Article: The Wild Still Have A Gap To Fill

[Tom Schreier]

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[Citizen Strife]

I think the Wild hoped Ohgren and Yurov would do what Buium did and grab his spot right away.  They didn't.  Not saying they won't.  Just that they didn't.  Four games in, they sit on the fourth line.  They might be second liners in a week or a month or never.

My question is how long?  Will they ever be those type of players?  Will Guerin be patient and roll with what seems to be a revolving door at left wing?  Is Tarasenko a long term fit at right wing for that matter?

It's one thing to say Zuccarello fixes things when he returns, but Ohgren and Yurov SHOULD be the answers eventually.  Even Haight might do that for all we know.  

If not, what player or players can Guerin get via trade?  He doesn't need to shop for lower depth anymore.  The tricky thing is a lot of teams kept their studs, and only Ehlers went in FA.  A Rantanen type trade "could" happen at the deadline, but by then, Yurov and Ohgren solve that problem anyway.

The Wild know Kap, Boldy, Rossi, and Ek are accounted for.  The gap is the other two spots that can't be solved by the revolving door.

 

 

 

Edited October 16 by Citizen Strife

[Dean]

The wild are a clown show. 3 rd class organization. Starting from the horrible media. Tv and radio broadcasts have to be the worst in the league. lapanta knows nothing about hockey or care to know anything about hockey. Walz and stalock are mind numbing to listen to. Carts is a total cheerleader hoping he gets invited to Billy’s next beer party if he just kisses  ass enough. The radio guy doesn’t know what year it is .  The go to talking point is always excuses to why watching a team suck is good. 
  On to the owner. Talking about blank checks. Now he’s paying 3.5 million more for a guy who isn’t as good as highest paid player . After the f-ing buyouts which only seemed to happen to us. Billy goes and pays a historic contract that’s years early for that # . No one will touch that number 17 for next few years but here we are paying it because of a bad owner and clown gm that couldn’t play hardball.  Billy just pisses money and draft picks. 
   The gm talked about X-mas and getting a center. We got Jo Jo and vlad. Two absolute pedestrians.  If we had pro scouts worth a shit maybe they would have questioned why Detroit is giving away a 5 mil player.Maybe because he’s washed up like he’s shown for last 3 years . No center but two pedestrians for x mas

    Then you have Judd and his weak undersized dented cans draft fallers who can’t get to nhl and do anything. Unlike all are rivals that seem to get kids to the nhl . He passed on some bonafide nhl players to get his dented cans. 
    The coach. All he does is lose playoff games and has no eye for talent. He thinks Fred g is a 2 nd line center and Jo Jo is a top 6 winger. . He’s got Judds draft picks sitting around to play vlad and Jo Jo. So either the kids suck or the coach does because Jo Jo and vlad should be in the minors. Anything is better than those two. 
    Year 6 of Billy and we still have the same f ing problem. No 1 center . No depth down the middle . Perimeter prima Donna’s . No secondary scoring . Weak undersized misfits in top6 a top 4 . This idea of overpaying kappy makes us relevant is a joke. Winning makes you relevant! Not how ripped off you got.  This team is a pretender just like the people that run and broadcast it. . 

[1Brotherbill]

2 hours ago, Dean said:

The wild are a clown show. 3 rd class organization. Starting from the horrible media. Tv and radio broadcasts have to be the worst in the league. lapanta knows nothing about hockey or care to know anything about hockey. Walz and stalock are mind numbing to listen to. Carts is a total cheerleader hoping he gets invited to Billy’s next beer party if he just kisses  ass enough. The radio guy doesn’t know what year it is .  The go to talking point is always excuses to why watching a team suck is good. 
  On to the owner. Talking about blank checks. Now he’s paying 3.5 million more for a guy who isn’t as good as highest paid player . After the f-ing buyouts which only seemed to happen to us. Billy goes and pays a historic contract that’s years early for that # . No one will touch that number 17 for next few years but here we are paying it because of a bad owner and clown gm that couldn’t play hardball.  Billy just pisses money and draft picks. 
   The gm talked about X-mas and getting a center. We got Jo Jo and vlad. Two absolute pedestrians.  If we had pro scouts worth a shit maybe they would have questioned why Detroit is giving away a 5 mil player.Maybe because he’s washed up like he’s shown for last 3 years . No center but two pedestrians for x mas

    Then you have Judd and his weak undersized dented cans draft fallers who can’t get to nhl and do anything. Unlike all are rivals that seem to get kids to the nhl . He passed on some bonafide nhl players to get his dented cans. 
    The coach. All he does is lose playoff games and has no eye for talent. He thinks Fred g is a 2 nd line center and Jo Jo is a top 6 winger. . He’s got Judds draft picks sitting around to play vlad and Jo Jo. So either the kids suck or the coach does because Jo Jo and vlad should be in the minors. Anything is better than those two. 
    Year 6 of Billy and we still have the same f ing problem. No 1 center . No depth down the middle . Perimeter prima Donna’s . No secondary scoring . Weak undersized misfits in top6 a top 4 . This idea of overpaying kappy makes us relevant is a joke. Winning makes you relevant! Not how ripped off you got.  This team is a pretender just like the people that run and broadcast it. . 

Next time before you post something like this, eat a snickers. 

[1Brotherbill]

Bob Kurtz always said that what you see of a team by Thanksgiving is usually what you see for the entire year.

Now St. Louis has a habit of making late season runs.  Minnesota has a habit of early season surges and then just making it into the playoff.  And then there is Florida who has a magic button that they push once the playoff start. 

So what does this mean?  Means it is four games into the season the Wild is 2 and 2 with 4 points and 3 points off the lead in the division.  

Just relax. 

[Burnt Toast]

3 hours ago, Dean said:

Winning makes you relevant!

100% The Wild have some quality pieces but until they put a nice season and playoff round together they won’t be taken seriously. Boldy, Rossi, KK at $9M this year, statistically the D Core is sound. Top 10 goalie helps. We need to add another player and we have a decent shot to change the narrative. 

[Sam]

3 hours ago, Dean said:

The wild are a clown show. 3 rd class organization. Starting from the horrible media. Tv and radio broadcasts have to be the worst in the league. lapanta knows nothing about hockey or care to know anything about hockey. Walz and stalock are mind numbing to listen to. Carts is a total cheerleader hoping he gets invited to Billy’s next beer party if he just kisses  ass enough. The radio guy doesn’t know what year it is .  The go to talking point is always excuses to why watching a team suck is good. 
  On to the owner. Talking about blank checks. Now he’s paying 3.5 million more for a guy who isn’t as good as highest paid player . After the f-ing buyouts which only seemed to happen to us. Billy goes and pays a historic contract that’s years early for that # . No one will touch that number 17 for next few years but here we are paying it because of a bad owner and clown gm that couldn’t play hardball.  Billy just pisses money and draft picks. 
   The gm talked about X-mas and getting a center. We got Jo Jo and vlad. Two absolute pedestrians.  If we had pro scouts worth a shit maybe they would have questioned why Detroit is giving away a 5 mil player.Maybe because he’s washed up like he’s shown for last 3 years . No center but two pedestrians for x mas

    Then you have Judd and his weak undersized dented cans draft fallers who can’t get to nhl and do anything. Unlike all are rivals that seem to get kids to the nhl . He passed on some bonafide nhl players to get his dented cans. 
    The coach. All he does is lose playoff games and has no eye for talent. He thinks Fred g is a 2 nd line center and Jo Jo is a top 6 winger. . He’s got Judds draft picks sitting around to play vlad and Jo Jo. So either the kids suck or the coach does because Jo Jo and vlad should be in the minors. Anything is better than those two. 
    Year 6 of Billy and we still have the same f ing problem. No 1 center . No depth down the middle . Perimeter prima Donna’s . No secondary scoring . Weak undersized misfits in top6 a top 4 . This idea of overpaying kappy makes us relevant is a joke. Winning makes you relevant! Not how ripped off you got.  This team is a pretender just like the people that run and broadcast it. . 

Damn Dean, I was having a good day until I read this sob story😢

[NoJoSux]

10 hours ago, Dean said:

The wild are a clown show. 3 rd class organization. Starting from the horrible media. Tv and radio broadcasts have to be the worst in the league. lapanta knows nothing about hockey or care to know anything about hockey. Walz and stalock are mind numbing to listen to. Carts is a total cheerleader hoping he gets invited to Billy’s next beer party if he just kisses  ass enough. The radio guy doesn’t know what year it is .  The go to talking point is always excuses to why watching a team suck is good. 
  On to the owner. Talking about blank checks. Now he’s paying 3.5 million more for a guy who isn’t as good as highest paid player . After the f-ing buyouts which only seemed to happen to us. Billy goes and pays a historic contract that’s years early for that # . No one will touch that number 17 for next few years but here we are paying it because of a bad owner and clown gm that couldn’t play hardball.  Billy just pisses money and draft picks. 
   The gm talked about X-mas and getting a center. We got Jo Jo and vlad. Two absolute pedestrians.  If we had pro scouts worth a shit maybe they would have questioned why Detroit is giving away a 5 mil player.Maybe because he’s washed up like he’s shown for last 3 years . No center but two pedestrians for x mas

    Then you have Judd and his weak undersized dented cans draft fallers who can’t get to nhl and do anything. Unlike all are rivals that seem to get kids to the nhl . He passed on some bonafide nhl players to get his dented cans. 
    The coach. All he does is lose playoff games and has no eye for talent. He thinks Fred g is a 2 nd line center and Jo Jo is a top 6 winger. . He’s got Judds draft picks sitting around to play vlad and Jo Jo. So either the kids suck or the coach does because Jo Jo and vlad should be in the minors. Anything is better than those two. 
    Year 6 of Billy and we still have the same f ing problem. No 1 center . No depth down the middle . Perimeter prima Donna’s . No secondary scoring . Weak undersized misfits in top6 a top 4 . This idea of overpaying kappy makes us relevant is a joke. Winning makes you relevant! Not how ripped off you got.  This team is a pretender just like the people that run and broadcast it. . 

Can't score 5v5, takes tons of penalties, and if you include Jiricek, half of MN's 1st round picks don't play. 

Last year, everyone was complaining that MN was doing a rinse and repeat. Now we're seeing it front and center while NSH, CHI, Utah, and STL are all working their way back to relevance in the Central. The Wild, like they always do, feel somehow entitled to a claim on contending. They've given up five goals per game on average for the last three in a row, and we're supposed to be patient. Colorado and Carolina are undefeated with a positive goal differential setting the NHL benchmark early. Minnesota barely hung on to win over LA in OT shootout after losing a 3-goal lead. 

It might be early, but Zuccy and Sturm are the only injuries right now so let's not make excuses. The marketing team and TV/Radio commentators are already on that job like stink on shit.

[Fezig]

I'm confident that if Billy G had NoJo available for trade the best offer the team would get would be a bucket of chipped pucks. 

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, Fezig said:

I'm confident that if Billy G had NoJo available for trade the best offer the team would get would be a bucket of chipped pucks. 

Yet we’re going on year 5 of watching him play 16+minutes a night.  Eric Belanger 2.0.  

[0 Stanley Cups]

The only two that Billy brought in this year are Tarasenko and Sturm.  I liked the upgrade of Sturm over Freddie, but while Sturm is supposed to be this physical freakshow specimen, his back goes out on day 1 of camp.  Tarasenko has some phantom power play assists, but has been totally invisible.  Sure he has a terrific shot, but he doesn't generate shots, meanwhile he's either slow and/or lazy.  At least we can flip 91 at the TDL, but the forward free agent market next year will be incredibly thin again, which means teams will end up grossly overpaying, so pick your poison.  If we're hoping when Zuccy comes back that'll help, but he's 38 years old

[mnfaninnc]

15 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

Is Tarasenko a long term fit at right wing for that matter?

This would be a no due to age. 

[mnfaninnc]

The number 1 goal this season is to get the 5 new guys, and maybe it will go up to 6, acclimated and producing. They don't do it from the Prossbox. Only 1 of them seems to be doing that. 

We should be in a position to grab a WC spot in the playoffs when the season winds down. I still say add at the deadline, but not a rental, a long term piece(s). 

Don't worry about missing the playoffs, play the kids and get them better. It's the only way to get to contender status. 

[0 Stanley Cups]

The only thing worse than taking on Tarasenko's contract, would've been Patrik Laine at $8.7M, thank goodness he didn't want to come here and we dodged that bullet.

[Mateo3xm]

17 hours ago, Dean said:

The wild are a clown show. 3 rd class organization. Starting from the horrible media. Tv and radio broadcasts have to be the worst in the league. lapanta knows nothing about hockey or care to know anything about hockey. Walz and stalock are mind numbing to listen to. Carts is a total cheerleader hoping he gets invited to Billy’s next beer party if he just kisses  ass enough. The radio guy doesn’t know what year it is .  The go to talking point is always excuses to why watching a team suck is good. 
  On to the owner. Talking about blank checks. Now he’s paying 3.5 million more for a guy who isn’t as good as highest paid player . After the f-ing buyouts which only seemed to happen to us. Billy goes and pays a historic contract that’s years early for that # . No one will touch that number 17 for next few years but here we are paying it because of a bad owner and clown gm that couldn’t play hardball.  Billy just pisses money and draft picks. 
   The gm talked about X-mas and getting a center. We got Jo Jo and vlad. Two absolute pedestrians.  If we had pro scouts worth a shit maybe they would have questioned why Detroit is giving away a 5 mil player.Maybe because he’s washed up like he’s shown for last 3 years . No center but two pedestrians for x mas

    Then you have Judd and his weak undersized dented cans draft fallers who can’t get to nhl and do anything. Unlike all are rivals that seem to get kids to the nhl . He passed on some bonafide nhl players to get his dented cans. 
    The coach. All he does is lose playoff games and has no eye for talent. He thinks Fred g is a 2 nd line center and Jo Jo is a top 6 winger. . He’s got Judds draft picks sitting around to play vlad and Jo Jo. So either the kids suck or the coach does because Jo Jo and vlad should be in the minors. Anything is better than those two. 
    Year 6 of Billy and we still have the same f ing problem. No 1 center . No depth down the middle . Perimeter prima Donna’s . No secondary scoring . Weak undersized misfits in top6 a top 4 . This idea of overpaying kappy makes us relevant is a joke. Winning makes you relevant! Not how ripped off you got.  This team is a pretender just like the people that run and broadcast it. . 

I can’t imagine being that bitter about a game and in general. Who hurt you Dean? Let it out.

[NoJoSux]

4 hours ago, Mateo3xm said:

I can’t imagine being that bitter about a game and in general. Who hurt you Dean? Let it out.

I think many of us, Dean included see the writing on the wall. Or at the very least feel the vibes of the past shortfalls. The Wild are the same predictable group with well known quantities and quandaries. 

Never able to put it all together for any consistent period of time. Ride the highs like they have control, only to flop like a crappie on the floor of the ice shack. Fans remember the burn like a first bite of pizza that looks great but hides a painful experience. 

"I'll believe it when I see it." is the cautious, but falsely optimistic, attitude that credits the team for cultivating belief. We know how it really ends, but the desire to turn the page and enter a new chapter persists. Sometimes reality nails ya, and allows a stand back moment to say "Man, eff the Wild and their homer-propaganda, owner, blunders, development-charade, draft-guru, bald/buzzcut coaches, veteran Edina resident players, lazy-eyed GM, etc."

[Mateo3xm]

5 hours ago, NoJoSux said:

I think many of us, Dean included see the writing on the wall. Or at the very least feel the vibes of the past shortfalls. The Wild are the same predictable group with well known quantities and quandaries. 

Never able to put it all together for any consistent period of time. Ride the highs like they have control, only to flop like a crappie on the floor of the ice shack. Fans remember the burn like a first bite of pizza that looks great but hides a painful experience. 

"I'll believe it when I see it." is the cautious, but falsely optimistic, attitude that credits the team for cultivating belief. We know how it really ends, but the desire to turn the page and enter a new chapter persists. Sometimes reality nails ya, and allows a stand back moment to say "Man, eff the Wild and their homer-propaganda, owner, blunders, development-charade, draft-guru, bald/buzzcut coaches, veteran Edina resident players, lazy-eyed GM, etc."

I actually agree with a lot of it, not all, but a lot of what you’re saying. This isn’t a cup team. In my opinion they will never come close to a cup unless they strategically rebuild in an organized fashion. Thats not the only thing that gets a cup but I believe getting the talent and depth is one of the most important things. I don’t care what anyone says. 

If you aren’t a destination team that’s a big market, warm climate, low or no tax, you have to do a proper rebuild. Thats how you get your barkov, Hedman, Toews, Kane, Crosby, Malkin, Doughty etc. All those qualities I listed above give those teams an advantage. Nobody wants to come to Mn and you can not expect to get generational talent like Kap when you’re picking 10-20 in the first round each year.

The State of hockey deserves to have a Cup but in order to even get close, you need to go through some painful years beforehand. 
The Owner and GM have been lying to us for a long time, and unfortunately way too many gullible fans fall for it. It’s all about money with the owner. There is a formula and some luck to winning the coveted Stanley Cup.

[Dango]

The reason i dont want to go through that is because the NBA made me lose interest in the Wolves because of the Joe Smith penalties ,,  The Yankees balloted payroll  made me lose interest in the Twins ,  The NFLS woke crap ,  overly bad nanny rules protecting Qbs  barely touch 15 yard penalties im almost done with the Vikes i never even watch the 8 hour super bowl informercial ,  The Wilds stupid cap penalties that made no sense for 4 years , im sure if we suck for 4 more years ill be done with the Wild im already close as it is .  But im just 1 person dying out on sports regardless but the team must do what it needs to do Dango can be a casual observer i guess 

[J Bakker 71]

Unfortunately what Dean said is true. The Wild cant draft, always taking the "fallers" and wondering why they fell.Too much $$ for Kaprizov, recycled coach that loves his players as long as they are older. Let the young players make some mistakes early in the year and figure it out with experience instead of during the playoffs.  I have never cared for the GMs' skills, but that is my opinion. And being happy that the Wild are "only" three points back c'mon they have only played 4 games, you do know the mantra for the Wild is the quick starts and Hang on for their playoff life. I really miss the days of Jacque and Risebrough.

[FredJohnson]

On 10/17/2025 at 5:58 AM, Fezig said:

I'm confident that if Billy G had NoJo available for trade the best offer the team would get would be a bucket of chipped pucks. 

You mean we'd have to send them the pucks (along with NoJO, right?

[Scalptrash]

Quote

Until the youth take over, the Wild are still the same team they’ve always been.

The most accurate statement that everyone chooses to ignore. They are the same team and you can expect the same result. Don't be surprised if this perennial bubble team misses the playoffs this year and yet another year is wasted by not playing the youth. Can everyone agree that this current team is not going to win the cup? Why do they refuse to develop players that can help achieve that goal?

They are in last place. Change is needed.