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I hate beating the Rossi drum, I really do, but Billy is about to make another big mistake. Let's put it into perspective. 24-25: Rossi GP82 G24 A36 P60 +3 Age 23 $6-7M Nelson GP80 G26 A30 P56 +6 Age 33 $7.4M Boeser GP75 G25 A25 P50 -25 Age 28 $8.2M Sam Bennet GP76 G25 A26 P51 -15 Age 28 $7.5M Rossi will continue to improve, the other three will only decline. Rossi is young and a long term contract is much safer and probably cheaper. So what if he isn't a power forward, he could easily replace Zuccy.

All I've gotta say is if they trade him they better WIN the GD trade! No WTF did he do now, or well, that's an even trade, he needs to hands down win it. Rossi's gonna be good and depending where he goes he easily could be top 6 on a SC champion team. There are plenty of small top 6 guys with their names written on the Cup. and Rossi def has the talent to be one of them. I'd say a 20 point increase in production from your first to second season is a nice sign that things are clicking for you. Especially when you have to play throughout the lineup.

Neither did Ekker. It takes time and experience.

What a bad look. Loosing patience with a 22yr old, while he had a 40pt season, because he isn't a PP specialist? He is one of our best at 5V5 by the stats and is playing on the second PP. Give your head a shake. How about we take a look see at how Gaudreau and Nojo are doing at 5V5 and wonder why the hell they get passes while we consider trading one of the few bright spots on this season. Going to look really bad to the rest of the prospects if Guerin considers Rossi's season not good enough. Meanwhile Gaudreau can crater any offense from his line continually all year and not even get the Prosser Box treatment.

Good playoff teams have an abundance of center depth. The Wild don’t even with Rossi. With trade proposals of sending Rossi plus other prospects to land a better, older and more expensive center, we don’t end up with more centers. Yurov might be another center, but who knows if and when that might happen. Plus, we are counting on the other top prospects (Yurov, Wally, Ohgren, Buium) to make the team next year. Trading any of them out with Rossi just creates another lineup hole or holes to fill. And we are already down some picks from GMBG’s moves this year. I think Hartman played very well in the playoffs, but Rossi should’ve been switched with Gaudreau. Freddy is a great teammate, but he shouldn’t be playing above 4th minutes and maybe not at all on a contender. Getting rid of Rossi all but guarantees that Gaudreau will be one of the main centers. I think Hartman is better suited to be a backup/depth center on his line, but again with the Wild’s lack of centers, he has to be one of the main guys. The Wild have been starved for centers and scoring forever, so of course, management wants to get rid of an actual homegrown center with tremendous offseason work ethic who plays two way hockey and scored 60 points in his second season. No where did I say Rossi is more important than Kaprizov, that Rossi is the best ever or that he deserves 8.5M or more per year. The Wild need MORE centers and more offense. Rossi checks both boxes BEFORE playing his third season.

I know many think we will trade him. Others say he isn’t built for the playoffs because of his size. In reality, we have no idea if he can play in the playoffs. He has played one game and 12 minutes. I don’t think playing on the 4th line tonight will help. I am not saying Rossi is as good as the following players, but he is 23 and has room to grow. So those who say he can’t be a playoff performer because of his size think the following players are not either? Brad Marchand: 5’9 180 pounds Patrick Kane: 5’10 175 pounds Brayden Point: 5’10 183 Johnny Gaudreau: (RIP) 5’9 165 Jonathan Marchessault: 5’9 180

I would guess that patient teams end up with more assets to make moves when they truly need them--the Wild winning a cup this year doesn't seem possible, so trading for a more interesting team today doesn't excite me. Teams that try to accelerate their success often fail to reach the ultimate goal when they run out of assets to make a move to put them over the top. Ohgren could be part of a trade at some point, but he has a really bright future and may end up more productive in a couple of years than guys you could trade him for right now. The Wild currently have a pipeline of prospects that could improve the team along with cap space to do so. Trading assets now for players the Wild could get in the offseason doesn't seem like the best way to maximize assets for future years. Yes, I'm always fearful of the next Hanzal deal. That deal made the team worse in both the season he was obtained and in future years. Dallas selected both Jake Oettinger and Jason Robertson with picks that occurred later than the 1st round selection the Wild traded away in that 2017 draft.

We're dinging Marco Rossi for playing well with Kaprizov, now? Isn't that what we've wanted a center to do?

"Minnesota’s young talent is being blocked out by guys who don’t deserve to be ahead of them on the depth chart. " I wonder if people writing these articles will ever get tired of this. None of the players worth giving roster spots to were available last year (and this year either, in Yurov's case). I'm not pining for the return of Adam Beckman and Sammy Walker, if it's all the same to everyone else. For all the shit Johansson gets, he can at least score goals once in a blue moon. Just because Guerin decided the team should make 1-2 rookies per year a priority instead of just letting 4-5 on all at once, that doesn't mean anyone is blocking them. Rossi/Faber jumped the line in last year; Addison, Walker, Beckman...not so much Ohgren and Khusnutdinov (and Heidt) get their chance Next year "should" be Yurov and Wallstedt. Could we give the whole "blocking players" line a rest please?

Serviceable veterans on moderate contracts are easy to move. This is mostly fear mongering. The only way it becomes a "problem" is if ALL of the prospects develop into NHL players. Great problem to have and the same could be said about every NHL club. Am I a fan of the extensions? No. Do they block prospects. Also no.

I was very worried about how this team would look after their end of the season trickle into the playoffs. In all honesty, I was happy that they looked like a playoff team in this series and actually had a chance to get passed the first round. I was relieved that they didn't embarrass themselves, they showed up to play. I think fatigue caught up with Kaprizov in latter part of the series, which may be a result of being injured for half the season. Same could be said about Ek. I really think this team isn't that far from being a contender. Zeev will look better after 10 to 20 NHL games and I suspect Jiricek will be very interesting if his skating improves. Ogren played well in Iowa and should be ready to contribute next year. Yurov should be in the mix as well. I hope they can pick up a top 6 talent with size this summer, but I'm not overly excited about the free agent class. We might have to get creative to find what we need. This summer could get interesting.

Don't fall for this again. Get as many free spots as possible for Yurov, free agents, and other callups.

Collectively, the Wild also had about 195 games from the group of Lettieri, Duhaime, Lucchini, Shaw, Beckman, Petan, Khaira, Raska, and Sammy Walker. That collection of guys combined for 12 goals on the season, with 5 from Lettieri, 4 from Duhaime, 2 from Lucchini, and 1 from Shaw. Khusnutdinov and Ohgren combined for 2 goals in 20 games, and hopefully can build upon that to significantly outpace those 4th line guys from the prior year. And Trenin might deliver more goals than most guys outside the top 6. The Wild definitely need to score more this season, and defend better. We'll see how good Hynes is this year. If Gaudreau only reaches 12 goals in regulation/OT, but rediscovers his shootout touch, that could still impact the standings points as well. The Wild were not strong in shootouts, nor penalty shots, last year.

Brad Marchand 5' 9" and 176 pounds Year 2 stats. 20 goals, 21 assists Marco Rossi 5' 9" and 182 pounds Year 2 stats 21 goals, 19 assists. The Wild should be over the moon about Rossi. They have never had a player of this caliber at this age at the center position. Give him decent linemates to play with consistently and his stats will only get better.

Trade a #9 overall pick who's scored 21 goals, has good attitude, is cheap and plays center FOR A disgruntled AHL defensemen who cannot crack the vaunted CBJ lineup after we spent a ton of draft capital on d-men last three years. If this happens I'll buy a Nojo jersey and then punch myself in the face until my arm is too tired to punch anymore. Good grief let's change the "Wild want to trade Rossi record".

Rossi is 22 years old, and missed an entire year due to myocarditis after getting covid where he though he ask his dad to sleep in his room because he thought he was going to die. He stayed in MN on the offseason to train and missed his sister's wedding to do so. You want a character guy, you got a character guy.

This team isn't in "win now" mode. They will be in win now after the cap penalties expire. If they trade Rossi and don't get a fortune in return than it's time to fire BG. He is literally the best center the Wild have ever drafted at this point in his career (yeah I know Ek is better but he wasn't when he was 22). It's certifiably insane to trade him.

I think Rossi is safe. A guy who went from an NHL chump to a 20-goal scorer in a season is worth keeping around. Hartman and Gaudreau aren't true center options. They are security blankets in case of emergency. Hartman has done well in Ek's absence, but I highly doubt Guerin is dumb enough to cast Rossi off unless someone came with a good offer. Rossi strikes me a Granlund type guy. He's too good not to give multiple chances at staying center or wing. I think Granlund topped out at 70 pts one year. Give Rossi Ohgren or Yurov instead of Johansson, and you have a killer second line. Guerin is probably going to backfill with Khusnutdinov and Yurov, push Hartman and Gaudreau down, and then hope this injury bullshit is done. Spurgeon is too valuable. Give him a mulligan and see what happens next year.

Perfectly fine move. Took advantage of a market that has almost no one to speak of. Anytime you get a decent draft pick for a guy on-track for a six-goal season, you're coming out ahead.

The fact that we’re uncertain whether this kid would get a shot over scrub forwards we have filling out this lineup mean Geurin needs to be fired.

The way I see it is that a lot of these moves can be attributed to the cap penalties, a mostly empty prospect pool, and slow development since then. Hell, the slow development might even be partially due to the empty prospect pool if progression of one's peers helps foster better development in a player by challenging them to be better too. The article says we've only brought in older players, preventing the ascension of younger players while also citing a number of other younger players that didn't work out. Younger players have gotten chances. It's not just Addison and Khusnutdinov that received playing time. Players like Hunt, Walker, Beckman, Raska, and others were given chances and never showed that they belonged up in the NHL. It's not like prospects aren't getting chances. Even Rossi was given multiple chances before he got to the point where he showed he could be a successful everyday NHLer. As far as signing older, veteran players. It's typically cheaper to sign an aging vet in the latter part of his hockey career than it is to get one in his prime. We didn't have the cap space or the depth to go after those players. It's also harder to get those players still in their primed when they know that your team has huge cap penalties against it. The odds are stacked against you and they know it. What will be really telling is if this trend changes now that the cap penalties are mostly gone. With several prospects poised to make the team next year, there will already be a shift towards youth. With the cap penalties gone and showing that we can be a dangerous team, maybe there will be interest from more than just aging players who generally have some ties to Minnesota will be more interested in joining the team as a result. If this off-season Guerin gives a 6yr deal to Nelson and trades Rossi for some player in their lower 30s who is already at their ceiling, then maybe this article is on to something. Until then, I think there are enough other factors that it's premature to come to that judgment.

Guerin has a tendency to play fast and loose with trades. But the Wild as constructed are pretty much lacking these things. 1) 2nd/3rd line offense 2) Offensive minded defensemen 3) Overall team size and/or speed 4) PP/PK success 5) Winning a fucking faceoff A lot of this is personnel related. You have to remember the Wild were very successful with Hynes's system, but a lot of players are still people picked by Fletcher or Fenton. How long would we be waiting on prospects if the Wild went a full teardown? Would Kaprizov want to stay around? Gus, the top forward line, and the top 4 D are hard as hell to beat 5on5. They have a "superstar" and a couple "stars" that showed up in crunch time. The issue is their floor is way more leaky than we think it is. Nyquist didn't work, sure. But neither did Khusnutdinov or Lauko. Addison was as effective as a wet dish rag. Bogo was an immediate upgrade on the cheap. It isn't about "veterans bad, prospects good.". If a player isn't a fit, they aren't a fit. How many times have people tried to write off Zuccarello and Spurgeon, yet they remain top 5 in team offense? Gaudreau, Foligno, and Hartman were all pretty clutch most of the season to even stay ahead of the injuries or score against Vegas. I won't write Guerin off just because one center may or may not stay with the team. A Rossi trade may be beneficial, or blow up in his face. My issue is if he somehow keeps Nyquist, Mojo, Merrill, Chisholm, etc, when it is obvious the 10-30 pt players need to go and 40-60 PT players need to be the new floor. If Rossi translates to a similar productive player or somehow part of a 1st line guy, no one will bat an eye. Rossi sold for middle sixers and picks is the problem.

No, if the Wild trade Rossi, it will be a for an established goal scoring forward, not a minor league defenseman.

Unless it turns out Rossi was injured pretty bad he’s going to be traded. I’m concerned about getting equal value back. Wouldn’t management have wanted to inflate his value if a trade is in the future? Very strange dynamic/vibe coming from the team on Rossi. If it’s just a money thing then we’re going to find out when his agent inks his next contract. Rossi exceeded my expectations for both the regular season and the playoffs. Get him on a decent power play and he is going to be a point per game guy.

Foli-Rossi-Boldy might be a good #2 line for the playoffs.

I think Nyquist has been a plus. His scoresheet might not say but he has improved the PK and is still a good NHLer.

Oldest, most beat up topic. Guerin-haters keep whining and crying cause he's not going anywhere and just GM'd for USA tacking on more resume-boosting credentials. The Wild were total shit at the end of Parise/Suter. They were whining too in the press and the team had zero prospects or useful 1st round picks. You complainers are a joke, giving F-grades while full-rebuilders aren't any closer to a Cup and big-swingers are striking out with newly-signed Stamkos, Big-Apple Blunders, or Vancouver's vanquished playoff chances. We'll see, but I remember people crying Staal shouldn't have been traded, Suter should have, and Fiala wasn't given a fair shake. Suter had to be bought out AGAIN, Staal retired, and Fiala isn't putting LA into the contender conversation so I don't really give a crud if rando rag'n-rippers wanna armchair GM from their office chair or smartphone. It's not even debatable, MN has good youth, solid defense and goaltending. Injuries always hurt, but MN's penalties will end and they'll be handicapped beyond all other NHL teams no more. The Wild have been better ever since Guerin got hired and not alone getting knocked out of the playoffs. Doomers everywhere nowadays.

Ohgren has years to figure out his shit. Giving him up better be for someone who is effective right now, not another project like a Cozens or someone too old like a Gourde or Laughton. Rossi didn't figure out his spot right away. Here's hoping Ohgren manages to find a similar path to success.

So, the Wild are playing well. Even as of late they are still pretty good. Everyone has a feeling that the team is terrible right now. Here is their monthly records for the year. February 2-2, January 8-6, December 7-7, November 10-5, October 8-3, September 2-2, they have also gotten 4 points in 4 loses. The team has not been bellow .500 in any month of the season. It is doubtful that they will finish below .500 in any month the rest of the season. Calgary is 10 points behind the Wild and has 26 games left, Minnesota has 25 left. If the Wild play .500 the rest of the way out Calgary would have to get 35 points in 26 games. That is a .626 win percentage, at two thirds of the season Calgary has a .524 win percentage. As far as missing the playoffs it is going to be hard for this team to miss the playoffs. As for what they will do once they get into the playoffs we don't know. It is assumed that when everyone gets back and plays a few games before the playoffs they will be a pretty tough out. But we don't know and that is why they play the games. Hopefully the 4 Nations will wake Boldy up and he can start scoring again.

He's a crusty old veteran who hits like a rock but doesn't skate or shoot very well. Nobody stands in front of the net with this guy...at either end. His crosscheck is lethal and his right hook is a knock out blow!

What Happened To the Wild's Offense? It has a lower body injury...

Don't look now but Charlie may be finding his groove. Wouldn't that be nice... The Wild prospect pool is looking pretty good again to go along with a team that's outperforming expectations yet again despite a myriad of injuries yet again. Go Wild!! Stramel is finding the net and his teammates, may just be the big man's skates and IQ are catching up with his body. Buium is making a historic run for Consecutive 50 point seasons for a college Dman which has not been done for 2 1/2 decades. Yurov (who likely has been getting his minutes cut to develop youngsters who will replace him) should be a top 6 forward sooner rather than later. Ang Ogzie has looked good in his recent stint at IA and with the Wild. The future looks bright, don't blow it up BG. And for those saying the Wild need to get bigger well thats in the pipeline and looking like it could happen soon with the Oger and Charlie...

I don’t get this either. I’m in the camp that we let bygones be bygones. Giving up assets to get him back after losing him once already (with no compensation) feels like we’re paying for Tuch twice.

To be fair, most teams are not well prepared for the loss of their top d man and their top center at the same time.

Johansson got Boldy crushed along the boards with a poor passing decision in game 2 last year(a game Boldy scored his 1st goal of the season), prompting Boldy to leave the game and miss a few weeks. He almost certainly came back before he was fully healed from his upper body injury. Boldy did pick up 6 assists in the 10 games after he came back from injury, but he didn't score his 2nd goal of the season until November 28th. At that point, he started scoring at roughly a point per game pace, accumulating 28 goals in his final 63 games--a 35+ goal pace per 80 games. If Boldy can stay healthy this season, he has a shot at surpassing 80 points.

I wouldn’t say MN refused to make a place for Jack McBain. College guys can do that. I really can’t blame a guy for taking an offer in ARI and getting straight into the NHL. Kinda screwed the Wild but if I were in his shoes, would it be a smart career move to join a better club with a GM who wants young guys to really earn it? The Wild are in a good position. Here’s why. This season will give the players and organization fair time to succeed on the ice and in assessing the situation. By Christmas and especially the deadline, MN will know what they’ve got at the NHL level. Rossi, Ogie, and Knudi will all have had the opportunity to show up. Lauko, Clarke, Walker, Fred, NoJo, Gus, Wallstedt will get a chance to prove what’s up. At that point in the big picture, Guerin will be in a nice position. There’s assets and value to work with in a playoff/non-playoff scenario. I believe MN will at that point see the future clearer with Yurov or Wallstedt sending a strong message. Guerin can at that point make a decision about where to allocate AAV and what the team needs most. At that point a salary dump sending a veteran before playoffs or a prospect and pick going to add a complimentary player won’t be difficult. Maybe even a big-splasher if MN moved Spurge or Knudi/Rossi to get bigger/heavier? I think that’s what’s gonna happen around the times we see Buium, Heidt, Lorenz, Stramel, etc. and where they’d fit long-term. Other questions about Boeser staying in Vancouver or not and is Trent Frederic staying in Boston? Pius Suter will be a free agent again. Verhaeghe, Jeannot, Kolesar, Raddysh, Vatrano, there’s gonna be more UFA options if MN holds onto prospects and picks. Of course Raantennen, Draisaitl, Crosby will be UFAs too but not likely for MN. Not too shabby IMO. Lot of doom’n is just unnecessary.

Carter is talking out of his ass. If you want Rossi to be a playmaker, then don't center him on a line with guys who skate around the perimeter and turnover the puck trying to be playmakers.

Great article and I'm in the keep Rossi camp. I assume Guerin's logic in moving Rossi+ is to acquire a linemate for #97, to incent 97 to stay with the Wild. This is the only logic i can think of that makes sense to me. If the return for a package including Rossi is to get a 26 year old studly linemate to keep 97 around I'm on board. If the return is multiple prospects, FAIL If the return is a 30 something formerly studly fwd + some spare parts, FAIL If the return is a 1 for 1 trade, FAIL (because what we'd get back is a young player with hockey upside, but attitude downside) #don'tbedumbbill

Hey look, a young player in a position of historical team weakness who looks like he wants to get better. TRADE HIM NOW *said no one but the Wild and its media I guess*

Rossi and Foligno put up points early in the season and controlled play. Foligno is kinda like Hartman: better offensively than he gets credit for at times. Gaudreau was also stapled to Rossi...so whatever. I'm not going to use, "Oh, he's playing with such and such" as an excuse. If Hynes wants Khusnutdinov on 1st or 2nd line, he's going to put him there. It's not an indictment of a guy with 3-4 games that he wasn't immediately stapled to Kaprizov. He's giving the team a defensively sound performance right off the bat. Here's another thought: Rossi and Khusnutdinov aren't clones. You can't expect one guy to just be a 20 goal scorer because another rookie did. If Khusnutdinov is a defensive wizard with a secondary scoring touch, while another guy has more offensive presence, that's who they are. I'm just happy he's already found his footing and looks like a good player from the jump. That's all it should be after less than 5 games.

So the premise is, Bogosian is having his best season ever here in MN and it's foolish that Guerin signed him to an inexpensive 2-year deal. He's actually junk and the long time spent with teams that sucked before SPAR was invented isn't part of the equation. He was -3 with 30pts in 2011-12 when Winnipeg's top scorer was Wheeler with 64pts. Not exactly an offensive powerhouse team. In 2013-14 during a season with a coaching change, Bogosian was a +3 while Big Buff was a -20 and WPG was 7th in the Central. The SPAR might look like shit, but it sure seems to me like Bogosian has played on brutal teams until TB. In Tampa Bogo played nearly 50 games. He scored 8pts and was a +2. Huh, weird. The following season he again played nearly 50 games and had just 5pts and was -4. Not exactly amazing stats, but not terrible numbers to proving he's a waste of money at 1.25M. With everything he brings, including size, experience, and beard, there's no way we can use just one metric and a career of playing on bad teams less one, to conclude he's a bum who has been lucky this year. That's not to say he hasn't had a better year in MN that previous seasons. In approx. 40 games Bogo is a plus player and has nine points with top beard in the entire organization. The funny thing is that while MN is having a sucky season, Bogo is not. So when Bogo played with Buffalo, or Atlanta he was a minus player. When he has been with decent teams, he's very close to even or being a plus guy on defense. Calling him a bouncing dead cat is a hot-take period. Insinuating he'll be a bum by next year or the year after ain't right. Using SPAR alone to paint a negative picture making an argument Guerin has somehow further screwed up the Wild by signing him is without context equal to an "evolving metric" made up less than a decade ago by a guy who never played hockey at a high enough level to have ever been heard of is worse yet. I'll go with the eyeball-test, overall career context, and bottom line specifics of the new contract. MN upgraded and SPAR uses replacement players at league minimum salary which is barely below Bogo's AAV on the new deal. Therefore, good article for debate because there's a lot of old school hockey players who don't give a shit what some analyst says about who's the best hockey players or how they can help a team or not. https://corsica.hockey/misc/war_notebook.html

I simply disagree with Tom's take here. Pretty much, the whole thing. It is very important for owner Leipold to make the playoffs. That is a starting point for anyone he hired as a GM. Guerin promised us from the start that his team would be competitive. There is quite a difference between being competitive and being a contender. Competitive play is something I have defined as having meaningful games with a chance at playoffs with 10 games to go. Not a mathematical chance, a real bonafide chance. This box has been checked every year he's been GM except for this year. The word "rebuild" was not to be uttered. Retool, fine. It is possible to do this and build a contender, however, to do this and be competitive, it would require not missing on 1sts (in the late teens/early 20s) and getting some luck in later picks. It is understood that these players would take the full 5 years to develop. Guerin has bought time by having a competitive roster while at the same time rebuilding a cupboard of prospects that is the envy of most teams. A competitive team is one who makes the playoffs. This team has overperformed and even achieved home ice advantage once. However, being competitive likely means you are 1/8 teams to exit the playoffs after the 1st round. Essentially, luck would be needed to advance, and some teams get that, we didn't. Selling off all of our parts on the firebird that weren't glued down is not the direction to go. Selling off the parts that are not part of the future (not the future core) is the way to go. Specifically, this targets a guy like Middleton who is useful for the future but probably not the core. I've come to grips with probably selling off Duhaime and Dewar, even though they are good, cheap pieces, but they can be backfilled. What makes anyone think that Guerin/Brackett haven't reloaded? The main issue here is that we haven't been back in the garage to see what is soon to be placed under the hood, a completely rebuilt 420 hp v-8 along with new nimble handling. Unfortunately, it is still under construction as those custom parts take awhile to be manufactured. Will they be ready next season? Probably not all of them, and the setup will need some tweaking. I don't know why we have to keep rehashing this. Nobody "botched" Rossi's development. It was obvious that myocarditis did far more developmental damage to this player than anyone realized. Prospects are supposed to gain strength in the A, Rossi lost weight compared to jrs. If he doesn't add 15 lbs. this offseason, he likely is still playing in the A, and dropping as a prospect. This wasn't a team issue, this was a Rossi issue, as it was his health that created the problem. (though I do think with the track record of our strength and conditioning coaches on other players, not putting an emphasis on strength/weight gain probably also contributed) And, the injuries. For the last 3 seasons, we have been pretty fortunate when it came to injuries. This season, we were not. It's not just man hours down, it's the who the man hours were, and when they happened. You can make the case that it is in aging roster, but young players got hit too. This was simply an unlucky year in this regard. When you couple $15m in lost cap space + injuries to your most important players mainly at once, you're going to get a lot of losses. Now, that said, I still maintain that this rebuild/retool/reload is about over as far as obtaining players. We will likely get a really good piece, maybe 2 this draft, but it's more or less gravy. This was signaled by Guerin/Brackett this past draft when they went for sizeable centers with the 1st 2 picks they had. This was what was missing from the prospect pool. If we stay in the position we're in now, we likely pick up a large bodied, skilled defender, or a meaningful piece at forward to add to our arsenal. Now it's about developing them and it takes pretty much the full 5 years to do this. Yurov and The Wall may take less time. Our highly touted defenders from jrs. look like they need another year, but they're on schedule. It appears that what Guerin resigned is what he wants around in veteran leadership roles. Think about this, if Dino comes over in March, and plays like we think he will, we have Zuccarello's replacement on and ELC until Zuccarello's contract is over. We have Yurov's contract on an ELC until Hartman's is over. We likely don't sign Stramel until next season when his ELC coincides with Foligno's being over. Kumpulainen is the same way. And Freddy will be taking shootout position 3 chances well into his contract where his turn is 30 seconds long. When does Johansson's contract expire? When Rossi needs his extension. Faber is the Wild Card here, as his deal will eat up half of the $15m we get back from the cap penalties. Kaprizov probably eats up another $3m. There is a method here. There is timing. It's not gloom and doom for the future.

Hey Tony, just want to say well done on the draft coverage by all of you at HW. Speaking for myself, I really appreciate all the coverage. Thank you.

Since I'm not sure everyone will go to the older thread where I posted this a little earlier, I'm posting it again here. Russo confirms the plan is for Ohgren on line #2, and a Faber return Saturday! 1. Boldy-Rossi-Zuccarello 2. Ohgren-Eriksson Ek-Hartman 3. Foligno-Gaudreau-Trenin 4. Shore-Khusnutdinov-Lauko Gaunce 1. Middleton-Faber 2. Chisholm-Bogosian 3. Merrill-Jiricek Dermott

The Wild need to get a 2nd line scorer to HELP Boldy, not to send him out and find a replacement...

I think the best part of getting him is that, for us, he doesn't HAVE to be that smooth skating defenseman who can keep up with a Connor McDavid or a Connor Bedard like he did for Columbus. We have those players already. What we don't really have is a blueline bomber since we shipped out Addison for being bad at defense. So, for now, Jiricek can focus on the positive aspects of his game while continuing to work on the weaknesses behind the scenes and, hopefully, during the offseason. Honestly reading about his struggles at the NHL level reminds me a LOT of what Marco Rossi went through. And he's turned out pretty okay with a little more experience so far...

We've seen the difference between AHL speed and NHL speed. However, you can counterract that in ways. Trenin and Foligno aren't fast guys, but they are defensively sound and hit people. Rossi isn't the fastest center, but always seems to have a knack for clutch points. I don't think anyone is expecting a Brodin, Spurgeon, Faber, or Buium smooth skater. They are giving Jiricek a chance to be "different." If he disrupts and plays fearlessly, that can be an ice tilting player. Those reports tell me he isn't all offense. It's just a part he can play. If he has the willingness to use his strengths and hide his weaknesses, he could be a Middleton type, but even younger. No one accuses Middleton of being the strongest skater or defensive wizard, but look at this guy this year. He has his place next to a more defense oriented guy and doesn't shit the bed unlike last year. Jiricek has the size and apparent confidence to be a game changer. Unless he's Ryan Reaves slow, he should get a leash.

Interesting how nearly every early scout on this guy had skating as a strength. Now it's not? I have only seen the available clips and can't really guage it, but it's not sticking out as a glaring issue. I am excited for the transaction. The Wild need someone who likes to punish on the ice. Plus, that hammer of a shot. Get Mr. Ness to work.

It also helps that the start of the season isn't bogged down by Addison, Merrill, Mermis, and Goligoski. Instead, you get Spurgeon back with Middleton, Bogo, Chisholm, and Faber one year older. I'd like to think many of Gus (and Fleury's) problems were a result of the defense being a mess last year. They played better when Bogo and Chisholm were added, but you can't tell me Brodin/Faber and Middleton/Spurgeon doesn't settle things down quite a bit. If Spurgeon gets anywhere close to his former self, you really only have Merrill at #7 that's "kinda" weak. There's no excuse for Gus and Fleury to improve from 55-60 in both major categories. You'd also assume Wallstedt would not surrender 7 to a Dallas team if the D is on their game. This is a chance for a refresh for a lot of people on the team. If the defense plays the way they always do, the goaltending trio has no one else to blame if they falter.

I think there's this notion that the Wild NEED one of these forwards to be Kaprizov 2.0. I mean, that would be nice, but the reality is, what they need is someone, if not all of them, to be at or better than the 50-60 pt. getters. A Hartman/Zuccarello type. If you told me Yurov or Rossi or whatever became a 60-80 pt. player like Ek or Boldy, I'd be ecstatic. - There were less than 20 players who scored 40+ goals last season, 20-25, who scored 35+, and less than 50 who scored 30; many of those at 30 were bunched up together AT 30. - Less than 10 players got to 100+ points, less than 20 who hit 90, less than 30 who hit 80, and the Top 50 players top out at 70 pts. *Note: these are all NHL players, not just forwards. Players plural. That probably makes the forwards list even smaller, when you consider the tip top defenseman like Makar probably dot the list. I checked again, and 7 defenseman had 70+ points* I think the people at the tippy top and the very bottom skew what the reality is. Even getting 50 pts and being a Hartman or Zuccarello is fucking hard. Yurov getting to that and more would be nice. Kaprizov level would be a bonus.