Article: Is Alex Goligoski Contemplating Retirement?

[Thomas Williams]

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[Willy the poor boy]

I don't know who will win tonight, but I'm rooting for Edmonton just because of the rarity of what they're doing. I'll def have some empathy for FL. if it happens though. Can Bob return to form? Does Draisitel have the breakout game he's been missing in the Finals?

The pressure is on FL.

[Sam]

I was on the bandwagon for Florida, but now I’d like to see Edmonton take it for the big come back. Plus it’s hard not to root for McDavid… I think he’s fun to watch. But surely Goligoski must be considering it this year, if he hasn’t contemplated it already…

[kirillgonkillya]

Finally. He's a liability the few minutes he manages to get out there. Never was a fan of this signing anyway. 

[Citizen Strife]

Speaking of former Wild D, Addison got let go by the Sharks...-35; dude.

[Pewterschmidt]

4 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

Speaking of former Wild D, Addison got let go by the Sharks...-35; dude.

This was one of Guerin’s early blunders

[Citizen Strife]

Maybe, but Zucker seemed cursed and plagued by injuries after the trade.  Addison and Lambos seemed to be what Guerin was looking for.  Addison turned into Bogo, so a 1st/2nd liner turned into a top 6 who fit the team like a glove compared to Addison, and a hopeful top 4 Dman in another year or so.

The Zucker trade is kind in that mushy middle between getting something even with Fiala for Granlund (helps both), and the Coyle and Nino trades that did NOT do the Wild any favors.

[Protec]

Bring back Kulikov. 😁

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Russo had a mailbag on the Athletic. Suggested that Wild still may have interest in bringing back Shaw. Definitely looking to replace Johansson in the top 6 and trying to find a good top 6 forward in free agency.

Listening to offers on Rossi, but not really shopping him.

Middleton extension is essentially a done deal around 4x$4M.

Chisholm likely to be restricted by qualifying offer if they cannot get a contract done prior to the date necessary.

Yurov partly did not come due to salary cap issues as his side wanted incentives in the contract that the Wild would have needed to account for in their cap and they are up against it.

Foligno and Spurgeon both on track to be healthy for the start of camp.

Draft week! Go Wild!!!

[Pewterschmidt]

15 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

Addison turned into Bogo, so a 1st/2nd liner turned into a top 6 who fit the team like a glove compared to Addison, and a hopeful top 4 Dman in another year or so.

Bogo could have been claimed off the scrap heap for next to nothing and Lambos is certainly not showing signs of a top 4 d-man anytime soon.  Someday possibly, but no indications yet.  So the Zucker trade was a whiff IMO.  Especially frustrating coming from a trade with the Penguins which is the org Guerin came from.

#dontbedumbbill

[Willy the poor boy]

27 minutes ago, Protec said:

Bring back Kulikov. 😁

Stanley Cup Champion Dimitry Kulikov?

[raithis]

2 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Bogo could have been claimed off the scrap heap for next to nothing

He was claimed off the scrap heap for next to nothing.  We got him for a 7th round draft pick.  Though we acquired him right around the same time we got rid of Addison, we did not trade him for Addison.

The Addison trade also grabbed us a 1st and a trial for Galchenyuk.  Galchenyuk didn't work out out, but it was mainly a throw in for a salary dump and probably why we were able to actually get a 1st and a prospect for Zucker to begin with.  Hopefully Lambos works out, but that's the danger in trading a known for an unknown.  I still think in the long run, this trade will be viewed about even.

[raithis]

2 hours ago, Protec said:

Bring back Kulikov. 😁

I'd only trade for him to get rid of Merrill and/or Johansson.  I wouldn't sign him as a FA or try to acquire him for anything else.

[Pewterschmidt]

9 minutes ago, raithis said:

He was claimed off the scrap heap for next to nothing.  We got him for a 7th round draft pick.  Though we acquired him right around the same time we got rid of Addison, we did not trade him for Addison.

The Addison trade also grabbed us a 1st and a trial for Galchenyuk.  Galchenyuk didn't work out out, but it was mainly a throw in for a salary dump and probably why we were able to actually get a 1st and a prospect for Zucker to begin with.  Hopefully Lambos works out, but that's the danger in trading a known for an unknown.  I still think in the long run, this trade will be viewed about even.

Thank you raithis for that clarification.  

So another example of "we lose money on every sale, but we make it up on volume".  We're left with Lambos, the guy who couldn't make the WJC team his 18 yo year.  But that's a good team.  Yah, the NHL is full of only good players.

Does anyone trust Guerin & Co to get a decent return for trading Rossi (proven asset at the #9 pick)?

[Protec]

I joke about Kulikov since he had such a good run with FL. I thought he was good in MN too and I was surprised when Guerin sent him to Anaheim for nuthin.

He was better than Merrill IMO and Goligoski didn't make him look bad. He was an add-on player when MN got him and kind of under-appreciated.

Cross-eyed Bill has made some smart calls to get Guadreau prior to his good season 22-23. Guerin got Middleton, and added deadline guys without giving up much. Gus was the result of a trade too that worked out. Bogosian has been MN's best beard guy. Those are positives.

He also bet on NoJo, Goligoski, Gus, Foligno, and Fluery which has had mixed results. I don't think Guerin should go chasing players or trading for the sake of making a deal. I'd just like to see the Wild get back to the things they were doing when GMBG showed up which was to make small gains in multiple areas and not get bogged down with poor contracts. DeMellow just got 5M/per so Middleton's deal incoming isn't horrible, based on the numbers alone. My concern is the loyalty-level Guerin shows is painting MN into a corner.

It's just weird that Guerin seems to have an ability to move on which he did with Addison despite giving him, Beckman, and others a chance to assert themselves. Kulikov or Bjugstad are more examples of guys who he dumped only for them to be 20-goal scorers or Cup champs. Meanwhile, GMBG hangs on to Goligoski, Merrill, NoJo, and Foligno who are NHL guys but not really moving the needle for your club. Bjugstad for example is bigger, longer, younger, and Mr. Hockey who just out-did NoJo in every offensive category for the same cost. MN ditched Kulikov to extend Addison's audition. These are the things that make ya wonder? Is Guerin just blindly throwing darts or what? How do you get some right and some wrong like this?

That would be my premise for the statement, Guerin's transactions are on and off, hits and misses. Rossi like Bjugstad maybe leaves a bit to be desired in a certain role but is that good reason to move him? Guerin needs to keep it simple, make safe moves. Don't get too cozy with certain non-core guys. Quit waiting for players to find their game. Be aggressive in the right ways otherwise you're gonna find yourself committed to Grizzle, Moose, Fred, and Middsy while Kaprizov goes to FL.

[bisopher]

6 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Middleton extension is essentially a done deal around 4x$4M.

Chisholm likely to be restricted by qualifying offer if they cannot get a contract done prior to the date necessary

4x$4M should cover Middleton and Chisholm both, with no NTC / NMC protection for Mids. 

As has been documented elsewhere on HW, Mids is replacement level or worse when he's away from Spurgeon, and we can't guarantee that they can stay tied at the hip forever.

[Will D. Ness]

22 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

Speaking of former Wild D, Addison got let go by the Sharks...-35; dude.

Hey man that is better than Bedard I think.

[mnhockeyfan03]

9 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Russo had a mailbag on the Athletic. Suggested that Wild still may have interest in bringing back Shaw. Definitely looking to replace Johansson in the top 6 and trying to find a good top 6 forward in free agency.

Listening to offers on Rossi, but not really shopping him.

Middleton extension is essentially a done deal around 4x$4M.

Chisholm likely to be restricted by qualifying offer if they cannot get a contract done prior to the date necessary.

Yurov partly did not come due to salary cap issues as his side wanted incentives in the contract that the Wild would have needed to account for in their cap and they are up against it.

Foligno and Spurgeon both on track to be healthy for the start of camp.

Draft week! Go Wild!!!

If all this is true from Russo then Guerin really is a terrible GM and the Wild are going to terrible again for years to come.  No to Middleton and Spurgeon has to be traded as well as Gus, Rossi, NoJo and Freddie.  That frees up 20 plus million in cap space to bring in 4-5 new impact players.  Time for a change.  Sometimes success takes risks.  Stop trying to run it back year after year.  It doesn’t work

[raithis]

15 hours ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

If all this is true from Russo then Guerin really is a terrible GM and the Wild are going to terrible again for years to come.  No to Middleton and Spurgeon has to be traded as well as Gus, Rossi, NoJo and Freddie.  That frees up 20 plus million in cap space to bring in 4-5 new impact players.  Time for a change.  Sometimes success takes risks.  Stop trying to run it back year after year.  It doesn’t work

Good luck trading most of those players.  If Spurgeon can play like he has in the past, then maybe, but if he continues to get hurt or can't play to that level anymore, who's going to want to take on a $7.6M player who still has 3 years remaining on his contract?  You'd have to give up a lot in addition to that - and none of the players you listed would be sufficient. 

It'd be higher prospects and high picks since that's what most teams with that kind of cap space would be interested in.  By doing that you'd be getting us back into the same Fletcher-made mess we are digging out from as we would end up having to fill in from FA from a team that's not really seen as a destination team.  That's  what he had to do and it didn't work out so well.  It also left us will almost no prospect pool because we gave away most our good prospects and high picks. 

I think that's the main reason we've made the kind of re-signing as we have.  We don't have the cap space and the prospects take time to become NHL-ready.  We are starting to turn a corner on that and I believe that we will see more to be excited about in 25-26, but the real rewards will be a couple years after that.

Right now, the players you are going to be able to re-sign will be the players who understand we almost certainly won't be winning a cup in the next few years, but they want to be here because they like it here.  A lot of impact players aren't going to jump on board right now.  The ones that will are going to be the ones that others team pass on because they want too much or too long of term and only straps us in worse in the long run.

We're better off staying the course and trying to swing that trade of Spurgeon 2 years from now when he only has 1 year left and we aren't kneecapping ourselves just as we're starting to climb out of the hole and get to a level playing field again.

[mnfaninnc]

6 hours ago, raithis said:

Right now, the players you are going to be able to re-sign will be the players who understand we almost certainly won't be winning a cup in the next few years, but they want to be here because they like it here.  A lot of impact players aren't going to jump on board right now.  The ones that will are going to be the ones that others team pass on because they want too much or too long of term and only straps us in worse in the long run.

We're better off staying the course and trying to swing that trade of Spurgeon 2 years from now when he only has 1 year left and we aren't kneecapping ourselves just as we're starting to climb out of the hole and get to a level playing field again.

From the 1st paragraph, all we have to do is look back to Zuccarello's free agent year and understand that nobody else wanted to come even though Fenton tried. So, he overpaid for Zuccarello. 

Further back, Gaborik left and we tried to fill that void with Marty Havlic which was a disaster. Also, overpaid. 

I think this area has a lot to give to free agents, especially ones with families. However, for some free agents, they will not like that type of area. Vegas is far more appealing and exciting. 

As for the 2nd part, when the barriers are lifted and we have money again, will Spurgeon's deal be that bad? Can we possibly use his deal in LTIR money should he not be the same player and need to head under the knife even more? I'd kind of like to see what he's got, though, I am pessimistic of what we will get. 

So, here's what I'm thinking: What if Spurgeon comes back and plays half the season, but it is clear he cannot do what he used to. Should he get hurt, we've got ammo at the TDL. We can go after a large name that we might want to resign the following year. The same thing could be done in the following year if he is done. We could simply bury him on LTIR and fill in with even another player with a pretty large salary. These next 2 years could be real interesting, as we could parlay Spurgeon's deal into 2 very good players cap wise. It may cost other assets, but we'd have the cap space! His final year might be an offload or, if the cap goes up again, perhaps we can fit everyone in and do it again.

I'd much rather bank cap this season and not sign a mid free agent in the $5m category, let an ELC player take that spot, see if he can keep up, and if not, send him back to Iowa and trade for a player then, all while banking 1/2 a season of cap. Let's face it, even if that ELC player is a 4th liner, we can always double shift Boldy and Kaprizov with that line and let the guy play under 10 minutes if he can't pull his weight. It seems to me, we could get a jump on a better player who might be a good fit and willing to resign. 

[mnfaninnc]

23 hours ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

If all this is true from Russo then Guerin really is a terrible GM and the Wild are going to terrible again for years to come.  No to Middleton and Spurgeon has to be traded as well as Gus, Rossi, NoJo and Freddie.  That frees up 20 plus million in cap space to bring in 4-5 new impact players.  Time for a change.  Sometimes success takes risks.  Stop trying to run it back year after year.  It doesn’t work

Let's just say this were true and we do everything on this list (which must be accomplished in about 2 weeks). What is your plan in getting this done?

Of course, and easy "no" to Middleton takes about 5 seconds, but what about the other stuff?

[mnfaninnc]

Contemplating? Contemplating! What is there to contemplate?

Goose (retired nickname for him) has to know it's over! He can't keep up, and having a guy who is too small for the position and to slow for the position just doesn't work.

The player is always the last to know, but as GM, and his friend, Guerin needs to tell him, it's over, report to Iowa and work with our kids (who are also puck moving defenders who might be undersized a bit).

[raithis]

16 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

From the 1st paragraph, all we have to do is look back to Zuccarello's free agent year and understand that nobody else wanted to come even though Fenton tried. So, he overpaid for Zuccarello. 

Further back, Gaborik left and we tried to fill that void with Marty Havlic which was a disaster. Also, overpaid. 

I think this area has a lot to give to free agents, especially ones with families. However, for some free agents, they will not like that type of area. Vegas is far more appealing and exciting. 

As for the 2nd part, when the barriers are lifted and we have money again, will Spurgeon's deal be that bad? Can we possibly use his deal in LTIR money should he not be the same player and need to head under the knife even more? I'd kind of like to see what he's got, though, I am pessimistic of what we will get. 

So, here's what I'm thinking: What if Spurgeon comes back and plays half the season, but it is clear he cannot do what he used to. Should he get hurt, we've got ammo at the TDL. We can go after a large name that we might want to resign the following year. The same thing could be done in the following year if he is done. We could simply bury him on LTIR and fill in with even another player with a pretty large salary. These next 2 years could be real interesting, as we could parlay Spurgeon's deal into 2 very good players cap wise. It may cost other assets, but we'd have the cap space! His final year might be an offload or, if the cap goes up again, perhaps we can fit everyone in and do it again.

I'd much rather bank cap this season and not sign a mid free agent in the $5m category, let an ELC player take that spot, see if he can keep up, and if not, send him back to Iowa and trade for a player then, all while banking 1/2 a season of cap. Let's face it, even if that ELC player is a 4th liner, we can always double shift Boldy and Kaprizov with that line and let the guy play under 10 minutes if he can't pull his weight. It seems to me, we could get a jump on a better player who might be a good fit and willing to resign. 

Oh I agree with you.  Much of my reply is basically about how mnhockeyfan03's idea of trading all those players is unrealistic or digs us into a bigger hole.  To dump that kind of salary, you need teams willing to take it on, and you typically have to give up quality trade assets just to purge the contract.

It's easy to be impatient, but sometimes things take time.  Building a contending team generally takes a bit longer than people want to give it.

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, raithis said:

Oh I agree with you.  Much of my reply is basically about how mnhockeyfan03's idea of trading all those players is unrealistic or digs us into a bigger hole.  To dump that kind of salary, you need teams willing to take it on, and you typically have to give up quality trade assets just to purge the contract.

It's easy to be impatient, but sometimes things take time.  Building a contending team generally takes a bit longer than people want to give it.

Yeah, there wasn't much of a plan in how to do it, just a need to do it and let GMBG figure out the how. I read it the same way, how do you do such an aggressive thing before the 1st day of free agency when the $4-5m players will be taken? I guess Shooter could get on a role and just keep trading everything, but he's spent 4+ years developing these guys, you'd think he'd at least want to see how they play before having to sell them off in a cap reduction fury. 

Or, maybe he gets 5-6 GMs very drunk at the draft, picks up the tab...as well as dumping several salaries? Maybe for the Spurgeon deal, he gets them extra drunk and comes away with a decent asset? That would likely be tonight!