Article: Jared Spurgeon Is Still A Force For the Wild

[Tony Abbott]

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[M_Nels]

TRADE HIM!!!

But seriously, dude still has game. It's amazing to me to see how he can out leverage guys with 3-6" in height and 30-50lbs on him. Still kills me Addison wasn't glued to his hip in practice and seemingly didn't want to be.

Could realistically see him on 2nd pair again next year unless his body breaks down.

Edited Monday at 03:24 PM by M_Nels

[Citizen Strife]

I understand the fear he'll fall off the Goligioski cliff.  But the team has seen what happens when both he and Brodin are both out.  Faber isn't Spurgeon's replacement just yet.  Bogo, Merrill, and Chisholm are solid 3rds who get exposed when higher up.  Buium and Jiricek are wild cards.

Spurgeon should still be able to offer a lot when or if those guys are good enough to move on from him.  It's like the Zuccarello thing: you keep waiting for him to fail spectacularly due to age, but he doesn't.

If he falls off in a year or two, sign his last contract on a discount or let him walk.  He's far from that point though.

Edited Monday at 03:28 PM by Citizen Strife

[Imyourhuckleberry]

I will admit that 2 or 3 years ago, I suggested the Wild might need to trade Spurgeon in order to have cap space through these last 2 seasons. Now that they have gotten through the worst of their cap situation, it's hard to imagine them trading out his leadership/play for a return that would be as solid.

When I initially suggested the following pairings early this year, I was mildly concerned that it might be putting too much on some young guys, but with more time to think it through, I think these lines could give the Wild one of the top defensive units in the league next season.

Faber/Buium

Jiricek/Brodin

Spurgeon/Middleton

Faber and Buium seems like the future top pairing, so might as well get to it right away. Jiricek(with a summer of skating training) and Brodin seems like a really complementary combination, and the Wild have seen success with Spurgeon and Middleton already, as the top pairing not long ago.

The Wild should be able to play these lines fairly evenly and get strong play for 60 minutes without exhausting anyone.

Faber, Brodin, and Middleton would be more of the stay at home guys while Buium, Jiricek, and Spurgeon bring some offense to each pairing.

Bogo and Lambos would be the 7th D and AHL callup options.

Faber and Buium both seem confident and smart with the puck, with strong skating. Their pairing could lead to strong offensive results, particularly with anticipated upgrades in the top 6 forwards.

[M_Nels]

14 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

it's hard to imagine them trading out his leadership/play for a return that would be as solid.

But, but, but he's not brash and boisterous getting in guy's faces so he must not be a good leader!

The best leaders I've played sports with and have worked for lead by example and work harder than anybody else. Leaders aren't always rah rah guys but their attitude and work ethic speak loud.

[Citizen Strife]

2 hours ago, M_Nels said:

But, but, but he's not brash and boisterous getting in guy's faces so he must not be a good leader!

The best leaders I've played sports with and have worked for lead by example and work harder than anybody else. Leaders aren't always rah rah guys but their attitude and work ethic speak loud.

Yeah, we can have that.  Trade him for a guy who bounces Raymond's head off the ice.  Hartman needs a buddy.

[Patrick]

If the Wild were going to trade Spurgeon (a bad idea).  The time to do it would have been two years ago.  Now it makes zero sense.  Cap space is ideally used for productive players.  Spurgeon is still that. People are overreacting to the Wilds injury situation.  If you add Kaprizov and Ek to ANY of the 7th,8th, or 9th seeded teams they would immediately become contenders.  When healthy the Wild are contenders.  Buium and Yurov will make them better next year AND they have money to sign a legitimate top line forward.  Stay the course!

[bisopher]

 

13 minutes ago, Patrick said:

If you add Kaprizov and Ek to ANY of the 7th,8th, or 9th seeded teams they would immediately become contenders. 

Exactly.

KK97 (23-29-52) and JEE (9-15-24) have 32 goals and  44 assists for 76 pts. combined in 79 total man-games this season (average of 39.5 games each).  Divide that out and it's nearly two full points per game that the Wild are missing and should be coming back in the next 7-10 days.

[1Brotherbill]

If you could just have him on the ice when the puck was in the Wild zone he would be fantastic.  Occasionally he gets a shot off and occasionally he can score.  But if you look at his numbers on the Power Play it is alarming.  The last three years he has been on the Power Play a lot and he has 2 goals and 16 points.  That seems like good numbers.... for one season, but we are talking about 3 seasons.  Granted one of those seasons was 16 games.  Numbers say that he is not good on the power play. 

As far as his offense outside the power play it isn't much better.  He scores at a .44 points per game pace over the last three years.  You might say well he isn't supposed to be a top scoring asset.  Yet his salary says that it he should score at a higher rate.

His defensive game is still elite.  Honestly, if I was going to pick a defender to stop someone it would be him.  However, we need more offense out of him and we are never going to get that.  

Now with the cap going up and hopefully two offensively minded players coming into the defensive rotation his salary and play won't be in question as much anymore.  Right now we are paying a lot for no offense. 

[Lern2spell]

7 hours ago, bisopher said:

 

KK97 (23-29-52) and JEE (9-15-24) have 32 goals and  44 assists for 76 pts. combined in 79 total man-games this season (average of 39.5 games each).  Divide that out and it's nearly two full points per game that the Wild are missing and should be coming back in the next 7-10 days.

The key words in that paragraph are 'that the Wild are missing'. When Wild top six core forwards are missing, opponents shut down lines are able to focus on the supposed secondary scoring. As a Wild fan, do you simply want the team to get past the first round of the playoffs? Or be a serious cup contender? If you are in the former, keep Spurgeon, hope Buium and Yurov are as billed, and add a good top six forward to the mix. But if you are in the latter, you want them to find a great (if not elite) top six forward to replace or complement the above mentioned players currently out of the line-up, and if so, what remains from the $22M cap space after signing some key players isn't going to cut it. Moving on from Spurgeon is the easiest way to free up an extra $7.58M to afford an elite top six player. Harsh? yes. But take a look at the last few cup winners...all are known for making some bold, cold blooded, harsh decisions. Would Spurgeon be missed? Absolutely, but not as much as the void of an elite playmaker currently missing from the top two lines.

[RedLake]

Spurgeon has lost a step and a half if you ask me. He's always late getting to the puck in the D-zone, his offensive upside ran dry, I'd give him away to clear space for a north to south American or Canadian forward. Isnst Kyle Conner a free agent this year? Conner and Kaprizov would be silly dangerous.

[Dis-allowed display name]

I am paying $20 a month to watch these games on Fanduel Sports.

 

If they charged $1 per goal the Wild score, it would be around $3 a month.

[mnfaninnc]

18 hours ago, Patrick said:

When healthy the Wild are contenders. 

Patrick, I caution you on drinking this kool-aid. The Wild are not yet contenders even with a fully healthy roster. They are competitive. Expectations higher than this asks for disappointment and later an attitude of tear the whole thing down. 

[mnfaninnc]

12 hours ago, 1Brotherbill said:

His defensive game is still elite.  Honestly, if I was going to pick a defender to stop someone it would be him.  However, we need more offense out of him and we are never going to get that.  

Could it be that his prospective offensive numbers go up, more in the assist area, when we get better quality forwards which are coming? The same thing could be said about his PP numbers too, if he had Kaprizov and Ek for the full season, wouldn't he likely have better PP numbers?

I think we're looking at the wrong thing when seeing his offensive numbers. He can drive all he wants but picks his chances. But, if the guys around him can't convert that into a goal, well, he has nothing to show for it in the points column. 

Maybe a more interesting stat would be chances created where he did his job but someone else shanked it into the corner.

[mnfaninnc]

9 hours ago, Lern2spell said:

But if you are in the latter, you want them to find a great (if not elite) top six forward to replace or complement the above mentioned players currently out of the line-up, and if so, what remains from the $22M cap space after signing some key players isn't going to cut it.

L2S is right on target with what we want to do, but it's real easy to suggest we trade out Spurgeon for the generic top 6 forward guy who is nameless at this time. The key thought here is who? UFA looks like it will be slim pickin's, and lots of teams overbidding with new found cap space. I think the trade route is going to be the best way.

Spurgeon still has game left, but do you go with a proven target, or maybe someone in that '20-22 draft range? Where I think Spurgeon gives you the biggest bang for the buck is finding a team that underperformed and needs the intangibles he provides. With that, I look squarely at 2 teams. Buffalo and Detroit. Spurgeon has a 10 team NTC, and I would assume that Shooter would work with him if he's going to deal him because Spurgeon's earned that respect, and Shooter does this sort of thing.

Spurgeon would immediately help shore up Buffalo's defense, however, I believe Buffalo might be on his list. To me, Tuch would be the guy I wanted. Those would be the principles in the deal.

But, I think the more desperate team is Detroit. While Yzerman has preached patience, you cannot overlook the fact that Detroit has been in a solid position for the playoffs 2 years in a row and stumbled down the stretch. I believe Spurgeon helps solve that issue. I don't think Detroit is on Spurgy's list, and here I go off the board a little bit and go for 2023 9th overall pick in Nate Danielson. He's had 1 season in the A which was adequate, but gives us more depth down the middle. It's a gamble on a young player, but I think Detroit is wanting to keep their roster intact and deal from the prospects on this one. It would be likely we retain salary too. Those would be the principles.

I am not opposed to trading out Spurgeon, and his salary. I think we can backfill pretty well, so we'd be dealing from a position of strength. I do believe we need a new captain, and this would also be a leadership change. We've had far too many nights where the team either didn't show up at the drop of the puck, or didn't show up at all. I get that they're exhausted, but for fans, we expect no game nights off. While this is unrealistic, I think 5 off games a season is the most I am willing to swallow, and none of those better be on home ice!

So, for me, this whole conversation boils down to part 2: Who we are bringing in to replace Spurgeon's cap hit. 

[OldDutchChip]

Where is this praise of spurge coming from?

I’ve been away for a bit so missed last few games, but spurge has been showing his decline - slower and even less physical deterrence 

if we can unload his 7.5 after this year on some sucker - you do that 

give his captaincy to Kap and move on

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, Dis-allowed display name said:

 

If they charged $1 per goal the Wild score, it would be around $3 a month.

This adds to my conclusion that the Wild are unwatchable right now. It's not the results, it's that they simply can't score. It's extremely frustrating to watch rim after rim and perimeter play, offense that goes to die in the corners. 

[RedLake]

PP1 breakout, Quadruple Boldy button hooks through neutral ice, saucer pass over to Zuccerallo, another button hook into the boards, cross ice pass back to Boldy. Loose puck NYR 2 on 1 short handed.

[Up North Guy]

2 hours ago, Dis-allowed display name said:

I am paying $20 a month to watch these games on Fanduel Sports.

 

If they charged $1 per goal the Wild score, it would be around $3 a month.

I am thinking about chord cutting and what it would do to my sports watching. The Fanduel app is one I have  little info on. How has it worked for you? I know the old Bally's app sucked.

[Patrick]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Patrick, I caution you on drinking this kool-aid. The Wild are not yet contenders even with a fully healthy roster. They are competitive. Expectations higher than this asks for disappointment and later an attitude of tear the whole thing down. 

In my mind you have the favorites (usually one, two or 3 teams), contenders (usually 5, 6, or 7ish teams) and bubble teams.  We might just be disagreeing over terminology.  Is it kool-aid to suggest a healthy Wild roster is the 9th best team in the NHL?

[Dis-allowed display name]

1 hour ago, Up North Guy said:

I am thinking about chord cutting and what it would do to my sports watching. The Fanduel app is one I have  little info on. How has it worked for you? I know the old Bally's app sucked.

It actually works very well.  All the crashing is gone.  

The only annoying thing and it is not that big a deal is that everything on the schedule is a segmented program.  So when pregame ends, the video just stops, and you need to back out and then click on the actual game.  When the game is over it stops again and you need to back up and click on the postgame show.  You don't have to reboot the app, just hit the back button and choose the new program.  Not a big deal, but my only minor complaint.

 

Oh and the signal is still compressed a bit but looks like better video quality than last year.  But when a game is on TNT on my Sling Subscription, I do notice the network video quality is a bit better, you can see the puck easier on TNT.  Not a huge difference though.

Edited 19 hours ago by Dis-allowed display name

[RedLake]

4 hours ago, Dis-allowed display name said:

I am paying $20 a month to watch these games on Fanduel Sports.

 

If they charged $1 per goal the Wild score, it would be around $3 a month.

I'm paying 200.00 a month for Wifi, cable with fanduel, and espn+ Next year I'm dropping the cable and Mn Wild outta my life. I'll keep ESPN plus to follow the Jets, Oilers, and Flordia Panthers. 25 years of burning dumpster fires is enough for me.