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

[Patrick]

6 hours 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.

As I said BEFORE this year...Ek, Spurgeon, and Kaprizov off the top of my head. There is a systematic disregard for player health in the organization.

[Patrick]

6 hours 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?

Reading comprehension isn't a strength i see.  I said Kaprizovs injuries started BEFORE THIS YEAR.  There was a point when he was playing 25 minutes a night and then the injuries started and he hasn't' looked the same for several years now.  When was the last time you saw him circle the zone holding the puck?  He used to do that on a nightly basis. 

[Patrick]

5 hours 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?

Read it again...I said BEFORE THIS YEAR...SMH. And just because a few guys can handle the load doesn't mean its good practice.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

47 minutes ago, Patrick said:

Read it again...I said BEFORE THIS YEAR...SMH. And just because a few guys can handle the load doesn't mean its good practice.

Okay. His injury issues seem to be primarily from someone falling on him in early March of 2023. I understand that overuse could be an issue, but Kaprizov is very well conditioned and close to his prime. The prior issues do not seem related to overuse and there is not an indication that this is either since they don't disclose the actual injury. I've heard some speculate that it could be a sports hernia. No idea if that's remotely accurate though.

[RedLake]

Why ya all arguing over a team that won't do shit but the bed the next 4 years?

[M_Nels]

2 hours ago, Patrick said:

Reading comprehension isn't a strength i see.  I said Kaprizovs injuries started BEFORE THIS YEAR.  There was a point when he was playing 25 minutes a night and then the injuries started and he hasn't' looked the same for several years now.  When was the last time you saw him circle the zone holding the puck?  He used to do that on a nightly basis. 

Who are you even replying to? He’s had injuries BEFORE THIS YEAR you’re correct but his TOI is/was on par with other superstars in the league, which he is. Gotta also figure there was a coaching change in there too.

Simply put, that Stanley flop obviously royally messed something up in his lower body (groin apparently) that really affected his skating. 
 

Not saying the team medical staff is faultless but players have a history of rushing back and trying to play through injuries. I don’t think BG, Hynes or the medical staff were forcing him to play hurt. 
 

Don’t know if it’s been said who officially shut him down, if it was him personally or a joint decision. Therapy done by the Wild’s staff or anyone else’s wasn’t going to improve his injury enough to play at a high level, surgery was probably the best option. Hopefully this takes care of the issue and gets him back to as close to 100% KK as possible. 

Edited March 21 by M_Nels

[Enforceror]

RAWWWRRRRR CAPS LOCK!!!

FIRE THE WHOLE TEAM!!!!

GRRRRRR!!!!

[SkolWild73]

4 hours ago, Patrick said:

As I said BEFORE this year...Ek, Spurgeon, and Kaprizov off the top of my head. There is a systematic disregard for player health in the organization.

Ok.  In the 23 season he played 7 games over 25 minutes.  In the 22 season he played 1.  Not out of the norm for a star player

[Thatoneguy]

On 3/20/2025 at 1:11 PM, Imyourhuckleberry said:

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.

The narrative is that Billy WILL NOT bring a Stanley cup to MN. Not this year, not in 3 years. Plain and simple. These moves for rentals in a lost season was absolutely stupid on his part. We gained nothing! Not this year and sure as hell not in the years coming. We gave up ASSETS for liabilities. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

15 hours ago, Thatoneguy said:

The narrative is that Billy WILL NOT bring a Stanley cup to MN. Not this year, not in 3 years. Plain and simple. These moves for rentals in a lost season was absolutely stupid on his part. We gained nothing! Not this year and sure as hell not in the years coming. We gave up ASSETS for liabilities. 

Oooh, tell me more, Miss Cleo! Did you also predict the Wild would have the best record in the league about 1/3 of the way into this season?

I realize it's possible that fewer than 5 current GMs win a Stanley Cup with their current team. There is no way that Nyquist is a liability. Brazeau hasn't shown a lot, but there's still time for him to possibly figure something out, or he sits in the press box if/when the Wild actually get all their forwards healthy. Khusnutdinov has potential, but wasn't truly helping the Wild at a high level this season.

From past moves Guerin has made, which would you undo today, or what would you have done differently at the time?

Which moves from the past made the Wild worse with him as GM, excluding the moves this trade deadline that we haven't seen play out yet?

[OldDutchChip]

2 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Oooh, tell me more, Miss Cleo! Did you also predict the Wild would have the best record in the league about 1/3 of the way into this season?

I realize it's possible that fewer than 5 current GMs win a Stanley Cup with their current team. There is no way that Nyquist is a liability. Brazeau hasn't shown a lot, but there's still time for him to possibly figure something out, or he sits in the press box if/when the Wild actually get all their forwards healthy. Khusnutdinov has potential, but wasn't truly helping the Wild at a high level this season.

From past moves Guerin has made, which would you undo today, or what would you have done differently at the time?

Which moves from the past made the Wild worse with him as GM, excluding the moves this trade deadline that we haven't seen play out yet?

who cares where they were 1/3 of the way thru? 

Nyquist is not a liability? he has 2 pts in the 9 games w MN

You want to give more time to Braz? Why? 

Jiricek - have NOT seen ice this year in the Wild uni!

Bill sent out Marat, Lauko, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th for 

Braz, Nyquist and Jiricek

Can you honestly say these are paying off? look at the amount of picks we dumped! We could likely made a play for Ranty and for sure for Miller. Oh but yeah Nyquist and Braz is much better right?

[Imyourhuckleberry]

17 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

We could likely made a play for Ranty and for sure for Miller. Oh but yeah Nyquist and Braz is much better right?

Not better, but Rantanen has a $9.25 cap hit, jumping to $12M next season. How would the Wild have added him given their cap situation?

That would also have cost about 3 first round picks. I'm not saying other things couldn't have been done. Guerin has done okay with the situation he walked into. Need to see how the team looks entering into next season before I can truly judge him. I cannot recall a time I've heard of the Wild having a top 5 prospect pool. They have many of their key players locked into good long-term contracts, likely a playoff team today, and could make a significant improvement in the year or 2.

Do you think this team would win the cup this season with Rantanen, assuming they traded Boldy for him like you wanted?

[Pewterschmidt]

23 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

You want to give more time to Braz? Why? 

This is the one that scratched my head.  Dude is 27.  He’s figured out what he’s going to figure out re ice hockey.  What we see is what we’re gonna get.  But P’s and Q’s wait til he learns the system.  Yah then he’ll be standing in right spot…5 seconds behind the play.   This dolts only value is if he delivers 2-3 teeth rattling checks per game.  If he’s not doing that he’s just in the way

[OldDutchChip]

6 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Not better, but Rantanen has a $9.25 cap hit, jumping to $12M next season. How would the Wild have added him given their cap situation?

That would also have cost about 3 first round picks. I'm not saying other things couldn't have been done. Guerin has done okay with the situation he walked into. Need to see how the team looks entering into next season before I can truly judge him. I cannot recall a time I've heard of the Wild having a top 5 prospect pool. They have many of their key players locked into good long-term contracts, likely a playoff team today, and could make a significant improvement in the year or 2.

Do you think this team would win the cup this season with Rantanen, assuming they traded Boldy for him like you wanted?

what is the issue trying to fit in Ranty? can we not explore a trade of Spurgeon during the offseason? we also loose MAF, MJ, and not sign Nelson. There all is good. 

why 3 1ts? Dallas sent them 2 and we could have done a similar package if Bill didn't throw ours away.

Do you think this team would win the cup this season with Rantanen, assuming they traded Boldy for him like you wanted? it's more than just SC or bust. this is showing a path to victory to Kap. saying - you now can play with another superstar. instead we say - here now you can play with Nyquist again and Braz. 

I cannot recall a time I've heard of the Wild having a top 5 prospect pool. go back to fletcher years and zach philips was likely leading our prospect rankings in the top 5 for sure. but let's count the knowns and wait for prospects to actually show up (see Wally and Ohgren - still work-in-progress). 

[RedLake]

Kush could play 1st line wing at the moment honestly. Brazzaville is a joke show with no uptick in sight.

[RedLake]

Kush looks good tonight on the Bruins first line.