Article: Wild Re-Sign Late-Season Standout Marcus Johansson

[Thomas Williams]

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[mnfaninnc]

I'd have to think this is a bargain. It also didn't take very long.

I count 6 D, even though capfriendly shows Faber in the minors, I think he's earned a spot on the big club.

I also see Duhaime and Shaw on the RFA list, got to think they'll be back and be fairly inexpensive. 

Johansson will likely be Boldy's wingman next season as they keep that line together with Ek. I think I would have liked to have seen Boldy experimented with Kaprizov on the top line a little more. Maybe they think about breaking up Zuccarello and Kaprizov a little more often this upcoming season?

 

[Protec]

Pretty fair deal, not too long. Probably not too important whether or not there’s any trade/movement stuff. He was certainly good here and had the prettiest playoff goal for MN.

[Pewterschmidt]

I don't mind this deal at all.  When we consider the free agent options available at that price I'll take Mojo's capability for the dynamic style of play over a north/south type grinder (Steel, Greenway, Tyson Jost Mortem, Luke Kunin, etc)

Would like to see Dean change up the lines every month next year so Mojo see's some time with 97 and Zuc get's some time with Boldy.  We need our creative types getting to know each other and finding chemistry if it exists. 

[Protec]

^^^
 

Also in case of injuries. Somebody gets hurt and now the lines are so uncomfortable being juggled that you’re incapable of adjusting nicely. Nobody could see Dean getting caught in that pickle right?

[Beast]

Obviously a cheap deal.   But, I’d prefer he not be back no matter the price.

2 points and 14 shots in 6 playoff games.  -5 in those 6 games.  1 point on the power play in those 6 games.  -19 in his playoff career. 

I don’t care about the regular season anymore.

I’m done with just about everyone on this team during that playoff series.  Kirill, Boldy, Ek, Gustavsson are really the only ones that I have any sort of feeling about bringing back.  Nyqvist, maybe, but that isn’t happening.  I wouldn’t care if everyone else were sent packing.

[IllicitFive]

26 minutes ago, Beast said:

I’m done with just about everyone on this team during that playoff series.  Kirill, Boldy, Ek, Gustavsson are really the only ones that I have any sort of feeling about bringing back.  Nyqvist, maybe, but that isn’t happening.  I wouldn’t care if everyone else were sent packing.

Haha man, So want a whole new D core, which one could argue is the reason the Gus bus was so successful. New coach becasue the one who has taken, what some may argue, scraps and brought them to the playoffs with around 20% of the cap unavailable clearly doesn't know what he is doing. And removed anyone besides 3 maybe 4 players because obviously anything you can get from FA is obviously better than what we have, while incurring even more dead cap.  I again am giving you a chance to offer a solution, what you think will fix it besides basically crippling the franchise forever. Just want to tank for the next McDavid and build the dynasty like the oilers currently have? Or just stick with "FIRE EVERYONE" mentality. Idk, maybe teams like Boston and Colorado will have the same idea, no cup? well this isn't working burn it down.

[MNCountryLife]

8.2M in cap space and we need at least 5 more players signed minimum just to get to 20 players.  Faber will obviously play up at 925K. 

I think GMBG will do something like:  Beckman $900K and Walker $850K will play up.  That leaves 5.525M.  It would give us 6D, 11F and 1G.   Shaw will join the team in January for $925K.  I am betting Fleury will retire and Gus will sign for $4M.  The Wall plays up and completes the goalie tandem.  If Fleury doesn't retire Gus is lost and the Wall still plays up.  I can't imagine them not signing Duhaime $1.2M.  Which gives us 21 players and approximately $2.4M in cap space.  

I would like to see:  Faber, Beckman and Walker play up.  Shaw joins in Jan.  Trade Fleury or he retires and bring up the Wall and sign Hunter.  That would put our cap at roughly $6.3M.  Sign Nyquist for $2M AAV. Giving us 6D, 11F and 2G to start the season.    Anyone gets injured and we pull from IA.  Duhaime, Steel, Addison, Dumba, Klingberg, Gus, Fleury, Reaves and Sundqvist would all be gone and we have $4M in cap space.

Some tough decisions there.  Would love to see a team friendly contract given to Dumba.  I think there are quite a few players in IA that are capable of playing up.  Ottenbreit, Swaney, Petan, O'Rourke, Chaffee and Mermis are probably all viable options for BG.  He needs to really pay attention to summer training by players.  Yes, I omitted Rossi intentionally.  I haven't seen anything from him that says he deserves to play up.

[B1GKappa97]

Not mad about it. The MoJo-Ek-Boldy line was great when Ek was available. Where is this $2M in cap space coming from though?

I've got a feeling that we're going to buy Zooky out of the final year of his deal. From my rudimentary math skills, that would save us $2M in cap space for '23-'24 and only cost us $1M in '24-'25, when MAF's $3.5M and Goose's $2M are due to come off the books anyway. The only RFA for that offseason is Dewar. Beckman and Walker will be RFAs also but will be cheap since they'll have only played for the big club for one season at most. 

Hopefully we can find a way to keep Nyquist too. He looked like a legit top-6 player when he was playing and was easily our most consistent performer in the playoffs. I think he'd be a great replacement for Zook on the top line. 

Edited May 2, 2023 by B1GKappa97

[Pewterschmidt]

23 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

MoJo-Ek-Boldy line

MoJo-Bo-Jo line

[mnfaninnc]

3 hours ago, Protec said:

Probably not too important whether or not there’s any trade/movement stuff.

I quickly checked capfriendly and it didn't have any trade restrictions. It could be that's added later, but I did check.

[B1GKappa97]

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Maybe they think about breaking up Zuccarello and Kaprizov a little more often this upcoming season?

They should think about just straight up buying Zuccy out. Saves cap this year, just costs us $1M in '24-'25. He has done nothing for us in 3 straight post-seasons and this year it seemed like his age was finally catching up with him. 

Only question is who takes his spot, but I don't see any reason to keep him at $6M in cap space next year. Fun while it lasted but we need somebody who can actually take advantage of teams trying to shut down Kaprizov in the post-season. 

[B1GKappa97]

18 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

MoJo-Bo-Jo line

MoJoJoBo!

Edited May 2, 2023 by B1GKappa97

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, MNCountryLife said:

I am betting Fleury will retire and Gus will sign for $4M.  The Wall plays up and completes the goalie tandem.

Fleury is already staying. Why don't you think we can resign Goose2 in this scenario? Shaw probably gets signed and put on LTIR, maybe after the season starts, or whatever he needs for the team to be able to monitor his recovery. 

Let's face some facts about Gustavsson: He had a very nice season as a backup goaltender. His next step is 50+ starts. Nobody's paying a backup goaltender with limited starts $4m. Gustavsson has also been rescued from an organization that doesn't believe in him, he gets to play with national heroes in Ek and Brodin. For him to resign, you need to think more like an Elite Swede. He likes it here. It's a comfortable atmosphere for him. He's not as concerned about $ as NA players might be.

His agent knows what he wants. Arbitration is an option and also an offersheet. That's pretty much his leverage. His agent also knows the problems this team has. Goose2 has earned a salary raise, but not that high. 39 games, 1st round elimination. The body of work just isn't there for him. He doesn't have the reputation of Oettinger who signed his deal coming off an incredible series where he held the Stars in for 7 games against Calgary. Goose2 was good, don't get me wrong, and I want him to stay, but I think he's going to sign a 2 year team friendly deal to stay and get the chance to start. It's in his best interest going forward if he can put a couple of very good seasons together to get the big contract on his next negotiation, perhaps even here.

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, B1GKappa97 said:

I've got a feeling that we're going to buy Zooky out of the final year of his deal.

Why a buyout and not a trade? Wild could retain 50% and get $3m in relief. Zuccarello at $3m should look pretty good for an acquiring team.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

I'm not sure whether the Wild had a chance to sign Nyquist, or if this deal eliminated that chance. Definitely liked the limited action we were able to see from Nyquist.

Certainly open to Fleury being traded to a nice destination like Pittsburgh to complete his NHL career.

Would it make more sense to trade Zuccarello while retaining salary if they wanted to open some cap space? I don't think he's worth his full contract, but someone else would probably take him for half of it, and the Wild wouldn't need to have future cap hits like they'd get with a buy-out.

I wouldn't mind Zuccarello staying for the last year of his deal, but the cap space is really tight for Guerin now. A couple of deals to part ways with aging veterans could give them a little breathing room.

[B1GKappa97]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

Why a buyout and not a trade? Wild could retain 50% and get $3m in relief. Zuccarello at $3m should look pretty good for an acquiring team.

Because he has a M-NTC (10-team) and somebody has to want to take him from us. I don't think he'll have that many takers given his age and lack of production without Kaprizov. Anyone who does want him likely ends up on his no-trade list. 

$1M dead-cap isn't terrible to free up space/a top-6 spot. The way the contracts are situated we will get plenty of space back from older players retiring after the '23-'24 season so we can afford an extra dead-cap hit for a year. 

[Quebec1648]

2 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

Not mad about it. The MoJo-Ek-Boldy line was great when Ek was available. Where is this $2M in cap space coming from though?

I've got a feeling that we're going to buy Zooky out of the final year of his deal. From my rudimentary math skills, that would save us $2M in cap space for '23-'24 and only cost us $1M in '24-'25, when MAF's $3.5M and Goose's $2M are due to come off the books anyway. The only RFA for that offseason is Dewar. Beckman and Walker will be RFAs also but will be cheap since they'll have only played for the big club for one season at most. 

Hopefully we can find a way to keep Nyquist too. He looked like a legit top-6 player when he was playing and was easily our most consistent performer in the playoffs. I think he'd be a great replacement for Zook on the top line. 

Zuccarello happens to be Kaprizov's wingman and best friend. I doubt Kaprizov will like the idea of moving on from Zuccarello. Keeping Kaprizov happy is a necessary thing, since the Wild will need him to buy into the idea of going through two more years of team futility, followed by a rebuild phase. We need Kaprizov to stick around once his 5 year deal expires. 

Other than Zuccarello, every player who will be 34 or older when the Suter / Parise penalty phase is over, should be moved. Get younger and start preparing for the future. Keep Gus, Kaprizov, Boldy, Brodin, Ek, Shaw, Faber and Zuccarello, but move all the others or at least listen to offers. Kaprizov, Ek and Brodin can take over the leadership roles on this team.

 

[Protec]

Quote

mnfaninnc:

You need to think more like an Elite Swede.

Could there be a truer statement.

GMBG isn't done with transaction season. He can let guys walk. Sign players for minimums, offer spots to young guys to compete for which gives Guerin leverage to sign players for less. Let's say they plug Rossi, Beckman, Walker into the lineup and trade Addison, Steel, Duhaime, and if they can Zuccarello. This would allow the Wild to have the money they need. Get Gus for like 3M, which is fair on one good season and the WIld can either make the playoffs or get a better draft pick being sellers with Goligoski, Fleury, Grizzle, and Moose, maybe others to move at the deadline.

If that was to happen, it's quite possible the Wild could be nearly as good as this season. They'd have some wiggle-room with money and young players would be forced to step up. Might be a motivator for other prospects to come in and earn an NHL job too. Knudi perhaps or another elite Swede.

Edited May 2, 2023 by Protec

[jgodwin17]

Really like this deal, 2M seems very fair for what he brought in the season. Also his playoff goal was one of the nicest goals I have ever seen.

[mnfaninnc]

18 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

Because he has a M-NTC (10-team) and somebody has to want to take him from us. I don't think he'll have that many takers given his age and lack of production without Kaprizov. Anyone who does want him likely ends up on his no-trade list. 

I think this restriction is a bit of an unnecessary speedbump. 

1. Guerin already has Zuccarello's list, he can trade him to a team before the new league year. There are 22 teams he can get traded to, and only 8 are left playing.
2. Even after the new league year, Zuccarello doesn't have to be told which teams might want him, he has to guess. Maybe his agent hears insider rumors, but they're really just guesses. 
3. At $3m, or even $4m, Zuccarello produces above that salary on the ice.  

One more thing. I'm really tired of hearing we can't trade Zuccarello because he's Kaprizov's best friend. That is utter nonsense! 

1. Kaprizov wants to win more than anything else.
2. Zuccarello is likely only here for 1 more year tops, and he's winding down if the last 20 games say anything.
3. Kaprizov will need a new wingman before his contract is up. He's much better speaking English now. He does have chemistry with both Boldy and Ek. 
4. They can still be friends playing on different teams.

Who will be the next guy up? Someone needs to be. And, more than anything else, Kaprizov needs, NEEDS, a qualified C.

[Protec]

^^^

Very reasonable easonable assertions.

[MNCountryLife]

On 5/2/2023 at 2:39 PM, B1GKappa97 said:

Hopefully we can find a way to keep Nyquist too. He looked like a legit top-6 player when he was playing and was easily our most consistent performer in the playoffs.

I agree.  Nyquist is a solid player top to bottom.  I wouldn't mind keeping a player like him.  He would pair up nicely with Kirill.

[MNCountryLife]

On 5/2/2023 at 3:42 PM, mnfaninnc said:

Why don't you think we can resign Goose2 in this scenario?

I think you will agree with me in that the Wild are a goalie friendly team as well as MAF is not the goalie he once was and is a backup at best.  You don't pay 3.5M for a backup.  I don't think he wants to be a backup either.  

IMO: Talbot and Gus are average goalies that shined in a goalie friendly environment.  If Gus wants to return on a team friendly contract for $2M or less... Great.  We snag him.  But if he asks for over $2M, let him go.  There are other goalies in the league that are young and quick and will serve as a viable goalie for the Wild.  We need to be careful with our dollars here.

Side Note:  Not sure how goalie friendly we will be if we lose Dumba... one of our top 4 D.  Which is highly likely.