Wild trade for Quinn Hughes!
JoeBanzai
Posts: 12,684 ✭✭✭✭✭
Minnesota gives up Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and next year's first round pick for former Norris trophy winner and last year's 3rd place finisher Quinn Hughes.
Bold move to give up 3 former 1st round picks who were all on the Wild roster, (Rossi's hurt right now). The future 1st round pick will be a low one, but still a valuable piece of the trade.
Did the Wild give up too much? Their primary need is a Center, but to acquire a top defender who generates offense rarely happens. Centers, especially big ones who can score are hard to find, and teams seldom part with them.
Wild now have one of the best forwards in Kaprizov, one of the best defenders in Hughes, and two very good young players in forward Boldy and defender Faber. Rookie goaltender Wallstedt (.936 save percentage) has been outstanding!
Currently, the Wild are tied for the 5th best record in the NHL. Does this make them a contender for the Stanley Cup? The Wild haven't gotten past the first round in several years.
GO WILD!
Comments
I think it will probably end up being a good move if they extend him or trade after the season. Solid rental at the very least.
Hope we keep him, but the rest of the year should be interesting!
Hey, lanemyer85!
What's your opinion of Quinn Hughes' abilities?
Would you rate him as one of the top three offensive defensemen in hockey?
Is he as bad as "they" say defensively?
Go Wild!
by "they" I assume you mean the type of locals who vote for serial incompetents like Gov Tim Fudd.... No he's not bad defensively. You know there's still a huge bias against small d-men because they aren't going to smother or maul guys like a Larry Robinson or Scott Stevens or clear a crease. He has some of the same possession resistance qualities of the smooth at everything Nick Lidstrom or Duncan Keith types or now Jaccob Slavin who has been the best pure defender in the league for 5-6 years now. He'll do it by keeping the puck away from the opposition by denying possession.....being the best skating d-man of all time (yes including Orr*), elite passing, beating everyone on dump in retrievals, gap closings, and with stickwork (averages 86th percentile across the various stick check stats). Don't bother waiting for him to bump anyone off the puck or bowl anyone over.
Let's start here
https://packaged-media.redd.it/4sb4xik7mhqe1/pb/m2-res_720p.mp4?m=DASHPlaylist.mpd&v=1&e=1765713600&s=d15bcec21f263657d34f366b7b915141de9d490a
that rush through the neutral zone is the fastest of anyone in recorded history. Reminder: getting the puck out of your end is playing defense too. The opposition doesn't need to have possession of the puck for defense to occur.
Speaking of possession...he's good at it...by it, I mean by a Nord Dakota mile
so for those that think there's this gap between Hughes and Makar as the best d-man in the league, nope...it's a 1A, 1B scenario. They just do things a little differently largely due to the size discrepancy.
Here's where you'll see the biggest differences. As talented as Buium is or can eventually be, it didn't translate in chances created, at least yet.
Minny's current ranks...
but also the more obvious stuff
Minny's offense has been heavily reliant on the PP. As one would expect, they rolled Hughes and Faber tonight which it should be every night. That'll knock Brodin and Spurgeon back together because Mighty Mouse really struggled this year trying to prop up Buium who also struggled with NHL level pace. One would think Faber's offensive numbers will get a bump too.
Hughes has the lowest turnover rate among d-men, and highest rush chances created and zone entries since he's been in the league. He simply is a one-man breakout Another thing you should pay attention to is the passing skill. He's also #1 in stretch pass completions by a good margin. Stretch passes of course are often the best way to beat an aggressive forecheck if you can't skate it out of your own end yourself. Despite attempting more stretch passes than anyone in the league, Minny is underwater in completion %. which is likely the reason your homeboys lead the league in icing calls. It'll likely take some time to gel, but that PP1 unit should be pretty entertaining to watch with Hughes, Kirill and that insane angle he likes to take one-timers from, and Boldy
Some other stuff if you want to stroll further into the weeds To consider value, if you take his 2020 to 2025 run with Vancouver, despite having other solid to excellent scorers (Pettersson, JT Miller, Boeser etc) he had the largest disparity in the league when it came to generating scoring when he was on or off the ice. When he was on the ice - Van's expected goals was 70.7%. When he was off the ice Van's expected goals was 38.6%. He's been 99 percentile in WAR over these last 3 peak years
as for whether Billum should have went all in like this and trade away 4 1st round assets, we'll see if he signs an extension. It certainly still doesn't put them ahead of COL or Dallas. Friedman was on during the aftermath talking about Guerin heavily combing the center market (yes, duh) but the one thing I'm not hearing out of any of the praise or outrage from the talking head collective is - well they can always trade him again in the summer if he doesn't want to sign an extension in Minny. He has one more year on this well-below market contract, They can still get at least two 1st round type assets back, if not 2 and something else. Don't think he was too bothered about dealing Rossi and Ohgren or the pick. Probably didn't want to deal Buium. If it could have been Jiricek then it would look better since them wheels are a spinnin' when it comes to his development over this last calendar year.
Even though I highly doubt he will sign an extension before FA, what this does give Minny is a decent advantage over any other team as they will be the only team that can offer him an 8 year deal. New CBA kicks in on 9/26/26 where max term is then going to be 7 years for a holding team and 6 years for a free agent so there is that factor too. There's a quote going around from a couple months ago where when posed the possibility of all 3 brothers teaming up in Trash City USA, Quinn uttered something to the affect of "I don't know if I'd want to step on Luke's toes". Probably just deflection for the Canadian media that are always bunged up on the possibility of another American star jumping ship from the Great White Draconian Wonderland (while conveniently ignoring Cole Caulfield and Lane Hutson signing long term in Montreal, or Matt Coronato in Calgary) with all 3 suiting up in Jersey but there's at least that to ponder too....
Thank you for your detailed evaluation!
I have been defending this trade to the whining crybabies on the Wild Facebook "fan" pages since day one.
Everyone's crying about Buium being part of the deal. Buium WAS the deal! Vancouver had to get a player who had some potential to replace Hughes. Buium showed some good skating ability and puck skills, so everyone here thinks he'll develop into Hughes. I very much doubt he'll be that good. Rossi is a very nice 3rd line center and Ohgren looks like a good hockey player. The first round pick at the end of round one? MEH.
I watched Hughes for his first game for the Wild and immediately saw his ability to EASILY skate right around guys trying to forcheck him several times.
He also had one of those stretch passes you referred to that sent a guy in on the goalie all alone.
He scored a goal as well.
Not sure of the exact numbers, but the Wild have been one of the better 5 on 5 teams in the league for a while now. When their Power Play doesn't score, they don't win close games.
Hughes looked very good running the PP.
The only problem I see is Hughes might want to go play with his brothers. That's understandable. It looks like the Devils will have the cap space in two years to sign him, but so will the Wild. By then Quinn and Kaprizov might feel like they are related. 😉
Speaking of Kirill, he was the best player on the ice yesterday. The guy is ELECTRIC!
Lastly, every hockey fan in Minnesota is tired of first round exits from the playoffs. Kaprizov is 28 years old and we need to get better NOW, or we will have wasted his talent.
I WANT TO WIN NOW!
Great trade for the Wild - off the charts.
Was not a fan of Zeev's personality & glad his weird name is out of my sports vocabulary.
My guess is he will extend with the Wild. If he doesn't do it before next year's trade deadline, you trade him again and get more assets.
As said above, the rest of this season and into next year will be exciting. If they stay healthy, they could really contend for the Cup.
However, the bigger issue I have with the NHL is their playoff system. Having to get out of your own division first before moving on is absolutely STUPID.
The Wild's division may have the three best teams in the entire NHL. I actually like the NBA conference method when it was 1 vs 8 and wouldn't be opposed to the Play-In that takes it to 10 teams in each conference.
I'm not even sure if the Eastern vs. Western Conference in the NHL is even meaningful at all - just take the best teams into the playoffs.
Erik
I think it was reported in The Athletic that this offer was Guerin's first offer...and Guerin basically confirmed it without saying as much. No haggling, he just whipped it out.
My guess is that there's already a nod and a silent handshake agreement with Quinn and the Devils that he'll reach FA and then sign there so NJ doesn't have to give up assets. Palat's $6m deal will expire at that time and Dougie Hamilton's $9m will be in the final year so they can probably find someone to take that if need be or use a cap compliancy buy out. There's the money for Quinn right there.
Regardless, enjoy it for now. This run may be the most fun you'll have watching the Wild in/for quite some time.
I think we can remain gleeful for now and see if the Wild can extend him. I would hope that if they can’t , that they have the opportunity to move him and recoup before losing him to free agency.
and - would be cool to leave Tim Walz out of it. the hot mic was on and the take was ignorant.
There's no doubt this was a good trade for the Wild for at least the next two seasons. The potential downsides are what happens after that. If the Wild can resign Hughes, then they'll never regret it. If they can't, and Buium develops into a star, even if he's not as good as Hughes, then it may be different. But, if the Wild win a cup in the next two seasons, everything else becomes moot. And the Wild were not on my, or anyone else's, radar as a cup contender before this trade, but they certainly are now. Since their first-round opponent will probably be the Stars, I know I'm not happy about the trade.
careful, feign oblivion often leads to venous stasis throughout the white matter and subsequent puppeteering. Time to pretend...
I don't like to be negative, but if he isn't going to sign with the Wild, we aren't going to get much in return for him in a trade.
Anyone out there dumb enough to give us anything if it's obvious we can't sign him?
I'm hoping he stays in Minnesota, but if he doesn't, I'm still happy that we are going for it NOW!
Your insult is well-understood. You shouldn’t think so highly of yourself. You’re not above the others here.
Keep politics out of the discussion or step to and make your point.
nah you'd still get a good deal of value for him. Not 4 1st round assets type value, but it would depend on what Guerin wants to do with the club. The last (and probably similar) comparison would be the Matthew Tkachuk trade to Florida. Also had one year left on his deal and Calgary received Huberdeau coming off a 115 ( or whatever it was) point season and a legit 1st pair defender in Weegar plus a (lottery-protected) 2025 first-round pick. Now, Huberdeau (probably predictably) has fallen off in Calgary which shouldn't be surprising considering he had Barkov feeding him the puck back then. I won't spend time talking about how overlooked Barkov somehow still is....but just look at Florida's record this year without him. Without looking it up, I believe Weegar was also in the last year of his deal so then Calgary had to immediately extend him, which they did. So if Calgary received 3 1st round type assets, then so can the Wild.
Of course I thought it was no better than 50/50 Kirill would resign in Minny, even lower after he rejected the first two offers, so you never know. But if Quinn is in fact directing his way to Jersey, and the Devils want to acquire him before FA, they'd probably have to get a third team involved. I don't think a couple of late 1sts and Dawson Mercer is going to get it done for Guerin. That would be the difference in a potential Minny/NJ trade and the Calgary/Florida Tkachuk trade. The Rangers and Blues and at least one other team were all crawling over each other to make that trade. If Guerin can only deal with NJ, the return won't be as good (without a 3rd team getting involved)
I literally have no idea who you are other than the guy who has spent two posts in this thread successfully repeating what I've already said. So with that you can go back to being a self-elected faux-mod who apparently feels the need to speak for others. Thinks highly of himself, indeed. Feel very free to stop tagging me in your posts.
Hi. Stop insulting people. Enjoy your bitterness. Bye.
I never saw much of Hughes until now.
GREAT player! A pleasure to watch him with the puck.
Wild DESTROY Oilers last night!
Wild have second most points in entire NHL.
No one in Minnesota is complaining any longer about how much we gave up for Quinn Hughes.
GO WILD!
Playoff performance so far;
13 points in 9 games, 3rd among all players and a +10, also 3rd.
Second most time on ice per game among all players.
Shooting % is highest among all players with more than 8 points.
Tied for most game winning goals.
This guy is AMAZING!
Great win last night.
GO WILD!
He's truly amazing. I'm not a "puck head" compared to others but I've watched more hockey outside of golf in recent years and he plays the sport differently. This may be biased but I find him more impactful on TV than Makar.
Great win last night. If they could get Ericckson-Ek and/or Brodin back, it will make such a huge difference for them to advance...
Erik
Makar is more of a balanced player, not as good offensively but better defensively. I avoid saying one is "better" than the other.
Hughes has also greatly improved our power play.
For the Wild, Hughes is the preferred player, we really needed a playmaker. Hope we can sign him to a contract to remain here. I would not be surprised if he joins his brothers in New Jersey.
Perhaps it's me watching more intently of Wild players than opposition, but Hughes is much more noticeable in how he plays the game. Circling around - changing directions - taking big shots - toeing the blue line. Sets the entire pace of the power play like a point guard.
Statistically, he may not be as good but he's more memorable.
If I'm being honest, I've been underwhelmed by Makar because he's widely panned as the best at his position in the world.
Big game tonight. I hear Denver (intentional) has switched up their goalie. They're going with the "other guy" with whose last name ends in "wood".
Erik
2023-24 Quinn Hughes won the Norris trophy, Makar finished 3rd.
I also heard Hughes was looking like he was going to win the next year, then got injured and was surpassed my Makar.
So far, Hughes looks to be much better than Makar in this series.
Looking more and more like both Brodin and Ek are out with broken feet. Wallstedt might be the key along with a TEAM effort to play responsibly in their own end.
We can't let the Avs get 2-3 goal leads and hope to win!
After one period, looks good so far. "The Wall from St. Paul" looks really comfortable/confident in goal.
I think they made the right call on the double-minor, as the announcer said, "a compromise".
Erik
Tough loss tonight. Wild are in big trouble.
That was a brutal 3rd period... a few dumb mistakes by the Wild flipped that game entirely. The assist Hughes had was very nice, but he had a rough game overall. Zucc looked slow when he was out there... on the Wild power play it looked like 5 - 5 still much of the time when he was on the ice.
The better team rose to the top. Wild had decent chances but Avalanche's goalie was playing very well and they didn't get "puck luck".
Losing Ericksson-Ek and Brodin is something that they could not afford.
Yep, the Wild look old and slow with the Foligno brothers, who have to rely on making big hits than great hockey plays that result in goals.
McKerron (sp?) from Nashville is a keeper. I really like they put him on penalty kills to use his 6'7" reach.
That said, if the Wild could figure out a way to win game #5 and bring back a game six in St. Paul, I think this could go to seven. However, if you think you can beat this team 3x in a row, it's got to be a 5 to 10% chance, at best.
Once the season is over, it will be 100% on how to you secure Quinn Hughes for the long-term. I think it's better than a coin flip, given Guerin was the US Hockey GM, MN stepped up for him, the fan base loves him, he's got a great D-teammate in Faber. Plus, I think there could be a greater chance MN tries to bring from NJ one of his two brothers (without knowing their contracts).
Erik
we'll see on Hughes. I heard a rumor that he's open to a 3 year extension.
that's McCarron - he's been good in the playoffs. Wild are still super soft on faceoffs. I guess I watch more Edina hockey than Wild hockey during the season but wow... are they worst in the league there?
Strange game. The Wild got the first goal and never really looked AT ALL like the team that won game 3. Still it was a one goal game until we pulled the goalie. That doesn't work very well against good teams, but the Wild had little choice.
Noticed a lot of times our defensemen just throws the puck up the side boards in our zone from the corners, and there was an Av player right there. Not sure if our wingers aren't getting there, or if we need to go to a different plan. Hughes and Faber seem to be able to control the puck, but Bogosian and Middleton don't. Caused a lot of extra time in the wild's zone and the winning goal in the 3rd.
Hard to beat a high scoring team with your two best defensive players out. Makes your top scorers have to concentrate more on defending than to just try to score first and defend second.
We still have a chance, but it's going to be next to impossible, like estang pointed out.
Maybe Wallstedt can shut them out in the next game and put a little doubt in Colorado's players minds. They don't have much right now. Jesper is looking like our #1 goalie of the future!
Getting the Hughes brothers to come here is going to be difficult. they would probably have to demand a trade to Minnesota. Both are under contract for several more years. Not sure what we could offer that would be enough. I hate to say it, but if they want to all play for the same team, it makes more sense for Quinn to play out his contract here and sign with New Jersey. :'(
GO WILD!
Whoa - did you say Edina?!?
That's my alma mater!
Erik
Couldn't hold a 3-0 lead. Season's over.
Wild coach Hynes should lose his job for that loss last night, but Guerin won’t do that.
Only Quinn Hughes insisting he get fired for him to sign with Wild would make that happen.
Middleton was on the ice for 13 of 20 COL 5x5 goals, including the last two. Why he and Spurgeon were paired incessantly when it clearly wasn’t working was criminal. Middleton royally screwed up what would have been a 2 on 0 or 2 on 1 by dumping the puck instead of passing to a streaking player was just typical of his crap play.
Easy to say not having Ek & Brodin didn't help but you cannot blow that game last night. Hynes coached them to a loss and the entire team sans Faber & Hughes looked like they were playing scared.
That was a really bad loss, on par for MN men's pro sports, the worst playoff success in the U.S.
The Wild need to move on from Middleton, Spurgeon, Bogosian, both Foligno brothers, and Gustavvson (trade) - I'm indifferent on Hartmann but I really like McCarron. They need a true C1 and simply get younger and faster… The playoff format is so messed up that just get in and let the younger/faster guys learn during the regular season.
Kaprizov had ZERO shots last night in just one the previous game makes no sense. He's not even close to being as good as MacKinnon (sp?) & at $17M a year, they may regret it. He had a 1x1 with the goalie and he makes an inexusable pass to Boldy that was easily broken up.
Minnesota came up small in a big moment. Sure, winning the series was still a long shot but to lose it that way was really discouraging in the near-term. sigh...
Erik
Middleton needs to be paired with a top defender. He got exposed in this series.
When Brodin broke his foot, I knew we were in trouble. Brodin's skating ability is a big reason opponants top players have trouble dominating the Wild.
Then Ek gets hurt. Another very good defensive player, who gets in front of the other teams net and causes problems when our little guys buzz around the perimeter. Also usually pretty good on "the dot".
Kaprizov did have an assist last night and hit the post on the goal that was disallowed. Him and Hughes were our best players. YES, I thought he should have shot that puck instead of passing!
MacKinnon is amazing! The goal he scored is when I felt the game was going to end poorly for the Wild.
Colorado really denied Kirill getting open looks all series.
Stinks to be outplayed after such a good start to the game.
Still proud of my team for taking a step forward and can't wait to see what happens next in improving the roster.
1st round pick Charlie Stramel looks very interesting! Big right shot Center who wins face offs. Just what we need! Is it me, or does he look like James Spader when he was young?
GO WILD!
@JoeBonzai --
I think that's a big understatement or even excuse to say Middleton was paired wrong. Who you you pair him with? He was absolute trash & needs to be released, if cannot be traded. He was atrocious.
Hynes should lose his job after what he did last night. He won't but he should.
The Wild could have won the Stanley Cup this year had they got past Denver. They crapped the bed last night, so we will never get to find out. Up TWO goals with 3:35 left in the game - c'mon, man! Middleton wussed out on MacKinnon's shot to tie it - pathetic. Worse than Ron Davis & these games actually counted! He also had 2 guys wide open to the net and decided to dump the puck - it was the epitomy of why they lost last night.
He's been absolutely roasted - same for Hynes.
The most disgusted I've been in a Minneosta playoff loss since Vikings sh!t the bed & made Daniel Jones rich.
Erik
Middleton was bad, bad, bad. I'll say it as many times as you want me to.
Hughes and Faber can't play the entire game. Brodin getting hurt killed us. He's another guy who plays 22 minutes a game. Lou Nanne says Brodin's the reason guys like MacKinnon and McDavid have trouble scoring on the Wild because of his skating ability.
That leaves you with Spurgeon, Bogosian, the rookie Hunt..........and Middleton. Spurgeon was horrible too. Hunt played pretty well, Bogo sure didn't use his size to hit anyone, but he wasn't on the ice for too many goals against, I don't think.
Looks like Middleton/Spurgeon were out there WAY too much.
The Wild aren't deep enough to compete with Colorado while missing Ek and Brodin, but if Kaprizov's shot is an inch lower and MacKinnon's is an inch higher, it's back to Minnesota for game 6. Not to mention Faber's shot off the crossbar.
There's really no excuse for losing that game, You can blame Middleton if you like. After the first period, the Avs just kept getting better and better and the Wild couldn't hold on.
Too bad Hynes didn't use the time out while we were still ahead, We looked out of gas. I hate to say it, but I felt it coming the entire 3rd period. Was just hoping we could hold on. It SUCKS!
Wallstedt was superb!
I get we are still processing together & I think Hynes completely shit the bed on the team.
Here's the deal-io & way more important -- Hughes basically said he loves it in MN and isn't leaving.
Now if you buy into that (and I do), then you bring Jack Hughes into the fold, then you got something extra-special.
Middleton is dead to me - if they keep him - big mistake. Dude shit the bed so hard, you'd have to change out the mattress. Hey now...
Erik
I am hearing that too! Quinn likes it here and is open to signing, a 3 year deal? Interesting. Jack will become an unrestricted free agent after the 2029-30 season. That leaves Luke who just signed an 8 year deal.
In 3 years (sooner?) Jack can kind of force a trade if he wants to come here. Price would still be high, but if the devils think he'll walk, they will want to get something for him. Blockbuster package for BOTH Hughes boys!
Of course you never know with athletes. If Quinn does want to go to New Jersey and came out and said so, it might be very uncomfortable here next year. I'll believe it when I see it!
Just get him signed!
On the Middleton topic, I don't know who will be on our defense in the next couple years. Bogo and Spurgeon are getting old. Brodin is 32. Hope Hunt is a player. You might have to put up with Middleton for a while.
On offense I hope we sign McCarron, A lot of old guys here too, Tarasenko, Johansson and Zuccarello accounted for a lot of our scoring this year. 53 goals and 150 points. Zucc is 38 years old!
We seem to have found our long term goalie in Jesper, BUT I also heard that we offered Wallstedt to the Blues for a center! Did you see Gustavsson's contract? Can't be traded, sent to minors or waived without his approval!!!!!! WOW!
Yurov has looked solid, hope he can figure out how to score a bit more. Haight didn't play much, but looked OK. We REALLY need Stramel to be the real deal!
GO WILD!
Apparently after the Quinn deal was finalized, Billum took a run at trading for Luke and were laughed at. At that point the Wild couldn't make the money work anyway unless Mighty Mouse was in the deal which wouldn't have made any sense for NJ. The only hope there is someone in NJ wants to tear it down and start over but that doesn't seem likely over the next year or two. They already found a sucker in the Islanders taking a badly fading Palat off their hands, and if they can get Dougie Hamilton to waive his no trade then they'll have quite a bit of open cap room...not that it matters this year because there is nothing available.
I heard from a Wings org employee that Quinn's preference was to be dealt to Detroit because he wanted to play with Pat Kane. Whether he's actually come around to staying in Minny for at least 3 years you'll find out before July 1. I don't think Quinn will leave Minny hanging, he'll let Guerin know one way or the other and if we don't hear anything publicly by July regarding an extension then we'll know he turned it down whether it's publicly stated or not.
The dumbest thing Hynes did was to roll Gustavsson in Game 2. Not even just for game purposes but leaving Gustavsson on the pine would send a message that he's the clear #2 in Minny now and it may make it easier to get him to waive his no trade. It is true that Wallstedt was shopped because of Gus's no trade. EDM tried to get into it too but had nothing to offer. After that fell apart, Billum took a run at trading for Vinny Trocheck which would have been nice but the price was exorbitant as there was no rush for NY to trade him and Minny wouldn't have the necessary pieces anyway because Detroit was also in on him and have a lot more to offer in picks and prospects. Considering your old friend Chuckles Coyle (who just resigned in Columbus anyway) was going to be the top available FA center (barring a buyout of Pettersson or someone like that), there was no reason for the Rangers to trade Trocheck for anything other than a haul.
Avs are just too deep and we just saw how even a guy like Boldy can get Lehkonen'd defensively if folks weren't aware how good Artturi Lehkonen is in all 3 zones. He choked Boldy out. That was the biggest difference in the Avs series vs the Dallas takedown. Disappointing end, but no shame losing to COL...they were the best team since October by a decent margin even though Minny played them really tough in the regular season too. One of Brodin or Spurgeon has to go. You can barely bank on one of them being healthy at playoff time. Can't keep rolling it back with two guys who average a half of a season every year.
I doubt we will hear anything until closer to camp. Hearing nothing before July doesn’t seem like an expectation. Around Christmas you might start thinking trade.
The Guerin thing… Luke had just signed a 7? Year extension it was enormously unlikely. Your wings guy seems to be overplaying the meaning. It was a long shot asking a team to pivot on a decision they just made plus you know the drama around Fitzgerald failure - hence why he’s out.
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Wallstedt looked great in the playoffs! Glad we kept him. Gustavsson has a contract where he has to not only approve a trade, but to be sent down or waived. That could be a problem. He's still a very good goalie! He could be hard to move. I thought a team like the Oilers, who seem to need a goalie, might offer something.
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Spurgeon will be 37 next year and he seems to be showing it. Great little defender for many years. Brodin's foot injury could have been the biggest blow to our chances at upsetting the Avs. Losing Ek didn't help. Middleton got exposed when he had to play more minutes. Bogosian is getting old.
The team is also going to need a couple recent draft picks to show they can score. Yurov looks good defensively. A lot of our goals came from older forwards. Good thing Tarasenko had a nice comeback year!
Just about every team is looking for a big right shot Center who can win faceoffs. Most teams retain those guys.
What are your thoughts on Stramel? He's been up and down in College, but was good last year. he checks all the boxes.
@lanemyer85
Are you saying that it was a HUGE mistake to give Game #2 to Gustavsson because once he shit the bed, he killed his future trade value?
The way you worded your post didn't register but this would make complete sense.
Gus Bus has nearly a $7M salary after this next season which is ridiculous - Guerin way overpaid when looking at other Wild players but not seeing compared to NHL top-half goalies.
I don't think they're going to get as much for him as they think - especially after he acted pissy with cameras in front of him when benched - which is understandable and possibly even endearing to his next team. You have to dump him.
The Wild & Wolves have a lot of off-season moves to make. What they have both in common? They need to play and develop YOUNGER PLAYERS.
Erik
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Might be hard to "dump" him. His contract says he cant be traded, waived or sent to the minors without his approval. He played poorly at the end of the year and in his one start in the playoffs and he threw up in a few games late in the year. You'll first have to get him to allow a trade to a team that is willing to hand him the #1 goalie spot and then need to get something worthwhile in return. At this point is that even possible?
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Agreed. The Wild are going to need help on the wing VERY SOON! They better sign McCarron and with Stramel (hopefully) ready to make the team, center is not as big a concern as everyone thinks.
Got some older players on defense as well.
Farm system seems weak. They might need to sign a free agent or two. A big key is if they can sign Hughes. They might not have the money to sign any younger player(s) to long term contracts.
Zuccarello and Tarasenko account for $9M. Are they worth resigning if they refuse to take big pay cuts? Nick Foligno won't be back at $4.5M. Johansson was a bargain, will he want a raise?
We have a total of 7 forwards that are UFA's
1 Shot on Goal for Kaprizov in the last two Colorado games is not going to pay the bills with a $17 million future contract expense. There's a chasm between his talent and MacKinnon at $12.6 milion a year.
They're putting themselves in another similar situation with big, big contracts for a select few players. They need to do whatever is necessary to find a team for Gus Bus, as you cannot pay him $7 million a year.
Yeah, Johansson & McCarron are keepers and will get a raise - but may not have the loyalty, we shall see.
Perhaps Guerin can steal a few more young guys in trades like he did with Faber and LA Kings...
Good article by Reusse that they're on the uptick and Wolves on the downside.
Outside of signing Hughes, they need to get Bettman to change the playoff format.
Erik
Looking at the numbers I think you also need to give Buium a full time role. Zucc still has air in the tires and signing him to. 1 yr makes sense to me. Johansson, Tara, Folgino get their papers. Yurov needs time to develop. They might have around $12-15M in cap - shooting from the hip. I would keep Gus unless you are getting something in return. That save percentage probably looks great to a few teams. Gus for Dorofeyev? Wallstedt could flop.
Buium?
I agree with most of this. Zucc for 1 year looks good. Johansson played for next to nothing and has improved a bit the last three straight years. He's old, but still has speed. I would offer him a contract and a decent raise. How did Nick Foligno, 38, get a $4M contract? He's gone unless he plays for the minimum, or close to it.
Tarasenko had the best shooting % of his career this year, and scored 23 goals, tied for 3rd on the team. GREAT comeback for a great guy! $4.75M contract looks a LOT better than at the beginning of the year, I would resign him.
Yurov looks interesting, he took a step forward this year offensively and he was actually 4th on the team in shooting %.
Gus for Dorofeyev? IN A HEARTBEAT! Vegas is already paying big for their goalie, so I don't see that happening.
You should see the chowderheads on Facebook Wild fan group. They think we can get a top line center for Gus. Delusional. I like Gus, and Wallstedt could flop, although I think "The Wall" will be very good.
Gus will be making almost $7M next year. He can't be traded without his approval, his play was worse at the end of the year, lost the #1 spot to a rookie and he developed a problem with throwing up during the games. Anyone offering a 1C for that? We would have to offer more and we are kind of out of guys to offer. Draft picks won't be very valuable either and we don't have a #1 or #2 in this coming draft.
It really boils down to resigning Quinn Hughes. If he leaves, our defense is going to be Brock Faber and Jonas Brodin. Spurgeon will be 37 next year.
There's going to be a LOT of turnover in the next couple of years. If we somehow acquire a top Center and don't win it all next year, and then Hughes leaves..........I don't want to think about it.
I'm thinking of Daemon... Hunt.
He seemed to play well in the playoffs. Hard to say as I don't know who he was matched up against for the Avs. He didn't seem to make any glaring mistakes.
Wild are going to need some solid players soon. Always want superstars, but need to have bottom 6 guys who can hold their own.
Who do you think they could get at center and keep the guys they need to keep? Do you think benching Gus was to get him to want to approve a trade?
Just looked at unrestricted free agent centers. I see nothing. old guys, Kopitar and Malkin both are 40. Boone Jenner? 33 years old, good size at 6'2" 200, not a big scorer, pretty good at face offs, looks to be the best UFA center.
The guy I would go hard for is Alex Tuch. just turned 30. He can play center. He's big and can score goals. he's averaged 33 goals a year for the last 4 years. Not great at face offs. We need forwards too.
I'm not entirely sure how the RFA works if we were to sign either of the 2 that might help us. We don't have a 1st or 2nd round draft pick this year. I wonder if that eliminates that possibility, or if we would be able to give up picks from next year.
Trevor Zegras, 25 yrs old or Leo Carlsson 21, both of those guys can score, Carlsson has nice size. Both are horrible at face offs. They can still sign with their teams or their teams can match our offer. We might have to offer huge money to get either of these guys. Both Anaheim and Philadelphia have plenty of cap room, I doubt if they wouldn't match any offers.
Now Gustavsson needs surgery. It would seem he's not going to get traded even if he agreed to waive his no move. I really hope they don't trade Wallstedt.
I think we might have to move our focus away from going after a top Center. We have Ek, Yurov, McCarron, Sturm and Stramel (hopefully) coming. Might want to focus on wingers.
The announcement by Guerin at his presser that Gustavsson needs hip surgery - minor or not - was rather odd.
Could be a spin by Guerin to help increase his trade value? The bigger question is when exactly did he get hurt and did he notify the team that he was even injured? I don't recall that being something I read about during the post-season. I'm not sure he was taking questions for the press to clarify that situation...
I would think you need to figure a way to trade GusBus & get what you can. I read they have a Slovakian named Hlajav that's young (24) so he could be the Jesper backup. I don't think they can afford to pay $7M to him given the need to pay Hughes --
I agree with the above that someone will want him but at what price... may be good to just get a draft pick and a backup.
Erik