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Article: The Predators Have Navigated Cap Hell Better Than the Wild


Quick little update:

Metallurg managed to preserve its lead, now leads its series 3-2

Torpedo got bounced by SKA and is eliminated

This opens up an opportunity for Firstov to come over and show us what he's done. Perhaps he is happy playing in the K? Perhaps he has NHL dreams? Was he banished to the K by the Wild? Did he request to go to the K as a young man who was homesick? 

I don't know any of the answers to these questions, but I think we can find out based upon what Firstov does next. He was on loan, so he is under contract with us. If he comes back here to try and show his development, I would say he requested to go. If he stays in Russia, we probably lost the prospect and maybe can trade him off? 

While the TDL has past, that doesn't mean you can't make any trades, it just means they are ineligible to participate in playoffs this season. Even if there were some hard feelings with Firstov, it would be in his best hockey interest to come on back, talk with management and put his skills on display. He had a solid year in the K, and has been growing well since about mid year last season, statistically. I'd like to see where he's at!

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Let's be honest here, Nashville's situation is completely incomparable to the Wild's.
Min vs. Nsh
Year 1 = $4.7 vs. $4.3 (-$0.4)
Year 2 = $12.7 vs. $4.3 (-$8.4)
Year 3 = $14.7 vs. $7.5 (-$7.2)
Year 4 = $14.7 vs. $8.5 (-$6.2)
Year 5 = $1.7 vs. $3.5 (+$1.8)
Year 6 = $1.7 vs. $3.5 (+$1.8)
Year 7 = $1.7 vs. $0 (-$1.7)
Year 8 = $1.7 vs. $0 (-$1.7)

First, Nashville knew how to calculate the dead cap hit for their players when they signed them so they had the advantage of being able to prepare for the potential dead cap hits beforehand. The Wild were taken out back and beaten with a fire hose right after signing Suter and Parise, and future GMs just inherited the mess.

The Wild have double the dead cap hit compared to Nashville and the hit impacts are longer. Imagine the Wild having an extra $6-8MM per year of cap space to play around with. I imagine that'd allow a GM to make some different decisions. Bill Guerin had/has to plan years in advance because of the catastrophic hit from the dead cap far into the future.

Cherry picking a non-superstar guy here or there in a vacuum, without considering the fallout from changes in those decisions can't be considered a realistic way to review a team's front office performance.

Pretty sure I talked about this a couple months ago, but this site was doom and gloom on BG and the Wild back in October, but here we are and the Wild are still clinging to a winning record and a potential playoff spot, unlikely as it may be.

Might be worth noting the Predators were at 60pts just 10 games ago... or 2pts ahead of the Wild.

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