Article: Did the Wild Strike Out Looking On A Patrick Laine Trade?

[Luke Sims]

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[Citizen Strife]

A team banking on improving defense grabbing an almost $9m player who doesn't play it.  I don't care how much offense a team has if they can't stop anybody.  It also doesn't help that a player with injury issues would be added an already potentially glass roster.

The Wild need to dodge bullets, and they dodged a big one.  Let Laine score all he wants in the Eastern Conference.  You got almost as many goals out of Rossi for 1/10th the price you Laine got last year.  Who's to say Ohgren or someone else can't add another 10/15/20 internally for chump change ELC contract money?

Laine is a name treading off a season or two he could have been somebody.  I'm notorious for being a simple minded, "BUT HE SCORES GOALS YAY!" kind of person.  But I think the Wild are not the right fit for that kind of player.  It would have been foolish.  The now $8.7m can be saved for something else, like bridge contracts and other money elsewhere.

[B1GKappa97]

In other news of former Wild trade targets being moved, the Pens just got McGroarty from the Jets for Braden Yager. 

I'm sure that they didn't want to trade him intra-division with a chance to bite them in the ass annually, but watching him move for just a prospect is tough. I think he would've been a great pivot from Laine if they mostly liked Patrik for the size/skill he could bring the top-6. 

But now he's gone... who else is out there!?  

[Citizen Strife]

10 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

In other news of former Wild trade targets being moved, the Pens just got McGroarty from the Jets for Braden Yager. 

I'm sure that they didn't want to trade him intra-division with a chance to bite them in the ass annually, but watching him move for just a prospect is tough. I think he would've been a great pivot from Laine if they mostly liked Patrik for the size/skill he could bring the top-6. 

But now he's gone... who else is out there!?  

There's a guy named Yurov who is supposedly good.  Wonder if he wants to play for the Wild someday.

[Sam]

I don’t think the Wild could make a deal to satisfy his salary needs. In other news it sounds like Bally Sports will broadcast the games for another season😁. Call me a homer, but I enjoy a good ol’ biased analysis of the game. I wonder what would’ve happened otherwise…

[Protec]

No... 😁

[B1GKappa97]

On 8/24/2024 at 10:29 AM, Citizen Strife said:

There's a guy named Yurov who is supposedly good.  Wonder if he wants to play for the Wild someday.

Haha he has to agree to sign with us first! 

Still, McGroarty would've been a good fit for us, especially in the middle-6 as a powerforward. Supposedly if we didn't land a defenseman, we were going to trade our 1st rounder to the Jets for him. Would've been nice to have found a way to get Buium and McGroarty still. 

He's a good prospect, with solid 6'+, 200+ lbs size. I think he'd seriously upgrade the forecheck and bring the kind of tenacity to the board battles that we wish we saw more from the top-6 outside of a couple standouts.

[Will D. Ness]

I think we will potentially hit a home run by not trading for Laine this year and maybe signing another Brock to the team next year?

[Burnt Toast]

Never say never…. The Wild trading for PL being the exception. Another good non move. PL is a player a stacked team picks up at the TD with cap space from a bloated LTIR roster. 

[Citizen Strife]

3 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

I think we will potentially hit a home run by not trading for Laine this year and maybe signing another Brock to the team next year?

I know you're thinking Boeser, but I am imagining Lesnar putting on skates and chasing opposing players like he's Casey Jones murdering Foot Clan goons.

Edited August 24 by Citizen Strife

[Mateo3xm]

You guys need to get an editor 

“Columbus ultimately moved Laine and a third-round pick for Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jordan Harris, a solid young defender but hardly surplus value for the Blue Jackets. “

 

“Columbus’ mediocre return for the former second-round pick shocked many Wild fans who hoped to land the goal-scorer.”

 

They got a second round pick not a 3rd. Laine was a first round pick and the 2nd pick of the first round. it’s not the biggest deal but still important to get the info correct.

[FredJohnson]

11 hours ago, Sam said:

In other news it sounds like Bally Sports will broadcast the games for another season

 

Damet! Another season I won't see games.

[mnfaninnc]

14 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

Laine is a name treading off a season or two he could have been somebody.  I'm notorious for being a simple minded, "BUT HE SCORES GOALS YAY!" kind of person.  But I think the Wild are not the right fit for that kind of player.  It would have been foolish.  The now $8.7m can be saved for something else, like bridge contracts and other money elsewhere.

I just plain disagree with CS's take here. I thought the deal I offered was a better one for CBJ, yet, they would have had to retained 50%. They would have gotten the 2nd rounder. Johansson and Gaudreau would have been cap casualties too, but useful in Evason's system. We have nobody with the positive attributes that Laine brings and like Luke says, he would have made everyone in the top 6 better.

As for the laziness and defense, I fully believe that Mikko could help him with it and fix it. I don't think anyone else can, though, perhaps Saku is in Montreal's front office. Laine is a Euro star from Finland. He thinks differently than NA players. I think Koivu could have unlocked that in him. Koivu's not just a Finnish player, he was an idol of most young Fins in the league today.

[mnfaninnc]

I have to believe that Guerin inquired about Laine and had talks with something on the table. But, the cone of silence is closed. I have to think that Askarov was also inquired about as well as McGroarty. 

Personally, what I think we have here is a GM who isn't going to give away the farm when asked for it. That's a good thing. The bad part about it was negotiating. I just don't think Guerin can negotiate all that well. He's a front door thinker when the house has a back door and 2 side doors. You can't just ring the bell like a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses. Nobody answers for those guys. You're friends with most of these guys, just walk in through the garage! 

Come on Shooter, do your shooter thing!

[Citizen Strife]

It's fair enough to disagree in the moment.  The Wild have been forced to tread lightly for 5 years.  Guerin's plan wasn't the "OMG SPEND ALL THIS CASH GO GO GO" sort of thing it was reported to be, but rather a calculated risk on prospects doing their job and taking the money rather than high priced people just being gifted contracts because of their name value.  I think the Wild are going to need a free agent of some standing someday.  I just don't know when or if the time will come when selling the farm for guy is gonna be worth it.

I'm still pissed about the Hanzal thing almost a decade later.  That trade boned that season so hard.

[MacGyver]

8 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I fully believe that Mikko could help him

What position does Mikko hold with the organization? I don't recall ever hearing about him being officially brought in by the Wild in any capacity. 

Edited August 25 by MacGyver

[Dango]

Trying to read in between the lines it appears to me that  Laine  was  maybe stepping on toes ,  a young guy coming in with lots of talent possibly showing up a few veterans  who have that know your place mentality  youre making us look obsolete  .  And Laine said PFFFFFT im doing my thing dont care if im out performing you taking some of the spotlight ,     

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, MacGyver said:

What position does Mikko hold with the organization? I don't recall ever hearing about him being officially brought in by the Wild in any capacity. 

I would guess koivu isn’t best of buds with Guerin the way he was unceremoniously shown the door then played a handful of games with CBJ 

not saying it’s Guerin’s fault because koivu was cooked, but I don’t get the sense that mikko is walking around wild hq with a coffee cup chit chatting.  

[MacGyver]

5 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

I would guess koivu isn’t best of buds with Guerin the way he was unceremoniously shown the door then played a handful of games with CBJ 

not saying it’s Guerin’s fault because koivu was cooked, but I don’t get the sense that mikko is walking around wild hq with a coffee cup chit chatting.  

I agree but is he officially part of the organization? Mnfan has mentioned him several times as being to help players with different facets of their game. I checked his Wikipedia page and it makes no mention of him becoming part of the Wild post playing days.  If he is not even officially part of the organization what can he do?  

Maybe Mike Modano knows?  What's he doing these days besides collecting a check from the Wild?

[Mateo3xm]

13 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

I'm still pissed about the Hanzal thing almost a decade later.  That trade boned that season so hard.

Couple things to think about. My opinion on the hanzel thing was sort of neutral but it was far too much to give up for him.

we needed picks, especially 1st round picks. Hanzel had 13pts out of 20 reg season games that year. I think CF was literally going all in on a deep run. I believe that was the year we lost to the blues in the first round. On one of the last playoff games either Stall or Koivu injured his leg by going into the boards hard. I believe he broke it. If we were somehow able to get past that first round we would have been down our first or second line center so getting Hanzel would have been a good player to have to fill that spot.

nevertheless CF was too trigger happy to trade our first round picks but I understand why he did it. He was in win now mode. Ppl have to understand that we basically ran into a dynasty team around that time. I believe the central was one of if not the best in the league. If I’m remembering everything correctly.

[Citizen Strife]

Guerin seems to have learned the lesson Fletcher didn't: The team isn't anywhere close.  Giving away stuff in vain just screws up get out of jail free cards.  Sure, not every prospect makes it, but man...sure would have been nice to keep a few of those.

[mnfaninnc]

15 hours ago, MacGyver said:

What position does Mikko hold with the organization? I don't recall ever hearing about him being officially brought in by the Wild in any capacity. 

This was from Dec. 1, 2021

Quote

But he’s also back around the Wild learning from members of the front office to figure out what he wants to do with his after-hockey life.

Coaching? Management?

He’s getting a taste of both by sitting in on some meetings with the coaches and being around the brass upstairs. But he’s trying to be respectful, too, by not showing his face inside the locker room too often.

I was trying to find where I read it, but this was the best I could find. I thought where I had read it was more recent than this, perhaps in 2023. I looked up front office staff and I did not see him listed so I may be mistaken, but I was certain he had some sort of position with the club.

However, he does own a suite and it looks like he regularly attends games. There was a picture of he and Guerin standing in a suite looking down and talking. I just couldn't find any direct verification that he is there in an official capacity. 

[mnfaninnc]

14 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

I would guess koivu isn’t best of buds with Guerin the way he was unceremoniously shown the door then played a handful of games with CBJ 

not saying it’s Guerin’s fault because koivu was cooked, but I don’t get the sense that mikko is walking around wild hq with a coffee cup chit chatting.  

I think this attitude may have changed after his 9 game stint in CBJ, and the retirement of his jersey. The article I quoted from above talks about him watching the game through Guerin's eyes and understanding the decision that was made about him. Signing with CBJ and retiring barely into the season was another indication that he was cooked, like we all knew. The trouble with that is that the player is usually the last one to know (see Goligoski).

From the article, it appears that his ex wife and he are still living in the area, and he is helping to coach his youngest son who should be 9 this year. 

[mnfaninnc]

9 hours ago, MacGyver said:

Maybe Mike Modano knows?

He's some kind of hockey operations advisor. At least he was listed on the staff page. While it is easy to look this stuff up on the internet, it's not something we do every day. I remember reading it somewhere, but now that I'm challenged on it, I cannot find the source. 

What I read was paraphrased to Mikko Koivu joins the Wild front office. Not sure at all what capacity it was supposed to be. And, now I can't find it. I'm pretty sure I didn't dream it, but that is also possible.

Edited August 26 by mnfaninnc

[mnfaninnc]

8 hours ago, Mateo3xm said:

On one of the last playoff games either Stall or Koivu injured his leg by going into the boards hard.

I remember the play, I didn't think he broke his leg, I thought he went head first into the boards still on his feet but bent over really weird. But, my memory is not something I can count on all the time anymore.