Zeev Buium Can Succeed Where Calen Addison Failed

22 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

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.

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 are correct on contract expiration, but i think this is a more crucial year for us to show him. i think if we fail this year, his mind will be made up and the clock will during trade deadline for this upcoming year. Hence i wanted for us to really go for it. yes, it would cost us some prospects but i felt that was the right move....oh well it did not happen

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.

He inherited very solid Defense, a superstar, which if not immediately, could be seen as one the very next year. Goalies were also stellar, i feel like that's been a theme for entire Wild existence - apart from last year. But back to Kap for a sec - if he is on the way out (which at this point i fully believe he is) do you want Billy orchestrating a trade? knowing what and how he does business? his approach of taking first and fair offer? or only talking to his buddies in Nashville, Pittsburg and Buffalo? 

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. 

Nothing is certain with any of the prospects. Even Rossi is still very much an unknown. Point here is they are all expandable should our goal was to build a team with Kap at the helm. But we missed that chance

Rossi is a better value right now, this year, than trading him. #13 would have gotten us exactly who? McGroarty? 

i feel like we are underselling what we could have done a bit. First $ from Midds and Trunin should have  been used on Marchy. Bump the offer to 6 per and we have 1st line that now is Marchy EK Kaprizov ouch that would have been a nightmare to play against and would allow us to drop Boldy down a line. Next we use Rossi (whose stock is very high due to his goal numbers and 5X5 stats), we use the 13th pick, we have to include Spurge (he has to drop the NTC) - go hunting, use Yurov or another prospect "phenom" that has yet to play, but has people salivating over him. We did nothing. And you know i am right. Billy is just not a GM that can think through this. Look at his plan for buy-outs. We thought this was an innovative and smart decision freeing us up to be major players! Only our major moves were Foligno, Harty, Freddy, Midds, Trenin.....and once he coughs up another 6 mil to Rossi and 10 for Faber, the promise of loads of cap space will be gone. 

37 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

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.

Buch did sign, but not to say that was impossible to check in. (I thought he was still technically "open for business" in free agency and could have been checked on by Billy).... But Billy likely didn't even bother. Marchy i feel like plays with toughness to offset his 5'9'' size and his numbers are very very solid. I'd spend 6 mil on him and be very happy. 

Oh Tuch i'm with you.....WHY!! would be so good for us  

I too can get behind the HATRED of offloading Tuch... Good grief we got rid of so much to trade-protect Dumba based on speculation. That was just tantamount to gifting them a 1st round pick, totally asinine. Also, yes, to the eye-test with Tuch, you knew it was a terrible move. Straight-line speed & swagger were strong with that one, a big R-wing on a team that seems pretty perennially thin on the R.wing side. The wild always seem to be very rich down the L.wing though.

That being said, this opinion may get blasted... but I don't think 1 star left winger is going to get the wild there anyway. I love #97, but I feel like the timing on hitting on him just wasn't good, he needed us to hit gold on at least one Centre I think for the team to enter true win-now... Just too many needs that we would need to meet externally & you need more internal & external to hit for a "win-now" scenario. I don't want the team to completely hamstring themselves to make a star left-winger happy.

Zeev is sweet though, this pickup doesn't seem like the right opportunity to blast the GM IMO.

Yes. #97 is the best thing that ever happened to the Wild but timing was brutal. 

Just when MN needed to have a solid core, they had Suter/Parise and what that was. I completely agree Kaprizov is awesome but it's unwise to pull out all the stops or deviate from the plan if Kaprizov wants to go to free agency. If that were to happen, I'm sure MN would know and be able to get a return.

Buium is the best USNTDP guy MN has ever picked. He's arguably one of the top guys from that team and an NCAA Champ as a freshman. There's no reason MN shouldn't be thrilled to get such a promising guy where they did. If he grows a little more, even better.

17 minutes ago, Protec said:

if Kaprizov wants to go to free agency. If that were to happen, I'm sure MN would know and be able to get a return.

Then we need to set up a weekly conference call between Guerin and Riseborough to figure out how Doug handled this one and make sure Guerin doesn't repeat his mistakes.

#dontbedumbbill

On 7/6/2024 at 10:27 AM, Pewterschmidt said:

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

Ouuuuf, this is a hot take but I’m here for it. Would not mind seeing something like this to shake things up. Rossi needs a scoring winger to be successful as a 2C.

But on the original topic of this article, Zeev theoretically possesses a lot of what the Wild need, minus size. He’s an exciting prospect, much like a few that we have. But that’s what they all are currently; they are exciting prospects. Need to see some of them take control of this flawed roster and make an impact to force BG’s hand and move some of these weird contracts. I wouldn’t mind seeing Spurge be moved. We didn’t do well without him last year, but his cap hit should be moved to start allowing our developing D an opportunity to get NHL reps. 
 

BG chose to extend Middsy, which I don’t think was the best move (just from his AAV and 4 years is a bit longer than I like), but that’s a different topic. 
 

All in all, I think the Wild will be fine. I think we will see BG move Gus at some point and then move 1 or 2 of the bad contracts he signed, signalling he messed up. But he really does need to give KK a reason to stay….

Zeev could end up being that dime you find in your pocket full of nickles  .

18 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

Next we use Rossi (whose stock is very high due to his goal numbers and 5X5 stats), we use the 13th pick, we have to include Spurge (he has to drop the NTC) - go hunting, use Yurov or another prospect "phenom" that has yet to play, but has people salivating over him. We did nothing. And you know i am right. Billy is just not a GM that can think through this.

Were you suggesting packaging or going after individual players here? For me, it was a superstar package in B. Tkachuk, but it would take Boldy, not Spurgeon to get him. Spurgeon got pretty much no trade value other than a cap dump at this point. 

I will admit that Guerin seems to be more of a 1 for 1 trade guy. Blockbusters are not his style. Putting multiple pieces together, or big deals with 8 players included just is way out of his comfort zone. I sure hope his new guru can do this, because we need a guy who can put together some complex deals. I think the most complex Guerin can get to is Player X= Pick, Prospect, Roster Player. He'll need help for anything more complex than that including organizational limits, cap consequences and overall talent rating. The suggestion I had for Tkachuk is probably outside of his boundaries.

18 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

But Billy likely didn't even bother.

I think the team checked in, but I don't think they did on Marchessault due to size. 

17 hours ago, LittleBallofHate said:

That being said, this opinion may get blasted... but I don't think 1 star left winger is going to get the wild there anyway. I love #97, but I feel like the timing on hitting on him just wasn't good, he needed us to hit gold on at least one Centre I think for the team to enter true win-now... Just too many needs that we would need to meet externally & you need more internal & external to hit for a "win-now" scenario. I don't want the team to completely hamstring themselves to make a star left-winger happy.

Decisions have consequences, and coming up empty in drafts for '16, '17 & '18 were pretty bad. Kunin was a wasted pick. What might have happened had we scouted and taken Kyrou in '16? Not done anything aggressive and grab Hanzel and drafted Jason Robertson in '17, and Dufus hits Mattias Samuelsson on the dart board? Those guys all would have been available in our draft slots. I'm not sure that Fletcher and Dufus' scouting staffs could have hit on these 3 players, but what if they had?

4 hours ago, Protec said:

I completely agree Kaprizov is awesome but it's unwise to pull out all the stops or deviate from the plan if Kaprizov wants to go to free agency.

Why settle for that, do like we did with Fiala, find out where he wants to go and get him there a year early. But, I'm thinking he knew about how this was going to be a re-something and that the kids were going to take awhile to get here.

We do need to see them coming in at an accelerated rate.

2 hours ago, Amaddeo said:

But on the original topic of this article, Zeev theoretically possesses a lot of what the Wild need, minus size.

Welcome aboard Amaddeo!

At least he's not tiny. Just a middleweight defender.

On 7/5/2024 at 2:57 PM, Dean said:

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?

Who were "we" overhyping? What prospects are you talking about? I don't remember anyone overhyping anyone. I remember some ppl thinking Rossi was a bust

after 21 frickin NHL games.. Most people that actually understand player development know that a tiny amount of players are truly going to have a big impact their first couple seasons. It takes approximately 200 games before their true potential really comes through. However..

There are some very good indications on whether a player is going to be good at the next level. Take Rossi for instance. In his draft minus 1 year he was well above a Ppg (OHL). In his draft year he was first in the entire CHL(QMJHL, OHL, WHL) in points. Lafrenier (who was pick #1 in 2020) was second. Rossi wasn't just all offense either, he had one of the best plus minus in the ohl and was known to be very well rounded with few flaws. He dominated just about every league/tournament he was in. Those are very valuable things to look at when evaluating how they will be at the next level.

I'll give you another example. Yurov just had the best U20

Khl season EVER. He scored more points than Tarasanko(who was first) Kaprizov, Buchnevich, Kuznetsov etc in their U20 season. He was also 2nd line Center on that team and they won the Gagarin Cup(KHL equivalent to the Stanley Cup) he’s very well rounded too. Yurov has no deficiency’s whatsoever he’s above average in every area.

Last but not least Buium.

He was the second-youngest player in NCAA Division I hockey during his freshman year. 

-He became the first freshman defenseman to ever win NCHC Player of the Month. 

-He tied for the team lead with his brother, Shai, and ranked fourth in the NCAA with a +33 plus/minus rating—the highest ever by a Pioneer since the statistic first began being tracked in 2005-06. 

-He recorded the longest point streak of the season by a Denver player with a 12-game run (4g/17a) According to College Hockey News, it was the longest point streak by a freshman defenseman in the NCAA in more than 21 years. 

- Second All-Time Pts in a Single

NCAA Season By Defenceman(leader was 20-21 years old at the time)

-The HIGHEST SCORING NCAA Freshman D-Man In Modern History (NHL Prospects)

-National College Champion.

What I’m trying to get through to people is when you have a player that’s doing things nobody has ever done or things at the very top of their age group, those are good indicators. What Buium did is incredibly special. Obviously nobody is a for sure thing but when you have players accomplishing things like that it’s a good indication they are going to be good at the next level.

Also

Anyone who’s super concerned about his height (6ft) listed below are some NHL defenders that are 6ft or 5’11

Josh Morrissey

Vince Dunn

Brandon Montour

Erik Karlsson

Adam Fox 5’11

Cale Makar 5’11

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Were you suggesting packaging or going after individual players here? For me, it was a superstar package in B. Tkachuk, but it would take Boldy, not Spurgeon to get him. Spurgeon got pretty much no trade value other than a cap dump at this point. 

I will admit that Guerin seems to be more of a 1 for 1 trade guy. Blockbusters are not his style. Putting multiple pieces together, or big deals with 8 players included just is way out of his comfort zone. I sure hope his new guru can do this, because we need a guy who can put together some complex deals. I think the most complex Guerin can get to is Player X= Pick, Prospect, Roster Player. He'll need help for anything more complex than that including organizational limits, cap consequences and overall talent rating. The suggestion I had for Tkachuk is probably outside of his boundaries.

i would like to have tried both signing a big fish and going for one. we instead got Trenin and Midds locked up for 4 years. That is what like 8 mil for 4 years for these two? could we not have spent it on better return and instead gave one of our prospects a chance at it for league min? 

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I think the team checked in, but I don't think they did on Marchessault due to size. 

mistake there. not the first, or the last.

MN got Chisholm signed for one more year. 1M is the number but not sure if it's a 1-way deal. 

The Wild are pretty much set for the year now and waiting to see how Spurgeon and Buium plays. At the end of the season Merrill is done, Bogo and Chisholm will be expiring too and MN can decide what to do on the back end. 

5 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Welcome aboard Amaddeo!

At least he's not tiny. Just a middleweight defender.

Middleweight & still 18, so a good starting point. He also has the look of someone who isn't shaped like a reed no matter what he does.

4 hours ago, Mateo3xm said:

 

Who were "we" overhyping? What prospects are you talking about? I don't remember anyone overhyping anyone. I remember some ppl thinking Rossi was a bust

after 21 frickin NHL games.. Most people that actually understand player development know that a tiny amount of players are truly going to have a big impact their first couple seasons. It takes approximately 200 games before their true potential really comes through. However..

 

There are some very good indications on whether a player is going to be good at the next level. Take Rossi for instance. In his draft minus 1 year he was well above a Ppg (OHL). In his draft year he was first in the entire CHL(QMJHL, OHL, WHL) in points. Lafrenier (who was pick #1 in 2020) was second. Rossi wasn't just all offense either, he had one of the best plus minus in the ohl and was known to be very well rounded with few flaws. He dominated just about every league/tournament he was in. Those are very valuable things to look at when evaluating how they will be at the next level.

 

I'll give you another example. Yurov just had the best U20

Khl season EVER. He scored more points than Tarasanko(who was first) Kaprizov, Buchnevich, Kuznetsov etc in their U20 season. He was also 2nd line Center on that team and they won the Gagarin Cup(KHL equivalent to the Stanley Cup) he’s very well rounded too. Yurov has no deficiency’s whatsoever he’s above average in every area.

 

Last but not least Buium.

He was the second-youngest player in NCAA Division I hockey during his freshman year. 

-He became the first freshman defenseman to ever win NCHC Player of the Month. 

-He tied for the team lead with his brother, Shai, and ranked fourth in the NCAA with a +33 plus/minus rating—the highest ever by a Pioneer since the statistic first began being tracked in 2005-06. 

-He recorded the longest point streak of the season by a Denver player with a 12-game run (4g/17a) According to College Hockey News, it was the longest point streak by a freshman defenseman in the NCAA in more than 21 years. 

- Second All-Time Pts in a Single

NCAA Season By Defenceman(leader was 20-21 years old at the time)

-The HIGHEST SCORING NCAA Freshman D-Man In Modern History (NHL Prospects)

-National College Champion.

 

 

What I’m trying to get through to people is when you have a player that’s doing things nobody has ever done or things at the very top of their age group, those are good indicators. What Buium did is incredibly special. Obviously nobody is a for sure thing but when you have players accomplishing things like that it’s a good indication they are going to be good at the next level.

 

Also

Anyone who’s super concerned about his height (6ft) listed below are some NHL defenders that are 6ft or 5’11

 

Josh Morrissey

Vince Dunn

Brandon Montour

Erik Karlsson

Adam Fox 5’11

Cale Makar 5’11

 Who were "we" overhyping? 

Probably plenty over the last few years, as we have been hearing incredible work of our genius scout and wizard of a GM. But as i am too lazy to list all of our young overachievers from years past, let's give you an example of what over-hyping can look like - 

Yurov just had the best U20 Khl season EVER. He scored more points than Tarasanko(who was first) Kaprizov, Buchnevich, Kuznetsov etc in their U20 season. He was also 2nd line Center on that team and they won the Gagarin Cup(KHL equivalent to the Stanley Cup) he’s very well rounded too. Yurov has no deficiency’s whatsoever he’s above average in every area.

Best ever. No deficiencies. And you supplied quiet a list of other "proven" players. Nothing can go wrong. Trust and believe. 

You then go on to hype up  Rossi and Buium. Adding comparison to leagues best defenseman on top of that.....Ok so we got Yurov (next Kaprizov) we have Rossi (the next - i didn't see comp for him, but maybe Sakic) and then Buium who is likely to be either Makar or Fox.  

Is that not over hyping? Maybe hold them horses and see what the kids can do? and understand that the only proven great (again - Top 5 league wide) player that we have is the one that is going to walk. Hyping up these rookies like they offset that loss is a mistake.

It is hard to say who will be "right" in the long run, it is fairly rare territory for the wild to have a drafted (internal) superstar to discuss the impact of that individual walking. It feels like the perennial powerhouse teams, & their fans, have been through that dance more often.

I feel like I'd rather not be a Bruins fan right now, productive super-star wings (moreso than the Wild), but enough president-trophy type of win-now mentality. But then you have a gaping middle-hole without any apparent backup... They have NO Zeevs, NO Yurovs... Sure, they gambled all-in on some star wingers & maybe that ends up being right for them. I am tired out on the wild being external heavy, trying to contend with a few mercenaries. I think now is the time to try something new & focus internally, fix the Wild's issues within the system.

The hype was thick with #97 too. Hype is good, hype can drive change, it can crank up the heat on the pressure cooker to finally force a stale franchise to start using those hype pieces instead of safe-for-your-job-go-nowhere vets. It's a mercurial thing for sure. I would say some worst-case scenario has happened though, where the hype pressure cooker has not reached critical mass & we do see some of those "safe slugs" getting contracts. So we don't quite see either scenario: 1) throw prospect spaghetti @ the wall & see what sticks 2) win-now with your 1 star winger & 1 star level acquisition... hope your 5th rounders pan out for your future

13 hours ago, LittleBallofHate said:

Middleweight & still 18, so a good starting point. He also has the look of someone who isn't shaped like a reed no matter what he does.

True, he may be shorter, but getting a look at his brother during the post-drafted interview was a good indication of where he could end up. Sure, he might be shorter, but little brothers tend to look up to their older brothers, and if the older one is bulking up, that is good motivation for the younger one to do so also. 

They may have different games, but strength and muscle is important. Coming into the league at 6' 200 is close to where Faber was. He would have a leverage advantage against bigger (taller) guys, but may still need a bit more strength from a position where he doesn't have leverage. 

Imagine if Brodin had put on 10 more lbs. of upper body strength? No more getting walked from the corners. Much more winning battles in front of the net with more than just getting a stick in the way. He needs that strength now that either the league is catching up to his speed/skating or he has lost a little. 

17 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

That is what like 8 mil for 4 years for these two? could we not have spent it on better return and instead gave one of our prospects a chance at it for league min? 

This was my thought too, why not try the youngens and see what they can do. At the very least, you get cap space to tick up for the TDL. Hunt needs to learn from NHL players at this point. 

However, I don't believe Middleton was the guy to jettison. I think Merrill is in this scenario, and may still be since you can almost completely bury him in the A. Let's face it, Middleton has a skill set that we do not currently have ready in Iowa. Bogosian is the same way. I think you get more out of a Middleton than you do out of a Cole or Soucy. 

As for Trenin, I believe he is a guy that Heinzy really, really wanted. He fits under our cap penalties now. I think he's going to end up being a better signing than some of the bigger names. I don't see the Marchessault fit with his size, and I certainly don't see Stammer coming over here. Nashville's got a lot more to offer, both in the city and with no state tax. I have to wonder how much of that Stamkos took into consideration. Nashville is another one of those cities where you get past the loop and you've got some nice rural places to raise a family without having to deal with brutal cold. 

17 hours ago, Mateo3xm said:

What I’m trying to get through to people is when you have a player that’s doing things nobody has ever done or things at the very top of their age group, those are good indicators. What Buium did is incredibly special. Obviously nobody is a for sure thing but when you have players accomplishing things like that it’s a good indication they are going to be good at the next level.

Overhyped is a weird topic because it doesn't really have a clear definition and is far more subjective than objective. 

We have some excellent prospects within our cupboards. Prospects anyone would like to have. Where the issue hits the road, though, is exactly how much have they helped the Wild thus far? Pretty much Zip. The Wall was 2-1 and looked great against some bottom feeders, but got blown out by a very good Dallas team with a team ahead of him out of gas. How do you even analyze that?

Where we agree is that it looks like a lot of help is coming, and when they get here they will be ready to go. What Guerin has done by marinating them extra long has gotten them more developed where they have less of a learning window, though, they will still have a learning window.

As for the argument of looking at Rossi, this was really very simple. Rossi did not look like an NHLer during his 1st round in an N uniform. He looked small, frail. He didn't look anything like the guy we saw from jrs., a guy who was fast, closed fast, and picked up loose pucks quickly. He was quick on edges and very shifty. It took an offseason of recouping lost weight from myocarditis and putting on some extra (about 5 lbs. from his jrs. listing) to make a difference. 

Everyone can see that. This was the magic potion. Bulking up works. Not everyone was willing to do this, and that is why Adam Beckman is now a Devil. I fully expect guys like Lambos, Spacek, Masters, Peart to follow Rossi's lead. If they do, we will have a real problem on our hands, but a good problem to have: Not enough spots for qualified NHL players. Buium falls into this same category, but I have no doubt that he'll be in the gym with his big brother. 

Yurov still needs more of this, and I believe the Russians are more serious about their strength and muscle. This will be a good year for him to get even better. Dino put on 2" and a few pounds after his draft year, and is still pretty tenacious. Ohgren is pretty well built. Someone made a list of our 6'2" prospects either above or on another thread. They've got to get their weight to match their height. It doesn't right now for the NHL.

Real players who are NHL ready are not going to be the way we backfill openings, specifically in the top 6. It's got to come from within. If I were GM, when development camp roles around, I'd want my lettered guys watching them from my suite. I'd want them talking to them afterwards about the commitment they need to get up to the big Wild. Ek, Kaprizov, Foligno all are like show and tell in that category. Spurgeon is not. The top 3 also show top effort, and so does Spurgeon, though it's a little smoother. The prospects need to hear from the Kaptains.

On 7/5/2024 at 2:08 PM, OldDutchChip said:

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. 

 

Aside from, you know, trying to keep the team competitive and in the post-season instead of slashing and burning the roster to make it top-heavy and ending up with lottery picks season after season. 

Other than that, plus adding some more Russian players and giving us a better long-term outlook than we had when Kaprizov first arrived, you're right! 

On 7/6/2024 at 7:05 PM, OldDutchChip said:

But back to Kap for a sec - if he is on the way out (which at this point i fully believe he is) do you want Billy orchestrating a trade? knowing what and how he does business? his approach of taking first and fair offer? or only talking to his buddies in Nashville, Pittsburg and Buffalo? 

Oh, you don't like getting Ohgren and Faber for Fiala? 

You don't like getting Gustavvsson for a 35-year old Cam Talbot? 

You'd rather have Kaapo Kahkonen than Jake Middleton?

Greenway for a 2nd, which turned into Riley Heidt, was a bad deal in your opinion?

Seems to me like Billy has been doing a pretty solid job in the trade market since taking over.. if he has to trade Kaprizov, nothing he gets back will equal what we lose, but there's certainly a track record to believe he may be able to make the most of it all the same.. 

26 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

Seems to me like Billy has been doing a pretty solid job in the trade market since taking over. 

His trades have been good... except for maybe Fluery (gave up a 2nd) and Zucker (comes down to Lambos).