Article: The Minnesota Wild Must Be Careful With Liam Öhgren

[Tony Abbott]

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[Dis-allowed display name]

There is a double edged sword here.  The Twins spent a couple decades never being aggressive trading touted prospects when good deals were offered for proven players, only to have those prospects never materialize.  "We can't sacrifice our future." they would always say.  I was really mostly about being cheap and having a roster filled with people they could pay minimum.  

You can also trade away prospects for shiny objects, but the Wild have traded prospects for players that were never that shiny.  Many of those prospects flamed out, but come playoff time, you tend to see a bunch of them playing real hockey when our team is on the golf course.

If nobody of top line caliber is available, I would rather see what some of our players can do.  Ohgren is one I would give a couple years before you try to move him, especially if it is just for some flotsam at the trade deadline.

Edited June 24 by Dis-allowed display name

[Scalptrash]

See ya Liam, it was nice never getting to know you. Bring in the next old guy.

[0 Stanley Cups]

Ohgren was a casualty of our limited cap space last season, first round picks won't devalue too much until season 3-4, I hope we get to see him play for at least 1-2 seasons, otherwise what the hell are we doing.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

If the Wild can deliver David Pastrňák for Rossi, Ohgren, and a future pick, I'm listening to that offer, but these are both good NHL players with considerable upside and should deliver serious value in return.

[Willy the poor boy]

1 hour ago, Scalptrash said:

See ya Liam, it was nice never getting to know you. Bring in the next old guy.

Corey Parry is ripe for the pickens...

[Scalptrash]

25 minutes ago, Willy the poor boy said:

Corey Parry is ripe for the pickens...

Never say never, Billys' in charge.

[Patrick]

Isn't this exactly the reason the Wild drafted Ohgren in the first place?  This is Marco Rossi all over again.  Draft a player for specific reasons.  Have that player develop as anticipated...and then trade them?  

There are only two possibilities at this point.

1) BG has completely re defined what he thinks an NHL player looks like in the last 2 or 3 years.

2) Russo is a narcissistic gossip columnist desperate for attention and is constantly making stuff up.

Based on BG's recent comments telling media members to STFU...I'm going with the 2nd option.

[Will D. Ness]

The Wild haven't devalued Rossi.  The market has revealed it.

[OldDutchChip]

if Ohgren is included in the package for a win-now player - then he should definitely be made available. And that is the right approach given where we are at. If Kap is signed - he has 5 peak years of prime (best case but maybe he'll stretch it to 7) and we need to maximize his peak. If Ohgren plays like another Tuch or Peter Forsberg - good for him. But you have to take chances, and bring the players needed to align with Kap. Otherwise, what are we really waiting for....then trade Kap and Boldy, accumulate more picks and youth and play all of them.

 

[OldDutchChip]

17 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

The Wild haven't devalued Rossi.  The market has revealed it.

you should run now!

 

[1Brotherbill]

7 hours ago, Willy the poor boy said:

Corey Parry is ripe for the pickens...

All he does is make it to the Stanley Cup finals.  At this point I would be satisfied with the Wild going to the Cup Finals with Corey Perry.  Then we can work on winning it after that. 

[Pablo]

How about we stand pat and roll with the young guys. Win the cup in ‘26 when they develop together and stay together. 

[1Brotherbill]

At this point who isn't an option to be traded in the prospect pool?  

It's great to have a top prospect pool but that only means your organization isn't ready to win a Stanley Cup.  Florida rank 32, Edmonton rank 29, Dallas 31, Carolina 16.  In fact every team in the playoffs last year except for Minnesota and Washington were in the bottom half of the league in prospect pool rankings.  Washington was 9th and Minnesota is 2nd.   Nestled around those two teams were playoff juggernauts like Buffalo, Anaheim, San Jose, Chicago, Seattle to name a few.  

Look at the playoff teams that go deep in the playoffs.  The rosters are made up of journeymen that have hundreds of playoff games under their belts.  Often those players have been to a cup final or two.  

Heidt, Haight, Lambos, Wallstedt, Hlavaj, Ohgren, the kids playing in Europe, if you can make your roster better right now then do it.  

[MacGyver]

1 hour ago, 1Brotherbill said:

All he does is make it to the Stanley Cup finals.  At this point I would be satisfied with the Wild going to the Cup Finals with Corey Perry.  Then we can work on winning it after that. 

Corey had his chance to come here and he said no thanks I'll pass. The Wild being an unattractive destination is a real thing. #97

[Fezig]

16 hours ago, Patrick said:

Isn't this exactly the reason the Wild drafted Ohgren in the first place?  This is Marco Rossi all over again.  Draft a player for specific reasons.  Have that player develop as anticipated...and then trade them?  

There are only two possibilities at this point.

1) BG has completely re defined what he thinks an NHL player looks like in the last 2 or 3 years.

2) Russo is a narcissistic gossip columnist desperate for attention and is constantly making stuff up.

Based on BG's recent comments telling media members to STFU...I'm going with the 2nd option.

In general the media is not to be trusted. #2 is the logical choice.

[Willy the poor boy]

13 hours ago, 1Brotherbill said:

All he does is make it to the Stanley Cup finals.  At this point I would be satisfied with the Wild going to the Cup Finals with Corey Perry.  Then we can work on winning it after that. 

True enough, but some how I just don't think he's the missing piece...

[Pewterschmidt]

7 hours ago, Fezig said:

In general the media is not to be trusted. #2 is the logical choice.

Another conspiracy theory from Fezig.

[mnfaninnc]

21 hours ago, 1Brotherbill said:

Heidt, Haight, Lambos, Wallstedt, Hlavaj, Ohgren, the kids playing in Europe, if you can make your roster better right now then do it

I'm not ready to commit to this yet. I guess it's the definition of "better." I think you're on target about the teams who are winning have the low prospect pools, mainly because they've traded them away for assets. I'm not sure we are in that phase yet. I think with these guys, there is a good chance we'll get there, but we've got plenty of adding and subtracting to do before we're ready for the run. 

I think adding Tavares and Boeser gets us much closer to that phase. 

[mnfaninnc]

4 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Another conspiracy theory from Fezig.

Was there a tin foil hat sighting?

[mnfaninnc]

I don't think I agree with the title of this piece. I think the Wild need to be up front and honest with OgZ and give him NHL minutes. He's too good for the A but not good enough for the N. The problem I see is confidence, and feeling like he belongs. 

Quote

Liam Öhgren showed why he will be an NHLer for a long time in this game. He may lack pure speed, but he powers through his strides and gets to the puck first, shielding them from the opposition. He forechecks with intensity, drives the net, fights for position there, and puts in the effort defensively.

This is not the scouting report I see on him. I do not see his physical game in the N, I do not see him shielding the opposition. I do not see the intensity in his forechecks, net drives, or fighting for position. 

I see a slot hockey player who goes up and down the ice in a straight line not knocking people off pucks. It's as if he's playing scared. Against Montreal, OgZ had a good game. The rest of his games were, well, pretty much invisible except for mistakes. I want him unleashed! Let's see that scouting report every night. 

[1Brotherbill]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I'm not ready to commit to this yet. I guess it's the definition of "better." I think you're on target about the teams who are winning have the low prospect pools, mainly because they've traded them away for assets. I'm not sure we are in that phase yet. I think with these guys, there is a good chance we'll get there, but we've got plenty of adding and subtracting to do before we're ready for the run. 

I think adding Tavares and Boeser gets us much closer to that phase. 

GM hate aside.  The coach decides how plays.  If these vaunted prospects were good enough to play in St. Paul they would be playing in St. Paul.  Sure money was an issue a lot last year but even with that Lambos has been in Iowa for what seems like a decade.  Hiedt is basically Rossi without him being a first round pick.  Everyone of the prospects have holes in their game and development.  The longer they sit in the land of corn the less value they have.  

Everyone says Kirill is going to leave if we don't get better players.  Well, lets get some better players in St. Paul. 

[Pewterschmidt]

5 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Hlavaj

I’m hearing from good sources that he is married to one Mrs Jenna Taileah

[Fezig]

16 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Another conspiracy theory from Fezig.

Logical observation of what is simply in front of me.

[mnfaninnc]

14 hours ago, 1Brotherbill said:

Sure money was an issue a lot last year but even with that Lambos has been in Iowa for what seems like a decade.

Yet it's only been 2 seasons. I guess losing seasons seem to go on and on and on.