MN Wild 2018-19 Official Thread

If they can get their PP going like they did last night they might have a shot at making a better run in the playoffs but I just don’t see it. They are sooooo slow and that first PP unit is even slower. Skating and passing. They succeeded yesterday but man is it painful to watch Suter slide 5 MPH passes around from the point. Wonder why there are never any shooting lanes for our PP? The second unit with Dumba at the point is the unit they should have out there the majority of the time. They have to respect his shot which opens up other lanes for other shooters.

Every team has slow starts at times. Tampa looked horrible the first 10 minutes against the devil’s and went down 2-0. They woke up and won 8-3.

Fenton flying to Russia to watch/meet with Kaprizov, nice to start the relationship early…

BLACKHAWKS FIRED Quenneville

BLACKHAWKS FIRED Quenneville!!!!!

hop307 wrote:

BLACKHAWKS FIRED Quenneville!!!!!

Just read that. Wow. Talk about handing a great coach to some other team.

Having watched the Blackhawks a couple of times this season, I don’t see their woes being a coaching issue. Looks to me like some key players are dogging it.

BTW, anyone else think Quennville’s phone just rang? It was a St. Louis area code on the screen, so he took the call… “Say Joel, we hear you may be looking for a head coaching position…”

Yeo will soon, umm, go. Again.

Grouse

That was my first thought as well Grouse.

How much of the Blackhawks fall the last 2 seasons do you attribute to them paying Kane and Toews both $10.5 million per year eating so much of their cap space? Less $ to fill the holes with quality players?

Just curious if this idea of 4-5 players at max salary and then scatter the remaining $ to fill the roster has seen its last day…

I’m wondering if this change had more to do with Quenville wanting out (knowing he’d find another place quickly) vs the Blackhawks firing him?

if not, why fire him when your .500 so early in the season? Doesn’t really make much sense..

Joe, that paying premium players big dollars is going to bite a lot of teams. The Hawks were really the first to run into the issue with Seabrook, Towes, Kane, Keith comprising the majority of their Cap. Their GM has made some very foolish moves and its clear this is a good ole boys network issue that caused Q to go down the road.
He was up in arms about losing Hjalmarsson, Panarin, his Assistant Coach, etc. They got bailed out when the buried Hossa’s contract in AZ. The issues they have are NOT Q’s fault and he will not be unemployed long if he wants to coach right away.
Another interesting team to watch is Toronto with Mathews, Marner, Nylander coming up this offseason, well technically Nylander is due now, but has until Dec to sign.
With Tavares already getting mucho bucks, you can bet that Mathews is going to get at least that much. I bet he is gone and brings his talents to AZ.

There’s no way Toronto lets Mathews go, he’s the face of the franchise (Tavares doesn’t have the personality to be it) Mathews will sign for $12+ million a season knowing he’ll make a ton more endorsement money in the Toronto market…The only way I could see him go would be if a desperate team (like the Coyotes you mentioned) puts out the RFA Offer sheet (The Dustin Penner contract) and Toronto doesn’t match it thus giving them several 1st round picks as compensation) and the 1st round draft slot of the Coyotes for the foreseeable future could be all top 3….interesting!

If I was the Wild I would be calling Toronto and see what it would take to get Nylander (how about Nino & Spurgeon)…Rumors are the Hurricanes have offered the most so far…Nylander is an elite talent…

I had read that the Wild had been poking around about Nylander. At the time the rumor mill ask in return was a combination of Dumba and pick(s). I have been hard on Dumba in the past, but he has shown more upside this year with his physical play. He just needs to be more consistent. Technically they could put a claim in on him now, but don’t have the funds. They wouldn’t be able to sign him after December without moving someone anyway so I guess a trade is really the only option.

I watched an interview with Mike Babcock a few weeks back and he was asked about their roster and maintaining it after signing Tavares. He talked about developing a teams talent level and having windows of opportunity to win a Stanley Cup. Once a team gets to that level the challenge will be balancing who will remain with the team while replacing players. He felt the Maple Leafs were sitting in prime condition and ready to compete for Championships long term.

The Leafs best window is this season, then they will need to lose at least 2 of their young studs. Pick the two that go from this list (Mathews, Mariner, Nylander, Kaponen, Gardner) Likely Nylander and Gardner…

They are elite at the forward position, but they need bigtime defense improvement and won’t have the cap space to fill it. Reilly makes $5 million a season and can’t play any defense…

as good as Nylander is, I wouldn’t trade Dumba for him…Dumba is improving at a crazy fast rate right now and his $6 million contract could look like a steal in a few years…That value is impossible to replace…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

as good as Nylander is, I wouldn’t trade Dumba for him…Dumba is improving at a crazy fast rate right now and his $6 million contract could look like a steal in a few years…That value is impossible to replace…

Agree 100%. I would entertain a trade including some combination of Brodin, Nino, Coyle (doubt they would take either of the latter 2 with their forward depth), etc, some even thought Spurgeon, but I’m not cool with moving him either.
Dumba could be a serious bargain if he continues the upward trajectory as you said.
The Leafs have lots of cap space now, but as you say, that is going to get swallowed up quickly this offseason.

I’m a “no” on any trade that involves Dumba. He’s shown the ability to grow EVERY year and I don’t believe we’re anywhere near the end of that trend. He’s one player that I KNOW we would severely regret trading because he has so much potential upside as an offensive defenseman.

Spurgeon has been part of trade rumors for 3 years now, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the trigger got pulled. I just hope it’s a package deal that includes shipping Coyle’s underperforming buttski outta here. We need the cap space and we have limited opportunities to offload under-performers, so we need to take advantage of every trade. Unless, of course, Fenton turns into some kind of wheeler dealer, which so far does not look to be the case.

Another thing! No more Fletcher Trades of first round draft picks! We absolutely cannot afford to give up ANY R1 picks given the age of this team.

Grouse

Brodin’s contract is a huge asset in a trade and Coyle’s is good IF he can show some long term value…

I’d make that trade based on the fact that we’ve only produced 1 true offensive star over the franchises history (Gaborik) So maybe we should start buying/trading for them?

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Brodin’s contract is a huge asset in a trade and Coyle’s is good IF he can show some long term value…

He is also one of the most underappreciated D-men on the roster. He doesn’t get enough credit in my mind. He isn’t flashy, but he is dependable and certainly an asset that the Leafs would love to have with their D Corps.

Well if you are going to dream, dream big I guess.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

I just hope it’s a package deal that includes shipping Coyle’s underperforming buttski outta here. We need the cap space and we have limited opportunities to offload under-performers, so we need to take advantage of every trade. Unless, of course, Fenton turns into some kind of wheeler dealer, which so far does not look to be the case.

I think you hit the nail on the head here with Coyle, and there should be several others included. They have less value in the eyes of other NHL General managers and scouts. The main reason Fletcher had to give up Draft picks is because of the Wilds player roster and their limited trade value.
The Wild have to many players who would be 3rd and 4th line players on other clubs.
And Fenton is hand cuffed because of it.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

as good as Nylander is, I wouldn’t trade Dumba for him…Dumba is improving at a crazy fast rate right now and his $6 million contract could look like a steal in a few years…That value is impossible to replace…

100% agree!

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Another thing! No more Fletcher Trades of first round draft picks! We absolutely cannot afford to give up ANY R1 picks given the age of this team.

Grouse

Agreed, he screwed the pooch.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

There’s no way Toronto lets Mathews go, he’s the face of the franchise (Tavares doesn’t have the personality to be it) Mathews will sign for $12+ million a season knowing he’ll make a ton more endorsement money in the Toronto market…The only way I could see him go would be if a desperate team (like the Coyotes you mentioned) puts out the RFA Offer sheet (The Dustin Penner contract) and Toronto doesn’t match it thus giving them several 1st round picks as compensation) and the 1st round draft slot of the Coyotes for the foreseeable future could be all top 3….interesting!

If I was the Wild I would be calling Toronto and see what it would take to get Nylander (how about Nino & Spurgeon)…Rumors are the Hurricanes have offered the most so far…Nylander is an elite talent…

Rumor I am hearing is that Matthews would sign with AZ if he wins a cup this year with Leafs…if they don’t win he’ll sign a one year deal in Toronto hoping for a cup in 2020, after that regardless of a Cup or not he’d end up in AZ where he grew up watching the Coyotes…and they’ll have a blank check waiting for him.
As for Nylander…do whatever it takes short of Dumba to get him…we desperately need an above avg young right handed Centerman/Forward.

Did his agent start that rumor?

Just heard the TSN guys discuss the Toronto contracts issues and they are all in agreement that Mathews gets over $12 million per, Marner gets over $10 million per season on their next contracts…add in Tavares $11 per season and that’s $33 million for just 3 players! ouch!

I knew Marner was good, but not $10 million per season good…Meanwhile Crosby makes $8.7 million for the next 7 SEASONS! Crosby!

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Meanwhile Crosby makes $8.7 million for the next 7 SEASONS! Crosby!

I wonder if that’s where this is going? Players are going to have to decide, do you want the max salary or do you want the cup?

Crosby’s $8.7 million instead of 10-12 million, look at how many players that means the Pens keep rather than having a Chicago Fire Sale and dumping players left and right to make cap space.

If teams with multiple star players each insist on $10+++ million a year, it basically breaks the team. You might be able to hold it together long enough to win a cup, or you might Edmonton it and end up with a bunch of high paid offensive players and no money left to fill gaps in you sieve-like defense.

I wonder if this factors in at all when it’s contract time? Do you want to make an extra million a year or do you want to win?

Grouse

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Just heard the TSN guys discuss the Toronto contracts issues and they are all in agreement that Mathews gets over $12 million per, Marner gets over $10 million per season on their next contracts…add in Tavares $11 per season and that’s $33 million for just 3 players! ouch!

I knew Marner was good, but not $10 million per season good…Meanwhile Crosby makes $8.7 million for the next 7 SEASONS! Crosby!

Not sure if you subscribe to The Athletic or not, but for those of you that do there is an interesting article about Nylander and how the delay in signing him may significantly benefit the Leafs. There is a clause that if a player misses X # of games, then the Cap hit for the first year is considerably higher than subsequent years. So this COULD be a way for them to somehow figure out a way to get him signed with a $8MM contract and still have money for the other guys OR it could open the door for other teams to claim or trade for him.
Mirtle wrote the story and he actually had some examples in there and in one example if he signed for like $9MM per year the hit in years 2+ was just under $7MM.

They can’t sign him if Marner gets $10 million and Mathews gets $12…Tavares $11 per could look like a huge anchor the back half of that contract…

I had an Athletic sub for the 1st year and dropped it after my introductory rate expired. It’s nice reading Russo’s articles during hockey season, but I found I could get 90% of the info for free on other sites…

it sure is nice to wake up in the morning and check the phone to see a Wild victory out on the west coast! Hopefully the monkey is completely off Nino’s back..

I just got watching the video recap as well. Looked like a good win. Hopefully we can repeat tonight.
DT

Only 5 teams have 20 points or better at this point. The wild are one of them. I keep asking myself how can this be? This was a very mediocre team that didn’t really get any better in the offseason yet they are keeping pace with the teams that were expected to be the best right now.

Their defensive play has been good enough. Their PK has been great. They seem to be getting bounces on the offensive side of things in spite of some significant offensive players not contributing as much as expected. Nino, Coyle, Zucker and to some extent, Staal. Although Staal is playing pretty well in my opinion. The PP has been getting the job done. Tge big factor seems to be goaltending, believe it or not.

Will the goaltending be able to keep this pace up all season? History says no but I sense something different about Dubs this season. He seems to be moving very very well laterally and doing an excellent job of predicting the play.

The MN sports fan inside of me is proceeding with extreme caution but I do think this is a level of play we should expect to see this season as long as they stay healthy. I just want to see a team with the ability to match up and execute a game plan against any team. That is what they’ve severely lacked in the past.