Prospect Info: With the #63 pick, the Wild select (C) Jack McBain (NCAA, Boston College)
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barriers
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- Feb 10, 2020
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Look, I've never been to Iowa, and I don't come to this site to slag on Iowa. All I'm saying is that signing with any team other than the Wild, your chances of being sent to Iowa drop precipitously.
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Des Moines isn't really that bad. And for an AHLer making 70k a year, it's a lot more affordable than the coasts.
Saga of the Elk
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Nino Noderreiter
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I mean sure something similar to that is likely what happened. I don’t really understand the thinking. The Wild are a team, given their situation, that should be swinging for upside. They have a huge whole in high-end C talent both at the NHL level or near NHL ready (outside of Rossi). They are currently playing a career swing line center & a bottom 6 wing with their top skill players. The Wild have limited near/medium term ability to sign FAs, especially ones with any more upside than what a player like Gaudreau offers. There aren’t teams that are going to trade young C’s with any level of upside.
Okay, so it’s a one-way deal. What’s the worst case? He sits in the press box as a depth forward who can play C and has 6’3/6’4 size because he’s not yet ready? You trade him later?
McBain is one of the lowest cost / lowest risk ways that we will have in the next ~3 years to add a middle 6 caliber center on a contract that doesn’t force us to have to make a tough decision elsewhere. He allows us to continue to get bigger and more physical at the C position and offers MUCH more potential offensive upside than other options we’ve trotted out over the last 2 years while again having a frame and skill set that suggests there is a development path for him as a 3rd line checking center if his scoring ability doesn’t translate as opposed to some players who have to be a scoring player or will be out of the NHL.
This isn’t a high barrier. This is a question of if better than Gaudreau today? If so, great play him with Fiala/Boldy and push Gaudreau down the the 4th line. If not, does he look like he will be better in the future? If so, great he can get compete for minutes with Bjugstad and Dewar on the 4th line and expand his role from there. If not and he is not an NHL caliber player, stick him in the press box and work on a trade. There will be teams that want to take on a 6’4 C.
Guerin is passing up one of the clear potential opportunities for meaningfully taking a step to solve one of our key roster construction issues because of the risk that he’s not better than Gaudreau, Dewar, or Bjugstad by the beginning of training camp next year. I would rather risk him busting on a guaranteed contract versus the risk of losing another year of our top forwards careers playing with 4th liners or worse at C.
All ELCs are 2 way. He likely wants a verbal guarantee he won't be sent down. I can understand if Guerin doesn't believe in such guarantees.
DANOZ28
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i guess mcbain wants a guaranteed nhl roster spot which most clubs won't offer so i really don't understand why he doesn't just sign here and play in iowa next season. oh well
Des Moines is paradise compared to some of the northeastern AHL markets like Scranton, Utica, Syracuse, Hershey, Springfield, etc. I grew up near Utica, it is basically the Jersey Shore version of Superior, Wisconsin. The northeast's reputation is based entirely on New York, Boston, DC and Philly. The rest of the northeast is just crap, it is rednecks and decay. I would take Iowa any day.
Now that would be a show worth putting on MTV.
I don't see many selling points about playing in the Wild's farm system at all. Other AHL teams have more to offer: winning hockey, better players, etc.
Iowa is sitting near the bottom of the AHL standings this year. They will lose their best FWD (Rossi) to the NHL next year. They don't have anything coming in for prospects to make the team better either.
The team hasn't been kind to prospects. Addison is still in the AHL. They didn't give Boldy a shot last year, and sat on him in the AHL when he showed he was healthy this year. Rossi is stuck in the AHL all season, no matter how good he plays for cap reasons. Beckman is being played on a grinder line. Mennell was traded for nothing because he POed the GM. Khovanov and his drama.
I was just talking about the ELC players, not the guys on already on their 3rd contracts.
Boldy has turned out fine - if he had been brought up last year would we be having threads on how we spoiled him by bringing him up too soon? Rossi is by no means a dominant AHL player(and will probably get his 9 NHL games in, anyway), Dewar, Kahkonen and Duhaime were brought up. ROR and Hunt will be on the team next year. Khovanov's problems have nothing to do with Iowa, and were brought with him into the organization- there were rumblings about him in junior, and louder ones in the KHL. I'm with you and don't like what they are dojng with Beckman, but OTOH I do like Chaffee's development.
Not sure what you expect. The very nature of prospects is that they don't all work out... if you look at any teams drafts picks, you will find that MOST don't work out. Also, bringing up prospects early is a hit and miss game. Last season I think many of us were envious of Newhook and Caufield, and would've traded Boldy for one of them. Now, I don't think anyone can argue that the opposite is true, and that longterm Boldy looks to be the better player. Isn't it possible that not rushing him up to the NHL might've helped him develop?
Boldy showed in the AHL last year that he should've been called up immediately. We wouldn't be calling him spoiled. We were upset a kid proving he's ready wasn't getting a shot.
As well, Fiala was pretty much on an island. He needed better teammates, and Boldy + Fiala seemed like a match made in heaven. It was. The fact it was delayed for that long...
We don't know that. IMO, he was much better this year down in the AHL than he was in the previous year. His skating was stronger and more confident, as was his physical play.
The injury in preseason was something that definitely slowed him down, and I would argue the smart thing was to give him games down in the AHL to rehab, rather than throw him right into the NHL. Hell, they do that with NHL'ers.
The cool thing about him is that i see him getting better. He still looks like a young giraffe out there at times. Once he gets stronger I think he will be a no doubt #1w, with All star upside.
Spurgeon
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When you’ve got Hartman as your #1C and Gaudreau as your #2C, I think you can “guarantee” McBain an NHL roster spot. If he doesn’t work here or he makes a fit about going down, just trade his ass.
I still think it’s more of a matter of him just wanting to choose where he plays. If I got an opportunity to play wherever I want (for the most part), I’m definitely taking advantage of that situation.
I still think it’s more of a matter of him just wanting to choose where he plays. If I got an opportunity to play wherever I want (for the most part), I’m definitely taking advantage of that situation.
I respectfully disagree. True, I doubt he had a potential “spoiled” issue. But IMO, he wasn’t close to NHL pace in his game last year.
9 games and then he would have been in the AHL. Hell, he would have been in for a game or two. He couldn't have been any worse than Kyle Rau who played a game or Marcus Johansson.
Is Guerin really passing on him or is it McBain passing us up for what may or may not be an easier path to the NHL? There aren't too many players that can be guaranteed spots out of college, especially one who just happened to break out in his senior year. I don't think there is anyone who didn't want to see us give him a chance but McBain has options and if he wants to look elsewhere it is in our best interest to try and get something for him.
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