The Wild Should Target David Jiricek In A Marco Rossi Trade

This whole article feels like a giant click bait scheme. First off to say that if Jiricek played 30 mins a night! He would score at a similar place to Faber... is preposterous. That's 5 mins more per game than ANYONE in the NHL. What a joke... and does anyone mention the fact next year the top two RHD for the Wild are already set? That would be Spurgeon and Faber. I doubt that Spurgeon is going anywhere THIS offseason since his NMC doesn't become a M-NTC until next year. And no one would be foolish enough to trade or demote Faber for an underperforming 20 year old just because he is 6'4". 

And, is this the same crowd that was up in arms about taking a hulking 6'3" forward rather than a smaller player with more skill in the draft? 

Let's put a bit more thought into the "reckless speculation"

2 hours ago, PNW Wild said:

This whole article feels like a giant click bait scheme. First off to say that if Jiricek played 30 mins a night! He would score at a similar place to Faber... is preposterous. That's 5 mins more per game than ANYONE in the NHL. What a joke... and does anyone mention the fact next year the top two RHD for the Wild are already set? That would be Spurgeon and Faber. I doubt that Spurgeon is going anywhere THIS offseason since his NMC doesn't become a M-NTC until next year. And no one would be foolish enough to trade or demote Faber for an underperforming 20 year old just because he is 6'4". 

And, is this the same crowd that was up in arms about taking a hulking 6'3" forward rather than a smaller player with more skill in the draft? 

Let's put a bit more thought into the "reckless speculation"

Pretty sure Spurgeon could be moved July 1st but has a 10-team no trade list. Other than that you're right, I don't like the idea of trading Rossi for a prospect. A top 4 d-man or a minimum 20-goal type guy.

I wouldn't have a problem if the Wild pursued Jiricek, but I wouldn't offer Rossi.  The only way I would do this is to offload an aging veteran who doesn't factor into our long-term plans, a prospect who hasn't even touched the NHL, or both.  Maybe add a 2nd or lower pick depending on what the rest of the deal is.  If Columbus that sour on him, don't give up someone valuable.  I'd rather not trade Rossi unless the other end of the deal is a young-ish player that wasn't a gamble of what they are or will be.

Would be tough to see Rossi get traded after he did exactly as we asked and he performed well for his rookie season.  If he has another good off-season he could be in-line for break out season next year.   Our centers could be:  Ek, Rossi, Yurov and Knut.  Whatever order.  Nothing wrong with that running our centers.  

I want our D to have an upgrade... really, really bad.  Preferably not at the expense of our Centers.

Not "no", but "hell no".  Rossi is young and quite good, I don't want to trade him for someone who "needs a change of scenery" or a bag of magic beans, or anything else.

9 times out of 10, "needs a change of scenery" guys come in and score a couple quick goals and then revert to being a pile of garbage.

On 4/13/2024 at 8:49 AM, mnfaninnc said:

I think you're right about size of a player, but when a team has too many small players, like the Wild do, you have to make changes. Is Rossi the right one to trade? I don't know, but he probably has the most value.

This isn't supported by data. Chicago was one of the smallest teams in the league when they won the cup in 2015 and so were Pittsburgh in 2016 + 2017. 

As a coach/ GM you have to tailor your strategy to your strengths. Both GMBG and Evason constantly stressed grit over skill and it simply doesn't mesh with our roster build. 

You can scream and threaten your cat all day wishing it was a hunting dog for waterfowl or you can put it in your barn and let it do what it was meant to, be a mouser. Either is useful when used correctly but expecting that hunting dog to be a cat or vice versa gets you no where. 

32 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

This isn't supported by data. Chicago was one of the smallest teams in the league when they won the cup in 2015 and so were Pittsburgh in 2016 + 2017. 

As a coach/ GM you have to tailor your strategy to your strengths. Both GMBG and Evason constantly stressed grit over skill and it simply doesn't mesh with our roster build. 

You can scream and threaten your cat all day wishing it was a hunting dog for waterfowl or you can put it in your barn and let it do what it was meant to, be a mouser. Either is useful when used correctly but expecting that hunting dog to be a cat or vice versa gets you no where. 

And, this is the rub, too many smaller players. Watching Rossi the last few games, I would call him short, not necessarily small. When I watch Dino, I'm seeing explosion, great small area moves, and the ability to lose his defender. Lettieri and Lucchini are merely depth players. Shaw is small but plays larger. Gaudreau is also small. Johansson isn't small but plays like he is. In fact, Shaw plays a much bigger game than the 203 Johansson. 

On defense, we've got smaller average players, but 2 bigger guys now that help. Spurgeon, the unicorn of small players is the size problem, but it's just 1 guy, and I think we have the balance there. It would be good for Faber, Chisholm, Lambos, Hunt, Spacek, Masters, Peart to all bulk up to better handle larger players. It will help them down the stretch, and it will let them absorb more. A lot of it is upper body strength. As for O'Rourke, it is imperative for him to put on 20 lbs. of muscle weight this offseason if he wants to see the NHL. Imperative for Beckman to put on 15 lbs. of muscle.

I don't know where Firstov, Yurov and Heidt are on their training journey, but they need to be at 200-205 this training camp. Jobs are up for grabs, this offseason will be very important for the young players. There are slots that can be taken. Who wants it the most?

As for Rossi, I would trade him if the right deal came along. The Jiricek deal was the right one for me. I don't think you can do it this summer, though, I think you need to see what he does in the offseason and we need the center production likely for at least one more year. To me, Jiricek would be the CBJ initiation of the trade, not the Wild. And, if ping pong balls don't fall our way, I'd want to swap positions in the 1st round with CBJ.