Article: Is Minnesota's Declining Contract Efficiency A Long-Term Concern?

[Justin Hein]

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[MNCountryLife]

Often I think a GM gets tied up in things that are not related to winning.  BG seems to understand that there are role players and things that creates a player friendly locker room.  But I think he is lacking in perhaps the most important aspects of how to put up points on the board and keep the puck out of our net.  Our prospect pool on D is the best we have had in a long time.  Now he needs to ensure these prospects make it to the next level.  Our best prospects seem to bypass Iowa.  Which is concerning that our feeder team isn't doing much feeding. 

[Citizen Strife]

One bad year doesn't screw up the future

[B1GKappa97]

This article was a roller coaster! Way to end it on a reasonable note though! 

I definitely think if the ELC prospects come in and hit on their hype we're in great shape, even if we're overpaying for a PKer like Trenin or for Foligno's locker room intangibles. I know that some posters don't believe in prospects until they prove it, but I also think its fair to point out that we haven't been forcing prospects into the lineup before they are ready either.. 

[Burnt Toast]

DL’s model including lists, stats etc shows how difficult it is to parse the nuances of professional sports from an outside the room perspective. Welcome to a world where ego, $$, loyalty and sacrifice weave in and out of NHL locker rooms. I’ve yet to see a statistical analysis for team buy in anywhere but the last few SC championship teams have displayed  how important that is. I think Wild Management has put a premium on leadership/team play/ culture. Hopefully the talent, skill, cap numbers etc. can come together as well.

[Dean]

Leadership, team play a culture ? Where do you see any of those ? Leadership is cross checking ankles , yelling at refs in the media ,  not showing up for 82 games , and feeling sorry for yourself?  Team play was just awesome last year with all that flipping leadership.  Culture I guess is bad mouthing a couple guys out of town to install some overpaid misfit friends who can’t play hockey and calling them leaders . 
  This team has no leadership, no team play and no culture. It’s Billy’s new country club of overpaid clause laiden washed  up former hockey guys who just like making tik tok videos and lots of excuses !  It’s fantasy land to think Billy knows what he’s doing. 

[mnfaninnc]

How many people remember coming down the stretch last year, having a 3rd period lead, and then giving it up and the following goal not even to get to overtime?

This is the reason for the Trenin signing. He is going to be tasked with keeping leads. He's got some bulk to help get this done. This is a strategic signing, and that he is Kap's friend and knows Heinzy's system only helps and likely Guerin had to outbid other suitors. Could Trenin be Heinzy's Freddie?

One reason to think the Wild will have a bounce back season has to do with stolen points, and points stolen from them. Giving up 3rd period leads and being unable to get to OT are 2 stolen points from us. The past couple of years before that, we were doing the point stealing. We were getting to OT and many times winning with Freddie goals in a shootout. I do believe injuries had a lot to do with this, but it also could have been a team that simply ran out of gas. Heinzy really shortened his bench in those 3rd periods, and the team simply couldn't get it done without rolling all 4 lines. 

In the offseason of '23, this team was set up to roll all 4 lines with Evason as coach. The lines were not stacked, but they were spreading out the scoring.  My bet is that this training camp, this team will be in better condition, and the camp will be wide open for roster spots. This will be a very spirited camp. I think we're definitely in the 13-17 team window and might be as high as 11th. That should be enough to get us a WC/3rd place finish in the West/Central. It all will start with health, though, and I think we've got some better callup options this time around.

[mnfaninnc]

I also wanted to comment on Parayko being overpaid. This is a risk that always happens in sports: Do you pay your guy who may become injured? 8 years is a long time for a large contract, and if a player deals with injury, that diminishes their play. We saw this with Spurgeon, but it is late in his career that this happened and the jury is still out on his recovery. 

Parayko had/has a lower back injury. As a tall player, sometimes this can be a nagging issue that carries over from season to season, just because they have to bend, and most guys/players do not bend at the knee, but bend at the back. Why is Parayko's contract overpriced? Because shortly after he signed his big deal, he hurt his back and it's been nagging him ever since. 

I hate talking about buyouts, but should such an injury happen to Faber, this, to me, is the only reason we would buy him out. However, Faber, being a bit shorter, more flexible, and better on his edges seems to me to be a better injury risk than the large bodied Parayko would have been, even though it would seem that Parayko could absorb more contact. Yes, he can, but the taller body can also get caught in awkward positions. 

The main reason for hoping that Faber can hit 210 this season is for him to be able to absorb NHL punishment. He's already played through cracked or broken ribs. That extra muscle helps with the punishment and helps with tying up players much larger than him. He'll usually have leverage on these larger players. 

Parayko was a beast before he got hurt. He had a very hard shot. I would imagine that his injury specifically affected him in this area. We saw this with Dumba's injuries where he couldn't even shoot the puck after his last one. Dumba not being able to shoot pretty much took out his usefulness as a defender because that specific thing is what made him valuable. This is the whole reason I'd rather not resign him. 

A nice part of this resigning is we get Faber throughout his 20s. Those are his best years. If successful, he'll likely get another 5 year deal afterwards. Then, if it were me, I'd go year to year after 35 assuming no major injuries have taken place. It's not like the player wants to play anywhere else, so that fear is gone.

I like the signing, and my hope is no injuries and another 5 year deal after that where he gives us a pretty good hometown discount. $68m, even taxed, is pretty hard to spend in one's lifetime.

[Pewterschmidt]

On 7/30/2024 at 7:51 PM, mnfaninnc said:

How many people remember coming down the stretch last year, having a 3rd period lead, and then giving it up and the following goal not even to get to overtime?

Two season's ago all the breaks went our way (OT wins, last minute ties in regulation etc.).  Last season all the breaks went against us (OT losses, injuries, etc.)  I'm looking at it as a wash.  If this team is competitive this year and misses playoffs, I'm not mad.  Expectations are managed. But the chess pieces need to be setting up on the board.  Faber signing is definitely a positive and win for Guerin.  Foligno/Zuc/nojo/Freddy Hockey/signing Middles instead of flipping him for a middle 6 fwd/etc all negatives.  We're all assuming Foligno and Spurge come back one year older and after major surgery and return to their peak form (in Foligno's case that's one season with Ek doing the heavy lifting).  This is called delusion sports fans.

#that'swhytheyplaythegames

#milnewatch

Speaking of Milne, if he makes the big club and plays a hard scrabble bottom six game for league minimum/ELC, the Trenin contract is going to really look miserable.

[Dango]

Could Trenin  Kappys buddy make Zucc available, possibly back to Rangers "fan favorite"  opening a spot for another  ELC    

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, Dango said:

Could Trenin  Kappys buddy make Zucc available, possibly back to Rangers "fan favorite"  opening a spot for another  ELC    

NYR has their own cap problems. I'm doubting this happens unless we pay half, something I can't stand doing (I love buying for half price though). Other thing to remember is that Zuccarello has the final say on every potential deal.

Now, let's just say that Heinzy doesn't really like Zuccarello's game and decides to play him against some big, hard guys in camp, and puts him in every preseason game, possibly even bag skating him. At that point, I would think Zuccarello would be encouraged to get an offer to go elsewhere. It's mean, but that's how you get NMCs to move. Or,  you just ask.

Edited August 1 by mnfaninnc

[Dango]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

NYR has their own cap problems. I'm doubting this happens unless we pay half, something I can't stand doing (I love buying for half price though). Other thing to remember is that Zuccarello has the final say on every potential deal.

Now, let's just say that Heinzy doesn't really like Zuccarello's game and decides to play him against some big, hard guys in camp, and puts him in every preseason game, possibly even bag skating him. At that point, I would think Zuccarello would be encouraged to get an offer to go elsewhere. It's mean, but that's how you get NMCs to move. Or,  you just ask.

I  was thinking maybe he wants a shot at the cup in his final year s   The Rangers would probably be the best place for him  depending of course what the Wild look like  .