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  • Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek Possibly Returning as Soon as Wednesday

    Image courtesy of © Ryan Sun-Imagn Images
    Thomas Williams

    By Thomas Williams -

    That's Wild

    We all just got the best possible news right now. Both Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek could be set to return to the Minnesota Wild's lineup as early as Wednesday when the team hosts the San Jose Sharks.

     

    Of course this would be substantial. The Wild have been just trying to stay afloat while missing two of their most important players. While they were able to stave off some rising teams like the Utah Hockey Club and the Vancouver Canucks shot themselves in the foot, the Calgary Flames remain hot on the Wild's trail. Just four points back of Minnesota and with a game in-hand with minimal games remaining, it's a massive week for the Wild.

    They of course host the Sharks but then go north to Alberta to face the Flames which could be a game that decides their playoff fate. And if these two players remained out, we would be worried -- but now with Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek potentially back, we can remain a little bit more calm.

    Obviously, the rest of the team will still need to perform and even adding two All-Star talents doesn't guarantee anything, but it makes it a lot easier.

    This week is still going to be massive.

    • Marcus Foligno is enjoying his time on the Wild's top line. [Hockey Wilderness]
    • Marc-Andre Fleury is the Wild's nominee for the Bill Masterton. [StarTribune]

    Off the trail...

    • Which NHL teams desperately need to win something this year? Where is the urgency? Do some just view this entire season as a bonus, or are they at risk of something going terribly wrong if they lose in the first round? [ESPN]
    • The Montreal Canadiens have signed their top prospect, Ivan Demidov, to his rookie deal and he is coming over from the KHL. A massive talent that will make a difference. [Sportsnet]
    By Thomas Williams  

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    Trade Deadline Hero

    If it came from Russo it’s probably not true. After this year I now take everything he says with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, he seems to have become a hockey gossip columnist, but hey, the National Enquirer gets it right some times! 
     

    I would be pleasantly shocked if they both were back tonight. Only doing one contact drill and playing with the 4th line tells me it’s not quite time yet.

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    mnfaninnc

    I sure hope they both come back tonight. Wouldn't it be a nice boost if Midsy returned too?

    Let's just assume that Ek and Kaprizov are back tonight. We have 4 games left on the schedule. The medical team told Guerin they expected these 2 to be back for the regular season. Was 4 games enough to affect our TDL moves or lack of moves? That essentially means that we get 1 week of regular season play from both. What if we had swung big at the deadline for 2 impact players and let these guys have another week to heal up?

    The other part of the coin is, perhaps Guerin didn't like the players that were available? The prices were high. Could we have brought in a Tuch? Could we have brought in another impact center not named Nelson? Were there some other untraded players that could have been had that weren't moved? Was Pettersson ever a possibility? 

    To me, I think we probably should have gotten stronger and started our '25-26 run with a couple of extra players, targeted players who we want to either resign or had term. Maybe there were talks of such things but the prices were too high? But just getting 1 week out of Kaprizov and Ek does not seem like we got the value needed in the position we were in. 

    To summarize, I think the projections of the medical team were off and this cost us acquiring talent. I see a magnifying glass looking straight at the medical team right now as it appears that they've blown several cases. Do our writers have access to research the medical team?

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    bisopher

    And oh, BTW, tonight will also be Flower's last home start of the year.  I figured it for ANA next week, but as was pointed out that would leave Gus with over a week between starts (Calgary on Friday to Game 1 of the playoffs).

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    Imyourhuckleberry
    1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

    The other part of the coin is, perhaps Guerin didn't like the players that were available? The prices were high. Could we have brought in a Tuch? Could we have brought in another impact center not named Nelson? Were there some other untraded players that could have been had that weren't moved? Was Pettersson ever a possibility? 

    The cost of trades was very high this year. Toronto got a solid, but unspectacular defenseman(Brandon Carlo) for a 1st round pick and a 4th round pick, and a 2-way strong C prospect from the 2022 draft who is already getting ice time for Boston(Fraser Minten, who scored last night).

    Based upon average TOI for the Toronto defense, it seems Carlo is typically in a 3rd pairing role for the Maple Leafs, although elevated the last couple of games due to Jake McCabe missing time.

    For comparison, the Wild picked up Jake Middleton a few years ago for Kaapo Kähkönen and a 5th round pick.

    Guerin was likely better off waiting until the summer to make sure he has the assets in place to optimize the future of the roster.

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    IllicitFive
    1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

    I sure hope they both come back tonight. Wouldn't it be a nice boost if Midsy returned too?

    Let's just assume that Ek and Kaprizov are back tonight. We have 4 games left on the schedule. The medical team told Guerin they expected these 2 to be back for the regular season. Was 4 games enough to affect our TDL moves or lack of moves? That essentially means that we get 1 week of regular season play from both. What if we had swung big at the deadline for 2 impact players and let these guys have another week to heal up?

    The other part of the coin is, perhaps Guerin didn't like the players that were available? The prices were high. Could we have brought in a Tuch? Could we have brought in another impact center not named Nelson? Were there some other untraded players that could have been had that weren't moved? Was Pettersson ever a possibility? 

    To me, I think we probably should have gotten stronger and started our '25-26 run with a couple of extra players, targeted players who we want to either resign or had term. Maybe there were talks of such things but the prices were too high? But just getting 1 week out of Kaprizov and Ek does not seem like we got the value needed in the position we were in. 

    To summarize, I think the projections of the medical team were off and this cost us acquiring talent. I see a magnifying glass looking straight at the medical team right now as it appears that they've blown several cases. Do our writers have access to research the medical team?

    At least for Kaps situation that had to be a sign off by his surgeon who I believe is out of the wild medical staff loop. Its hard to know how long it takes to recover from something as well, sometimes its faster than others. I doubt they would be playing either of them tonight, if it is tonight, unless they are 100% sure they can go full on. The medical staff should be under a microscope, but this is mainly from McAvoy getting an infection, which is not the first time that has happened to him if I recall correctly.

    I agree loading up for next year would have been nice but the hope was always that they would be able to get them back into the lineup before playoffs, and they could use a few games to get back into the swing of things. Practice can not simulate a game. Besides that,  the cost I have to imagine was staggering if there were trades on the table we would want long term. Nelson is 33 for a top prospect, think Yurov, plus a first a third and another player. Tuch would probably have been more, I can't imagine that was in the cards for them this year, can't speculate on Peterson if he was available because Vancouver seems tough to read as far as how they measure value.

    Just in, sounds like Kap and Ek are good to go, at least as guaranteed as Joe O'Donnell can have saying "99% they are back tonight"

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    M_Nels
    36 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    For comparison, the Wild picked up Jake Middleton a few years ago for Kaapo Kähkönen and a 5th round pick.

    HIGHLY underrated trade. At the time people were thinking big Kahk would be the future but he struggled mightily after leaving and is now in the AHL.

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    Imyourhuckleberry

    Looking at Boston a bit due to the trade described above, they look like they are considering going full rebuild. Made me wonder if a team that suddenly had some open cap space this summer might be interested in trading Rossi and other assets for Pastrnak.

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    raithis
    51 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    Looking at Boston a bit due to the trade described above, they look like they are considering going full rebuild. Made me wonder if a team that suddenly had some open cap space this summer might be interested in trading Rossi and other assets for Pastrnak.

    I've thought about this too, though I'm not sure if Boston is going for a full rebuild.  That said, it will probably be a couple years until they regain their footing and he'd be past his prime by then.  Would Pastrnak entertain the option of waiving his NMC to play for a team like MN?  Not sure.

    Pastrnak would be an interesting addition.  Sacrificing a center to get him wouldn't be great, but he is locked up long term and is a proven goal-scorer, something we sorely need.

    Depending on what they'd want in return, I'd certainly give up a bit for him.  I'd rather sacrifice more picks than players (again, depends on what kind of rebuild Boston is looking at with what they would value more), but I feel like they would want more up-and-coming young players than we should get rid of.  I'd rather have Kaprizov, Ek, and Boldy on my top two lines with Pastrnak than trade out one of them for him.

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    mnfaninnc
    1 hour ago, M_Nels said:

    HIGHLY underrated trade. At the time people were thinking big Kahk would be the future but he struggled mightily after leaving and is now in the AHL.

    He's in Charlotte now preparing for an AHL playoff run.

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    mnfaninnc
    1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    Looking at Boston a bit due to the trade described above, they look like they are considering going full rebuild. Made me wonder if a team that suddenly had some open cap space this summer might be interested in trading Rossi and other assets for Pastrnak.

    Pasta is in year 2 of an 8 x $11.25m deal. I'd love to have Pasta come to St. Paul. I'm not sure of the cost, but I do believe his game translates with Kaprizov's game. 

    One nice thing about us is that we are in the Western Conference, and if I were Boston, that's where I'd want him to go. We have lots of rebuilding assets that Boston could want. Maybe the Breezer's deal was a preview of a bigger deal with Pasta? 

    Boston signaled rebuild with the trade of Marchant. They need youth everywhere, but particularly centers. Could something with a lot of quantity work?

    Wheeler ranked the Bruins as #30 in the prospect pool rankings.

    Edited by mnfaninnc
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    Scalptrash

    They're back and Fleury gets the start:

    FORWARDS

    17 Marcus Foligno - 14 Joel Eriksson Ek - 12 Matt Boldy

    97 Kirill Kaprizov - 23 Marco Rossi - 36 Mats Zuccarello

    90 Marcus Johansson - 89 Freddy Gaudreau - 41 Gustav Nyquist

    13 Yakov Trenin - 38 Ryan Hartman - 15 Justin Brazeau

    DEFENSE

    25 Jonas Brodin - 7 Brock Faber

    47 Declan Chisholm - 46 Jared Spurgeon

    4 Jon Merrill - 24 Zach Bogosian

    GOALTENDERS

    29 Marc-André Fleury

    32 Filip Gustavsson

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    FredJohnson
    53 minutes ago, Scalptrash said:

    They're back and Fleury gets the start:

    FORWARDS

    17 Marcus Foligno - 14 Joel Eriksson Ek - 12 Matt Boldy

    97 Kirill Kaprizov - 23 Marco Rossi - 36 Mats Zuccarello

    90 Marcus Johansson - 89 Freddy Gaudreau - 41 Gustav Nyquist

    13 Yakov Trenin - 38 Ryan Hartman - 15 Justin Brazeau

    DEFENSE

    25 Jonas Brodin - 7 Brock Faber

    47 Declan Chisholm - 46 Jared Spurgeon

    4 Jon Merrill - 24 Zach Bogosian

    GOALTENDERS

    29 Marc-André Fleury

    32 Filip Gustavsson

    I figured JEE would sit until the finale. 🤷‍♂️

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