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  • Wilderness Walk: Why Wild Swapped Addison For Bogosian


    Image courtesy of © Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
    Thomas Williams

    That's Wild

    On Wednesday, the Minnesota Wild made it clear that they wanted to move on and have a certain type of player playing at the bottom of their lineup. They first traded young, offensive defenseman Calen Addison to the San Jose Sharks, and then just hours later, acquired the experienced, rugged blueliner, Zach Bogosian, from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Essentially a swap with a little bit of an improvement in late-round draft picks.

    Why did they make this move? It really comes down to the fact that Addison was not doing what they wanted him to do. They wanted him to be on the top power-play unit and play solid enough defense to be on the bottom pairing, below Jared Spurgeon and Brock Faber on the right side. He was recently removed from the power play and hasn't really shown exactly what they wanted to be in that third-pairing role.

    So out he goes, to a team that doesn't have two extremely good right-handed defensemen above him in the depth chart -- where he should be getting boundless opportunities to show his worth. And in comes Bogosian, the rough-and-tumble defensemen that has always been a feature in Minnesota. 

    Clearly, Bill Guerin is an admirer.

     

    With almost identical cap hits, and less commitment to Bogosian (he is an unrestricted free agent this summer), they made the swap. In comes a cheap, short-term fix, as players like Daemon Hunt and Carson Lambos, get another year of development.

    • The one thing we do know is that when a defenseman that is under 6-foot-tall and can skate fairly well, comes to Minnesota, he is compared to the captain. Calen Addison couldn't meet that impossible standard. [Hockey Wilderness]
    • A deeper look behind the trades. [The Athletic]
    • The Wild's goaltending has been more than questionable. But maybe, Marc-Andre Fleury is here to save the day. [StarTribune]

    Off the trail...

    • Bodycam footage of Alex Galchenyuk's arrest shows him threatening officers and spewing out slurs. [Yahoo Sports]
    • Ken Holland is betting on a third career reclamation in the AHL for goaltender Jack Campbell, after him and his $5-million cap hit are heading to the minors after a miserable start to the season.[EP Rinkside]

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    4 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

    He's much more than that, he's mean. He'll play in the gray areas. He'll clear the crease. And, I'm sure everyone remembers his hit on PMD that was pretty cheap.

    I'll be happy if that's what he brings.  While i don't think this current group is soft necessarily, this NHL team can use one more player who can intimidate.

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    Addison reminds me of Mike Reilly. Lots of fanfare but never lived up to those expectations. IMO he will have the same type of career as Mike . Neither play defense or are they reliable point producers . They both will bounce around teams for the remainder of their careers. 
        Addy never passed the eye test for me  and needed to go . I credit Bill for taking the heat of trading addy and getting something we desperately need. A big nasty right handed defenseman. With our cap problems he didn’t have a lot of options but I think bogs is a heck of an add. Especially if we get the bogs of years past.  I read other teams were interested so good on bill. You can’t have enough big  nasty d for playoffs . 
        I still don’t like the extensions , not sold on coach but I give credit to bill for a smart move imo . 
       

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    38 minutes ago, MercuryMack said:

    I don't think Guerin is being patient or has demonstrated any patience as the GM. He definitely wasn't with the 3 extension signed before the season. Those could have waited to see how the season started and possibly used those player in trades.

    The Addison trade didn't have to happen one month into the season either he might have been able to get more value closer to the deadline. Nobody was jumping to trade for Bogo so why make the move now. Addison has been playing better this season, why not give him 20+ more games to see if it all comes together for him.

    We are not privy to practices and locker room stuff. But, I can tell you the look on Addison's face seem to indicate he's more of a loner, not really part of the group. Someone said Addytude, and I think that's right.

    Guerin is looking to improve the team where it needs improvement. A big, nasty, RHS D has been needed for years. He won't help us score goals, but he will defend much, much better. 

    Why not give him 20 more games? I think he was ready to get benched again this year which would have driven down his value. Guerin got a fair price for him. He moves up a couple of rounds when it's all said and done, he gets a guy with a Championship pedigree for about the same money. 

    As for patience, I believe Shooter has shown a great deal of patience while not being patient. This paradox is because of OCL who demands playoff teams. However, Shooter has not made Fletcher's mistake as of yet and has kept the prospects marinating and not trading them away or forcing them up too early. This balancing act has been really good, and has pleased the only guy who matters, OCL.

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    11 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

    Shooter has not made Fletcher's mistake as of yet and has kept the prospects marinating and not trading them away or forcing them up too early. This balancing act has been really good

    This is a great distinction to make between two GM's.  Fletch proved to be a clown GM...twice now.  Jury still out on BG.  If prospects begin joining big club and contributing (hello Marco) BG has thread the needle.  If Ohgren, yurov, Kuze, Stramel et al don't contribute in top 6 capacity we can begin to call this a circus.  Unless you think 35+ year old Freddie G, Marcus F and Zuccarello's ghost will be good enough to get us out of the first round

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    1 hour ago, Tony Abbott said:

    Fifth in points per hour among his draft class and fourth in SPAR per hour... above Noah Dobson, Rasmus Sandin, K'Andre Miller...

    For a net minus ~ 20 last season.

    Hockey's intangibles aren't measured on paper. That's why they like Fred and why guys like Maroon or Bogosian can add to the team on a budget. Defense is what the Wild need and a one-faceted defender who defends is what fits. More than the guy who can outscore two of three guys who can play decent D and have size.

    The wild can plan for what they hope happens but they need to also plan for what might happen. I'd rather they are exposed now and make changes than in March. 

    That's the silver lining and it also gives us an idea of what they think about the D prospects. I think it's the right time to move a guy, since he had a nice window to succeed in MN. Now the next group will have their window to breakout. I mean Addison didn't even play half of last season and it was hardly noticed. Team was great down the stretch without him. Teams weren't in on Addison for much so would they really be offering a 2nd in a couple months with a negative plus minus and only bringing offense to the table? I don't think this trade was about getting the Wild the biggest return and they had certainly seen enough to draw conclusions. 

    I mean if you had a really fast car that was fun to drive but it breaks down every other week forget it. You gotta make it to work regularly. Same exact thing. Wild need reliable defense who can handle big responsibilities. Worst team in the league giving up just a 5th tells me more about Addison than GMBG. I'm afraid we're stuck with Merrill.

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    1 hour ago, Dean said:

    Addison reminds me of Mike Reilly. Lots of fanfare but never lived up to those expectations. IMO he will have the same type of career as Mike . Neither play defense or are they reliable point producers .

    Perfect analogy. 

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    29 minutes ago, Protec said:

    I'm afraid we're stuck with Merrill.

    Merrill can be waived then sent down to Iowa. I don't think BG will do that but it can be done if memory serves me. If that happened his cap ht would drop like a stone also. If one of the youngens in Iowa starts lighting it up maybe.

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    5 hours ago, Greenbean said:

    That would be awesome if it was actually happening. Winning in the regular season is cool and all, but have the wild tried it in the playoffs? I've heard it's much better.

    Over the last 3 prior seasons, the Wild average points in the regular season is 2nd in the Western Conference, only trailing Colorado.

    It would be cool to win in the postseason, and that often takes a healthy team, even when your team isn't playing short by more than $10M in cap space.

    The Wild have won 7 playoff games in the last 3 seasons, which is more than a large portion of the league, just haven't compiled 4 wins in the same postseason as they continue to play higher seeds.  Winnipeg made the playoffs 2 of those seasons and even won a playoff series, but they only have 5 playoff wins in that span.

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    2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

    As for patience, I believe Shooter has shown a great deal of patience while not being patient. This paradox is because of OCL who demands playoff teams. However, Shooter has not made Fletcher's mistake as of yet and has kept the prospects marinating and not trading them away or forcing them up too early. This balancing act has been really good, and has pleased the only guy who matters, OCL.

    I think my issue with Guerin is that it seems like he keeps bringing in aging veterans with grit or resigning veterans rather than seeing what all the kids can do. You might be right that he is being patient with the prospects, they might not be ready. But we've seen what the old guys can do and that is not get out of the first round. I guess I would like to see Guerin try something different.

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    2 hours ago, Protec said:

    Hockey's intangibles aren't measured on paper. That's why they like Fred and why guys like Maroon or Bogosian can add to the team on a budget. Defense is what the Wild need and a one-faceted defender who defends is what fits.

    Bogosian doesn't defend, though.

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