Article: The Wild's Extended Veterans Must Buy Into New Roles

[Justin Wiggins]

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[IllicitFive]

I defended the extensions at the time, with the argument of they may still produce and the youngsters weren't ready yet. I will admit I am wrong on these. While the youngsters may not be ready I did not expect the drop off like they had.  My biggest concern is no Zuc. Hartman and Moose can still bring some grit and weight to their game.

Towards the end of the year I thought Hartman was settling into the role a bit more, playing on the edge of in and out of control. This is where he thrives and can make an impact. Moose can still throw em, punish some bodies in corners and grind away at teams. My hope is they can still do this for a year or 2. Help mentor younger guys on playing with an edge to their game and frankly being tough s.o.b's. 

Zuc now, doesn't bring a physical factor. He's been a good play maker but without Kap his numbers disappeared. Rask even had numbers when playing with Kap. His contract may end up aging the worst of these 3, because what else can he bring to the table. Maybe him with Marat could be something? Speed and skill pairing with a 3rd tbd? Ohgren? Rossi? Just gut feeling his game will disappear the most over the upcoming years.

[Citizen Strife]

All three can provide value despite criticisms of their play: Hartman > Zuccarello > Foligno personally.

Hartman is capable of anything on this team.  He's proven he's valuable on any line, any scenario, and is pretty much a perfect fill in for any injury issues a top 2 line could have.  He scored just as much as Rossi did last year, so he still has scoring punch in limited roles.  I think he'll be just fine doing whatever he's asked to do.

Zuccarello's 5on5 concerns are definitely there, but he still put up 60 points last year.  He kills in on the power play.  Any issues he has slowing down are mitigated in that area, since he's not asked to move around much.  The Wild were smart to get him away from Kaprizov and their pass happy BS.  If he stays a power play machine, you can't tell me a 2 year deal at a reduced cost from before isn't still worth some value.

Foligno's injuries worry me more than anything.  He and Rossi were very good early on at depth defense and scoring.  They were lugging Gaudreau around and (as we came to find out) pretty much did all the work.  If he can stay healthy, he's a viable third liner who can pull off a shutdown role.  Having him with Khustnutdinov and Ohgren doesn't sound like the worst idea.  Even having Hartman or Zuccarello down on third wouldn't be a terrible scenario.  That means whoever they sign in free agency and Heidt are doing their jobs better than expected.

Hartman's better than he's given credit for, Zuccarello still has his uses, and Foligno has to stay healthy.  He's on glass cannon watch, kinda like Spurgeon.

[OldDutchChip]

pred get stamkos. hearing potentiall marchy. crazy. wild are close to signing midds. fuck. preds will remain a playoff team. avs, stars, jets, preds.

great job strategizing and executing thus far - billy. might as well bring back goli and cullen. 

[B1GKappa97]

25 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

pred get stamkos. hearing potentiall marchy. crazy. wild are close to signing midds. fuck. preds will remain a playoff team. avs, stars, jets, preds.

yeah big additions for the Preds for sure. Old but good.

They'll be tough to beat again next year. 

Edited Monday at 04:14 PM by B1GKappa97

[OldDutchChip]

caps getting chychrun....i like it! good for them and ovi.

[OldDutchChip]

1 minute ago, B1GKappa97 said:

yeah big additions for the Preds for sure. Old but good.

They'll be tough to beat again next year. 

yeah add to that blues that seem to be still be relevant and hawks with their latest signings. i am thinking we may have a chance at no.1 next year! 

 

[OldDutchChip]

zadorov to bruins? of course!

marchy, skjei, stamy to preds? yeap!

midds to wild! perron to senators - thank the lord! 🤔

[OldDutchChip]

what is left for us? okposo for 6 mil for 3 years? sure why not 💩

tarafuckingsenko for 5 mi for one year? 💩 

 

[B1GKappa97]

3 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

yeah add to that blues that seem to be still be relevant and hawks with their latest signings. i am thinking we may have a chance at no.1 next year! 

 

xD I don't think we'll be that bad. Probably just a wildcard team though. I don't think we will close the gap against the Avs, Preds or Jets this offseason. 

[OldDutchChip]

Just now, B1GKappa97 said:

xD I don't think we'll be that bad. Probably just a wildcard team though. I don't think we will close the gap against the Avs, Preds or Jets this offseason. 

stars will still be top 3 though. no chance we are in playoffs next year unless billy pulls something magical 

[OldDutchChip]

could be worse - we could be columbus fans - signing monahan to 5 years and living there.

Edited Monday at 04:30 PM by OldDutchChip

[B1GKappa97]

Just now, OldDutchChip said:

stars will still be top 3 though. no chance we are in playoffs next year unless billy pulls something magical 

Naw, there's definitely still a good chance. They can't start as bad as they did last year though and we'll need Gus to bounce back and Wallstedt to be a clear upgrade on MAF. Which, statistically, isn't a high bar. 

[Dean]

Overpaying bottom 6 guys again. Yeah we’re not making playoffs. Especially with division rivals getting better while Billy is adding to his collection of misfits.. good bye kappy 

[OldDutchChip]

Just now, B1GKappa97 said:

Naw, there's definitely still a good chance. They can't start as bad as they did last year though and we'll need Gus to bounce back and Wallstedt to be a clear upgrade on MAF. Which, statistically, isn't a high bar. 

there is higher chance of us signing suter and parise back then us sneaking into the playoffs. oh i actually want suter and parise back now! and cullen too. 

[MrCheatachu]

No...we got https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5608216/2024/07/01/wild-yakov-trenin-signing/

Yakov Trenin for 4 years x $3.5AAV....Billy must ahve been reading these forums and wanted to make the sub $2M contracts we bitch about (FreddyG, MoJo, Bogo, etc) look great values...

[Dean]

Looks to me like Billy is doubling down on Jo Jo in top 6. God forbid Billy thinking outside the box and doing something smart. He just keeps pounding that square peg into a round hole.  

[OldDutchChip]

3 minutes ago, Dean said:

Overpaying bottom 6 guys again. Yeah we’re not making playoffs. Especially with division rivals getting better while Billy is adding to his collection of misfits.. good bye kappy 

😢 yes indeed

and i just realized that coyotes are now a team in utah and got that pesky sergy too

oh wow - i am no longer jokingly say - wild will be the last team in central next year

if that is not a reason to just give up, trade Kap, and play all younglings we have, then i don't know what is. maybe trade Ek too. 

[Willy the poor boy]

6 minutes ago, Dean said:

Overpaying bottom 6 guys again. Yeah we’re not making playoffs. Especially with division rivals getting better while Billy is adding to his collection of misfits.. good bye kappy 

Should help out with the PK. FA, if you want him you gotta get him. I don't mind it to much, I mean it's not like they had the money to make a big splash.

[OldDutchChip]

6 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

No...we got https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5608216/2024/07/01/wild-yakov-trenin-signing/

Yakov Trenin for 4 years x $3.5AAV....Billy must ahve been reading these forums and wanted to make the sub $2M contracts we bitch about (FreddyG, MoJo, Bogo, etc) look great values...

who is that? i don't know what to say about that.....YET 😜

[B1GKappa97]

3 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

No...we got https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5608216/2024/07/01/wild-yakov-trenin-signing/

Yakov Trenin for 4 years x $3.5AAV....Billy must ahve been reading these forums and wanted to make the sub $2M contracts we bitch about (FreddyG, MoJo, Bogo, etc) look great values...

Yeah that's a weird move, unless he's about to move off of Freddy and/or Johansson.. or possibly not sign Middsy?

As a bottom-6 C I like it. He'll take some pressure off Foligno from having to skate around being an enforcer too. Seems like an overpay in AAV though, unfortunately.

[Willy the poor boy]

Oh oh, Maroon with the Hacks...

[Citizen Strife]

Trying to spitball here.

Kap/EEK/Boldy (won't change, shouldn't change)

Hartman or Heidt/Rossi/Zuccarello (at least for a while)

Ohgren/Trenin/Hartman or Foligno

Mojo/Khusnutdinov/Gaudreau

 

My guess is they got Trenin to beef up a WOEFUL PK and have insurance if Foligno isn't quite healthy.  Ohgren and Khusnutdinov should be viable for 3rd/4th line spots, and Heidt might be that 2nd line scorer they are banking on out of camp.

I'm not saying it is splashy.  It's probably a very terrible contract, but he fills a need they desperately need filled, and still have openings for the main younger guys available to hit that 2nd line.  This is barring any Laine trade or some such.  Would prefer it if they don't though.  Flashy names don't account for much if they never play healthy.

 

[OldDutchChip]

why couldn't we just keep one of the dewys over yasha? 1 mil for dewy over 3.5 for this new fool. another not weird moment. 

[OldDutchChip]

9 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

Trying to spitball here.

Kap/EEK/Boldy (won't change, shouldn't change)

Hartman or Heidt/Rossi/Zuccarello (at least for a while)

Ohgren/Trenin/Hartman or Foligno

Mojo/Khusnutdinov/Gaudreau

 

My guess is they got Trenin to beef up a WOEFUL PK and have insurance if Foligno isn't quite healthy.  Ohgren and Khusnutdinov should be viable for 3rd/4th line spots, and Heidt might be that 2nd line scorer they are banking on out of camp.

I'm not saying it is splashy.  It's probably a very terrible contract, but he fills a need they desperately need filled, and still have openings for the main younger guys available to hit that 2nd line.  This is barring any Laine trade or some such.  Would prefer it if they don't though.  Flashy names don't account for much if they never play healthy.

 

maybe trenin is a childhood friend of Kap? that is the only thing that could explain this stupidity.