Article: We've Seen the Limits Of the Wild's Locker Room Chemistry

[Tony Abbott]

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[UncleWalt]

I don’t know. The Hartman and Zucc extensions seem fine. Foligno and Freddie Hockey are too long. But this team needs goaltending full stop. And I don’t know where they go.  

[Dean]

great article.    
 Jim Nill gm of Dallas has a good interview on the Jeff marek show. It was about his rebuilding on fly with his aging veterans and how he built this team. . I found it really interesting listening to a smart gm . He didn’t seem to worried about how much fun the guys were having in locker room. He was about getting the right guys to surround his core that’s proven they can win playoff rounds. Also how they seem to hit on there top draft picks and develop them quickly to contribute. It seems to me Jim nill isnt  afraid to make tough decisions.  He values productivity over fun . 
    I highly doubt Nill would be afraid to lose a Fred , Hartman , moose or zucc due to not giving them a clause in there contract . I doubt he would worry about extending them. They aren’t the guys you build around . A few of them are guys you add at deadline to add depth to a playoff run but not core guys . We have core guys. Kappy , ek , Boldy , Faber , Brodin. . All others should be expendable to get what you need to build around these 5 .  Those extended guys should be on 1-2 yr deals so you can move them if they aren’t producing. To be scared of change is ridiculous but you’re right that’s how they think. There are better players in the nhl that can do all of the extended guys jobs better. It’s a matter of finding them an upgrading . That’s what good GMs and their scouting departments do. Like Dallas . 
     I saw a team this year that didn’t care.  They are just like Arizona, Columbus, sharks , ducks etc.  They are fine with losing. Especially when the clubhouse is so fun. It’s not fun in Dallas when there losing. They get the wrath of gm and owner. Not us. We get excuses and heart warming stories about Minnesota hockey. Blah blah blah. 

[MacGyver]

Dysfunction in the front office=dysfunction on the ice. The team is Billy in the mirror.

[Burnt Toast]

Great article, very balanced and pretty forgiving. I like what John H said. It really surprised me just how frank he was. It gives me hope for next year. The accountability he is describing has to get buy in from the team’s true leaders.  I’m not sure which players he’ll be leaning on. I don’t see the Wild starting next season as ineffectually as this year. I’m hoping for signs of an IU. Identity Upgrade. 

[mnhockeyfan03]

This is a big summer for the Wild.  They need to get bigger and stronger and faster. Gus, Spurgeon, Rossi, Freddie, Nojo, I would even put Middleton in there for the right piece should all be moved.  Guys like Shaw, letteri, beckman, walker, etc should also be a piece package to get us a better player.  This team needs a big makeover.  Faber also should only be 6-7mm on a 3-5 year deal.  He is not Makar and not worth that money yet.  Rossi I just don’t see it against the good big teams which are like the playoffs.  Gets pushed around to much.  Need to get Yurov here next year for sure and need a right hand shot in ovechkins office for the PP.  no more Zuccarello on the PP

[Patrick]

Hartman is getting paid about what he is worth. Gaudreau should be paying the Wild 2.5 million a year the way he is playing.  Sadly the worst extension is likely Zuccarello.  He is borderline invisible when Kaprizov is not on the ice.  And it's not going to improve as he ages. 

[MNCountryLife]

My two takeaways from the season:

1)  Trading around bottom 6 players will not make a team better.

2)  Our defense was really good at making average goalies look great.  

[MNCountryLife]

Mackinnon really exposed our D.  Getting Spurgeon back will help, but we are still short a tier 1 D man.  Either one of our prospects steps up, a trade for one happens or we are an injury away from missing next years playoffs as well.

Edited April 17 by MNCountryLife

[Imyourhuckleberry]

If Evason fills a head coaching role, perhaps the Wild can trade Gaudreau to his new team. Those 2 seem to have some mutual admiration for one another.

Dewar, Duhaime, and Maroon all get playoff hockey, so I imagine they are happy now that they were traded.

The salary cap hits taking out over 15% of the Wild's cap really hamstrung them, along with Spurgeon's injury. They cannot afford any of their top players missing time because they could not afford skilled depth. Instead, they had to settle for Johansson over Nyquist and trades for guys making around $1M(Maroon & Bogo).

Goligoski and Fleury contracts coming off the books may have helped, but Guerin already filled most of that cap space with the veteran extensions prior to the season. They'll need to sign Chisholm, Mermis, Shaw, Lucchini, Beckman, presumably at/near minimum contracts, if they want them back.

Johansson and Merrill contracts will fall off for 25-26, if they are not able to trade them before that. The youth should be filling in nicely and maybe another high talent veteran signs then with some added cap space, what's left of it after extensions to Faber & Rossi. They'll need to make decisions on Middleton & Dino there too.

They weren't that far off from a playoff team. Some development from the youth, and adding Yurov, might get them there next year, providing a stepping stone towards real contention in 25-26.

[Protec]

The Wild need some upgrades for sure, or for players to find a new level. Some of that is individually but the team buy in and chemistry is off. 

If you asked me, I'd say when teams feel like certain guys aren't committed or the group isn't functioning as a complete unit, things break down. 

We saw that this year for blowout games and when goalies had bad nights. Some teams allow little things to snowball. Other times there's trends that show up and illustrate weaknesses. The best teams, including the Wild when they were hot prior to this year avoided those pitfalls. That's where confidence builds and in hockey chemistry is more about the team unit and how it works together but you need certain roles and leaders to be the spark plug or the gears.

MN missed important players this season and certainly could have benefitted from better goaltending but my opinion is that it was more of a group failure. Beginning with the Evason firing there were obvious issues that gummed up the works. Then you're chasing all year long while injuries add up. At that point good team games only go so far. Beating Boston is great but tough losses in the Central whether it's OT or not were like coffin nails. 

MN needs a fresh start and more tweaks of the roster to benefit from a Maroon or Fleury. Perhaps even to help them be their best, the team has to be firing on all cylinders. MN didn't do it this year but chemistry can be created again with the core guys. Getting rid of NoJo the passenger/straggler should be first thing.

[mnfaninnc]

10 hours ago, Patrick said:

Hartman is getting paid about what he is worth. Gaudreau should be paying the Wild 2.5 million a year the way he is playing.  Sadly the worst extension is likely Zuccarello.  He is borderline invisible when Kaprizov is not on the ice.  And it's not going to improve as he ages. 

I think you're on to something here. Hartman, Foligno and Zuccarello are all being paid what they're worth with the extensions. They have brief no move designations, and then modified trade clauses, except for Zuccarello who is full NMC but only for 2 years. If the kids were to beat them out, I think they could be moved. But for the kids to do this, I think some are at least 2 years away from making their mark.

Gaudreau and Johansson are both buriable in the A, but must pass waivers to get there. They are the least of my concern right now. Gaudreau had a bad year, but we really never got to see his full value. Most of our games ended in regulation, and we had very few shootouts. I think Gaudreau's role is a 4th liner who can play center in a pinch, but also fills that 3rd slot in the shootout. Also remember, that this is how Evason used him, and may not be how Heinzy sees him. If Heinzy doesn't want to use him there, his value is greatly diminished and he's overpaid by about $500k. 

[Willy the poor boy]

13 hours ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Gus, Spurgeon, Rossi, Freddie, Nojo, I would even put Middleton in there for the right piece should all be moved.

Contract aside, I thin the Captain will be way more valuable on the team then any value coming back from a trade. If the surgeries aren't/weren't a success you can LTIR him, even though the Wild seem to not want to use that clause to their advantage.

13 hours ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Faber also should only be 6-7mm on a 3-5 year deal.

I agree, the people thinking he should get 9 mill are, to put it bluntly, crazy.

13 hours ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Rossi I just don’t see it against the good big teams which are like the playoffs.

Trading Rossi will be a mistake especially with BG as GM. I can easily see a trade where were all going; That's it? That's what we get?

Boldy gets pushed around a bit to, should we trade him? I'd say Rossi has way more grit then Boldy. Don't get me wrong, I like Boldy but just cause he's bigger than MR doesn't mean he plays like it.

[MrCheatachu]

15 hours ago, Dean said:

great article.    
 Jim Nill gm of Dallas has a good interview on the Jeff marek show. It was about his rebuilding on fly with his aging veterans and how he built this team. . I found it really interesting listening to a smart gm . He didn’t seem to worried about how much fun the guys were having in locker room. He was about getting the right guys to surround his core that’s proven they can win playoff rounds. Also how they seem to hit on there top draft picks and develop them quickly to contribute. It seems to me Jim nill isnt  afraid to make tough decisions.  He values productivity over fun . 
    I highly doubt Nill would be afraid to lose a Fred , Hartman , moose or zucc due to not giving them a clause in there contract . I doubt he would worry about extending them. They aren’t the guys you build around . A few of them are guys you add at deadline to add depth to a playoff run but not core guys . We have core guys. Kappy , ek , Boldy , Faber , Brodin. . All others should be expendable to get what you need to build around these 5 .  Those extended guys should be on 1-2 yr deals so you can move them if they aren’t producing. To be scared of change is ridiculous but you’re right that’s how they think. There are better players in the nhl that can do all of the extended guys jobs better. It’s a matter of finding them an upgrading . That’s what good GMs and their scouting departments do. Like Dallas . 
     I saw a team this year that didn’t care.  They are just like Arizona, Columbus, sharks , ducks etc.  They are fine with losing. Especially when the clubhouse is so fun. It’s not fun in Dallas when there losing. They get the wrath of gm and owner. Not us. We get excuses and heart warming stories about Minnesota hockey. Blah blah blah. 

Jim Nill is paying a 39 year old Ryan Fucking Suter $3.65M with full NMC on a 35+ contract.  Everyone here having meltdowns about how bad the Freddy/Mojo contracts are need to consider FreddyG/MoJo making $4.1M combined with only NTC.  I'm not going to discount Nill's done a good job of scouting (otter has been a lifesaver down there), but there's a larger margin for error when you're not handcuffed by $14.7M country club dues.

Winning is fun, but you can't discount that it is significantly more difficult to do that when you're $14.7M in the hole due to the buyouts.  Dallas' roster would take an immediate hit if you had to eliminate any two of these guys to make it fit:

Tyler Seguin (32yo) - $9.85M for 3 more seasons

Jamie Benn (34yo) - $9.5M for one more season

Roope Hintz (27) - $8.45M for 7 more seasons

Miro Heiskanan (24) - $8.4M for 5 more seasons

Jason Robertson (24) - $7.75M for 2 more seasons

[Willy the poor boy]

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

If Evason fills a head coaching role, perhaps the Wild can trade Gaudreau to his new team. Those 2 seem to have some mutual admiration for one another.

I thought I heard Buffalo fired coach Granato, I'd like to see Evason get that job. A lot of talent over there. Not sure about the GM, but they've seemed to do alright drafting.

I would say DE got the most out of Fred among others as well. Although I personally believe Freddie was dealing with injury most of this season. I look for him to bounce back.

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

The salary cap hits taking out over 15% of the Wild's cap really hamstrung them, along with Spurgeon's injury. They cannot afford any of their top players missing time because they could not afford skilled depth. Instead, they had to settle for Johansson over Nyquist and trades for guys making around $1M(Maroon & Bogo).

It was always an excuse when it came to Evason, funny how all that changes depending on whose coaching and what day of the week it is. But to be clear, agree with you and always have, my opinion on that doesn't change with the wind. I just never got used to the mantra 'good things Guerin, bad things Evason.'

Edited April 17 by Willy the poor boy
punctuation

[mnfaninnc]

50 minutes ago, Protec said:

MN missed important players this season and certainly could have benefitted from better goaltending but my opinion is that it was more of a group failure. Beginning with the Evason firing there were obvious issues that gummed up the works.

I think there's something in here that needs further exploring. Buy in is one thing for the players, but I'm not sold that Heinzy bought into Evason's system. He knew he couldn't change to a completely new system, one he prefers, he had to limp along and play in Evason's system until he could install his own this summer. 

Some of the players that were good fits in Evason's system might not be good fits now. That is where some weeding out must happen. For instance, not playing the perimeter and getting to the front of the net in both zones might be stressed. This would limit guys like Zuccarello's tendencies. I'd also imagine that some of these passes thrown east-west just inside the O-zone drove Heinzy crazy, especially when intercepted. 

Now, the real question has to be asked: Is this Heinzy's team? I noticed that Pittsburgh again missed the playoffs. I'm not sure where Sully stands with 2 misses in a row, though he had quite a run to get into contention. I believe if he is let go, Guerin will pluck him up, and as I've said before, I think there's room in the organization for all 3. I don't think Heinzy is going anywhere outside of the organization. 

It's probably too soon to tell, but we'll probably know within a couple of weeks what Pittsburgh is going to do. Sully is not Dubas' coach. He might let him go.

[mnfaninnc]

12 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

Jim Nill is paying a 39 year old Ryan Fucking Suter $3.65M with full NMC on a 35+ contract.  Everyone here having meltdowns about how bad the Freddy/Mojo contracts are need to consider FreddyG/MoJo making $4.1M combined with only NTC.  I'm not going to discount Nill's done a good job of scouting (otter has been a lifesaver down there), but there's a larger margin for error when you're not handcuffed by $14.7M country club dues.

I think Jim Nill did a good job as AGM in Detroit and has done a real good job in Dallas. He's scouted well as Mr. Cheatachu has mentioned. In the A, Texas is usually up in the standings. 

This is now. A few years ago it wasn't looking good for this team. He's got some pretty old players there too. What does Dallas do when the age becomes a problem? Will Dallas make it out of the Central?

[Will D. Ness]

26 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I think Gaudreau's role is a 4th liner who can play center in a pinch, but also fills that 3rd slot in the shootout. Also remember, that this is how Evason used him, and may not be how Heinzy sees him. If Heinzy doesn't want to use him there, his value is greatly diminished and he's overpaid by about $500k. 

Freddy had a horrible... god awful shitty year... but he didn't look like himself either.

I haven't given up on him yet.  I don't know what his deal was but his game has looked better the last 10 games or so.  Let's see if he rebounds back in 24-25.

[MNCountryLife]

16 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

I don’t see the Wild starting next season as ineffectually as this year

I wish I had that optimism.  But we still have the cap issue and the team will likely be very familiar to this season.  Too many players that are dependent on someone else to get their points.  BG appears to have labeled the goal as 25-26 and he will be riding this team through next year.    

[MrCheatachu]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I think Jim Nill did a good job as AGM in Detroit and has done a real good job in Dallas. He's scouted well as Mr. Cheatachu has mentioned. In the A, Texas is usually up in the standings. 

This is now. A few years ago it wasn't looking good for this team. He's got some pretty old players there too. What does Dallas do when the age becomes a problem? Will Dallas make it out of the Central?

Lest we forget that Nill offered had offered Klingberg an 8x$7M aav in 2021...had Klinger decided accepted that deal instead of holding out for a 8x$8M aav deal the makeup of those Dallas Stars might be a bit different.

Also, they're paying Seguin (25g/27a) and Benn (21g/39a) damn near $20M...similar production of Zucarello (11g/51a) and Hartman (21g/23a) who we're paying $8M next season, combined.

2 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

Freddy had a horrible... god awful shitty year... but he didn't look like himself either.

I haven't given up on him yet.  I don't know what his deal was but his game has looked better the last 10 games or so.  Let's see if he rebounds back in 24-25.

I think it was the Reavo hit...which really makes me sad because Reavo didn't have to make that hit.  Literally, before the game he said he was going to hit someone hard because he liked us.

[Protec]

The Dallas example shows that winning solves everything. Likewise missing the playoffs can bring about doom & gloom.

Dallas picking up Marchment and the production they've had from Robertson, Johnston, and old dog Pavelski made a huge difference in changing their trajectory since ca. 2019-20.

[Up North Guy]

3 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

Freddy had a horrible... god awful shitty year... but he didn't look like himself either.

I haven't given up on him yet.  I don't know what his deal was but his game has looked better the last 10 games or so.  Let's see if he rebounds back in 24-25.

Didn't Freddy get crushed by Reeves early in the season or was that someone else? I think it was Freddy and he never played up to par after that. To be honest, he never was a player I wanted to have to bank on. But if he was nursing an injury all season it sure showed. But truly at full health I still see him as a 4th liner with ability to move up in an emergency. As it often has been stated here, the problem with his contract isn't the AAV, it is the term.

[MrCheatachu]

Welp, Fleury 1x$2.5M...In my mind that means Gus NEEDS to be moved, spending $2.5M + $3.75M ($6.25M) is unacceptable next season.

[Will D. Ness]

4 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

Didn't Freddy get crushed by Reeves early in the season or was that someone else? I think it was Freddy and he never played up to par after that. To be honest, he never was a player I wanted to have to bank on. But if he was nursing an injury all season it sure showed. But truly at full health I still see him as a 4th liner with ability to move up in an emergency. As it often has been stated here, the problem with his contract isn't the AAV, it is the term.

I did read an article by Russo today about Freddy.  He confirmed that he kept re-injuring his ribs throughout the season.

I think he could be a pretty good 4th line guy if he is 100%.

 

[Willy the poor boy]

4 hours ago, MrCheatachu said:

Welp, Fleury 1x$2.5M...In my mind that means Gus NEEDS to be moved, spending $2.5M + $3.75M ($6.25M) is unacceptable next season.

A member of the Country Club.