Friedman: Bill Guerin will listen on everything

[Bazeek]

Zucker would fit well in the Sabres lineup, 2RW and 2C/3C are our biggest needs, but as mentioned by Chainshot above I'm not sure how the teams could make it work cap-wise. Sobotka and possibly Vesey too would need to be going the other way along with picks/prospects of actual value in the trade.

I like the Eric Staal idea... his cap # and Sobotka's would cancel each other out. What is the picks/prospects ask from MIN if the offer is Sobotka + futures for Staal?
Consensus from MIN seems to be wanting a young up and coming top-6 C, but I don't think 34 yr old Eric Staal gets you that type of return.

I'd be alright with a 2nd for Staal, personally. Maybe more if we're taking a cap dump back as well, because even as a 3C his cap hit is pretty light.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Zucker would fit well in the Sabres lineup, 2RW and 2C/3C are our biggest needs, but as mentioned by Chainshot above I'm not sure how the teams could make it work cap-wise. Sobotka and possibly Vesey too would need to be going the other way along with picks/prospects of actual value in the trade.

I like the Eric Staal idea... his cap # and Sobotka's would cancel each other out. What is the picks/prospects ask from MIN if the offer is Sobotka + futures for Staal?
Consensus from MIN seems to be wanting a young up and coming top-6 C, but I don't think 34 yr old Eric Staal gets you that type of return.

Thompson or a 2nd.

 

[Sota Popinski]

what do you mean by do both?

Acquire assets and decrease competitiveness.

 

[Jtown]

Acquire assets and decrease competitiveness.

the guys that are making you competitive are the ones attached to contracts that are going to be hard to move.

 

[Bazeek]

the guys that are making you competitive are the ones attached to contracts that are going to be hard to move.

Suter's the only guy with an NMC that is coming close to making us competitive this year. Parise, Zuccarello and Dubnyk are pretty much the eye of the ****storm. Spurgeon's somewhere in the middle, though he'll probably bounce back.

 

[Jtown]

Suter's the only guy with an NMC that is coming close to making us competitive this year. Parise, Zuccarello and Dubnyk are pretty much the eye of the ****storm. Spurgeon's somewhere in the middle, though he'll probably bounce back.

spurgeon is a great player, but who is going to want to trade for that contract now?

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

spurgeon is a great player, but who is going to want to trade for that contract now?

I think there'd be at least 5 teams that would jump at the chance right now, as is. Probably another 5 to 10 join them if there is even minor retainage.

 

[Bazeek]

spurgeon is a great player, but who is going to want to trade for that contract now?

I'm just disputing the idea that the guys making us "competitive" are the ones attached to difficult contracts. Our worst contracts have generally been our worst players.

And then there's the idea that we're competitive at all right now, which seems pretty novel.

 

[Sam Spade]

I'll take one Dumba and one Zucker to go.

 

[Jtown]

I'm just disputing the idea that the guys making us "competitive" are the ones attached to difficult contracts. Our worst contracts have generally been our worst players.

And then there's the idea that we're competitive at all right now, which seems like a pretty novel idea.

yes the idea of being competitive is clearly not in play right now. But if you guys do become competitive it will come on the back of guys like dubnyk, zucc, suter, parise, koivu etc.

 

[PuckInTheNards]

spurgeon is a great player, but who is going to want to trade for that contract now?

Jesus - what's your point? If it's to say the Wild are in a bad spot - yeah, we all get it. We've gotten it for a couple of years. If it's just rub salt in the wound, then I say mission accomplished and well done. You can now safely enjoy Philly's run for the playoff bubble. God speed

 

[AKL]

I'll take one Dumba and one Zucker to go.

I hope you have a fat wallet

 

[TaLoN]

Name one move where Fenton took draft picks for a player? It was leaked (Fenton was upset about this and spent most of his waking hours trying to find the leaker... he was more obsessed with this than actually doing his job) that Staal for a 1st++, and Zucker had multiple landingspots at the deadline just had to be signed off but Leipold refused.

Fenton was upset about leaks because he was paranoid, not because he wanted picks. He wanted hockey players. The steps back he took were getting guys who were maybe's and could be's for more proven talent.

Fenton hoped Fiala could be as good or better than Granlund someday. The problem is, he should have ALSO gotten picks for the risk we took on.

Fenton even talked about taking a step back with his moves in press conferences at the time.

Leipold has always hired a GM to make trades/ signing decisions. The only time I'm aware he's stepped in to overrule a GM on a personnel issue is when it came to firing Boudreau, CL said no, but at the cost out of pocket, that's understandable.

 

[Bazeek]

yes the idea of being competitive is clearly not in play right now. But if you guys do become competitive it will come on the back of guys like dubnyk, zucc, suter, parise, koivu etc.

So the problem is that all of those guys might suddenly be good again at some point?

 

[TaLoN]

It's been leaked by a few sources since the firing of Fenton who were part of the scouting department. It also aligns with the reports of the famous near Zucker trade reports from TSN and the Athletic.

"The Athletic and TSN learned Monday afternoon that Zucker was nearly traded to the Calgary Flames. Sources say it would have been for a package that included veteran Michael Frolik and a draft pick. For some unclear reason as of now, the trade fell through at the very last moments before Monday’s 2 p.m. CT trade deadline." - Russo

It came out later that Calgary screwed up the paperwork filling with the league. Nothing to do with the Wild owner denying his GM the trade.

 

[greasysnapper]

It came out later that Calgary screwed up the paperwork filling with the league. Nothing to do with the Wild owner denying his GM the trade.

Got a link?

 

[Bazeek]

Got a link?

It's in here.

Then, there was the Zucker cluster-you-know-what. Sources say there was a lot of resistance, even from some of Fenton’s hires, but Fenton came close to trading Zucker to Calgary for a first-round pick and Michael Frolik. Because of an issue on Calgary’s end, the trade fell through at the very last moments before the 2 p.m. deadline. The story got out, and that created a lot of tension between Zucker and Fenton, who initially denied the story to Zucker. More than three months later, Zucker was nearly traded again to Pittsburgh, but Phil Kessel wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause to come to Minnesota.

 

[TaLoN]

It's in here.

Didn't Russo also mention on the radio about the GM in Calgary losing it on his staff for screwing it up? He was pretty ticked off and went on a tirade.

 

[Bazeek]

Didn't Russo also mention on the radio about the GM in Calgary losing it on his staff for screwing it up? He was pretty ticked off and went on a tirade.

He's insinuated something like that, yeah. Not sure if it was just the Starbucks talking or what.

 

[Gospel of Prospal]

I would imagine David Quinn would love to have Jordan Greenway and Koivu would be great for Kakko

 

[Sota Popinski]

spurgeon is a great player, but who is going to want to trade for that contract now?

Uhh, pretty much everyone considering he is one of the top 20 defensemen in the league.

2019-20 NHL Season Preview: Minnesota Wild
"(Brodin and Spurgeon) are the team’s strongest defensive defensemen, earning the highest impact for expected goals on the Wild, and top five league-wide. Spurgeon actually ranks first thanks in part to having the lowest expected goals against rate over the last three seasons. He’s an unassuming and diminutive defender standing under six feet tall playing exceptional defense in tough minutes on a nightly basis – and doesn’t get nearly the recognition he deserves for it. My model grades him as a top 10 defensemen, a sentiment that I’m guessing wouldn’t be very popular outside the analytics community. By WAR, he ranked 11th among defensemen last season and is fourth over the last three seasons. He’s very good and the decision surrounding his future coming at the end of this season has franchise-altering ramifications."

This contract is projected to have $19.6 million in surplus value, with Spurgeon remaining an elite defender for the next 4 years, still grading out as a 1D in years 5 and 6, and still being a 2D in year 7.

 

[Henkka]

Does he listen podcasts too?

 

[Bazeek]

Does he listen podcasts too?

Apparently.

 

[SI90]

Wow. Didn’t realize the wild got off to that bad of a start.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Wow. Didn’t realize the wild got off to that bad of a start.

Road games against Nashville, Colorado, Winnipeg and Toronto (b2b) and the only home game being against Pittsburgh.