Report: Wild, Duhaime Avoid Arbitration With One-Year Deal

I'd be willing to bet that Foligno and Maroon will be allowed to walk at the end of the season unless Foligno is willing to take a heavy, near league minimum type discount.  Not sure about Maroon, but unless he clearly fits in and also is willing to take a very cheap contract we would likely find value within the farm system or cheap UFA signings like this year.

Nice! The deal mnfaninnc pointed out for Dellandrea might have been a factor. Duhaime is a good part of the MN squad. Hopefully he has a good year and can get another deal with MN next Summer too. Nice to see that done. MN should have a little wiggle room after Gus contract is done.

Good deal! Glad they were able to avoid arbitration. Know it’s only a 1 year deal so it kicks the can down the road until next year with some guys potentially coming off the books. 
 

Duhaime is a great bottom 6-er. Great speed, gritty, tough. Hopefully he can stay healthy, know he got hampered a bit by injury last year. 

Like the one year prove it deal keeping Duhzy hungry and playing with urgency next season

5 hours ago, GhostWolfAK said:

I'd be willing to bet that Foligno and Maroon will be allowed to walk at the end of the season unless Foligno is willing to take a heavy, near league minimum type discount.  Not sure about Maroon, but unless he clearly fits in and also is willing to take a very cheap contract we would likely find value within the farm system or cheap UFA signings like this year.

I think you already see Maroon costs less than Foligno. There's an argument for signing the three time Cup winner before the average moose. Otherwise, I totally agree. They're gonna plug holes with cheap players and remaining competitive. By the time the penalties end there will be young players ready to be joined by perhaps some big UFAs or a nice trade piece. Like you said, unless there's a nice fit for a specific guy, the Wild will stick with cheap players and internal options.

I'm glad we have Duhaime back in the fold. He does more little things that go unnoticed. I thought $1.1m was about $300k too heavy, but it's in the reasonable range. I think I had him pegged at about $1m just after the season. 

It is reported that he is also searching for a longterm deal. This could happen, but I think the team will want another season of performance before it jumps in with both feet. I thought Duhaime looked pretty good on the 3rd line, pushing him into the top 9 last season. There is a different salary structure from the 3rd line and the 4th line. 

There has been speculation about Foligno, Maroon, probably Zuccarello above. I think the transition will finally be here after this coming season, and this team's identity will again switch. We have 1 more year of grit first before we become far more skill oriented, pushing the pace and scoring more. I predict I will become very frustrated with fly by stick checks and a lack of finishing off checks, more like shinny hockey games. But, we will score more and maybe be a little looser structurally. 

I've often wondered if we could go with 3 scoring lines and 1 purely shut down line. I also suspect if you go that way, you will lose a lot of the physical play in "playing the right way." Chicago won 3 cups with that style. Will our guys be good enough? I think we've got the potential. But, the skating pace they must set in the playoffs is going to be unbelievable. 

This is pretty much how Judd has built the coming team. They'll have some height, but their weight will be light. The coming cavalry of defenders are all shorter, skate well, and are puck movers. We've got some wings with a lot of skill and questionable grit. Our centers will be varied. And we will need a couple of vets to lead us. Who are those guys? 

At that point we'll go into '25 2 players away from true contention: a RHS top D, and a true #1C. And we'll have plenty in the cupboards to trade for such players or sign them as UFAs. $15m + cap increase is a lot of financial resource! I'd suspect that both of these players will be somewhere between 28-31 years old.

One other question might be, could Spurgeon still keep up if we're playing firewagon hockey? I suspect coming off the "grit" mentality that this would play right into his strengths. He'll still battle in the corners, but will be very good in transition and following up the play. 

Russo predicted Duhaime's contract right on the nose. I think the line configurations are going to be very fluid the first 6-10 games. There are a lot of combinations that may or may not work and DE is going to have to figure them out quickly. I am anticipating a rough year on the defensive side. Tank is very good but small and starting to age. Brodin was not the same last year as he was in the past. Dumba is gone. He was much better defensively the 2nd half last year than any time in his career. Faber is a rookie and will have rookie moments. the 3rd pairing is shaping up to be a veritable disaster. They can't skate, are too small and except for Adkins are too old. The team better score a whole bunch of goals all year. It's doom and gloom Monday so take my comments with a grain of salt.

On its own, its not a bad deal. And since its just a 1-year contract, it will open up a roster spot for another bottom-6er next year. Walker or Beckman, most likely. 

However.. $1.1M is the difference between Gustav Nyquist and Marcus Johansson.. 

I think I'd rather have a top-6 quality winger in Nyquist over Mojo and Duhaime, personally, especially considering that we have bottom-6 quality guys already in the AHL waiting for their chance.

I'm generally in favor of what Billy G has done, but I think letting Nyquist go to keep these two instead was a mistake given that its the same cap-hits for either option and we've got AHLers capable of playing those minutes too. 

I think the Wild have some flexibility. They have some players they can trade. No bad contracts. Good prospects. Solid roster. More than adequate goaltending. Kaprizov and the Norwegian Hobbit. 

I think you already see the light at the end of the tunnel. Morale is likely to be at its worst now or through this season. The final year looking ahead shouldn't be too bad.

1 hour ago, Up North Guy said:

They can't skate, are too small and except for Adkins are too old. The team better score a whole bunch of goals all year. It's doom and gloom Monday so take my comments with a grain of salt.

Who is this Adkins fella? Is he 6'5" 230 mean and nasty? 

or is that Addison 😒 with an autocorrect?

58 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

On its own, its not a bad deal. And since its just a 1-year contract, it will open up a roster spot for another bottom-6er next year. Walker or Beckman, most likely. 

However.. $1.1M is the difference between Gustav Nyquist and Marcus Johansson.. 

I think I'd rather have a top-6 quality winger in Nyquist over Mojo and Duhaime, personally, especially considering that we have bottom-6 quality guys already in the AHL waiting for their chance.

I'm generally in favor of what Billy G has done, but I think letting Nyquist go to keep these two instead was a mistake given that its the same cap-hits for either option and we've got AHLers capable of playing those minutes too. 

Which bottom 6 guys are you referring to? I'd suggest that both Walker and Beckman have visions of top 6 roles, and neither is really built for the bottom 6, at least not at this time.

7 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Which bottom 6 guys are you referring to? I'd suggest that both Walker and Beckman have visions of top 6 roles, and neither is really built for the bottom 6, at least not at this time.

I’d say just about every prospect has top 6 visions. Agree though neither Walker or Beckman are suited/built for a grinder role. 
 

Think out of the 2 Beckman has the little higher ceiling and is a couple years younger. Both only had 9 games last year but I think Walker is what he’s going to be at this point.  

58 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Which bottom 6 guys are you referring to? I'd suggest that both Walker and Beckman have visions of top 6 roles, and neither is really built for the bottom 6, at least not at this time.

We've already got Ek, Kaprizov, and Boldy set up long term. Rossi should be top-6. Yurov likely is expected to be there sooner than later.

That leaves only one spot, currently occupied by Mojo, for the two of them in the future and its entirely possible they get leap-frogged by Khusnutdinov if he makes a quick transition from the KHL. 

If both Walker and Beckman make our top-6 long-term then something went wrong with our higher-ceiling player(s.)

25 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

We've already got Ek, Kaprizov, and Boldy set up long term. Rossi should be top-6. Yurov likely is expected to be there sooner than later.

That leaves only one spot, currently occupied by Mojo, for the two of them in the future and its entirely possible they get leap-frogged by Khusnutdinov if he makes a quick transition from the KHL. 

If both Walker and Beckman make our top-6 long-term then something went wrong with our higher-ceiling player(s.)

When I think of a bottom 6 player, I'm thinking of a Foligno or Maroon in his prime. I'm thinking of large thick bodies who can lay the body out, guys who can give you that big, heavy shift and change momentum. Stramel and Kumpulainen are possible guys like that, but they're 2+ seasons off. Ohgren isn't one of them, though he's probably kind of thick. 

Which brings me to my thought: What if we had a top 9 of top 6 players? What if our 4th line consisted of a defensive shut down line of bodies who could finish checks and give you that heavy shift if needed? What if it was a line similar to the performance of the GREEF line? Could a team like that, constructed in a way to push the pace and wear down opponents with skating actually work? Because that's what our prospects look like to me.

Or, are our skilled prospects bait for drafting those effective bottom 6 players? I truly believe that Stramel has top 6 capabilities and that this past season was an anomaly. 

After the transition has happened, let's say things look like this:

• Yurov-Ek-Kaprizov
• Boldy-Rossi-Khus%^&*
• Ohgren-Stramel-Beckman
• Duhaime-Kumpulainen-Dewar
• Heidt is somewhere, but I've run out of spaces
• Brodin-Spacek
• Lambos-Faber
• O'Rourke-Hunt
• Peart-???
• Gustavsson-Wallstedt

Notice that Spurgeon and Middleton aren't there. I'd like to keep Middleton, but I think Spurgeon will have aged out by then. Ek, Kaprizov, Brodin are the captains. 

The way we defend in the playoffs is using structure and quick transitions where opposing forwards will have to back off to cover against odd man rushes. It would be a little run & gun with defenders jumping into the play, more like the positionless hockey we saw in Fiala's last year. 

Could this work?

The NHL salary cap is likely to go up after next season, so the Wild will have some more flexibility in 2024. Combined with the Zuccarello contract expiring after next season, I think the team will be more than capable of navigating the final two seasons of salary cap purgatory.

Assuming the Wild can get a good 1C and a top shelf defenseman, I think they are well positioned to win, provided the prospects they stockpiled pan out. 

The only area of real concern, will be convincing Kaprizov to stay here long term. That means Evason, Brackett and Guerin have to show some progress, such as not getting bounced in round 1.

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

 

• Yurov-Kuznetsov-Kaprizov

 

OV line?

7 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Who is this Adkins fella? Is he 6'5" 230 mean and nasty? 

or is that Addison 😒 with an autocorrect?

Damn auto!

15 hours ago, Quebec1648 said:

Assuming the Wild can get a good 1C and a top shelf defenseman, I think they are well positioned to win, provided the prospects they stockpiled pan out. 

The only area of real concern, will be convincing Kaprizov to stay here long term. That means Evason, Brackett and Guerin have to show some progress, such as not getting bounced in round 1.

I disagree with that, there are many factors that help. 

1. Kaprizov loves the area
2. Getting him a local girl friend would help
3. Probably most important is showing he, and his agent, what the future looks like. It doesn't really matter what has happened, he'll resign based on what he thinks will happen.
4. The '25 offseason will be huge. '24 might bring 1 piece, but '25 is when the money frees up and we can bring in the 2 missing pieces. 
5. Yurov, Khus^&*( and Ohgren are coming over, several D from Iowa will be ready, and this team will have a real battle over who makes it. 
6. He'll probably be wearing an A that season, though, I'd suggest that his English be better than now for that to happen. 

I also believe we will see a very motivated Kaprizov this coming season. I don't think he was happy about his subpar playoffs, and I think it is motivation for a summer of hard work. From time to time, I would also double shift Kaprizov on the 4th line just so Maroon can get some time with him. I really want to see him protected better. But let me be clear, messing with Kaprizov doesn't necessarily mean that you will be messed with, messing with Kaprizov means your best player will be messed with. This was the message Hartman sent to the Jets and it likely cost them dearly in round 1. (Just that alone should give us pause to taking Hartman off of the top line)

15 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

OV line?

I still think that might be too small, though Khus%^&* is feistier than Rossi.

Oh, I had to re-read that, you said Kuznetsov not Khus%^&*. I am not a fan of Kuznetsov so please no.

13 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

Damn auto!

Since I'm blocked out of Russo, I was really hoping we made a trade!