Zeev Buium Can Succeed Where Calen Addison Failed

If he blocks a shot or strips a puck from an opposing player, he'll already be better than Addison.

If he adds an inch or two of height and some weight before another NCAA season, that's a win.

If he works on the risk/reward element of his game, that's a win.

If he refines his skating and edges to become better with gaps and positioning defensively, that's a win.

Minnesota has a player who could realistically win again at the NCAA level while improving his game in a few areas making him nearly NHL ready. He's not as sound as Faber today, but with another year of college hockey it's fair to ask if he's ready to replace Merrill and join the Wild. Guys like McAvoy, Hughes, or Fox make it clear Buium could be in the NHL sooner than later.

I think the coachability and raw talent combined with better size makes Buium way better than Addison in every way. Much more translatable to the NHL than Addison's one-faceted PP & playmaking-prowess.

1 hour ago, Protec said:

If he works on the risk/reward element of his game, that's a win.

Dumba's biggest flaw.  Chisholm too.  It's a fine line.

Zeev is better than Addison in every way.  If Spurgeon finds his game I'm not sure why he has to be on the outs.  A D-core of Spurgeon, Mid, Faber, Brodin, Zeev, Chisholm and Aron looks pretty good to me.  Add Hunt or Lambos to the mix for some tough decisions, which is what you want.  

Thanks for the article but few items i disagree on - 

there are a ton of unknowns with any rookie, no matter how talented or how much praise they came in with....so let's pause on a few things -

• He mentioned that his Hockey IQ is NHL ready? I can mention that i am the greatest hockey mind in the history of the sports! yet most of you don't listen! So let's not take him at his words - yet 🙂 (me on the other hands - yes do take my words as truth)
• Comparing him to proven NHL players - (actually NHL superstars like Fox and Makar) - using only scoring statistics is a fun exercise but it does not guarantee that the skills will translate to the NHL in the same manner that made Makar and Fox a standout. Hold those horses.
• Saying Faber will be the best defenseman in the league under 24 is also jumping ahead a bit. He may - but that is an assumption and a wish and likely a logical progression for him but not a given. 
• Saying Buium already has a much better IQ as a facilitator than Chissy is also very much a hot take based on nothing. I actually find Chissy a very good facilitator on PP. Let's not dump on a player yet in favor of a rookie. 
• Another folly is saying that Buium can debut on Midds line and Midds taking physical burden off him. Without Spurge - Midds is like Merrill. That is not who you want to partner the rook with. Perhaps Brodin? yes Brodin.

Too many things are presented as a fact, as a given and yet they are NOT any of that. They are just wishes of the writer. Of course if Buium is the next Makar we will all be very happy. But let's be real - there are better odds that he is not that, he can be a good player - but let's not label all our picks as superstars yet; not him and not Yurov (we only have one superstar - see my last paragraph). I would also be a bit skeptical at why he dropped all the way to 12th....are we suggesting  there were 11 idiots ahead of us? Cause Makar 2.0 is better than ANY of the draftees!

Here are the facts that this Greatest Hockey Mind offers free of charge - 

Kaprizov is a TOP 5 player in the league and Wild have done nothing to ensure that he stays here. NOTHING. Just wanted to re-iterate both points. I won't join the celebration parade to anoint the next great D prospect given how idiotic our approach has been with what should be a true priority item. In a year - Kap will leave. And he will leave because we have kept our pick and drafted another D prospect. We have kept Rossi. We have signed Midds and Yasha. We have kept Spurge and kept his Captaincy. We have extended all aging have beens to contracts that will last longer than Kap's. All this is maddening. Sorry i had to vent out some frustrations here 😜

12 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

Thanks for the article but few items i disagree on - 

there are a ton of unknowns with any rookie, no matter how talented or how much praise they came in with....so let's pause on a few things -

• He mentioned that his Hockey IQ is NHL ready? I can mention that i am the greatest hockey mind in the history of the sports! yet most of you don't listen! So let's not take him at his words - yet 🙂 (me on the other hands - yes do take my words as truth)
• Comparing him to proven NHL players - (actually NHL superstars like Fox and Makar) - using only scoring statistics is a fun exercise but it does not guarantee that the skills will translate to the NHL in the same manner that made Makar and Fox a standout. Hold those horses.
• Saying Faber will be the best defenseman in the league under 24 is also jumping ahead a bit. He may - but that is an assumption and a wish and likely a logical progression for him but not a given. 
• Saying Buium already has a much better IQ as a facilitator than Chissy is also very much a hot take based on nothing. I actually find Chissy a very good facilitator on PP. Let's not dump on a player yet in favor of a rookie. 
• Another folly is saying that Buium can debut on Midds line and Midds taking physical burden off him. Without Spurge - Midds is like Merrill. That is not who you want to partner the rook with. Perhaps Brodin? yes Brodin.

Too many things are presented as a fact, as a given and yet they are NOT any of that. They are just wishes of the writer. Of course if Buium is the next Makar we will all be very happy. But let's be real - there are better odds that he is not that, he can be a good player - but let's not label all our picks as superstars yet; not him and not Yurov (we only have one superstar - see my last paragraph). I would also be a bit skeptical at why he dropped all the way to 12th....are we suggesting  there were 11 idiots ahead of us? Cause Makar 2.0 is better than ANY of the draftees!

Here are the facts that this Greatest Hockey Mind offers free of charge - 

Kaprizov is a TOP 5 player in the league and Wild have done nothing to ensure that he stays here. NOTHING. Just wanted to re-iterate both points. I won't join the celebration parade to anoint the next great D prospect given how idiotic our approach has been with what should be a true priority item. In a year - Kap will leave. And he will leave because we have kept our pick and drafted another D prospect. We have kept Rossi. We have signed Midds and Yasha. We have kept Spurge and kept his Captaincy. We have extended all aging have beens to contracts that will last longer than Kap's. All this is maddening. Sorry i had to vent out some frustrations here 😜

 

 

KA-BOOM!!!!

More truth bombs from ODC.  Preach!!!

#ODChottakefriday

#dontbedumbbill

I 100% agree with old Dutch. I’m sick of the over hyping of kids.  Some might make it and most won’t. Sing there praises when the make it . We just got done over hyping the last batch of prospects. Where are they?  Billy boxed them out with his STUPID  contracts and clauses.  Just his contracts should tell you Billy is clueless. Billy is on k fan saying Hartman and zuc are going back to top line . Ek Boldy and Jo Jo 2 nd. Yeah like we all haven’t seen that . It didn’t work last year or will it next year. What a flipping visionary Billy is to keep doing the same thing. Hartman and zucc are to old and small to play with kappy. Jo Jo is never going to do anything but billy is just going to keep pounding that square peg in round hole . He’s given us years of these misfits doing jack shit and we’re supposed to want more .  Where is Fred going to ruin a line next year. We know he’s going to be given every opportunity to do nothing.  Then you have our tiny d core only getting smaller with spurg coming back. They couldn’t stop shi_t last year because they are to weak and small . So the league spent the summer getting bigger and we think little spurg is the answer. Come on. This roster can’t beat any good team or any playoff team . What has Billy done to make us better. Every gm gets draft picks. So where are these kids or the assets you could get from these kids? Nowhere. Look around the league and see Philly went from rebuild into moving forward In a year or 2. Nashville 2 years to recalibrated. Damn the sharks are about to pas by us. Real GMs get shit done. Billy sits on his handcuffed hands . 
    Honestly it’s time to get rid of Billy and to get a gm to fix his mess. He’s going to lose kappy because he’s such an incompetent, stubborn, clueless good ole boy. His ego needs to be shipped back to Boston . Take Fred 

“ Let’s say he takes Faber’s development path.” Yes to this except he’ll be a lot younger than BF if he can make it at the end of next season. That’s my optimistic take. ELC 2 years minimum. 

4 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

Thanks for the article but few items i disagree on - 

there are a ton of unknowns with any rookie, no matter how talented or how much praise they came in with....so let's pause on a few things -

• He mentioned that his Hockey IQ is NHL ready? I can mention that i am the greatest hockey mind in the history of the sports! yet most of you don't listen! So let's not take him at his words - yet 🙂 (me on the other hands - yes do take my words as truth)
• Comparing him to proven NHL players - (actually NHL superstars like Fox and Makar) - using only scoring statistics is a fun exercise but it does not guarantee that the skills will translate to the NHL in the same manner that made Makar and Fox a standout. Hold those horses.
• Saying Faber will be the best defenseman in the league under 24 is also jumping ahead a bit. He may - but that is an assumption and a wish and likely a logical progression for him but not a given. 
• Saying Buium already has a much better IQ as a facilitator than Chissy is also very much a hot take based on nothing. I actually find Chissy a very good facilitator on PP. Let's not dump on a player yet in favor of a rookie. 
• Another folly is saying that Buium can debut on Midds line and Midds taking physical burden off him. Without Spurge - Midds is like Merrill. That is not who you want to partner the rook with. Perhaps Brodin? yes Brodin.

Too many things are presented as a fact, as a given and yet they are NOT any of that. They are just wishes of the writer. Of course if Buium is the next Makar we will all be very happy. But let's be real - there are better odds that he is not that, he can be a good player - but let's not label all our picks as superstars yet; not him and not Yurov (we only have one superstar - see my last paragraph). I would also be a bit skeptical at why he dropped all the way to 12th....are we suggesting  there were 11 idiots ahead of us? Cause Makar 2.0 is better than ANY of the draftees!

Here are the facts that this Greatest Hockey Mind offers free of charge - 

Kaprizov is a TOP 5 player in the league and Wild have done nothing to ensure that he stays here. NOTHING. Just wanted to re-iterate both points. I won't join the celebration parade to anoint the next great D prospect given how idiotic our approach has been with what should be a true priority item. In a year - Kap will leave. And he will leave because we have kept our pick and drafted another D prospect. We have kept Rossi. We have signed Midds and Yasha. We have kept Spurge and kept his Captaincy. We have extended all aging have beens to contracts that will last longer than Kap's. All this is maddening. Sorry i had to vent out some frustrations here 😜

 

 

Your facts contain a lot of complaining without offering a solution..... 

1 hour ago, Peter Lemonjello said:

Your facts contain a lot of complaining without offering a solution..... 

if they are facts then the rest is irrelevant. we all voiced our ideas and proposals, but there is only one decision maker and with that - there is no solution as the man in charge has his own vision that is as clear as outhouse pit in kaprizov's dacha....which is where he is now wondering what da F#CK the wild are doing! 

I find it curious that in a rant focused on not counting chickens before they hatch, also rips about the GM being an idiot and Fred/Nojo & the little defense have sunk the Wild. 

Strangely, the Wild have made the playoffs every Guerin season except the one when Spurgeon was injured and even then, they didn't miss by a lot. 

The overall frustration with having a team that doesn't get past round one is understandable but talk to Carolina, Toronto, NYI, NSH, Vancouver, etc. MN isn't the only team that wants to win and hasn't. 

If MN got a guy who had been projected as early as the top 5 in the draft, why not be positive. Tkachuk went 7th, and Pastrnak like 20th or so. Teams this year went with size and some went harder at the forward position. There were lots of good players and a few teams might have been apprehensive to take a NCAA kid after seeing what happened to Philly. That most likely had an impact on MN getting Buium due to Gauthier refusing to sign there. Briere took the PR lumps and 2025 3rd and MN was able to get the best player available with a USA hockey product similar to Faber in some ways. 

The Wild are all about potential and promising futures. The past is history and not really indicative of future results. MN is experiencing turnover at the NHL level but it's not flashy, you can't sign guys like Spurgeon, Brodin, and Ek without risking some regression late in the contract. Every team deals with this.

Some people have the memory of a fruit-fly. MN was predicted to suck after the buyouts and comments here railed about how Suter was so tradable it's not even funny. Well MN didn't need Suter to finish ahead of Dallas. Parise didn't make the Isles a Conference Champ, and MN ran into a hot Blues team. Evason arguably blew that series with his goalie and details mistakes. The moves have to play out and the games too. Who predicted all that or that NSH would go on a run last year like they did? Who knew a Winnipeg team without Wheeler and Maurice would be back near the top of the Central? 

To claim the Wild will be only slightly better than Chicago in July and that their first round pick might not make it to the NHL is slanted pretty negatively to a degree it diminishes the credibility. 

When we were ripping on Fenton the negative comments were all dead on and Sokolov/Khavanov were the top Russian hopefuls but one was fat and the other didn't listen to coaches. Things are quite different now and all the Guerin front office "drama" didn't stop USA hockey from selecting him. My gut tells me that was blown out of proportion and some people don't like his personality more than anything. Some people wanna put a spotlight on that and ignore the many successes the Wild have had in recent years. 

We have to take the good with the bad? Anyone wanna go back to Fletcher or Fenton? I don't think so. Guerin isn't getting fired anytime soon. Let's see what happens this year and be hopeful the Russian and NCAA 1st rounders reach new levels. MN will get a clean slate in October so I'll complain then if the wheels fall off. I'm not too worried Chicago, Utah, and Nashville signed some new flashy guys. 

15 hours ago, Dean said:

Honestly it’s time to get rid of Billy and to get a gm to fix his mess. He’s going to lose kappy because he’s such an incompetent, stubborn, clueless good ole boy. 

First, I completely agree with yours and ODC team assessments.  The roster management is perplexing at best.  However, I'm starting to think this is now above the GM level.  Since OCL has been with the Wild, we are on the 4th GM and 7th HC.  And not even sure we are treading water with a 2008 Wild roster.  OCL seems to be a business-man, not a passionate about winning it all sports guy.  The very odd contracts for Parise-Suter also started on OCL's watch.  Many office decisions that are inconsistent with a winning team roster, coaching, style of play.  You can shuffle the hypothetical line ups all you want, but in the end we are still a small, slow, timid team that won't get past a 1st round without major changes.  

The OCL hate dropped off badly after Fenton was fired but before that we all agreed he was meddling and interfering. 

Would I be surprised if that was still happening to the extent MN is trying to make the playoffs every year, not at all.

I just don't see it as badly given the overall trajectory over Guerin's time. If you graphed the Wild's existence it wouldn't look too bad in the past few years with just a flat or slight bump down last year. All results have ended in the first round since losing to Chicago. We've got no Tuch and 2017 & 2018 there was no 1st round pick at all. 

I just think it gets weird when you pick and choose things to weigh differently in criticism. Guerin signed all of MN's core and some really nice ones. His group has drafted pretty well with some results beginning to show. Guerin also dumped a lot of prior contracts and players for nice returns. The Wild have more now than under Fletcher or Fenton with a top ten player in the league and good prospects. It's just discounted so easily, that it's weird people want Guerin fired cause he extended the guys who had been winning and overperformed AND because Kaprizov "might" not stay in MN where metro-crime and taxes both suck. Oh yeah, and he allegedly yelled at a guy and that person filed an abuse report which went nowhere. 

I don't agree with every Guerin decision but I don't think he's getting fired or the Wild are headed for the NHL gutter.

2 hours ago, hydguy75 said:

still a small, slow, timid team that won't get past a 1st round without major changes. 

This is why Zuccy gets dealt before the season starts.  Be prepared for the return to be underwhelming but it's the best thing for the team.  Opens up a middle six spot that a prospect get forced into whether he's 100% ready or not.

#hottakesaturday

#milnewatch

18 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

so let's pause on a few things -

• He mentioned that his Hockey IQ is NHL ready? I can mention that i am the greatest hockey mind in the history of the sports! yet most of you don't listen! So let's not take him at his words - yet 🙂 (me on the other hands - yes do take my words as truth)
• Comparing him to proven NHL players - (actually NHL superstars like Fox and Makar) - using only scoring statistics is a fun exercise but it does not guarantee that the skills will translate to the NHL in the same manner that made Makar and Fox a standout. Hold those horses.
• Saying Faber will be the best defenseman in the league under 24 is also jumping ahead a bit. He may - but that is an assumption and a wish and likely a logical progression for him but not a given. 
• Saying Buium already has a much better IQ as a facilitator than Chissy is also very much a hot take based on nothing. I actually find Chissy a very good facilitator on PP. Let's not dump on a player yet in favor of a rookie. 
• Another folly is saying that Buium can debut on Midds line and Midds taking physical burden off him. Without Spurge - Midds is like Merrill. That is not who you want to partner the rook with. Perhaps Brodin? yes Brodin.

Too many things are presented as a fact, as a given and yet they are NOT any of that. They are just wishes of the writer. Of course if Buium is the next Makar we will all be very happy. But let's be real - there are better odds that he is not that, he can be a good player - but let's not label all our picks as superstars yet; not him and not Yurov (we only have one superstar - see my last paragraph). I would also be a bit skeptical at why he dropped all the way to 12th....are we suggesting  there were 11 idiots ahead of us? Cause Makar 2.0 is better than ANY of the draftees!

So, let's talk turkey. 1st of all, the headline of this article reads "Buium can succeed where Addison failed."

• This is a true statement based specifically on this statistic/measurement: Addison is 5'11" 172 on Elite Prospects, while Buium is 6' 185. Just on this alone, Kalisha's headline is accurate. Buium has more to offer physically instead of getting abused outside of the camera as Addison repeatedly was. 
• Next is the level that Buium was able to be successful at, the NCAA which most would agree is a harder league than the WHL. 
• Interestingly, Buium appears to be getting better. Addison's numbers were the same as he moved up or moving down. Buium had 1 bad year with the USNDTP jrs. where his +/- was -17 with very little offense. I'll propose 2 possible reasons for this: He was on a terrible team, or, he had yet to hit his growth spurt and was tiny. 
• Now, here's the kicker. After that season, he has been very good in the +/- rating since that season, scoring in double digit + column. Addison, however, has a history of being a heavy - in this column and has never scored a double digit +. 
• Deployment-Addison was deployed heavily on PPs, and hidden at even strength or the PK. The eye test says he was brutal defensively, the kind of player who'd give coaches ulcers. Buium, however, led the NCAA skaters in TOI, was deployed against college hockey's top lines, and played in all situations. In a tougher league, that would suggest he's already better than Addison. 

Now, to ODC's main point, and the point of Dean also:

• Buium hasn't done anything in the A or in the N. He is a prospect still well protected in an eggshell. 
• Is Buium going to be a star? Nobody knows. I'd suggest he will be a great find and 11 other GMs are going to be eating crow, but that is just conjecture at this point.
• Buium is by no means huge. He's bigger than Addison, but so are 90% of all other defensemen. 
• Comparing him to Makar and Heiskenen, and Fox now is a bit ridiculous. Comparing him to Makar and Fox in college is a valid comparison. But, to do so, you also need to use some underlying numbers, like deployment. 

Let's remember, this is a comparison article between Buium and Addison, not Buium and Fox, Makar, and Heiskenen. 

The main question both Dean and ODC bring up is how does this help us resign Kaprizov? A very valid question.

1. Buium should be ready after next season to make the jump. He will add more skill to the blueline. More skill considering Bogosian, Middleton, and Brodin is a pretty low bar, I'll admit.
2. Not related to this, but I think Yak is probably a very good add to help with the team and shore up deficiencies on the PK. 
3. Rossi improving, and if he has another offseason like the past one, he could be very difficult to play against. Where I differ from your thoughts is that I like the young kids and watching the development of them. They are unreliable at this point since we don't know the production, but it's the young kids who will help Kaprizov make deep playoff runs. 
4. There's a lot of ifs in this, and you guys do not like to deal in ifs, you want solid, consistent production. I don't think we're in a position to do this in the top 6 without the kids, the penalties will just not allow it. But, I do like and enjoy watching the progression of the kids develop into real NHLers, and have been very frustrated with the lack of commitment from some of them to create full NHL bodies. 
5. We've got a great stable of prospects right now. Some will make it, most will not. But, from the top 2 rounds, we've got an awful lot of players in there. These players have the highest hit rate of draftees, and I think if we hit at average, we'll have a very good team, if we hit a little above average, we'll have a great team. But, it is a few years away. 
6. Looking at the way the league works, getting the superstar and then building around them is the best way for them to win their cup. Few mercenaries get this done, and those guys aren't generally superstars, they are lower lineup character guys, like the Maroons. Superstars tend to win early or late in their careers depending on where the team was when he was drafted and 1st came into the league. Of course, this assumes that superstars were top 5 picks in the draft, not 5th rounders. 

All said, Buium does not move the needle this season, unless this team makes the playoffs. I believe Buium will be ready to move into a slot like Faber was at the end of this season. It took Faber an extra year to come in with an NHL body even though he needed more strength. Looking at Buium's brother, I don't think strength will be a huge problem for Zeev, he'll also have plenty of motivation (from the little brother complex). 

Both Faber and Buium were used to big icetime in the NCAAs. I'm sure Buium will be in full game shape when he arrives. It's a little early to call him a star. Right now, he's considered a highly valued prospect. 

3 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Addison, however, has a history of being a heavy - in this column and has never scored a double digit +. 

Guerin was in the Penguins draft room when they drafted Addison.  Guerin cherry picked Addison as part of the Zucker trade.  Love Zucker or hate him he had a high market value at time of trade.  Couple years later the Addison experiment is over.  Couple years after that Addison is cut by the #$%^ing Sharks, and presumably out of the league. 

It's the scouting staff's job to identify talent thru draft or trade. (Grade B.  if Hooz Nuts and Ogie play a regular nhl shift this year it'll got to B+)

It's the GM's job to make shrewd business decisions and make the most thru asset (players, prospects, draft picks, future consid., etc).  Apathetic old core early extensions last year were not a shrewd business move.  just the opposite.  Extending knee injury Midzy a full season before it's necessary is a "I learned nothing last season, and you can't tell me what to do and to prove it I'll make the same mistake again" move.  Meanwhile other GM's are waiving good players (Goodrow) to short circuit their NMC's in order to manage the cap and improve the team.  But P-trap won't the players think the GM is mean?  It's a business and it should be run like a business!  I wonder if it's the classic surround yourself with yes-men kind of organization.  If Guerin buys the players loyalty he's surrounded by loyal followers.  If this scenario proves to be our reality during Guerin's tenure we'll be pining for the high flying Fletcher years. And fans will be in for 5 more years of bottom six hockey.

#mismanagementofassets

#happysaturday

Jeepers, why pump the breaks on Zeev so hard?

1) Were you watching him at the 4? He was lights out. He was lights out at WJC. He is noticeable during the big games.

2) Physically ready... dude did very well at the combine, even pulled a #1 in one event.

3) Size, that one is overblown on this player 6'0" + is good enough for hall of fame defense men & he isn't a complete feather either.

Do I think there are some "dumb" GM for not taking him, a little, yes. Though, from what I was seeing, there ended up being a lot of draft picks based on need this year (most teams REALLY didn't seem to be into L. shot D with all other things being equal). Also, like last years' Wild, if you look at some of these "bizarre" risers, it appears that some of the teams were weighting combine results into their decisions quite a bit this year. It makes me wonder if certain teams may take the NFL road with the combine, where some teams will prioritize early developing manly men over skilled string beans

19 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Guerin was in the Penguins draft room when they drafted Addison.  Guerin cherry picked Addison as part of the Zucker trade.

This is very true, but Guerin was not the chief scout nor was he the GM. Rutherford was. Rutherford was the same guy who took Ryan Murphy at 7. Rutherford had some drafting horror stories. 

Now, Guerin may have had Addison in the A and saw what he could do and what he could become, but I don't know that he really understood Addison's stubbornness and refusal to learn defense. Addison had played exactly 3 games for Pens-A. 2 assists. 

I chalk that up to very small sample size at the end of the year. Addison didn't want to learn to play defense, Addison didn't want to bulk up, Addison didn't want to make contact with anyone, that's hard to ascertain in 3 games. I would say that Guerin never once went on a field trip to Lethbridge to watch him play. 

But, at the same time, looking at this, ODC has a point about Buium, he's played no games in the A or N, so we don't know how his game will translate. We do, however, happen to know that Faber was highly scouted by us here, and by midyear of his final year at MN, it was said he could make the jump, his skating was elite. Perhaps we get the same with Buium, as we will now have a scout tasked with watching him and Lorenz.

21 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

Thanks for the article but few items i disagree on - 

there are a ton of unknowns with any rookie, no matter how talented or how much praise they came in with....so let's pause on a few things -

• He mentioned that his Hockey IQ is NHL ready? I can mention that i am the greatest hockey mind in the history of the sports! yet most of you don't listen! So let's not take him at his words - yet 🙂 (me on the other hands - yes do take my words as truth)
• Comparing him to proven NHL players - (actually NHL superstars like Fox and Makar) - using only scoring statistics is a fun exercise but it does not guarantee that the skills will translate to the NHL in the same manner that made Makar and Fox a standout. Hold those horses.
• Saying Faber will be the best defenseman in the league under 24 is also jumping ahead a bit. He may - but that is an assumption and a wish and likely a logical progression for him but not a given. 
• Saying Buium already has a much better IQ as a facilitator than Chissy is also very much a hot take based on nothing. I actually find Chissy a very good facilitator on PP. Let's not dump on a player yet in favor of a rookie. 
• Another folly is saying that Buium can debut on Midds line and Midds taking physical burden off him. Without Spurge - Midds is like Merrill. That is not who you want to partner the rook with. Perhaps Brodin? yes Brodin.

Too many things are presented as a fact, as a given and yet they are NOT any of that. They are just wishes of the writer. Of course if Buium is the next Makar we will all be very happy. But let's be real - there are better odds that he is not that, he can be a good player - but let's not label all our picks as superstars yet; not him and not Yurov (we only have one superstar - see my last paragraph). I would also be a bit skeptical at why he dropped all the way to 12th....are we suggesting  there were 11 idiots ahead of us? Cause Makar 2.0 is better than ANY of the draftees!

Here are the facts that this Greatest Hockey Mind offers free of charge - 

Kaprizov is a TOP 5 player in the league and Wild have done nothing to ensure that he stays here. NOTHING. Just wanted to re-iterate both points. I won't join the celebration parade to anoint the next great D prospect given how idiotic our approach has been with what should be a true priority item. In a year - Kap will leave. And he will leave because we have kept our pick and drafted another D prospect. We have kept Rossi. We have signed Midds and Yasha. We have kept Spurge and kept his Captaincy. We have extended all aging have beens to contracts that will last longer than Kap's. All this is maddening. Sorry i had to vent out some frustrations here 😜

 

 

We can always count on you to beat a dead horse far more than it needs to be and have an off the wall out of touch opinion on hockey things can’t we? We got the steal of the draft by most hockey outlets and you somehow attribute it as a bad thing. Then you piss and moan about it as if it has anything to do with keeping Kaprizov. I guess you haven’t figured out our cap and how that all works yet because you somehow think it’s so easy to pick up all these high quality players and think they’re going to take a pay cut because it’s Minnesota.

Minnesota isn’t a super desirable place to be.Just about everyone on here has thought about the fact we need better players around Kap to keep him happy. You’re not saying anything we haven’t already thought of. You just don’t seem to understand that it’s not plausible with our signings and our cap space. If I was you I’d mentally prepare yourself to lose Kap. 

6 hours ago, Protec said:

I find it curious that in a rant focused on not counting chickens before they hatch, also rips about the GM being an idiot and Fred/Nojo & the little defense have sunk the Wild. 

Strangely, the Wild have made the playoffs every Guerin season except the one when Spurgeon was injured and even then, they didn't miss by a lot. 

The overall frustration with having a team that doesn't get past round one is understandable but talk to Carolina, Toronto, NYI, NSH, Vancouver, etc. MN isn't the only team that wants to win and hasn't. 

If MN got a guy who had been projected as early as the top 5 in the draft, why not be positive. Tkachuk went 7th, and Pastrnak like 20th or so. Teams this year went with size and some went harder at the forward position. There were lots of good players and a few teams might have been apprehensive to take a NCAA kid after seeing what happened to Philly. That most likely had an impact on MN getting Buium due to Gauthier refusing to sign there. Briere took the PR lumps and 2025 3rd and MN was able to get the best player available with a USA hockey product similar to Faber in some ways. 

The Wild are all about potential and promising futures. The past is history and not really indicative of future results. MN is experiencing turnover at the NHL level but it's not flashy, you can't sign guys like Spurgeon, Brodin, and Ek without risking some regression late in the contract. Every team deals with this.

Some people have the memory of a fruit-fly. MN was predicted to suck after the buyouts and comments here railed about how Suter was so tradable it's not even funny. Well MN didn't need Suter to finish ahead of Dallas. Parise didn't make the Isles a Conference Champ, and MN ran into a hot Blues team. Evason arguably blew that series with his goalie and details mistakes. The moves have to play out and the games too. Who predicted all that or that NSH would go on a run last year like they did? Who knew a Winnipeg team without Wheeler and Maurice would be back near the top of the Central? 

To claim the Wild will be only slightly better than Chicago in July and that their first round pick might not make it to the NHL is slanted pretty negatively to a degree it diminishes the credibility. 

When we were ripping on Fenton the negative comments were all dead on and Sokolov/Khavanov were the top Russian hopefuls but one was fat and the other didn't listen to coaches. Things are quite different now and all the Guerin front office "drama" didn't stop USA hockey from selecting him. My gut tells me that was blown out of proportion and some people don't like his personality more than anything. Some people wanna put a spotlight on that and ignore the many successes the Wild have had in recent years. 

We have to take the good with the bad? Anyone wanna go back to Fletcher or Fenton? I don't think so. Guerin isn't getting fired anytime soon. Let's see what happens this year and be hopeful the Russian and NCAA 1st rounders reach new levels. MN will get a clean slate in October so I'll complain then if the wheels fall off. I'm not too worried Chicago, Utah, and Nashville signed some new flashy guys. 

First - great weather - Bryant Lake is wonderful 🍻 Some responses -

I find it curious that in a rant focused on not counting chickens before they hatch, also rips about the GM being an idiot  After five years on the job, i think its fair for people to start analyzing the GM of the team, especially after the worst season of his tenure (performance-wise; his overall worse is likely when he started signing people to NTCs and 4 year contracts.....) and potentially the last year with the only superstar the team ever had (let's be honest - we may be starting to listen to trade offers as soon as next season comes around, if not by this trade deadline if Wild are stumbling and Kap is just being brutalized, with no one by Zuccy and Harty on his line) My main points were always that Wild's focus should be on the now, showing to the superstar this YEAR that he is priority number one. its irrelevant what pipeline we are building. None of our prospects or players matter as much as Kap.  Kap is crucial not ony to the success on the ice, but also from financial and marketing strategy. But - i believe, he has been mostly forgotten this off season. Perhaps for some teams, focusing on prospects and building up that youth movement makes sense given their trajectory, for us  - it does not. We should have worked on optimizing the team immediately (we had the picks, prospects and assets to use), but instead have proceeded like we are fine with progression speed- which is likely 2-3 out at LEAST (and that means without Kap). At this point, just trade Kap and bottom out. Without him Wild are guaranteed a Top 3 pick. He will leave now regardless if he is on the team for the next 1-2 years or not. We have given him nothing, but yet have asked him to trust in our vision, carry the team, take the punishment and be happy.... ooooh yeah and he'll just sign because the money trumps all. yeap nothing could go wrong with that plan? so yes, no strategy and no execution - means the GM is an idiot.

The Wild are all about potential and promising futures. If thats' the case, then there is no room for Kaprizov on this team. I find it very disappointing and a horrible mismanagement of priorities - which is specifically tied to a GM and Ownership.

To claim the Wild will be only slightly better than Chicago in July and that their first round pick might not make it to the NHL is slanted pretty negatively to a degree it diminishes the credibility. It is foolish to think Wild can jump over these teams - Avs, Jets, Preds, Stars. I think the make up of the Blues is a bit better too. Utah and Chicago are also in arguably better spot (youth "enthusiasm" vs old FARTS (yeaaap our team is OLD!!)....and let's not forget our stellar GOALTENDING - we have the WORST goaltending tandem in the league. So yes, i think it would be a miracle if Wild are somehow in the Wild Card picture with how they are constructed. 

As far as Guerin being selected by Team USA - that is all well and good but it does NOTHING to help our team. His moves have not worked and he is refusing to react and adjust. He just pushes on. That is not a genius GM, that is someone who is refusing to adapt and no one around him have the guts to step in and say - he lost it. If he wasn't gifted Kaprizov by Fletcher he would like be out two years ago. But the person that is saving his ass is handled as an after-thought by this GM. Is this idiocy? I think yes. 

4 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

So, let's talk turkey. 1st of all, the headline of this article reads "Buium can succeed where Addison failed."

• This is a true statement based specifically on this statistic/measurement: Addison is 5'11" 172 on Elite Prospects, while Buium is 6' 185. Just on this alone, Kalisha's headline is accurate. Buium has more to offer physically instead of getting abused outside of the camera as Addison repeatedly was. 
• Next is the level that Buium was able to be successful at, the NCAA which most would agree is a harder league than the WHL. 
• Interestingly, Buium appears to be getting better. Addison's numbers were the same as he moved up or moving down. Buium had 1 bad year with the USNDTP jrs. where his +/- was -17 with very little offense. I'll propose 2 possible reasons for this: He was on a terrible team, or, he had yet to hit his growth spurt and was tiny. 
• Now, here's the kicker. After that season, he has been very good in the +/- rating since that season, scoring in double digit + column. Addison, however, has a history of being a heavy - in this column and has never scored a double digit +. 
• Deployment-Addison was deployed heavily on PPs, and hidden at even strength or the PK. The eye test says he was brutal defensively, the kind of player who'd give coaches ulcers. Buium, however, led the NCAA skaters in TOI, was deployed against college hockey's top lines, and played in all situations. In a tougher league, that would suggest he's already better than Addison. 

Now, to ODC's main point, and the point of Dean also:

• Buium hasn't done anything in the A or in the N. He is a prospect still well protected in an eggshell. 
• Is Buium going to be a star? Nobody knows. I'd suggest he will be a great find and 11 other GMs are going to be eating crow, but that is just conjecture at this point.
• Buium is by no means huge. He's bigger than Addison, but so are 90% of all other defensemen. 
• Comparing him to Makar and Heiskenen, and Fox now is a bit ridiculous. Comparing him to Makar and Fox in college is a valid comparison. But, to do so, you also need to use some underlying numbers, like deployment. 

Let's remember, this is a comparison article between Buium and Addison, not Buium and Fox, Makar, and Heiskenen. 

The main question both Dean and ODC bring up is how does this help us resign Kaprizov? A very valid question.

1. Buium should be ready after next season to make the jump. He will add more skill to the blueline. More skill considering Bogosian, Middleton, and Brodin is a pretty low bar, I'll admit.
2. Not related to this, but I think Yak is probably a very good add to help with the team and shore up deficiencies on the PK. 
3. Rossi improving, and if he has another offseason like the past one, he could be very difficult to play against. Where I differ from your thoughts is that I like the young kids and watching the development of them. They are unreliable at this point since we don't know the production, but it's the young kids who will help Kaprizov make deep playoff runs. 
4. There's a lot of ifs in this, and you guys do not like to deal in ifs, you want solid, consistent production. I don't think we're in a position to do this in the top 6 without the kids, the penalties will just not allow it. But, I do like and enjoy watching the progression of the kids develop into real NHLers, and have been very frustrated with the lack of commitment from some of them to create full NHL bodies. 
5. We've got a great stable of prospects right now. Some will make it, most will not. But, from the top 2 rounds, we've got an awful lot of players in there. These players have the highest hit rate of draftees, and I think if we hit at average, we'll have a very good team, if we hit a little above average, we'll have a great team. But, it is a few years away. 
6. Looking at the way the league works, getting the superstar and then building around them is the best way for them to win their cup. Few mercenaries get this done, and those guys aren't generally superstars, they are lower lineup character guys, like the Maroons. Superstars tend to win early or late in their careers depending on where the team was when he was drafted and 1st came into the league. Of course, this assumes that superstars were top 5 picks in the draft, not 5th rounders. 

All said, Buium does not move the needle this season, unless this team makes the playoffs. I believe Buium will be ready to move into a slot like Faber was at the end of this season. It took Faber an extra year to come in with an NHL body even though he needed more strength. Looking at Buium's brother, I don't think strength will be a huge problem for Zeev, he'll also have plenty of motivation (from the little brother complex). 

Both Faber and Buium were used to big icetime in the NCAAs. I'm sure Buium will be in full game shape when he arrives. It's a little early to call him a star. Right now, he's considered a highly valued prospect. 

We do not have an extra year to see what type of a D prospect we have. We do not have an extra year to allow MAF to play yet another farewell tour. We do not have another four years to let Foligno, Zuccy, Harty, Yasha, Freddy, Midds play out their twilight years. We do not have another year - we had ONE year to change our trajectory, to show Kap that we mean business. To bring someone who can effectively compliment him (skill and physical ability). Did we do ANY of that? Nope, we have added another prospect. We have a lot of those, but only one superstar. Maybe we should rethink our priority? Although that is too late for that. 

1 hour ago, Mateo3xm said:

We can always count on you to beat a dead horse far more than it needs to be and have an off the wall out of touch opinion on hockey things can’t we? We got the steal of the draft by most hockey outlets and you somehow attribute it as a bad thing. Then you piss and moan about it as if it has anything to do with keeping Kaprizov. I guess you haven’t figured out our cap and how that all works yet because you somehow think it’s so easy to pick up all these high quality players and think they’re going to take a pay cut because it’s Minnesota.

Minnesota isn’t a super desirable place to be.Just about everyone on here has thought about the fact we need better players around Kap to keep him happy. You’re not saying anything we haven’t already thought of. You just don’t seem to understand that it’s not plausible with our signings and our cap space. If I was you I’d mentally prepare yourself to lose Kap. 

A pick.....that you argue is a steal of the draft??? Wanted commodity some may say??  - perhaps could be used to poach away a proven player on Kap's timeline? no/unrealistic/unnecessary? or maybe a pick plus a player (now we are getting creative!!)? or a pick plus a player and prospect (ooh who are we kidding - let's be honest - this is outside of current GM brain capacity)

Yeah MN is not a desirable place ..... so when Kap leaves, we will attract another superstar almost immediately. In fact, i think Billy already has Matthews lined up and ready to join us. Oh wait - Billy has our money tied up with 3/4 line players? oh too bad. But there is consolation price! David Perron after his contract is up in Detroit, will be in prime age of 37. Perfect! 

4 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

So, let's talk turkey. 1st of all, the headline of this article reads "Buium can succeed where Addison failed."

• This is a true statement based specifically on this statistic/measurement: Addison is 5'11" 172 on Elite Prospects, while Buium is 6' 185. Just on this alone, Kalisha's headline is accurate. Buium has more to offer physically instead of getting abused outside of the camera as Addison repeatedly was. 
• Next is the level that Buium was able to be successful at, the NCAA which most would agree is a harder league than the WHL. 
• Interestingly, Buium appears to be getting better. Addison's numbers were the same as he moved up or moving down. Buium had 1 bad year with the USNDTP jrs. where his +/- was -17 with very little offense. I'll propose 2 possible reasons for this: He was on a terrible team, or, he had yet to hit his growth spurt and was tiny. 
• Now, here's the kicker. After that season, he has been very good in the +/- rating since that season, scoring in double digit + column. Addison, however, has a history of being a heavy - in this column and has never scored a double digit +. 
• Deployment-Addison was deployed heavily on PPs, and hidden at even strength or the PK. The eye test says he was brutal defensively, the kind of player who'd give coaches ulcers. Buium, however, led the NCAA skaters in TOI, was deployed against college hockey's top lines, and played in all situations. In a tougher league, that would suggest he's already better than Addison. 

Now, to ODC's main point, and the point of Dean also:

• Buium hasn't done anything in the A or in the N. He is a prospect still well protected in an eggshell. 
• Is Buium going to be a star? Nobody knows. I'd suggest he will be a great find and 11 other GMs are going to be eating crow, but that is just conjecture at this point.
• Buium is by no means huge. He's bigger than Addison, but so are 90% of all other defensemen. 
• Comparing him to Makar and Heiskenen, and Fox now is a bit ridiculous. Comparing him to Makar and Fox in college is a valid comparison. But, to do so, you also need to use some underlying numbers, like deployment. 

Let's remember, this is a comparison article between Buium and Addison, not Buium and Fox, Makar, and Heiskenen. 

The main question both Dean and ODC bring up is how does this help us resign Kaprizov? A very valid question.

1. Buium should be ready after next season to make the jump. He will add more skill to the blueline. More skill considering Bogosian, Middleton, and Brodin is a pretty low bar, I'll admit.
2. Not related to this, but I think Yak is probably a very good add to help with the team and shore up deficiencies on the PK. 
3. Rossi improving, and if he has another offseason like the past one, he could be very difficult to play against. Where I differ from your thoughts is that I like the young kids and watching the development of them. They are unreliable at this point since we don't know the production, but it's the young kids who will help Kaprizov make deep playoff runs. 
4. There's a lot of ifs in this, and you guys do not like to deal in ifs, you want solid, consistent production. I don't think we're in a position to do this in the top 6 without the kids, the penalties will just not allow it. But, I do like and enjoy watching the progression of the kids develop into real NHLers, and have been very frustrated with the lack of commitment from some of them to create full NHL bodies. 
5. We've got a great stable of prospects right now. Some will make it, most will not. But, from the top 2 rounds, we've got an awful lot of players in there. These players have the highest hit rate of draftees, and I think if we hit at average, we'll have a very good team, if we hit a little above average, we'll have a great team. But, it is a few years away. 
6. Looking at the way the league works, getting the superstar and then building around them is the best way for them to win their cup. Few mercenaries get this done, and those guys aren't generally superstars, they are lower lineup character guys, like the Maroons. Superstars tend to win early or late in their careers depending on where the team was when he was drafted and 1st came into the league. Of course, this assumes that superstars were top 5 picks in the draft, not 5th rounders. 

All said, Buium does not move the needle this season, unless this team makes the playoffs. I believe Buium will be ready to move into a slot like Faber was at the end of this season. It took Faber an extra year to come in with an NHL body even though he needed more strength. Looking at Buium's brother, I don't think strength will be a huge problem for Zeev, he'll also have plenty of motivation (from the little brother complex). 

Both Faber and Buium were used to big icetime in the NCAAs. I'm sure Buium will be in full game shape when he arrives. It's a little early to call him a star. Right now, he's considered a highly valued prospect. 

sorry i missed some of your response 🙂 yes this is exactly what i want to understand, what is the path here? Unfortunately, its a bit hazy. There was a vision for post-cap hell and i just didn't replacing one hell for another would be what was in-store for us. Would i prefer that the team instead used the money for Marchessault over Midds/Trenin? Yes, i think i would very much. Would i prefer that Wild made an aggressive push at players like Tuch or Buch (or similar style players) using their (a) pick (Buium or 13th) (b) prospect (anyone in the pipeline) and/or (c) Rossi?  yes i would like to see that. Maybe Kap loves playing with this group of guys and happy to give it his all and try. Maybe he sees this group and young prospects as one that he will want to lead thru the prime of his years. maybe....i just think its not what i'd bet on. 

The main question both Dean and ODC bring up is how does this help us resign Kaprizov? A very valid question.

4 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

We do not have another four years to let Foligno, Zuccy, Harty, Yasha, Freddy, Midds play out their twilight years. We do not have another year - we had ONE year to change our trajectory, to show Kap that we mean business.

Am I mistaken, or don't we have Kaprizov signed through the '25-26 season? I disagree on the timing. Kaprizov needs to see that he can win here, not that he's winning here. This is not the year, '25-26 roster and play are the year. 

You say that it's been 5 years now of Guerin and we should start judging him on what he's done. I think that's fair, but the judgement should be on the 2020 draft and what he's brought into the organization since then.

Guerin promised us competitive teams, and competitive by definition is in the mushy middle. It essentially means that they will be in the playoff chase with 5 games remaining. He has accomplished this in 3/4 seasons. Yet, at the same time he has completely rebuilt the farm system. 

Rossi is in a year early and productive. The Wall debuted 2 years early, Lambos is still on time. Dino is on time, Ogie is 2 years early. Yurov is still early if he comes over next season. Hunt is on time, but needs to gain a roster spot this year. Stramel is on a different timeline, to where, I don't know. But Heidt appears to be way early if he makes the team, like 4 years early. 

What about the other guys? We don't know if they'll ever make it. Buium appears to be on the early trajectory as well, but it's pure speculation. 

This is what Guerin promised. Competitive team until he could get the team re-somethinged. Drafting from a competitive team perspective meant it was going to take longer. The prospects would likely need the full 5 years to develop. Some are ahead of that timeline. Interestingly enough, the ones who are ahead have not been fully developed in Iowa. 

I believe we're getting better. I believe that the real Goose did not play last year. I am with you on Fleury and wish the signing had never happened, it would have been better to have The Wall up with Goose. I am frustrated over commitment from the kids in Iowa and not pursuing to bulk up their bodies. But I just don't think we were in a position to bring in some top 6 talent to help with the scoring. That had to be homegrown. Rossi is a better value right now, this year, than trading him. #13 would have gotten us exactly who? McGroarty? 

And who really would have changed this team's trajectory? A guy like Brady Tkachuk would have been a blockbuster, and likely cost us both Boldy and Rossi, a price I was willing to pay. But even with an overpayment, it appears as if Ottawa simply said no (not that I think Guerin offered it). I thought my offer was a huge overpayment on paper, but was still willing to do it, to change the direction of this franchise. But in the end, another team's got to be willing to trade with you, and if they aren't willing to give you what Rossi is worth or what 13 is worth, you're stuck. I think there were offers, but they were far less than appealing, the kind of offers that get GMs fired.

3 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

Would i prefer that the team instead used the money for Marchessault over Midds/Trenin? Yes, i think i would very much. Would i prefer that Wild made an aggressive push at players like Tuch or Buch (or similar style players)

Buch was signed before hitting free agency. St. Louis seemed to have trouble finding the number to the Brink's trucks but they finally came through. Marchessault is another year older and another smaller player. Really, I don't think he would have made us that much better. We've got enough munchkins on the team not to need another one. I would also have preferred that we not sign Zuccarello last year. I didn't see a need to sign both he and Hartman. At the very least, Zuccarello should have been signed to 1 year at an over 35 contract and just go year by year. 

I did think we needed to sign Foligno, but was looking at lower term and AAV. Yet, I'm a very stingy capologist, and am not looking at new cap numbers or capflation. I'm pretty much alone on this analysis. I'm also glad we resigned Middleton, but am with a lot of other people, why not 3 years? I liked the Trenin signing and it was a bonus that he is a friend of Kaprizov's, perhaps that was another reason why we needed to outbid people?

I am fully on your side with the Tuch acquisition. I just can't go into the whole thing now or we're looking at 7 more long paragraphs as to why we should have never gotten rid of him in the 1st place. From an untrained scouting eye, I could see he was going to be a player! 2 different live performances at different times of the year. Ridiculous. At the time, I stated this was a firable offense by Fletcher.

We could really use an RHS large winger who can rifle the puck.