Article: The Wild Went Half-In At the Deadline and Got Caught In the Middle Again

[Tom Schreier]

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[Dis-allowed display name]

Half in was a mistake, all in would have been a bigger one.  Sellers was the only correct thing to be.

I don't think Kaprisov will base his decision on this year's final standings, but they still had dead cap, and players with NMC taking up too many roster spots.

I think they have a bright future starting next year and this year is another injury riddled year for an under-funded team.  Take your remaining lumps and then go all in.

[Citizen Strife]

They could have sold and kept the second and Khusnutdinov.  Nyquist has done a lot of nothing.

If nothing else, maybe Guerin will just use those spots more wisely when the new season rolls around.

 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

19 minutes ago, Dis-allowed display name said:

Half in was a mistake, all in would have been a bigger one.

I agree that all-in would have been a mistake. I'm not sure that it was a mistake to bolster the roster by adding Nyquist.

The 2nd round pick was higher than I would have liked to see go out and the points have been underwhelming so far, but I could see him having more success. There have been more setups that easily could have resulted in goals. Nyquist hasn't gotten a goal recently in the NHL, but did tally one in Sweden's win over the US at 4 Nations. He doesn't look like the game has passed him by yet, and hopefully he does get more comfortable in this system before the end of the season.

The Wild have had a few rough games, but they've also gotten more from Johansson since adding his fellow Swedish national team veteran. The Wild have tightened up their defense lately and Johansson actually has 6 points in 8 games since the trade. Excluding empty net goals, the Wild have allowed more than 2 goals in regulation just twice since trading for Nyquist, the 5-1 St. Louis loss that wasn't close, and the 4-3 win over Seattle.

The Wild had gone 1-3 following the 4 Nations tourney with a -8 goal differential in the 4 games and the 1 win being an OT win.

Since the trade, the Wild have gone 4-3-1. The goal differential is -5 in that span due to a few empty netters and the St. Louis game going poorly for much of that one, but they've gotten more than half of the available points.

The Blues also have simply gotten hot, so the Wild aren't the only team they've outplayed lately. Since the 4 Nations tourney, the Blues have the 3rd best record and are tied with the Avalanche for 1st in goal differential.

Doing nothing or simply selling players might have the Wild on the verge of falling out of the playoffs, which would be extremely disappointing after their hot start(and their lack of a 2025 1st round pick), particularly if JEE and Kaprizov start skating in a week or two. The playoffs do mean a lot to these guys, so I'm okay with the moves even if they only provide marginal benefit.

[Patrick]

Bill Guerin is a fat faced alcoholic with a short temper.  He pursues players based more on how much they remind him of himself than actual on ice production.  (See Trenin and Brazau v Rossi and Khuznutdinov)  Take KK off of the MN Wild and what are we?  A below average NHL team.  He has done nothing but allow KK to be run into the ground (his 25 minutes a night definitely led to his injuries) and is currently allowing Faber to be run into the ground.  The prospect pool looks good but how much credit does he get for Brackett's work?  

[mnfaninnc]

It would have been nice to have someone on LTIR and bought a piece that we wanted for next season and beyond. But the injuries swallowed up the cap space and we just couldn't afford anything. Sometimes, it's the deals you don't make that benefit you. 

Based upon what we saw, who were the real sellers this trade deadline? There weren't that many out there. When that happens, prices are elevated. Bringing in Rantanen might have been good, or maybe he doesn't fit here either. Carolina plays more of a game like we do. Structured, responsible, 2-way. That is not Rantanen's style. 

We're probably better off with what we got. Should we have simply promoted the kids? I think that may have been the better impact, though it was risking our playoffs. 

[SkolWild73]

39 minutes ago, Patrick said:

Bill Guerin is a fat faced alcoholic with a short temper.  He pursues players based more on how much they remind him of himself than actual on ice production.  (See Trenin and Brazau v Rossi and Khuznutdinov)  Take KK off of the MN Wild and what are we?  A below average NHL team.  He has done nothing but allow KK to be run into the ground (his 25 minutes a night definitely led to his injuries) and is currently allowing Faber to be run into the ground.  The prospect pool looks good but how much credit does he get for Brackett's work?  

You are really blaming the gm for Kaps injuries?  He has played just over 22 minutes a game this season.  You realize that is less than MacKinnon?  Also close to what Draisaitl plays.  Kucherov and MvDavid are not far behind.  The best players play lots of minutes.  
 

As far as Faber goes, their are 5 dmen that play more than Faber and ten that play 25 or more minutes.  All of them are the top defenseman on their team.

 

[Thatoneguy]

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Doing nothing or simply selling players might have the Wild on the verge of falling out of the playoffs, which would be extremely disappointing after their hot start(and their lack of a 2025 1st round pick), particularly if JEE and Kaprizov start skating in a week or two. The playoffs do mean a lot to these guys, so I'm okay with the moves even if they only provide marginal benefit.

What benefit has either player provided? They have done absolutely nothing to make this team better. Marat did nothing less than either player Guerin traded for. In fact since the trade, MK has 2 more goals than both Nyquest and Brazau combined. 

Neither trade made a damn bit of sense, and neither of them made the wild a better hockey team. 

[Will D. Ness]

Nyquist still has time to earn his trade value.  I want to see him play more with Zucc and Rossi.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

56 minutes ago, Thatoneguy said:

Marat did nothing less than either player Guerin traded for. In fact since the trade, MK has 2 more goals than both Nyquest and Brazau combined. 

Marat has not contributed points to a win in Boston, he has won under 44% of faceoffs this season, and his line has been outscored even strength with both franchises. Marat won less than 34% of faceoffs taken when the Wild were short-handed and the goalies saved just 75% of shots when he was on the ice for PK. I believe both Wild goalies are well over 80% when Khusnutdinov is not on the ice for the PK.

He has real potential, but he wasn't succeeding at a high level in the role the Wild had for him and Boston has put him in an entirely different role as a winger that doesn't play nearly as often in the defensive zone.

I realize that Nyquist and Brazeau haven't contributed a lot of points, but the Wild have been collecting over 50% of standings points with them around. Hopefully points come as the two of them gain more familiarity with Hynes' structure and the players around them.

I am not suggesting that the Wild are noticeably better, I'm only suggesting that they may not be worse and that they might be better prepared for the upcoming playoffs than if they had done nothing.

Edited 18 hours ago by Imyourhuckleberry

[Patrick]

5 hours ago, SkolWild73 said:

You are really blaming the gm for Kaps injuries?  

 

Yes. Kaprizovs injuries started before this year and after he was playing 25 minutes a night. It wasn't sustainable. You don't let a coach destroy the best asset this franchise has ever had. But it's more than just minutes. It's a pattern of rushing players back and having them get reinjured.  It's leading the NHL in games missed 2 years in a row... without any accountability. (And yes I know Colorado technically is leading the NHL in games missed but that includes Landeskag)

[BeanPole Harvester]

I was just looking this over today regarding salary cap on puck pedia. Currently for the offseason puck pedia has the 88M listed for cap and the wild should have just under 21M to spend.

This puts them at #18 with available cap space.

The teams with the most cap space are Sharks with 43M, Ducks with 39.5M, Flames with 37M, Jets with 37M, Hurricaines with 36M, Hawks with 32M, and Flyers with 27.5M.

Stars have the least with 4.5M and they also have only 15 players signed that are currently on their roster for '25-'26.

 

 

[Fezig]

This team would have been better off not contending so that more of the future could be playing right now. Middling players on a middling season do nothing to develop one of the best prospect pools in the NHL.

[SkolWild73]

2 hours ago, Fezig said:

This team would have been better off not contending so that more of the future could be playing right now. Middling players on a middling season do nothing to develop one of the best prospect pools in the NHL.

Our two top prospects are not even available to play in Yurov and Zeev.  Ohgren has gotten some time.  I suppose you could argue the Wall and Jiricek could be playing.  Their time will come, more than likely most of them will be playing next year.

[Enforceror]

It sucks Foligno is injured but I was glad to see OGz back in the big club. His time in the A seems to have paid off. He looked more confident and had a few good looks last night. 

[Pewterschmidt]

13 minutes ago, Enforceror said:

I was glad to see OGz back in the big club. His time in the A seems to have paid off. He looked more confident and had a few good looks last night. 

Agree 100%.  It was a different/new Ogz last night.  Not just because he scored, although I'm sure that helped his confidence.  He had a jump in his step, more aggressive/less timid, and he even had a different look on his face (no more deer in headlights).  I see you 2 8.

[Malibu_81]

Even if BG went all-in on the tank, Uncle Gary would still find a way to move the BitchChickens up in another of his famous “Behind-Closed-Doors” draft lotteries. And although the wrong choice was made in the decision to keep Johansson or Nyquist, it sure wasn’t worth a 2nd to get him back.

[SkolWild73]

11 hours ago, Patrick said:

Yes. Kaprizovs injuries started before this year and after he was playing 25 minutes a night. It wasn't sustainable. You don't let a coach destroy the best asset this franchise has ever had. But it's more than just minutes. It's a pattern of rushing players back and having them get reinjured.  It's leading the NHL in games missed 2 years in a row... without any accountability. (And yes I know Colorado technically is leading the NHL in games missed but that includes Landeskag)

Kap played 6 games over 25 minutes this year and two were overtime games.

What players were rushed back and got reinjured?  From what I understand, Kap went outside of the organization this year and opted to not do surgery right away.

[M_Nels]

27 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

Kap played 6 games over 25 minutes this year and two were overtime games.

What players were rushed back and got reinjured?  From what I understand, Kap went outside of the organization this year and opted to not do surgery right away.

The only one I can figure that got rushed back was Ek and he rushed back for the 4-Nations. Brodin and Mids' were shot blocks, can't blame medical staff for those. Spurge's was a dirty ass slew foot, if he rushed back he looks damn good and hasn't got re-injured.

Who else rushed back this year that you could blame the medical staff?

Edited 3 hours ago by M_Nels

[M_Nels]

17 hours ago, Patrick said:

and is currently allowing Faber to be run into the ground. 

Better send a memo to all the other coaches in the league that have their top D man playing 25+ a night.

Werenski is the outlier that he is at 27 but you look at the top 10 there is only 1 that averages less than 25 and it's Toews at 24:39, the top 20 are all 23+.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

12 hours ago, Patrick said:

17 hours ago, SkolWild73 said:

You are really blaming the gm for Kaps injuries?  

 

Yes. Kaprizovs injuries started before this year and after he was playing 25 minutes a night. It wasn't sustainable. You don't let a coach destroy the best asset this franchise has ever had. But it's more than just minutes. It's a pattern of rushing players back and having them get reinjured.  It's leading the NHL in games missed 2 years in a row... without any accountability. (And yes I know Colorado technically is leading the NHL in games missed but that includes Landeskag)

You would think a team with Landeskog missing so much time would be really protective of their top players. I guess that's why Nathan MacKinnon is leading the entire league in forward ice time. McDavid is within 10 seconds per game of Kaprizov and both trail MacKinnon by more than 25 seconds.

I suppose Colorado and Edmonton should fire their coaches, right?

[SkolWild73]

44 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

You would think a team with Landeskog missing so much time would be really protective of their top players. I guess that's why Nathan MacKinnon is leading the entire league in forward ice time. McDavid is within 10 seconds per game of Kaprizov and both trail MacKinnon by more than 25 seconds.

I suppose Colorado and Edmonton should fire their coaches, right?

My thoughts exactly

[SkolWild73]

1 hour ago, M_Nels said:

The only one I can figure that got rushed back was Ek and he rushed back for the 4-Nations. Brodin and Mids' were shot blocks, can't blame medical staff for those. Spurge's was a dirty ass slew foot, if he rushed back he looks damn good and hasn't got re-injured.

Who else rushed back this year that you could blame the medical staff?

That is all I can remember too.

[Thatoneguy]

16 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Marat has not contributed points to a win in Boston, he has won under 44% of faceoffs this season, and his line has been outscored even strength with both franchises. Marat won less than 34% of faceoffs taken when the Wild were short-handed and the goalies saved just 75% of shots when he was on the ice for PK. I believe both Wild goalies are well over 80% when Khusnutdinov is not on the ice for the PK.

He has real potential, but he wasn't succeeding at a high level in the role the Wild had for him and Boston has put him in an entirely different role as a winger that doesn't play nearly as often in the defensive zone.

I realize that Nyquist and Brazeau haven't contributed a lot of points, but the Wild have been collecting over 50% of standings points with them around. Hopefully points come as the two of them gain more familiarity with Hynes' structure and the players around them.

I am not suggesting that the Wild are noticeably better, I'm only suggesting that they may not be worse and that they might be better prepared for the upcoming playoffs than if they had done nothing.

They aren't producing points, and neither one of them have a realistic future with the team. Nothing about the trades made any sense, nor did they make the team better in any way shape or form. In a year like this, to trade for what BG traded for, just blows my mind. 

 

Just 1 more head scratching decision by Guerin. He's got quite a list of them at this point. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

7 minutes ago, Thatoneguy said:

They aren't producing points, and neither one of them have a realistic future with the team. Nothing about the trades made any sense, nor did they make the team better in any way shape or form. In a year like this, to trade for what BG traded for, just blows my mind. 

Nyquist recorded a point last night and the PK has produced better results so far with Khusnutdinov not around. Are you sure you aren't driving your own narrative without facts to back it up?

Khusnutdinov had the highest goals against/60 of MN Wild forwards who were routinely seeing ice time on the PK. Boston is not using him on the PK or at center.

Again, the Wild have more talent joining the team next season that might leave Khusnutdinov without any playing time with the Wild. They weren't moves that make the Wild insanely better right now, but they are getting better results since the trade than they were in the 10 days before the trade.

I didn't think either trade was an incredible move for the assets given up, but the results suggest that the Wild are better today than prior to the moves.