Confirmed with Link: Paul Fenton to be named GM of Minnesota Wild

[Bazeek]

My biggest issue isn't the roster, but the personal decisions. We know that Fletcher extended a bunch of guys, but Fenton still made moves to bring in a guy that he apparently liked in Tom Kurvers. This means that we now have three Assistant GMs in Andrew Brunette, Shep Harder and Tom Kurvers (or did Brunette step down?). I'd like him to start bringing in different scouts and hire someone to replace Guy Lapointe and Ricard Persson. Get better player development in and start getting a different identity for the team. Since Lemaire, we've been seen as a defensive first team and that hasn't changed since.

The whole scouting overhaul is going to take time and will only show dividends over the course of years, if at all. Bringing Tim Army in to coach Iowa seems like it's worked out pretty well, on the development side.

 

[Wabit]

Again... He isn't going to make a trade just to make one... And from all accounts every offer he got in the summer was a massive low ball. He makes those... You're crucifying him here guaranteed. He'll put his stamp on the team in due time.
Again on the draft... Yes all reports say he did defer to Flahr as Flahr ran the drafts here and he knew that. For a first draft... Even if he has the background in it in Nashville... Is not a bad strategy since he isn't jettisoning the entire scouting staff at once. Yes he is in charge but there is still office politics at work and it's not a good idea to piss off your entire staff right away.
Blasting the draft six months after it happened is overreacting as is your entire assessment of him so far.
So like I said... Buckle in and enjoy the ride or honestly... Step off and find something else to occupy your time if this has you so pissed off.

I want competence mixed with a little balls for a GM. So far all we've gotten is a guy who's passed the buck and is afraid to make a move.

Maybe they aren't lowball offers, it's just the Wild's players aren't actually worth much.

6mo-12mo reviews are common at almost every job I've ever had. I've had just about every type job (military, contract, union, non-union, salary, hourly, manager, worker bee, owner) other than elected official. But okay I'll play.

GMPF 6mo review:

• Draft: N/A. He didn't do jack squat. He can't take credit for any success or failure from this year's class.
• UFA signings: C. Fehr is good, Brown and Pateryn are neutral, and Hendricks is bad. AHL/callups guys are meh.
• RFA signings C+. Dumba was a fair contract, Zucker is a bad contract, Seeler is a good contract.
• Trades D-: Olofsson/Bitten was a bad trade. Olofsson had already passed though waivers and was a viable callup option for LD. Bitten just eats up a contract slot for 2 years longer than Olofsson, and is redundant at the AHL level.
• On-ice Results: D-. The NHL team isn't heavily injured and is on the outside looking in at the Playoffs (with advancing to at least the WCF as the goal). The AHL team is good, but that's mostly due to the previous GM; partial credit for the few players he signed.
• Salary Cap: C. They aren't right up to the cap ceiling this year. The Ennis buyout was unneeded, and carries dead cap into next season.
• Final grade D+: Bonus points were given because of the NTC/NMC left behind, but they have been the better players this season. This has been a Playoff team the last several years. The season goal was to be in the mix for the Stanley Cup, not just make the Playoffs.

 

[Ban Hammered]

Draft would be too early to grade whether he did it or not.
UFA signings are what they are... None of the contracts are bad and they are all filling the roles they were brought here for.
Way too early to say Zucker is a bad contract...a slow start this year doesn't make it a bad deal.
You do realize Olofsson is out for the season again right? I'd rather have Bitten playing than Olofsson not.
Team is in a funk and things may get shaken up... But to say this team as constructed was expected to be a Cup Contender is delusional IMO.
Ennis buyout had to happen as he made WAY too much for his role (yeah we are so missing his 11 points) Put it this way... Fehr Brown Hendricks and Pateryn make combined what Ennis did alone and they have 15 points collectively.

 

[Wabit]

Draft would be too early to grade whether he did it or not.
UFA signings are what they are... None of the contracts are bad and they are all filling the roles they were brought here for.
Way too early to say Zucker is a bad contract...a slow start this year doesn't make it a bad deal.
You do realize Olofsson is out for the season again right? I'd rather have Bitten playing than Olofsson not.
Team is in a funk and things may get shaken up... But to say this team as constructed was expected to be a Cup Contender is delusional IMO.
Ennis buyout had to happen as he made WAY too much for his role (yeah we are so missing his 11 points)

A useless player (Olofsson) for 1 year is better than a useless player for 3 years (Bitten). It's the same thing as when GMCF trading Schroeder for Salituro (who is still eating up a contract slot). It was a waste of a contract slot. You can just sign a scrub to an AHL contract and get similar results, and there is always the option to then sign that player to a 50 man roster contract if needed.

Sending Ennis to the AHL this year would have only been ~$1m cap hit this year; when compared to his buyout. There wasn't even much real money savings for the owner considering it was a front loaded contract. Just for reference: Ennis' 11p would be tied for 8th among Wild FWDs, and his 7g would be tied for 5th.

It's not delusional to say it's constructed as a Cup contender, it's only a tweak away. This was said at GMPF's introductory press conference. Well we're over halfway to the TDL and the only tweak has been to change up the bottom of the roster; that's where the bar that was set. Even if the goal was only to maintain the status quo of being a ~98p team that makes the Playoffs every year; he'd be at a C for a grade.

The team isn't just in a funk, it's flawed overall. I said this even when they were in the middle of their hot streak earlier this year. They were a top-5 team on a pace for 115p+ and people were thinking I was chicken little.

 

[Digitalbooya]

I think the true judgment of GMPF will come when he starts trading roster players. Until then it’ll be meaningless conversation about whether Fenton ran the draft or not after just being hired...

 

[Mickey the mouse]

The whole scouting overhaul is going to take time and will only show dividends over the course of years, if at all. Bringing Tim Army in to coach Iowa seems like it's worked out pretty well, on the development side.

Whoever was GM had to bring a new coach in .......Nuzzi left for asst job at T Bay

 

[Ban Hammered]

Ennis at 4.5=needed (11 points)
Zucker at 5.5=bad contract (20 points)

Yeah I don't follow the logic there at all.

Also make up your mind... Cup contender or flawed overall.
Cup contender=tweaks.
Flawed overall=overhaul
They can't be both.

 

[57special]

Ennius was f***ing awful. Never mind his points, but he was a turnover machine, and couldn't play any defense. His best talent was to be a butt for Uberdachen's jokes.

 

[57special]

I am not mad, or drawing any conclusions for or against GMPF. This is a mess that has been a long time in the making. Fletcher was good, but got committed to this bunch, and they simply aren't good enough. I think if the Wild are smart they can do a rebuild on the fly, and not go all the way down to the cellar for a few years, though that would be one way to get rid of the Parise/Suter contracts( jumping ahead of things here, but...)

 

[Wild11MN]

What would we do with the cap space from theoretically getting rid of (what is currently) our best defenseman and best forward? Overpay someone else in free agency? We could make a trade for a guy like Panarin, but do we even have the assets to get that done outside of Dumba at this point?

The real solution is simple IMO - draft better. Hopefully from this point forward, Fenton can get it done.

 

[57special]

Drafting better...well, a lot of it is luck, let's face it. Sokolov and KK were terrific picks, even though they haven't played a game in the NHL yet. What i want is not only a commitment to keeping our picks, but also to acquire picks in exchange for some of our roster players. It's not a sure thing, and takes patience because picks take time to develop, but it's the best(only?) way to get elite players at a reasonable cost.

At this point I don't think we have a franchise player. Dumba and Granlund are very good, if not elite, support players. Our franchise players Koivu(?), Staal, Parise(?), Suter, have either aged out(Koivu, Staal, Parise) or are aging out(Suter) of that status. Dubnyk won't be around forever.

The Wild have to take a step back in order to take two steps forward. I'm not sure if the owner has the appetite for that, however.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

I am not mad, or drawing any conclusions for or against GMPF. This is a mess that has been a long time in the making. Fletcher was good, but got committed to this bunch, and they simply aren't good enough. I think if the Wild are smart they can do a rebuild on the fly, and not go all the way down to the cellar for a few years, though that would be one way to get rid of the Parise/Suter contracts( jumping ahead of things here, but...)

I do hope that they take a step back for 2 or 3 years, but I don’t trust this group’s ability to find top tier players in the middle part of the first round. If they draft top 5 or 3, then I’d be a little more optimistic. I just see this team doing the same thing we did during the last rebuild and having a lot of good players, but no game breakers.

 

[absolute garbage]

Ennis was terrible but the buyout never made much sense financially. Now they're saddled with 1.2M penalty next season for really no reason.

 

[Wabit]

Ennis at 4.5=needed (11 points)
Zucker at 5.5=bad contract (20 points)

Yeah I don't follow the logic there at all.

Also make up your mind... Cup contender or flawed overall.
Cup contender=tweaks.
Flawed overall=overhaul
They can't be both.

Ennis' cap hit was badly managed. I could give 2 shits about him as a player. Suck up the last year of the deal and carry no more bad money the next year.
-The points was in response to you saying his 11P weren't missed.
-Paying Ennis to go away is costing MN $3.4m ($2.2m this year and $1.2m next year). Keeping him would have cost $4.6m his year, or $3.6m if they sent him to Iowa. They didn't desperately need the cap space this year; like they have with the last couple of buyouts; so just eat the bad contract for one year instead of 2 years. The overall cap savings ($200k in Iowa/$1.2m NHL) just isn't there.
- He could have been moved at the TDL as part of any trades to offset the cap if they were buyers. If they were sellers then his cap hit doesn't matter.
- He's more useful than Hendricks/Read, and he'd probably be leading the Iowa team in scoring right now.

Zucker is a 1-trick pony with his speed. He's average at best all other things hockey. His contract is 2 years too long, and giving him anything more than a 5 team NTC was a dumb move.

I'm not the one that said the were a Cup contender, the owner/GM at the introductory press conference are the ones that said it. So I'm holding them to the standard that they set. If he had said: it'll be a do nothing year to take stock of things, and be in the hunt for the Playoffs he'd be at a solid B right now.

 

[Wild11MN]

I do hope that they take a step back for 2 or 3 years, but I don’t trust this group’s ability to find top tier players in the middle part of the first round. If they draft top 5 or 3, then I’d be a little more optimistic. I just see this team doing the same thing we did during the last rebuild and having a lot of good players, but no game breakers.

It's a new group though. So we're in wait and see mode.

 

[Ban Hammered]

Ennis' cap hit was badly managed. I could give 2 ****s about him as a player. Suck up the last year of the deal and carry no more bad money the next year.
-The points was in response to you saying his 11P weren't missed.
-Paying Ennis to go away is costing MN $3.4m ($2.2m this year and $1.2m next year). Keeping him would have cost $4.6m his year, or $3.6m if they sent him to Iowa. They didn't desperately need the cap space this year; like they have with the last couple of buyouts; so just eat the bad contract for one year instead of 2 years. The overall cap savings ($200k in Iowa/$1.2m NHL) just isn't there.
- He could have been moved at the TDL as part of any trades to offset the cap if they were buyers. If they were sellers then his cap hit doesn't matter.
- He's more useful than Hendricks/Read, and he'd probably be leading the Iowa team in scoring right now.

Zucker is a 1-trick pony with his speed. He's average at best all other things hockey. His contract is 2 years too long, and giving him anything more than a 5 team NTC was a dumb move.

I'm not the one that said the were a Cup contender, the owner/GM at the introductory press conference are the ones that said it. So I'm holding them to the standard that they set. If he had said: it'll be a do nothing year to take stock of things, and be in the hunt for the Playoffs he'd be at a solid B right now.

It doesn't matter how useful he is... It matters how much he cost. They were not going to pay a 4th liner that much money and he was not going to be traded because of what he was making. Sending him to Iowa wasn't going to help and would still cost more than the buyout. Again... They are paying 4 guys what 1 guy was making. Fehr is in the spot he would have been in making a quarter of the money and producing about what Ennis is in Toronto. Plus playing better defense and being a better overall player. The buyout was a no-brainer.

Zucker's contract is fine based on his production whether you believe that or not.

Your grade on a GM is partially based on what was said at his introduction? Are you kidding me? No GM in the history of the world has ever not sold optimism at their introduction... It's part of the job... They sell hope in a new regime even if it isn't realistic at the time. That's how they have to market it to sell tickets... Its part of the business.
Seriously man.... Step away from the game for a while.

 

[absolute garbage]

It doesn't matter how useful he is... It matters how much he cost. They were not going to pay a 4th liner that much money and he was not going to be traded because of what he was making. Sending him to Iowa wasn't going to help and would still cost more than the buyout. Again... They are paying 4 guys what 1 guy was making. Fehr is in the spot he would have been in making a quarter of the money and producing about what Ennis is in Toronto. Plus playing better defense and being a better overall player. The buyout was a no-brainer.

You act like Ennis doesn't cost anything anymore. Sure, paying 4.6M for a 4th liner is bad, and 3.6 million for an AHLer is bad, but you know what's also bad? Paying 2.2M for that player to not play for you. Add in the guy replacing him in the roster, and this season the Wild is effectively paying 3M for Ennis to not play for them this season. With the additional 1.2M penalty next season.

The buyout made no sense whatsoever. They had the cap space to bury him in the minors. They had the cap space to keep him in the NHL in the Hendricks role.

 

[Ban Hammered]

Pay him 4.5 million to sit in the press box? Yeah that's a smart idea... And one that would have gone over like a fart in church with the "experts" here.

 

[2Pair]

You act like Ennis doesn't cost anything anymore. Sure, paying 4.6M for a 4th liner is bad, and 3.6 million for an AHLer is bad, but you know what's also bad? Paying 2.2M for that player to not play for you. Add in the guy replacing him in the roster, and this season the Wild is effectively paying 3M for Ennis to not play for them this season. With the additional 1.2M penalty next season.

The buyout made no sense whatsoever. They had the cap space to bury him in the minors. They had the cap space to keep him in the NHL in the Hendricks role.

Paying roughly $3M for Fehr is a no-brainer compared to paying $4.6M for Ennis. It's so obvious that it isn't even worth discussing.

 

[absolute garbage]

Paying roughly $3M for Fehr is a no-brainer compared to paying $4.6M for Ennis. It's so obvious that it isn't even worth discussing.

Who said anything about Fehr? Different roles. Paying roughly 3M for Hendricks/Brown is terrible given it comes with a 1.2M penalty next year.

Pay him 4.5 million to sit in the press box? Yeah that's a smart idea... And one that would have gone over like a fart in church with the "experts" here.

You really need to put some effort into reading and understanding the posts here.

 

[Ban Hammered]

Who said anything about Fehr? Different roles. Paying roughly 3M for Hendricks/Brown is terrible given it comes with a 1.2M penalty next year.

Fehr is playing 4th line wing... Which is what Ennis would be.
And I'd still rather pay 4 players than one Ennis

 

[absolute garbage]

Fehr is playing 4th line wing... Which is what Ennis would be.
And I'd still rather pay 4 players than one Ennis

No he isn't.

Hendricks and Brown are playing the 13F/4th line wing role Ennis would've had.

 

[2Pair]

Who said anything about Fehr? Different roles. Paying roughly 3M for Hendricks/Brown is terrible given it comes with a 1.2M penalty next year.


You really need to put some effort into reading and understanding the posts here.

Ok, then paying roughly $3M for Greenway compared to $4.6M for Ennis is even more moronic to discuss. Is that better?

 

[Ban Hammered]

No he isn't.

Hendricks and Brown are playing the 13F/4th line wing role Ennis would've had.

Again... Even better... 4.5 million in the press box.

 

[57special]

Ennis not being on the team is not what ails this team. Who is on the 4 th line is not the problem