Can’t wait for the next Wild trade rumor posted on legitnhltraderumorsinsider-dot-ca
The Toronto trade is mentioned everywhere online…and I mentioned it was silly, but it brings up a logjam scenario with NMC’s involved that’s worth discussing…
There’s lots of things posted online. Just curious which actual insider is reporting on the Middleton trade? Not including anonymous Twitter bots, basement podcasters, reddit threads, HFboards, IDO hockey experts, and clickbait sites like NHL News Now.
One of the D could very well get traded but it doesn’t need to happen any time soon. Give it some time and the decision might become obvious. Spurgeon coming off a missed season is a huge question mark to me. Definitely not untouchable and I think more likely to move before Brodin
One of the D could very well get traded but it doesn’t need to happen any time soon. Give it some time and the decision might become obvious. Spurgeon coming off a missed season is a huge question mark to me. Definitely not untouchable and I think more likely to move before Brodin
Nothing will happen now, the only deadline I mentioned was Middleton’s NMC starting next season so that then removes him from the trade scenario…if the plan is to trade Brodin, then that shouldn’t be hard to do…
Spurgeon isn’t going anywhere, who in their right mind would trade for a 35-36 year old 5’9 165lb D-man making $7.5 coming off of 2 big surgeries? nobody…we’re stuck with him for 2 more seasons
Yeah I dont think there is any chance of trading Spurgeon. He just doesnt hold up in the playoffs. Trading Brodin would be nuts.
Doesn’t have to be a trade, or at least not of an active player. 35 years old coming off a missed season and 2 surgeries – another injury filled year and he could end up riding off into the LTIR sunset.
Hopefully that’s not the case at all and Spurge has 3 more great seasons here. I’m just pointing out there’s a lot of moving parts and things that could happen with the D – absolutely no need to be worried about moving good players right now.
Don’t think we’ll see much player movement until the season starts. I could see Gus being shipped out if he has a slow start in net with Jasper waiting in the wings. Carrying three goalies on the roster makes no sense to me.
…absolutely no need to be worried about moving good players right now.
When can we start officially worrying about what the goaltending looks like? Now would seem about right to me. Yeah, now’s good.
I’m just really wondering what Flower looks like this season. You know how it is with older players, they’re fine at the end of one season and then we’ve seen it before where they show up at camp and bang! The battery died. They’re just not there.
Now everybody and their dog is going to say he’s a HOF guy, he’ll come in looking great, etc, etc. Okay, I hope so. But that’s only true until it isn’t. The thing is we’ve been using Flower not just as a backup, but more like a 1A situation so he’s got to be not just so-so and that brings me to…
So then we’ve get the Gus Bus. Are we going to be riding it or feeling like we got thrown under it?
I dunno, even with Wallstadt down in Iowa, I don’t feel great about the netminding situation. Will Wallstadt look ready to be a big team full timer this year even if it’s as a backup? And if he is, what do the Wild have to do to clear the space?
Yeah I dont think there is any chance of trading Spurgeon. He just doesnt hold up in the playoffs. Trading Brodin would be nuts.
Agreed and you can start to see the possible conundrum GMBG will be in next season IF Buium’s play warrants him being in the top4…(can’t move Spurgeon, Trading Brodin sounds ludicrous, Middleton has a NMC, etc….)
You shouldn’t have ANYBODY playing 3rd D pair making more than $2 million, if you do, that’s just terrible cap management…same goes for 4th line guys, that should be for ELC/Veteran minimum guys fighting and clawing every shift they get to stay in the NHL…
I’m a GMBG fan, but some of his recent extensions are likely headed in this direction the next few seasons, not smart especially for a team already handcuffed with cap penalties…
Maybe some of these guys (Spurgeon/Foligno) agree to play the LTIR game as their careers wind down, who knows…That’s never been a lever the Wild has been willing to pull…
not smart especially for a team already handcuffed with cap penalties…
The good news is they are all but gone after this season. Phew.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
not smart especially for a team already handcuffed with cap penalties…The good news is they are all but gone after this season. Phew.
for the most part, but $1.6 million for another 3 years isn’t great and just adds to the cap stress when players underperform based on their caphit and are forced to the end of the lineup…
I’ll try to make this point again. If Zeev is top 4 he will be on his rookie deal. So technically yes Midds will be making more for 5th d man than most teams but most teams don’t have a rookie salary in the top 4 either. So it is basically a wash.
I’ll try to make this point again. If Zeev is top 4 he will be on his rookie deal. So technically yes Midds will be making more for 5th d man than most teams but most teams don’t have a rookie salary in the top 4 either. So it is basically a wash.
if Zeev is playing top4 he’ll likely blow through his ELC incentives and his $975k caphit turns into $1.975+ so the difference isn’t that great…I don’t think we can really afford to have a 5th D playing 10 minutes making $4.35, especially when we’ll still be carrying a $1.6 million caphit for 3 years… is it doable? sure… That capspace could likely be better utilized elsewhere though…
The rest of the Parise and suter buyouts will not be noticeable because the cap will be going up. Not worried about that at all.
You shouldn’t have ANYBODY playing 3rd D pair making more than $2 million, if you do, that’s just terrible cap management…
All 6 of the Vegas D made over $2m the year they won the cup, only one of them was under $2.5m
So even if Zeev hits full bonus he’s under your magical $2m AAV mark, allowing them to pay a 4/5 guy a little more right. And his ELC runs through the final year of the Spurgeon contract. I’m not seeing the big glaring issue here.
When can we start officially worrying about what the goaltending looks like? Now would seem about right to me. Yeah, now’s good.
Did you ever stop worrying? Goaltending cost them the season last year. Whatever goaltending they get will be the difference between making playoffs or being back in the ping pong ball mixer.
Flower’s been consistently “fine” all 3 years in MN. Gus is the wild card. Not sure what else to do at this point besides hang on and hope for the best.
I’m thinking Gus has a bounce back year. At least I’m hopeful he will.
This season will determine if GusBus ever becomes an NHL starter again or if he slides back into spot backup starter slot and the guy everybody shoots high on in practice…
If he plays well, he’ll spit games with Wallstedt next season and then his Wild future will be determined by how well Wallstedt plays, likely resulting in him getting traded at the deadline or signing elsewhere as a UFA.
If he struggles, we’ll be stuck with him for another season as an expensive backup to Wallstedt and then he’ll be looking for cheap backup gigs the rest of his career (maybe he re-signs really cheap as Jesper’s future backup if our Iowa goalies don’t develop quickly)
So hopefully we get the motivated Gus Bus….
Thought this was kind of funny, each Denver University player has a bio page on their team website with a small paragraph describing highlights from each season they’ve played.
Here’s Zeev’s 2023/2024 “paragraph” :
2023-24: Recorded the first 50-point season by a Denver freshman since 1983-84 (John McMillan, 57; Dwight Mathiasen, 51) after leading the team with 39 assists and adding 11 goals as the second-youngest player in college hockey … First 50-point season by a freshman defenseman in the nation since at least 2002-03 … Finished second on Denver in scoring as his 50 points marked just the sixth time a D-man reached the half-century mark in the program’s 75-year history and ranked third all-time by a freshmen rear guard behind only Craig Redmond’s 54 points in 1982-83 and Greg Woods’ 52 points in 1975-76 (ranked 10th overall by DU freshmen skaters) … Became the first blueliner to lead the team in the assists since Will Butcher in 2016-17 (30), as his 39 helpers were the fourth-most in a season by a DU defender and the most ever by a freshman defenseman in school history … Was Denver’s first freshman All-American since forward Henrik Borgstrom in 2017 (first team) and the first freshman defenseman in program history to earn All-American accolades … Ranked fifth among all rookies, 10th overall and first among all defensemen in the NCAA in scoring … His 39 assists were third most in the nation (also third by a freshman) and the most among all D-men … Led all Denver defensemen with 11 goals, the most by a rookie blueliner since Joey LaLeggia also had 11 in 2011-12 … Registered 12 multi-point games and tallied three or more points on five occasions … Tied for the team lead with his brother, Shai, and ranked fourth in the NCAA with a +33 plus/minus rating—the highest ever by a Pioneer since the statistic first began being tracked in 2005-06 … Tied for second on the team in power-play scoring with 14 points (1g/13a) and added one short-handed assist … Third on the Pioneers with 41 blocked shots and finished with 20 penalty minutes … Made his collegiate debut on Oct. 7 at Alaska Fairbanks … Recorded his first career point with a goal and added an assist later in the game for his first multi-point outing on Oct. 8 at UAF, which also began a three-game assist/point streak (1g/3a) … Recorded the longest point streak of the season by a Denver player with a 12-game run (4g/17a) from Nov. 3-Dec. 9 (ended Jan. 12 vs. St. Cloud State), the longest such stretch by a defenseman in NCHC history (since 2013-14) and the longest by a Pioneer since Bobby Brink had a 14-game streak from Dec. 31, 2021-Feb. 19, 2022 (7g/21a) … Courtesy of College Hockey News, it was the longest point streak by a freshman defenseman in the NCAA in more than 21 years (online databases presently only go back to 2002) and bested the previous long of 11 outings in a row by Boston University’s Lane Hutson from Dec. 11, 2022-Feb. 6, 2023 (3g/16a) … Also produced a personal-best five-game assist streak, with him totaling 10 helpers from Nov. 25-Dec. 9 … Had his first multi-assist outing with two helpers on Nov. 11 at Arizona State and recorded a then-career-high three points (1g/2a) the next game on Nov. 17 vs. Omaha … Became just the second NCHC freshman and first rookie defenseman to be selected as an the NCHC Player of the Month after leading all conference players and tying for first in the nation with 14 points (3g/11a) in November (North Dakota forward Brock Boeser, March/April 2016) … Selected as NCHC Rookie of the Month in December after recording seven points (1g/6a) in four games and also earned the honor in March (co-winner) after registering 11 points (2g/9a) in 10 contests … Selected as the Hockey Commissioner’s Association National Player of the Month for November (co-winner) and Rookie of the Month for April as well … Had a team season-best +5 plus/minus rating and registered a career high in points with four assists on Nov. 25 vs. Yale, tied for the most helpers in a game during the season and the most by a DU freshman defenseman since 2002 … It marked just the third instance since 2016 by a rookie D-man in the NCAA (Boston University’s Lane Hutson, Feb. 3, 2023 vs. Maine; Minnesota’s Brock Faber, 5, March 27, 2021 vs. Omaha), courtesy of College Hockey News … Overall, his four assists were the most since defenseman Kyle Mayhew on March 11, 2023 vs. Miami and tied for the third-most in a game by a DU rear guard in school history (12th time) … It was just the 14th time that a DU defenseman recorded at least four helpers in a game and marked just the fifth occurrence in the last 20 years since 2004-05 … Matched his season/career high in points with one goal and three assists on Jan. 20 at Omaha … Scored in consecutive games for the first time by also tallying in the following contest on Jan. 27 at North Dakota … Named NCHC Defenseman of the Week three times and was once selected as Rookie of the Week on Dec. 4 (1g/2a), the same day that his brother, Shai, was recognized as Defenseman of the Week—marking the first time in conference history that a pair of brothers were honored for a weekly award on the same day … Had an assist and blocked a career-high seven shots on Feb. 2 vs. Western Michigan—the most blocks in a game since Justin Lee also had seven on Jan. 14, 2023 vs. Miami … Had three-point outings on Dec. 9 at Western Michigan (0g/3a) and March 22 vs. St. Cloud State in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals (2g/1a) … Recorded his first career multi-goal contest and tallied his first game-winning and overtime-winning goal in the conference tournament semifinals vs. SCSU … Also recorded an assist in Game 1 of the NCHC Quarterfinals vs. Minnesota Duluth on March 15 and in the Frozen Faceoff Championship Game vs. Omaha on March 23 to finish the conference tournament with five points (2g/3a) and earn All-Tournament Team recognition … Made his NCAA Tournament debut on March 28 vs. Massachusetts in the NCAA Northeast Regional Semifinals … Registered an assist on both the game-winning goal on March 30 vs. Cornell in the NCAA Northeast Regional Final and on the insurance goal in the NCAA Championship Game vs. Boston College on April 13, picking up his 50th point … Finished the season with 16 points (4g/12a) in the final 15 games … Played in 42-of-44 games during the campaign, with the only two outings he missed (Jan. 5-6 vs. Niagara) was while with the U.S. National Junior Team at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Sweden … Attended USA Hockey’s World Junior Summer Showcase prior to the season in July/August 2023.
I guess he had a pretty good year…
Kirill made it back to MN, start planning the parade route….
https://x.com/mnwild/status/1834250654165922008?s=46&t=uoRWUp28rKzoSODmtmr3Lw
Thank goodness! Wonder how interesting his travels were. I really wish he’d stay here now that Ukraine is using drones to hit targets in Russia.
The Wild prospects play the Blackhawks Saturday and the Blues Sunday, I haven’t seen any links yet but they typically hosted them live on their youtube channel…
This relationship (Mitchkov & Torts) will be fun to watch in Philly…
https://x.com/b_marsh92/status/1834382671964701085?s=46&t=uoRWUp28rKzoSODmtmr3Lw
The Wild prospects play the Blackhawks Saturday and the Blues Sunday, I haven’t seen any links yet but they typically hosted them live on their youtube channel…
They will stream both games
https://x.com/mnwild/status/1834585378893742520?s=46&t=uoRWUp28rKzoSODmtmr3Lw
Did you ever stop worrying?
No, not really. Because…
Goaltending cost them the season last year. Whatever goaltending they get will be the difference between making playoffs or being back in the ping pong ball mixer.
That’s exactly right. In addition I feel like there is a tendency to get overconfident with the idea that Wallstadt is a sure thing
He’s not and even if he were a 100% lock to be a generational goaltender, having a solid number two is still a necessity and who that might be is anything but clear.
The goalie situation is either going to be great or there’s going to be an unholy mess. I don’t think there’s any in between.
The Great Wall of St Paul is going to be legit. Maybe not this year, but in the future. They are rolling 3 goalies this year so no doubt thats to bolster Wally with Flower the crusty veteran. He will get games, maybe not a lot, but better than getting rocked in Iowa.
having a solid number two is still a necessity and who that might be is anything but clear.
Name another team other than the Bruins who had a solid #2 goalie (what does that even mean? How do you quantify “solid”)?
The only ways you get a good backup is if you can sign an older goalie on a cheap vet minimum deal chasing a cup before they retire, drafted them and they learn the pro game as a cheap backup option before taking over as the starter (like Wallstedt hopefully is this season or next) or you get lucky where an unknown goalie you got for nothing comes out of nowhere and plays like they never have in their career (like Gus did 2 years ago)
Otherwise no good goalie is going to sign and then sit and play every 4th or 5th game and no team is going to waste precious capspace on somebody who plays once every week or two…
Name another team other than the Bruins who had a solid #2 goalie
New York Islanders
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Name another team other than the Bruins who had a solid #2 goalieNew York Islanders
Yeah that’s probably another one, I kinda look at Varlomov as the Vet chasing a cup scenario before he retires, except I he likes it in Long Island and likes playing with another Russian goalie and that’s why he re-signed with a team going nowhere…
Riley Heidt is going to need to dominate tonight to quiet the critics (and give himself the confidence) about his possible making the Wild out of camp…
I’m also really interested to see how Haight and Ritchie look tonight…
2-2 after 2, Heidt with a goal & assist… He’s been all over the ice sofar… looks quick and fast with the puck…
Cadien Bankier is a sneaky prospect that will get to the NHL this season if one of our centers gets hurt… He’s looked really good…
Haight and Spacek have also looked good… Kinda worried about Lambos… I think this is his 3rd prospect tournament and he’s not doing much on the ice…
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
