Article: Will Brock Faber's Contract Have the Upside Of Matt Boldy's?

[B1GKappa97]

3 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I can think of 7.5m reasons.

Sure but what good is that cap space at this point? UFA is pretty much over. 

Unless they're throwing Spurgeon into the trade for Brock Boeser to make the numbers work, I can't imagine they'll make too many big moves this year. Next year, maybe, but this year I doubt Spurgy is going anywhere. 

[mnfaninnc]

It looks like the consensus is that should a longterm deal present itself for Rossi, 8 X $5m seems to be the number. I could be comfortable with that assuming that Rossi has put in another big summer physically. I have no problems with his height, but making him a little bowling ball, I think, would be a type of center that's valuable. 

Interestingly, I started listening to NFL radio on a road trip. Pat and Jim's show, they were previewing the running back positions. There are a lot of short running backs in NFL rooms. But, I was consistently hearing numbers like 5'9" 215. I would say that these men are also professional athletes, and a running back is as close to a skater as the game gets. How is it that these running backs have bulked up to 215, and our hockey players are sitting on 190? Running backs need acceleration and flexibility. Their "edges" are cuts and cutbacks and they do this very violently. 

It would seem to me that our shorter guys have some more room for growth. I'm not suggesting they get to 215, but I don't think it is unreasonable for them to be approaching 200. 

[mnfaninnc]

1 minute ago, B1GKappa97 said:

Next year, maybe, but this year I doubt Spurgy is going anywhere. 

I thought we were talking at the TDL, not now. Right now, Spurgeon's got to prove he can still play and take a hit. If not, we're going to have to LTIR him. 

From a perspective of "home," it is my belief that Spurgeon has completely moved into the Twin Cities area and now considers it home. Is this indeed the case? If so, it would seem to me that an LTIR deal here would make the most sense, though somewhere else he likely doesn't have to move.

So, think about this: Faber is still on an ELC this season. But, if we have to LTIR Spurgeon, Faber's money on an extension could mirror what Spurgeon is making and we could go out and get another $7.5m player. This really only works if Spurgeon is completely broken. Perhaps he heals up for a Stanley Cup run only to be put on LTIR again the following year? 

Here's what I don't like about how Shooter thinks: He is not creative in this type of thinking. He is a straight forward guy who only sees the front door. He'll make handshake deals in the living room, but he completely ignores the side and back doors which are in the gray areas of the rules. I know we got burned on this in the Parise and Suter deals, but it seems to me that we are leaving some potential benefits on the table because of a lack of creativity. Just for evidence, it has been very hard for Guerin to even use LTIR as a benefit, and he needs a sidekick who knows the ins and outs of this rule.

[Will D. Ness]

15 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

It looks like the consensus is that should a longterm deal present itself for Rossi, 8 X $5m seems to be the number. I could be comfortable with that assuming that Rossi has put in another big summer physically. I have no problems with his height, but making him a little bowling ball, I think, would be a type of center that's valuable. 

Interestingly, I started listening to NFL radio on a road trip. Pat and Jim's show, they were previewing the running back positions. There are a lot of short running backs in NFL rooms. But, I was consistently hearing numbers like 5'9" 215. I would say that these men are also professional athletes, and a running back is as close to a skater as the game gets. How is it that these running backs have bulked up to 215, and our hockey players are sitting on 190? Running backs need acceleration and flexibility. Their "edges" are cuts and cutbacks and they do this very violently. 

It would seem to me that our shorter guys have some more room for growth. I'm not suggesting they get to 215, but I don't think it is unreasonable for them to be approaching 200. 

Skates vs cleats are not apples to apples.  Acceleration with cleats on turf vs skates on ice seems to be much harder proportionally with weight for hockey players.  Also, higher momentum could limit maneuverability to a point that it optimizes around a lower mass.

My layman's guess is right around 200 lbs like you are thinking too, although shorter guys with a lower center of gravity might push it on the maneuverability side but lose it on the acceleration?

[mnhockeyfan03]

2 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

You're setting yourself up for disappointment if you're expecting Spurgy to get traded this season. There is absolutely no reason to rush that. 

Once Zeev shows up and establishes that, yes, he is prepared to play at this level THEN you can comfortably trade off Spurgy. Until then, there's no reason to kick him out. 

Can get 2 really good players for his 7.5mm salary.  His trade value will be zero but we need the money to use on other players that can help us more

[raithis]

As far as bonuses, it depends.  I know I've read about a couple situations where performance bonuses do go against the cap, but if it would put them over, the team was able to elect to defer it to next year's salary cap instead.

Regarding Spurgeon, there is very, very little chance another team wants to take on the rest of his contract unless we really make it worth their while or we take on their boat anchor contract as part of the deal.  I recall talks of the Islanders being interested in Praise, but they always wanted us to take on Ladd's contract in return. 

With our defensive prospects still at the point where they have a hard time even displacing Merrill in the lineup, it does not make sense to part ways with Spurgeon just yet.  I said in another post that they likely hold onto him for a couple more years and look to trade him when he is in his last year.

[Glenn]

My advice is don't sign and become a free agent. The same goes for Krill and Rossi. You guys can always sign back with the wild as a  free agent

 You can't trust Blunder Billy

[B1GKappa97]

3 hours ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Can get 2 really good players for his 7.5mm salary.  His trade value will be zero but we need the money to use on other players that can help us more

More like 1 and a scrub if we're hitting UFA with it. 

But yes, I agree, his cap space is enticing. I just don't think its prudent to trade him off this year, at all. The blue-line didn't look as good without him last year. At some point we'll have somebody that can help us still play well sans Spurgy (coughZEEVcough) but the roster isn't at that point yet. 

And I can't imagine there are too many takers for a guy his size coming off an injury plagued year. We'd be selling low. Maybe even paying a team to take his cap. 

I don't think that's in the cards this year at all is my main point. Short of Chisholm turning into a top-pair stud and one of the AHL guys looking ready to take his place on the roster, it doesn't make much sense to weaken the team for cap-space with where we are in the season. At this point, its essentially useless and we can accumulate a good amount of that back by the TDL if we stay healthy. 

[FredJohnson]

On 7/19/2024 at 10:03 AM, B1GKappa97 said:

I have and its just a top-heavy team with bad defense. Having Fifi means no Faber, which means only Middsy and Brodin as top-4 quality defensemen last year. 

I'd have rather kept Nyquist over Johansson, hands down, but its not like either is a long-term solution for the top-6. 

Good points.