Speculation: Which Direction Should the Wild Head?

[Digitalbooya]

What do you think the Wild organization should do going forward?

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[Olcoach]

What do you think the Wild organization should do going forward?

Blow it up.

 

[HollaHaula]

Should have blown it up 3 years ago.

It's time.

 

[57special]

The main thing is to figure out what kind of team we have. It was only a few weeks ago that MN was in 2nd( I think?) oa in the league. I can see management allowing themselves to think that they had a chance to win a Cup. The recent losing streak is not, IMO, representative of what the team is. There were a lot of games they let slip away, even though I thought they were the better team. Having said that, i was never convinced that the Wild were a top 4 team, even when they were top 4 in the standings.

I think we all know what MN is. A MOR, struggle to make the playoffs, team. It is also a team that has their top players aging, with a couple of exceptions. The question is whether they recognize it sooner, rather than later. It has been pretty obvious to me since ....forever, really. I thought we had a chance during the 2016-17 season to make some noise, but we know how that turned out (and no, it wasn't Hanzel's fault). Our hope to be a better team rested in the development of Coyle and Nino, IMO. If they turned into the borderline 1st liners that they showed glimpses of being in 2016-17 then we would be having a different conversation right now, but it's hard to see them as anything but borderline 2 liners at best.

Is there a will with the team management to build a team that is capable of winning a Cup, even if it means taking a step back for a year or two or three? That step back would involve trading some players that have value now, such as Staal, Coyle, Nino(?), for picks or prospects, as opposed to a "hockey trade" of trading one of those players for another player of more or less equal value. To me, that is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The Wild are not losing because they are lacking middle six depth players(which is likely what we will get back in exchange for the above players). They are losing because they lack a couple of impact forwards. You simply can't acquire those players in trade, unless you trade a player (Dumba, Granlund) that creates a hole somewhere else, which is self defeating. You have to draft those players...IMO, the FA route is not the way to go to acquire top talent.

So my answer is to retool starting Jan. I need to give Nino and Coyle just that little bit of extra time to prove to me that they are as mediocre as they appear to be.


Wild will never be able to fully sell off as long as Parise and Suter remain glued to the team. Parise is playing really well now, but you don't have to be a genius to know that it is unlikely to last for long. Suter has an impressive amount of pts. scored, but he has looked vulnerable defensively to me, lately, which is ominous.

There is a way to make an employee waive a NMC, should we determine that we want to. Not sure if the management wants to go there.

 

[2Pair]

Should have blown it up 3 years ago.

It's time.

No, it isn't.

 

[57special]

What pisses me off to no end is that we wait till we are trading from a position of weakness(i.e. selling low). That's what yutzes on Discussion boards do, not competent GM's.

 

[2Pair]

What pisses me off to no end is that we wait till we are trading from a position of weakness(i.e. selling low). That's what yutzes on Discussion boards do, not competent GM's.

Yet, when they're playing well you bitch about even discussing trading anyone.

 

[Grover]

Time to trade for the future while our players still hold some value. If we even make the playoffs, I don't see how anyone can realistically see us doing anything with the same group of players and goalie who have shown every year they don't have what it takes.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Stand pat until the TDL, then decide.

 

[2Pair]

Stand pat until the TDL, then decide.

Prices are usually inflated at the deadline. If there's a trade available that makes the team better, make that trade now.

 

[TaLoN]

The middle two options seem too similar.

Retooling isn't usually just picks and prospects, it's roster players for roster players, maybe picks or prospects included to round out deals.

I think a retool is the answer, but that means trading for current established NHL players.

Trading for only picks and prospects is the definition of sell off.

 

[Wabit]

The Wild have a 4 line team:
Parise/Koivu/Granny- Players that show up every night (bad games happen)
Greenway/Staal/Zucker- Players that show up sometimes
Nino/JEE/Coyle- Players that show up once a week, maybe
Foligno/Fehr/Brown- 4th line doing 4th line things

Greenway is the only player that's made positive steps since the start of the season. JEE's game is better than it was at the start of the season, but he's a blackhole for scoring.

Dub playing at an unsustainable pace for the first month+ of the season covered for the players not showing up nightly just enough so the players that did show up on that night could scratch out a win. Now that they've lost the safety net of Dub playing outstanding the players are getting exposed. I'm not giving Dub a pass on this either, he's been downright bad lately.

I'm waiting for Koivu's injury status to known before I vote in this poll. He is such a key player and there is no team depth to cover for a longer term loss to his position.

 

[Victorious Secret]

I don't think we'll have an option of selling off while being under the main portion of the Parise/Suter contracts. The odds of getting over the hump of average with a re-tool is much lower than a sell-off. Other than Nashville, who has re-tooled to get over the hump? Not a lot of people have the balls like Poile to make those roster for roster trades. Turris/Subban/Forsberg/Johansen/Neal. Acquired for Weber, Erat, Jones, and Hornqvist + bunch of meh.

I have 0 confidence any Minnesota team can be that lucky in trades continuously. tldr; I hope Fenton absorbed some of Poile's trade moxy.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Prices are usually inflated at the deadline. If there's a trade available that makes the team better, make that trade now.

And if not, hold now, and evaluate the sellers market in February.

 

[TaLoN]

The Wild have a 4 line team:
Parise/Koivu/Granny- Players that show up every night (bad games happen)
Greenway/Staal/Zucker- Players that show up sometimes
Nino/JEE/Coyle- Players that show up once a week, maybe
Foligno/Fehr/Brown- 4th line doing 4th line things

Greenway is the only player that's made positive steps since the start of the season. JEE's game is better than it was at the start of the season, but he's a blackhole for scoring.

Dub playing at an unsustainable pace for the first month+ of the season covered for the players not showing up nightly just enough so the players that did show up on that night could scratch out a win. Now that they've lost the safety net of Dub playing outstanding the players are getting exposed. I'm not giving Dub a pass on this either, he's been downright bad lately.

I'm waiting for Koivu's injury status to known before I vote in this poll. He is such a key player and there is no team depth to cover for a longer term loss to his position.

That's being generous. For him at this point, we're lucky if he's showing up once a month.

 

[2Pair]

I don't think we'll have an option of selling off while being under the main portion of the Parise/Suter contracts. The odds of getting over the hump of average with a re-tool is much lower than a sell-off. Other than Nashville, who has re-tooled to get over the hump? Not a lot of people have the balls like Poile to make those roster for roster trades. Turris/Subban/Forsberg/Johansen/Neal. Acquired for Weber, Erat, Jones, and Hornqvist + bunch of meh.

I have 0 confidence any Minnesota team can be that lucky in trades continuously. tldr; I hope Fenton absorbed some of Poile's trade moxy.

San Jose, Washington, Pittsburgh. Even Chicago had to make major changes after their 1st cup.

 

[Wabit]

That's being generous. For him at this point, we're lucky if he's showing up once a month.

Meh, he's about the same as Coyle for me; which isn't saying much.

 

[57special]

The middle two options seem too similar.

Retooling isn't usually just picks and prospects, it's roster players for roster players, maybe picks or prospects included to round out deals.

I think a retool is the answer, but that means trading for current established NHL players.

Trading for only picks and prospects is the definition of sell off.

The OP literally says trading off certain players for picks and prospects is a re-tool, with the key word being "certain".

A sell off would be moving players like Spurgeon, Brodin, Dumba, Granlund, Dubnyk, etc..

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I think I've said it before, but I don't have a problem with us taking our turn at the top of the draft if that's how it plays out. We made a respectable push from 2012 to now; if we can't get any further, then it is what it is. But I'd like to see it actually play out that way first, and not just because of a 10 or 12 game cold stretch.

All of that said, I'm pretty much done spending assets to try and throw this group lifeboats. Either they're going to figure it out, or they're going to tell us that they can't.

 

[Bazeek]

I think I've said it before, but I don't have a problem with us taking our turn at the top of the draft if that's how it plays out. We made a respectable push from 2012 to now; if we can't get any further, then it is what it is. But I'd like to see it actually play out that way first, and not just because of a 10 or 12 game cold stretch.

All of that said, I'm pretty much done spending assets to try and throw this group lifeboats. Either they're going to figure it out, or they're going to tell us that they can't.

Agreed. I didn't hate the idea of spending a pick on someone like Carter that could help this year and bridge the gap for the next season or so, but Koivu's injury could alter the math there. If the team in its current form continues to perform this poorly it might just be our turn for a really bad year. It's bound to happen eventually.

 

[MNRube]

I would keep Granlund, Dumba, Zucker, Brodin, Greenway and build around them. I would move Spurgeon, Coyle, Nino and possibly Staal before teams catch on we are having a firesale. Once word gets out, the value of our players will drop. Target fast, young players. Find a Russian or two to be ready for when Kaprizov comes over.

 

[2Pair]

I would keep Granlund, Dumba, Zucker, Brodin, Greenway and build around them. I would move Spurgeon, Coyle, Nino and possibly Staal before teams catch on we are having a firesale. Once word gets out, the value of our players will drop. Target fast, young players. Find a Russian or two to be ready for when Kaprizov comes over.

Zucker and Brodin would also have to move at the minimum. Otherwise you're looking at picks in the 10+ range and there's no point in being in that spot.

 

[AKL]

Agreed. I didn't hate the idea of spending a pick on someone like Carter that could help this year and bridge the gap for the next season or so, but Koivu's injury could alter the math there. If the team in its current form continues to perform this poorly it might just be our turn for a really bad year. It's bound to happen eventually.

I'm worried that they'll start buying on players thinking they can salvage the season though. If we stand pat and miss the playoffs, then fine, I'm okay with that.
If we, say, trade a first and a prospect for Carter thinking he can replace Koivu and we can still make the playoffs, that's not good. I know missing Koivu is a big hole, but we can't keep sacrificing the future for bandaids. If the team isn't good enough to make the playoffs without Koivu, we're certainly not good enough to win a cup with him.

 

[AKL]

I would keep Granlund, Dumba, Zucker, Brodin, Greenway and build around them. I would move Spurgeon, Coyle, Nino and possibly Staal before teams catch on we are having a firesale. Once word gets out, the value of our players will drop. Target fast, young players. Find a Russian or two to be ready for when Kaprizov comes over.

Why keep Zucker and Brodin at that point? If they can return value then send em off. Keep Granlund, Dumba, Greenway and any of our top prospects (namely Kaprizov, Khovanov, Sokolov and Kunin) and trade everyone else for equivalent players or packages of picks and prospects.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Why keep Zucker and Brodin at that point? If they can return value then send em off. Keep Granlund, Dumba, Greenway and any of our top prospects (namely Kaprizov, Khovanov, Sokolov and Kunin) and trade everyone else for equivalent players or packages of picks and prospects.

Because you still need some NHL players.