Non-Minnesota NHL News XXIII

[Wabit]

Moulson was (finally) put on waivers today. I'm glad the Wild are cap tight (and at contract max), otherwise GMCF might have takes a flyer on him.

 

[Bazeek]

Moulson was (finally) put on waivers today. I'm glad the Wild are cap tight (and at contract max), otherwise GMCF might have takes a flyer on him.

Whatever one's thoughts on Fletcher are, I don't think there's a GM in the league that's going to go near Moulson with that contract.

 

[BagHead]

So, I've been watching the Vegas Knights this year, and I've thought the ex-Wild players look real for them. Turns out they're better than I even realized. Dom Luszczyszyn (impossible name to spell) posted this graphic in his latest "game score" article. By that metric (which is supposed to be a general measurement of all the actions a player has taken on the ice, boiled down into one single number) Haula has been the best player on their team. I always felt he had untapped upside, even at his age, but dang... that's pretty awesome for him.

However anyone feels about Vegas being able to get such great players in an expansion draft, it's turned out to be a pretty nice story for guys who were stuck in 3rd line roles and are now producing borderline elite numbers. It makes me wonder what other guys stuck down the depth charts of NHL teams are capable of, given the chance.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

I'm still holding out on them coming back to Earth a ton...but we're at a point where it's getting more and more difficult to say that. Then again, they have played Arizona four times already (4-0).

 

[HollaHaula]

Tuch made a really smart, goal-scorer's play to get himself his goal last night. He saw his team was breaking out so he began flying up the ice and then swung a little wide to both make the breakout pass easier and to give himself some space between the defender. Then, being at near-top speed Tuch blew around the defender and beat the goalie to the opposite side of the net.

Really good stuff and I'm loving how the Golden Knights play.

 

[2Pair]

I'm still holding out on them coming back to Earth a ton...but we're at a point where it's getting more and more difficult to say that. Then again, they have played Arizona four times already (4-0).

I still don't think they will make the playoffs, but it's obvious that they will be quite a bit better than most expected they would.

 

[Bazeek]

So if Seattle gets an expansion franchise and there are no relocations, I assume one of the Pacific teams moves to the Central? Please be Arizona.

 

[gphr513]

From wintry Minnesota to California beaches, Darcy Kuemper and Christian Folin enjoying life as Kings

“A fresh start has been good for me,” Kuemper, who is 4-0-2 with a 1.72 goals-against average and .944 save percentage as Jonathan Quick’s backup, said from the Toyota Sports Center on Monday. “I’m just happy the way things are going so far. I think I knew I wasn’t going to be back in Minnesota. A lot of mixed feelings. It’s the only team I ever played for and I had a lot of good experiences there, but I’m just happy to be here now.”

I'm glad to see Kuemper doing well in LA. Always seemed like a good kid, just couldn't find any consistency. I'm rooting for him to do well out there.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

So if Seattle gets an expansion franchise and there are no relocations, I assume one of the Pacific teams moves to the Central? Please be Arizona.

Yay, another expansion draft to dodge. Maybe Kaprizov not coming over yet will end up helping.

 

[Bazeek]

Yay, another expansion draft to dodge. Maybe Kaprizov not coming over yet will end up helping.

We'd have fewer older players on NMCs to deal with, but we're still probably going to the be the sort of team that gets boned by these expansion drafts.

Maybe a potential Seattle ownership group doesn't put up the amount of money required to get the favorable draft conditions Vegas got? Though Vegas is kind of proving that to be a decent investment at this point...

 

[gphr513]

Players can waive their NMC to be unprotected, right?

Gotta imagine Mr. Parise would waive his so we can leave him unprotected. Helps out the team, and he knows that nobody is going to take a 30+ year old player of his style with back issues.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

We'd have fewer older players on NMCs to deal with, but we're still probably going to the be the sort of team that gets boned by these expansion drafts.

Maybe a potential Seattle ownership group doesn't put up the amount of money required to get the favorable draft conditions Vegas got? Though Vegas is kind of proving that to be a decent investment at this point...

If it's the same rules, and assuming all of the younger guys are still on the roster:

Parise (36)
Granlund (28)
Nino (28)
Zucker (28)
Coyle (28)
Eriksson Ek (23)
Kunin (23)

Suter (35)
Spurgeon (31)
Brodin (27) / Dumba (26)

We're still kind of in the same situation, except the fact that Granlund, Coyle and Spurgeon would all be staring at unrestricted free agency might throw in a wrinkle or two (or three).

 

[57special]

That's one reason that the next contract that Koivu gets does not have a NMC. Staal, too. Hopefully the Parise contract will be resolved, one way or another.

 

[Bazeek]

If it's the same rules, and assuming all of the younger guys are still on the roster:

Parise (36)
Granlund (28)
Nino (28)
Zucker (28)
Coyle (28)
Eriksson Ek (23)
Kunin (23)

Suter (35)
Spurgeon (31)
Brodin (27) / Dumba (26)

We're still kind of in the same situation, except the fact that Granlund, Coyle and Spurgeon would all be staring at unrestricted free agency might throw in a wrinkle or two (or three).

Depending on how quickly this happened, Kunin may still be exempt. I can't remember how quickly things progressed with Vegas, though.

Either way, it could be something that factors into one or more of those guys being traded between now and then.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Depending on how quickly this happened, Kunin may still be exempt. I can't remember how quickly things progressed with Vegas, though.

Either way, it could be something that factors into one or more of those guys being traded between now and then.

The tweet said "by 2020" so I'm assuming the summer of 2020 at the earliest. This last year I believe it was under 3 years of pro hockey were exempt. Summer of 2020, Kunin would be right on edge, probably still exempt though.

 

[Bazeek]

Players can waive their NMC to be unprotected, right?

Gotta imagine Mr. Parise would waive his so we can leave him unprotected. Helps out the team, and he knows that nobody is going to take a 30+ year old player of his style with back issues.

Normally I'd assume he'd say no (if they asked him at all), but a 36-37 year old Parise at $7.5m for 3-4 more years... Yeah, there's probably not much danger for him there.

 

[Bazeek]

The tweet said "by 2020" so I'm assuming the summer of 2020 at the earliest. This last year I believe it was under 3 years of pro hockey were exempt. Summer of 2020, Kunin would be right on edge, probably still exempt though.

Gotcha. Yeah, if it takes more than 3 years I'm sure we'll have a whole new, unforeseeable list of problems to worry about

 

[HollaHaula]

I wanted to put a great caption but this video is good enough without it. After the Brett Connolly goal...

 

[Bazeek]

From wintry Minnesota to California beaches, Darcy Kuemper and Christian Folin enjoying life as Kings



I'm glad to see Kuemper doing well in LA. Always seemed like a good kid, just couldn't find any consistency. I'm rooting for him to do well out there.

Yeah, it's good to see both players landing on their feet. Kuemper was kind of a problem child, but the last few seasons in Minnesota had to be pretty grim for him.

Also, a good reminder for people that still don't like that we didn't re-sign Folin:

He was a pending restricted free agent, but once the Winnipeg Jets re-signed depth blue liner Ben Chiarot to two-year, $2.8 million contract, the Wild decided not to tender Folin a qualifying offer because Chiarot’s contract likely would have been Folin’s comparable in a potential arbitration award.
Folin became an unrestricted free agent, and without those arbitration rights, he signed a one-year, $850,000 contract with the Kings.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Folin at $1.4m vs. Quincey at $1.25m still leans pretty heavily in the direction of Folin, as we've seen play out.

 

[Bazeek]

Folin at $1.4m vs. Quincey at $1.25m still leans pretty heavily in the direction of Folin, as we've seen play out.

I guess I was thinking the Chiarot contract would push him closer to $2m, but maybe I'm off base there. At $1.4m I'd have to agree that it's a bummer.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I guess I was thinking the Chiarot contract would push him closer to $2m, but maybe I'm off base there. At $1.4m I'd have to agree that it's a bummer.

I can still understand it if the idea was to have a stabilizing veteran presence on the bottom pair to help whichever of Reilly/Olofsson is playing, and they didn't want to risk Folin struggling or taking a step back. They just greatly erred in thinking that Quincey was that guy. That's a failure of the professional scouts.

 

[nickschultzfan]

Yay, another expansion draft to dodge. Maybe Kaprizov not coming over yet will end up helping.

No.

We learned that trying to dodge the expansion draft was worse than letting it happen.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

No.

We learned that trying to dodge the expansion draft was worse than letting it happen.

One might believe that if one hates Dumba as much as you do.

 

[57special]

Yeah, it's good to see both players landing on their feet. Kuemper was kind of a problem child, but the last few seasons in Minnesota had to be pretty grim for him.

Also, a good reminder for people that still don't like that we didn't re-sign Folin:

Don't miss Kuemper at all. Don't trust him.

The Folin situation is one that worked out badly for both parties. He gets only a one year contract for 850K...I would bet that the Wild would have been happy to give him a couple of years at 1M per. For a fringe NHL'er like Folin, that's a lot.