Article: Does The Quinn Hughes Trade Make The Wild True Contenders?

[Luke Sims]

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[Enforceror]

I heard from Fred that Hughes is too short to be a difference maker.

[MNCountryLife]

The central is brutal.  As good as we are playing, the Stars are just as good in the last 10 and the Avs are even better.  There are good odds we will play Dallas and then the Avs in the first 2 rounds.  The road to the cup will be a difficult one.  Sure wish they would seed them better.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

The Wild do have the potential to make a trade like the Brock Nelson deal that the Avalanche made last year. They didn't go to the finals, but if Guerin can find the right veteran to pull from a team that isn't playoff bound, and the Wild can be fairly healthy at playoff time, maybe they can be a true contender this year.

[FredJohnson]

Contenders? Yes.

Favorites? No.

[Patrick]

Based on this year Boldy is better than KK.

A few points to consider.

- KK has played 4 games more 5 v 5 minutes than Boldy (88 minutes). Despite this Boldy has 2 more points 5v5.

- Boldy is matched up against the other teams best line every night while KK gets the softest matchups the coaching staff can find.

- Boldy is +11, KK is +1.

- Boldy is an elite PK guy and is borderline elite defensively while KK is below average defensively

Conclusion: We have TWO franchise forwards! Put that in your chart!

[Beast]

A lot of the pieces are there.  I think they’re close than a lot of people nationally think.  If Tarasenko’s game last night wasn’t just a flash in the plan and he becomes a scoring threat, that’ll help.  I think Yurov is taking significant leaps as well.

I think it would take getting a center that can play on the top line for me to say they have a high likelihood of beating Dallas and Colorado sequentially in playoff series.  Ek and Yurov are best suited for the middle six (and two of Hartman/Foligno/Trenin could bump down to 4th line).  I’ve heard the Crosby speculation and don’t think it’s realistic, but maybe Malkin is more realistic?  Have to think he may be open to that with all the Russians (shoutout to Sota Pod).  An O’Reilly might get them there, but not sure he has the offense punch anymore (he’s riding an unsustainable shooting percentage).  But, it might look something like this come playoff time:

Kaprizov-Malkin/OReilly-Zuccarello

Johansson-Ek-Boldy

Trenin-Yurov-Tarasenko

Foligno-Sturm-Hartman

Hughes-Faber

Brodin-Spurgeon

Hunt-Bogo/Jiricek

Im sure one or two of the guys there would have to go to Pittsburgh or Nashville.  So like would change a bit.  But, that’s the most likely Wild team to win a Cup that we’d see in our lifetime.  The Powerplay would be incredible.

[Pewterschmidt]

I think we’re one Brayden Schenn away from being contenders, not pretenders

[NoJoSux]

26 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

I think we’re one Brayden Schenn away from being contenders, not pretenders

A guy who can play in the Central would be important.