Speculation: All-Purpose Expansion Talk Thread v1.0

[Minnesota]

Cup window's closing... Staal gives us the center depth for the next 2+ years to make deep playoff runs.

If we lose him, we don't have anyone to step in. He gives us forward flexibility, which I think has been driving a lot of our success this year.

Yes, he's a vet, but I don't see any players on our immediate roster or pipeline that could step up and take his place.

He's not putting up crazy points right now, but he's playing solid top-6 center minutes.

 

[Bazeek]

Cup window's closing... Staal gives us the center depth for the next 2+ years to make deep playoff runs.

If we lose him, we don't have anyone to step in. He gives us forward flexibility, which I think has been driving a lot of our success this year.

Yes, he's a vet, but I don't see any players on our immediate roster or pipeline that could step up and take his place.

He's not putting up crazy points right now, but he's playing solid top-6 center minutes.

If we lose Staal but keep everyone else do we have more options to make a post-expansion trade for a longer term top-6 center solution? I don't have anyone specific in mind, but someone more in the Coyle/Nino age range than the Koivu or Eriksson-Ek ranges.

 

[57special]

the other thing that makes Staal valuable besides his play is his relatively low cap contract. 3.5M for a top 2 C. Sign me up!

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Cup window's closing... Staal gives us the center depth for the next 2+ years to make deep playoff runs.

If we lose him, we don't have anyone to step in. He gives us forward flexibility, which I think has been driving a lot of our success this year.

Yes, he's a vet, but I don't see any players on our immediate roster or pipeline that could step up and take his place.

He's not putting up crazy points right now, but he's playing solid top-6 center minutes.

Maybe. Maybe not.

 

[DANOZ28]

cup window is closing? it just opened! im confused.

 

[Wild11MN]

Exactly... that's the key to all of this - what Fletcher thinks the window is.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

25 and under forwards:

Granlund
Coyle
Nino
Zucker
Haula
Tuch
Eriksson Ek
Kunin
Kaprizov
Greenway
Sokolov

Under 30 defensemen:
Spurgeon
Scandella
Brodin
Dumba
Reilly
Olofsson

Our Cup window depends on what all of these players turn out to be. Obviously it'll be tweaked some with expansion and salary cap issues and such, but it seems like our 24/25 year old forwards have made a leap this year, are they done? What will our non-NHL players become? Is Tuch a 25+25 player, Kaprizov a Kucherov clone, Eriksson Ek a slightly poorer man's Koivu, etc...? Do we continue to hit on our draft picks or do we go on a drought when we are (hopefully) picking later in the rounds?

 

[Minnesota]

Granlund
Coyle
Nino
Zucker
Haula
Tuch
Eriksson Ek
Kunin
Kaprizov
Greenway
Sokolov

Our Cup window depends on what all of these players turn out to be. Obviously it'll be tweaked some with expansion and salary cap issues and such, but it seems like our 24/25 year old forwards have made a leap this year, are they done? What will our non-NHL players become? Is Tuch a 25+25 player, Kaprizov a Kucherov clone, Eriksson Ek a slightly poorer man's Koivu, etc...? Do we continue to hit on our draft picks or do we go on a drought when we are (hopefully) picking later in the rounds?

Specifically looking at center, which is where we'd suffer if Staal was lost to Vegas... The only potential top-6 center we have is Eriksson-Ek (Looked great, but can't bank on him playing top-6 C minutes next season), and Kunin (probably 2+ years away from the NHL).

Nobody can immediately fill Staal's shoes next season - Granlund & Coyle are much better wingers. Zucker, Niederreiter, Tuch, Kaprizov, Greenway are all wingers.

I'm not saying our cup window's closing... Yes, it just opened. However, if Vegas picks Staal we're all of a sudden short 1 top-6 center. I think he makes the Wild a cup contender; losing him would take us out of that category in my eyes. I think Staal is a huge piece of what makes our forward group so successful this year. Losing him and having nobody immediately ready to slot-in as our #1 Center would (IMO) break our balanced scoring line approach.

Staal + Koivu in our top-6 essentially gives us two competent "first line" centers. Losing him would force Koivu into a primarily shut-down role, like he's been playing the past couple years. That loss of depth trickles down the lineup.

 

[NHL1674]

Losing Staal would be a mistake. Even when he's not scoring right now, he's still so strong on the puck. And I believe he and Koivu compliment each other greatly. It'd be a step backwards.

I hate this damn expansion draft!!

 

[57special]

So might the choice end up being losing;

-Dumba(2.5M) and one of Granlund/Nino(5M projected)

or

- Scandella(4M) and Haula(3M projected)

the thinking being that our salary cap and X draft is going to limit us to keeping only three of the above 5 mentioned players.

I prefer Scandella to Dumba as a player, and really like Haula as a player(at 1M he is a steal), but even I would rather lose Scandella and Haula than Dumba and one of Nino/Granlund. I believe losing the former pair will really hurt our team defense, but I can't see letting Nino or Granlund go. Dumba, and his lower salary, allows us to keep both, I think.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

It'll be very close. Granlund/Nino at a combined $10m or less, Scandella's and Haula's departures should cover it; more than $10m and we'd need to start looking at an additional ~$2m coming off.

 

[nickschultzfan]

This losing Staal phoebia is hilarious.

 

[123TripleDoge]

I'm glad they don't have to make a decision now, cuz if Staal keeps trending downwards, it's an easy move to leave him exposed.

 

[nt3005]

I highly doubt that Vegas would take Staal, he has had a great start to this season, but has slowed down.

His last couple seasons leading up to this one he has not been great, and you can expect more decline with age.

 

[Bookman]

Maybe the real reason Coyle looks like he will be a center going forward.

 

[123TripleDoge]

The more i think and scheme about expansion moves, the more ticked off i get. It's such bad timing and hurts the Wild as much as any team in the league (of course).

Imagine the options the Wild would have in the offseason if not for expansion. If they really needed to shed salary to re-sign Granny and Nino, they could send off Scandy and get a nice hefty return (and not have to worry about losing Brodin and Dumba). That way a young Reilly or Olofsson could slot in early in the year to have chemistry and experience build up throughout the entire year. Or, if they knew they had to lose Granny or Nino, their value has never been higher and could bring in someone else cheap and with huge upside. Many things could happen and allow them to adjust / retool after this year playoffs to reload and come back with a vengeance. Grr

 

[Hall of Faber]

I highly doubt that Vegas would take Staal, he has had a great start to this season, but has slowed down.

His last couple seasons leading up to this one he has not been great, and you can expect more decline with age.

I could see Vegas being a middle man to get Staal to STL. Would STL trade them something better than our unprotected players for Staal is the question.

 

[Generic User]

I highly doubt that Vegas would take Staal, he has had a great start to this season, but has slowed down.

His last couple seasons leading up to this one he has not been great, and you can expect more decline with age.

Maybe the real reason Coyle looks like he will be a center going forward.

Yup. With the players that will be exposed by the Wild, there's almost 0% chance Vegas takes Staal over one of them. And being that the Wild can only lose 1 player, I would be fine if they did take Staal.

 

[Bookman]

This losing Staal phoebia is hilarious.

No more hilarious than throwing away Haula and/or Scandella to keep LV from picking someone else. Losing 1 asset >>> than losing 2 or 3.

 

[Bookman]

Yup. With the players that will be exposed by the Wild, there's almost 0% chance Vegas takes Staal over one of them. And being that the Wild can only lose 1 player, I would be fine if they did take Staal.

Reading Russo's story about how Staal and his family love it here, maybe that could be the carrot to get him back to first half Staal. "Imagine your sons roller skating in the desert."

His game sure has gone south.

 

[ClayAikenFan77]

Reading Russo's story about how Staal and his family love it here, maybe that could be the carrot to get him back to first half Staal. "Imagine your sons roller skating in the desert."

His game sure has gone south.

Eh, his possession numbers have been fine. Just snake bitten, it happens to everyone.

 

[ClayAikenFan77]

No more hilarious than throwing away Haula and/or Scandella to keep LV from picking someone else. Losing 1 asset >>> than losing 2 or 3.

I think it depends on the players..

Right now with Coyle playing center, Haula is our 4C. I don't want to be paying a 4th line center more than 1.5 million or whatever Haula is going to get paid.

I'm also very high on Dumba compared to Scandella. I'm not sure how many people remember Scandella when he was Dumba's age, but IMO Dumba is way further along in his development. I think we would be really stupid to choose Scandella over Dumba when we have Spurgeon, Suter, Brodin, and apparently Olofsson who are very good at defense.

 

[57special]

My worry about Dumba is whether or not he has the capacity to improve in our own zone. I just am not seeing much of it. I do agree that you would keep him, ideally, as we need top 4 RD's.

 

[ClayAikenFan77]

My worry about Dumba is whether or not he has the capacity to improve in our own zone. I just am not seeing much of it. I do agree that you would keep him, ideally, as we need top 4 RD's.

You don't think he's improved since he first started in the NHL?? I think he's taken a huge step with Scott Stevens and hopefully can continue to learn from him.

 

[Minnesota]

New thread.