Confirmed with Link: [SJ/MIN] Chad Rau to Sharks for Curt Gogol and Riley Brace

[Minnesota]

The San Jose Wild and Minnesota Sharks alliance continues!

 

[Dampland]

The San Jose Wild and Minnesota Sharks alliance continues!

"San Minne Wild Sharks"

 

[Scoutguy77]

Wishing Chad all the best and thanking him for his efforts over he last few years--real good team guy !!

 

[Avder]

HAhaha in light of what everyone was saying about Steph Veillieux, i invite you to read Gogol's HF profile:

Looks like we wanted a Veillieux replacement.

 

[Speed]

HAhaha in light of what everyone was saying about Steph Veillieux, i invite you to read Gogol's HF profile:

Worcester Sharks season ticket holder here - that profile is pretty much spot on - except for the fan fav part. People here either liked (not loved) or hated him. Too many stupid penalties. He thinks he's a fighter and that gets him into trouble. He's lost more than he's won. A few times he's had his teammates tell him to **** before he got a misconduct for yapping at the refs or not stopping the ****-stirring when told to do so. He should just stick to being the classic pest, and draw the penalties, or let someone else fight for him.

But on the upside, he really seemed to pick up his game this year. He appears to be much faster. He's go no issues going into the corners. He's done PK for us as well, and has worked on his backchecking with that new speed he's got. He'll always work hard and never take a shift off.

 

[rynryn]

Worcester Sharks season ticket holder here - that profile is pretty much spot on - except for the fan fav part. People here either liked (not loved) or hated him. Too many stupid penalties. He thinks he's a fighter and that gets him into trouble. He's lost more than he's won. A few times he's had his teammates tell him to **** before he got a misconduct for yapping at the refs or not stopping the ****-stirring when told to do so. He should just stick to being the classic pest, and draw the penalties, or let someone else fight for him.

But on the upside, he really seemed to pick up his game this year. He appears to be much faster. He's go no issues going into the corners. He's done PK for us as well, and has worked on his backchecking with that new speed he's got. He'll always work hard and never take a shift off.

Thanks for taking the time to give some solid first hand input--he does sound like a younger Steph Veillieux but with more of a temper. I'll try not to read too much into the motivation behind acquiring him, but I do know they felt it wasn't fair to let Rau languish in our system with all the people above him on the depth chart so wanted to get him a change of scenery where the farm system wasn't quite as deep.

 

[Puhis]

Veilleux. Damnit guys, at least try to get it right.

 

[rynryn]

ug. always with the xtra i. sorry!

 

[Puhis]

Naw, no problem. Avder did it too, which I found quite funny.

 

[Avder]

Naw, no problem. Avder did it too, which I found quite funny.

*shrug* His name is kind of hard to remember the proper spelling for.

 

[Ban Hammered]

Michael Russo (@Russostrib) 8 hrs
Stop tweeting me, #mnwild fans. I can give you a list of things in your life to be stressed over. Chad Rau for Curt Gogol is not one of them

Sadly, doesn't shock me

 

[210]

Worcester Sharks season ticket holder here - that profile is pretty much spot on - except for the fan fav part. People here either liked (not loved) or hated him. Too many stupid penalties. He thinks he's a fighter and that gets him into trouble. He's lost more than he's won. A few times he's had his teammates tell him to **** before he got a misconduct for yapping at the refs or not stopping the ****-stirring when told to do so. He should just stick to being the classic pest, and draw the penalties, or let someone else fight for him.

But on the upside, he really seemed to pick up his game this year. He appears to be much faster. He's go no issues going into the corners. He's done PK for us as well, and has worked on his backchecking with that new speed he's got. He'll always work hard and never take a shift off.

That pretty much nails Gogol.

For the other guy in the trade, I don't think Riley Brace was given a fair shake in Worcester. I don't know of he has NHL-level talent, but he certainly should play well in Iowa if given the chance to play.

 

[AKL]

Sadly, doesn't shock me

It worries me that people care so much about a player who was never ever gonna play for the Wild just because he's from the state.

Gotta get over this crush we have for hometown boys. They're no better than guys from Canada or elsehwhere

 

[TaLoN]

It worries me that people care so much about a player who was never ever gonna play for the Wild just because he's from the state.

Gotta get over this crush we have for hometown boys. They're no better than guys from Canada or elsehwhere

I'm guessing those who are complaining think the Wild traded away his more talented younger brother who isn't even a Wild asset.

 

[AKL]

I'm guessing those who are complaining think the Wild traded away his more talented younger brother who isn't even a Wild asset.

Maybe I'm the only one who thinks Kyle won't fare much better than his brother in the pros.

 

[TaLoN]

Maybe I'm the only one who thinks Kyle won't fare much better than his brother in the pros.

Doesn't change the fact that Kyle is MUCH more talented than Chad (there's a reason Kyle was taken almost 200 picks earlier his draft year than Chad was in his), and it's likely Kyle that people were thinking was traded instead of Chad.

Most casual fans likely didn't even know Kyle had an older brother who is an AHL journeyman.

 

[Fel 96]

Rau wasn't really in IA's plan this season. Giving him a new opportunity probably was the best move they could have done. Not to mention, IA GM Jim Mill said that he wasn't going to be in their call-up plans.

According to him, Gogol is a key for the Wild.

 

[TZM]

Rau wasn't really in IA's plan this season. Giving him a new opportunity probably was the best move they could have done. Not to mention, IA GM Jim Mill said that he wasn't going to be in their call-up plans.

According to him, Gogol is a key for the Wild.

This has confused me in the past, now, and will do so in the future.

Still, I'm very glad I get to use another smilie.

E: Could've been Iowa Mild or Iowa Tame

 

[Jarick]

I'm surprised how much Rau dropped off.

 

[Fel 96]

I'm surprised how much Rau dropped off.

Did he, though? That's the question.

 

[grN1g]

taken from russo's blog today:

"Rau has been scratched more than a dozen times this year because Iowa has been forced to rotate veterans. Veterans are deemed to be any player that has more than 260 pro games I believe. You can only dress six in the AHL. Iowa has seven, so every night, one of the vets has to be scratched. That’s why David Steckel wanted out at the start of the year. Back then, Iowa had eight and two were scratched per night.

So, this was not fair to Rau, this wasn’t fair to Iowa. It’s a stupid rule when every night one “vet” has to see four ECHLers who aren’t as good as him play in Iowa’s lineup because one of them are not allowed to play.

Rau hasn’t been called up in two years. It’s not his fault the Wild is deeper today than it was when he got callups a few years ago and has players like Granlund, Niederreiter, Coyle, Zucker, Haula above him in the depth chart.
So in order to give Rau a chance to play every day and get a contract next year, the Wild traded him. They were doing him a favor. This was no slight of a beloved hometown boy, as some of my Twitter followers seemed to take it as."

We were doing Rau a favor cause he wasn't playing hockey because of a stupid rule. Good luck bud, glad we could give you a chance to make it somewhere else.

 

[Jarick]

Did he, though? That's the question.

1g 7pts in 33gp...last year was 16g 27pts in 60gp. Doesn't take a lot of math to see the huge disparity.

Although reading the Russo bit, that really sucks. AHL is full of dumb rules.