Article: The Justin Brazeau Trade Was A Step In the Wrong Direction

[MacGyver]

I'm willing to wait and see what this Brazo can do but he looked shockingly slow the other night. Guerin could have and should have gotten more return for 2 NHL players and a draft pick. Florida got Nico Sturm from San Jose and San Jose's 2027 seventh round pick for nothing more than Florida's  2026 fourth round pick. They didn't have to send any bodies the other way. That's a value deal right there and Sturm would have been a nice add to the Wild. It's Guerins decision making on trades and how he issues contracts that worries me. I'm almost afraid to see what he does when he gets some real money to play with.  I view Guerin an emotional thinker and not a critical one. 

Knudi and Lauko did not look out of place in the Boston game yesterday and Vinnie Letteri got a goal but it was later changed  on review. Good for Boston beating Tampa after they were gutted like a Walleye and the carcass left to lay on the ice for the crows to pick. 

[Pewterschmidt]

14 hours ago, Protec said:

It's no big splash but it certainly isn't a massive failure.

Re Trenin: count the number of times t-bag fails to execute simple hockey plays with the puck:

1) clearing the puck out of d-zone.   He fumbles puck out to neutral zone but not far enough to get a line change

 2) he did the windmill arms fall down last game

 3) he not only plays a heartless game (it doesn’t look like he cares) but his decision making proves he’s dumb too.  That’s a tough combo. 
 

this is the guy bill chose to spend his money and term on. 

[Pewterschmidt]

14 hours ago, Protec said:

Plenty of 20-22yo guys have shown more at the NHL level than Knudi or Lauko. So do you wait and wait or does a 27yo big guy get a chance for a fresh start and opportunity? We can all see these aren't primary moves with long-term implications. I would venture to guess Knudi is not the next M. St.Louis

Agree.  I’m not heart broken to lose the grape Knuts because khuz is too tiny and has zero Finnish and Laukzy, well we hardly knew ya.  That said, I think the smarter way to manage our assets was to hold onto these cheap unproven assets another year to see what they can become.  Oversized ahl forwards are easy to find/sign especially if they aren’t really nhl’rs.   I’m giving brazzars a chance, but bill and Brackett don’t have a great track record for identifying talent

[Pewterschmidt]

11 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

he was still  developing, had skill and motor and heart.

These are the traits about khuz that make this trade such a head scratcher. Why the urgency to deal this kid now    And watch bill get huffy when he’s asked to explain it

[Pewterschmidt]

3 hours ago, MacGyver said:

It's Guerins decision making on trades and how he issues contracts that worries me.

BINGO!

[Pewterschmidt]

3 hours ago, MacGyver said:

I view Guerin an emotional thinker and not a critical one.

YAHTZEE!

[WildOnrario]

To me sometimes it feels like BG is over his head this trade braz for Morat and Lako and a pick seemed very steep maybe braz for the pick and trade morat for what could of been a third i dont think he was working out here not that i think hes bad but he might need skill to thrive lako im sure could of been a different deal for a late pick and i wavier treinin and hes either hid in the AHL which i than think frees up his cap no. All this aside tho if i dont hear minny has extended kap on July 1 id fire BG on July 2nd 

[Enforceror]

On 3/7/2025 at 9:47 PM, Will D. Ness said:

1 game in and Brazeau made Trenin look fast.

2 games in and he makes the goal post look fast.

[WildNotMild]

Just a thought …. Maybe KK didn’t want to go on LTIR because he wants to showcase his talents for whatever team trades for him AND he is willing to sign an extension with.  Since it is so difficult for the Wild to get top tier free agents, I have to believe BG approached KK and talked with him about the benefit of being able to go after a Ranty at the deadline if KK agreed to LTIR.  I know KK loves to play, but it makes zero sense for him to play in the last couple of regular season games when the Wild don’t have the scoring punch to go far in the playoffs.

Even if showcasing that he is healthy for other teams didn’t cross his mind, KK is likely to be put off by another first round exit.

[Up North Guy]

20 hours ago, WildNotMild said:

Just a thought …. Maybe KK didn’t want to go on LTIR because he wants to showcase his talents for whatever team trades for him AND he is willing to sign an extension with.  Since it is so difficult for the Wild to get top tier free agents, I have to believe BG approached KK and talked with him about the benefit of being able to go after a Ranty at the deadline if KK agreed to LTIR.  I know KK loves to play, but it makes zero sense for him to play in the last couple of regular season games when the Wild don’t have the scoring punch to go far in the playoffs.

Even if showcasing that he is healthy for other teams didn’t cross his mind, KK is likely to be put off by another first round exit.

Unlikely in my opinion. Also, what the heck do the Wild have that could have been used to trade for Ratty? I know, Boldy, Rossi, Faber +++. Ratty is worth the cost but not the future. The team would probably be left with so little talent outside KK and Ratty that the results would not have been any better.

[Scalptrash]

1 hour ago, Up North Guy said:

Unlikely in my opinion. Also, what the heck do the Wild have that could have been used to trade for Ratty? I know, Boldy, Rossi, Faber +++. Ratty is worth the cost but not the future. The team would probably be left with so little talent outside KK and Ratty that the results would not have been any better.

I would have traded Kaprizov for Rantanen at the deadline. Rantanen is a better player, bigger, stronger, more consistent and a lot less injury prone. All the Wild have is Kaprizov and Boldy (only when on a rare hot streak). Because of annual long term injuries, Kaprizov is killing this team.

The Wild only had to pay this year's remaining salary and Carolina would have eaten the rest to get a player back of Kaprizov's stature. Plenty of money in the coffers to sign Rantanen to a long term deal starting next year, as Dallas did.

I truly believe Rantanen just wants to get even with Colorado and would have signed with any Central team. Dallas has more upside today, but they are old and now out of money to build anything significant long term.

[WildNotMild]

We had a 2nd instead of Nyquist.  We have a 1st still.  We have more prospects than can possibly play in our lineup.  We also have Rossi, who I would like to keep, but would be willing to trade for Rantanen.  The trade was for two firsts and two thirds plus a good player.  My point is/was that without getting KK to go on LTIR, we had no chance to bring in a second top tier forward at the trade deadline.  Doing so would have bettered the odds of getting into the playoffs, getting past the first round and giving KK another good reason to resign-sign.

[WildNotMild]

We could’ve matched the 2026 and 2028 first round picks.  Without Nyquist, we could have sweetened the 2026 third round pick to a second and matched the 2027 third round pick.  If Rossi was considered not as good of a prospect, then we could’ve added another player/pick.

Lou’s comments recently were that it would have been good for the team if KK went on LTIR, but he likes to play (which is a good thing).  I have to believe that if he had a choice between playing 1-3 regular season games and the playoffs without Rantanen or zero regular season games and playoffs with Rantanen that he would choose the latter.  KK hasn’t started to skate yet and I don’t see the Wild rushing him back for more than a few games.

The Wild could have used the same framework above to get EP from VAN.  I think this was a huge missed opportunity to at least try to get a second elite player.

Edited Wednesday at 11:41 PM by WildNotMild
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