Article: Could Khusnutdinov's Arrival Open the Floodgates For Other Prospects?

[Sean Flick]

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[mnfaninnc]

So, just looking at the open spots, I'm wondering, what about Chisholm, Middleton, and Hunt? I think it's 50/50 they resign Middleton, and the other 2 would be RFAs and probably inexpensive.

At the point of '25-26, I do not like Hartman as a center, nor do I like Freddy as a center. These guys can get kicked out to wing and let some more young guys take over the center slot. 

I'd be thinking Stramel will be the 3rd line C by then, not particularly putting up points, but being real hard to play against and shutting down anything defensively. I see you've got Rossi and Dino on the wings, but I do believe they could be centers too. 

So, as I mention Stramel as 3rd line center, truthfully, it's a 4th line, a shutdown line, and we end up with 3 scoring lines. I do think minutes will be pretty evenly distributed, with the difference being PP and PK responsibilities. 

I'd also like to mention to defenders: Simon Johansson and David Spacek. I had more or less given up on Johansson, but his last 10 games have been really good offensively. It could be that he's just hot right now, or, it could be that the game finally slowed down a bit for him at the A level. Spacek continues to make progress, and I'm expecting a big offseason from him in terms of strength/weight/skate. Why? Bloodlines. His dad played, I think he's driven to make it too.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

With the recent success of KK97, JEE, and Boldy, I would envision that line continuing as the #1 line. Those seem like the forwards they want on the ice for 18+ minutes, so I'm surprised to see Kaprizov listed with anyone else above.

Kaprizov - Eriksson Ek - Boldy

Zuccarello - Rossi - Johansson

Foligno - Gaudreau - Hartman

Shaw - Khusnutdinov - Lettieri

I wouldn't be surprised by this lineup, or if they add Ohgren and put Johansson in the press box, they could move Hartman up a line to have Ohgren play with Foligno and Gaudreau.

Given that Khusnutdinov has been a center for years, I doubt they'll immediately move him to wing as he begins his NHL career.

I'm not sure anyone should assume or project that any prospect will join Kaprizov on the top line during their entry level contract...but Yurov might.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

1 minute ago, mnfaninnc said:

At the point of '25-26, I do not like Hartman as a center, nor do I like Freddy as a center. These guys can get kicked out to wing and let some more young guys take over the center slot. 

I'd be thinking Stramel will be the 3rd line C by then

Stramel hasn't even been 3rd line center on his college team this year. I don't think he'll be on the Wild in 25-26, much less playing above the 4th line.

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Kaprizov - Eriksson Ek - Boldy

Bo-Kap-Ek: do not operate heavy machinery when consuming.  Talk to your health care provider to determine if Kap-Ek-Bo is right for you.

[Protec]

2 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Stramel hasn't even been 3rd line center on his college team this year. I don't think he'll be on the Wild in 25-26, much less playing above the 4th line.

We shouldn't count chickens before they hatch.

I'm liking a Johansson buyout. If he likes it in MN, great. He can be retired there. The Wild would get cap relief for next year and the long-term cost would be palatable because the dead-cap hit is <700K per my goofbag-calculations.

I like the idea of getting a player like a Foegle, DuClair, or Trenin who are UFAs in place of lazy Nojo.

This off-season while MN says goodbye to Goligoski, and potentially Mermis, Luchinni, or Fluery would they have room with the cap going up to upgrade the forward group? If Yurov was coming in, could the Wild be giving Beckman a chance here to finally prove something. He's had some years and was a Fenton pick so does he increase his stock now or not? If it stayed the same, should the Wild hold out hope for Beckman or could they sacrifice the prospect to trade? Should they use ~4M from Goligoski/Fleury/Cap-Increase to get a proven guy from UFA status? This is why I really hate the Johannson deal but technically at 2M they could bury the guy as 13th forward. It's just that having him at all cuts into the cap that could get a powerful wing like Trenin, Foegle, or a speed-weapon like DuClair. 

I think the Wild will have an interesting off-season. They've had time to really take a good look at the AHL tweeners. Walker, Lulongos, Deweys, Memisitis, and Petan all had looks. Verdict is sealed on a few of them. Beckman is up, but the odds are that he'll be another one of the not-quite club. Guerin will wanna start getting his guys in there IMO. I think he's giving Beckman a good look here late. I don't think GMBG has written Beckman off entirely, but if I was going into this off-season with the chance to perhaps add a <~3.5M guy, who would be the casualty? Does there need to be one? It should be NoJo but will the Linguines or Beckman get a change of scenery?

Hypothetically, MN should have cap-increase, Goligoski's 2M, and let's say Fleury signs a 1-year, 2M? That would give Guerin approx. 7M in cap space next year to work with, that's currently unavailable. One open hole on the roster for a defenseman.

I think the Wild will wanna upgrade at least one forward. To me this means more than a KHL rookie. Likely, Guerin will want to sign a UFA as he's been unable to do so in recent years. This season has shown what the Wild have, and what they need. Where, they're weak and what is pretty strong. L1 looks good and the top pair of defenseman are also very good. It's the depth that needs to be upgraded.

[Citizen Strife]

Other than the possibility of keeping Fleury on short term deals until he hangs it up (or Wallstedt ends up too good to keep down there), I think the Wild will use the remaining season and training camp as a litmus test.

Khusnutdinov is definitely staying, but there only really one more chance for Beckman to sink or swim.  If Yurov, Firstov, or Ohgren impress early, Guerin will find space.

As for defense, Chisholm has been a decent upgrade, and Bogo isn't amazing, but there to give time for Lambos, Hunt, or others to round into shape.  Everything really hinges on Spurgeon staying healthy.

The hope is any or all of the new guys prove worth as 1st/2nd line quality.  The goal should be for everyone to be good enough to play as well as Kap/Ek/Boldy are now.  But, if they even get to the point they feel "just" behind them, but better than Hartman, Foligno, or even Zucc scoring wise, that takes the Wild in the right direction.

Heck, even being less of a dumpster fire defense or PK wise would go a long way.

 

 

[Dean]

I just saw a headline on athletic about mermis future. I canceled my subscription for this year so didn’t read. Are we thinking of extending mermis? 

[FredJohnson]

Markedly different article than Tony's. 😳

[WheelSnipeCelly]

3 hours ago, Dean said:

I just saw a headline on athletic about mermis future. I canceled my subscription for this year so didn’t read. Are we thinking of extending mermis? 

I got you! So, the article covered quite a few items. The last segment was dedicated to Mermis. Part of it was about his late adds to the roster (he was supposed to be a healthy scratch) in 2 recent games and then it went into his career and hopes of staying in the NHL for next season. This is what Russo/Smith had to say about his future with the Wild though: 

"It might be his swan song in Minnesota, though, because he likely has earned a one-way contract this offseason, something the Wild probably cannot provide with a returning blue line of Faber, Middleton, Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Zach Bogosian, Declan Chisholm and Merrill."

[Citizen Strife]

Mermis was "fine" for awhile (I mean, look what we're working with). However, Mermis reminded me of Petan: a guy to hold things together for a stretch of games, but won't be a positive or negative influence.

[mnfaninnc]

On 3/12/2024 at 12:00 PM, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Stramel hasn't even been 3rd line center on his college team this year. I don't think he'll be on the Wild in 25-26, much less playing above the 4th line.

I don't know why this is, but I think they see him as a center still. We need to try and develop him that way. That is one reason why I'd like to see how he performs in the tournament, and whether or not it will be in the Wild's best interest to put him under contract in the A or to keep him in college. 

Of course, 1 thing that may determine this is his age. He may not turn 20 and have to play NCAA or jrs. A quick check says he's 19 with an October birthday. I do not know the cutoff to being eligible to play in the A, but he would pretty much be 20 when the season starts.

[mnfaninnc]

14 hours ago, WheelSnipeCelly said:

"It might be his swan song in Minnesota, though, because he likely has earned a one-way contract this offseason, something the Wild probably cannot provide with a returning blue line of Faber, Middleton, Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Zach Bogosian, Declan Chisholm and Merrill."

Thanks for the assist WSC. Even if he's earned a 1-way contract, I still think I'd offer a 2-way with a pretty elevated A salary. For instance, this season he is at $775k NHL, & $375k AHL. I think I'd keep the N the same and up the A to about $500k. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

9 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I don't know why this is, but I think they see him as a center still. We need to try and develop him that way.

He's big and he can skate, but his skill level doesn't seem to be that high. Playing 4th line winger on his college team doesn't bode well. The Wild can certainly try to develop him at center, but he has a lot of work to do. I think he'll need to be at least 22 before he sees NHL ice based upon where his game is today.

He's behind Jordan Greenway in his development, and the Wild have some other centers now. Possible he'll be a 4th line center once he's developed enough to join the Wild. Just not sure he'll move up the order too quickly, and Kumpulainen could be there ahead of him at C.

I haven't seen him play, but there are 10+ forwards on his college team that are more productive this season, and he's one of just 3 forwards that are negative in the plus/minus statistic. Something might click for him outside of college, but he's not producing like an NHL player so far. He has played in 33 of 39 games this year. Among forwards on his NCAA team, he is 12th in goals scored and 11th in assists.

[Pewterschmidt]

59 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I don't know why this is, but I think they see him as a center still. We need to try and develop him that way. That is one reason why I'd like to see how he performs in the tournament, and whether or not it will be in the Wild's best interest to put him under contract in the A or to keep him in college. 

Of course, 1 thing that may determine this is his age. He may not turn 20 and have to play NCAA or jrs. A quick check says he's 19 with an October birthday. I do not know the cutoff to being eligible to play in the A, but he would pretty much be 20 when the season starts.

I'm holding out hope that Stramel is bottom sixer on this Badger club because new coach brought in all 'his guys' from Natty Champ program and pushed all Badger hold overs down lineup.  

[Pewterschmidt]

39 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Playing 4th line winger on his college team doesn't bode well. The Wild can certainly try to develop him at center

Our Jack McBain replacement

[Imyourhuckleberry]

3 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Our Jack McBain replacement

Sounds about right.

Not hard to envision David Edstrom being much better by the 26-27 season. His point production is higher(5th on his team in points among forwards) in the top professional Swedish league than Stamel has in the NCAA. Edstrom delivers a strong defensive game and actually leads his team in plus/minus.

Could have had another Elite Swede on the same team as Eriksson Ek...

[Fezig]

On 3/12/2024 at 10:30 PM, WheelSnipeCelly said:

with a returning blue line of Faber, Middleton, Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Zach Bogosian, Declan Chisholm and Merrill.

I'd rather throw a bag of old pucks on the blue line to play D than suit up Merrill.

[MadtownWild]

Howdy, long time reader, first time commenter.  Just wanted to chime in with my two cents on Stramel, since I have been able to watch him play a decent amount this year.

It is clear he is getting less ice time under the new coaching regime, but it seems as though he has been slowly moving up the lineup and increasing his ice time as the season goes on, it will be interesting to see what he can do in the tourney.  He also had some injuries early in the year that hurt.  it is true he was playing fourth line winger early in the season, but he hasn't been for awhile now.  Mostly seems like he is playing second or third line center lately, even been showing up more on special teams.

I think a few things should be said.  First is that he is still very young, and likely connected to that is he clearly needed to earn the new coaches trust, which he seems to slowly be doing.  This was also exacerbated by the amount of transfers, particularly older transfers that came over with Hastings.  They also brought in quite a few good recruits.  Stramel also missed some time early with injuries, which didn't help, and I think it is realistic to see some kind of a sophomore slump by someone so young who is also dealing with a coaching change, new schemes, etc.

A big change I have noticed this year, is he went from playing a lot on the top line with our two best offensive players last year (Cruz Lucius and Mathieu de st Phaille), to playing towards the bottom to start the year, and most importantly, with a revolving cast of line mates.  It was clear he was much more comfortable with those line mates last year, I think he looked faster and more confident, likely also helped that those two are both strong scorers who could take some pressure off him. 

He reminds me of some other larger bodied players I have seen who got too caught up in trying to score a lot of goals, and be big offensive producers, when their best bet to be successful is to lean into their physicality, play tough, two way games.  Actually the person I am most reminded of is Jordan Greenway's brother, JD Greenway, who played a couple years at Wisconsin.  He was about Stramels size, maybe a little bigger, a little more willing to play physical, but very similar overall.  His biggest issues were focusing too much on offense to the detriment of his defense, and a sort of aloofness and lack of effort (tbh his brother could also drag a bit and not give the best effort.)  I think a good expectation for Stramel would be a faster and stronger skating version of Jordan Greenway, who plays center, and is more willing to play a tough physical game.  Hopefully with a little more scoring, but that remains to be seen.  Another person who I am reminded of is K'andre Miller, though he is a combination of a better overall player, and someone who came to college much more polished.  Still, the size, skating, physicality, and sometimes getting too caught up with offensive production are all there.

It is possible he could develop more skill over the next few years and bring more offense to the table, he does have some skills, they are just not very polished. Leaning into his physical play, and trying to play a game similar to Ek's is how he is likely to be successful.  He would likely have been better being drafted slightly later; I think the first round label puts a lot of pressure on guys, especially to produce offensively, when that really isn't the strength of his game.

Third line winger, similar to Ek's game, strong skater, physical, chips in maybe 40-50 points a season, is likely the most realistic higher end expectation, and that would likely be very helpful to the Wild in a few years, especially with his size.

[mnfaninnc]

4 hours ago, Fezig said:

I'd rather throw a bag of old pucks on the blue line to play D than suit up Merrill.

I can't understand why Merrill is still playing either. I'd much rather get Hunt up here to get a real opportunity at this point in the season. Even if we make the playoffs, it's got to be Hunt over Merrill because we all know Merrill won't be able to keep up!