…

Oh you mean like exactly what happened with Spurgeon?? It seems like players are always rushed back too early or play through injuries when missing just a couple more games could get them to 100%. But I’m not doctor or trainer and I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn last night, so what do I know.

Agree or Duhaime. I guess I was more looking at the top line situation.

tswoboda wrote:

Oh you mean like exactly what happened with Spurgeon?? It seems like players are always rushed back too early or play through injuries when missing just a couple more games could get them to 100%. But I’m not doctor or trainer and I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn last night, so what do I know.

yep, we’ll see what they do in this short window before the schedule gets absolutely insane to squeeze all the missed games in…

Pitlick on waivers. Well that honeymoon didnt last long. Hat trick in his first game and then really invisible.

Does that mean we’re stuck with Rask again?

mahtofire14 wrote:

Does that mean we’re stuck with Rask again?

I think it mostly means Boldy is here to stay, but yeah we could have Rask for a while until all players are healthy. I think the play of Dewar pushed Pitlick out. He is scoring at a pace that isnt sustainable and really hasnt played well on both ends. He would be great in the shootout though LOL

Bingo^^

There’s only room for 13 forwards on the roster… Rask was waived to make room for Boldy and now Pitlick got waived to make room for Dewar. I did not expect Pitlick to get waived and I would be surprised if he goes unclaimed. Nashville can claim him and send him straight to the Taxi Squad or AHL so there’s no way they’re not claiming if no one else gets him.

tswoboda wrote:

Nashville can claim him and send him straight to the Taxi Squad or AHL so there’s no way they’re not claiming if no one else gets him.

Interesting I wasnt aware of that. I would be surprised he isnt claimed then too.

Pitlick has looked uninterested the past 5-6 games and invisible on the ice… i’m sure he’ll get claimed though due to his age and he has shown some scoring touch in the NHL…The kid just needs to figure out how to put 100% effort every night…

I’ve liked what i’ve seen of Dewar, that kid looks like he plays every shift like its his last, love that about him!

Good chance it’s a salary cap move that allows to move him to taxi squad. With the way the league is going right now not many teams can act to pick him up anyway.

Jonny “the Mullet” Merrill signed for 3 years @ $1.2 aav. Did not see that coming, especially at that length.

$1.125 max can be buried in the minors so it’s a fairly safe contract from that angle, but still feels like an overpay. My guess is they really like him in the room and they like his game enough to not have to deal with the UFA fire sale they did last summer. They locked in a 6/7 defenseman through the buyout pain years.

tswoboda wrote:

Jonny “the Mullet” Merrill signed for 3 years @ $1.2 aav. Did not see that coming, especially at that length.

$1.125 max can be buried in the minors so it’s a fairly safe contract from that angle, but still feels like an overpay. My guess is they really like him in the room and they like his game enough to not have to deal with the UFA fire sale they did last summer. They locked in a 6/7 defenseman through the buyout pain years.

he’s 4 points away from his Career high, so maybe they feel he’s just now finding his game as opposed to other older cheap FA’s like Benn who are clearly almost done? As you said, It’s a safe contract to get through the pain years…

tswoboda wrote:

Jonny “the Mullet” Merrill signed for 3 years @ $1.2 aav. Did not see that coming, especially at that length.

$1.125 max can be buried in the minors so it’s a fairly safe contract from that angle, but still feels like an overpay. My guess is they really like him in the room and they like his game enough to not have to deal with the UFA fire sale they did last summer. They locked in a 6/7 defenseman through the buyout pain years.

Maybe a bit of an overpay to get the longer term? Typically its the other way around. Its not a lot more than this year, but he may have been a bargain this year at 850k. I mean Addison is what 795?

I really hope they don’t overpay for Goligoski, if extended hopefully its only a 1-2 year extension in the $2aav range MAX… His game has really deteriorated this year imo… Not sure what more he brings vs Addison at a fraction of the cost, I would be fine if they don’t resign him and Addison plays top 4 next season…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I really hope they don’t overpay for Goligoski, if extended hopefully its only a 1-2 year extension in the $2aav range MAX… His game has really deteriorated this year imo… Not sure what more he brings vs Addison at a fraction of the cost, I would be fine if they don’t resign him and Addison plays top 4 next season…

Pretty sure they are already in talks with Alex camp. I am guessing a deal gets done but yeah one more year at 2is I would be fine with.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Pretty sure they are already in talks with Alex camp. I am guessing a deal gets done but yeah one more year at 2is I would be fine with.

Agreed. If its more than 1 Addison might be like WTF when am I going to get my shot! I dont think BG would want to jeopardize him getting disgruntled after the lengths he went to get him.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I dont think BG would want to jeopardize him getting disgruntled after the lengths he went to get him.

we own his rigths for years though, so what GMBG says goes…Addison could also be in the plans to replace Dumba, who’s a strong candidate to be traded this offseason if he doesn’t give one of the biggest hometown discounts ever (not likely)

No doubt he got a salary bump for 3 year term… they clearly like him. I personally like his game for the bottom pair. Verrryyy safe and boring but he can still make a pass. The few games he played with Addison they were outstanding together.

I’m still not sure what to think of Goose. There’s times where he doesn’t look good at all but then other stretches where he’s solid every night. He’s leading the D in points without a ton of PP time. One year between $2-$2.5 million seems like a reasonable extension. That puts him at $3.5-$4 AAV over 2 seasons with the wild which would have been a reasonable contract last summer.

The only thing I’m sad about is that if Goose gets extended that means they have 6 D returning for next season…….. not counting my boy Calen. It’s been obvious recently how important depth on defense is. Need a lot more than 6 NHL defenseman on the team.

We still need some beef & nastiness on our backend, something NONE of our defenseman bring…Somebody like a Joel Edmundson (he’s still hurt) in Montreal, who would maybe prefer to swap defenders (Dumba) for more offense at the expense of size and a bigger caphit…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

We still need some beef & nastiness on our backend, something NONE of our defenseman bring…Somebody like a Joel Edmundson (he’s still hurt) in Montreal who would maybe prefer to swap defenders (Dumba) for more offense at the expense of size and a bigger caphit…

If you want nastiness then you can’t trade Dumba. He’s by far the most physical defenseman on the team. He leads the D in hits by double the next closest and has blown quite a few guys up this year with big open ice or head down hits. I can’t remember any other D blowing someone up.

You guys see that hit Ovi laid on Frederic? Apparently he left the game hurt. It didnt look overly nasty, but Ovi can bring the smoke. Probably retribution for the hit on KK LOL

He and Frederic have a history. He tried to fight Ovi for a whole game last spring until Ovi taught him a lesson.

If you want nastiness then you can’t trade Dumba. He’s by far the most physical defenseman on the team. He leads the D in hits by double the next closest and has blown quite a few guys up this year with big open ice or head down hits. I can’t remember any other D blowing someone up.
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I agree, i’d love to have him and 5 other defenders with his physical mindset, but he needs to be traded. We’ll get more value for Dumba (not expecting a big return, but better than losing him for nothing) trading him this offseason with 1x$6 contract left vs using him all next season before trading him at the deadline destroying team chemistry right before the playoffs.

Again, nobody WANTS to trade him, there’s just no chance we could afford his next contract, perhaps not signing Fiala and anybody to replace him with other than a Iowa guy and then Dumba resigns with a heavy discount which the NHLPA wont like… not likely to happen..

JoeMX1825 wrote:

there’s just no chance we could afford his next contract, perhaps not signing Fiala and anybody to replace him with other than a Iowa guy and then Dumba resigns with a heavy discount which the NHLPA wont like… not likely to happen..

I think it boils down to which of these two players the Wild want to keep long term. Fiala clearly is at the highest risk of not being around. Dumba by all accounts does all the right things and I could actually see him taking a discount to stick around here, but its a business. If I had to choose between these two I would pick Dumba just because you can usually count on him to show up every night. He has his flaws for sure, but its usually nothing regarding effort which we cannot say for Fiala. Sure he has effort, but 3 penalties in one period? Come on Fiala! I think he would be easier to replace than Dumba.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
there’s just no chance we could afford his next contract, perhaps not signing Fiala and anybody to replace him with other than a Iowa guy and then Dumba resigns with a heavy discount which the NHLPA wont like… not likely to happen..

I think it boils down to which of these two players the Wild want to keep long term. Fiala clearly is at the highest risk of not being around. Dumba by all accounts does all the right things and I could actually see him taking a discount to stick around here, but its a business. If I had to choose between these two I would pick Dumba just because you can usually count on him to show up every night. He has his flaws for sure, but its usually nothing regarding effort which we cannot say for Fiala. Sure he has effort, but 3 penalties in one period? Come on Fiala! I think he would be easier to replace than Dumba.

How much of a discount do you think A) Dumba will take? B) the NHLPA will allow?

He’s currently at $6aav, I would think Dumba’s side will ask for $7 aav at the bare minimum, more likely $8aav… That then tilts our cap balance more towards Defense than what GMBG probably wants…You also then risk stalling our Defense prospect development as you have Brodin/Spurgeon/Dumba all signed long term…if Addison is resigned after next year and Merrel just signed for 3 years our prospects have nowhere to go but #6 or #7 Wild defenseman or stay in Iowa…I think Hunt, O’Rourke, Lambos are 2-3 years away from seriously fighting for a Wild roster spot, Peart is a Wild card and could explode developmentally and push his way ahead of them…Sending them (except Peart) back to their current leagues next year makes no sense as they are all dominating now, so they will be in Iowa next season with their ELC clocks ticking…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

How much of a discount do you think A) Dumba will take? B) the NHLPA will allow?

He’s currently at $6aav, I would think Dumba’s side will ask for $7 aav at the bare minimum, more likely $8aav… That then tilts our cap balance more towards Defense than what GMBG probably wants…You also then risk stalling our Defense prospect development as you have Brodin/Spurgeon/Dumba all signed long term…if Addison is resigned after next year and Merrel just signed for 3 years our prospects have nowhere to go but #6 or #7 Wild defenseman or stay in Iowa…

Yeah, I hear ya about the prospects. We seem to think Addison would be the heir apparent to Dumba and you are right we have so much $ tied up at D already. Its possible neither of these guys are on the team in a year. Which I would be OK with considering some of the young guys we have coming. I dont want Addison playing bottom pair so something has to give and as you say its likely to be Dumba. I was typing more out of feelings vs logic regarding where things stand. If we had to pick between the two players that is who Id pick, but its certainly possible they move on from both for the reasons you stated and your right the time to move on from Dumba would be this off season but it hasnt seemed to be an easy thing for Guerin to do since we all feel he has been testing the waters for 2 years now.

I’ve lost most if not all faith in Fiala long term, he’s just too streaky/moody of a player in a season when he should be leaving everything on the ice to get a big contract…I think the Wild needs to cut bait and use his $6 aav capspace towards a solid top 6 wing/center (like a JT Miller/Bo Horvat type of player) other than Beckman, we don’t have any Wing depth in the organization, perhaps they use Dumba and Fiala as trade chips to get some Wing prospects other org’s might be flooded with? my guess is that will be Judd’s top priority this draft, hopefully a right shot as well…

I think they move on from Fiala (Teams choice) and Dumba (finacial choice) this offseason and spend what they can where it makes the most sense to get through the next 3 years, but also backfill with Addison and Beckman still on their ELC’s…I’m also liking the idea of swapping Jack McBain for Sturm at the 4th line role next year (signing McBain might be an issue though)

Doing those moves should also open enough money to resign Kaapo and maybe Greenway to a 1-2 year prove it deal?

Dumba and Fiala are cut from the same cloth… high event players that are always making something happen, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Both very polarizing with fans and coaches alike. From an entertainment perspective I love it, but can totally see how they can drive fans and coaches crazy too. One difference is Dumba has seemed to grow his game and is more physical and blocking a lot of shots in recent years. He still has his moments of bad mistakes and WTF plays but he’s definitely rounding out his game. Fiala is still a player that if he’s not scoring, he’s not helping the team.

I don’t see Dumba’s next contract being that big… I think it’ll be closer to $6m where he’s at right now. Who are his comparables anymore? He’s supposed to be an offensive D but the last 3 seasons he has less points than Brodin, and we all know the other half of his game does not measure up to Slippery Jimmy. If he really has any chance at $8m open market then he would have been traded by now, but other teams obviously don’t value him at that.

Fiala has been an enigma this season. The last 2 seasons he’s been excellent at creating his own chances and finishing them… shooting roughly 12%. This season he’s actually setting career bests in shots, scoring chances, and xG per time on ice but his finishing has gone in the tank. Why? I have no idea. I maintain that he’s going to blow up at some point this season and the narrative will change to “OMG we need to get this guy signed”. He was also on pace for career best in turnovers and penalties… until last game. What a disappointing game that was for Fiala… gets a chance to be THE GUY and absolutely lays an egg. It was a cool story with him talking to Deano on the bench and does show he’s maturing… but the fact that happened shows his still has maturity issues. He’s 25 and in a big contract year, we should not still be talking about his maturity.

If Billy G has to pick between Dumba and Fiala I think he goes Dumba all day. It comes down to their personalities as Billy G has definitely shown that’s a big deal to him. I do see a world where Spurgeon, Dumba, and Addison are all regular D on the team. Addison can play sheltered minutes on the 3rd pair at 5v5 but get lots of powerplay time. It’s like Tampa where they have 3 very good left shot D in Hedman, McDonagh, and Sergachev.

I don’t think any of the D prospects (Addison not included) are doing enough yet to make the team start planning out a spot for them. Lambos, O’Rourke, Hunt, and Peart are all very nice prospects likely with NHL futures, but don’t seem all that close to the NHL right now. Certainly not close to being top 4, and there will always be room on the bottom pair for them. O’Rourke and Hunt go to the AHL next year and are likely there for a couple years. Lambos has another year in the Dub and Peart has at least 2 more years in St. Cloud. Defenseman take longer to get to the NHL and Billy G has preached giving prospects all the time in the world in the minors.

Kaprizov back on the ice today without any special “don’t hit me” jersey, so it looks like he’s good to go? I hope they errored on the side of caution and keep him out the next 2 games…Russian Tank!

tswoboda wrote:

Fiala is still a player that if he’s not scoring, he’s not helping the team.

This x1000