Article: Nikolaj Ehlers Could Elevate His Game Next To Kirill Kaprizov

[Kalisha Turnipseed]

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[Pewterschmidt]

…I’m listening…is this going to be bill’s addition?   I’d be ok with that. 

[IllicitFive]

I mean, upgrade over NoJo, for sure, but, we are getting excited about a guy who is 29 for a 5 year at 9mil per? So paying a 34 year old 9 mil sounds good but paying Rossi who is 23, with very similar points on a worse team than the Jets, especially when missing guys like Kap and Ek for a chunk of the season around 6 to 7 seems insane? Maybe I am missing something, I am not a Jets expert but being 6ft 172, while Rossi is only 5'9" but 182 goes against the too small argument that gets made. Yes he has speed for days but is that enough? What else does he bring?

This gets into the argument we see so often on here, where his game may be elevated by Kap, which would be great, we cast doubt over others who have done the same. I guess I am just not as excited about bringing in a small speedy forward, at 9 mil until he is 34. Let me know what I am missing here if you would be excited about this signing at that price. (I get you overpay in FA because that is the nature of the beast)

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Rather bring in Ehlers at $7.5M, but I understand that the league might have too much cap space for that to be enough this offseason.

I don't love his listed weight(172 lbs), but 95th percentile on top skating speed and 88th percentile on shot speed both sound promising.

Edited June 20 by Imyourhuckleberry

[Enforceror]

I don't see Ehlers as an upgrade over Rossi. This seems like a lateral move at the very best. It's a pass for me.

Today's reports seem to be honing in on a Canucks deal. #15 pick and a player. I don't really see anyone on the Canucks roster I'd be excited about. Pettersson seems like he's on the decline and is too expensive. Boeser has only had one season where he out-scored Marco (using this years points total) and seems injury prone. I looked at their prospects and none of them are exciting. 

Sign Rossi, give him another year and we can see what we get from Yurov, Ohgren, etc. I'm thinking this is not the year to make a splash unless Billy can get creative and not chase the same ball as the other dogs.

[Dis-allowed display name]

Extend Kap. 

Extend Rossi.

Keep Yurov at wing instead of trying to make him a center.

Then I would try to move Spurgeon and sign Ehlers.

I like Spurgeon a lot, but we have a lot of up and coming defensemen.

 

 

Edited June 20 by Dis-allowed display name

[B1GKappa97]

I'd rather go after Boeser. Throw him on the top line with Kaprizov and watch out. 

Kaprizov's insane passing skills with a legit sniper? That's got 40-goal potential written all over it for Boeser and maybe another 50-spot for Kaprizov as goalies are frozen in terror over who to cheat toward. 

[Citizen Strife]

41 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

I'd rather go after Boeser. Throw him on the top line with Kaprizov and watch out. 

Kaprizov's insane passing skills with a legit sniper? That's got 40-goal potential written all over it for Boeser and maybe another 50-spot for Kaprizov as goalies are frozen in terror over who to cheat toward. 

Ehlers or Boeser both work under the presumption Rossi somehow stays (bridge or long term).  You smooth things over enough that the Top 6 is set.

I am still leery about wanting Hartman or Yurov handed 2C duty.  I have always said you should just let Rossi and Yurov duke it out on a nightly basis to see who wants that spot more.  Less moving parts bullshit.

Kap signs, Rossi signs, Boeser or Ehlers, Yurov starts at 3C until Zucc leaves. It shouldn't be so fucking complicated.  You still play Yurov and Ohgren like you should play cheap rookie contracts, but you don't have that, "Why the fuck are Mojo, Foligno, or Hartman Top 6?"

All the FA centers are staying put or signing elsewhere.  If you're gonna tell me the answer is Granlund after all this, we have a 10 year younger Granlund on the roster already...

Barring some mythical Larkin trade that ain't happening.  See if teams are desperate at TDL.  FA is running dry already.

Edited June 21 by Citizen Strife

[mnfaninnc]

On 6/20/2025 at 3:50 PM, IllicitFive said:

Maybe I am missing something, I am not a Jets expert but being 6ft 172, while Rossi is only 5'9" but 182 goes against the too small argument that gets made. Yes he has speed for days but is that enough? What else does he bring?

This is a pretty good ask. Kalisha talks about his speed a lot, but what does he give us? He's a pretty good 20 goal scorer. He likes to miss time in the lineup too. What does this juggernaut of a player do in the playoffs? Isn't that the true test?

He's had 1 good playoff season, this season. Did he just break through? I don't know. He's from the 2014 draft, the one where we took Tuch. I don't watch many Jets games, really, just the ones where we play them. However, with his lack of production in the playoffs and looking at his +/- there, one would suggest that he doesn't do very well when it comes to playoff hockey. 

I thought we were supposed to be building a team that can get out of the 1st round? Ehlers is injured a lot too, and that's in his younger years. One would suggest that this is only going to get worse. 

The suggestion by Kalisha is giving him $9m. $9m on a fast guy who's injured a lot getting to birthday 30 this February. I think for $9m, we should get a more complete player. Hands down, I'd take Tuch over Ehlers. I think $9m is a bit steep. I think I'm going to pass on this deal.

On 6/20/2025 at 3:57 PM, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Rather bring in Ehlers at $7.5M, but I understand that the league might have too much cap space for that to be enough this offseason.

I think this is more of Ehler's worth. You've got to plan that he will play 3/4 of a season, and won't be that much help in the playoffs. Even at that price, I'm not sold on the player.

[1Brotherbill]

Did you say that Yurov doesn't have the speed that Johannson has?  That isn't necesairrly a good thing being he his almost half his age. 

[MacGyver]

There are enough reports out there that it seems imminent there will be a long term deal made with Boeser.  However there are a lot of accusations out there accusing the Wild of tampering. No deal should be this close to being made already.  This front office can't seem to put one foot in front of the other without tripping themselves up.  So we will see Rossi leaving and Boeser coming in. 

Boeser is reportedly going to get somewhere in the vicinity of 6 or 7 X8. That will limit the Wild doing anything else (assuming Kaprizov signs) so this is Billy's Christmas present in July. 

 

[raithis]

5 hours ago, MacGyver said:

a lot of accusations out there accusing the Wild of tampering. No deal should be this close to being made already. 

There's been many times Free Agency has started and players are being signed extremely fast.  If you are suggesting that teams don't talk to players ahead of time, you aren't paying attention.  I'm not condoning it of condemning it, but there often seems to be handshake deals in place before July every year.  

Also, just because there are rumors doesn't mean it's happening.  There are so mamy click-bait headlines around that people tend to jump to the wrong conclusions, turning rumor into fact when there it started as nothing more than baseless topics to draw views.  I've seen channels on YouTube discussing and quoting stories on this site as if they are fact.

Have the Wild been talking to Boeser, perhaps.  It's equally possible that Boeser has contacted them and Guerin has said he can't talk now but that he'd be open to talking more with him on July 1.  We don't know, but we buy into the idea that "insiders" and random people on the internet somehow do know because they sell themselves as experts when they are no more experts than we are.

[Enforceror]

34 minutes ago, raithis said:

I've seen channels on YouTube discussing and quoting stories on this site as if they are fact.

I always LOL when I see Youtube channels taking articles and comments from here and making a piece on them like we have some kind of insider information.

The only way anyone can get reputable info is via the Wild organization and/or Russo/Smith articles (which can also be iffy). I'm not aware of any other legitimate sources.