Article: Wilderness Walk: Should The Wild Trade For Some Insurance?

[Thomas Williams]

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[Protec]

I'd probably wanna see more D. Hunt.

At the same time Goligoski does some good things and Merrill isn't totally brutal. 

I predict GMBG picks up another guy like a Bogosian later in the year and potentially trades prospects or a pick. 

Right now the Wild are getting the job done and playing tight games against good teams. Goaltending has improved. Record in the last 10 games pretty solid. 

There are issues the whole organization needs to correct but meanwhile whether it's front office or coaches/players they gotta keep working through it week to week. 

[Citizen Strife]

As long as it doesn't cost 1st or 2nd round property (something Guerin has been good about keeping), then do it if it is needed.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Citizen Strife

[FredJohnson]

42 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

As long as it doesn't cost 1st or 2nd round property (something Guerin has been good about keeping), then do it if it is needed.

Nor should he part with the prospects. 👍

[Disco Strangler]

50 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

As long as it doesn't cost 1st or 2nd round property (something Guerin has been good about keeping), then do it if it is needed.

I would venture to say the only reason he keeps them is the cap hits prevent him from trading them away.  You trade those away and you need to get back top 6 guys that come with high price tags.

I'm really afraid what he's gonna do when things open up. I'm hoping he doesn't screw things up, but I have a string feeling he will.

I am finally though, starting to feel good about the pipeline. I haven't until recently but some of the young fellas have been putting up some nice numbers. Ironically, it's not the defenseman.

[Protec]

I don’t think you really get guys on defense who put up big numbers too far from the top of the draft board. 
 

MN will need their defense prospects to mature. Faber will probably improve his offense over time but the Wild will need to keep getting defenseman in the draft. Of the current group of young guys, there’s more growing pains to come for them. I’ll echo mnfaninnc’s mantra, get in the gym and bulk up by 35-45lbs each if you wanna step into the NHL role and send Merrill to the press box.  😉

[Disco Strangler]

14 minutes ago, Protec said:

I don’t think you really get guys on defense who put up big numbers too far from the top of the draft board. 
 

MN will need their defense prospects to mature. Faber will probably improve his offense over time but the Wild will need to keep getting defenseman in the draft. Of the current group of young guys, there’s more growing pains to come for them. I’ll echo mnfaninnc’s mantra, get in the gym and bulk up by 35-45lbs each if you wanna step into the NHL role and send Merrill to the press box.  😉

I get that, but with having O'Rourke(sp) and Lambos, you'd like to see the goalies doing better and winning more games. Maybe having those guys on the positive side of the +/- also. I get D men take time but it's time to start showing more promise. And, maybe they are, it's not like I watch them or follow them all that closely, but I'm not hearing anyone (media, Wild brass) fawn over them either.

 

[raithis]

How do we bring anyone in?  We don't have the cap space to do it, and we won't want to trade the people that are able to be moved.  Trading someone like Merrill (or putting him in the AHL) gives us about enough space to just replace him with someone else.  Same goes for Duhaime or Dewar.  A 1-for-1 isn't going to make it so that Faber isn't playing half the game.

The LTIR gives us some brief breathing room, but unless Spurgeon, Brodin, or Zuccarello is hurt for the rest of the season, it's hard to bring anyone in temporarily, because then you have to fit them in later or trade them (or others) away at a loss since teams will know you are in a corner.

Counting out players with clauses, we can trade the following:

Kaprizov, Boldy, Eriksson Ek, Rossi, Dewar, Duhaime, Lettieri, Middleton, Faber, Merrill, Mermis, Hunt

Let's assume Kaprizov, Ek, Boldy, Rossi, and Faber are completely off the table.

Let's also realize that some of those players have to go back to the AHL after people are healthy to fit back under the cap.

This means that realistically the only player you can move in order to open up enough real cap space is Middleton, and you probably have to replace Duhaime and/or Merrill with players making minimum just to be able to have space to grab someone theoretically "better" - at least based on contract amount.

I don't see us able to really do much.  Moving picks or prospects to sweeten a deal only happens if someone else already on the team can be moved out so that we will be able to stay under the cap, but who do you move?  A lot of it is pretty well locked in place.  There's not a lot of wiggle room - and navigating through that likely needs someone in the front office who would do that.  Wait, we just let that person go and haven't replaced him...all the more why this doesn't make sense.

 

[Citizen Strife]

The thing is, Middleton serves a purpose at $2.45m that is hard to come by at that price point.  He's good enough offensively at times that some defensive lapses aren't the worst thing in the world.  The main issue is he needs someone like a Faber or Spurgeon to cover for those early season lapses that he made without them.  At worst, he's a slightly bigger 3rd pairing defenseman, while still being a sizeable upgrade compared to Goligoski or Merrill.  You don't trade him now.  You wait for other options to present themselves or he wishes to take a higher price point that isn't worth it ($3.5-4m+).

Edited December 21, 2023 by Citizen Strife

[Protec]

The last two comments is why we need Hunt to keep playing and getting better. 

[Quebec1648]

The Wild are not going to be cup winners this year, so there is no need to trade prospects or picks for a rental upgrade on defense. According to the league, the salary cap will go up this offseason, so the Wild could wait until then, to make a move. Fleury's deal expires after this year, so that frees up money as well. Perhaps Foligno would even waive his no movement clause if Guerin asked nicely? Trade Foligno to whatever team his brother is one next year, ad use they money to replace Goligoski and Merill both.

[raithis]

2 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

The thing is, Middleton serves a purpose at $2.45m that is hard to come by at that price point.  He's good enough offensively at times that some defensive lapses aren't the worst thing in the world.  The main issue is he needs someone like a Faber or Spurgeon to cover for those early season lapses that he made without them.  At worst, he's a slightly bigger 3rd pairing defenseman, while still being a sizeable upgrade compared to Goligoski or Merrill.  You don't trade him now.  You wait for other options to present themselves or he wishes to take a higher price point that isn't worth it ($3.5-4m+).

I'm not advocating trading Middleton at all.  I'm only stating that he's about all we have to work with, which is partly why I don't understand the article.  I feel like there wasn't a lot of thought put into it since it seems like we would lose more than we would gain defensively unless there's more improvement with anyone not named Spurgeon, Brodin, and Faber.  Middleton overall has been good, provided (like you say) his weaknesses are covered by one of the aforementioned players.  They allow him to take more chances and he looks like a legitimate top 4D.  Without them, not so much.  After their is cap room isn't so tight, maybe he goes and we upgrade, but right now, it makes more sense to keep him since we get a lot of value as long as he's put in the right situations.

[raithis]

2 hours ago, Protec said:

The last two comments is why we need Hunt to keep playing and getting better. 

Agreed

[Disco Strangler]

Wild call up Jake Lucchini. Lizard is put on IR.

No Beckman or Walker. What gives?

[Citizen Strife]

Maybe Beckman and Walker are what they are going to be: AHL level guys that just aren't cut out for extended stay on the main club.  If they were, they would have by now.  Lucchini probably isn't either, but I doubt there's any allusion he's more than just depth.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Citizen Strife

[Citizen Strife]

*Can't edit*

I don't know how, but it could also still be a cap space issue.  You would think with so many people injured that wouldn't be the case, but I no good at maths.

[PiranhasOnIce]

2 hours ago, Disco Strangler said:

Wild call up Jake Lucchini. Lizard is put on IR.

No Beckman or Walker. What gives?

Could just be that Lucchini is out performing the kids.   Second in points right now.

[mnfaninnc]

7 hours ago, Disco Strangler said:

I get that, but with having O'Rourke(sp) and Lambos, you'd like to see the goalies doing better and winning more games. Maybe having those guys on the positive side of the +/- also. I get D men take time but it's time to start showing more promise. And, maybe they are, it's not like I watch them or follow them all that closely, but I'm not hearing anyone (media, Wild brass) fawn over them either.

Here's what we do know, O'Rourke plays a violent game and is always looking to hit someone. You simply can't do that in the N at a buck-eighty! Lambos has some nice skill and a bit of size. His skating is really his calling card, but a Lambos at 210 can dominate both ends of the rink!

I think what we're seeing in Lambos is that he is playing against much larger competition and it's more difficult to handle the forwards. They're bigger and faster than he's used to. I think he'll learn from the experience, but you can tell the jump in leagues has not been easy. 

I have no idea on O'Rourke. To me, a monster type of player would seem to be a gym rat too. He should be playing somewhere in the 215-220 range for the punishment he wants to hand out and the grind of a season. How he's not there by now is a mystery, and it seems like nobody has explained to him the need for adding strength and bulk? To me, this falls directly on the previous coaching staff!

[mnfaninnc]

3 hours ago, Disco Strangler said:

No Beckman or Walker. What gives?

If you looked at my prospects comments yesterday you'd understand. Both are struggling. And, Lucchini is playing pretty well, he deserves a cup of joe.

[mnfaninnc]

So, to answer the question in the title: NO, we shouldn't! Promote from within!

[mnfaninnc]

What an entertaining game last night. For starters, Rossi, of course, gets talked about. 3 point night with limited TOI is pretty nice, but recording the Gordie Howe hat trick puts him in special company. While short term, this was probably a poor decision for Rossi to take on the large forward, in the long run, it will pay tremendous dividends. This is akin to fraternity initiations, he is one of them now, not just a rookie having a good year. 

In the short term, though, when down a forward to start, taking yourself out like that for 17 minutes meant we essentially went down to 3 lines. A lot of that time we were playing short, so that wasn't terribly taxing. It probably was good to have the 7 D, although Faber still managed 32 minutes or so. 

Speaking of Faber, the announcers were mentioning that he had the freakish lungs like Chris Chelios had. Didn't Chelios wear #7 also? Maybe there's something about defenders who wear #7? I'm also wondering if you keep Faber-Middleton together as a pair? Spurgeon-Brodin could also be a pretty special pair, and, honestly, you could cover the ice with both Faber and Brodin except for like 10 minutes TOI. Limiting our 3rd pair of Goligoski/Merrill could be helpful.

And, speaking of Goligoski, I thought he had a very solid night last night, broke up a 3-1 nicely and played solid. That would be the type of game I would expect from a veteran like him. He's not out of my doghouse, but putting a few performances like this in a row could help him get out.

Note to Foligno, Duhaime, Maroon: None of you were on the ice when Rossi went to defend a questionable hit on Kaprizov. However, you did need to assert your physical play on one of the opponent's stars. Doesn't have to be a fight, but it does need to be a hard physical response where you make their life much harder. This is why you are on the team. Also, it may be that Duhaime was needed since he is the fastest of the 3. Sometimes, you just have to go looking for trouble!

Speaking of Foligno, the penalty he took was bogus. If I'm John Hynes, I'm asking the referees in between periods about that, and why hits like that on Brodin don't even draw a minor penalty. It's this inconsistent application of the rules that drives people nuts! Same thing when Pasta hit the NYR player. Those hits were all very similar. Why does Foligno get nailed on it and others don't?

Kaprizov is starting to feel it. I'm liking it. Boldy needs more power in his game. I can see the finesse working well, but the trouble is that he is always doing this. PMB used to be like this too, and always buttonhook. Defenders then expect that and it gets broken up fairly easily. Boldy is big, he needs the defenders to also think he will show power moves. It will make him far more effective if defenders have to defend both options. The buttonhook option only works well when the defender has to defend the power move and can't stop in time. Many Wild forwards do this and they don't really shake the defender because the defender knows this is what they do. Zuccarello's probably the worst. Even if you fail in the drive, at least the defender knows you have that in your bag.

Overall, it doesn't seem like we're gaining ground on the teams ahead of us, but we're getting closer. We're still back but have games in hand. Hopefully we can now stay past the .500 mark and start to gain in record. There are 3 bottom dwellers in our conference. We've played 1 game against them. There are some softies still on the schedule. I think getting rid of these Eastern Conference matchups will go well for us. 

[Pewterschmidt]

18 hours ago, Disco Strangler said:

Wild call up Jake Lucchini. Lizard is put on IR.

No Beckman or Walker. What gives?

Jake Pastrami (who?!?) beats out two of our can't miss prospects?

[mnfaninnc]

No Beckman? I decided to try and dive into this a little bit using only statistics and not the eye test.

Beckman was given the A this season in Iowa. He is also trying to round out his game, so he may be focusing more on his own end. 

Beckman's measurables are 6'2" 193. I still think that's a little light for his height, especially for the N. I'd want to see 12 lbs. of strength, so he'd need to go on the Rossi plan this offseason. 

But here's the interesting thing I found with him: Beckman has played roughly 50% of the games he played last year, yet has only shot the puck around 25% as often. Essentially, that means he is taking 1/2 the shots he took last season. Is it because he isn't getting the puck? Possibly. But would definitely speak to why he only has 5 goals this season!

Beckman is at his best as a volume shooter. He needs to unleash the shot often just so he's feelin' it. He's not doing that this year. Perhaps someone with eyes on Iowa can add some insight to this? 

Supposedly he is on Lucchini's line, and Lucchini just got called up. 

In other Iowa news, Hunter Jones was recalled to Iowa. McIntyre played last night. No news on if The Wall is hurt, but he got shelled in his last outing and was pulled. I'm suspecting something is up here. 

[Up North Guy]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

In other Iowa news, Hunter Jones was recalled to Iowa. McIntyre played last night. No news on if The Wall is hurt, but he got shelled in his last outing and was pulled. I'm suspecting something is up here. 

That would be not good news.