Article: Zeev Buium Is A Bona Fide Top Prospect

[SkolWild73]

9 hours ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Understand your thinking and there is a chance Boldy and Rossi develop more but there is also a chance they don’t.  This is a true hockey trade.  We are going to be in win now mode the next 2-3 year deal in Kaps prime and don’t have time to wait for guys to develop or we waste his talent.  We get better for the next 2-3 years for sure and we get RHD speed guys who can play in the top 6 and score

The thing with this trade is it is also hypothetical.  I have looked at Buffalo's dirt sheets and have seen nothing that they are even interested in trading either one of these two.  So that is problem one.

I posted earlier a list of players that scored less than Boldy at the same age and it is a pretty impressive list.  More than half of them became point per game players.  I also looked through to see how many of these players got traded and when.  Besides players that said that they would not sign with their teams, (Tkachuk, Jordan Stall,) the only player I found was Fiala who was traded to the Wild for Granlund and then again from the Wild when they could not afford him.  Also, Sam Reinhart was traded from Buffalo to Florida after his age 25 season in a contract year. 

Teams just don't trade 23-year-old players that score at the rate that Rossi and Boldy do.  Then throw a 22-year-old defenseman who, whether we think he is our best defender or not, the coaches seem to think he is with his playing time.  We can debate all day whether this makes us a better team or not.  I personally can't say for sure it would even this year.  But until the trade is made it is just hypothetical. 

 

[Burnt Toast]

10 hours ago, SkolWild73 said:

The thing with this trade is it is also hypothetical. 

32 GMs, owners and fan bases all pondering the burning question…. How can we get better? So in such a competitive environment timing becomes a crucial component. Every year the SC winner will represent 3% of the NHL. With timing our roster construction, can we get closer to say 15-20 % for a 3-5 year run? Absolutely! Lots of teams with SCs have taken this approach. If we remain patient our window is coming. 

[SkolWild73]

8 minutes ago, Burnt Toast said:

32 GMs, owners and fan bases all pondering the burning question…. How can we get better? So in such a competitive environment timing becomes a crucial component. Every year the SC winner will represent 3% of the NHL. With timing our roster construction, can we get closer to say 15-20 % for a 3-5 year run? Absolutely! Lots of teams with SCs have taken this approach. If we remain patient our window is coming. 

Agree wholeheartedly.

[Burnt Toast]

3 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

Agree wholeheartedly

Edmonton is sitting just above 15% this year. (Odds makers). I think they are right in their timing peak. And yes it took them a long time to get there. There are no shortcuts!! Disclaimer: Vegas Golden Knights working the NHL new team rules. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

1 hour ago, Burnt Toast said:

Absolutely! Lots of teams with SCs have taken this approach. If we remain patient our window is coming. 

Agreed. We've all seen teams fail a lot when they try to accelerate to contender status too soon, giving up a bunch of assets for players who have been very good, but have already peaked and are declining. I think it's better to become a contender with the young players improving into the prime of their careers, and then you can make adjustments to put your team over the top.

If Kaprizov extends with the Wild, he could be contending both in the near future and for a rather long window. The Wild will add forward talent and the defense looks like it's going to be getting better. They might have a Middleton/Spurgeon 3rd pairing as early as next year.

The Wild have 3 of the top 25 drafted (non-goalie)prospects not currently in the NHL, according to the Athletic's Scott Wheeler. He actually listed Jiricek and Yurov in the top 20(Buium in the top 3), but even if you think a few guys behind them deserve to be higher, they have a bunch of talent about to join the Wild and cap space to replace Johansson with a much more impactful player.

He also still sees Wallstedt as a top 5 goalie prospect. He may not be elite, but should at least be a solid #2 guy as his game matures.

Edited February 13 by Imyourhuckleberry

[SkolWild73]

2 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

Disclaimer: Vegas Golden Knights working the NHL new team rules. 

This exactly.  Plus, Vegas was coming of a year where they led the league in points when they made the Eichel trade, and they did not really give up any young top producing talent that had seen NHL time.  Yes, they gave up Tuch who was 25 at the time, had played 249 games and scored 139 points which was good for .55 points per games, a prospect and a first and second round pick.

And for those who want to point out the Panthers trade for Tkachuk.  They too were coming off a season of leading the NHL in points.  They gave up a lot more, but no young players.  They traded Jonathan Huberdeau, who was 29, defenseman Mackenzie Weegar who was 28, an AHL prospect and a first-round pick.  Both players Florida sent were coming up on the last year of their deal.  They were able to get younger and saved money since Tkachuk was 24 and signed for 8 years at 9.5 mil a year, while Huberdeau signed for 8 years at 10.5 a year and Weegar signed for 8 years at 6.25 a year.

[M_Nels]

16 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

They traded Jonathan Huberdeau, who was 29, defenseman Mackenzie Weegar who was 28, an AHL prospect and a first-round pick.  Both players Florida sent were coming up on the last year of their deal.  They were able to get younger and saved money since Tkachuk was 24 and signed for 8 years at 9.5 mil a year, while Huberdeau signed for 8 years at 10.5 a year and Weegar signed for 8 years at 6.25 a year.

That Huberdeau trade/signing ooof.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

14 hours ago, Mateo3xm said:

Not one time did I say he was going to be the next Makar. For some reason you seem to be interpreting it as such, even though it’s pretty obvious I’m not.

It was UpNorthGuy who talked about Buium as a "Makar clone". I haven't seen anyone else make a comparison and I've tried to avoid that altogether.

There's no question that Buium is an incredible prospect that we're all anxious to see with the Wild. Makar scored similarly to Buium as a sophomore in college. After losing in the Frozen Four, Makar went right into the playoffs with Colorado, then posted 50 points in 57 games in his 1st regular season with the Avs.

Buium seems to have a well rounded game with power play 1 offensive capabilities, so adding him and a scoring forward for the top 6 could really put the Wild into another level competitively, assuming Kaprizov stays around.

[mnfaninnc]

On 2/11/2025 at 11:24 PM, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Watch the Buffalo games and you will see why the trade makes sense.  Tuch and Thompson are what we need. Our PP is trash and they fix that.  Our top 6 has no size and they fix that.  Also they have speed and are RH.  

This is exactly what I was afraid of, MNH03 just makes logical sense on this. The other side of the argument is that we don't have the finished products yet in Rossi and Boldy and they might be 90 pt. players (yes, both). 

Are we willing to sacrifice points to restructure the team into a large bodied top 6? Would a Kaprizov-Tage-Tuch top line be able to get things done? Would they even have chemistry? Then, what do we do about secondary scoring. It would look like Ek would be surrounded by not that much offensive talent. Perhaps this is where Bankier, Haight, Milne come in? Or, we hire UFA guns! 

The MNH03 logic is solid. Thompson is signed through '27-28 season. Tuch through next season. I still think using Rossi, Boldy & Faber is an overplay, but, what if Mattias Samuelsson was a part of this deal? In thought, if I were Buffalo, would I do this the other way around? 

Something in Buffalo is broken. They've got way more talent on paper than their results indicate. Would a blockbuster deal make them better? It would certainly shake them up. Thompson and Tuch both have 5 team M-NTCs. Boldy, Rossi, Faber have no trade protection at all. I would suggest that MN is not on the Tuch or Thompson NTC list. 

I've got an issue with subtracting an "it" defensive player, and I really like the prospect of having 2 of those guys in Faber and Buium. Of course, the money doesn't work out now, but it could over the summer. And, I would much rather have a Samuelsson than a pick.

I'm still a no. Boldy is closer to the '20 draft, and I think loading up with players from the '20-22 draft window is the way to go. Thompson comes from '15 and Tuch from '14. But, MNH03 has a very good eye on this one and if it were to happen I would support that too and enjoy watching it. 

I think the real question here is does Guerin like the way the team talent has improved incrementally, or does he want to tip over the applecart? 

[Will D. Ness]

12 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I'm still a no.

Haha... I thought you had lost it.

[mnfaninnc]

14 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

Haha... I thought you had lost it.

I'm just trying to wrap my head around the whole proposal. MNH03 gets me almost everything that I wanted. All that's missing is for Tuch to change his last name to Tkachuk and I might be in. It's a solid proposal, but I'd need a little more back from Buffalo than just Tuch and Thompson. It would certainly change the dynamics of both teams, and, I'd want an extension on the table for Tuch too. 

Honestly, I think a deal like this certainly gets us out of the 1st round in '25, and may take us to a conference championship round. I also think a deal like this propels Buffalo into the playoffs in 2025. But, our window could abruptly shut quite a bit sooner by banking on the '14 and '15 drafts as opposed to the later ones, and I think we have a larger window of opportunity if we stay the course.

[mnhockeyfan03]

Also if Buffalo doesn’t want to part with Tuch then let’s try to flip Rossi to Pittsburg for Rakell.  He looked very sporty last night and was one of the best players on the ice for Sweden.  Then flip Boldy and Faber to Buffalo for Thompson and another solid dman or prospect from Buffalo.  Then sign B Nelson for 4mm this summer.  The thought of Thompson, EK and Brock Nelson as our top 3 centers would have me very very excited. Three big guys that can skate.  
 

I really think this team needs to free up the salary of Faber or Spurgeon to really help us add forwards.  Faber can get you the most in return and then maybe we could offload Spurgeon on someone by giving them a pick and prospect.  

[Up North Guy]

3 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

It was UpNorthGuy who talked about Buium as a "Makar clone". I haven't seen anyone else make a comparison and I've tried to avoid that altogether.

There's no question that Buium is an incredible prospect that we're all anxious to see with the Wild. Makar scored similarly to Buium as a sophomore in college. After losing in the Frozen Four, Makar went right into the playoffs with Colorado, then posted 50 points in 57 games in his 1st regular season with the Avs.

Buium seems to have a well rounded game with power play 1 offensive capabilities, so adding him and a scoring forward for the top 6 could really put the Wild into another level competitively, assuming Kaprizov stays around.

Yes, i probably was over my skis a bit in the comparison. I am not an expert as my hockey playing days were in a very different era. To clarify, I see similarities between Zeev and Makar. It is not fair of me or anyone to claim that he is a clone. I read the gushing profile on the Athletic and other sights and have to think there is room for some comparing.

[Will D. Ness]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I'm just trying to wrap my head around the whole proposal. MNH03 gets me almost everything that I wanted. All that's missing is for Tuch to change his last name to Tkachuk and I might be in. It's a solid proposal, but I'd need a little more back from Buffalo than just Tuch and Thompson. It would certainly change the dynamics of both teams, and, I'd want an extension on the table for Tuch too. 

Honestly, I think a deal like this certainly gets us out of the 1st round in '25, and may take us to a conference championship round. I also think a deal like this propels Buffalo into the playoffs in 2025. But, our window could abruptly shut quite a bit sooner by banking on the '14 and '15 drafts as opposed to the later ones, and I think we have a larger window of opportunity if we stay the course.

I think a good gauge of this trade proposal is to look at who is playing in the game tonight and who is not.

[Enforceror]

1 hour ago, Will D. Ness said:

I think a good gauge of this trade proposal is to look at who is playing in the game tonight and who is not.

An un-ignorable fact but let's see how our young guns do against the best of the best. Our known vets came through last night, maybe that's an indicator as well.

[Sam]

4 hours ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

then let’s try to flip Rossi to Pittsburg for Rakell.

C’mon man! That doesn’t make a shred of sense. Trading  blooming player with equal or greater contribution for someone who is around ten years older. I thought the whole “trade Rossi” nonsense was put to rest.

[Will D. Ness]

58 minutes ago, Enforceror said:

An un-ignorable fact but let's see how our young guns do against the best of the best. Our known vets came through last night, maybe that's an indicator as well.

I'm looking to see what Boldy can do with Brock Nelson.  I think they are on a line together.

[mnfaninnc]

4 hours ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Also if Buffalo doesn’t want to part with Tuch then let’s try to flip Rossi to Pittsburg for Rakell.  He looked very sporty last night and was one of the best players on the ice for Sweden.  Then flip Boldy and Faber to Buffalo for Thompson and another solid dman or prospect from Buffalo.  Then sign B Nelson for 4mm this summer.  The thought of Thompson, EK and Brock Nelson as our top 3 centers would have me very very excited. Three big guys that can skate.  

I thought Rakell was playing wing. Perhaps you're just putting him on the wing. I am not a big fan of Rakell, think he's pretty overrated. At $5m for another 3 years, it would seem like you could get him for prospects and picks, not a Rossi. If I'm Dubas and get this call from Guerin, I'd simply say, "fine, I'll fill out the paperwork," and do it immediately do it before Guerin changed his mind.

Really, I'm not interested in a 31 yr. old up and down wing. He checks the RHS box and is a solid build, but as I remember his game which I haven't paid attention to, I think he comes from the Johansson school of contact and gets bounced around quite a bit. To me, he disappears a lot in games, especially games where you need him to come through.

[mnhockeyfan03]

28 minutes ago, Sam said:

C’mon man! That doesn’t make a shred of sense. Trading  blooming player with equal or greater contribution for someone who is around ten years older. I thought the whole “trade Rossi” nonsense was put to rest.

Or does it.  If people think Rossi will get $8mm which is a huge overpay we can’t afford why not get a very skilled top 6 forward in Rakell for $5mm a year for the next 3 years.  If Rossi asks for over a 2-3 year bridge at 5mm I do think Rossi will be traded this summer for something. 

[mnhockeyfan03]

4 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I thought Rakell was playing wing. Perhaps you're just putting him on the wing. I am not a big fan of Rakell, think he's pretty overrated. At $5m for another 3 years, it would seem like you could get him for prospects and picks, not a Rossi. If I'm Dubas and get this call from Guerin, I'd simply say, "fine, I'll fill out the paperwork," and do it immediately do it before Guerin changed his mind.

Really, I'm not interested in a 31 yr. old up and down wing. He checks the RHS box and is a solid build, but as I remember his game which I haven't paid attention to, I think he comes from the Johansson school of contact and gets bounced around quite a bit. To me, he disappears a lot in games, especially games where you need him to come through.

I agree I like Tuch better but Rossi is not a center in the west especially the central.  If he asks for 6-8mm they are going to trade him so we have to look at options. Billy wants big fast centers down the middle and Rossi isn’t that and isn’t fast period.  His top end speed may be ok but his first 10 steps are slow and he isn’t big.  

[SkolWild73]

19 minutes ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Or does it.  If people think Rossi will get $8mm which is a huge overpay we can’t afford why not get a very skilled top 6 forward in Rakell for $5mm a year for the next 3 years.  If Rossi asks for over a 2-3 year bridge at 5mm I do think Rossi will be traded this summer for something. 

So now you want to trade a 23 year old player for a 31 year old who has averaged .63 points per game and is -31 for his career?  

Edited February 14 by SkolWild73

[mnhockeyfan03]

4 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

So now you want to trade a 23 year old player for a 31 year old who has averaged .63 points per game and is -31 for his career?  

I am just saying we have to look at options.  I laid out the ideal option with Tuch and Thompson but Rossi is not making 6-8mm a year and if he asks for that he’ll be traded.  I honestly think he will be anyway.  We need big centers and against physical teams he doesn’t perform well and don’t think he ever will.  Rakell last night was a top 3 player on the ice on either side and is a RHD shot we need.  For $5mm that’s not a bad value. 

[SkolWild73]

5 minutes ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

I am just saying we have to look at options.  I laid out the ideal option with Tuch and Thompson but Rossi is not making 6-8mm a year and if he asks for that he’ll be traded.  I honestly think he will be anyway.  We need big centers and against physical teams he doesn’t perform well and don’t think he ever will.  Rakell last night was a top 3 player on the ice on either side and is a RHD shot we need.  For $5mm that’s not a bad value. 

5mm for him may not be bad value, but trading Rossi for him would be.  

[mnhockeyfan03]

3 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

5mm for him may not be bad value, but trading Rossi for him would be.  

You have to look at Rossi for 7mm or Rakell at 5mm I am taking Rakell.  Even if 6 and 5 still taking Rakell.  Rakell is a RH shot which we need.  Is faster and bigger.  Tuch is preferred but Rakell would be option 2.  Necas would have been option 1 last offseason but no one wanted to trust me on that one and look at what we could have had.  

[mnfaninnc]

29 minutes ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Rakell last night was a top 3 player on the ice on either side and is a RHD shot we need.  For $5mm that’s not a bad value. 

It's a 4 Nations Tournament which carries 0 competitive nature. It's like an exhibition. It's akin to the World Championships that nobody cares about. Johansson looked great for Sweden in those. This is essentially a high level spritzer league play where players aren't going to really hit + it doesn't even include Russia. I put absolutely no stock in how any players look in this tourney....except for the goalies.