Player Discussion Erik Haula Appreciation Thread... We'll Miss You Haula-Famer!

[Bazeek]

Count me as someone who still takes losing Haula and Tuch over Dumba 10 times out of 10. And I don't consider that a knock on either player. It's really good to see Haula, especially, taking off in Vegas this year.

 

[BagHead]

Only because Pominville's 5.6 million was going the other way, which made room for Ennis' 4.6 million, which if it didn't happen meant we'd have even less room for Haula's 2.75 million.

Agreed. Without that trade, we would have either lost Nino or Granlund. And if we kept Haula, it'd be because we let Vegas take Dumba. So now you have Haula needing a raise of $1.7 million, Scandella being $1.5 million more expensive than Dumba was, and you've still got the more-expensive-than-Ennis-Pominville, adding another $1 million to the cap. What does that add up to? 4.2 million, if I did my math right? We would have to make a heck of a trade at that point!

 

[2Pair]

I was always really bummed to lose Haula. One of my favorite players, for sure.

In hindsight, with how Murphy has came in and played, I think I would have rather lost Dumba to Vegas, and then kept Haula-Tuch.

One of Granlund or Niederreiter would also be gone in that scenario.

 

[Ban Hammered]

I would have just lost Dumba and thus made no other trades last offseason.

Do that and one of Nino/Granlund is not here.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

People keep saying they would have taken Dumba and I keep saying that was not a no-brainer, it could have as easily been Eric Staal. We don't know and the GM made his trade to ensure he did know the outcome was one he could live with.

And I agree that losing Dumba in the expansion would have been a giant error. The GM's hands were tied. But also not surprising to see Haula thrive. He's still not as good as Granlund.

 

[Wabit]

People keep saying they would have taken Dumba and I keep saying that was not a no-brainer, it could have as easily been Eric Staal. We don't know and the GM made his trade to ensure he did know the outcome was one he could live with.

And I agree that losing Dumba in the expansion would have been a giant error. The GM's hands were tied. But also not surprising to see Haula thrive. He's still not as good as Granlund.

Granny is the better overall player. Haula is the better center.

It's easier to look at things in hindsight. Keeping Dumba/Brodin, Staal/Zucker and re-signing Granny/Nino were more important to GMCF than Haula, Pommer, Scandella, and Tuch. That's essentially the breakdown of what happened last year.

I say Dumba/Brodin and Staal/Zucker because that's where the cutoff line and debate was for exposed players. If a deal hadn't have been made things could have shaken out differently for the protection list. The list was just a moot point after the Haula/Tuch deal was in place.

 

[2Pair]

Granny is the better overall player. Haula is the better center.

It's easier to look at things in hindsight. Keeping Dumba/Brodin, Staal/Zucker and re-signing Granny/Nino were more important to GMCF than Haula, Pommer, Scandella, and Tuch. That's essentially the breakdown of what happened last year.

I say Dumba/Brodin and Staal/Zucker because that's where the cutoff line and debate was for exposed players. If a deal hadn't have been made things could have shaken out differently for the protection list. The list was just a moot point after the Haula/Tuch deal was in place.

Well said. I would add that I don't think losing Dumba was ever going to be an option because of the salary cap. If Fletcher wasn't able to work out a deal before the draft, it would've been Brodin that was exposed.

 

[Uberdachen]

Only because Pominville's 5.6 million was going the other way, which made room for Ennis' 4.6 million, which if it didn't happen meant we'd have even less room for Haula's 2.75 million.

I didn't mean to imply that there was a way to keep Haula in place of Ennis with everything else happening as desired, or anything like that. Losing Haula was one of several changes made for the sake of precious cap space, which after adding Ennis's contract, is infuriating. It's like skipping lunch for a week because you're going to an expensive dinner on Friday, and on Friday night when you finally get to this super nice restaurant, the only thing on the menu is burnt pickles that were used to clean the restroom.

At the time of the expansion I thought losing just Haula + Tuch was a well-executed dodge so I'm not knocking that move. But that burnt bathroom cleaning pickle is making me complain about the whole goddamn week's worth of lunches leading up to it.

 

[HollaHaula]

I didn't mean to imply that there was a way to keep Haula in place of Ennis with everything else happening as desired, or anything like that. Losing Haula was one of several changes made for the sake of precious cap space, which after adding Ennis's contract, is infuriating. It's like skipping lunch for a week because you're going to an expensive dinner on Friday, and on Friday night when you finally get to this super nice restaurant, the only thing on the menu is burnt pickles that were used to clean the restroom.

At the time of the expansion I thought losing just Haula + Tuch was a well-executed dodge so I'm not knocking that move. But that burnt bathroom cleaning pickle is making me complain about the whole goddamn week's worth of lunches leading up to it.

I need to write these analogies down

I'm currently being Captain Hindsight and looking back at what Haula brought to this team. I knew he was going to be gone in the expansion draft but he brought so much needed speed to our team. Now, with the moves made after Haula going, we have more of Boudreau's patented grinders and less speed. We have gone away from the team composition needed in order to be competitive.

 

[Wabit]

So were the pickles used to clean the bathroom before or after they were burnt?

 

[nickschultzfan]

We have a easy way to solve this. Do you think Vegas would send back Haula and Tuch for Dumba?

Yeah, I didn't either.

 

[Goose312]

We have a easy way to solve this. Do you think Vegas would send back Haula and Tuch for Dumba?

Yeah, I didn't either.

No because they are lacking in forward talent and overloaded on defenders. Similar to how the Wild wouldn't be interested in Dumba for Haula+Tuch.

 

[Bruce Granville]

Haula doesn't become younger and with our bunch of youngish centers Koivu, Staal and Cullen we are set for .... at least weeks, if not months.

I would've kept Haula and I know how I would have got that cap space.

 

[BagHead]

I enjoy it, but please, tell me, how would you have gotten that cap space? I assume it's at least halfway real.

 

[MN_Gopher]

I like Haula, always haved.

Where does he play to match his point total from Vegas? Top 6 with Staal, Granlund, Zucker, Nino, Koivu, Coyle. Parise when he comes back. Or with Stewart, Mitchel, Cullen? Haula has been on the Vegas PP. Whos time does he take away to meet his simular numbers.

The bad of the whole thing is not Brodin, Dumba or who else we lose or could've lost. . Its that we got a lot older with Haula and Tuch gone.

 

[Wabit]

I like Haula, always haved.

Where does he play to match his point total from Vegas? Top 6 with Staal, Granlund, Zucker, Nino, Koivu, Coyle. Parise when he comes back. Or with Stewart, Mitchel, Cullen? Haula has been on the Vegas PP. Whos time does he take away to meet his simular numbers.

The bad of the whole thing is not Brodin, Dumba or who else we lose or could've lost. . Its that we got a lot older with Haula and Tuch gone.

To be in a similar situation as Vegas. Haula would have to take Koivu's spot on the Wild. 1/2C with lots of PP time, Haula isn't getting much PK time in Vegas.

He probably wouldn't be getting near as much PP time, and be the 3C on the Wild. His points wouldn't be near what they are in Vegas, unless Koivu got bumped to 3rd line/PK shutdown duties. Zucker/Haula/Granny would be a fun line to watch.

Alternate reality where there was no Vegas team: Wild had Haula/Tuch and dumped Scandella/Pommer for lose change.
Nino/Staal/Coyle
Zucker/Haula/Granny
Parise/Koivu/Tuch(JEE/Kunin)
Winnik/Cullen/Stewie

Suter/Dumba
Brodin/Spurgeon
Reilly(Olofsson)/Prosser

Dub/Stalock

 

[Bruce Granville]

Number 14...

 

[DANOZ28]

im sure we would have protected nino & granny so that really left coyle ; staal ; dumba ; scanny or brodin available without the haula / tuch deal. peter the reason i dont think vegas would have picked staal because they knew they would most likely lose him after 2 years. (why would he re-sign?) if i were vegas gm i would have picked dumba.

 

[2Pair]

im sure we would have protected nino & granny so that really left coyle ; staal ; dumba ; scanny or brodin available without the haula / tuch deal. peter the reason i dont think vegas would have picked staal because they knew they would most likely lose him after 2 years. (why would he re-sign?) if i were vegas gm i would have picked dumba.

Dumba would not have been available

 

[Goose312]

To continue the discussion from the off topic Eriksson Ek thread

When exactly was he given 17 minutes a night in Minnesota? Or 2+ minutes of power play time a night? The highest average PP TOI per game he had with Minnesota was 12 freaking seconds...

The issue I always saw with Haula is he was good offensively or defensively. Not both. The only stretch where he produced offense for the Wild was under Torch when no one kept to any type of system. Of the Vegas games I've watched, Haula is playing well, but he also plays deep in the offensive zone and not uncommonly he's the last forward back on defense. It's not a mistake that he has the worst goals against/60 for Vegas.

Under Yeo and Bruce that's not how a center should play so he would have to adapt to a defensive game, and whenever he was asked to play defense the production went away.