Maybe, you know sign a free agent center that's better than Rask and Guadreau? If you think the contract is the only issue here and not seeing that the Wild have zero direction at the moment on what the hell this team is doing - I don't know what else to show you.
If I was an agent and I saw what Guerin was doing with Fiala - who has played with who exactly? And the negotiations that Guerin is doing with Fiala, I'd be wary about working with him as well. Not to mention, there has been really no incentive for Kaprizov to sign here. What has Guerin done to convince Kaprizov he's actually building a competitive team in the next few years other than banking on some rookies to bring them to the promise land?
You're right. But this starts all the way back in 2012. We are just in a uncomfortable place now.
KK finally comes over. There is a pandemic, cap stays essentially the same.
For WHATEVER reason, probably being that almost no teams successfully can acquire a top line center out of thin air unless they are in absolutely the best position to (lots of assets and tradables), we haven't got that. We have been in a quasi-rebuild which for me is my biggest beef. I don't like half in half out. We should have either started the rebuild a year ago or the opposite.
Instead we find ourselves with a lot of good to great players while still missing the important #1C and that is the hardest to get. We have prospects that may becomes top players, Rossi might become a #1C but he may also be nothing more than a second line winger, and yet this happens to also be the time that KK needs a contract extension.
So, you could tell KK that. And say this is bad timing, sorry. If you want out I understand. If you want a Cup tomorrow instead of maybe in 3-10 years, fine. We will trade you and continue our 'rebuild that is not a rebuild'. But if you want to stay then you need to like, get it, get the fact that this is where we find ourselves. We can't pay you 11 million for the next five seasons each year, and we would like to sign you longer than 3 seasons. We can't risk you walking and damage the team for ten years like Gabby did.
Like, I don't blame BG or KK at the moment really, I understand both even if it's very frustrating. What needs to be done is cut the emotional blame sh*t and get down to brass tacks. We need to trade him ASAP after signing him- whether that's the same day or in six months- for the very best haul we can including a #1C prospect.
Had we somehow gotten a #1C this year, we wouldn't have the same cap, prospect pool, etc to win with going forward. So it's a catch 22. Damned if you acquire a #1C due to leveling the damn prospect pool and you are damned if you don't because you look like 'you've been playing with your thumbs, what have you done for the team lately' too. You f*ck yourself now or you f*ck yourself later.
KK has got to understand that, and BG needs to not pretend this isn't the case. I wish he would move off his 'we aren't rebuilding' fence and just rebuild.
