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

[Digitalbooya]

A Dumba trade... Yikes, I’m not sure I’m ready to go down that road.

Those three being at the press conference I see as nothing more than the captains just being present. It makes sense to me.

I don’t hate Parise at all. He seemed to be the only one who could consistently score. The offense bottomed out when he got injured in the playoffs. Staal certainly didn’t make a difference in the playoffs after his huge year.

Coyle at 2C is no worse than putting Ek at 2C. I saw that idea tossed around here not too long ago.

Nonetheless I’m excited for some movement soon!

 

[Mickey the mouse]

I think BB wanted Staal, then Coyle, then Koivu, then Cullen and JEE in Iowa.

GMPF has a lonnnnng history of keeping prospects down and being very cheap. It will be really interesting to see what happens with Zicker and Dumba contracts

 

[Wabit]

A Dumba trade... Yikes, I’m not sure I’m ready to go down that road.

Those three being at the press conference I see as nothing more than the captains just being present. It makes sense to me.

I don’t hate Parise at all. He seemed to be the only one who could consistently score. The offense bottomed out when he got injured in the playoffs. Staal certainly didn’t make a difference in the playoffs after his huge year.

Coyle at 2C is no worse than putting Ek at 2C. I saw that idea tossed around here not too long ago.

Nonetheless I’m excited for some movement soon!

That was just the Good Idea Fairy rearing her ugly head imo.

That's my take on Parise too. It's why I can't say which is the better FWD between Coyle, Nino, Parise, and Zucker; but none of them are top-line guys to me. They might put up 60p in a given year, but I don't see any of them pushing a PPG in scoring. Staal and Granny might be able to with a small bump in PP production.

 

[Wild11MN]

When are the "scouting meetings" that were referenced earlier?

 

[Mickey the mouse]

When are the "scouting meetings" that were referenced earlier?

Combine starts tomorrow or tueasday

 

[Minnesnota]

When are the "scouting meetings" that were referenced earlier?

Combine is Monday-Saturday, so likely scouting meetings will take place during and immediately afterwards, so there will be roughly 20 days between the end of the combine and the draft.

I would be surprised if the Wild are involved in any major draft day trades, so I think if anything does happen, it will happen within those 20 days.

 

[Wild11MN]

Combine starts tomorrow or tueasday

Combine is Monday-Saturday, so likely scouting meetings will take place during and immediately afterwards, so there will be roughly 20 days between the end of the combine and the draft.

I would be surprised if the Wild are involved in any major draft day trades, so I think if anything does happen, it will happen within those 20 days.

Thanks! I'm bored of waiting already, and the finals haven't even started yet.

 

[SupremeNachos]

We have two above average owners in CL for the Wild and ZW for the Vikings!

Both provide all the resources the front office needs to get what they want to try to accomplish!

I'm completely happy with both Craig and Ziggy!

I only included Craig because I'm not a Vikings fan.

 

[TaLoN]

I only included Craig because I'm not a Vikings fan.

Well, when talking about sports owners in this "town", you should generally include all 4 major sports since this town has all 4, whether you're a fan or not.

 

[123TripleDoge]

GMPF doesn't have a very nice ring to it

P-Fentz on the other hand...

 

[Wabit]

GMPF doesn't have a very nice ring to it

P-Fentz on the other hand...

Well if he ends up being not good then we can go with GM-Pfft.

 

[57special]

Wonder if the drug of choice in the training room will change to Fentonall

 

[Wild11MN]

Every time I see GMPF, I have to think about what it stands for still. I'm not used to that yet.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

I start thinking of PF Changs.

 

[Uberdachen]

Bring out the GMPF.

 

[FVM]

Bring out the GMPF.

Laughed out loud at this. Low-key genius.

 

[Wild11MN]

Laughed out loud at this. Low-key genius.

Went over my head, what is it a reference to?

 

[TaLoN]

Went over my head, what is it a reference to?

Pulp fiction

 

[a79krgm]

When Fletch first started, the Wild somehow put some Pittsburg players (Nick Johnson, Sykora, etc.) in uniform.
Fenton likely will get some Nashville guys for the Wild … probably Craig Smith and ???

 

[57special]

If it's Forsberg, Josi, and Arvidsson, then I'm down with it.

 

[AJ Thelen]

I must say, this hiring is a bit of a let-down for me. I was really hoping for a whole new direction with someone approaching stuff from a totally different angle. Like Leafs and Yotes have done. Instead we end up with this oldschool bs.

The other thing i don't get is why CL can't see that this team needs a rebuild before we can even discuss being contenders.

 

[Wabit]

I must say, this hiring is a bit of a let-down for me. I was really hoping for a whole new direction with someone approaching stuff from a totally different angle. Like Leafs and Yotes have done. Instead we end up with this oldschool bs.

The other thing i don't get is why CL can't see that this team needs a rebuild before we can even discuss being contenders.

Well it'll kill ticket sales if the owner comes out before the season and says "Even though we made the Playoffs, some key players were injured, and had a 100p season; we're just going to blow everything up and start over." It's still a business and making money is important.

It would also lower the value of the players if the Wild have no leverage in trades.

It's much easier to say things like that before the draft and free agency. The window for trades and UFA signings is wide open. For instance if JT signed with the Wild; that's one big tweak and it puts the Wild into the contender status (possible yes, probable no). Or if the Wild would have gotten ROR (and not STL) for say Coyle+Foligno+Kunin+picks (just pulled that comp out of my behind) the team is better, and it's "rank" within the Division is solid top-3.

Now that that off-season window is almost closed ( a trade is still possible, but harder to make happen), it's time to re-evaluate things. This could very well be the roster we have for opening day (4th line subject to change). Play the games until the end of Nov and see where they are in the standings, then take stock of things could be the new plan.

Being in the Central it won't be hard to finish in bottom-5 without really being bad. If Spurgeon and Coyle (just examples) are traded for futures during the season. Call it a tank, transition year, rebuild, retool, or whatever.

All I know is a Buffalo style rebuild is going to really hurt. I don't think the owner wants to go through that pain when he has a good but not great current team; which I don't blame him for. There is no gaurntees when the Wild would come out of a full rebuild, or even if that team will be any better than the current team.

A desperation trade for Panarin, Lee, Patches, EK, or whoever rental is probably the worst thing the Wild could do right now.

 

[Bazeek]

I must say, this hiring is a bit of a let-down for me. I was really hoping for a whole new direction with someone approaching stuff from a totally different angle. Like Leafs and Yotes have done. Instead we end up with this oldschool bs.

The other thing i don't get is why CL can't see that this team needs a rebuild before we can even discuss being contenders.

I would wait until September before coming to any firm conclusions about the direction of this team and the new GM.

As for rebuilding, I don't think we're there yet. A team like Montreal that has major holes on the NHL roster and a mostly-dry prospect pool is the sort of team that really needs to rebuild. Our pool is pretty shallow right now, but I think there's enough there to get us through the next few years while we restock it. The current roster doesn't have any glaring holes, there's just some sort of missing ingredient. People say that only way to get high-end talent is to tank and draft high, but a quick look through last year's top scorers will show you that that's not remotely true.

Maybe we just need to wait for the homerun trade to present itself. Maybe we just need to wait for Kaprizov to come over in 2020. Maybe there's a lot more to a prospect like Eriksson-Ek/Kunin/Greenway/Sokolov than any of us realize. They're all huge maybe's, but no bigger than "maybe if we're as bad as the Oilers/Leafs/Sabres we'll come away with our own McDavid/Matthews/Dahlin."

 

[nickschultzfan]

Rebuilds done correctly are much faster than people expect and the fans are feeling positive after a season or two.

 

[Wild11MN]

Again, we're barely into the offseason. Keep waiting people, and complain if you want when nothing has happened by October.