Wild 2015-16

I loved watching the North Stars as a kid, but I just separate the two. I do like the Wild jerseys.

So no one has watched Showtime’s All Access?

I think I picked up on something. The team with the coach who uses the F’enheimer the least wins the cup! Not sure I have even heard Sullivan swear. The others more than made up for him…

I don’t have Showtime but I did catch a couple episodes on nhl network. Very well done and fun to watch.

KP wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
Thinking about the North Stars. How many people would go berserk if the Wild announced a name change to the North Stars? I think that would be sweet as heck and that old logo would help rekindle the rivalries of old.
I don’t mind the “Wild”, I just hate that head logo thing. Worst crest in professional sports.

I completely disagree on the wild logo. the design of that logo is creative and looks very cool. But I do agree on how cool it would be to have the north star name and logo back.

it’s creative alright. So much so that no one even knows what it is. I can understand incorporating all the “MN” aspects into the logo but it’s fugly. The jerseys with just minnesota across it are sharp though. I like the Iowa wild jerseys.
Nordiques were the best but being a homer I still prefer the North stars jerseys.

Bryzgalov is BACK! Or at least he’d like to be back.

As one commentator pointed out, I hope this happens just for the entertainment value.

Grouse

CaptainMusky wrote:

I don’t have Showtime but I did catch a couple episodes on nhl network. Very well done and fun to watch.

How many bleeps did you count? Lol

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Bryzgalov is BACK! Or at least he’d like to be back.

As one commentator pointed out, I hope this happens just for the entertainment value.

Grouse

The Bryz! It’d be cool to see him come back and shine. I’m not holding my breath though.

Bleeps! That is funny. Plenty though but definitely necessary.

Vanek is being bought out.

Luke Kunin! I’m going to try not cursing him.

Horrible pick. No offensive skills. He does have speed and plays good D zone. Horrible pick.

Remember, I’m trying not to curse him.

They made the mistake of drafting for a safe NEED pick vs best skilled player available… Let’s hope Bellows or Chycryn don’t turn into superstars….Bellows would have been my pick…

I was a big Fletcher supporter, but when he needed to make a smart pick in this 1st round to save his job, he didn’t…now he gets to sit & wait through the next 3 rounds and watch real GM’s make smart picks…maybe he’ll learn something? Doubtful….

Bye bye Fletcher….

Chycrun would have been interesting. Florida nhler.

Is there such a thing as a safe pick? They picked up a guy like Zucker, an offensive forward.

He’s a leader too, so he may be Koivus heir apparent.

This team needs to take a chance on a POTENTIAL elite goal scorer vs a maybe 2nd line center in 2-3 years… Fletcher was quoted saying “Jokingly he has lots of free time today at the draft to call free agents because the Wild doesn’t pick next until the 4th round”

He finds it funny he traded those picks away for ZERO return…I’m sure the other GM’s are laughing as well…

I’m not upset with Kunin, I’m upset with the Wild draft mentality…

Not who I would have picked in the first round. Probably the best “on paper” choice on the board, but I would have gambled on Bellows.

And I have to be brutally honest here. I just don’t know about the wisdom of taking on a young player who already has an incurable, chronic health condition. No offense to anyone, I know it’s not his fault, but as a professional athlete where your stock and trade is the performance of your body…

It’s going to be hard times in Iowa this year boys. Now sit until R4 with nothing going to restock the shelves.

Phone Boy Fletcher better be burning up those damn lines. Kuemper is going to get traded and so is a d-man, so now we see what Fletcher is made of.

Grouse

Trading Dumba would be a terrible decision, let’s see what Stevens can do with him first… I would pull the trigger on a Brodin or Scandella for RNH trade in a second though…

While it’s fun to rip Fletcher remember he made promises to land the new coach. Coach may want a certain type player to fit his system. This is absolutely a wag the tail situation where the coach is making the calls on personnel at least this year.

OK, continue the roast.

I think the scouts have more to do with drafts than Fletcher, I mean it is their job.

Grouse, does Kunin have health issues? I haven’t heard that.

I’d trade Dumba for Hall before RNH, even though I know we need a center. I’d even take Eberle over RNH, but not for a trade including Dumba.

If I were Fletcher I’d do whatever I could to nab one of the 3. 20 goal scorers who think can score 30+ once out of Edmonton.

Kunin is a Type 1 diabetic and has been for some time. I really don’t know if that represents any more/less risk than any other player that has experienced an injury. I’m just saying that with pro athletes and the season that now lasts 12 months of the year, I’m wary of any player that has health conditions when drafted.

Grouse

Crazy day in the NHL.

Stamkos staying put. Good, depending how things shake out, Bolts are my pick for the cup next year.

Subban for Shea Weber? Wow. Didn’t see that coming. I think it’s a pretty even trade, but overall, preds may win. Smashville fans will embrace P.K. and his personality and will help promote the team and possibly increase their presence which is already helped by Mike Fisher being married to Carrie Underwood.

Here’s one that has me questioning Fletch. Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson? I am pretty sure we have defensemen that are more appealing and we could have gotten Hall. You know, a guy who can score.

Hopefully Edmonton is looking to shore up the blueline more and we can offer Folin for Eberle.

When I saw the Hall for Larsson trade I said to myself, wtf is wrong with Fletcher not making a deal like that? The Hall trade option idea had to come up when they discussed the Dumba for RNH trade scenario….

We missed out on a goal scorer who was traded for much less than what we have to offer…Now it looks like we’ll throw tons of money to either Staal or Okposo who don’t carry anywhere near the potential Hall does…

My jaw hit the floor when I heard the Hall trade. Then, to hear the Oilers GM talk about their new guy as “not sexy”, he is trying to sell him to the fans. What a joke. We have 2 guys that would be expendable in my eyes that are better than Larsson. I sure hope that Fletcher didn’t go in to the talks with blinders on focusing on a center (which is our #1) when we certainly could have boosted our offense getting a wing!
The guy scored 80 pts in a season! I don’t believe we have ever had an 80pt guy. Come on Fletch!
If they do pursue Okposo (which I hope they don’t) it needs to be short term and under $5M. I don’t think there is a chance that Okposo goes for that. Signing Zucker makes him the likely candidate to be a expansion draft casualty for Vegas.
I like the guy, but his switch is either on or off and unfortunately its been mostly off.

I’m not big on Okposo or Staal either. I think they both would be huge mistakes.

I wonder if Fletch could have put a no trade clause or if his plan is to protect Zucker. If Zucker has a 20 goal season, we could protect him and force Vegas to trade for him and possibly get some draft picks next spring? Of course that would mean exposing another player.

I need to learn the rules of the expansion draft. Like if they select one of your guys do you get to then pull back and protect more players. I really hate how they have it set up, bt obviously with the money that Vegas is paying, they had to make it possible for them to come running out of the gate.

isn’t the x-pac draft just 1 player can be plucked from EACH team? I can’t believe the league would allow multiple players to get picked from a single team (unless there’s more than 1 x-pac team picking)

I’m guessing there’s some rule not allowing No Trade Clauses to be added to short term contracts signed in the next season or so, otherwise this would be a way for teams to protect their players as NTC players can’t be made available to the x-pac player pick pool…otherwise Pommer and Koivu would headline our list…

True, but you only get X amount of players to protect and NMC (No Move Clause) just means you are forced to protect them. I am not sure what would happen if a team had more NMC under contract than the 7 or 8 they can protect.

I suppose it becomes quite the risk too if you give Zooks a NMC and say he really craps the bed. You are stuck then.

The NMC is what the NHL is using. It’s broader than a no trade clause. A no move clause it literally you cannot move via trade, loan, etc the player unless he gives you permission.

Yes, I just learned that today too.

You are correct too that only one player can be nabbed from each team. I think in previous expansions you were able to protect more, but you also could lose more than one guy on your roster.

I wonder if there will be any weird stuff going on with teams and Vegas. I remember the Wild selecting guys only to move them and teams agreeing not to take guys for future considerations.

This team needs at least 1 good trade to shake things up a bit for next season (I’m ok with moving either Brodin, Scandella or Spurgeon) I really want to see Dumba after a season of Scott Stevens influence.

I would have been very happy had they been able to swing the Hall trade, but oh well… I’m against signing a FA because the term and price will likely be inflated…but a new guy like Tuch should help this team improve (bye bye Fontaine?) so we’ll get a bigger/stronger especially defensively with Stevens running the show…

IDK about Tuch. At first I was high on him, but I have watched several of his playoff/tourney games last year and aside from being big he really hasn’t progressed like I or many other people expected him to.
I don’t see him coming in to the big club this year or even next year. Russo and others have commented that he will need 1 or 2 years of “seasoning” in Iowa.
Maybe he will blow up and be a stud and make a difference this year, but he has a long ways to go based on where he was at last year IMO.
I would rather lose Dumba than Spurgeon or Brodin. Those two are solid d men. Dumba, I am not sure where he could end up. He could either be a bust or a total beast. Its going to be an either/or with him, no in between. He will never be a lock down type guy I don’t think. Yeah, with Stevens perhaps he can make some headway and growth, but if we could swing a deal right now, he would be the guy I would part with over the others.

CaptainMusky wrote:

My jaw hit the floor when I heard the Hall trade. Then, to hear the Oilers GM talk about their new guy as “not sexy”, he is trying to sell him to the fans. What a joke.

Yes, basically you and the rest of the entire hockey world are the only ones who don’t get this trade. What the…

The ONLY way I can make sense of this is that I have to think Edmonton and the Wild have been dancing around in trade talks before with Nugent Hopkins. Could it be possible that Fletch already told them “no deal” for the one/only player they were interested in so both teams moved on?

It’s the only thing I can think of. Edmonton must have only wanted Dumba and Fletch told them no way, no how so they went elsewhere.

Also to pass on this deal, I have to think Fletch and Bruce must be looking elsewhere. Obviously, this means Staal or Okposo, but I wouldn’t rule out a centerman trade that involved Kuemper for a high quality younger player either. There are some goaltending needs out there.

I’m getting very anxious for the trigger to get pulled on something. I guess at this point I don’t really care who comes and who goes, the Wild just need the shakeup. Realistically, IMO, the Wild are at best a bubble team and that’s if/only if the rest of the west basically shakes out at about the level they were at last year. To really move forward, they Wild have to get some serious quality coming out of young players and we all know the situation there.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

To really move forward, they Wild have to get some serious quality coming out of young players and we all know the situation there.

Grouse

I was reading a “prospect pool” power ranking article the other day and the Wild were something like 20th. Doesn’t surprise me, probably about where I would have put them. The funny part of the article is they said the reason they ranked as high as they did was because of the forward depth. Huh? If anything they have more depth in Iowa at D, doesn’t make much sense that comment to me anyhow.
Granted I realize much of the young D talent is slated for the big club now, but I really wouldn’t see the forward depth as any sort of strength.

Fletch is active in the first hour of free agency. Eric Staal (3yrs, 3.5M per), Chris Stewart (2 yrs, 2.3M total) and Alex Stalock all signed so far.
Signing Staal improves us up the middle. Not a superstar, but he is a guy who has scored in the past. Hopefully a full season on a decent team (Hurricanes have sucked for years) will recapture his scoring touch. I like the term and small cap number. This frees up Granlund to possibly stay at wing and potentially Coyle at wing too. Bonus Bonus in my eyes.
Stewart? That was an interesting one. I didn’t see that coming, but I really really like that deal. Very small cap number and he seemed like a great guy when he was here before. He is super excited to come back.
Stalock adds NHL experience to the net in Iowa. Gives some flexibility to move Kuemper possibly or just stabilize Iowa since its a 2 way deal.

Not super flashy deals, but IMO this is the kind of thing we needed to do this year. Manage cap, get some upgrades and then just fill out the roster.

I am pumped about the Chris Stewart signing. Remember he was taken out of the playoffs against Chicago when Oduya grabbed his damn leg and tripped him into the boards?

Stewart seemed to change the attitude of the team and I think he puts some good chemistry in the locker room. I know Dumba likes him, so maybe it will help him relax and bring his game up. It gives us size, attitude and a little physical element that we always seem to be missing.

Staal…kind of feels like Heatley/Vanek.

Pug, I will admit the Staal thing had me thinking about those two as well, but this is far less money so it has me much less nervous. Im not expecting him to be a big scorer, but he has good size, is a center and has scored in the past. I bet he can put up 50 pts for us. He has to do better than with the Hurricanes. There was no one else on that team so he had to carry them. I think this will allow him to loosen his grip on the stick and it should help a lot. Fingers crossed, total homer talking.