Article: How Does the Wild Lineup Shake-Out Post Trade Deadline?

[Luke Sims]

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[Citizen Strife]

If Khustnutdinov plays anywhere close to advertised, that is the offensive depth the Wild have needed for a long time.  Beckman should hopefully get some extended time, now that Duhaime and Dewar aren't taking up valuable real estate.  If he manages some scoring punch too, that'd be nice.  Rossi has been a solid half goal/half assist kind of player, and Zuccarello is an assist machine.  If Beckman is any type of scorer, you can't ask for better Wild players other than the top liners (who are set in stone) right now.

I'm happy for Shaw.  He's proof that hard work pays off, and the Wild have done right by him and show faith in him by giving him the spot back when healthy.  

The team may or may not struggle a bit more defensively with Duhaime and Dewar gone.  Foligno coming back should help a little.  They just need more offense to balance it out.  I'm pretty curious what the end result will be.

Edited March 10 by Citizen Strife

[Protec]

I like the logical attempt to balance the lines. 

It looks a lot like all the complaints were premature cause the youth players are getting their late season auditions and spots are open for prospects to earn. 

What will the Guerin-rippers say now?

[WheelSnipeCelly]

Definitely would be interested to see your recommended lineup (maybe they'll shuffle things for Tuesday's game and include Khusnutdinov).

As per NHL's daily projected lineups (I'm not too sure how accurate these are), this is what they have for today's game though:

Kirill Kaprizov -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Matt Boldy
Mats Zuccarello -- Marco Rossi -- Ryan Hartman
Marcus Foligno -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Adam Beckman
Mason Shaw -- Jake Lucchini -- Vinni Lettieri

Jonas Brodin -- Brock Faber
Dakota Mermis -- Jon Merrill
Declan Chisholm -- Zach Bogosian

Marc-Andre Fleury
Filip Gustavsson

Scratched: Alex Goligoski

Injured: Jared Spurgeon (hip), Marcus Johansson (lower body), Jacob Middleton (upper body)

[Pewterschmidt]

27 minutes ago, WheelSnipeCelly said:

Definitely would be interested to see your recommended lineup (maybe they'll shuffle things for Tuesday's game and include Khusnutdinov).

As per NHL's daily projected lineups (I'm not too sure how accurate these are), this is what they have for today's game though:

Kirill Kaprizov -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Matt Boldy
Mats Zuccarello -- Marco Rossi -- Ryan Hartman
Marcus Foligno -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Adam Beckman
Mason Shaw -- Jake Lucchini -- Vinni Lettieri

Jonas Brodin -- Brock Faber
Dakota Mermis -- Jon Merrill
Declan Chisholm -- Zach Bogosian

Marc-Andre Fleury
Filip Gustavsson

Scratched: Alex Goligoski

Injured: Jared Spurgeon (hip), Marcus Johansson (lower body), Jacob Middleton (upper body)

Beckman not exactly given great opportunity to create offense with the two wild coolers as linemates, but you gotta play thru adversity brochella.  Time to start showing you’re ready to take a spot on the big club.  Clock is ticking

[Will D. Ness]

13 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Beckman not exactly given great opportunity to create offense with the two wild coolers as linemates, but you gotta play thru adversity brochella.  Time to start showing you’re ready to take a spot on the big club.  Clock is ticking

Rossi had that line looking pretty good at the start of the year.

[kapislife]

I expect Beckman and k nut to be squandered on the 4th line cause vet grit.

[WheelSnipeCelly]

Today's lines via Russo (main difference is Middleton is in, and Mermis is scratched):

Kaprizov — Eriksson Ek — Boldy
Zuccarello — Rossi — Hartman
Foligno — Gaudreau — Beckman
Shaw — Lucchini — Lettieri

Middleton — Faber
Brodin — Bogosian
Merrill — Chisholm

Fleury in Net

[hydguy75]

After watching season after season, strategy after strategy, these minor trades will not affect the Wild one iota.  It is not players that the Wild are missing.  It is not the coma-inducing mega-contracts and associated buyouts.  Nor the plaguing perpetual injuries this season.  It comes down to only 3 things that the Wild need to flourish.    

First things is any sense of Identity.  I have no idea who the Minnesota Wild are.  Zero clue.  I cannot explain why sometimes the Wild can annihilate a top seeded team, and the next night cough up penalties, goal, and barely have SOG let alone a single goal.  It fathoms me to watch one game where the passing appears to be by laser-pinball wizards, followed up with clumsy can't hit the broad side of a barn puck control the next game.  Every (any Minnesota sport) fan always has to wonder "what team is going to show up tonight?"  This is allegedly The State of Hockey, yet Minnesota has never raised the Cup in celebration of total victory.  

Next, would be a purpose, a motivation.  Or at least a CONSISTENT purpose.  It's like there is magic, life, high energy some games, and lethargic zombies on blades the next night.  Inconsistent attitude and play.  Did they party too hard celebrating a victory the previous night, or just decide they've put in enough this week?  Frustrating to watch the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde roulette.  Without an identity, it's difficult to have a reason for lacing up the skates.  

And finally, why no identity and motivation?  Because they lack leadership.  LEADERSHIP.  Yep, I'm going to call out the Wild for not having leadership.  This includes Owner, GM, coaching staff, and our Captain.  The few things resembling leadership I do see is GMBG quarterbacking the team roster and prospects.  Or sometimes a goalie on a hot streak, or even a few forwards (12, 14, 17, 97) but not consistently.  However, I do not witness any sense of leadership coordination between ownership, GM, coaching, and our team Captain.  For example, although the Wild are on the hook for the contract buyouts, and the league banning contracts over 8 years, why not appeal to the NHL that these now illegal contracts should not have to affect our salary cap.  Why is a relatively small D our team captain, given the other assets on the team?  He seems to be injured lot and I just do not see how he energizes the team on the ice.   I come from a military background, and you look into the eyes of the players, the coaches, and watch them play, their posture, their attitude, they simply lack any leadership on the ice whatsoever.  

You can rotate in GM's, coaches, and players all you want, change up the lines, but there is no clear definition of Identity, Goals, or dynamic leadership to take advantage of the talents, skills, and opportunities.  And until they find those three things, you will never see Minnesota etched on the Stanley Cup.  

 

 

[WheelSnipeCelly]

Brodin starting the game with the Power Play goal! He's two away (7) from his season record (9).

[Citizen Strife]

Hynes just earned himself an extra honeymoon period by pulling off that big brass balls move and winning.

[Burnt Toast]

4 hours ago, hydguy75 said:

LEADERSHIP

Excellent analysis on all three points. I am far from a hockey expert and I can see exactly what you’re saying. That means Wild management must see this too. Right? It would be awesome to get a no nonsense leader like the Florida Panthers got before last year’s run. L>A Leadership leads to accountability. 

[Dean]

Being a recovering kool aid drinker and now proud billy basher , I do have to hand it to billy . He’s getting all the guys to the golf course early. Bolds can work on his PGA career . The rest of the team should hold close door meetings all summer instead of every other day during regular season. 
   In all seriousness. I respect the optimists point of view and can see where there coming from. However I see things differently. I really believe in 5 years we will look back at buyout years as a waste of getting better draft capital.  We will be seeing Chicago and all there toys and wonder why we went the Billy route . 10 years of regular season darlings and playoff embarrassments . There is nothing I see that says this team is close to winning a playoff round let alone a cup. Like Russo tweeted yesterday. This team is undersized and gritless. If they don’t do something they will continue to get manhandled all season next year.  I don’t see where the playoff type players and playoff mindset comes from.  It’s an easy recipe to beat the wild. Punch us in the face. The wild can’t beat heavy. The playoffs have less space and time for our darlings to dangle around on the perimeter. They need to get to middle and defend middle. Nothing in the wilds  drafting tells me they get it. Speed just doesn’t beat size and strength in playoffs. A mixture of three do. Plus some meanness! . 
    The other major problem I see is the gap in developing our prospects. We were sold on we drafted our new d core only to find out it was hype. The two centers last year , probably years away and no idea if nhl caliber . In Billy’s method of building. Having gaps in development while not even knowing your own cap isn’t going to work .  Chicago having a ton of  guys in same age group means they have lots to pick from while we hope we get more than a granlund out of our 20 th overalls. .  Plus we’re betting  on there development to fit in to our compete on fly. Didn’t work this year ! I just don’t see how adding Marat and ohgren win you a round next year. I’m hoping there geat but I think the players around them are suspect and everyone is small. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

 

Marat!

[Willy the poor boy]

6 hours ago, hydguy75 said:

After watching season after season, strategy after strategy, these minor trades will not affect the Wild one iota.  It is not players that the Wild are missing.  It is not the coma-inducing mega-contracts and associated buyouts.  Nor the plaguing perpetual injuries this season.  It comes down to only 3 things that the Wild need to flourish.    

First things is any sense of Identity.  I have no idea who the Minnesota Wild are.  Zero clue.  I cannot explain why sometimes the Wild can annihilate a top seeded team, and the next night cough up penalties, goal, and barely have SOG let alone a single goal.  It fathoms me to watch one game where the passing appears to be by laser-pinball wizards, followed up with clumsy can't hit the broad side of a barn puck control the next game.  Every (any Minnesota sport) fan always has to wonder "what team is going to show up tonight?"  This is allegedly The State of Hockey, yet Minnesota has never raised the Cup in celebration of total victory.  

Next, would be a purpose, a motivation.  Or at least a CONSISTENT purpose.  It's like there is magic, life, high energy some games, and lethargic zombies on blades the next night.  Inconsistent attitude and play.  Did they party too hard celebrating a victory the previous night, or just decide they've put in enough this week?  Frustrating to watch the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde roulette.  Without an identity, it's difficult to have a reason for lacing up the skates.  

And finally, why no identity and motivation?  Because they lack leadership.  LEADERSHIP.  Yep, I'm going to call out the Wild for not having leadership.  This includes Owner, GM, coaching staff, and our Captain.  The few things resembling leadership I do see is GMBG quarterbacking the team roster and prospects.  Or sometimes a goalie on a hot streak, or even a few forwards (12, 14, 17, 97) but not consistently.  However, I do not witness any sense of leadership coordination between ownership, GM, coaching, and our team Captain.  For example, although the Wild are on the hook for the contract buyouts, and the league banning contracts over 8 years, why not appeal to the NHL that these now illegal contracts should not have to affect our salary cap.  Why is a relatively small D our team captain, given the other assets on the team?  He seems to be injured lot and I just do not see how he energizes the team on the ice.   I come from a military background, and you look into the eyes of the players, the coaches, and watch them play, their posture, their attitude, they simply lack any leadership on the ice whatsoever.  

You can rotate in GM's, coaches, and players all you want, change up the lines, but there is no clear definition of Identity, Goals, or dynamic leadership to take advantage of the talents, skills, and opportunities.  And until they find those three things, you will never see Minnesota etched on the Stanley Cup.  

 

 

4 years...Quite the culture change. I agree you have a team that shows up when it wants to and are not held accountable.

[Willy the poor boy]

2 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

 

Marat!

Good English! He looks like a goal scorer/assist machine to me.... Let's play hockey!

[Protec]

Knudi! Knudi! Knudi!

[Wanderinginmn]

8 hours ago, hydguy75 said:

Because they lack leadership.  LEADERSHIP.  Yep, I'm going to call out the Wild for not having leadership.  This includes Owner, GM, coaching staff, and our Captain.

Please clarify whatever you are spouting in caps there.  WTF does LEADERSHIP even mean?  And the captain that is on IR?  How does that play in your all caps world?

You can spout buzz words in all caps, but that conveys jack and shit in language.  OUTSIDE THE BOX.  was a big one a few years ago.  Still means nothing.

And as far as the Cup goes, God hates MN men.  It has been 33 years and that was... baseball, ew. 

We are doomed, We root for MN.

 

 

 

[Fezig]

10 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

Hynes just earned himself an extra honeymoon period by pulling off that big brass balls move and winning.

That win will not help us in the draft lottery!

[mnfaninnc]

Since Thomas took Monday off due to the extra duty on the TDL, I guess I'll put this here:

Metallurg won its series today, 4-2, with a 3-2 OT victory. Yurov=0 pts. 

[MNCountryLife]

I've never seen a team pull the goalie in OT.  I didn't even know it meant we lose a point if they lose the game.  Talk about a gutsy call by Hynes.  Glad it worked.

[Will D. Ness]

10 hours ago, Wanderinginmn said:

WTF does LEADERSHIP even mean?

It's probably easier to understand if you played team sports but leadership is mostly about cohesion.

The Wild have seriously lacked leadership this year.  Injuries and inconsistency has really made it difficult.  There will be games that the play is super tight and they look like the best team in the NHL, then there will be these effortless sloppy games where it looks like nobody cares.

The focus is not there.

We have a lot of young talent too so it is going to be chaotic while they refine their play but it shouldn't be this bad.  

I think Spurg is missed.  I think the coaching change was hard.  The revolving door of injuries was problematic.  There are many factors but leadership does exist and is the difference really between being competitive and from being a shit show. 

A good example is the "Dream Team" in basketball.  The most talented basketball players in the world... by a wide margin... lost to a less talented but cohesive team.

[mnfaninnc]

I'd like to remind everyone of Kalisha's article from November. She isn't one of the volume posters here, but she did effectively get the extensions right on the money about 3 days prior to their announcement. Here's a quote from her article:

Quote

First off, let’s address why the Wild loaned Firstov in the first place. 

The young Russian forward hadn’t played in his home country for years, coming over to spend his draft year in the USHL and then the last three seasons at the University of Connecticut. After just one game with the Iowa Wild this season, he’s apparently on his way back overseas to continue his development in the KHL.

Sounds like Firstov, now 22, was homesick. Playing away from your home country for four years can eventually make you miss your loved ones. He may want to spend time with his family and friends but still play the game he loves. Every NHL player understands what family means to a player's success. General manager Bill Guerin can't let Firstov be the one who got away, who's polished as a prospect since Firstov was taken 42nd overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, in the same year as Matt Boldy. 

Perhaps he would've stayed in North America if he had played in the KHL instead of college hockey. Whatever the case, the years of development have given him time to grow into his frame to showcase his complete skill set. He’s ready to take his game to the next level. 

Torpedo is now eliminated. Remember when we were signing Dino, his contract ran through April? We probably don't have that same problem with Firstov since he is under our contract structure on an ELC. He had a real nice year in the K, putting up 35 points. And, he seems to be a bit dangerous. 

So, if Kalisha is around, I would hope she'd follow up on her November story and give us an update on the prospect, hopefully with an arrival timeframe. I'd think if homesickness was part of the equation, having Kaprizov, Dino, and possibly Yurov, should help with that aspect.....along with maturity. 

[mnfaninnc]

20 hours ago, hydguy75 said:

And finally, why no identity and motivation?  Because they lack leadership.  LEADERSHIP.  Yep, I'm going to call out the Wild for not having leadership.  This includes Owner, GM, coaching staff, and our Captain.  The few things resembling leadership I do see is GMBG quarterbacking the team roster and prospects.  Or sometimes a goalie on a hot streak, or even a few forwards (12, 14, 17, 97) but not consistently.  However, I do not witness any sense of leadership coordination between ownership, GM, coaching, and our team Captain.  For example, although the Wild are on the hook for the contract buyouts, and the league banning contracts over 8 years, why not appeal to the NHL that these now illegal contracts should not have to affect our salary cap.  Why is a relatively small D our team captain, given the other assets on the team?  He seems to be injured lot and I just do not see how he energizes the team on the ice.   I come from a military background, and you look into the eyes of the players, the coaches, and watch them play, their posture, their attitude, they simply lack any leadership on the ice whatsoever.  

You can rotate in GM's, coaches, and players all you want, change up the lines, but there is no clear definition of Identity, Goals, or dynamic leadership to take advantage of the talents, skills, and opportunities.  And until they find those three things, you will never see Minnesota etched on the Stanley Cup.  

While I don't necessarily agree with you totally on this, I do think there is a valid point to be made: Identity, motivation and leadership all go hand in hand. 

I do not believe in handing someone the captaincy or a letter and they get to keep it until they leave the team. These letter's or validation of leadership should be turned in after each season and re-earned the following season. One major fact is that while Spurgeon is our Captain, he has been out for most of the year. With 2 major surgeries b2b, how do you expect to captain a team when you are recovering/rehabbing away from the team?

With the identity comment, I think this is right, but, with transition comes an identity switch, maybe even crisis. As the new guys come in, it'll be hard to keep the same identity which is different from culture (where you'd want some vets around). 

On to your example, there is an assumption that an appeal on the buyouts would have been granted, I think, on your part. I don't know if such an appeal would be made public. I do believe that not grandfathering in the current contracts in 2013 was absolutely the wrong thing to do, but the appeal process wouldn't have even been from OCL. When Luongo retired, and he had one of those contracts, both Vancouver and Florida got dinged. No appeal is going to go through once someone else endures the penalty. Personally, I think they did lose an appeal on this and it was a hush-hush thing. As Protec would say, OCL didn't bring a big enough offering to the table!

Moving  forward in the identity area, I believe each pairing on D and each line should have its own identity. What we have are a few larger players surrounded by several smaller players. Grit first was proposed as the identity last season going into the playoffs. That fizzled! Why? Because we didn't have enough larger bodies to play that style. Everyone besides Chicago can play that style in our division. The identity we used to have, as a hard working team, I think, has somewhat diminished, but that would be the identity I'd like to see. Finish checks, hard to play against, always moving the feet, solid structure and good goaltending should be what we see on the ice. As you've pointed out, the results are inconsistency, and a lot of that may have something to do with injuries. 

To also be fair, one thing that happened as a trend under Evason was the team starting out slowly. This happened the last 3 years of the Koivu captaincy too, and kept on going. I think that trend has been eliminated under Heinzy.

[mnfaninnc]

15 hours ago, Dean said:

We will be seeing Chicago and all there toys and wonder why we went the Billy route .

This is an easy sentence to answer: We went the Billy route because OCL insisted on going this route. There is absolutely nothing any of us fans can do about it, OCL insisted that his next GM was going to retool/reload/rebuild in this manner. Shooter had no other option! And, he's done fairly well with this option.

 

15 hours ago, Dean said:

The playoffs have less space and time for our darlings to dangle around on the perimeter. They need to get to middle and defend middle.

This has been a point of contention of mine since I started really following the Wild. We have consistently been a perimeter team with one exception, the final year of Fiala. We attacked the middle that season! And, we've got some guys who can do it, and others who refuse. 

Protec has a point when he talks about the Euros, these guys, regardless of size, tend to play perimeter hockey and value puck possession more than high danger chances. Changing that mindset, I think is important as the North American players have more of a tendency to charge down the middle. Of course, this is a generalization. Obviously I can see #14 in front of the net almost every shift. 

And it's not a pick you spots thing, you have to consistently drive the middle and get to the home plate area. I hate our board play as it mostly ends up in skating back in the other direction. 

Dean hit gold on this sentence!

15 hours ago, Dean said:

The other major problem I see is the gap in developing our prospects. We were sold on we drafted our new d core only to find out it was hype. The two centers last year , probably years away and no idea if nhl caliber .

What exactly is and isn't an NHL calibre defender? Do they need to come out of jrs. and play NHL minutes immediately? Do they need to appear at 20 in the NHL like Faber? If that is the expectation, I disagree with it wholeheartedly. 

There's a reason why history tells us that defenders generally take an extra year or 2 to develop. Because they do. I am still high on Spacek (who picked up a couple of assists last weekend) and Lambos. I don't know if you've noticed, but Simon Johansson has had a 10 game run that has been really good, maybe, just maybe, the lights clicked on? That would be a huge bonus if it happens. 

Let's give an example outside of the organization: David Jiricek. He was a topish pick in his draft year, but in the WJCs, Spacek was able to match his play. He played 36 games this year as a 20 year old (Faber's age), and had to be sent down to the A on a terrible Columbus team. He's simply not ready yet. Does that make him a bust? Let's see what Columbus does when we offer them a 3rd rounder in '26 for him? 

Plus, there is absolutely no consideration for these prospect's lost year under Covid. That lost year has an accumulation affect, and really put them back a couple of seasons, one to regain their momentum and the other one to improve. Lambos, Peart, Faber, Spacek, Masters, O'Rourke, Hunt all fall under that window. Even the ones we picked up last year had their development stifled. 

Maybe there was some hype, but the truth is that they are still developing and not ready yet for St. Paul. I haven't seen Lambos play, but it certainly looks like he'll need a 2nd year in the A. Same with Spacek. And both need strength. 

15 hours ago, Dean said:

I just don’t see how adding Marat and ohgren win you a round next year.

And here we get to the patience level. No, neither guy will move the needle for next year, and expectations should never be that they will. Unless you've got a McDavid coming out of the draft on your team, you cannot bank success on rookies. It takes a couple of years for them to acclimate themselves and for the game to slow down for them. The expectations are simply outlandish. Rossi will be better. Faber should be better. But they still have room to grow. Yurov, Ohgren, Dino, maybe Firstov would help, but they're not going to be difference makers. 

Look at the Bedard affect? Has that really helped Chicago this year? Does he look like a generational player yet? No! And it wasn't even expected. Same thing with Fantilli and Carlsson. 

In fact, as we transition into the younger guys, our results will probably be worse. That doesn't mean we're worse, results just tend to lag. Players need to learn how to be consistent, learn how to be a pro, learn how to bring it every night, and learn how to get through individual slumps. That doesn't happen because they finally won a roster spot!