Article: Where Should Marat Khusnutdinov Fall In Wild's Pecking Order?

[Tony Abbott]

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[Citizen Strife]

Second line wing or third line center.  Can't go wrong with either.

[B1GKappa97]

Putting him on the second line makes a lot of sense come to think of it. I mean we put Kaprizov with Zuccy in part because they could communicate, so it would give Khusnutdinov that same advantage as he adjusts to this team. 

Sucks for Freddy but, hey, you gotta produce man. 

[Burnt Toast]

If secondary scoring is a priority then the K needs to jump in on Rossi’s line. They can take faceoffs on their strong sides. As for the third player on that line? I’m drawing a blank. If I had a pure fun pick I’d put Shaw in there. 

[B1GKappa97]

Well after watching our little guys get outmuscled in front of the net against Nashville, let’s not put him with Rossi and Zucc.

He can just take Lucchini’s place. Did not like his game 😞

Edited March 1 by B1GKappa97

[TCMooch]

At this point…are we really still fighting for a playoff spot?

[Pewterschmidt]

2 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

Well after watching our little guys get outmuscled in front of the net against Nashville, let’s not put him with Rossi and Zucc.

He can just take Lucchini’s place. Did not like his game 😞

That Nashville team is built like an NHL playoff team.  By that I mean large and skilled.  Stramel, Ohgren,rasmustilzkin, Lorenz cannot arrive soon enough. 

[Citizen Strife]

The Wild have always kinda bounced off Nashville.  Yurov, Kumpulainen, Stramel...just get some size to balance things out.  Skill can't account for much when they get crushed all the time.  The Wild have SOME bigger players than before, but not enough.

Edited March 1 by Citizen Strife

[B1GKappa97]

4 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

That Nashville team is built like an NHL playoff team.  By that I mean large and skilled.  Stramel, Ohgren,rasmustilzkin, Lorenz cannot arrive soon enough. 

Yeah, no kidding. Yurov will add some size too. 

Man it sucks that the top of our 2020 draft was all undersized centers. I like Rossi's game overall but he was getting shoved out of the way at will against the Preds 😧

[B1GKappa97]

3 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

The Wild have always kinda bounced off Nashville.  Yurov, Kumpulainen, Stramel...just get some size to balance things out.  Skill can't account for much when they get crushed all the time.  The Wild have SOME bigger players than before, but not enough.

Good news is we're back in the top-10 of the draft I guess? If we somehow miss out on a top-pair quality defenseman (which is possible, given the talent available there) we should at least have a legit top-6 forward with size (Liam Greentree: 6'2" 198 lbs or Brandsegg-Nygard: 6'1" 194 lbs) fall to us. 

Its possible that Eiserman (6' 196 lbs) falls to #9 too as it seems scouts are cooling on his off-puck effort, but he's allegedly got an elite shot and would be a sniper we've been missing since Fiala got shipped out. 

[mnfaninnc]

After last night's game, I think every position is up for grabs. 

But, reality is that when Dino gets here with his visa, he will practice a few times before hitting a game. Heinzy tends to like to do that, especially with younger players. From a coach's perspective, this is putting a player into a position to succeed. He wants him up to date on his responsibilities, and also know how to communicate with him (if it's through Kaprizov or Zuccarello, or if he understands English directions).

Heinzy will also want to try and find some chemistry, and I have to believe that Zuccarello will help him (but you're looking at 2 distributors then). But, it is pretty obvious that Dino will fit on the 2nd PP unit, and this is probably where I'd start. Putting him with some of those guys, like maybe a Zuccarello-Dino-Hartman type of line might be good? In that configuration, Hartman can help him transfer to center, and take draws on his strong side.

Typically on PP2, Johansson is the guy who brings the puck up and in. I wonder if Dino is also this type of player? I'm hoping that the measurements I saw are a little light and he's in the 180s when he gets here. So, who's the odd man out of the lineup? It wouldn't surprise me if Gaudreau was placed on IR. To me he still doesn't look right. But, I'm pretty sure Duhaime will be moved. 

For the organization, if Dino comes over and immediately impresses, to me, that is a sign of the development in the K. I'd be looking at Firstov joining the lineup when his season is done (he's already under contract), and I'd be feeling very comfortable with Yurov claiming a spot in the lineup. 

One last thing I like about Dino, he was wearing the C. I'm not sure what team the picture shows, I'm hoping it was Sochi. But a player that young wearing the C in the K would be a pretty good testimony of what type of player he is.

[Up North Guy]

After last night I would hope that there are a lot of positions open. I can't see how Dino could not replace a turnstile. 

[raithis]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

One last thing I like about Dino, he was wearing the C. I'm not sure what team the picture shows, I'm hoping it was Sochi. But a player that young wearing the C in the K would be a pretty good testimony of what type of player he is.

The colors suggest Sochi.  His former team, SKA St Petersburg's uniforms are red, white, and blue.  Sochi has teal for a team color as I recall.  The picture would be from this most recent season, so not only was he traded to the team along with Michkov, but he became the captain of the team while he was there.

[Quebec1648]

While Hynes has praised certain players in the media, he cannot ignore reality. The reality, is that guys like Gaudreau and Luchinni are not part of the Wilds future. Even Dewer and Duhaime are likely going to be gone from this team. 

The easy solution, is for Bill Guerin to step in and make the change. It would be awkward for Hynes to publicly praise a guy and then bench him, so let guerin make the roster move to free a spot.

[Patrick]

If the Wild sign him and don't play him it will kill their chances with other Russian players.  They have to play him and Gaudreau has been absolutely awful. This isn't complicated. Staple Gaudreau to the bench and give MK his minutes. If possible send Gaudreau to Iowa. He has been that bad.

[FredJohnson]

He's gotta earn ice time, no?!

[FredJohnson]

3 hours ago, raithis said:

The colors suggest Sochi.
 

he became the captain of the team

Correct.

And correct.

[Will D. Ness]

I bet they play MK ASAP.  I'm getting the sense that they look at him like they looked at Faber last year.

[Quebec1648]

One additional comment I should add, is that Bill Guerin had previously insisted on players spending significant time in Iowa. If MK comes directly to Minnesota and starts playing, will that affect things going forward? Other prospects might view it as a double standard, if some players are forced to toil away in Iowa like Rossi, while players like MK get to go straight to the NHL. Potentially bringing MK directly to the NHL, is simply Guerin trying to salvage the teams fading playoff chances. 

[mnfaninnc]

15 hours ago, Quebec1648 said:

One additional comment I should add, is that Bill Guerin had previously insisted on players spending significant time in Iowa. If MK comes directly to Minnesota and starts playing, will that affect things going forward? Other prospects might view it as a double standard, if some players are forced to toil away in Iowa like Rossi, while players like MK get to go straight to the NHL. Potentially bringing MK directly to the NHL, is simply Guerin trying to salvage the teams fading playoff chances. 

I don't think this is the case at all. There are developmental leagues all around the planet. The A & K are considered the 2nd best leagues on the planet, each one having an argument as being better. The S (where Ohgren plays) is not far behind that, but would likely need a little A time to get acclimated. 

So, for Firstov, Dino, and Yurov, they are playing in a league comparable to the AHL, and it would be seen like similar service time. The NCAA is also a good developmental league but is a notch below the previously mentioned ones. Hockey East and B1G are probably the best divisions in that league and will put forth the better development (in theory). 

I am very optimistic that Dino can make the jump, and I think it is possible that Firstov might be able to too. After Firstov's season is over, I would suggest bringing him over to give him a look. Since he's on loan to Torpedo and signed, this should be easy. 

In the K playoffs, Metallurg won its first game 2-1, Yurov had 3 shots no points. Torpedo drew SKA in what should be a 1st round exit. Yet, Torpedo won 5-2 with Firstov scoring 1 goal on 5 shots. He's listed at 6'1" 181 on Elite Prospects, but I've got to believe he is much thicker now.