Article: Wild Swing Trade For Potential Brandon Duhaime Replacement Jakub Lauko

[Carlton Bloom]

View full article

[mnfaninnc]

I like the trade, and the pick. However, Kiviharju is short, but already 185. My problem with the defenders is they keep drafting the same type of player. When do we get the big guys? Lambos, Peart, Buium, Kiviharju are all puck moving shorter D. Maybe we can develop and trade for bigger players? Maybe those are the UFAs we sign? I do fault Brackett on this since he has a prototype that he keeps going back to.

[mnfaninnc]

Stevie Leskovar is an interesting Brackett pick. To stay with the theme, he is a 6'4" defender, but an overager.

[Protec]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I like the trade, and the pick. However, Kiviharju is short, but already 185. My problem with the defenders is they keep drafting the same type of player. When do we get the big guys? Lambos, Peart, Buium, Kiviharju are all puck moving shorter D. Maybe we can develop and trade for bigger players? Maybe those are the UFAs we sign? I do fault Brackett on this since he has a prototype that he keeps going back to.

100%. Fisher and Burrows both going to Denver in the future and MN passes on both more less to get the little Finnish D-man who sounds like he fell way down for good reason. He's not an NHL size defender. There's only one and it's Spurgeon. I just don't get Brackett cause he has some good picks and some brutal ones. Woulda rather had so many others with #122.

[IllicitFive]

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I like the trade, and the pick. However, Kiviharju is short, but already 185. My problem with the defenders is they keep drafting the same type of player. When do we get the big guys? Lambos, Peart, Buium, Kiviharju are all puck moving shorter D. Maybe we can develop and trade for bigger players? Maybe those are the UFAs we sign? I do fault Brackett on this since he has a prototype that he keeps going back to.

I am beginning to think they are going to try to win with speed speed and speed. Just race the bigger teams. If our defense is smaller but they fill with bigger offensive prospects it may offset but I share the worry of getting crunched. If they can avoid getting hit and have sticks like brodin and surge with a FAST transition they might be ok. 

[mnfaninnc]

41 minutes ago, IllicitFive said:

I am beginning to think they are going to try to win with speed speed and speed. Just race the bigger teams. If our defense is smaller but they fill with bigger offensive prospects it may offset but I share the worry of getting crunched. If they can avoid getting hit and have sticks like brodin and surge with a FAST transition they might be ok. 

I think this plan works in the regular season when players try to stay healthy for the playoffs. The moment the playoffs hit, our guys get run out of the rink. How do you PK with dwarfs? That will be what it seems like when other team's PP units throw out the extra net front guy. They won't have the strength to neutralize them, but they might have decent sticks. Trouble is that the sticks can tip it right into their own net too. 

Middleton can't do it by himself. Neither can Bogosian. Fans will be asking "where's the beef," and looking on the ice saying "I don't think there's anybody back there." 

[Willy the poor boy]

Godspeed Vinchenzo, welcome aboard Jakob and Aron...

[Tony Abbott]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

I think this plan works in the regular season when players try to stay healthy for the playoffs. The moment the playoffs hit, our guys get run out of the rink. How do you PK with dwarfs? That will be what it seems like when other team's PP units throw out the extra net front guy. They won't have the strength to neutralize them, but they might have decent sticks. Trouble is that the sticks can tip it right into their own net too. 

Middleton can't do it by himself. Neither can Bogosian. Fans will be asking "where's the beef," and looking on the ice saying "I don't think there's anybody back there." 

You're acting like everyone in the Wild's lineup is Spurgeon.

Buium is 6-foot-0
Faber is 6-foot-1
Brodin is 6-foot-2
Hunt is 6-foot-1
Lambos is 6-foot-1
Spacek is 6-foot-0

I don't think of that as small. 

[Lovehockey]

I agree with mbfaninnc on this. U cannot win with the small defense in playoffs, and list the of the potential line up in D is actually undersized. It is not spurgeon/Dumba but not very far from it. So the first 3 should stay the other 3 has to be replaced by the bigger guys. And Middleton has to be there. 

[mnfaninnc]

31 minutes ago, Tony Abbott said:

You're acting like everyone in the Wild's lineup is Spurgeon.

Buium is 6-foot-0
Faber is 6-foot-1
Brodin is 6-foot-2
Hunt is 6-foot-1
Lambos is 6-foot-1
Spacek is 6-foot-0

I don't think of that as small. 

They're not lightweights, but they are at best middleweights. The problem isn't in their size individually. The problem is in their size collectively. I simply don't think we can win a Stanley Cup fielding a team that is completely full of middleweights. It's kind of out of balance. Same thing with the handedness issue, we are way out of balance lefties to righties. 

For defenders, this is a very short (and small defensive corps). They also don't happen to be heavy for their height. Larger teams will skate right through them. We'll be fine in the regular season, but at playoff time, we'll be in trouble. Now, which ones do we develop and trade out for the larger body?

One other thing I'd like to observe. This type of defender group will be easier to develop since they all do the same things well. Perhaps it is a better plan to trade for the larger body the closer they get to the NHL. Having to make a decision 5 years out on the bigger guys may be more risk and boom/bust than waiting and seeing which ones work harder. Everyone would love to have the puck moving defender who adds offense. Maybe we can develop and turn some of these guys into what we need? Kevin Bahl would have been a nice addition but Calgary got him instead. Can we find the next guys who we can get to balance us out? If this were the plan, I can see the logic in it. 

[mnfaninnc]

20 minutes ago, Lovehockey said:

So the first 3 should stay the other 3 has to be replaced by the bigger guys.

Hunt is a pretty thick guy, he may be heavier than reported. Lambos and Spacek absolutely have to hit the weights. 

Someone commented that they had seen the Iowa weight room and observed it isn't very good. Perhaps OCL would be willing to renovate the facilities in Iowa to make it a great place for development. There's got to be reasons why we simply can't get our guys bulked up and have trouble developing guys to send up to St. Paul. I'd take a hard look at the facilities they have to work with as part of the solution. But, it's not my money!

[Tony Abbott]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

They're not lightweights, but they are at best middleweights. The problem isn't in their size individually. The problem is in their size collectively. I simply don't think we can win a Stanley Cup fielding a team that is completely full of middleweights. It's kind of out of balance. Same thing with the handedness issue, we are way out of balance lefties to righties. 

For defenders, this is a very short (and small defensive corps). They also don't happen to be heavy for their height. Larger teams will skate right through them. We'll be fine in the regular season, but at playoff time, we'll be in trouble. Now, which ones do we develop and trade out for the larger body?

One other thing I'd like to observe. This type of defender group will be easier to develop since they all do the same things well. Perhaps it is a better plan to trade for the larger body the closer they get to the NHL. Having to make a decision 5 years out on the bigger guys may be more risk and boom/bust than waiting and seeing which ones work harder. Everyone would love to have the puck moving defender who adds offense. Maybe we can develop and turn some of these guys into what we need? Kevin Bahl would have been a nice addition but Calgary got him instead. Can we find the next guys who we can get to balance us out? If this were the plan, I can see the logic in it. 

I dunno, Florida's defense doesn't seem that big to me. Ekblad is 6'4" but I don't think of him as that kind of heavyweight. You can find dudes like Niko Mikkola to round out your group for the penalty kill or whatever. 

[Protec]

In the U-18 WC, USA destroyed Finland and Kiviharju was not amazing. He might have been amazing as a kid but he's not on the same amazing trajectory as he was a few years ago. Maybe that changes but his speed is average. He doesn't look dynamic, it's smart exits and 1st passes I notice but not something that looks like it will translate to the NHL anytime soon. He'll need an off-season and good year in Liiga to change my mind. 

This is how I see it, hype from the years leading up to the draft established AK as a top prospect. The closer it came to 2024 draft go-time, all the teams saw that there was important parts of his game missing or not what it once was by comparison. Brackett decided he's gonna gamble again that everyone else is wrong. My least favorite pick. 

[mnfaninnc]

16 hours ago, Tony Abbott said:

I dunno, Florida's defense doesn't seem that big to me. Ekblad is 6'4" but I don't think of him as that kind of heavyweight. You can find dudes like Niko Mikkola to round out your group for the penalty kill or whatever. 

You're right, Ekblad is the only heavyweight out there. Even Mikkola is a little light for his height. I'd prefer to have at least 3 trees on the roster, the 3rd tree could be #7. Merrill looks like a tree but hits like a lightweight. It's not just reach, but a little meanness that's needed.

[mnfaninnc]

11 hours ago, Protec said:

In the U-18 WC, USA destroyed Finland and Kiviharju was not amazing. He might have been amazing as a kid but he's not on the same amazing trajectory as he was a few years ago. Maybe that changes but his speed is average. He doesn't look dynamic, it's smart exits and 1st passes I notice but not something that looks like it will translate to the NHL anytime soon. He'll need an off-season and good year in Liiga to change my mind. 

This past WJCU18, Kiviharju was just coming back from the ACL. I would probably compare him with Mason Shaw when he finished out the year last season. It was very evident that he was favoring the leg, his speed wasn't there yet, and he wouldn't turn the skates to stop. He just ran into someone to stop. 

My suspicion is that Kiviharju had yet to heal in his mind. He also had been skating for 8 weeks prior to the tournament which he desperately wanted to play in being on his home turf. 

Unless your name is Adrian Peterson, ACLs usually take about 2 years to recover from. The first year is rehab and getting banged around so your mind knows the knee can take it. The second year,  the speed comes back. While he is small, let's see if he's a better player than you saw.

Also, let's see if he can make that clean exit pass looking out his ear hole. I also think he'll be a lot like Addison, maybe without the attitude. Lots to learn for the young man. In his defense, he's already 185, so, that's larger than Addison came in.

[Up North Guy]

I may be wrong but my memory is that he didn't have an ACL but a separation of the kneecap. I believe that is just as bad to come back from as an ACL.

[Pewterschmidt]

I like this move getting Lauko.  Youth, size, grit all things our bottom six needs