Article: Guerin Should Resist Temptation For Veteran Extensions This Summer

[Justin Wiggins]

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[Pewterschmidt]

Foligno, Dumba, Zuccarello, and even Spurge (gasp) are starting to get that Coyle/Nino/Zucker old-core smell about them.  Can't get over the hump smell.  Soon time to discard the old core group and re-boot the team.  Window will close on 97's contract.  Hope his prime years aren't surrounded by a bunch of Iowa journeyman and high end "prospects"

I respect BG for having the courage to cut ties with Parise/Suter (they were clearly toxic) and I hope Leopold gave him a 5-7 year leash because if our top draft picks don't pan out and start contributing as early as next two seasons (Rossi, Beckman, Kuze, Ohgren, Yurov) BG is going to need all 7 years....right at the time 97 goes to the Lightning/Panthers.

#HottakeFriday

[MNCountryLife]

The inability to produce in the playoffs is definitely a problem.  But what is worse is our PK.  For me, that is a blatant coaching problem.  Fix the PK and this team may have gotten past Dallas.  

As for who we keep and who we send packing:  It all depends on what players are willing to sign for.  Zuc isn't $6M AAV... not sure he ever was.  Are Zuc and Foligno worth $2 to $3M AAV?   I have to think the answer to that is yes.

Of course much of this depends on the IA players.  There are several players in IA that appear to be ready or extremely close to joining the big club.  Add in that Dewar, Duhaime and Shaw should be looking for more minutes next season as well.  They earned it.

[Beast]

49 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Foligno, Dumba, Zuccarello, and even Spurge (gasp) are starting to get that Coyle/Nino/Zucker old-core smell about them.  Can't get over the hump smell.  Soon time to discard the old core group and re-boot the team.  Window will close on 97's contract.  Hope his prime years aren't surrounded by a bunch of Iowa journeyman and high end "prospects"

I respect BG for having the courage to cut ties with Parise/Suter (they were clearly toxic) and I hope Leopold gave him a 5-7 year leash because if our top draft picks don't pan out and start contributing as early as next two seasons (Rossi, Beckman, Kuze, Ohgren, Yurov) BG is going to need all 7 years....right at the time 97 goes to the Lightning/Panthers.

#HottakeFriday

We’ve all heard the stories about Suter.  He obviously wasn’t the greatest presence in the room.

But, the guy is a game away from the Western Conference Finals right now. Why isn’t his attitude nuking Dallas? It’s fair to start asking, was it really those two that were holding this team back?  Or, is it just the overall loser culture that has seemed to persist with them gone?  The culture permeates everything in Minnesota, not only the sports teams.  “Minnesota nice” needs to be renamed to “Minnesota scared.” It hangs in the air in this state like a fog.  

Agree on Spurgeon, etc.  It’s just time to move on.  His “hard work and having fun” thing that’s gone viral makes me sick.  That’s the captain of our hockey team, and we wonder why this team has curled into the fetal position in the playoffs.  I get he’s a great guy, and that’s wonderful.  If the team needs a babysitter for their kids, he’s perfect for the job.  He’s clearly not the guy you want scrumming with the big nasties in the playoffs.

I had already resigned myself to the fact that we’ve wasted Kaprisov.  But, I’m starting to wonder whether there is really anything to waste.  The regular season numbers are great.  Good for him.  It’s fun to watch and made him money.  But, he’s been completely neutralized in 2 of the last 3 playoff series.  He’s a -5 in his playoff career with 12 points in 19 games.  That’s not going to get it done.  He had 1 point in 6 games this year.  He still has to prove he can handle playoff hockey before I can say we’re wasting a generational talent.

[mnfaninnc]

Just curious, but is anyone else seeing this article looking like a cut and paste effort? Content is good, I'm not complaining, it just looks different, like it's in quote mode.

[mnfaninnc]

14 minutes ago, Beast said:

Or, is it just the overall loser culture that has seemed to persist with them gone?  The culture permeates everything in Minnesota, not only the sports teams.  “Minnesota nice” needs to be renamed to “Minnesota scared.” It hangs in the air in this state like a fog.  

It's been a long time since I lived up there, but I never thought we were "scared." What has happened? When I left, Bud Grant seemed to personify the area with his stoic, disciplined attitude. There'd also been a bit of an underdog mentality. 

So, what's changed?

By the way, for those wondering, Canes punched their ticket into the conference finals, Go Canes!

[Justin Wiggins]

2 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

The inability to produce in the playoffs is definitely a problem.  But what is worse is our PK.  For me, that is a blatant coaching problem.  Fix the PK and this team may have gotten past Dallas.  

As for who we keep and who we send packing:  It all depends on what players are willing to sign for.  Zuc isn't $6M AAV... not sure he ever was.  Are Zuc and Foligno worth $2 to $3M AAV?   I have to think the answer to that is yes.

Of course much of this depends on the IA players.  There are several players in IA that appear to be ready or extremely close to joining the big club.  Add in that Dewar, Duhaime and Shaw should be looking for more minutes next season as well.  They earned it.

I wonder if it's still best just to take your proposed combined $6M in cap space for those two and move on. Zuccarello is going to be approaching Pavelski-aged territory if he plays on an extension and Foligno is dangerously close to  that point when guys of his size fall off a cliff. 

[MNCountryLife]

11 minutes ago, Justin Wiggins said:

I wonder if it's still best just to take your proposed combined $6M in cap space for those two and move on. Zuccarello is going to be approaching Pavelski-aged territory if he plays on an extension and Foligno is dangerously close to  that point when guys of his size fall off a cliff. 

No doubt.   If both players were traded away that would be $9M in cap space.  You can sign some darn good players at $4.5M. 

My thought was that at $2M to $3M AAV for each player they would be solid 3rd and 4th line players.  Let the young guys play more minutes.  

[Protec]

Better one year too early than too late. 
 

For me, Foligno and Zuccarello are replaceable guys. I would say Nyqvuist and Sundqvuiisst could have replaced those two for one third of the cost and no loss in productivity. Did Foligno’s flying around hitting everybody win the series? Did Zuccarello’s grade A conversions in game 3 put the Wild over the top? 
 

I can’t get over it. Carolina and FL both going deep and took the 2020 guys our sights were on. Both of them doing pretty nice.

[bean5302]

On 5/12/2023 at 1:34 PM, Beast said:

We’ve all heard the stories about Suter.  He obviously wasn’t the greatest presence in the room.

But, the guy is a game away from the Western Conference Finals right now. Why isn’t his attitude nuking Dallas? It’s fair to start asking, was it really those two that were holding this team back?...

 

Because Suter doesn't have the owner on speed dial in Dallas so he can't go over the coach and GMs head and wreak havoc with impunity while being a divisive cancer in the locker room.

[bean5302]

I've said this before on other sites regarding "Minnesota Nice" permeating our sports culture, but most on the Twins who I follow closely.

Yankees in the playoffs "This is what we've worked towards all year and it's nice to be in the playoffs, but it's just the next step to move past as our goal every year is to win the World Series. We're going to go out there as professionals and if we play our game, we expect to win."

Twins in the playoffs "We're excited to be part of the postseason again and we're looking forward to the opportunity to compete. They have a really great team, but if we play our best, we've got a good chance to win."

Expectation. Attitude. Confidence. Minnesota teams in the playoffs = trash, utter trash, and I think it comes from "Minnesota Nice." Don't have swagger. Don't presume you're the best. Be modest, max out sportsmanship and egoless. Minnesota teams change their game plans. What worked all year gets tossed into a bucket, the teams clamp down and do everything they can to try and avoid mistakes. They play scared. The Twins do it. The Vikings have done it. The Wild do it. Maybe the Wolves would do it? (hard to say here, haha)

Play your game. The game that got you to where you are and see what happens. That's what championship teams do. The Wild abandoned their game in this series, lost all their confidence and turned to the desperation of dump n chase. At least that's what I saw.

Edited May 14, 2023 by bean5302

[bean5302]

Anyway, regarding the topic directly, I expect GMBG will make prudent decisions. His choices so far have been excellent in my opinion. No team is playing with a bigger handicap than the Wild. Most fans didn't even expect the Wild to be competitive this year, but they muddled through and made a big impact in the regular season at least. The Suter and Parise buyouts were bold, decisive and absolutely the moves needed to move this team towards the Stanley Cup faster. I think GMBG has been excellently pragmatic.