Player Discussion Kirill Kaprizov

[2Pair]

Put Fiala and Kaprizov together and give them whatever center you want, just let them play together. Keep Ek and Greenway together and give them Parise or Foligno if you really want to keep those 3 together or Parise if you want a little more goal scoring in tight to complement the Ek/Greenway forecheck.

In either case, you have two lines you can them legitimately rely on offense with. Then you have basically the same level 4th line as now and a grinder 3rd line of something like Johannsson, Bonino, Foligno/Parise.

Instead of neutering your top 2 goal scorers and basically turning those line into grinder lines that require one man army level effort why not have two solid lines and basically still have 2 additional lines at the same level as now?

Makes zero sense.

Don't you put that evil on them like that.

 

[Mookie Blaylock]

I'm hoping to see Boldy and Kap together once the NCAA season ends.

 

[Filip]

I said it in the Prospects forum, but it will be interesting to see how much chemistry he can develop with Boldy and Rossi.

It's not gonna work. Kirill needs a puck. Rossi, too. If you imagine the ideal center for Kirill, then it is Getzlaf in the best years or Kopitar or Jeff Carter.

 

[TaLoN]

It's not gonna work. Kirill needs a puck. Rossi, too. If you imagine the ideal center for Kirill, then it is Getzlaf in the best years or Kopitar or Jeff Carter.

I think they'd be fine. A line usually needs two players to do the puck carrying thing. If you only have one quality pick carrier, then you tend to run into problems.

That's why we wanted better players to play with Granlund when he was at his best here too.

BTW - Granlund appears to have returned to form. Too bad we don't have him to line up with Chevy.

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

I think they'd be fine. A line usually needs two players to do the puck carrying thing. If you only have one quality pick carrier, then you tend to run into problems.

That's why we wanted better players to play with Granlund when he was at his best here too.

BTW - Granlund appears to have returned to form. Too bad we don't have him to line up with Chevy.

It's great to have Zuccarrello on a 6m a year contract and Johansson on a 4.5m contract instead of Granlund on a 3.75m contract

 

[BagHead]

It's great to have Zuccarrello on a 6m a year contract and Johansson on a 4.5m contract instead of Granlund on a 3.75m contract

I'm not sure Granlund's production would have suffered as much with the Wild as it did with Nashville. It seems he needed a lot of time to adjust, and now that he has he's playing like his old self. Point being, he almost definitely would be on a higher than 3.75m contract with us. If he'd kept up the pace he had been at with us, it'd be closer to 8. And we'd probably still have Johansson.

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

I'm not sure Granlund's production would have suffered as much with the Wild as it did with Nashville. It seems he needed a lot of time to adjust, and now that he has he's playing like his old self. Point being, he almost definitely would be on a higher than 3.75m contract with us. If he'd kept up the pace he had been at with us, it'd be closer to 8. And we'd probably still have Johansson.

Sure, but instead of spending cap space just to spend there's a scenario where Granlund goes to Nashville and the Wild pick him up this offseason for under 4m

 

[HotDish]

Sure, but instead of spending cap space just to spend there's a scenario where Granlund goes to Nashville and the Wild pick him up this offseason for under 4m

Zucc wasn't signed this offseason and Johansson was a trade. Where is this spending cap space just to spend it? Also you act like the Wild had interest in Granlund when repeatedly Russo said they didn't.

 

[57special]

If we hadn't done the Staal trade we could've just signed Granlund.

Guerin is either incompetent, or going for a stealth tank. That doesn't explain why he is so careless with Cap money, though.

 

[BagHead]

Sure, but instead of spending cap space just to spend there's a scenario where Granlund goes to Nashville and the Wild pick him up this offseason for under 4m

Fair point, I wasn't considering that scenario. I actually would have loved to bring him back in that scenario, but we couldn't have known that would even be a possible scenario. Zuccarello was signed before COVID-19 made its way over to North America, so we didn't know there would be a flat cap and a half-year layoff. We also didn't have the hindsight of Granlund not producing well in Nashville in '19-20. Both of those had to go exactly as they did for Granlund to get the low contract that he did, and the pandemic wasn't even a possibility in anyone's mind (except Bill Gates') at the time Zuccarello was signed. I mean, yeah, in hindsight I wish things had gone differently, but that's looking back at the past and wishing you knew what was going to happen. And if we're going to play the hindsight game, why limit our imagination at getting Granlund for cheap? I wish the Wild had drafted John Carlson instead of Tyler Cuma, Brandon Saad instead of Zack Phillips, Vincent Trocheck instead of Mario Lucia, Shayne Ghostisbehere instead of Raphael Bussieres, etc. Do you see my point?

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

Zucc wasn't signed this offseason and Johansson was a trade. Where is this spending cap space just to spend it? Also you act like the Wild had interest in Granlund when repeatedly Russo said they didn't.

There was tons of criticism when Fenton was trading away our current core to rebuild and then subsequently handed out a 6m contract to a 30 year old Zuccarrello. There was tons of people at the time saying that there was a disjointed vision and that you didn't need to spend cap space just because you had it.

Let's use some logic and critical thinking skills to jump ahead and say that if you don't sign aging veterans to eat up all of your cap space on an a rebuilding team, you might have $4m in cap space to pay Granlund this offseason.

 

[GuerinUp]

There was tons of criticism when Fenton was trading away our current core to rebuild and then subsequently handed out a 6m contract to a 30 year old Zuccarrello. There was tons of people at the time saying that there was a disjointed vision and that you didn't need to spend cap space just because you had it.

Let's use some logic and critical thinking skills to jump ahead and say that if you don't sign aging veterans to eat up all of your cap space on an a rebuilding team, you might have $4m in cap space to pay Granlund this offseason.

Who also at age 28, is getting to the point of being called "aging"

 

[2Pair]

Why in the world would the Wild have any interest in Granlund?

 

[Victorious Secret]

Who also at age 28, is getting to the point of being called "aging"

It's been widely reported in hockey analytic circles 28 is the new 30. not really. 28 is not over the hill, 29 tho....

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

Why in the world would the Wild have any interest in Granlund?

So that Fiala and Kaprizov can play with actual NHL caliber top 6 players?

 

[HotDish]

There was tons of criticism when Fenton was trading away our current core to rebuild and then subsequently handed out a 6m contract to a 30 year old Zuccarrello. There was tons of people at the time saying that there was a disjointed vision and that you didn't need to spend cap space just because you had it.

Let's use some logic and critical thinking skills to jump ahead and say that if you don't sign aging veterans to eat up all of your cap space on an a rebuilding team, you might have $4m in cap space to pay Granlund this offseason.

Please point to me the crystal ball that Fenton had to predict the pandemic and the possibility to signing Granlund for less than 4mil.

At the time people didn't think the wild were a rebuilding team. Everyone thought they were retooling. With better goaltending they would've been a safe playoff teams.

Please don't try and revise history.

 

[2Pair]

So that Fiala and Kaprizov can play with actual NHL caliber top 6 players?

Granlund hasn't been one of those for 2 years. Fiala, Kaprizov, Zuccarello, Greenway, with Boldy and Beckman on the way. Don't really see the need to add another small winger that can't shoot, skate, or defend.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

Fiala/Kaprizov need to play with speed. That ain't Granlund. Keep drafting and developing speed.

 

[TaLoN]

Fiala/Kaprizov need to play with speed. That ain't Granlund. Keep drafting and developing speed.

Granlund played with Zucker just fine. He thinks the game fast, imo that's far more important. He "plays fast".

I'd also argue, Granlund and Chevy are ballpark same skating speed anyway.

 

[2Pair]

Granlund played with Zucker just fine. He thinks the game fast, imo that's far more important. He "plays fast".

I'd also argue, Granlund and Chevy are ballpark same skating speed anyway.

You would be wrong

 

[Spurgeon]

Granlund hasn't been one of those for 2 years. Fiala, Kaprizov, Zuccarello, Greenway, with Boldy and Beckman on the way. Don't really see the need to add another small winger that can't shoot, skate, or defend.

Granlund > Zuccarello

 

[2Pair]

Granlund > Zuccarello

Playing for Bruce Boudreau? Probably. Playing for anyone else? Debatable.

 

[Blue Ox]

Granlund > Zuccarello

No question about it.

 

[TaLoN]

Granlund > Zuccarello

Neither of which is around to help Chevy right now anyway.

 

[Webster]

Granlund > Zuccarello

Their career stats are actually identical...