And the winner…
The New York Rangers….
Me: It’s not rigged. It’s not rigged. It’s not rigged. It’s not rigged.
NHL in financial strain and the biggest cash cow in the league gets Laffreniere.
Me: It’s #$&@ing rigged
It is what it is…I think BillyG needs to swing for the #1 center fence and if Quinton Byfield gets past the Kings at #2, you offer Ottawa our #9 and our Penguins 1st rounder next year and an existing roster prospect like Greenway or Donato (not sure if the values even out?) Ottawa is rebuilding and could use an extra 1st round pick spread out next year. BillyG admitted at todays news conference you either draft or overpay in FA for #1 centers, nobody trades them away, here’s our chance with some serious draft ammo to make a move.
In other news Kaprizov landed in MN today, he’ll do a quarantine and then visit the facilities/coaches/players and look for a place to live.
Koivu #9
One of Mn’s other #9 picks, Granlund, a fellow fin.
Minnesota picks #9
Coincidence?
Yes
It is what it is…I think BillyG needs to swing for the #1 center fence and if Quinton Byfield gets past the Kings at #2, you offer Ottawa our #9 and our Penguins 1st rounder next year and an existing roster prospect like Greenway or Donato (not sure if the values even out?) Ottawa is rebuilding and could use an extra 1st round pick spread out next year. BillyG admitted at todays news conference you either draft or overpay in FA for #1 centers, nobody trades them away, here’s our chance with some serious draft ammo to make a move.
In other news Kaprizov landed in MN today, he’ll do a quarantine and then visit the facilities/coaches/players and look for a place to live.
I believe the Wild are a team that falls into the rebuilding mode. If so why bundle a bunch of picks and guys into a trade that brings back a unproven player? While it might be the best way to get a top line center it’s also the riskiest. If the kid is a bust you are out another bunch of picks. If he turns out to be a very good player you are still short pieces around him. If he turns out to be a super star, well the Wild doesn’t draft super stars so……….
Yes prospect aren’t surethings, but this Byfeild kid is 6’4″ pure center and he’s a great skater with an extremely high offensive skillset and has dominated at every level he’s played at even a much younger age than other players (he’s a very late birthday). His “hit percentage” as a possible #1 center is much much higher than other prospects, at some point this franchise has to take a chance. I think the Wild have tried the “let’s just draft where we draft and hope we hit the #1 center jackpot” since it’s inception 20 years ago and has ZERO #1 centers to show for it. I’m just saying with the #9 pick and another next year from the Penguins (No way they give us their #15 pick this year) we’ve never had this much draft ammo to make a bold move.
With the long term contracts we have tied up in some players and the fact that the salary cap is probably stuck the next 2 years, we kind of have our team figured out already.
Forwards likely on the team for the next 4+ years:
1) Parise (untradeable contract)
2) Fiala (franchise player)
3) Kaprizov (hopeful franchise player)
4) Boldy (hopeful franchise player)
5) Khovanov (hopeful franchise player)
6) Erickson Ek (he’ll still be here based on needing a center)
7) Kunin/Greenway/Donato (1 of these guys will still be here)
8) existing prospect like Sturm/Beckman/Mayhew/Lodina
Defenseman likely on this team for the next 4+ years:
1) Suter (untradeable contract)
2) Spurgeon (Franchise player)
3) Dumba or Brodin (Franchise players – 1 will get traded for a #2 center)
4) Addison (hopeful franchise player)
5) existing prospect like Mennel/Soucy/likely bust Johansson
So if we have 10 great prospects ready to move up to the NHL, where are they supposed to play? You can’t put offensive focused players on the 3rd and 4th lines or 3rd D pairing…those slots are meant for role players. So you’re forced to trade some of them anyways…
I believe the Wild are a team that falls into the rebuilding mode.
The problem with that is that you have to basically start from scratch. Blow it up and rebuild. New coach, new goaltender(s), almost an entirely new roster. It can be effective but there’s no guarantee. The only guarantee is that it takes a reasonable amount of time. Can’t be done in 1 season. You have to be bad for a bunch of seasons to load up on high draft picks, hope they pan out, and then go from there. Like the Blackhawks or Penguins have done.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
I believe the Wild are a team that falls into the rebuilding mode.The problem with that is that you have to basically start from scratch. Blow it up and rebuild. New coach, new goaltender(s), almost an entirely new roster. It can be effective but there’s no guarantee. The only guarantee is that it takes a reasonable amount of time. Can’t be done in 1 season. You have to be bad for a bunch of seasons to load up on high draft picks, hope they pan out, and then go from there. Like the Blackhawks or Penguins have done.
How did that work out for the oilers?
How did that work out for the oilers?
Probably still TBD. Obviously not great the past 10 days.
If the Wild decide to keep the #9 pick, based on who will likely be available (the goal scorers are already picked) I could see them go 4 different ways.
1)Yaroslav Askarov – Generational Goalie prospect (pretty much every expert says he’s better than Carey Price at his age) Pick him and you potentially lock down the goalie position for 10+ years…
2)Anton Lundell – Basically a Mikko Koivu clone who could lock down the #2 center position in 1-2 years. Most scouts say he’s ready to play in the NHL next season.
3)Jake Sanderson – Elite level defenseman with offensive upside, most compare him to Cal Maker
4)Jack Quinn – The best pure goal scorer left at #9, but might not be worth the #9 pick talent wise..
Forwards likely on the team for the next 4+ years:
1) Parise (untradeable contract)
2) Fiala (franchise player)
3) Kaprizov (hopeful franchise player)
4) Boldy (hopeful franchise player)
5) Khovanov (hopeful franchise player)
6) Erickson Ek (he’ll still be here based on needing a center)
7) Kunin/Greenway/Donato (1 of these guys will still be here)
8) existing prospect like Sturm/Beckman/Mayhew/Lodina
You forgot Zuccarello…
yup, I thought about it, but from what i’ve been reading BillyG is going to do everything he can to trade him or ask if he’ll lift his NTC so he can be unprotected for the xpac draft…but yeah I think he could be here for awhile
And the Rangers get the #1. What a surprise. Can there be any doubt these draws are rigged?
Forwards likely on the team for the next 4+ years:
1) Parise (untradeable contract)I would not bet on Parise being untradeable. Both New Jersey and NYI have shown significant interest, and now that the awful cap recapture is not part of the picture, I think the deal could be there.
But of course, all the guys who always want Parise gone never seem to be able to answer this: Who are you going to get when you trade Parise to replace his 20-30 goals? Parise had 25 goals in this past SHORTENED season. How are you going to replace that production? Nothing that’s been offered for Parise or that we could reasonably acquire with the cap space has been even close to his proven level of production.
I think the Wild’s biggest gap currently is in talent development. Greenway, Kunin, Ek, Donato, etc, etc, etc, how come we have so many high-potential young players that continue NOT to pan out? What’s wrong with the Wild’s system that player after player after player keeps failing to develop their game? Is it the Iowa organization? Is it the GM? What’s going wrong?
[quote=1964012]Zach Peterson wrote:
How did that work out for the oilers?Probably still TBD. Obviously not great the past 10 days.
How many more years in a TBD? It’s already been almost 10 years since Nugent Hopkins was supposed to turn the team around. Then it was Yakupov. Then it was McDavid. Now the great orange hopeless are hoping for a goaltender to fix it all …
Sucking your way to success got much harder with the expanded and internationalized NHL where beyond the first 1-3 picks, you are drafting very young players and only based on future theoretical potential.
Grouse
I don’t think it is an Iowa thing as Kunin was really the only one that spent any real time there. EK is a good player one of the top defensive centers this past season statistically. It just that he is not a goal scorer and not flashy. Should they have drafted Brock instead. Hindsight is easy to say yes to that now. Donato was a guy to get back for dumping Coyle. Is probably a bottom six guy or a guy they move on from eventually. If he doesn’t score 25 goals he does not do much ya for your team. Greenway still has some time. Never a pure goal scorer in college either. When you draft where they had been there is definitely no sure thing. It’s to bad Jordan is such a nice happy guy. When he plays pissed off he can be effective.
I agree ZP can still be traded. Like you said who is going to replace his goal scoring remains to be seen but if they are rebuilding even partially his long term fit is probably not in Minny anymore. You will not get that type of player back in the trade. I am fine with him staying as well.
I think we need to give Bill a chance first. He came into a pretty awkward situation last year and really had his hands tied for the most part coming in when he did. These expansion drafts are not helping either. I think he is going to have to get real creative to find a true number one center to play with Fiala and the Russian. They clear just shy of 10 million after this season with Koivu and Galchenyuk. Another 7.5 the next season after stall and Dubs are gone.
How many more years in a TBD? It’s already been almost 10 years since Nugent Hopkins was supposed to turn the team around. Then it was Yakupov. Then it was McDavid. Now the great orange hopeless are hoping for a goaltender to fix it all …
Sucking your way to success got much harder with the expanded and internationalized NHL where beyond the first 1-3 picks, you are drafting very young players and only based on future theoretical potential.
Really its as long as the fanbase is willing to wait. I do agree with the second paragraph as far as sucking your way into success. Both the Penguins and Blackhawks did this. They were both absolutely terrible for a long period of time before they found the right draft picks and had it work out. Not a great way to rebuild.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TheFamousGrouse wrote:</div>
How many more years in a TBD? It’s already been almost 10 years since Nugent Hopkins was supposed to turn the team around. Then it was Yakupov. Then it was McDavid. Now the great orange hopeless are hoping for a goaltender to fix it all …Sucking your way to success got much harder with the expanded and internationalized NHL where beyond the first 1-3 picks, you are drafting very young players and only based on future theoretical potential.
Really its as long as the fanbase is willing to wait. I do agree with the second paragraph as far as sucking your way into success. Both the Penguins and Blackhawks did this. They were both absolutely terrible for a long period of time before they found the right draft picks and had it work out. Not a great way to rebuild.
This may be a bit harder to do considering the circumstances of the world today. Most owners are going to want to put butts in the seats when they are allowed.
The rumored Islanders Parise trade was for often injured Andrew Ladd who has been playing in the minors most of the past 2 seasons with a $5.5 cap hit for the next 3 seasons vs Parise’s 5 more seasons at 7.5 million, but at least Parise is still playing at a NHL level, so the owner is getting something for that money vs watching it skate in the AHL. I just don’t see how any other team would want that amount of term left for Parise with the way he plays and his injury history? The fact Parise lifted his NTC is encouraging for future trade talks, but who knows….
I think COVID might present a unique opportunity for the Wild to potentially trade for a #1 center this offseason. The salary cap is going to stay as-is for 1-2 years until things normalize and revenues get back to what they used to be, this will hit teams hard like the Leafs, Tampa Bay, Washington, Boston, etc that have established offensive talent but have either big contracts coming up for younger emerging stars and don’t have the cap space to sign them like they expected to with the typical cap increases we’ve seen in the past. This will require these teams to give up in certain areas (offense) to fill gaping holes in other areas (Defense) This suits the Wild as we have Dumba and Brodin and draft picks that we could swap in a trade for an established Center.
I think it’s pretty safe to say that his will be the most important offseason in Wild history.
and a final observation, I think it will be very interesting to see what Pittsburgh does with their 2020 #15 draft pick (Keep it or defer their 2021 pick to us with ZERO limitations) thanks to the Zucker trade.
I can see them keeping it because there’s so much uncertainty with the 2021 draft class (will there even be 2021 junior hockey seasons to properly evaluate talent?) and they haven’t picked a 1st round pick in many years and they need some new talent in their limited prospect pool.
BUT
if Crosby gets hurt next year (he has a long history with concussions and other injuries) or Malkin gets hurt or due to capspace issues they need to unload some existing talent, they could do what the San Jose Sharks did this season and completely tank and therefor we could get their lottery pick!
So a big decision they have to make in the next 5 days!
I don’t delve as deeply as some of you so what happens with Kaprizov after next year? Does he become a RFA?
I don’t delve as deeply as some of you so what happens with Kaprizov after next year? Does he become a RFA?
Yeah he’ll be a Group 1 RFA after the 2021 season – Group 1 has no arbitration rights and can’t be offer sheeted.
and a final observation, I think it will be very interesting to see what Pittsburgh does with their 2020 #15 draft pick (Keep it or defer their 2021 pick to us with ZERO limitations) thanks to the Zucker trade.
They’ll keep it or use it in a trade package. It’s the highest pick they’ve had since 2012 and Crosby/Malkin are still on the team.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
and a final observation, I think it will be very interesting to see what Pittsburgh does with their 2020 #15 draft pick (Keep it or defer their 2021 pick to us with ZERO limitations) thanks to the Zucker trade.They’ll keep it or use it in a trade package. It’s the highest pick they’ve had since 2012 and Crosby/Malkin are still on the team.
GM probably thinking if they tank next year he’ll be gone anyways. Here’s to hoping the Penguins fall apart next year.
The 2021 Draft is expected to be a Center heavy with Aatu Raty expected to be the #1 overall pick, he’s a 6’1″ Finnish Center who’s highly touted.
Update – Penguins just announced they are keeping the pick, here’s to them failing in 2021 season!
If the Wild are unable to move up to #3-#8 and draft Rossi or Perfetti (i’m now thinking moving upto #2 to grab Byfield is going to way cost too much) I think the Wild should draft Anton Lundell at #9. He projects as a future #2 Center and is likely NHL ready next season. BillyG then tries to work a trade and get the best #1b/c level Center he can find (using Dumba or Brodin as a main trading chip and adding one of our younger wingers like Greenway, Kunin or Donato in the deal) Some centers at this level are Anthony Cerelli (projected), Max Domi, Vincent Trochek, Martin Necas (projected) Nick & Ryan Suzuki (Projected) No team is going to trade away a true #1a center….
You’ll also need to free up some top 9 wing slots for Kaprizov, Boldy, Beckman, etc in the next 1-2 seasons making some of our current younger wingers expendable…
No way around the fact that either Brodin or Dumba will be traded this offseason or at next years trade deadline, you can’t protect 4 defenseman in the Seattle xpac draft and Suter and Spurgeon take 2 of those slots…
This will be one of the most interesting/important offseasons for sure, another approach BillyG could take is to not overpay in trades and just ride out next year with what we have and re-evaluate knowing we own two 1st round draft picks and have several key players to likely sign long-term (Fiala & Karizov) as well as figuring out who we’ll lose in the xpac draft.
No hockey conversation should ever be had without mention of Hermantown, but DB will get all huffy, so I’ll refrain.
Rest in peace Dale Hawerchuk
No hockey conversation should ever be had without mention of Hermantown, but DB will get all huffy, so I’ll refrain.
You mean the the town of the always second place single A hawks. That Hermantown?
No way around the fact that either Brodin or Dumba will be traded this offseason or at next years trade deadline, you can’t protect 4 defenseman in the Seattle xpac draft and Suter and Spurgeon take 2 of those slots…
They can protect 8 skaters if they want… The top 4 D plus Parise, Zuccarelo, Fiala, and Ek. Gets even better if Parise and/or Zuccarelo agree to waive their NMC since there’s ZERO chance Seattle takes them. The other option is Suter waiving his NMC, but I don’t see that happening at all.
The 8 skaters route seems like a no doubter to me… At least with the roster as it is now.
Aw poor baby
Sweep avoided 
Haha. Be safe Torts.
Can somebody explain to me how Charlie Coyle is actually relevant in playoff Boston?? All Boston does is go deep into the playoffs every year
Also Marchand is a beast……
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
