Article: Kirill Kaprizov Plays Hero Over Sharks

[Thomas Williams]

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[Citizen Strife]

Kap just keeps upping his price to stay here.  Sure, it was against the Sharks, but two hat tricks in the last few home games are signs this is guy is just plain special.

[mnfaninnc]

A very nice game by Kaprizov who probably touched the puck 1.3 seconds combined on all 3 goals. Freddy got off the schnide by scoring a seeing eye goal at about 3 mph. Nice screen by Lettieri. 

Matt Boldy sees the game differently from most players. He does things instinctively opposite of some players making him a very dangerous player. But, my goodness, he's got to quit putting his teammates in hard spots with the soft little push passes that have teams going the other way. I'm certain the coaching staff has brought this to his attention, and I have no idea what else to do? The little pass to the point on the PP where Sturm went up and scored? How do you even do that, but that's not the main point, he's been doing this all season! The weak lift up the ice from his own corner that got intercepted near the top of the zone? How do you even put a puck in that kind of danger?

I get that he's a young player, but for this team to be successful, unforced errors have to be cut down on, and Boldy, Kaprizov, Zuccarello have been the leading candidates to commit them. Sometimes you have to go east-west, but not all the time, those things get picked off. Just ask Brock Faber who gave it away to the most dangerous guy on the ice in the 3rd period. 

What a brutal week for those who were hoping for playoff positioning. We got through the gauntlet just in time to lose the h2h games we needed to win. And then, coming home for a weak win, a lucky win, against a team like San Jose who seems to have mailed in the season from October. In fact, this may be the strongest message the team has sent their GM: We simply aren't good enough!

Is it the makeup of the team? Was it the injuries? Was it the lack of depth? Was it the lack of size in the depth? (Keep in mind that Guerin has Fogarty in the A, and Khaira who has been out hurt) IMO, it has been a lack of depth that we've been able to keep, due to the buyouts, and the rash of injuries. It also shows how much we've depended upon Spurgeon these past seasons, and that void is definitely being felt. 

Sell Mode- this is definitely an area where I believe that Guerin is kind of a rookie. He's been able to get good value in some pieces he's sold before, but he's never really been in a position where he's not also buying. It'll be interesting how much Shooter is able to get this TDL. Again, I'm fine with pushing the assets out to the future in draft picks if it brings us better quality picks. 

Down on the farm-

1. Heidt is sitting at 102 pts. in 58 games
2. Haight broke through his slump and is at 62 in 60
3. Metallurg is tied at 1-1, Yurov grabbed an assist yesterday
4. Torpedo is tied at 1-1, still just 1 goal from Firstov
5. Beckman has been climbing the scoring sheet, he's up to 16 goals now
6. S. Johansson has had a very nice offensive week, he leads the defenders in scoring
7. Hunt added a couple of assists last night
8. Masters is thriving in the E

Another thought I've got is that Guerin wanted cost certainty this season, and he bet (and lost) that he would once again have good injury luck at the beginning of the season. This did not happen, and I hope he learned his lesson to leave a little more padding at the beginning of the season to be able to call up your best, not guys who fit the cap. There needs to be room for a couple of slots of guys, so, really, you're planning a roster of 25 without having to use LTIR. If you have good injury luck, that just helps your ability to add at the TDL. GMs cannot just chalk this up to poor luck. They need to learn from it and remind themselves of why they keep the padding there. 

With the departure of O'Hearn, I really hope the Shooter starts to get a little more interested and capable in cap management. This would be a very good summer course for him. Everyone in this organization needs to improve, and this is where I would target Guerin's stretching of himself. I think we can agree he's a pretty good talent evaluator. Now he needs to really press into the business side of things, understanding cap, spreadsheets, and setting himself up financially for big runs. He still needs a guy running this portion, but he needs to understand all the ramifications. 

[mnfaninnc]

A couple of things I forgot to mention about last night. By stats, it looked like Goose2 had a tough night. Did anyone think he gave up a softy? I didn't, I thought it was more an indication of poor defense on all 3 goals. It doesn't help Goose2's stats, but he was pretty solid on a slow night.

On the other side of the ice, I thought Granny had a nice game and wouldn't have minded him coming back. But, Sturm looked faster and harder to play against. We could use everything that guy brings to the lineup. That may be the center we miss the most at this point.

How about Addison's return? Outside of chatting with Rossi, his summer workout buddy, I thought he was pretty much invisible. And, actually, invisible might be an improvement from looking poor. I guess getting bumped up to wing will do that for you. 

I also felt Kahkonen looked good. He held the Sharks in the game for long stretches, and just couldn't handle the Kaprizov howitzer. Kunin was a non-factor pretty much all game, he was a wasted draft pick IMO, but, so was my choice that draft "Kieffer Bellows." 

[Will D. Ness]

38 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Sell Mode- this is definitely an area where I believe that Guerin is kind of a rookie. He's been able to get good value in some pieces he's sold before, but he's never really been in a position where he's not also buying. It'll be interesting how much Shooter is able to get this TDL. Again, I'm fine with pushing the assets out to the future in draft picks if it brings us better quality picks. 

I don't think there is much to sell.  Of the expiring contracts only Duhaime and Dewar seem to have value.  Bogosian... maybe but Maroon is hurt and the rest are AHL guys or already retired (Goligoski).  Fleury is going to stay and Shaw has value but it would be strange to move him all things considered.

Zuccy is interesting and has a relatively good tradable contract but I wouldn't bet on him wanting to go or BG wanting to trade him.

So my prediction is Duhaime and Dewar traded for 4th - 5th rd ish value each and Bogo stays for another year at the min.

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, Will D. Ness said:

So my prediction is Duhaime and Dewar traded for 4th - 5th rd ish value each and Bogo stays for another year at the min.

I think we'll get more for the Dewey's. I also like the prediction of Bogosian staying another year, but, he might also want to compete in the playoffs before resigning. I think we should at least give him that opportunity. This would not be about compensation, this would be about where he would like to go and where he thinks he can help a team. Same thing with Maroon. We waited for Nyquist to get healthy, I think a team may do the same for Maroon, should he want another playoff run.  I could see him returning to TBL.

[Willy the poor boy]

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

By stats, it looked like Goose2 had a tough night. Did anyone think he gave up a softy?

 

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Did anyone think he gave up a softy? I didn't, I thought it was more an indication of poor defense on all 3 goals

Ya. I thought Gus had a weak game He should have stopped the Sturm and Duclair goals IMO.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

3 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

So my prediction is Duhaime and Dewar traded for 4th - 5th rd ish value each and Bogo stays for another year at the min.

The Athletic mentioned Guerin getting a 2nd round pick for Greenway and suggested the Wild could look to get that type of return for Duhaime. I'd be very impressed if that were to happen. I think both Dewar and Duhaime could deliver better than a 5th round pick, but I'm not sure either will return a 2nd rounder.

Bogo could be available if anyone wants to get aggressive about adding him, but I definitely think Guerin is looking to extend him on a low cost deal.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

5 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Another thought I've got is that Guerin wanted cost certainty this season, and he bet (and lost) that he would once again have good injury luck at the beginning of the season. This did not happen, and I hope he learned his lesson to leave a little more padding at the beginning of the season to be able to call up your best, not guys who fit the cap. There needs to be room for a couple of slots of guys, so, really, you're planning a roster of 25 without having to use LTIR. If you have good injury luck, that just helps your ability to add at the TDL. GMs cannot just chalk this up to poor luck. They need to learn from it and remind themselves of why they keep the padding there. 

Wild have had Spurgeon for more than 75% of their games every season since 2013. Everyone knew he was highly valuable, but I think some, myself included, took for granted just how much he brought to the table. This was probably the worst depth Guerin had at D going into a season and it was an injury the team was not really prepared to overcome.

I believe Guerin had also intended on having Khaira(6'4", 212 lbs) up with the Wild when injuries hit the NHL team at forward, but he's been injured for most of this hockey season after a solid AHL start. Early on, the Wild didn't have the cap space to bring him up, then injury took him out of the equation around the time they might have been able to use him regularly.

I'm not suggesting that Khaira would have made a major difference, but he probably would have filled in for Foligno or Maroon better than the guys the Wild have needed to lean on due to Khaira's injury.

[Dean]

It’s sad that the wild a trading guys who probably deserve to be here over some of our extended players. Probably could have signed both  Dewey’s for Freddy’s 2.1 mil . So now because of that contract there probably trading there 4 th line. The only two guy who have made the 4 th line look legit. Also two guys that never really got any opportunities to do more on the offensive side . Yes they probably aren’t the future but either is Fred or the other extended players.  IMO Nico storm   is gone because of Fred , an is a much better player for wilds needs. Did mcbain not sign with us because of Fred and youth not getting opportunities?  Now that Dewey’s are likely gone who plays with Fred ? They at least had the speed and work ethic to make up for Fred’s flaws. 
    We have to trade them and get picks but in a perfect world  where Billy was a penny pincher we would be trading those newly extended guys for a decent haul.  The same newly extended guys who can’t even make a legit line. None of them have found a line to call home after all these years here. . GMs make mistakes. Part of business. It’s limiting the damage of them by not giving out clauses that Billy needs to learn ASAP. . Pathetic to think we’re ending buyouts only to restart being handcuffed by stupid contracts another 4 years 

[B1GKappa97]

Take that former Wild players tryna ruin our season! The new guy is better than y'all! 

[B1GKappa97]

15 hours ago, Dean said:

 Probably could have signed both  Dewey’s for Freddy’s 2.1 mil . So now because of that contract there probably trading there 4 th line. The only two guy who have made the 4 th line look legit. 

I mean Lucchini and Lettieri have looked just as capable. I don't think its a huge deal to miss out on the DewDu Twins, especially if somebody is willing to overpay for them in a trade. If we had signed them, then where are guys like Khusnutdinov and Liam Oghren and Mason Shaw going to play?

If that had happened, we'd be complaining about them taking up precious NHL roster spots from prospects anyway. The 4th line is made to be dismantled and reassembled. I remember when people were so upset that Sturm got traded and yet the team kept on keeping on. 

Quote

 Pathetic to think we’re ending buyouts only to restart being handcuffed by stupid contracts another 4 years 

You'll have 3rd line quality guys playing in the 4th line when those contracts kick in. A 3rd line of Hartman-Oghren-Foligno doesn't sound good? Or some combo of Shaw/Gaudreau/Khusnutdinov for the 4th line? 

[Will D. Ness]

1 hour ago, B1GKappa97 said:

I mean Lucchini and Lettieri have looked just as capable. I don't think its a huge deal to miss out on the DewDu Twins, especially if somebody is willing to overpay for them in a trade. If we had signed them, then where are guys like Khusnutdinov and Liam Oghren and Mason Shaw going to play?

There have been moments that L&L looked good and may be compared to D&D from last year.  But few and far.

This last couple weeks though D&D have outplayed L&L by a wide margin. 

[mnfaninnc]

19 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Wild have had Spurgeon for more than 75% of their games every season since 2013. Everyone knew he was highly valuable, but I think some, myself included, took for granted just how much he brought to the table.

I think you've got something here, Huck. Sometimes you make assumptions on a player's availability and it comes back to bite you in the butt. Since Spurgeon has been pretty durable, the speculation was that that trend would continue, no matter that he was aging. If the plan plugged him into #1D and Faber into #4, that would be a big hole to fill.

However, the good news is that Faber was able to handle the #1D spot for most of the year, though, the past few games, I've felt like he has hit a wall.  Perhaps it's just that other teams have tape on him now? He will need to adjust, but to me, he looks a little tired which is normal for a rookie playing this many games now.

We also have found out just how bad our current D depth was this year. That was especially true with both Spurgeon and Brodin being out. I don't think this was accounted for properly by Guerin in his preseason planning, but he was kind of stuck. He couldn't afford good depth here, like when Provorov was on the block, and he was waiting for the cavalry in his picks which are now about a year away. Sometimes, you just have to suck that up. It was a bad year to have the injuries. Next year, when the D are ready, we'll probably be healthy!

[mnfaninnc]

29 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

There have been moments that L&L looked good and may be compared to D&D from last year.  But few and far.

This last couple weeks though D&D have outplayed L&L by a wide margin. 

Lucchini and Lettieri look like good AHL fill ins, not permanent fixtures on the team. I've been happy with the minutes they've been able to chip in, but, truly, their performance is essentially to break even while on the ice. I've felt like they've added a bit of speed, but they do not fair well against larger players. 

I do think that Guerin's plan was to have Gaudreau and Hartman and Foligno be a 4th line after the kids are transitioned. This will not happen right away, it will be after the kids have been seasoned, so minutes may start out heavier for those guys and lighten up as the kids get experience. This can take a couple of seasons. They are here to teach the kids how to be professional NHLers. This is an important aspect to Guerin, passing on the torch. He knows he needs some vets in the lineup to show and speak the way. 

Plus, as an experienced 4th group, they can play a shutdown role of useful play that can eat minutes and make this a full 4 line team. I like the plan, and these guys are being compensated for loyalty and past performance while the kids are making little and overperforming their contracts. The whole key in this is timing. You can have an estimate of when you think players will arrive, but more or less it's simply and estimate and they come in at different points in time.