Article: The Wild Aren't A Team Worth Investing In At the Trade Deadline

[Chris Schad]

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[Dis-allowed display name]

BRAVO!  An article that makes sense.   Our window opens next year. 

Enjoy what is left of this year, whatever that brings, but we are once again limping in with a battered team that can't score goals when things get tough.  

[Imyourhuckleberry]

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The Wild’s 71.4% penalty kill rate this season is the 10th lowest in NHL history since the league started keeping track during the 1977-78 season. The New York Islanders (70.2%) and the Detroit Red Wings (69.6%) have lower percentages this season. However, neither team will likely make the playoffs, making the Wild’s problem more glaring.

#1. After a slow start, the Red Wings are tied for the 2nd best points% in the league since Christmas and are currently in 7th in the Eastern conference. Why would anyone think they aren't likely to make the playoffs?

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The Wild were legitimate Stanley Cup contenders when Kaprizov went down.

#2. If the Wild were considered Cup contenders when Kaprizov went down(.657 points percentage), then they should be considered cup contenders with him back in the fold. I didn't consider them cup contenders then, but they shouldn't abandon trying to compete just because a couple of guys are out. Also, Detroit's winning percentage under their new coach(.750) should make them cup contenders if the Wild were ever considered one.

The Wild are unlikely to make a major move, but they certainly should use Eriksson-Ek's cap space to add a player to close the regular season, and hope JEE is ready for the start of the playoffs.

#3. All of those past playoff years were under a different coach. If KK97 and JEE get healthy for the playoffs, they could be a tough out.

Edited 8 hours ago by Imyourhuckleberry

[Citizen Strife]

The team doesn't have enough balance to make a run yet.  They are tied for 19th in goals for, 9th in goals against, 23rd in PP%, and 30th in PK%.  Dallas has much higher goals for and the best PK% in the league.  Winnipeg is obviously doing great at pretty much everything.  Edmonton and Colorado has the playoff pedigree the Wild don't, and LA's beaten the pants off the team in nearly ever encounter.

There's reason to suspect Kap and Ek would be great return additions.  But the team wasn't beating anyone handly WITH them on the team.  Kap is great, but Ek is not the same offensive player he was last year.  Faber isn't either.  The most you could say is Rossi and Boldy have held things together enough to get victories.  Adding one extra forward or even two is probably not enough to convince me this is the year to do it.

 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Forgot to add that Boldy had just turned 22 years old within 2 weeks of the most recent Wild playoff series. Using his past playoff performances against top teams(Dallas had the 3rd lowest goals against for teams entering the 2023 playoffs) as reasons to think he might not deliver in future years seems a bit ridiculous.

[OldDutchChip]

Billy will invest in this team for a few reasons - 

• regardless of injuries - he cannot have two years of failure, especially after such a great start to have such a massive collapse (should they fail to make it)
• he has his young core - Rossi, Faber and Boldy out there - they need to perform; not to mention his guys (the ones he gifted contracts to) - Trenin, Harty, Foligno, MJ, the entire D line healthy - they all have to step up - otherwise it traces back directly to him
• he needs to show Kap that this is the core that he can go to war with and it's not just Kap saving the day, and that is why they (and Billy) must succeed

Thus, he will trade. Will the trade work? Well i think it will help us get into the PO. But it will hurt long term. Why? I think he will extend the player that he will trade for and it will cost us the big fish. It will likely cost us Kaprizov too. There are only two options here - Brock B or Brock N. Both will cost and will not be what Kaprizov needs.

[Lern2spell]

IF he is available, and IF he is willing to sign here long term, the Wild should do whatever it takes to get Mikko Rantanen and sign him. Ohgren, Gaudreau, Johansson, Riley Heidt, Aaron Kiviharju and a 2027 1st should do it. Then offer Trenin for Yegor Chinakhov. This is a bit of roster shake up, but the Wild won't be true contenders, even in the next few years without the roster changing. Moving on from Hartman and trading (gulp) Spurgeon in the off season would (along with rising salary cap) allow them to sign Rantanen and Brock Nelson (imagine a third line of Nelson-Ek-Foligno) while re-signing Kaprizov, Rossi, khusnutdinov, Lauko, and Declan Chisholm. This would bring Rantanen and Chinakhov in for this year's (and future) playoffs, while creating space for Jiricek, Buium, and Yurov for next season.

[MNCountryLife]

The increase in cap space should allow us to be a deeper team next year.  Trading away valuable pieces this year for a rental means we won't have them next season for trade bait.  Hope for the best this year but we are sellers.  Next season we should have Yurov, Zeev, Jiricek and Ohgren all playing up and playing better.  Faber, Rossi, Boldy should also take a step forward.  Subtract out Nojo, Freddy and Hartman and add in 2 more top 6 players in FA and this team will compete... and we should have extra trade value for next years deadline.

[MNCountryLife]

Is Gus becoming a problem?  He seems to do extremely well when he is spot starting...not so well as the primary goalie.  Last year he played well when they alternated starts.

[Dis-allowed display name]

35 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

Billy will invest in this team for a few reasons - 

• regardless of injuries - he cannot have two years of failure, 

I have no idea how the ownership feels about Billy, but the salary cap issue was not his creation.  I don't think he is perfect, and his extensions of some older players for too long, for too much, and with too many protections is highly dubious.  That said, I don't think I would be able to move on from him until he got to use some of his picks and a full cap.

[OldDutchChip]

5 minutes ago, Dis-allowed display name said:

I have no idea how the ownership feels about Billy, but the salary cap issue was not his creation.  I don't think he is perfect, and his extensions of some older players for too long, for too much, and with too many protections is highly dubious.  That said, I don't think I would be able to move on from him until he got to use some of his picks and a full cap.

argh i am going to get all the hate again, but please remember that no one is taking money from us that we could spend. they allowed us the buy outs, but it's not magic - you cannot re-use that money. 

our issue is that the money was spent on players who did not deserve it. if we bought out kaprizov and faber - that would feel different. but the quality of the players that you buy out matter. that quality in relation to the money paid is why we are now complaining. this means - the cap hit itself is not the problem. we would not have 15 MM to spend. it would either be Parise and Suter or no one. We decided to have no one. So there is NO cap hell in truth. 

as for Billy's fate - well that depends on Kaprizov. Kaprizov stays - Billy stays and vice versa.

[SkolWild73]

40 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

Billy will invest in this team for a few reasons - 

• regardless of injuries - he cannot have two years of failure, especially after such a great start to have such a massive collapse (should they fail to make it)
• he has his young core - Rossi, Faber and Boldy out there - they need to perform; not to mention his guys (the ones he gifted contracts to) - Trenin, Harty, Foligno, MJ, the entire D line healthy - they all have to step up - otherwise it traces back directly to him
• he needs to show Kap that this is the core that he can go to war with and it's not just Kap saving the day, and that is why they (and Billy) must succeed

Thus, he will trade. Will the trade work? Well i think it will help us get into the PO. But it will hurt long term. Why? I think he will extend the player that he will trade for and it will cost us the big fish. It will likely cost us Kaprizov too. There are only two options here - Brock B or Brock N. Both will cost and will not be what Kaprizov needs.

Yea, it is kind of a catch 22.  Make some moves to help this year and can hurt us getting a big fish next year.  One option is if Ek is going to be out the rest of the year, we might be able to get Nelson to help out this year.   We can wait to sign him and see if Ranty or Marner are available after the season.  There are not a whole lot of other FA options this offseason that I would consider big fish (Ehlers maybe too, but I wouldn't consider him a big fish).  

If we can't get the top FA's, we can look and see if any of the 26 class has said they would not resign with their team.  The top guys in that class, not including older players like Malkin and Ovechkin and Panarin, would be McDavid (one can dream), Eichel, Necas and Kyle Connor.  

If not, we would have to wait until the trade deadline and see if any of these players are available.  Kind of sucks that all of them are in our division or in our conference which might make it tougher.  If Nelson is not signed for a anything more than three years and for not a ton of money, he could be a trade chip.  As long as we do not have to give up much for Nelson, this could be an option.  This is assuming that he is even available.

[OldDutchChip]

11 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

Yea, it is kind of a catch 22.  Make some moves to help this year and can hurt us getting a big fish next year.  One option is if Ek is going to be out the rest of the year, we might be able to get Nelson to help out this year.   We can wait to sign him and see if Ranty or Marner are available after the season.  There are not a whole lot of other FA options this offseason that I would consider big fish (Ehlers maybe too, but I wouldn't consider him a big fish).  

If we can't get the top FA's, we can look and see if any of the 26 class has said they would not resign with their team.  The top guys in that class, not including older players like Malkin and Ovechkin and Panarin, would be McDavid (one can dream), Eichel, Necas and Kyle Connor.  

If not, we would have to wait until the trade deadline and see if any of these players are available.  Kind of sucks that all of them are in our division or in our conference which might make it tougher.  If Nelson is not signed for a anything more than three years and for not a ton of money, he could be a trade chip.  As long as we do not have to give up much for Nelson, this could be an option.  This is assuming that he is even available.

i think my vote would be to either

(a) keep dialing Buffalo and try to get Tuch (without giving up Yurov or Zeev; this would not include Rossi or Boldy, but any other forward prospect is fair game; give them Foligno if they want him back)

or

(b) call montreal and see if their boss is so anti-russian that he is willing to deal demidov for zeev (or for faber, it doesn't matter)

 

[M_Nels]

3 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

(a) keep dialing Buffalo and try to get Tuch (without giving up Yurov or Zeev; this would not include Rossi or Boldy, but any other forward prospect is fair game; give them Foligno if they want him back)

How about Cozens? Saw his name floated by Russo & Smith in their article today. Rossi wouldn't be back if that happens but something to think about.

[Dango]

After some heavy thinking i came up with another plan 5 minutes ago  ,  ive been kind of impressed with Ryan Donato the last couple games we played the hawks .  I say why not try it again we swap 1 or 2 of  MJ and Fredie G plus Chisholm straight up for Donato   ,  3 of these are free agents with Freddy having 2 more years  . for us we gain 3 million cap space the Hawks take on 3 million but only 2 with freddie as MJ ,,Chisholm are FAs  and Donato is a FA  ,   Who knows maybe this sparks our offence  even though id like to keep Chisholm  Jiri and Zeev take over that and Merril  ,   

[OldDutchChip]

8 minutes ago, M_Nels said:

How about Cozens? Saw his name floated by Russo & Smith in their article today. Rossi wouldn't be back if that happens but something to think about.

I saw that, but why would it mean no Rossi? ....and honestly i know little about Cozens, so i have no idea how he'd fit in.... but wouldn't we be able to fit in Rossi and Cozens? yes, that would mean we would be done shopping or have to move some money around (if rossi decides to play hard ball .... but that's another topic 🙂 )

my preference is to not inherit LT money contracts unless it's for a top guy. give your self some flexibility to go after top guys in the off season. even if they get Nelson, i'd let him walk rather than pay him 6-7 mm. you need guys ages 24-28, not 36. i think a trade for Yanni would be the one i'd consider. He would fit in where we need help. i think he is a rock at PK and a playoff beast. I'd go for him! and he is a much easier contract to digest LT, and we can still try to spend in the off season. 

thoughts?

[SkolWild73]

13 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

I saw that, but why would it mean no Rossi? ....and honestly i know little about Cozens, so i have no idea how he'd fit in.... but wouldn't we be able to fit in Rossi and Cozens? yes, that would mean we would be done shopping or have to move some money around (if rossi decides to play hard ball .... but that's another topic 🙂 )

my preference is to not inherit LT money contracts unless it's for a top guy. give your self some flexibility to go after top guys in the off season. even if they get Nelson, i'd let him walk rather than pay him 6-7 mm. you need guys ages 24-28, not 36. i think a trade for Yanni would be the one i'd consider. He would fit in where we need help. i think he is a rock at PK and a playoff beast. I'd go for him! and he is a much easier contract to digest LT, and we can still try to spend in the off season. 

thoughts?

Good thing is Rossi doesn’t have much choice in his contract unless he is offersheeted by someone.  His choice is to sign, sit out a year or play overseas.  Theoretically, if no one offer sheets him, we could sign him for one year at 2M.

To me, Cozens is high risk high reward.  Was great two years ago, is young, and is signed for a while.  Has just struggled recently.  Could still have both he and Rossi if we sign no one else.

[SkolWild73]

39 minutes ago, M_Nels said:

How about Cozens? Saw his name floated by Russo & Smith in their article today. Rossi wouldn't be back if that happens but something to think about.

I would rather take a swing at him than Nelson.  He is only 24 and signed at 7.1M through 2030.  He is only two years removed from a 31g 37a season.  Also is 6’3 and 207.  Some risk but upside is better than any other non top guy.

I think we could still keep Rossi too

[Citizen Strife]

Giving Faber his contract, getting Kap for $13-15m, adding Cozens for $7m, and Rossi for $7-8m might be a bit problematic (even with Kap's contract being the year after).  That said, it would be easier if Hartman, Middleton, or Foligno would be part of the money going back.  An easy fix would be something like Brodin or Spurgeon...but I don't wanna do either.

Edited 5 hours ago by Citizen Strife

[OldDutchChip]

1 hour ago, SkolWild73 said:

Good thing is Rossi doesn’t have much choice in his contract unless he is offersheeted by someone.  His choice is to sign, sit out a year or play overseas.  Theoretically, if no one offer sheets him, we could sign him for one year at 2M.

To me, Cozens is high risk high reward.  Was great two years ago, is young, and is signed for a while.  Has just struggled recently.  Could still have both he and Rossi if we sign no one else.

That’s a red flag for me - him being somewhat up and down and still not a sure thing

i think we need stat certainty to align w Kap

id keep my eye on Ranty

or 

try to steal young studs like Demidov (does MTR know what kind of player he is? Would they rather have a great North American player to market than a Russian? Seriously there maybe something to this thinking with politics mixed in to “help” us out. 
 

or just wait it out and do not bite on any small/medium fish (let’s not forget Havlat signing - don’t just throw money to whoever is left and willing to take it) 

[SkolWild73]

8 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

That’s a red flag for me - him being somewhat up and down and still not a sure thing

i think we need stat certainty to align w Kap

id keep my eye on Ranty

or 

try to steal young studs like Demidov (does MTR know what kind of player he is? Would they rather have a great North American player to market than a Russian? Seriously there maybe something to this thinking with politics mixed in to “help” us out. 
 

or just wait it out and do not bite on any small/medium fish (let’s not forget Havlat signing - don’t just throw money to whoever is left and willing to take it) 

Agree with the wait it out.  The one good thing about Cozens, if we wouldn’t have to give up a ton to get him, is he is still young. That 68 point season was when he was 22.  If he can get back to that he could be a trade chip for a bigger fish, if they ever become available since he is still young and is at 7.1M through 2029 (said 2030 earlier, couldn’t edit). Plus being 6’3 and 200 plus and a center there is usually a good market for that. If no one does become available and he returns to form, then great.  Definitely a risk but upside might outweigh it.

Also have the Buffalo factor.  Young forwards tend to do well when the leave there. (Eichel and Reinhart)

Edited 4 hours ago by SkolWild73

[Dean]

I highly doubt you can get cozens without Rossi going other way. . They aren’t looking for prospects an/or picks that they have to wait years on. They want a proven nhl ready player /s  now. The daily face off was talking about it  today. The gm might be on the hot seat so why would ownership let him trade away assets?  A cozens deal will be a big package that I don’t think the wild will or should make . It definitely isn’t going to be a 2nd rounder and lambos or Oghren . Trade 2026 1st then your mortgaging your future. If they really think they’ll be contenders next year they need that asset next year for deadline.  
   The brocks aren’t worth giving up assets for this year . Free agency yeah depending on contracts they want. However everyone has extra money next year so price will be high on them. 
   This year is over . They’ll limp in as a wildcard team and get pounded . With or without cozens. They should just ride it out. Give the kids playoff experience then take a chainsaw to this roster next year. Cut out the vets and see what shakes loose in free agency. . It’s  Another wasted year of kappy . Unless surgery’s and aging make you better. 

[OldDutchChip]

34 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

Agree with the wait it out.  The one good thing about Cozens, if we wouldn’t have to give up a ton to get him, is he is still young. That 68 point season was when he was 22.  If he can get back to that he could be a trade chip for a bigger fish, if they ever become available since he is still young and is at 7.1M through 2029 (said 2030 earlier, couldn’t edit). Plus being 6’3 and 200 plus and a center there is usually a good market for that. If no one does become available and he returns to form, then great.  Definitely a risk but upside might outweigh it.

Also have the Buffalo factor.  Young forwards tend to do well when the leave there. (Eichel and Reinhart)

could be skinner too 🙂

i just hope Bill has more numbers in his rolodex than Buffalo Sabres GM - seems like that's the primary dial.....

The one good thing about Cozens, if we wouldn’t have to give up a ton to get him, is he is still young. that might be even worse for us (unless Cozens becomes a stud 30 plus goal scorer), cause if we are not sending out money, he'll just add to our payroll and block any more impact signing.

again, i think best to skip him, brocks, and any money that you inherit long-term for anyone that is not top tier. i think 5 MM player is fine (Gourde) but anything above won't be good for us.