Article: The Wild Have A Looming Identity Crisis

[Justin Hein]

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[Citizen Strife]

They should definitely focus on defense in the draft.  I'm not saying people like Lambos, Hunt, etc. aren't going to make weight eventually, but the Wild need someone on the left who matches or at least come closes to Faber.  My hope is someone Ottawa to Philly is willing to take Gus+13, or even Rossi+13 to get into the Silayev/Buium/Dickinson range of choices.  If no one does, there's hope Yakemchuk is still on the board.

The Wild defense need an overhaul.  Brodin and Spurgeon aren't spring chickens.

[Sam]

I remember watching Jack Peart in college (playing for St. Cloud St.) and he was a pretty “shut down” defender. I have hopes that maybe he could play on the blue line with Faber.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

I'm betting Lambos makes a leap and passes Hunt. Definitely could use some RHD depth, and I'm guessing they'll select one early if they don't trade for one.

Kalem Parker, RHD, did just win the WHL championship, but as a 2023 6th round pick, I will not be expecting too much from him.

[Will D. Ness]

I'm getting sick of "the stats say the sky is falling" narrative.  Take BPA at 13.

[Protec]

Take the best player available. No drafting for needs or position.

[mnfaninnc]

Quote

Chisholm is fun to watch and executes his role well, but he’s mostly a role player. While he put on a good showing in his first full-time action, he’s already 24. It’s rare for a player to join the NHL that late and grow into a top-four defenseman. 

I simply can't agree with this statement as if it were fact. 24 is indeed about the year you would expect a 5th round pick to be coming into the league. He can still develop into whatever he wants to. 

If Chisholm pays attention to detail, bulks up 10-15 lbs. this offseason, spends time with Andy Ness and cleaning up his edges, he can very well be a top 4 defender. He's still got gap nuances to close, but he's also learning the NHL speed. 

The graphs are fun to look at, but really, the only guy we need to be worried about is Spurgeon. At 35 with Shoulders, Knees, Back injuries, it's nearing the end of the line for the guy. However, a larger bodied defender like Middleton can perform fine up to 35 or higher. What he loses in physical ability, he generally gains in anticipation. They end up balancing out. Same thing with Bogosian, and he plays a more physical brand, he'll be able to battle just fine and he still has wheels. 

Brodin may be a different story. The comparisons he had with Nic Lidstrom were probably good. Lidstrom played well into his 30s and was effective. However, Brodin does get pushed around too much, and his skating speed is declining a little. His anticipation should be up, but it's the beating he takes at 195. Reinventing himself to 205 would help a lot, especially if he gains most of it with upper body muscle. 

Jaromir Jagr played so long because, according to him, he constantly reinvented himself. When his speed slowed down, he got stronger and more of a beast. This is important for Brodin to take in. He can do the same thing, and if he does, he's a good enough athlete to play into his 40s. But, he's got to reinvent himself. 

I am not as worried about the pipeline. I thought they had disappointing seasons, but the defenders coming up need to think NHL, not AHL. They need bulk. They need strength. They already are good skating, puck moving defenders. Yes, the identity will change as we go from a boring defensive team into a far more aggressive offensive team. We'll have good support coming from the defense. What can't change is the commitment to the 200' game, and we've got forwards willing to come back. We always knew a change in identity was going to have to come, let's embrace it and see where these guys can take us!

[mnfaninnc]

9 hours ago, Sam said:

I remember watching Jack Peart in college (playing for St. Cloud St.) and he was a pretty “shut down” defender. I have hopes that maybe he could play on the blue line with Faber.

I think this is a very good point. Peart is small, so he needs to add a lot of strength, and he's a good skater and puck mover. Both Lambos and Peart could fill that #1 left side role. But, for now, we've got Brodin there.

[mnfaninnc]

9 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I'm betting Lambos makes a leap and passes Hunt. Definitely could use some RHD depth, and I'm guessing they'll select one early if they don't trade for one.

Kalem Parker, RHD, did just win the WHL championship, but as a 2023 6th round pick, I will not be expecting too much from him.

I'm with you here, but, Parker was only drafted a round behind Chisholm, so let's let him develop. I wouldn't expect a top 4 out of him, but maybe he can make the squad. I'm probably more focused on Spacek for that slot.

[mnfaninnc]

8 hours ago, Protec said:

Take the best player available. No drafting for needs or position.

One thing I always found interesting was Rick Spielman's draft board. He somehow married need, talent, and position into some sort of a grid, and I thought he was a pretty good drafter (outside of the QB position). But what he was able to do was find players that graded out about equal, but fit either our system better or position better. 

I have no idea how Judd does his, I'm pretty sure, smooth skating, puck handling, high hockey IQ are high on his list of items. Since larger players generally don't skate too well, he kind of doesn't go in that direction. But, I think a size projection is also important, and so is the speed element. Those 2 things aren't really coachable. 

For Pewter:

#quadpost

[mnfaninnc]

11 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

They should definitely focus on defense in the draft.  I'm not saying people like Lambos, Hunt, etc. aren't going to make weight eventually, but the Wild need someone on the left who matches or at least come closes to Faber.  My hope is someone Ottawa to Philly is willing to take Gus+13, or even Rossi+13 to get into the Silayev/Buium/Dickinson range of choices.  If no one does, there's hope Yakemchuk is still on the board.

The Wild defense need an overhaul.  Brodin and Spurgeon aren't spring chickens.

I don't think Buium is large enough for what we need, he certainly is crafty enough though. The problem isn't really Buium himself, it's what else we've got, and size is not what we got. Brodin at 31 isn't a spring chicken, but it's still quite aways from fall on him. Spurgeon is headed into the winter season.

But, what we do have, and have coming, are not complete defenders. They do many things well, but are missing a key component, whether it's dynamic offense, or the ability to lay someone out. We simply don't have one of those monsters that can affect every part of the game, and it looks like we need to pick up one. Of course, I'm still on the Lindstrom bandwagon.

Picking up Skjei in UFA would be nice. I'm not sure what kind of room we'd have cap wise for him, but he would go a long way in plugging a hole and dropping some other defenders a notch into better situations for their skill sets. I think what we saw last season were a lot of guys playing a slot or 2 above where they should have been playing. And, nobody was really able to come in and solidify the bottom. 

#quintpost

Edited May 19 by mnfaninnc

[Protec]

21 hours ago, Protec said:

Take the best player available. No drafting for needs or position.

Also be sure you know who the best player is?

[mnfaninnc]

I'm trying to think outside of the box a little bit. Next season is the last season we have to deal with the heavy lifting cap penalties. Then, the floodgates open for us with an extra $13m in cap space. Couple that with a projected cap of $92m, up $4.3m from this next season. It also appears that we only have 11 guys signed at that point.

Many of our guys will be coming off of ELCs. We've had them marinating in the minors for seasons, so they will probably get a standard qualifying offer and then contract negotiations for future years could begin. 

The 2017/18 drafts are probably the guys we'd be looking at becoming eligible for UFA. K'Andre Miller is one of those. I feel like our rebuild/retool/reload is about over as far as obtaining players, but we're still going to have a couple of holes. It will be about developing what we've already chosen, and it appears that Matt Hendricks will now be in charge of doing just that. 

As many probably already know, I am in favor of poaching players from other teams. It's especially effective when it comes within the division, because then you are weakening the opposition while strengthening yourself. It's like the 4 point games. 

The Guerin/Brackett duo obtained extra 1st and 2nd round picks in '20, '21, '22, and '23. They also traded for Faber from the '20 draft. What it looks like is that this cluster of players is going to be the core of what's to come. Yet, in '25, it's a little aggressive to think your '22s are going to be ready and at least not still acclimating. 

So, what would show Kaprizov that the window is opening and he can win here? How about an offersheet? Plugging a hole with a young good player that was plucked off another team. GMs do not like to use this tool since it usually gets used against them. We saw the retaliation with Carolina against Montreal when they tried to pluck Aho, and Carolina successfully grabbed Kotkaniemi in a vengeance move. There are dangers with this, but it's not so bad when you have a team in cap trouble that simply can't pay a guy, and if they lose him, can't really retaliate due to cap constraints. And, if a team is in that position, they've got 1 week to react.

There's essentially 1 more season for us to look at some of these players to see if 

1. they can effectively plug one of our holes
2. their team has cap problems (and a rising cap)
3. they are young enough to fit into our core
4. we can spend that money wisely

I thought Carolina did a great job with Kotkaniemi. A large 1 year deal that Montreal could not match followed by a handshake of a long term deal that would be for less. Has Kotkaniemi panned out for the Canes? Not really as a 2nd line C, but the team now has 2 elite 3rd line Cs. 

I think I'd be targeting that '20-21 drafts to find a guy who we can poach. He'd need to be a difference maker, and move some other guys down the lineup, maybe to positions they are better suited for. It doesn't have to be the most expensive guy out there, it could be a very solid guy who's not going to cost you 4 1sts. '25 and '26 drafts, we still have our own 1,2,3 picks so we would qualify for that range. 

Would we go defense in this scenario, or go center? Would people even be open to such an idea? What it would do is completely jolt our approach. It would signal to the fans and the players that the future is now, we are playing for the present, not reloading. It may also help us retain our superstar!

I'd encourage everyone not to think about the fear of someone retaliating, but to think of the repositioning of our team as in win now mode and using future assets to help us in the present.

 

[Will D. Ness]

46 minutes ago, Protec said:

Also be sure you know who the best player is?

At #13 it should be the guy who falls and not the unknown long shot.  Not that I think the Wild are the type to swing for the fences and typically do pick the (usually undersized but talented... or Russian) guy who falls down into their position (Rossi, Hoos, Yurov).  

The one exception I do think was the Stramel pick last year.  That was definitely a not a BPA pick but rather one for need because we definitely need size, and it is looking like it is the most bust worthy pick... although it is still way premature.  I think Stramel just needs a more opportunity to be honest.

I don't think we need to target D in this draft due to narrative that Brodin and Spurg are cooked.  Spurg does have question marks but I have the philosophy that you just don't write off people because of the circumstances of other people.  (ie stats)

Brodin is one of the best defensive defenseman in the league.  He just doesn't get the shiny gold star for being a scorer.  Perfect guy to pair with an offensive guy (too bad Chisholm is a lefty).  He doesn't have question marks, so f* all this nonsense that he is cooked.

Besides this pick is probably trade bait in the near future anyways.  We don't have time to develop the guy most likely... especially a D guy.

[Glenn]

Blunder Billy  won't do anything  he's in love with his GOOD OLD AND SLOW BOYS CLUB  that is always getting hurt  he refuses to let the young kids/ de men  get experience at the nhl level   I said that about dumba back when they drafted him. Hunt, O'rourke, Lambos, should up here playing on the 3rd de pair and maybe one in the tol 4  they need the experience  what was so bad about Hunt this year  he played pretty damn good for a rookie with limited minutes? It just the fact that Blunder Billy  likes the old and slow guys, You watch he'll sign Dumba this summer. Spurgeon and Brodin have been hurt the last 2 years almost more then the been playing, the same goes with Foligno, Blunder had last season and this up coming season to get the young kids the experience before Krill leaves but he refuses to do it. You watch Olgren will be in Iowa next year and Heigt will be in the jrs again. My advice to Krill is don't sign and become a free agent because Blunder Billy you can't trust.

[Mateo3xm]

On 5/18/2024 at 9:22 AM, Citizen Strife said:

They should definitely focus on defense in the draft.  I'm not saying people like Lambos, Hunt, etc. aren't going to make weight eventually, but the Wild need someone on the left who matches or at least come closes to Faber.  My hope is someone Ottawa to Philly is willing to take Gus+13, or even Rossi+13 to get into the Silayev/Buium/Dickinson range of choices.  If no one does, there's hope Yakemchuk is still on the board.

The Wild defense need an overhaul.  Brodin and Spurgeon aren't spring chickens.

Teams very rarely trade picks that high. I would like Yakemchuk a lot but I don’t think he’s going to be there. I have a feeling Jiricek will be there but I’m not exactly thrilled with that pick.

[Mateo3xm]

On 5/18/2024 at 10:08 AM, Sam said:

I remember watching Jack Peart in college (playing for St. Cloud St.) and he was a pretty “shut down” defender. I have hopes that maybe he could play on the blue line with Faber.

He seems to have regressed this year and I think he’s only 5’11 or 6ft at most unless he somehow grew. We need someone big.

[Mateo3xm]

On 5/18/2024 at 10:27 AM, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I'm betting Lambos makes a leap and passes Hunt. Definitely could use some RHD depth, and I'm guessing they'll select one early if they don't trade for one.

Kalem Parker, RHD, did just win the WHL championship, but as a 2023 6th round pick, I will not be expecting too much from him.

Hunt had a solid year in the ahl this year. I’ve been waiting for Lambos to take a big jump but it really hasn’t happened yet. It’s still early but I’m not so sure that’s happening.

[mnfaninnc]

4 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

The one exception I do think was the Stramel pick last year.  That was definitely a not a BPA pick but rather one for need because we definitely need size, and it is looking like it is the most bust worthy pick... although it is still way premature.  I think Stramel just needs a more opportunity to be honest.

I'm not so sure that they saw Stramel as a reach. I think it's pretty clear they were going large forward, although, they may have want Oliver Moore, I sure did. 

I'm not sure how Brackett adjusts his draft board, and with the covid interruption, Stramel was a top 15 pick going into the season. So, it could have been viewed as a large center who was dropping. I think the issue is we as fans never had Stramel in the top group. 

[mnfaninnc]

3 hours ago, Mateo3xm said:

Teams very rarely trade picks that high.

You're right about this, they rarely do. However, if your guy is there, you simply need to overpay. I think we're at the stage now with this team that we start zeroing in on the guy(s) we really want, not the guy that drops to us.