Article: What Can the Wild Learn From Vegas and Florida's Roster Construction?

[Luke Sims]

View full article

[Up North Guy]

All true. Here is another. As reported in The Athletic, size matters for defensemen in the playoffs. The Wild are woefully "short" in this regard. Drafting for large d-men hasn't been a focus for the team. Perhaps opening the prospect bank and trading for a couple is something that should be pursued.

[Protec]

We've been pointing to Cup teams for years to emulate in roster construction.

[Protec]

I.e. It's Sone & Stephenson getting it done in the Cup finals last night.

NOT, Finnesoit & Yuromunchkin...

 

[Protec]

* Stone and Stephenson, not Sone.

The Wild got Reaves to add some what? Physicality and toughness. Why did the Wild need that and why Didn't Vegas?(I realize Reaves came from NY to MN.)

On goaltending. Is Vegas this year riding a hot goalie? Maybe, but it looks more like dominant team hockey over individual impact. When Binnington was super-hot or Tim Thomas, Vasilevsy, or whoever a team has had to steal wins, Vegas looks like they're all just good, strong, and big and getting impact from somewhere every game. 

MN is always getting lesser performances, pushed-around, distracted from their game-plan, and disconnected. Goaltending hasn't really been a problem since Duby's soft ones, and Stalock's squirreliness. I did love his effort and heart. Just not elite. MN isn't bad but need to get better in a bunch of areas. Sign Nosek to play center. Re-sign Steel. There's you're 4 centers with Ek & Freddy. Then upgrade size and skill on the wings. Keeping the Norwegian Hobbit and having Spurgeon on the back end trying to stop power forwards along with getting Rossi plugged in won't cut the mustard in my opinion. 

[Protec]

On 6/10/2023 at 9:47 AM, Up North Guy said:

All true. Here is another. As reported in The Athletic, size matters for defensemen in the playoffs. The Wild are woefully "short" in this regard. Drafting for large d-men hasn't been a focus for the team. Perhaps opening the prospect bank and trading for a couple is something that should be pursued.

Speaking of past draft results and choices...

https://www.nhl.com/news/panthers-anton-lundell-progressing-in-second-nhl-season/c-344823442?tid=344544256

[mnfaninnc]

22 hours ago, Protec said:

Speaking of past draft results and choices...

GRRRR! I knew it in his draft year. I knew his offense would come around. Barkov is one of the Finn's the nation cheers for, so would have been Koivu! His offense was 2 years ahead of Koivu's and had a better ceiling.

Lundell's game would have translated well up here too. Ek and Lundell would have made a really good 1-2 punch. Size does matter, and Brackett got too cute. I liked the highlights of Rossi, but size matters in the playoffs and we needed the type of game that Lundell has. 

Lundell has become my Tuch B. 

[Protec]

Stone & Stephenson on the rush and Stone buries it.

Barbashev on the ice for goals again.

[Mateo3xm]

On 6/10/2023 at 8:47 AM, Up North Guy said:

All true. Here is another. As reported in The Athletic, size matters for defensemen in the playoffs. The Wild are woefully "short" in this regard. Drafting for large d-men hasn't been a focus for the team. Perhaps opening the prospect bank and trading for a couple is something that should be pursued.

If this doesn’t get through their head by now, idk what will.

you can have one or 2 smaller forwards up front but the d should all be bigger than 6’1.

I really REALLY hope they draft Lukas Dragicevic with their 2nd and or Bertucci with their 4th. They are 6’2 RHD and 6’3 LHD.

if they draft a small player in this draft I’ll be done with Brackett.

[B1GKappa97]

9 hours ago, Mateo3xm said:

If this doesn’t get through their head by now, idk what will.

you can have one or 2 smaller forwards up front but the d should all be bigger than 6’1.

I really REALLY hope they draft Lukas Dragicevic with their 2nd and or Bertucci with their 4th. They are 6’2 RHD and 6’3 LHD.

if they draft a small player in this draft I’ll be done with Brackett.

Not sure Dragicevic will fall that far. Tankathon has him going at the bottom of the 1st round and NHL teams always seem to target size over skill at the top of the draft so I can't imagine he'll last deep into the 2nd round. 

They'll have to decide between a big defenseman or a middle-6 C at #21 most likely. And then frustrate everyone by taking a LW. 

Anyway, Simashev could be available there for us and he's got even better size than Dragicevic with some good skating ability. If we're willing to take on the risk of Yurov last year, then Simashev should be at the top of our board as well. If he lasts that long. 

[B1GKappa97]

I learned that we need a top-line C to compete with these guys. Missing out on Eichel hurts now, especially since Vegas got him for relatively cheap. Obviously hindsight, but we should've dangled Rossi in the Eichel deal instead of hanging onto him. Rossi + Fiala would've been a tantalizing framework for Buffalo and, fast forwarding 2 seasons later, neither guy looks to be in our long-term plans. 

 

Big missed opportunity there. The chance to add a legit top-line C doesn't come around often and we look to have gotten too gun-shy about it. 

 

And, of course, these guys are big. Which helps. Don't know what we're going to do with Spurgy since he's signed to a big deal, but if we wanted to trade off Addison this offseason I wouldn't have any problem with it considering his small frame and aversion to the weight room/responsibility.