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Article: Are the Wild's Opening Day Decisions A Long-Term Play?


3 hours ago, Dean said:

Kappy will be a punching bag all year on the  small people line  

This is also a big concern for me. Chicago is addressing the same issues with their new star player CB. I’m not sure  exactly what the Wild are thinking or how they’re going to handle the “bully factor.” Maybe it’s going to be a team response. Mess with KK and we’re all coming for you. We certainly have added plenty of players that fit that description. On another note OCL seems pretty stressed out. I don’t know him personally. You mentioned him campaigning hard, that’s for sure. 

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19 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

help me understand what Guerin was doing the first 4 years here.

Pewter, I think what happened was the 1st year was a wash. Really, he came on at the end of the summer and pretty much just watched and learned the organization and players.

Years 2-4 were about accumulating more top round draft picks which would be the core of the new team. These became The Wall, Lambos, Ohgren, Yurov, and hopefully some 2nd and 3rd rounders who could help contribute. 

So, what it looks like is that Leipold was on board with the buyouts, and the rebuild/retool/reload on the fly where Judd would get value picks from people who were good value at the draft (had fallen from where they were supposed to). Then, we would need to develop them. So, from 2020, we have iced/debuted Rossi, Hunt, Faber (traded for). 2021 debuted The Wall, 2022 debuted Ohgren and Yurov could have made the roster too had we signed him. 

So, from the beginning of the 2020-21 season when Shooter 1st drafted to the end of 2022-23, those were free years and Leipold was happy since we made the playoffs all 3 years. Then, last year, when Rossi actually was useful, that started the slow march of the new players. This year we've got 3 more rookies. 

Now, one problem that we, as an organization have is that we've got nothing to show for the '16-18 drafts. That's a pretty big whole. But now, Shooter has refused to trade away our young guns for help with the current squad. He managed to gain picks and traded away mid to late rounders keeping the 1st and 2nd rounders in house. He has already drafted his upcoming team, and Buium was a huge bonus pick. 

Now we see if it works. It won't be overnight success, but the young guys will be getting better. According to my grandkids report cards, we'll call it "progressing" but not yet "mastery." My hope is that Heinzy treats the kids this way and is patient with their progression. Each one of the kids needs to have a 1 on 1 video session after each game teaching them what went wrong, how to read the play, and show them how to do it right. They will make mistakes. We will see them. We need to not get frustrated unless they keep doing it over and over again. 

At least, that's my explanation of what he meant. 

Also, signing journeyman vets: Shooter has to ice a team, and he realizes that the kids have to learn and develop. He has done an excellent job of shielding the kids from pressure while they grow, and not demanding them before they're ready. This has been the downfall of the past and we especially saw it with Fletcher who brought up his contingent about a year too soon, but, we had just gotten Suter and Parise. He was not patient and is directly responsible for our '16-'18 whole right now. 

With capfriendly gone, we now have to get used to puckpedia. But, if you look, Shooter handed out NMC and NTC clauses, but the NMCs turn into M-NTCs real soon. It's not as dire as those designations look. These guys are tradable and he took care of them with fair contracts. I'm sure each player knows that when their spot is taken, they could be playing elsewhere. The only guy who's here to stay is Zuccarello, but it's very short term.

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10 hours ago, Enforceror said:

On another note...I'm thinking we're going to need to watch out for Utah. That feels weird to say.

Utah can not be successful until they have decided on a nickname. I have decreed it!

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21 hours ago, MrCheatachu said:

I've heard that if you're on chrome you can bypass the paywall by right-clicking and selecting 'open reading mode' and that you can do the same thing on an iphone by clicking the two A's next to the address bar and going to reader mode also.

also OCL re: Kaprizov-

Also OCL:

 

And, honestly, I don’t think our market would like it very much if that’s what we did.”

Your market wants a SCC after 24 GD years in the 'State of Hockey'. We don't need any more of your one and dones...

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18 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

that's very true! i hope i'm wrong! time will tell

still very excited for the season! 

crazy prediction - 

MJ starts strong and has 40 points in the first 50 games earning himself another contract.......

image.png.4c1383bba4dd51498f76852a39be4f99.png

Then gets the extension and drops his stick for the next 30.

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