Article: How High Can the Wild Trade Up (and Should They Do It)?

[Justin Hein]

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[Will D. Ness]

I want to draft BPA at 13 and then use that 2nd rd pick on a specific need.

I want to never be reminded again that we gave up a 3rd for NoJo.  💩

[Pewterschmidt]

17 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

I want to draft BPA at 13 and then use that 2nd rd pick on a specific need.

I want to never be reminded again that we gave up a 3rd for NoJo.  💩

What would you say is the most specific need right now?

[OldDutchChip]

Wild should not be trading up but instead packaging their pick and either 

a - dumping spurge (pick + spurge + Freddy for nothing)

And/Or

b - along w another prospect get a proven physical player above 6’1 

And/or

C - look to package a crazy offer and pull out a heist at the draft

I have zero excitement for adding another prospect with whatever pick we have. He won’t have impact until at least 3 years from now and odds he may not be ready then or will not be what we were told he was (stramel is not the first “bright” young star and not our last)

im going to say it one more time! Kap is the number one priority - all this crap of planning for future and building pipeline of what if’s is waste of assets. Use them for the now. Perhaps it’s not the right way to build a team if one started from beginning but we are not that team and we have to adjust based on our situation, so getting excited about adding useless prospect to our pipeline that won’t be available for few years all while doing minimal to keep your super star is idiotic! My weekly rant over! 
 

[OldDutchChip]

Wild should not be trading up but instead packaging their pick and either 

a - dumping spurge (pick + spurge + Freddy for nothing)

And/Or

b - along w another prospect get a proven physical player above 6’1 

And/or

C - look to package a crazy offer and pull out a heist at the draft

I have zero excitement for adding another prospect with whatever pick we have. He won’t have impact until at least 3 years from now and odds he may not be ready then or will not be what we were told he was (stramel is not the first “bright” young star and not our last)

im going to say it one more time! Kap is the number one priority - all this crap of planning for future and building pipeline of what if’s is waste of assets. Use them for the now. Perhaps it’s not the right way to build a team if one started from beginning but we are not that team and we have to adjust based on our situation, so getting excited about adding useless prospect to our pipeline that won’t be available for few years all while doing minimal to keep your super star is idiotic! My weekly rant over! 
 

[Burnt Toast]

Package Gus and our first round pick move up and grab a difference maker that can be NHL ready ASAP. Or, go ahead move Gus and shoot to draft 2 first round players. ( not sure if it’ll still be at 13.) Hopefully one of the top players drops and we can either grab them or get top value in a trade back. Gotta come out swinging in 2025. 

[Will D. Ness]

2 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

What would you say is the most specific need right now?

Power forward ala Greenway but with work ethic and shoots right.

[Citizen Strife]

Biggest need is a younger Top-2/4 defenseman.  Brodin and Spurgeon aren't getting any younger, and Middleton is a risky re-signee.  Russo seems to think he'll get resigned for that magical $4m number...but he's not a 4 unless he's stapled to Spurgeon.  

If all the defenseman are taken, don't go nuts and see what forwards are left.  

[Burnt Toast]

Biggest need… Big D. 

[MacGyver]

Prospects and draft picks are not the Wild's problem. Development is the root problem and poor judgement in handing out contracts and trade rumors are. They finally hit on a prospect developing into something and then want to trade him. I have said before Guerin has created dysfunction in the front office and that 

[MacGyver]

leads to dysfunction on the ice. Editing feature is weird on this site. 

[Will D. Ness]

So here is my counter argument to drafting defense this year.

1) We already have quite a few defensive prospects as well as Chisholm.  

2) Picking up a veteran 3D with size isn't too difficult or expensive.

3) For whatever reason D takes longer to develop so realistically it will be around 2028 before anyone we pick this year will be ready.

With that said, I do really like Yakemchuk at 13 anyways.

[TCMooch]

11 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

Biggest need… Big D. 

This also aligns with my wife’s needs

[Mateo3xm]

On 6/15/2024 at 8:54 AM, Will D. Ness said:

So here is my counter argument to drafting defense this year.

1) We already have quite a few defensive prospects as well as Chisholm.  

2) Picking up a veteran 3D with size isn't too difficult or expensive.

3) For whatever reason D takes longer to develop so realistically it will be around 2028 before anyone we pick this year will be ready.

With that said, I do really like Yakemchuk at 13 anyways.

We do have a good amount of d prospects but honestly none of them seem to be anything special and they’re all 6ft or so. It’s still early for them but none seem to be more than a 3rd pairing player. In This draft which is d heavy, it makes sense to grab a big dman. Yakemchuk would be great but I bet he goes early. Jiricek wouldn’t be great but when he fills out I really think he could be good. I guess he’s actually very aggressive and likes to take guys heads off. Helenious would be ok but he’s still a little undersized. We really need a big defenseman but Michael Hage is a true center who is 6’1 190lbs, is one of the better skaters in the draft and all the articles I’ve seen about him can’t come up with any type of deficiency’s. He’s going to Michigan too which is a sign he’s going to be good too.

[B1GKappa97]

On 6/14/2024 at 6:37 PM, OldDutchChip said:

Wild should not be trading up but instead packaging their pick and either 

a - dumping spurge (pick + spurge + Freddy for nothing)

And/Or

b - along w another prospect get a proven physical player above 6’1 

And/or

C - look to package a crazy offer and pull out a heist at the draft

I have zero excitement for adding another prospect with whatever pick we have. He won’t have impact until at least 3 years from now and odds he may not be ready then or will not be what we were told he was (stramel is not the first “bright” young star and not our last)

im going to say it one more time! Kap is the number one priority - all this crap of planning for future and building pipeline of what if’s is waste of assets. Use them for the now. Perhaps it’s not the right way to build a team if one started from beginning but we are not that team and we have to adjust based on our situation, so getting excited about adding useless prospect to our pipeline that won’t be available for few years all while doing minimal to keep your super star is idiotic! My weekly rant over! 
 

And if no matter what they do he decides to leave? We'll be wishing we had an Eiserman or Helenius waiting in the wings to add more top-6 talent at that point instead of whatever veteran we were getting to entice him to stay. 

The team is getting close to being a Cup contender, they're on a good trajectory right now, I don't know about blasting a hole in that in the final year of the bad-cap penalties to convince Kaprizov to stick around. 

If he goes, it sucks, but he goes. We'll have to do something else with that $9.5M then. And we'll have a top-6 talent coming to bolster the team a season later (Since Kap's under contract for 2.) Picking at #13 they could get, at worst, a safe reliable top-6 C in Helenius. There's a chance its a higher upside player though, depending on how crazy teams go for size. 

With the uncertainty of Kap sticking around, and I assume the FO has a better pulse on those negotiations than ourselves, I'm not sure how smart it is to swing big just because of the chances of him leaving you holding the bag are higher than 0 right now. 

On 6/15/2024 at 8:00 AM, MacGyver said:

Prospects and draft picks are not the Wild's problem. Development is the root problem and poor judgement in handing out contracts and trade rumors are. They finally hit on a prospect developing into something and then want to trade him. I have said before Guerin has created dysfunction in the front office and that 

Development is the problem but then you acknowledge they've developed players.. The blue liners in the AHL have been disappointing so far, sure, but I think that we've barely gotten to see the Brackett drafts take off yet. Rossi, in Calder talks and among the top-3 rookie point leaders for most of the season despite playing with Freddy and Foligno for a good chunk of it, and Khusnut just made it to the NHL and they were his first draft class. Wallstedt is about to become an NHL goalie after looking good, and developing, in the AHL.

Sure there are 'rumors' that Rossi is on the block, but it doesn't make much sense to trade him. Even when Yurov comes over, Marco has the two-way game to succeed as a 3C if they don't move him over to wing. If they're listening to offers for Rossi, well, that's just doing their job. 

I wouldn't get too upset about a Rossi trade until it happens though, it just makes little sense for a Center-starved team (And we still are until Yurov arrives) to trade away a top-6 C. 

[Pewterschmidt]

50 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

The team is getting close to being a Cup contender

Ummmmmm…

[OldDutchChip]

2 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

And if no matter what they do he decides to leave? We'll be wishing we had an Eiserman or Helenius waiting in the wings to add more top-6 talent at that point instead of whatever veteran we were getting to entice him to stay. 

The team is getting close to being a Cup contender, they're on a good trajectory right now, I don't know about blasting a hole in that in the final year of the bad-cap penalties to convince Kaprizov to stick around. 

If he goes, it sucks, but he goes. We'll have to do something else with that $9.5M then. And we'll have a top-6 talent coming to bolster the team a season later (Since Kap's under contract for 2.) Picking at #13 they could get, at worst, a safe reliable top-6 C in Helenius. There's a chance its a higher upside player though, depending on how crazy teams go for size. 

With the uncertainty of Kap sticking around, and I assume the FO has a better pulse on those negotiations than ourselves, I'm not sure how smart it is to swing big just because of the chances of him leaving you holding the bag are higher than 0 right now. 

Development is the problem but then you acknowledge they've developed players.. The blue liners in the AHL have been disappointing so far, sure, but I think that we've barely gotten to see the Brackett drafts take off yet. Rossi, in Calder talks and among the top-3 rookie point leaders for most of the season despite playing with Freddy and Foligno for a good chunk of it, and Khusnut just made it to the NHL and they were his first draft class. Wallstedt is about to become an NHL goalie after looking good, and developing, in the AHL.

Sure there are 'rumors' that Rossi is on the block, but it doesn't make much sense to trade him. Even when Yurov comes over, Marco has the two-way game to succeed as a 3C if they don't move him over to wing. If they're listening to offers for Rossi, well, that's just doing their job. 

I wouldn't get too upset about a Rossi trade until it happens though, it just makes little sense for a Center-starved team (And we still are until Yurov arrives) to trade away a top-6 C. 

And if no matter what they do he decides to leave? then we at least did all we could do put ourselves in the best position to retain him 

We'll be wishing we had an Eiserman or Helenius waiting in the wings to add more top-6 talent at that point instead of whatever veteran we were getting to entice him to stay. who is this eiserman and helenius? 

The team is getting close to being a Cup contender i guess i don't agree given the current make up and what awaits them should Kap leave

If he goes, it sucks, but he goes. We'll have to do something else with that $9.5M then i am sure there is another top 5 superstar just waiting for billy to call him and sign him. yeap agree.

Development is the problem but then you acknowledge they've developed players.. The blue liners in the AHL have been disappointing so far, sure, but I think that we've barely gotten to see the Brackett drafts take off yet. i don't need to acknowledge that they develop players - that's a GIVEN and natural progression. but that progression seems to either be slow AF or going in the wrong direction. Barely seeing Bracket drafts but don't worry - he is a genius because he knows how to use Stats. Got it - trust and believe.

Rossi, in Calder talks and among the top-3 rookie point leaders for most of the season Good! his stock is high! trade his ass then to the highest bidder

[B1GKappa97]

1 hour ago, OldDutchChip said:

Barely seeing Bracket drafts but don't worry - he is a genius because he knows how to use Stats. Got it - trust and believe.

Yurov looks to be every bit as impressive as Kaprizov was and he should be over next year, with or without Kap. No, there's not another top-5 player who'll be available to replace him with but getting that cap space back will allow the team to find some sort of a replacement.

Obviously losing Kap will hurt, but somehow the Panthers are in position to win a Cup and they don't have him on their team either. We will have to adjust if he decides to leave but its not like he takes $9M of our cap with him when he goes. 

You've barely seen Brackett's drafts because this is the NHL and it generally takes your picks 3 to 4 years after being drafted to finally make an impact in the big leauges.

The 2020 draft was his first year, so we have only just seen Rossi and Khusnutdinov make it to this level to this point. He drafted Lambos and Wallstedt in 2021. Lambos probably isn't ready for the NHL yet, and likely won't be what he was billed as pre-draft, but Wallstedt certainly is knocking on the door. There's an outside chance he becomes a starting goalie for us by the TDL.

2022 1st round picks Ohgren and Yurov will also be in line to begin making contributions to the team this year and next.

We're only just now to the point where we'll begin to be able to evaluate Brackett's drafting more clearly.

[OldDutchChip]

5 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

Yurov looks to be every bit as impressive as Kaprizov was and he should be over next year, with or without Kap. No, there's not another top-5 player who'll be available to replace him with but getting that cap space back will allow the team to find some sort of a replacement.

Obviously losing Kap will hurt, but somehow the Panthers are in position to win a Cup and they don't have him on their team either. We will have to adjust if he decides to leave but its not like he takes $9M of our cap with him when he goes. 

You've barely seen Brackett's drafts because this is the NHL and it generally takes your picks 3 to 4 years after being drafted to finally make an impact in the big leauges.

The 2020 draft was his first year, so we have only just seen Rossi and Khusnutdinov make it to this level to this point. He drafted Lambos and Wallstedt in 2021. Lambos probably isn't ready for the NHL yet, and likely won't be what he was billed as pre-draft, but Wallstedt certainly is knocking on the door. There's an outside chance he becomes a starting goalie for us by the TDL.

2022 1st round picks Ohgren and Yurov will also be in line to begin making contributions to the team this year and next.

We're only just now to the point where we'll begin to be able to evaluate Brackett's drafting more clearly.

Yurov looks to be every bit as impressive as Kaprizov was and he should be over next year, with or without Kap. yakupov was the next big thing, so was zach phillips and so was tyler cuma. 

No, there's not another top-5 player who'll be available to replace him with but getting that cap space back will allow the team to find some sort of a replacement. totally agree! there will always be a minnesotan wanting to come home and we will be too excited to pay up for that

Obviously losing Kap will hurt, but somehow the Panthers are in position to win a Cup and they don't have him on their team either. i think panthers got aggressive (which is what i am advocating for) and moved some pieces for tkachuk and had other players take a bit of a discount (hint - Faber) so that they can form a nucleus that will contend for years

He drafted Lambos and Wallstedt in 2021he did indeed, are we going to see them this decade? 

2022 1st round picks Ohgren and Yurov will also be in line to begin making contributions to the team this year and next. i am going to again hold off on excitement for the unproven rookies till they show something

[Pewterschmidt]

1 minute ago, OldDutchChip said:

yakupov was the next big thing, so was zach phillips and so was tyler cuma.

Don't forget AJ Thelen and Colton Gilles

[Citizen Strife]

I have to think ODC is doing this intentionally to troll us.

Kaprizov is a top-10-15 player, but look what Edmonton has done with the top 2 for a decade: barely avoid getting swept by Florida.

You would think they would be gifted 5-6 cups, but life is strange.  For all we know, if Kaprizov leaves, the Wild get to the finals...

It sounds very, VERY silly, but sports are fluky things.  Clinging to one player just because he's the best doesn't mean he is there all end all thing ever in the team has had (yet), and doesn't mean slobbering over the thought of him leaving as some life or death struggle.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 17 by Citizen Strife

[Pewterschmidt]

2 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

somehow the Panthers are in position to win a Cup

They've got a world class lineup with the right balance of size, grit, talent and heart.  World class goalie.

And Maurice appears to be a wizard behind the bench.

[OldDutchChip]

1 minute ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Don't forget AJ Thelen and Colton Gilles

jimmy sheppard was also a stud

[OldDutchChip]

1 minute ago, Pewterschmidt said:

They've got a world class lineup with the right balance of size, grit, talent and heart.  World class goalie.

And Maurice appears to be a wizard behind the bench.

i'll be pulling for them to close out canada in G5

[OldDutchChip]

2 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

I have to think ODC is doing this intentionally to troll us.

Kaprizov is a top-10-15 player, but look what Edmonton has done with the top 2 for a decade: barely avoid getting swept by Florida.

You would think they would be gifted 5-6 cups, but life is strange.  For all we know, if Kaprizov leaves, the Wild get to the finals...

It sounds very, VERY silly, but sports are fluky things.  Clinging to one player just because he's the best doesn't mean he is there all end all thing ever in the team has had (yet), and doesn't mean slobbering over the thought of him leaving as some life or death struggle.

 

 

 

 

Kaprizov is a top-10-15 player no he is not, that is the core problem here, you think he is replaceable, but he is NOT. you do not just replace that kind of player. you CAN replace Rossis and prospects, you cannot just replace superstars like Kaprizov

Kaprizov is a top-10-15 player, but look what Edmonton has done with the top 2 for a decade: barely avoid getting swept by Florida. huh? yeah i would hate to be Edmonton, having to be in the final and a contender every year. very very bad. and you know they are battling the team that i think did the exact thing i am advocating for, but that is not a point right?

if Kaprizov leaves, the Wild get to the finals...miracles do happen