Minnesota Wild General Discussion XV

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Bazeek

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I'm not convinced. It's more than just Tampa.

We're just seeing skewed results against teams we own pretty clearly.

Even Vegas, we've owned them since they joined the league... for us, only Colorado is a challenge.

In a more varied schedule, we face teams we struggle against regularly more often.
And about a quarter (14/61) of our points come from beating on Arizona. I think third in the division is the right place, but I wouldn't read much into point totals or paces this year.
 
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nickschultzfan

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I am ready for Rask to go to the pressbox. Move up Sturm into the top-6 and Bonino back to center the 4th line. Put Bjugstad back in as the 4th line RW.

It is more important for the Wild to figure out if Sturm can be a long-term middle-6 center than it is to try to ride the dying horse that is Rask.
 
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MuckOG

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Are the chances better or worse than 50/50 that Rask is bought out this offseason?
 

57special

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I am ready for Rask to go to the pressbox. Move up Sturm into the top-6 and Bonino back to center the 4th line. Put Bjugstad back in as the 4th line RW.

It is more important for the Wild to figure out if Sturm can be a long-term middle-6 center than it is to try to ride the dying horse that is Rask.
I agree. Hartman was hot for a minute there, and good on Evason for spotting it and rewarding him, but he is a good bottom six RW, not a middle six C. Sturm is more comfortable at C, and is worth trying out as Fiala's C. It's not like we have a lot of other options. Sturm can win a FO, has the speed to keep up with Fiala, is beginning to show some offense, and will be able to back up Fiala defensively.
I can also see Sturm being a force on 3v3.
 

nickschultzfan

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I agree. Hartman was hot for a minute there, and good on Evason for spotting it and rewarding him, but he is a good bottom six RW, not a middle six C. Sturm is more comfortable at C, and is worth trying out as Fiala's C. It's not like we have a lot of other options. Sturm can win a FO, has the speed to keep up with Fiala, is beginning to show some offense, and will be able to back up Fiala defensively.
I can also see Sturm being a force on 3v3.
Good point. Hartman's playmaking is significantly better at the pivot, but his faceoffs are a significant problem. Evason could work out a simple rotation with Hartman and Bjugstad where he switches the one who is playing better up to the 2nd line center spot and the other goes back to the 4th line RW.
 

HotDish

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Better. Rask will be bought out or traded this off-season. Wild do not have the cap to keep him, even if they wanted to.
They definitely have space to keep him if they wanted. The Wild have almost 23 mil in cap space. They need to sign Ek, Fiala, and Kaprizov for sure. We also have space created from losing a player to the E.D. The Wild can absorb Rask if they wanted.
 

57special

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Would you rather pay Rask 4M to do whatever it is he does, or pay him 2.66M spread over the next three years, and open up a spot for someone else? We will be losing Bonino and Bjugstad hopefully, so we will be needing C's, but I'd rather see some combination of Dewar, Khovanov, Shaw, and Dumont can do. I can't see them being much worse, if any. I know that they will be faster, and is it even possible to be any weaker?
 
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nickschultzfan

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They definitely have space to keep him if they wanted. The Wild have almost 23 mil in cap space. They need to sign Ek, Fiala, and Kaprizov for sure. We also have space created from losing a player to the E.D. The Wild can absorb Rask if they wanted.
Armchair-GM - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Run the numbers yourself. Wild really do not. At a minimum, those three you mentioned will take up 20m in cap space. And there is still a lot of roster to fill out.
 

HotDish

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Would you rather pay Rask 4M to do whatever it is he does, or pay him 2.66M spread over the next three years, and open up a spot for someone else? We will be losing Bonino and Bjugstad hopefully, so we will be needing C's, but I'd rather see some combination of Dewar, Khovanov, Shaw, and Dumont can do. I can't see them being much worse, if any. I know that they will be faster, and is it even possible to be any weaker?
I think Dewar is the only one that may be able to play in the NHL next season. Khovanov can't even make it in the KHL, and needs more seasoning. Dumont is over 30 years old and has yet to break into the NHL. He is an AHL for life guy. Shaw, eh I have concerns his play style wouldn't work in the bottom 6. I normally don't knock a player for size but 5'9 180 you won't do much in a bottom role.

At this point for centers you have : Rossi-EK-Sturm-???? I think you can find a FA center with the cap space. Rask can play a bottom 6 role.

I'm not against buying him out, but it is silly to say the Wild can't keep him if they wanted.
 

nickschultzfan

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Would you rather pay Rask 4M to do whatever it is he does, or pay him 2.66M spread over the next three years, and open up a spot for someone else? We will be losing Bonino and Bjugstad hopefully, so we will be needing C's, but I'd rather see some combination of Dewar, Khovanov, Shaw, and Dumont can do. I can't see them being much worse, if any. I know that they will be faster, and is it even possible to be any weaker?
Guerin and Evason have shown us this year the power of opening up spots. JEE and Greenway have taken the next step. Kap has jumped in. Sturm has shown promise. Even guys like Foligno and Hartman have shown additional skills sets that we were not aware of.
 
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57special

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Guerin and Evason have shown us this year the power of opening up spots. JEE and Greenway have taken the next step. Kap has jumped in. Sturm has shown promise. Even guys like Foligno and Hartman have shown additional skills sets that we were not aware of.
On top of that, Rask has been given ample opportunities to play #1PP and with a couple of terrific linemates. Too slow and weak for the NHL, and routinely kills plays by losing possession. Can't win FO's. At this point, what does MN have to lose by giving other players a look?

At best, Rask is a mediocre #4/5C. I'd rather see younger, or just other players given a shot. Owner might feel differently, and not want to pay him to go away.
 

nickschultzfan

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I'm curious what you think the projected salary will be for each? 20 mil is quite a bit.
JEE $4.5m/year
Fiala - $7m/year
Kap - $8.5m/year

If we want to lock them up for a while. Maybe we can cut corners on short-term deals, but the Wild should not be in a position of having JEE jump to a $6m/year contract or Fiala to $8.5m/year or Kap to a $10m/year contract right at the time when the team will need to re-sign Boldy, Rossi, Addison, maybe Talbot, etc. At that time, they will already have had to give Greenway and Sturm a raise and would still dealing with the final year or two of Parise or Suter.

Wild should squeeze their cap space now in order to fit through the 23/24 and 24/25 seasons.
 

Dr Jan Itor

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Would you rather pay Rask 4M to do whatever it is he does, or pay him 2.66M spread over the next three years, and open up a spot for someone else? We will be losing Bonino and Bjugstad hopefully, so we will be needing C's, but I'd rather see some combination of Dewar, Khovanov, Shaw, and Dumont can do. I can't see them being much worse, if any. I know that they will be faster, and is it even possible to be any weaker?

2 years.
 

HotDish

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JEE $4.5m/year
Fiala - $7m/year
Kap - $8.5m/year

If we want to lock them up for a while. Maybe we can cut corners on short-term deals, but the Wild should not be in a position of having JEE jump to a $6m/year contract or Fiala to $8.5m/year or Kap to a $10m/year contract right at the time when the team will need to re-sign Boldy, Rossi, Addison, maybe Talbot, etc. At that time, they will already have had to give Greenway and Sturm a raise and would still dealing with the final year or two of Parise or Suter.

Wild should squeeze their cap space now in order to fit through the 23/24 and 24/25 seasons.
I think Fiala is too high there. I don’t see him getting more than 6 mil a year if even. Zucker got 5.5 mil after a 30 goal season. Something Fiala has yet to do. I don’t think Kaprizov will get paid more than the captain after 1 year.

I think it will be EK 4.5, Fiala 5.5, and Kaprizov 7.
 
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MNNumbers

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I'm trying to get the cap situation clear in my own mind.

For next year, there are the following savings:
Already contracted forwards:
Parise: 7.5M
Zucc: 6M
Foligno: 3.1M
Sturm: 700K
Defense:
Suter: 7.5M
Spurgeon: 7.5M
Dumba: 6M
Brodin: 6M
Soucy: 2.8M
Goalies: 4.4M

Total already on books:
52.7M or so

Needed signings:
Kaprivoz
Fiala
Erickson Ek
Hartman?
Plus 4 cheap forwards and 2 cheap d-men.

If the cap is 81.5M, then you start signing:
Kaprizov: 8M
Fiala: 6.5M
Erickson EK: 4.5M (he is a better than average man, so he has to get more than 4M)
Hartman: 2M (replacement would be similar)
Rossi: .9M

At this point, you are at 75M or so. You have 6.5M left, and you have only 16 guys already signed. 7 more players.
That would mean everyone else comes in at near entry level.

Question is:
Do I have this right?

If so, cap space seems to require protecting 7-3-1, and letting Seattle have Dumba (if they choose), or Soucy which offer more cap relief.

That is.....unless there is a Dumba trade which gains us cap space as well, and I would highly doubt that.
 

Dr Jan Itor

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I'm trying to get the cap situation clear in my own mind.

For next year, there are the following savings:
Already contracted forwards:
Parise: 7.5M
Zucc: 6M
Foligno: 3.1M
Sturm: 700K
Defense:
Suter: 7.5M
Spurgeon: 7.5M
Dumba: 6M
Brodin: 6M
Soucy: 2.8M
Goalies: 4.4M

Total already on books:
52.7M or so

Needed signings:
Kaprivoz
Fiala
Erickson Ek
Hartman?
Plus 4 cheap forwards and 2 cheap d-men.

If the cap is 81.5M, then you start signing:
Kaprizov: 8M
Fiala: 6.5M
Erickson EK: 4.5M (he is a better than average man, so he has to get more than 4M)
Hartman: 2M (replacement would be similar)
Rossi: .9M

At this point, you are at 75M or so. You have 6.5M left, and you have only 16 guys already signed. 7 more players.
That would mean everyone else comes in at near entry level.

Question is:
Do I have this right?

If so, cap space seems to require protecting 7-3-1, and letting Seattle have Dumba (if they choose), or Soucy which offer more cap relief.

That is.....unless there is a Dumba trade which gains us cap space as well, and I would highly doubt that.

This lineup has ~$21M in cap space before any expansion draft activity occurs:

Kaprizov* - Rask - Zuccarello
Boldy - Rossi - Fiala*
Greenway - Eriksson Ek* - Foligno
Parise - Sturm - Hartman/Bjugstad*
13th F*

Suter - Spurgeon
Brodin - Dumba
Soucy - Addison
7th D*

Talbot
Kahkonen

*would need to be signed with the ~$21M

So yeah, 6 players to be signed, with 2 being league minimum types. Some sort of room will be made via the expansion draft, and could possibly be made with a Rask buyout.
 

nickschultzfan

Registered User
Jan 7, 2009
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I'm trying to get the cap situation clear in my own mind.

For next year, there are the following savings:
Already contracted forwards:
Parise: 7.5M
Zucc: 6M
Foligno: 3.1M
Sturm: 700K
Defense:
Suter: 7.5M
Spurgeon: 7.5M
Dumba: 6M
Brodin: 6M
Soucy: 2.8M
Goalies: 4.4M

Total already on books:
52.7M or so

Needed signings:
Kaprivoz
Fiala
Erickson Ek
Hartman?
Plus 4 cheap forwards and 2 cheap d-men.

If the cap is 81.5M, then you start signing:
Kaprizov: 8M
Fiala: 6.5M
Erickson EK: 4.5M (he is a better than average man, so he has to get more than 4M)
Hartman: 2M (replacement would be similar)
Rossi: .9M

At this point, you are at 75M or so. You have 6.5M left, and you have only 16 guys already signed. 7 more players.
That would mean everyone else comes in at near entry level.

Question is:
Do I have this right?

If so, cap space seems to require protecting 7-3-1, and letting Seattle have Dumba (if they choose), or Soucy which offer more cap relief.

That is.....unless there is a Dumba trade which gains us cap space as well, and I would highly doubt that.
Yes. I had to see it myself for it to click how little cap space the Wild have. Wild are entering cap hell until they get Parise and Suter's contracts off their books.

It gets even more tight 2 summers from now if the Wild keep Dumba, re-sign the squad for next season, and then they have to re-sign Greenway and Sturm (and fill bottom lines). There is no money for the 22/23 unless the cap goes up (even with losing a guy like Soucy to Seattle).

If Rask is still on the roster next season, it is because Guerin cannot have any dead cap the season after.
 

Minnesnota

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Apr 20, 2017
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Greenway, Dumba, Soucy, Talbot will be exposed in the ED unless Parise waves his NMC. If he does, Wild likely protect Dumba there.

Assuming Parise does waive then Greenway, Soucy, Talbot are exposed. Seattle probably takes Greenway.

Rask gets bought out giving a 2.66m savings.

Kaprizov for 8m
Fiala for 6.75m
Eriksson Ek for 4m

Boldy, Rossi, Addison, Dewar make the big league roster.

Kaprizov (8m) - Eriksson Ek (4m) - Zuccarello (6m)
Boldy (925k) - Rossi (925k) - Fiala (6.75m)
Foligno (3.1m) - Sturm (725k) - Hartman (2.75m)
Parise (7.5m) - Dewar (825k) - xxx
xxx

Suter (7.5m) - Spurgeon (7.5m)
Brodin (6m) - Dumba (6m)
Soucy (2.75m) - Addison (795k)
Menell (1.5m)

Talbot (3.6m)
Kahkonen (725k)

Leaves the Wild roughly $4.8m to fill out the empty spots.

Pretty fluid, obviously.
 

Nino Noderreiter

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Jul 5, 2011
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The Twin Cities
Greenway, Dumba, Soucy, Talbot will be exposed in the ED unless Parise waves his NMC. If he does, Wild likely protect Dumba there.

Assuming Parise does waive then Greenway, Soucy, Talbot are exposed. Seattle probably takes Greenway.

Rask gets bought out giving a 2.66m savings.

Kaprizov for 8m
Fiala for 6.75m
Eriksson Ek for 4m

Boldy, Rossi, Addison, Dewar make the big league roster.

Kaprizov (8m) - Eriksson Ek (4m) - Zuccarello (6m)
Boldy (925k) - Rossi (925k) - Fiala (6.75m)
Foligno (3.1m) - Sturm (725k) - Hartman (2.75m)
Parise (7.5m) - Dewar (825k) - xxx
xxx

Suter (7.5m) - Spurgeon (7.5m)
Brodin (6m) - Dumba (6m)
Soucy (2.75m) - Addison (795k)
Menell (1.5m)

Talbot (3.6m)
Kahkonen (725k)

Leaves the Wild roughly $4.8m to fill out the empty spots.

Pretty fluid, obviously.

I'm coming around to the idea that exposing Dumba and his $6m might be a net-positive for the Wild. I think given how bare the overall talent level is at the forward position, especially center, we cannot justify spending $27m (basically 1/3 of our cap) on the top 4 D. It might be a sideways step or even a step back, but Mennell and Addison are ready to play. We've seen how players can be empowered by being asked to step into roles. At some point you have to rely on your development pipeline, the Wild have and should continue to have a lot of depth at D with O'Rourke as well.

Kaprizov (8m) - Eriksson Ek (4m) - Zuccarello (6m)
Boldy (925k) - Rossi (925k) - Fiala (7m)
Foligno (3.1m) - Sturm (725k) - Greenway (2.10)
Parise (7.5m) - Dewar (825k) - Hartman (2.75m)
xxx

Suter (7.5m) - Spurgeon (7.5m)
Brodin (6m) - Addison (795k)
Soucy (2.75m) - Mennell (1.5m)
xxx

Talbot (3.6m)
Kahkonen (725k)

This would leave you with ~7-8m in cap space to fill a 7th D spot and a press-box forward. I would think that potentially the Wild would want to explore trying to add a C and then bumping the lines to the following:

Kaprizov (8m) - FA C/Rossi (925k) - Zuccarello (6m)
Boldy (925k) - FA C /Rossi (925k) - Fiala (7m)
Foligno (3.1m) - Eriksson Ek (4m) - Greenway (2.1m)
Parise (7.5m) - Sturm (725k) - Hartman (2.75m)
Dewar (825k)

Suter (7.5m) - Spurgeon (7.5m)
Brodin (6m) - Addison (795k)
Soucy (2.75m) - Mennell (1.5m)
Hunt (725k)

Talbot (3.6m)
Kahkonen (725k)

I think I like this hypothetical lineup better. In theory, you could shelter Rossi with two veterans in Zuccarrello and Kaprizov. Give Fiala a legit veteran C and avoid having two rookies playing on one line.

Roll the Ek, Foligno, Greenway line against opposing teams #1 units and let the Kaprizov and Fiala lines feast against teams middle 6 lines.
 

fredrikstad

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Jan 4, 2011
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Norway
The Honda West teams are very winny lately. Vegas W8, Avs W4, Wild W5. If this continues the biggest hurdles to the cup might be round 1 and 2. The healthiest team wins propably. Running nicely on all cylinders now.
The first round is 1st against 4th, and 2th against 3th,yes? If so, how is round two desided?
 
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