Article: Can Nico Sturm Build A Playoff-Caliber Penalty Kill In Minnesota?

[Tony Abbott]

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[LarryOg]

Just the upgrade on the faceoff dot alone should help the PK. It seemed like they havent won a faceoff to start a kill in years.

[Burnt Toast]

100% in on this move. NS is a workout beast. He’s the kind of role player that can make a big difference. I was surprised at how low his AAV was. BG has gotten into a tighter cost/contract vibe. The Rossi effect. 

[MacGyver]

Nico lives here so he's a unicorn among NHL players. He actually wants to be here. 

[NoJoSux]

More guys that can upgrade areas MN was weak. More size and tools down the middle make keeping Rossi and spreading the attributes around possible. 

For ~ 6-8M the Wild have gotten two players to fit important roles. No super long commitment and some pedigree with four combined Cups. 

MN can add in youth like Ogie or Yurov without a ton of pressure. Tarasenko and Sturminhiemer know the Central. That's a plus.

[Beast]

Vegas and Florida, among others, can find ways to do whatever they want roster-wise within the current cap rules.

We were promised “Christmas Morning” with significant cap space and end up with the decaying corpse of a washed up forward and a 4th line center.

Geurin and staff are clearly in over their head.  They are reactive and screw up everything.  Why is he still employed here?  He’s a complete and total incompetent in the NHL GM world.

[Quebec1648]

Leopold wanted and promised "Christmas in July", but I would rather Guerin make no deal than a bad one. Keep the cap space available, and wait for the right opportunity to come.

[Patrick]

Essentially a bigger, slightly slower, more expensive Khusnutdinov. 

[Citizen Strife]

7 hours ago, Patrick said:

Essentially a bigger, slightly slower, more expensive Khusnutdinov. 

So you're saying he might actually do something useful up to an NHL standard.  Good to know.

[Patrick]

3 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

So you're saying he might actually do something useful up to an NHL standard.  Good to know.

I don't understand? I like the signing. I also thought Khusnutdinov had a lot of potential as a defensive specialist pk guy. U saw something different?

[Citizen Strife]

He was what he was: a fast guy with zero physicality, zero offense on the rush (despite a second super fast guy on his line, and a less than stellar PK presence.  Being -11 in both Minnesota and Boston showed me he wasn't anywhere close.  He and Lauko had like 2-3 games where you could say they were some of the best players on the ice.

Sure, 4th liners are 4th liners for a reason, but I saw enough to tell me Sturm is going to at least offer something "different" without being a liability.

 

[Scalptrash]

18 hours ago, Beast said:

Vegas and Florida, among others, can find ways to do whatever they want roster-wise within the current cap rules.

We were promised “Christmas Morning” with significant cap space and end up with the decaying corpse of a washed up forward and a 4th line center.

Geurin and staff are clearly in over their head.  They are reactive and screw up everything.  Why is he still employed here?  He’s a complete and total incompetent in the NHL GM world.

Be careful now, a lot of people love Billy here and think he's the best GM in the NHL. You are absolutely right about other teams that are more successful and make the Wild look ametuer. Florida, Vegas, Toronto, Edmonton, Colorado, Dallas, hell, even Columbus (not with results, but roster). All of these teams have superstars and continue to make significant moves to get better. The Wild have one star (not super) and can't get out of their own way. It's truly embarrassing how mismanaged this team is and how blind so many people are to it.