Article: Wild Acquire Vladimir Tarasenko For Free

[Thomas Williams]

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[IllicitFive]

Figured I should just post this here now the trade is up on the page.

What if this is an indicator of a another move happening? take away a spot from Trenin or Vinnie? He plays RW so doesn't affect NoJo, but what do they have in the way of guys who play RW? After Boldy and Zucc who is left? Maybe Hartman is he bumps out there for Yurov to take the center? Upside, its a one year, so him and Zuc drop off next year opening up over 8 mil plus NoJo makes 9. Haight is listed as a RW but is only 21, Vlad used as a possible place holder for the year if Haight steps up to get a spot 2nd half of year or next year as he is probably our best RW prospect? Not a big fan but with the RW prospect pool seemingly lacking I guess it makes sense looking at the lineup and prospect pool. Just glad they gave up "future assets" and not something that actually matters. Just don't do something dumb and sign him to an extension.

[PiranhasOnIce]

Well this should at least keep NoJo in the press box.

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

Reposting to the proper article on this one;

Lol well we just got Tarasenko for future considerations at 4.75M. Not great. Boeser is projected to get 7 or 8M and there are whispers of him coming to us. Means it is likely that we won't have money to match an offer sheet of 6M or more for Rossi. If we lose Rossi over Tarasenko and Boeser, it may be the worst bit of a spending spree we have ever gone on. Tarasenko only put up 33pts, is age 33 and was -13 for the redwings. Boeser may score goals, but is also regularly caved in defensively and was a horrendous -23 with 50 pts last year and is already 28.  

Making me very nervous Billy, there is a reason you got him for future considerations. Please don't put us back in a position where we can't afford call ups or TDL moves. Mid season is usually where the bigger deals happen as far as trades, we need to have cap space to be in on those deals. 

Hopefully this is the first in a chain of events. If it isn't, we can hope Tarasenko magically turns back the clock this year.

Edited 15 hours ago by TheGoosesAreLooses
Added things...

[NC Beach Bum]

15 minutes ago, PiranhasOnIce said:

Well this should at least keep NoJo in the press box.

same stats as NoJo but $4mill more cap hit?

[IllicitFive]

7 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

Reposting to the proper article on this one;

Lol well we just got Tarasenko for future considerations at 4.75M. Not great. Boeser is projected to get 7 or 8M and there are whispers of him coming to us. Means it is likely that we won't have money to match an offer sheet of 6M or more for Rossi. If we lose Rossi over Tarasenko and Boeser, it may be the worst bit of a spending spree we have ever gone on. Tarasenko only put up 33pts, is age 33 and was -13 for the redwings. Boeser may score goals, but is also regularly caved in defensively and was a horrendous -23 with 50 pts last year and is already 28.  

Making me very nervous Billy, there is a reason you got him for future considerations. Please don't put us back in a position where we can't afford call ups or TDL moves. Mid season is usually where the bigger deals happen as far as trades, we need to have cap space to be in on those deals. 

Hopefully this is the first in a chain of events. If it isn't, we can hope Tarasenko magically turns back the clock this year.

What if, and here is my hope now this is done, no extension added on and can be used as a mid season trade piece. Boeser should now be out as an option which should make people happy, won't over pay and over term there locking us into a longer cycle of continuation.

Perhaps the following is the mysterious plan we speculate about.

1. Try to sustain through buyouts to keep Kap interested enough to stay as well as find out what you have with some kids, see Boldy and Faber.

2. Draft Draft and Draft, stock the cupboards and let them grow so we have bullets in the chamber and maybe a few won't be blanks.

3. Contracts next year begin dropping quickly with Vlad, Zucc, Bogo and Nojo, followed by Hartman and Spurge. This opens up a ton of cap space, along with cap going up and younger guys on entry level contracts?

4. Trade duds/mediocre, spend that theoretical opened cap, win Cup.

I know pie in the sky, Billy isn't playing 4D chess, but what if?

[MrCheatachu]

1 minute ago, IllicitFive said:

Boeser should now be out as an option which should make people happy, won't over pay and over term there locking us into a longer cycle of continuation.

Seems to be Russo's thoughts https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6463060/2025/06/30/wild-vladimir-tarasenko-trade-red-wings/:

Quote

What the trade means for the Wild

We knew the Wild wanted to add a scoring winger to their arsenal, but we figured that would come via free agency. But players such as Brock Boeser, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mikael Granlund would have taken more term and probably dollars than the Wild wanted to invest. Adding Tarasenko and taking on his full $4.75 million takes them out of the scoring winger market when free agency opens Tuesday and allows them to solely focus on adding a faceoff-winning, penalty-killing center, perhaps Christian Dvorak, Sean Kuraly, Nico Sturm or Radek Faksa.

This trade essentially buys them a year to scour the landscape for a winger they do want to invest in via trade or free agency, or further develop from within their deep prospect pool. — Michael Russo, Wild beat reporter

 

[Willy the poor boy]

I imagine this takes Boesser out of the picture. I'm alright with that.

[MNCountryLife]

1 minute ago, IllicitFive said:

I know pie in the sky, Billy isn't playing 4D chess, but what if?

If you want to stay competitive and rebuild from within... this would be the way to do it.  Have enough turnover that each year you have money to sign the young guys that are performing.  Let loose the guys that are not... Better be good at drafting and even better coaches in IA

[NoJoSux]

Kaprizov, Tarasenko, Yurov, Trenin, will be a nice sprinkle of skill, youth, power, experience, etc. to improve the Wild overall. Hope that's what happens.

It's an interesting deal. Guerin could be positioning for something bigger? The price is not great compared to NoJo, that's true. It does seem like Tarasenko had a down year. 

There's more jam with Tarasenko and recent success with FL is superior to NoJo's recent resume. 

Spending but not surrendering assets is an okay way to pick up a two-time Cup winner and scorer. 

[PiranhasOnIce]

13 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

Seems to be Russo's thoughts https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6463060/2025/06/30/wild-vladimir-tarasenko-trade-red-wings/:

 

I'd take Dvorak off the list as he's only 5'7", which doesn't measure up to the GMBG standard. 

[Scalptrash]

Christmas morning come early! Woo hoo, another overpaid old guy on the downslope. I bet Billy can't contain his excitement.

Gaudreau outperformed him for half the money. Great moves Billy!

Edited 15 hours ago by Scalptrash

[Pewterschmidt]

This telegraphs the upcoming announcement of the third five year plan.  Otherwise known as the big beautiful 15 year plan.  bill is dumb.  But he’s dumb like a Fox.  This nothing burger has more potential upside than potential downside. So that’s a win.  Apparently they don’t love ehlers or boeser…or they don’t love us.  No magic this Christmas.  That’s fine if we’re keeping powder dry for something sometime.  
#most patient fanbase ever

[mnhockeyfan03]

4 minutes ago, NoJoSux said:

Kaprizov, Tarasenko, Yurov, Trenin, will be a nice sprinkle of skill, youth, power, experience, etc. to improve the Wild overall. Hope that's what happens.

It's an interesting deal. Guerin could be positioning for something bigger? The price is not great compared to NoJo, that's true. It does seem like Tarasenko had a down year. 

There's more jam with Tarasenko and recent success with FL is superior to NoJo's recent resume. 

Spending but not surrendering assets is an okay way to pick up a two-time Cup winner and scorer. 

If he plays well he could be flipped at the deadline for a 2nd round pick.  Now go get Kuznetsov and bring him in along with Dvorak and Sturm.  No to Boeser at all costs and no to ehlers unless under $7mm.  No to Rossi.  Let him hopefully get offersheeted over $7mm then you get a 1,2,3 round pick.  Then just sit tight and hope Buffalo or Detroit have bad start to season then you can pounce on Thompson or Larkin or call Colorado on Necas

[Pewterschmidt]

15 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

If you want to stay competitive and rebuild from within... this would be the way to do it.  Have enough turnover that each year you have money to sign the young guys that are performing.  Let loose the guys that are not... Better be good at drafting and even better coaches in IA

We’re on year seven.  By now we have enough track record to know how good this leadership is at identifying and drafting nhl talent

[Scalptrash]

Quote

perhaps Christian Dvorak, Sean Kuraly, Nico Sturm or Radek Faksa.

How about RFA Gabriel Vilardi? Nobody has mentioned him at all and he fits the profile perfectly.

[ArizonaWildFan]

Just woke up from my nap... and Holy Crap! I don't hate the move with one year at $4.75M. I have to think that there is a Kaprizov and Yurov element to this deal as in another Russian presence.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

13 minutes ago, Scalptrash said:

How about RFA Gabriel Vilardi? Nobody has mentioned him at all and he fits the profile perfectly.

Probably not mentioned because nobody believes Winnipeg would let him go for a reasonable asking price or offer sheet. They have over $23M in cap space currently. Ehlers is unrestricted, so talk of them losing him.

Vilardi also appears to be more wing than C the last few seasons given his face off rates--he took fewer than 155 regular season faceoffs. Boldy took 125 faceoffs for the Wild in the 24-25 regular season.

Certainly a quality player with good size, just would be tough to obtain him.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

33 minutes ago, PiranhasOnIce said:

I'd take Dvorak off the list as he's only 5'7", which doesn't measure up to the GMBG standard. 

Which Dvorak are you referring to?

Christian Dvorak is listed at 6'1" and 190 pounds. He's played over 15 minutes per game each of the last 6 seasons and has won over 54% of his faceoffs for that combined timeframe, exceeding 55% on over 1,000 faceoffs in his age 28 season last year, per Hockey-Reference.com.

Edited 14 hours ago by Imyourhuckleberry

[FredJohnson]

But he weighs more than 200 pounds!! Stanley Cup here we come!!

[MrCheatachu]

41 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

This telegraphs the upcoming announcement of the third five year plan.  Otherwise known as the big beautiful 15 year plan.  bill is dumb.  But he’s dumb like a Fox.  This nothing burger has more potential upside than potential downside. So that’s a win.  Apparently they don’t love ehlers or boeser…or they don’t love us.  No magic this Christmas.  That’s fine if we’re keeping powder dry for something sometime.  
#most patient fanbase ever

Have you seen the list of teams who have significant cap space to spend in this market that UFA's are yanking off the market?  This is a very weak UFA class, and teams are itching to spend money.  Hopefully this means SillyG aint going to be that man.

In other news, looks like we're getting your boy Sturminator v2, the return of the sturmination, Russo's most recent fluff piece:

Quote

"I obviously love Minnesota. It’s the reason I live there now in my offseason, and you get treated extremely well by the organization. So it was just a career decision at the time. I got nothing but good things to say about Minnesota and the Wild. It’s definitely a team that I’d consider signing with. It’s my home now." - Nico Sturm

 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

So far, Guerin has traded out Gaudreau and Chisholm, possibly around $4M in contract costs, and added a highly skilled winger in Tarasenko at $4.75M.

Tarasenko doesn't seem old enough to have lost all his skills, so could rebound with another 50+ point season like he had the prior 2 years.

No huge moves yet, but added draft picks and upgraded some skill. Tarasenko is roughly 1.5 years older than Gaudreau. Chisholm was unlikely to play for the Wild when their defensemen are fully healthy--get well soon Jonas Brodin!

Easy to complain, but not seeing a lot for me to get upset about so far.

[goenzoy]

Great why waste money on a 23 year old center who just did 100 points and 164 games for you when you can get a 33 year injury prone winger on a downslide 

[Citizen Strife]

Can't say I had this on my bingo card this morning.  At least this was done as a stopgap move.  

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

Now that the article on the Athletic has specified we are out on Boeser, I don't hate the move. 
I am okay with one guy we are hoping for a rebound year from, I just dreaded seeing us use up all our cap space on two reclaim projects. If he bounces back to form it could be a cheap steal for us, if he plays like last year though, that 4.75M is a bit steep. On the upside, we didn't pay a dime for him as he was cap dump and should still have some $$ in the bank for trade deadline. I have no disillusions that Tarasenko will be an 80pt player ever again, but he could be a good trigger man for the second line if all works out.