Article: Defense Might Not Be Minnesota Wild's Biggest Draft Need

[Tony Abbott]

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[Citizen Strife]

There should be players of value left at 13.  Even if the BPA is a Helenius or Greentree, you take them.  A team can never predict the future, and should always have a "next man up" mentality in the back of their mind.

[Up North Guy]

I know I have been guilty of being too critical of the Iowa d-corps. I did not watch them enough to make a hard critique. Hopefully, two or more of these guys will develop relatively quickly. I agree also about going BPA.

[Protec]

Gotta figure, Celebrini, Levshunov, Demidov, Lindstrom, Dickinson, Buium, Silayev, Perahk, Yakemchuk, Iginla, and Eiserman go top 10-11. 

If I'm MN, I'd be looking to rank the top 3 or 5 guys after that. Catton, Helenuis, and maybe a final guy would probably be there to round out the 13th pick. 

A couple guys that are in the mix to go there might be Connelly, Sennecke, or Greentree. You could kinda guess the small group MN will be picking from.

[Protec]

20 minutes ago, Up North Guy said:

I know I have been guilty of being too critical of the Iowa d-corps. I did not watch them enough to make a hard critique. Hopefully, two or more of these guys will develop relatively quickly. I agree also about going BPA.

If Yakemchuk is there at 13th, he's possibly the best player available. Otherwise, I don't see the likelihood of a defenseman being the best guy in that spot. 

[Ice Creeps]

Good article Tony, but with this organization, team, they have a serious problem scoring. We won’t have the money to grab a top offensive player like Tkachuk or Necas this offseason, so we have no choice but to draft an offensive minded forward, it only makes sense. The Wild cannot compete in this league until we find some consistent scoring.

[Pewterschmidt]

6 hours ago, Ice Creeps said:

Good article Tony, but with this organization, team, they have a serious problem scoring. We won’t have the money to grab a top offensive player like Tkachuk or Necas this offseason, so we have no choice but to draft an offensive minded forward, it only makes sense. The Wild cannot compete in this league until we find some consistent scoring.

I agree with creeps.  For love of god Brackett has drafted about 15 dmen already.  Do we trust him to flush a #13 pick on another?   And just say no to the euro Finnish no check jofa Helenius.  Please draft a 6’+ rough neck forward bpa please. 

[Pewterschmidt]

What’s the probability Gus is with team to start season?  Less than 20%.  I’m ok with this
 

what’s probability Rossi is with team?  Less than 40%.   I’m not ok with this and depending on the return this may be last straw for Guerin & Co

Edited May 29 by Pewterschmidt

[Protec]

Just pick the best player possible at 13th. That's all they need to do.

If you can get size or a sure NHL defenseman, okay great.

[Citizen Strife]

I think Guerin is weighing if giving up Gus or Rossi gets them immediate scoring help.  Rossi would fetch a better return, but at the risk of having to make up more ground elsewhere.  I don't know if that is advisable in an iffy year.  Rossi has to return a higher end player now in the NHL to make it worth (2nd line wing or something).  I don't know if going, "Hey, we didn't like Rossi when we drafted him, let's just get a mulligan that helps a year or two later" sets a good precedent.

Gus fetching a second, or a spot or two in the draft (with 13) or a 2nd might be an idea worth considering.  

I don't know if other teams are as set in stone in this draft as other years though.  Last year, no one moved for any price.  But if the difference is a Buium or Iginla for a spot or two...maybe?

 

Edited May 29 by Citizen Strife

[Citizen Strife]

Gah.  Said "Gus to get a second, or Gus+13, or a 2nd...GAH, I hate not being able to re-edit after 5 minutes.

[viper3119]

1 hour ago, Pewterschmidt said:

what’s probability Rossi is with team?  Less than 40%

Enough with the Rossi trade talk. It ain't happening

[Willy the poor boy]

8 hours ago, Ice Creeps said:

Good article Tony, but with this organization, team, they have a serious problem scoring. We won’t have the money to grab a top offensive player like Tkachuk or Necas this offseason, so we have no choice but to draft an offensive minded forward, it only makes sense. The Wild cannot compete in this league until we find some consistent scoring.

Eggzackly, that's why they need to get rid of Rossi...

[Tony Abbott]

2 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

And just say no to the euro Finnish no check jofa Helenius.  Please draft a 6’+ rough neck forward bpa please. 

Happy to give you a video that is absolutely going to be your first time actually watching Helenius play. 

 

[mnfaninnc]

2 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

What’s the probability Gus is with team to start season?  Less than 20%.  I’m ok with this
 

what’s probability Rossi is with team?  Less than 40%.   I’m not ok with this and depending on the return this may be last straw for Guerin & Co

I'm taking the over on both of these guys. I think your probabilities are off dramatically.

[mnfaninnc]

8 hours ago, Ice Creeps said:

Good article Tony, but with this organization, team, they have a serious problem scoring. We won’t have the money to grab a top offensive player like Tkachuk or Necas this offseason, so we have no choice but to draft an offensive minded forward, it only makes sense. The Wild cannot compete in this league until we find some consistent scoring.

Necas might be difficult to sign, but Brady Tkachuk is affordable. At least, in my trade proposal, it included Boldy, so that's a $1m difference in salary. I also included Rossi, and that's about even money. 

I still think we can sign Necas longterm. It would be better if we traded and handshaked a lower 1st year with a nice longterm deal afterwards. But if you list Freddie and Johansson at best in the minors, that's an extra $2m to play with (places are taken by ELC players or less).

There is also the unknown of Spurgeon, who very well could start the year on LTIR. I believe it was this past preseason where he hurt his shoulder, but then it was discovered he had other problems. When you're traveling down the freeway and you consistently see those cars on the side of the road, some with windows bashed in, that kind of reminds me of Spurgeon right now.

 

[Pewterschmidt]

11 minutes ago, Tony Abbott said:

Happy to give you a video that is absolutely going to be your first time actually watching Helenius play. 

 

Genuine thanks for the video.  I did not see anything that proves he's a rough neck.  (for the record I saw enough from Liam Ohgzy in small sample size to believe he can play a rough neck game. So credit to Brackzy for this pick).  How has Helenius done in WJC play?  Against guys like McTavish and Stanky Leg when they were playing and dominating against the world.  I don't put much stock into his performance against a bunch of fellow no-check barrel breezer spritzer leaguer's.  Majority will never see an NHL locker room.  

[Pewterschmidt]

7 games.  1 G, 1 A.    Zzzzzzzzzz

[mnfaninnc]

There's a lot of talk about just taking the BPA at 13. I'm not rooting for that at all. I'm looking at taking the best player for the organization, and using assets to move up if need be. 

We can afford to be picky, and if it takes our 2nd to move up into the top 10, to get a guy, then let's do it. Honestly, I think moving Rossi would be a mistake this year unless you're getting someone who absolutely makes the team better statistically and culturally. It would have to move the needle a lot to part with him. 

But, what I want to see is how he comes to training camp. Did he have another big offseason? If so, maybe he's a keeper? Maybe, just maybe, he's got enough Marchand in him (not with the licking) to have a nice career. 

I'd also be willing to part with 13 if that helps us get a really good NOW player. A guy like Necas, for example would be worth packaging 13 for. Guys like McTavish and Tkachuk would be well worth the investment. 

[mnfaninnc]

One of the things that has always bothered me about looking at the draft and hearing comments on it, is most people get blinders on the big club and pay no attention to the pipeline. A lot of times, deficiencies that have been there for a couple of years are clamored for to get filled when this has happened in previous drafts. 

But, people tend to forget about development. For example, Lambos was chosen the same year The Wall was. But, after a couple of years in jrs. he finally got to Iowa. In fact, we've got a lot of defenders who had down years but are still learning and would be ahead of pretty much any draft pick this year. 

So, what don't we have in the organization? We don't have much in regards to RHS players. We've got Haight and Stramel at forward and Spacek and Masters (also Johansson) at defense. 

We've got 2 large bodied forwards, Stramel and Kumpulainen. We've got a couple of upper middleweights in Lorenz and maybe Milne. Bankier needs some strength but could enter the Stramel class. 

We have 0 big bodied defensemen. 0. Zero. Nada. Zilch. This is a huge problem, and Judd has not been willing to draft for size on defense, he keeps grabbing these smaller, puck moving defenders. This is not about how the draft board fell, this is about avoiding those guys. 

We've filled the goalie void with a couple of free agent signings, and I don't mind that. Goalies are tough to draft, but one should always be taken in the later rounds. 

We should not have this many holes in the organization. About the only thing I can buy as far as the draft falling, is with the RHS players. And, really, while I mention that as a priority, it simply isn't a Guerin priority. 

I do see us with a need of a big bodied defender with an RHS cannon. Picking one of those guys up would be a really good pick. 

[Citizen Strife]

But if you pick solely for need (a 6'3 defender) who slots on third line, and there's a guy you could have had that goes on to being a 50-70 pt scorer (who is at Rossi or Helenius's size), you kinda kick yourself going, "welp, guess we have a big guy I guess."

Picking for need should only be when you are absolutely gutted in future need.  Last year, they didn't know Rossi was a 20-goal scoring rookie.  They hedged their bets on 3 centers.

They have to backfill wing and defense.  I'd say take wing over defense, but only if all the defenders of note are gone. "Settling" for Jiricek sounds like a hockey version of the Bo Nix pick.

 

 

Edited May 29 by Citizen Strife

[Citizen Strife]

Note: I get trying to "build to compete in the playoffs." Sad thing is, you gotta MAKE the playoffs to do it.  I'd rather have 5-10 50-pt players getting us wins over 2-3 giants who "might" win one playoff series when or if size matters.

Edited May 29 by Citizen Strife

[viper3119]

1 hour ago, Willy the poor boy said:

Eggzackly, that's why they need to get rid of Rossi...

I hope that was sarcasm because Rossi was our 5th highest goal scorer this past year...

[Willy the poor boy]

46 minutes ago, viper3119 said:

I hope that was sarcasm because Rossi was our 5th highest goal scorer this past year...

It was sarcasm. Besides Tony, I may be Rossi's biggest supporter here...

[NC Beach Bum]

Tampa reportedly not resigning  Dumba....anybody think he would work as long as price is right? More immediate help than a draft pick if the guys in Iowa aren't ready.