Article: The Wild Should Cash In On the Sam Bennett Craze

[mnfaninnc]

On 6/13/2025 at 9:52 AM, MNCountryLife said:

Not an easy numbers game.  The numbers I put down I would consider a roster with depth.  Increase the pay of the top 6 and you create a top heavy roster.  What kind of roster do you want to create.  Edmonton is top heavy.  Florida is balanced.  Both are in the SC final so there is no right answer.

I think you can top heavy the top 6 a little bit if you also have some ELC contracts mixed in. You get tremendous value in that.

[MNCountryLife]

On 6/15/2025 at 9:35 AM, mnfaninnc said:

I think you can top heavy the top 6 a little bit if you also have some ELC contracts mixed in. You get tremendous value in that.

I would agree with that.  Unfortunately the IA Wild has limited our ELC value.

[mnfaninnc]

2 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

Unfortunately the IA Wild has limited our ELC value.

And this is the argument against over marinating the kids. However, this season, we could be going with Buium, Jiricek, Yurov, Ohgren all on ELCs. The Wall is at a comfortable $2.2m.

These guys should add tremendous value to that lineup, though, only for a year. If Rossi is on a bridge deal, that's another value player. And this is why Rossi is probably worth signing a 7 x $7m over time, but isn't far enough along yet to get it. The back half would project to be excellent value, it's just that the front half would be too low. 

If Rossi doesn't come into camp heavier and ripped, I think they'll move him and he won't get that large contract here. If he does come into camp heavier and ripped, I think Shooter will think again about the investment in the kid, and maybe give him a mulligan. I think when Shooter and Heinzy looked on the last 1/4 of the season and even before taking the puck off the knee, they did not see even a $5m player. 

As I mentioned during that stretch, both he and Boldy had a tough task at hand. They were young and needed to lead this team. They needed a point per game, not an average of that and needed to catch fire. Boldy eventually worked out of his slump, but Rossi never did and just wasn't consistent at putting up a point a game. You'd get multipoint games from him and then silence. That eye test was brutal for him, and I can see where he needed to grow as a player. It was just his 2nd year, I'll give everyone that point, but the team needed him badly and many times he just wasn't showing out as a difference maker. 

On this point, Rossi thinks he's worth 7 x $7m, Guerin thinks it's 5  x $5m and has Lundell's deal to prove it. The guy Rossi uses regressed. I believe Guerin has the stronger argument. Could they settle into a compromise of 6 x $5.5-6m? You might get value for both sides that way. 

[MNCountryLife]

19 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

And this is the argument against over marinating the kids. However, this season, we could be going with Buium, Jiricek, Yurov, Ohgren all on ELCs.

I would expect those 4 to all make the roster.  Which definitely should help the top of the roster.

I find it interesting that we are all talking about signing players... yet we already have 7 defensemen signed and 12 forwards.  Kirill, Ek, Boldy, Zuc, Foligno, Hartman, Trenin, Freddy, Ogs, Nojo, Vinnie and Yurov.    Rossi would make 13. 

If Rossi signs... this Roster is full. 

If Rossi doesn't sign we can sign one player. 

Every other scenario would require a trade or sending a player down.  BG needs to be creative here.  Freddy, Nojo and Vinnie need to be capable of sending down or sitting in the pressbox.... or LTIR injury prone.