Let's Go Wild!

Why do I have a bad feeling about Dubnyk? He’s had a lot of time now to see a lot of lists putting him as the #1 free agent. And looking at the other FA goaltenders or lack there of, why wouldn’t he keep his options open? What cards does Fletch have to play, the “your numbers benefit from our system”? I doubt teams interested in a #1 goalie are saying, sure he had a nice run, but that was because of the style Minnesota plays. And I think the CBA took away the ability to do anything creative like low money year one in a muti-year deal and pay him more when Backstrom is off the books next year.

mplspug wrote:

Why do I have a bad feeling about Dubnyk? He’s had a lot of time now to see a lot of lists putting him as the #1 free agent. And looking at the other FA goaltenders or lack there of, why wouldn’t he keep his options open?

I think it’s going to depend on what he hears back when he can talk to other teams. At the reported level he’s asking for from the Wild, he might be overplaying his hand a little, but then again he could be using that to test the waters and see if the Wild would be eager to sign a deal quickly.

I can’t blame him for trying. But I also have to think he knows that he’s asking for a lot based on his overall track record and number of starts. Weather it’s the Wild or some other team, this point has to factor in. DD’s position is based on his 3 month run being indicative of the future, but that’s a pretty short window to base a long-term, big money deal on.

Grouse

His success was more the product of our system than his talent, every team he’s played for in the past that relied on his talent has been terrible. He’s looking to cash in and score the biggest $$ contract he can get, all that talk about his love being here in MN and being a good fit was all PR bull$#%$

let him walk and sign a younger FA goalie, Neimi or Anderson are good options…

What truly sucks is we can’t get a buyout of Backstrom’s contract because HE purposely decided to have surgery just to screw the wild out of the buyout option (You can’t buyout an injured player) He could of simply retired and taken a more than fair buyout, but he chose to screw us….really bushleague move…

There still may be a shot that Backstrom could be bought out, but it would mean a Dr would declare him fit to play. I believe this has to be done by June 30th. Its a long shot maybe, but the chance IS there.
I agree about the surgery bit and the timing of it, but I wonder how much of that is on the Wild. If they knew about this injury and it required surgery, then he should have been shelved for the season and had surgery. Now if the injury was hidden by Backstrom, then, that is just plain dirty. If the Wild knew and DIDNT demand surgery well, they will get what they deserve. They should have never signed him to the deal when they did.
The previous regime certainly had a tendency to overpay guys because they hung it out through the tough times with this team. Koivu is another example.
Wouldn’t hurt my feelings one bit if there were a taker for a trade with him. I like the guy, but for his age and his output FAR too much money.

CaptainMusky wrote:

There still may be a shot that Backstrom could be bought out, but it would mean a Dr would declare him fit to play. I believe this has to be done by June 30th. Its a long shot maybe, but the chance IS there.

I’m guessing Backs has made an appointment for July 1.

Actually Dubnyk only had one bad year. Can you blame him playing those years for the defensively inept Oilers?

I am not hugely concerned with is we have to go in another direction, but whoever we get, they have to be consistent. It might make sense to grab an older goalie instead, after all Kuemper was, and is still, the heir apparent #1.

My only concern is if someone does throw a bad contract at Dubnyk and over inflates everyone else’s value. We are in this predicament because we don’t have much space. I don’t think Fletcher would have a problem spending $5M on him otherwise. It may be inflated, but this team needs a stable net minder so they hopefully buck the 2 year trend and have a good, stable season without a lot of distractions.

from what I read Backstrom’s surgery came out of left field to Fletcher…IF we can move Pomminville and/or Koivu prior to the draft I’d make that move in a heartbeat. Their contracts are anchors for the next 4 years it would be nice to get out from underneath them… I’m still hoping for a trade to get Yakupov, we need to roll the dice a bit on a pure goal scorer and hope he can find the skill he flashed in junior…

For every great move Fletcher has made, he’s made almost as many head scratchers too, some of the moves were due to Risebrough’s ineptitude though…

Wild got Mike Reilly! He picked us over the Kings, Hawks and Pens. He’s following in Folin’s footsteps.

Too bad Justin Schultz went to Edmonton a couple seasons ago.

Just saw the Reilly news on Russo’s twitter feed. If it happens, this is terrific news, certainly one of the best prospects out there who were within the Wild’s cap space.

It’d be really terrific to add even more to the defense and have a D that’s as stingy as the day is long. Remember the start of the season last year when we virtually shut down the Avs for two straight games? Man, the FRUSTRATION that that produces and the way that wrecks an opponent’s confidence when they just can’t seem to get anything going.

Sounds like a new contract is almost done for Grandlund, so that’s one more deal nearly done. I’m really hoping a Dubnyk deal gets done very soon, but I also can’t blame him for sticking to his guns and exploring all options.

As a player he’s got a very small window to make his money and when a player is a UFA and is coming off a great season… well, clearly he knows he’ll never have mover leverage than he has right now.

Are there any deals coming for the offensive side? Are there any big movers that are affordable? Phil Kessel is a no unless lots of trades are involved. Patrick Sharp is getting shopped all over. Anybody see any shockers coming our way?

Grouse

Per Russo next year he’ll (Fletch) try and get the cap to where he can make another splash.

Also per Russo, Doobs has come south of $5M but wants more term. Tough spot for Fletch, but he’s going to have to give him 5 years at least. He’s got to be careful if being strapped. I’d do $4.5 for 5-6 years. Worry about the end of the contract later if he has to. This team needs confidence in its goaltender.

That’s if Doobs would take that amount and term.

Very good news regarding Reilly!
I’ve got kind of a bad feeling about Dubnyk as well. I’m not sure anyone will give him 5M a year. The Wild need to sell him on the fact that if he takes 16M over four years he’s set for life financially.
There will be a public outcry if he doesn’t stay but fan’s have short memories.

Who are you guys hoping to see the Wild draft tonight?

I’ve only heard the top 2 prospects names. I’ll read about who we draft after we draft them.

We found the heir apparent to Koivu.

Bruins traded Lucic to the Kings.

That’s almost as crazy as them trading Hamilton for 3 draft picks.

I think the bruins are rebuilding

mplspug wrote:

Also per Russo, Doobs has come south of $5M but wants more term. Tough spot for Fletch, but he’s going to have to give him 5 years at least. He’s got to be careful if being strapped. I’d do $4.5 for 5-6 years. Worry about the end of the contract later if he has to. This team needs confidence in its goaltender.

What’s the status of Niemi? Sounds like he’ll sign for 3-4m/y. Gimme Niemi over Doobs any day.

Niemi is a solid goaltender. Anyone know what the Sharks plan is? Wonder if Stalock will be the #1 goalie?
DT

deertracker wrote:

Niemi is a solid goaltender.

That’s a fact.

Doobs had a great few months with a great team.

Last I heard, Niemi was out and stalock was in fo San Jose.

Neimi is 32 and Doobs is 29 for comparison.

I thought I had read that there was a chance Niemi would be staying with San Jose. Wish Stalock was in a position to come home.
DT

I’ll take Doobs. I don’t want any part of a guy who backstopped the Sharks miserable post season failures these last few years.

Per Russo, trying to wrap up Doobs now and close on Granlund.

I like Doobs too. The cost is too high for his resume. He might be worth it but I think they’re going to overpay based on his resume which is a shame.

If they pay $500k-$750k more for a guy who proved he can play in our system, I’m OK with that.

Just in on Twitter, Sharks trade Niemi’s rights to Dallas for the 193 pick.
DT

And the Wild pick Jordan Greenway.
DT

@NHLnumbers 5 first 4, then 3.5, 2.5 for Doobs. I wonder and doubt $5M counts against the cap?

Doobs-26M over six years. That’s a long time!

Kings terminate Richards contract. I guess with this and what’s his name getting busted for drugs, we know why they talked this year. Not only that, but I think they had the defenseman who was suspended for domestic abuse?

Pure speculation, but I assume Richards termination was drug related.

I wonder if there’s any more deals to be made?

Wild still have some cap space and I think with a couple of players in the final year of their contract, there could be some forward looking moves with guys like Spurgeon potentially going to be looking for much bigger money to re-up.

Also, there could still be a Backstrom buy out. We may not be done with moves yet.

Some good moves made, but we also need more out of some key players. We also need to STOP this mid-season tanking and then crawling into the playoffs by playing playoff hockey for the last third of the season and exhausting the team.

Grouse

If you missed it, check out the second half of this Russo article…

Current Situation

We stand with 9F and 5D. That leaves

We got approx $6M left for signing. It’ll be tight. My first thought is he is too strapped to make a move. But now I wonder if cap space might force him to make a move that frees up space.

I have a feeling it is going to be quiet this year. Almost certainly no big FA signings, unless he can trade and make room. But I don’t think we need to sign a FA. Why get older. We have enough vets on the team and don’t need to be strapped with anymore.

That being said, I’d love to be in a position to sign Justin Williams. This is purely personal. I like him as a hockey player and he lives up to the clutch playoff player label.

I think the Oilers trade for Reinhart killed the potential Spurgeon for Yakupov trade, They gotta move Spurgeon soon while he still has good value…We have plenty of D depth, we need to take a chance on a young sniper who hasn’t panned out yet in the NHL, hope we strike gold..