Confirmed with Link: Paul Fenton to be named GM of Minnesota Wild

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BigT2002

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I think he's truly hoping for a window to open sending him to Vegas. He's sounded more excited in every tweet about them than he has about Minny in years. It was obvious who he was cheering for this last round. And he's still jumping Tuch and Haula's legs.

Which is hilarious to me, largely because he was on the biggest voices that stated Haula would be nothing higher than a 3C on this team and be regulated to PK time only.
 

thestonedkoala

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Meh. Kind of curious to see what his plans are and how different he is from Poile. To say Nashville was underwhelming this season is an understatement.
 

melinko

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Which is hilarious to me, largely because he was on the biggest voices that stated Haula would be nothing higher than a 3C on this team and be regulated to PK time only.
But he is correct, Haula would have been relegated to 3C and PK here. Because our team has rigid definitions of what players are.

  • Haula was type-cast as a 3C because their initial evaluation had him as one, he was always going to be a 3C playing up/down a line with us. Or he was going to fail completely.
  • Pouliot was viewed as a top6 high skill player, when that wasn't the case he was worthless to us. Once he escaped that rigid evaluation we had of him he has turned in a longer career than I'm sure many of us thought he could in the bottom6.
  • Kunin came in with the expectation of being top6.
  • Ek came in expectation of bottom6.

I'm worried that Leipold is the guy behind a lot of the odd decisions this team has made. So many of the player acquisitions we have made only make sense in a NHL15 fantasy type of way, like we are slow lets trade for someone fast. It increases your make believe team speed stat but in the real world you need at least a whole line that plays that way for it to matter.
 

TaLoN

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But he is correct, Haula would have been relegated to 3C and PK here. Because our team has rigid definitions of what players are.

  • Haula was type-cast as a 3C because their initial evaluation had him as one, he was always going to be a 3C playing up/down a line with us. Or he was going to fail completely.
  • Pouliot was viewed as a top6 high skill player, when that wasn't the case he was worthless to us. Once he escaped that rigid evaluation we had of him he has turned in a longer career than I'm sure many of us thought he could in the bottom6.
  • Kunin came in with the expectation of being top6.
  • Ek came in expectation of bottom6.

I'm worried that Leipold is the guy behind a lot of the odd decisions this team has made. So many of the player acquisitions we have made only make sense in a NHL15 fantasy type of way, like we are slow lets trade for someone fast. It increases your make believe team speed stat but in the real world you need at least a whole line that plays that way for it to matter.
Not sure how you put the Pouliot thing on the current owner, when that was previous owner and regime.

That said, Pouliot is still hella lazy, and there are much better bottom 6 players out there, including here.

All that aside, no I don't think CL is making player personnel decisions.
 

Saga of the Elk

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For the last few years Paul Fenton's name has come up as a potential GM. So he has a good reputation and he has tons of experience. It's kind of a funny move in that Nashville isn't really much better than the Wild have been. But they have indeed been a little better, and this league (like all pro sports) is just about marginal differences. The idea of unleashing Paul Fenton to make his own adjustments could produce some unusual results but it's hard to imagine straying too far from the Nashville 'model': giant goalie, tiny backup, top-four defensemen who can put up points, and responsible checking forwards on all four lines.

I'm optimistic here. Fletch did a lot of things pretty well, didn't make any huge mistakes, but didn't fully leverage some of his opportunities either. If there's one thing that Nashville has done well it has been to spot opportunities and take them. When you've traded Martin Erat for Filip Forsberg you don't trade Jason Pominville for Marcus Foligno (with or without Tyler Ennis).
 

Uberdachen

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The first order of business will obviously be to call a team meeting and have everyone watch him beat Parise with a chair, but after that it's less certain. Probably some review of Blackhawks footage from before this year to see which brands of equipment should be used to exfoliate Tyler "I did it. I cost a man his job! This must be what it feels like to be on the continually standing side of a check!" Ennis.
 

57special

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The first order of business will obviously be to call a team meeting and have everyone watch him beat Parise with a chair, but after that it's less certain. Probably some review of Blackhawks footage from before this year to see which brands of equipment should be used to exfoliate Tyler "I did it. I cost a man his job! This must be what it feels like to be on the continually standing side of a check!" Ennis.
Is it possible that he actually favors Ennis, because he realizes that he is the reason that Fletcher got fired? A re-up for 4/16M?
 

Dickie Dunn

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2 wrongs don't make a right but 4 rights can get you right back where you started.

“It’s difficult to make trades. And I’ll also suggest that adding one player may or may not have sparked us, but right now we have a lot of guys that aren’t playing to their potential,” Fletcher said. “We need a lot more from the group we have.” - Chuck Fletcher after firing Yeo.

Could say the same thing about the same group 2 years later. Not sure a new GM can fix this w/o changing "the guys" finally.
 

Wild11MN

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2 wrongs don't make a right but 4 rights can get you right back where you started.

“It’s difficult to make trades. And I’ll also suggest that adding one player may or may not have sparked us, but right now we have a lot of guys that aren’t playing to their potential,” Fletcher said. “We need a lot more from the group we have.” - Chuck Fletcher after firing Yeo.

Could say the same thing about the same group 2 years later. Not sure a new GM can fix this w/o changing "the guys" finally.
That's the point of the new GM though. The new guy won't have any "attachment" to anyone coming in. There are likely no untouchable assets.
 

Bazeek

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Not if CL thinks all they need is a "tweak".
I guess none of us knows for sure, but my interpretation of the "tweak" comment is that Leipold wants changes that will make us more competitive in the medium term. The stated goal has been to win a cup in the next 3-4 years, so whether or not that allows for a temporary step back is hard to say. I think it leaves a lot of room to maneuver, though.

I think you could consider something as major as Weber for Subban a "tweak" move.
 

Uberdachen

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Is it possible that he actually favors Ennis, because he realizes that he is the reason that Fletcher got fired? A re-up for 4/16M?

I'd say take him out for soup, or give him a radio to listen to Wild broadcasts or something. But at least his last two GMs obviously got some kind of brain disorder where his contract was involved, so I can't really say that that's impossible. I would at least hope that if Fenton re-signs Tyler "and Wile E. Coyote's middle name is me!" Ennis, that he does it without breaking stride from the moment he first walks in the door and right before taking off his shirt to reveal a Predators jersey underneath, kicking Suter in the ankle, and going straight out the exit making shooting noises for his firing middle finger cannons.
 

thestonedkoala

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The first order of business will obviously be to call a team meeting and have everyone watch him beat Parise with a chair, but after that it's less certain. Probably some review of Blackhawks footage from before this year to see which brands of equipment should be used to exfoliate Tyler "I did it. I cost a man his job! This must be what it feels like to be on the continually standing side of a check!" Ennis.

No, his first order of business is to strip Koivu of the captaincy and then stand on a table, dangle the C above Spurgeon's head and cackle while yelling, YOU HAVE TO BE THIS TALL TO BE CAPTAIN.
 
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