Minnesota Wild General Discussion VI

[FVM]

Wild’s power play picture perfect, but most importantly, so was Devan Dubnyk in the third period

As of Tuesday night, it’s not believed newly christened but very busy Philadelphia Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher had yet contacted Fenton to ask permission to bring his former right-hand man Brent Flahr to Philly.

However, the Wild do believe that’s going to happen and sources indicate the Wild will allow Flahr to join Fletcher immediately rather than fulfill the remaining season on his contract if that’s what he’d like to do.

Flahr, who has been with the Wild since July 2009 and has run the draft table since 2010, is the Wild’s senior vice president of hockey operations by title only. He has been amateur scouting all season.

I wasn't aware of Flahr's demotion. No surprise he's leaving to Philly any day now.

 

[Bazeek]

Different quote, same article.

Two players the Wild expected to bounce back from rough seasons are Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle.

Instead, they’ve combined for seven goals and 25 points in 27 games.
Fenton stood up for them.

“They’re both half-a-point-a-game guys,” he said. “With a little bit more luck, they’d have a lot more points and a lot more goals. They’re adding to our lineup, they’re adding to the balance of our lineup and they’re giving us a chance to win every night. So for me, that’s the biggest thing. If they contribute that way, they’ll eventually get rewarded for it.”

I'm glad Fenton's more sanguine about those two than the fanbase (or beat writer) tend to be. Nino's definitely struggled but I still think he fits well on a line with Greenway and Ek. And Coyle's been better this year than he's generally given credit for, but keeping him on a line with Parise and Koivu seems to have him playing more consistently.

Whatever their flaws, they fit their roles better than anyone we're likely to get in a trade.

 

[Nsjohnson]

Bruce thinks Greenway was the best player for both teams last night, and had two great games in a row.

I agree he's had a much better game lately.

I still think he's a 25g-30a kind of guy. Size, reach, he actually isn't a dumb player. He has pretty good hands.

 

[57special]

Greenway is a force out there. His reach is absurd, and allows him to break up plays and possession that most other players would not be able to You can see that opponents are surprised by it, too. Still needs to work on his balance and strength.

Don't know if I see a lot of offense ever coming from him, though.

 

[absolute garbage]

Agree with that. You can visibly see in Greenway that he's at the point where he can start to just take games over. Don't think he will finesse things much and doesn't have great poise or touch, but he's a dominating presence that will be an important piece going forward.

You basically can't take the puck away from him. With his reach and frame he's just doing whatever he wants. Massive difference from late last season when he was still pretty easy to knock off the puck. He's so much stronger now. Interesting to see if there's yet more room to grow.

 

[Bazeek]

Greenway is a force out there. His reach is absurd, and allows him to break up plays and possession that most other players would not be able to You can see that opponents are surprised by it, too. Still needs to work on his balance and strength.

Don't know if I see a lot of offense ever coming from him, though.

I dunno, he's getting better at Staal's trick of finding a soft spot right between the circles to get a shot off from.

 

[2Pair]

Give him and Nino a center that can actually handle the puck, and all of their point totals will increase.

 

[DeagleJenkins]

Give him and Nino a center that can actually handle the puck, and all of their point totals will increase.

got a 3C in mind we can actually target?

 

[Saga of the Elk]

got a 3C in mind we can actually target?

The Wild's white whale. Too bad they couldn't fit Tyler Bozak under the cap...

Or they could try Greenway-Staal-Nino.

JEE by the way has a higher shot rate than Nino, Coyle, Granny, Dumba, or Greenway.

He has a higher assists rate than Nino, Coyle or Greenway.

He has the highest rebounds created rate on the team.

 

[DeagleJenkins]

The Wild's white whale. Too bad they couldn't fit Tyler Bozak under the cap...

Or they could try Greenway-Staal-Nino.

JEE by the way has a higher shot rate than Nino, Coyle, Granny, Dumba, or Greenway.

He has a higher assists rate than Nino, Coyle or Greenway.

He has the highest rebounds created rate on the team.

i actually like JEE, i just know 2pair hates him so was asking who he had in mind.

 

[AKL]

The Wild's white whale. Too bad they couldn't fit Tyler Bozak under the cap...

Or they could try Greenway-Staal-Nino.

JEE by the way has a higher shot rate than Nino, Coyle, Granny, Dumba, or Greenway.

He has a higher assists rate than Nino, Coyle or Greenway.

He has the highest rebounds created rate on the team.

So get him some wingers that can finish?
Get his wingers a center that can handle the puck?

Rates don’t mean anything when he’s on pace for 4 goals and 16 points. I don’t care if he shoots more than Granlund or Dumba, it doesn’t mean anything if you’re constantly missing.

 

[2Pair]

got a 3C in mind we can actually target?

Jeff Carter is a guy that I think would be a perfect fit.

 

[Bazeek]

Jeff Carter is a guy that I think would be a perfect fit.

Carter's kind of interesting in that he's Staal's age and on a contract I'd be pretty comfortable extending Staal on: $5.2m AAV for 3 years after this one. The term is a year longer than I'd like, but the cap hit is easy to swallow.

With the cap going up it might not even be totally crazy to acquire Carter and still extend Staal, depending on what he wants. Our centers next year would be all be pretty old, but Koivu's contract expires after that. It's not too crazy.

I worry that the price would be pretty high, though.

 

[2Pair]

Carter's kind of interesting in that he's Staal's age and on a contract I'd be pretty comfortable extending Staal on: $5.2m AAV for 3 years after this one. The term is a year longer than I'd like, but the cap hit is easy to swallow.

With the cap going up it might not even be totally crazy to acquire Carter and still extend Staal, depending on what he wants. Our centers next year would be all be pretty old, but Koivu's contract expires after that. It's not too crazy.

I worry that the price would be pretty high, though.

Right handed, goal scorer, solid 2-way game at center. Can also play RW. Bigger guy with good skating. Would also give the Wild a little bit of leverage when it comes to re-signing Staal.

Price would likely be a 1st or a guy like Kunin and maybe some change.

 

[Bazeek]

Right handed, goal scorer, solid 2-way game at center. Can also play RW. Bigger guy with good skating. Would also give the Wild a little bit of leverage when it comes to re-signing Staal.

Price would likely be a 1st or a guy like Kunin and maybe some change.

It looks like it'd also require $2m-$3m in cap space going back.

 

[2Pair]

It looks like it'd also require $2m-$3m in cap space going back.

Not a math genius, but I think the combination of sending Ek down and the season being roughly 40% completed, he would fit without moving any money out.

 

[Bazeek]

Not a math genius, but I think the combination of sending Ek down and the season being roughly 40% completed, he would fit without moving any money out.

I was wondering about that, but I'm not sure how the daily cap calculations work. It seems safe to assume that there's some point between now and the TDL that that will be true, anyway. Assuming there is...

Sometime before the TDL
Min 2019 1st + B prospect for Jeff Carter

Before the draft
One of Nino, Zucker or Coyle for futures to recoup the lost 1st

One of Nino, Zucker or Coyle is probably gone before next season. Right now it looks like Nino because he's struggling the most and fits the least, but it sure would be nice if we could pump his value up closer to where it should be before making that trade. Putting him with a center like Carter can only help.

And frankly, I'm still curious to see how those three perform come playoff time. If Zucker continues to be invisible while Nino steps up big, maybe he ends up being the guy instead. Especially if he fetches the biggest return based on his regular season numbers. It's not impossible that we end up with a higher 1st than we originally parted with.

It's risky, but it's the right kind of risky.

 

[2Pair]

I was wondering about that, but I'm not sure how the daily cap calculations work. It seems safe to assume that there's some point between now and the TDL that that will be true, anyway. Assuming there is...

Sometime before the TDL
Min 2019 1st + B prospect for Jeff Carter

Before the draft
One of Nino, Zucker or Coyle for futures to recoup the lost 1st

One of Nino, Zucker or Coyle is probably gone before next season. Right now it looks like Nino because he's struggling the most and fits the least, but it sure would be nice if we could pump his value up closer to where it should be before making that trade. Putting him with a center like Carter can only help.

And frankly, I'm still curious to see how those three perform come playoff time. If Zucker continues to be invisible while Nino steps up big, maybe he ends up being the guy instead. Especially if he fetches the biggest return based on his regular season numbers. It's not impossible that we end up with a higher 1st than we originally parted with.

It's risky, but it's the right kind of risky.

Adding Carter would also get Coyle off of the PP and make it easier to move him in the offseason if the right deal comes around.

 

[Victorious Secret]

Getting older and being hamstrung by having Carter for 3 more years at 5.2AAV after this season, doesn't seem to be a move in the right direction.

 

[2Pair]

Getting older and being hamstrung by having Carter for 3 more years at 5.2AAV after this season, doesn't seem to be a move in the right direction.

Adding a top 6 center wouldn't help this team? They either need to do what they can to improve the current roster, or they need to start selling guys. Soon.

Personally, I am of the opinion that they're good enough to make a run. Adding a quality player like Carter at his likely price, can only help in that run.

 

[Al Lagoon]

33 year old Jeff Carter, he of 14 points in 28 games and -11, who only played 27 games last season? He is the savior?

Yikes. Sounds like a plan to make the Wild the Kings.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

32 year old Eric Staal, he of 39 points in 83 games and -3?

Yikes.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Getting older and being hamstrung by having Carter for 3 more years at 5.2AAV after this season, doesn't seem to be a move in the right direction.

Unless you have illusions of snagging Panarin or some other $10+ million player on the free agent market, I don't know how this hamstrings us.

 

[2Pair]

33 year old Jeff Carter, he of 14 points in 28 games and -11, who only played 27 games last season? He is the savior?

Yikes. Sounds like a plan to make the Wild the Kings.

18 goals and 36 points over those 55 games. that projects to 27 goals and 54 points over a season. But who would want that when you can run out Joel Eriksson Ek and his 10 goals and 17 assists in 110 career games?

 

[Bazeek]

Carter at $5.2m for 3.5 years (and no trade protection!) doesn't really hamstring anything, especially with the cap going up by $2m-$3m. The only danger would be that he totally falls off a cliff in Minnesota, and I don't think that's likely. He's having a down year but so's the whole Kings team.

I'd love to acquire a younger center, but as realistic Plan B's go Carter looks pretty good to me.