Article: What Should the Wild Do To Optimize Their Second Line?

[Cray McCally]

View full article

[MNCountryLife]

Hopeful Lineup to start the season?

1)  Kirill, Rossi, Boldy.  2)  Tara, Ek, Ohgren

3)  Foligno, Yurov, Hartman  4)  Vinnie, Trenin, Haight

Spurge/Buium, Mids/Faber, Jiricek/Bogo

==>> Once healthy

Zuc, Sturm and Brodin in.  Haight,Vinnie, Bogo out.

1)  Kirill, Rossi, Boldy.  2)  Tara, Ek, Zuc

3)  Ohgren, Trenin, Hartman  4)  Foligno, Sturm, Yurov

Spurge/Buium, Brodin/Faber, Jiricek/Mids

[MNCountryLife]

Is it too late to say a prayer that Nojo doesn't make the starting lineup on Oct 9th?  Puckpedia only shows 12 healthy forwards and Nojo is included in that list.  Ughh..  At the very least I hope he plays on the 4th line and only gets 8 minutes or less.

[Scalptrash]

Quote

the Wild decided to keep its free agent spending to a minimum and retain that money in-house. 

I wouldn't consider only having $5M left "spending to a minimum". In order to make a big move, they will have to part ways with a starter. Probably Rossi because that is exactly why his contract was structured the way it is. Trade bait. Billy ain't done with the Rossi saga yet, just watch.

Like I said earlier, trade him, a prospect, and some picks for Thompson. Basically whatever it takes, IMO. And do it now, don't wait for the deadline. Kirill needs a new toy to play with, Zuccy is broken.

[0 Stanley Cups]

Hartman has been looking great, wouldn't mind seeing him get a shot at second line in between Tarasenko and Ohgren.  

[FredJohnson]

What Should the Wild Do To Optimize Their Second Line?

 

NO PLAYERS WITH NECK BEARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Edited 1 hour ago by FredJohnson
Grammer

[M_Nels]

6 minutes ago, Scalptrash said:

I wouldn't consider only having $5M left "spending to a minimum". In order to make a big move, they will have to part ways with a starter. Probably Rossi because that is exactly why his contract was structured the way it is. Trade bait. Billy ain't done with the Rossi saga yet, just watch.

Like I said earlier, trade him, a prospect, and some picks for Thompson. Basically whatever it takes, IMO. And do it now, don't wait for the deadline. Kirill needs a new toy to play with, Zuccy is broken.

Oh boy here we go...Rossi trade train departing early from the station this year.

Why on earth would Buffalo trade Thompson early in the season?

[FredJohnson]

5 minutes ago, 0 Stanley Cups said:

Hartman has been looking great, wouldn't mind seeing him get a shot at second line in between Tarasenko and Ohgren.  

I'd like to see this. IF Rossi gets kicked down to 2C, I'd put Foligno on his wing. They had some wicked (good) Corsi numbers last year and it wasn't a small sample size.

[FredJohnson]

48 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

Is it too late to say a prayer that Nojo doesn't make the starting lineup on Oct 9th?

It's never too soon to wish that NoJo was gone.

[FredJohnson]

18 minutes ago, Scalptrash said:

Probably Rossi because that is exactly why his contract was structured the way it is. Trade bait. Billy ain't done with the Rossi saga yet, just watch.

Billy got Rossi into a reasonable contract because other teams didn't want him. (Remember the 0 offer sheet thingy?) Would they want him now? The offer sheet price would have been one 1st-round pick and one 3rd-round pick. 
 

Rossi for 2 picks (2026 first and third)

vs

Rossi + Prospect + 2 Picks for Thompson

👍?

👎?

[BeanPole Harvester]

1 hour ago, MNCountryLife said:

Hopeful Lineup to start the season?

1)  Kirill, Rossi, Boldy.  2)  Tara, Ek, Ohgren

3)  Foligno, Yurov, Hartman  4)  Vinnie, Trenin, Haight

Spurge/Buium, Mids/Faber, Jiricek/Bogo

==>> Once healthy

Zuc, Sturm and Brodin in.  Haight,Vinnie, Bogo out.

1)  Kirill, Rossi, Boldy.  2)  Tara, Ek, Zuc

3)  Ohgren, Trenin, Hartman  4)  Foligno, Sturm, Yurov

Spurge/Buium, Brodin/Faber, Jiricek/Mids

Overall I like this but having Trenin centering the 3rd line kind of scares me.

The nice thing about both Boldy and Zuccarello is that they can both play either wing which provides a lot of flexibility. For the 3rd line I would like to have Yurov there with Hartman and Ohgren. Still a lot to be seen frmo the rookies but Ohgren and Hartman are more shooter than playmaker and i believe Yurov will be more playmaker than shooter.