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  • Wild Start Free Agency By Walking Away From Some RFAs


    Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports
    Thomas Williams

    There's a lot to get to so we're not going to waste any time. Sunday at 4:00 p.m. there was the deadline for NHL teams to send qualifying offers to the restricted free agents they want to keep the rights of, and send the others off to unrestricted free agency.

    The Wild, sent qualifying offers to the expected bunch -- defenseman Declan Chisholm, and forwards Sammy Walker, Adam Raska, and newly acquired Graeme Clark. However, they did not retain the rights to forwards Mason Shaw and Sam Hentges, goaltender Hunter Jones, and defenseman Simon Johansson. Those four will now become unrestricted free agents and are free to sign wherever they please.

     

    Now they're heading into free agency at 11:00 a.m. Monday with no real holes to fill. They will probably have internal competition to fill out the bottom-six forward roles that are available. And, they have six NHL defensemen on the roster already, so at the very most, they will be signing a heavily experienced veteran depth blueliner to serve as the seventh.

    That's Wild

    • The 2024 NHL Entry Draft was fun, right? The Wild selected three players that were quickly falling from where they were projected and took full advantage of that. Overall, the 2024 class was selected to pick up the pace of this team. [Hockey Wilderness]
    • Jake Middleton was supposed to sign a long-term contract extension this summer before he hits free agency in 2025. Now, with Zeev Buium in the mix, has that changed? [Hockey Wilderness]
    • According to Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, Rasmus Kumpulainen, the Wild's second-rounder from 2023, will be going back to Finland to play next season for his hometown Pelicans. He was with the OHL's Oshawa Generals.

     

    • Why exactly did Zeev Buium fall to the Wild? [FloHockey]

    Off the trail...

    • More than 60 players under the age of 27 suddenly find themselves without qualifying offers and are heading into unrestricted free agency. Some former first-round picks, and top prospects. [Sportsnet]
    • Jake Guentzel has reportedly agreed to a long-term contract after his rights were acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Now, it sure looks like captain Steven Stamkos will be leaving Florida. [Bleacher Report]
    • Looks like Patrick Kane is staying in Motor City. The veteran winger has reportedly signed another, one-year contract with the Red Wings. [NHL.com]

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    A little surprised the Wild gave Sammy Walker the qualifying offer, but not Mason Shaw. Mason Shaw seems like the more useful player for them.

    Perhaps they could still sign Shaw as an unrestricted free agent at the minimum rather than the slightly higher qualifying offer amount.

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    48 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    A little surprised the Wild gave Sammy Walker the qualifying offer

    Agree. I thought maybe they’d seen enough from Walker after his short stint last season.  Maybe the plan is to have him be the de facto captain of Iowa Wild giving some guidance to the newbies

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    Kane gone already (re-signed with Detroit, 4.5m+2m bonuses I think).  Other rumored names (Vlad, Perron, Duclair, etc) haven't moved yet.  Kane's bonuses were out the Wild's range. 

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    Be interesting is there is anyone worth while with around 6 mil in space. I don't know how much you want to keep on reserve incase of injuries and all of that but maybe you will find someone for a cheaper prove it deal that can help for the year.  Pie in the sky dream, finding ways to unload a freddie g or nojo type contract. Possibly open up 2 mil plus is gus is traded away. Not expecting much this off season but we may be surprised.

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    I hope Shaw get's back to pre injury form and finds success.  The guy showed more heart and desire and gave us the ability to roll that 4th line with confidence.  I think we just have too many young guys that need a shot.

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    Teravainen and Bertuzzi both going to the Blackhawks, while the Preds might get both Stamkos (already done) and Marchessault.  Chicago trying desperately not to look like an AHL team, and Nashville (maybe) getting help.

    Hey tankers and doomers, you just might get your wish...teams in the division aren't doing nothing.

     

    Edited by Citizen Strife
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    3 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

    Sad to see Shaw go, but maybe some other team will take a chance on him.

    I don't think he's done yet. I don't think he'll get a 1-way deal with another team, and will circle back for a 2-way deal here, likely starting again in Iowa.

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    2 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

    Agree. I thought maybe they’d seen enough from Walker after his short stint last season.  Maybe the plan is to have him be the de facto captain of Iowa Wild giving some guidance to the newbies

    I'm thinking he still had usefulness as a potential callup. Contract will be cheap on the NHL side, maybe a little more on the AHL side.

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    5 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

    I don't think he's done yet. I don't think he'll get a 1-way deal with another team, and will circle back for a 2-way deal here, likely starting again in Iowa.

    If the idea is a $1-1.2m deal for Shaw to stay as 13th forward, I'm ok with this plan.  I know flashy ass offense is important, but that PK was just fucking abysmal.  They can use all the defense they can get.

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    4 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

    If the idea is a $1-1.2m deal for Shaw to stay as 13th forward, I'm ok with this plan.  I know flashy ass offense is important, but that PK was just fucking abysmal.  They can use all the defense they can get.

    I'm thinking league minimum in the NHL and $500k in the AHL. I love Shaw's heart, but we have to face objective facts: He was slower last season after ACL #4. He may require more time than a rehab stint in the A will allow. 

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    The other idea is Heidt or even Ohgren might stay and be 2nd line scorer/13th forward instead of Shaw, and that's why they might have paid a premium on Trenin as Foligno insurance.  If Heidt doesn't exactly light the world on fire, he goes back another year and Hartman/Ohgren stay as the best 2nd line options.

    I don't think the Wild want to overspend and end back up in the "No money for callups" problem again.

     

     

    Edited by Citizen Strife
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    1 hour ago, B1GKappa97 said:

    We got Yakov Trenin according to the Athletic. Billy G adding some size and snarl to the bottom-6 to replace the Du-Dew twins.

    Paid wayyy too much for him @3.5m. We love to spend money on beef.

     

    I thought they were looking for a short term add. 4 years is right into the window but at least he is less than 30

    Edited by TheGoosesAreLooses
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    3 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

    I hope Shaw get's back to pre injury form and finds success.  The guy showed more heart and desire and gave us the ability to roll that 4th line with confidence.  I think we just have too many young guys that need a shot.

    Looks like they want to replace him with bigger guys who can play PK and hit.

    Trenin has rated pretty solidly on the PK and was one of the top hitters for Nashville in his time under Hynes. Put in a few playoff goals as well(in a 4-game sweep by Colorado).

    Maybe Trenin's better than I gave him credit for in the other comments section.

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    I looked up things to make sure.

    20-21st in GF/GA (around 250 each way)

    10th in PP% (22.7%)

    30th in PK% (74.5)

    Trenin, Spurgeon and Foligno returning, and hopefully a bounce back from Gaudreau.  Goalie voodoo might be the real reason...but holy balls.

     

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    I like the Trenin deal cause it's a guy I've been saying would help give the Wild balance. He's not too old, adds the Russian toughness factor and redundancy if Foligno is out. He's getting a little more than before which is deserved but I would have liked it to be less AAV. Not crying about it though. If Foligno really falls off or is hurt, Trenin fills that role easily.

    I have been calling for guys like this since he was still in NSH. Has GMBG been reading the comments? Now MN didn't get DuClair and Dakota Joshua signed again in Vancouver for 3.25M. 

    Now if MN can dump NoJo, I'll have gotten my way on everything off-season except the No-Euro draft distinction. 

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    33 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

    Goalie voodoo might be the real reason

    Fleury's save% of just .813 certainly wasn't helping, by far the worst of his career.

    Fleury's save% against short handed teams was even worse, putting his special teams save% down at .806.

    I'm definitely against trading Gustavsson as I'm not expecting a major bounce back from Fleury at 40 years old.

    Gus had an .879 save percentage against PP shots, with significantly more shots faced, and .883 for all special teams situations. Fleury was a bit better even strength than Gustavsson, but Gus performed better overall on the year, and was significantly better the prior year.

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    21 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    Fleury's save% against short handed teams was even worse, putting his special teams save% down at .806.

    I was wondering if we should rethink the 4 forwards PP strategy and go with 2 D? Specifically doing this on PP2 might be a good idea. 

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    1 minute ago, mnfaninnc said:

    I was wondering if we should rethink the 4 forwards PP strategy and go with 2 D? Specifically doing this on PP2 might be a good idea. 

    Well, they certainly don't need to get Johansson out there, so I could agree with that to some degree. Gus only let in 2 shorties on 26 shots against(.923). I have no idea the difference in high danger shots between him and Fleury on those(and they are small sample sizes), but the save percentage difference was staggering.

    After the upcoming season, when they can have Faber on one of the PP units, and Buium on the other, that may also produce better results.

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    6 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    After the upcoming season, when they can have Faber on one of the PP units, and Buium on the other, that may also produce better results.

    Yet, Chisholm also showed competence on the PP unit. That could be 3 defenders. Spurgeon certainly could run one. I wouldn't put Middleton or Brodin or Bogosian on a unit.

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    1 hour ago, Gritty.Not.Pretty said:

    If only we could transplant NoJo’s legs on Shaw…

    Or transplant Shaw's heart and spine into Nojo's body.  Don't even donate nojo's heart and spine for research.  destroy them with fire.

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