CreaseAndAssist

I am going to guess so many people are cutting the cord they hope more and more people don't notice.

Well as you stated in a new thread. Despite being completely ineffective, Rask didn't take the advice from the team and work on his skating. That $4 million / season confidence Rask has needs to be rattled IMO. Its not like any team is going to pick him up off waivers. No one will want that contract and if they do...all the better.

Wild Fans Speak: 2019-20 Season Preview, Part 3 of 3 Here is the final part of the 3-part series. Thanks again to @Davey J, @IllaZilla and @DJ Ricky for participating in the series! This time they give their predictions on the 2019-20 Season. Check it out! Sounds like Nico Sturm is making a big impression so far; from prospect camp, to Traverse City to the pre-season games so far.

Yea, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me either. Not dollars nor cents too. If you're not providing a service then why do we have to pay for it? We should all get a big rebate that way.

No way Spurgeon probably signs for anywhere less than 5 years. But I think 7 years is stupid. Even for Spurgeon.

I would agree @IllaZilla Fenton could feel the walls starting to get closer and closer so he just said...we must sign someone. I don't care; give him everything he wants. We can't come up short again...and boom...another terrible mistake.

Yet, they're still far younger than the Wild. The Wild have tied themselves up in NMC's to guys over 30 years old. St. Louis will get older eventually...but the Wild are signing guys over 32 and handing out NMC's the way AOL used to give out demo discs in the mail.

I will admit, this scenario is sadly plausible with this team after they grossly overpaid Koivu twice.

Or maybe the Wild give in way too easily. I am with @Hockey-78 on this one. We just keep making choices that will make the pain last longer and longer. If Spurgeon wasn't going to take a deal without a NMC (even its not the full length of the 7-year contract) or at least take a deal that was 5 years max I think its counter productive. So we'll probably be bad, but we'll be mediocre bad as opposed to bad-bad...and we'll get mediocre picks and thus continue to be a mediocre team. If Spurgeon wouldn't take a deal without a NMC or not just 5 years (or less)...I'd trade him and not look back. But instead we double down on mediocrity, yet again...

Another older player this team has to protect...I like Spurgeon. But I really hate No Movement Clauses. So to review... Ryan Suter Zach Parise Mikko Koivu Mats Zuccarello Jared Spurgeon All have NMC's... Devan Dubnyk Jason Zucker Have Modified No Trade clauses... The Wild love painting themselves into a corner. The term to Spurgeon is at least 2 years too long IMO.

This is 100% hit the nail on the head. We now had to overpay Spurgeon because Fenton decided to just table it and go on vacation instead of taking care of it and having something settled before the opening of free agency which inevitably would drive Spurgeon's asking price higher. But hey, we only fired Fenton because he didn't get along with people. (sigh)

What could you possibly mean? The Wild are a Stanley Cup contending team?!?! This is the State of Hockey?!?! How dare they!?!? Harumph...harumph...

Wild Fans Speak 2019-20 Season Preview, Part 2 of 3 I wanted to publish this earlier but I've been crazy busy the last 3 days. This part of the series discusses the Wild lineup, and possibly changing roles for veterans and its younger players. Enjoy and discuss... Featuring of course @IllaZilla @Davey J and @DJ Ricky!

What I got out of watching the prospects is the Wild's inability to players that have a lot of speed and or skill. We have lots of guys who are average to below average skaters. IMO, that is really detrimental in today's game which is more and more about speed. Beckman is a perfect example of this. Yes, he has skill, decent offensive instincts...but he's an average skater at best. And thus...his impact is limited by his mobility. The other obvious deficiency across the board are finishers. They have drafted for playmaking. But with few proven finishers goals are hard to comeby and the assists don't pile up either for the same reason. This organization has consistently ignored those two elements to their peril as this team has become older and slower.

He's speculative but the Wild are in desperation mode. That is my only reason they overpay him; for fear of him doubling down with another KHL deal. He'll probably be given the max for an entry level contract.

I am not saying he's crazy overpaid. I think Kaprizov may command more than that. He knows the Wild are desperate.

Meh. Probably about the right price...but I still wouldn'tve paid him $3 million. Wild still have about $5 million in cap space.

So this is just speculation? I'd take that trade in a second. Kyrou, a young offensive talent and a decent stay-at-home defender for 3rd and finesse defenseman with little offensive ability.

I think the variety of responses is really interesting. Everyone sees the team in its own unique way. That's the simple beauty of an article like this. Like I said, I'd love to do this in person one day and just make a YouTube video of it. Brews...food...questions and discussion. I think there would be a lot of laughter and it'd be damn fun even if the discussion was pretty hard on the Wild in the process.

Connor Dewar had the lone goal against Chicago today. 8th place...Last. About what I expected.

True. Sadly we rarely got any of these players in their prime. Rolston, Daigle were the only ones who sort of had their best seasons with the Wild while they were here. Everyone else was mostly of circling the drain of their careers.

Wild Fans Speak: 2019-20 Season Preview, Part 1 of 3 I talked to 6 Wild fans and 1 non-Wild fan to ask them their thoughts on the team going into this season. Check out what HockeyForums.net members @IllaZilla @Davey J and @DJ Ricky had to say! I will publish the next two over the next few days.

Watched 2/3rds of the game today against the Rangers, a 4-3 OT loss. Nico Sturm did not play. Hunter Jones was in goal. Ivan Lodnia scored the first goal, on a nice breakaway after he poke checked puck near the blueline. Darian Pilon made it 2-0 on a puck he batted out of the air midway through the 2nd period. Then his brother took a match penalty at the very end of the 2nd period. Rangers would score twice on the power play in the 3rd. Then Matej Guskov scored shortly after the Rangers power play was over to make it 3-2 Wild. Unfortunately the Rangers would tie it up in the closing seconds of the 3rd and then Kaapo Kakko scored in OT. The Good Adam Beckman Connor Dewar Ivan Lodnia Nick Boka Matej Guskov The Bad Drake Pilon The Ugly Wild Power Play The Wild will be playing in the 7th Place game tomorrow at Noon.

I watched all of the Wild's game against Columbus yesterday afternoon. The Wild started off real slow and the Blue Jackets youngsters were a step or two ahead of the Wild the whole 1st period. Columbus peppered Baribeau with shots but he was pretty solid. Minnesota had maybe 3 or 4 shots the whole period and nothing that was remotely threatening. The superior speed of Columbus drew a 3 penalties in quick succession against the Wild. Minnesota's penalty kill was pretty good though. Still 1-0 Columbus, on a shot by Egor Sokolov (no relation to our Sokolov). In the 2nd period, Minnesota had much better pace. Will Bitten was really flying around and making things happen. The Wild were finishing their checks more and were able to create some turnovers and catch Columbus in transition. Connor Dewar got denied on a breakaway. Will Bitten had another good solo rush too that was stopped. Yet, Columbus would add to its lead as Baribeau got caught kind of dancing in his crease and was caught out of position making it 2-0 Blue Jackets. The Wild kept working hard and Bitten would score on a breakaway in the closing minute of the period. I lived tweeted the game yesterday...I probably won't be able to do that tomorrow though. You can stream them here... https://www.foxsports.com/southwest/story/watch-dallas-stars-compete-in-traverse-city-prospect-tournament-sept-6-10-live-streams-090519 Anyways...the best line was Will Bitten, Dmitry Sokolov and Nico Sturm although Sturm seemed to be in a bit of a coast mode as I think he knows he probably earned a spot at Wild training camp and didn't want to risk getting banged up too much. But he was strong on the puck, using his body to protect it and distribute it to teammates. The Dewar, Guskov, Duhaime line wasn't too bad either. In the 3rd period, Matej Guskov stole a puck in the neutral zone and quickly transitioned and then made a nice backhand pass to Duhaime for the game-tying goal. In overtime, Minnesota actually controlled the puck most of the time and had a number of reasonable chances. Unfortunately, as the game seemed to be destined for a shootout, with less than 30 seconds in OT, a broken play off a faceoff left Alexander Texier alone in the slot and he beat Baribeau to make it a 3-2 Columbus win. Other thoughts. The college kids are fairly tough. Duhaime dropped the gloves and beat the crap out of Columbus' Paquette...and Nick Boka pummeled Fortier pretty good. It wasn't even close. Invitees Drake and Darian Pilon bring a lot of energy and forechecking ability. Damien Giroux wasn't bad either although I thought he spent too much time out at the point for a center. Guskov got better as the game went on. Its too bad Alex Khovanov missed this tournament, I think this group could use his skill and offensive instincts. No Fedor Gordeev for this game which was a bit curious to me. The Good Will Bitten Dereck Baribeau Brandon Duhaime Connor Dewar Dmitry Sokolov Drake & Darian Pilon Matej Guskov The Bad Shawn Boudrias - slow, seemed lost and missed from close range on a nearly open net late in the 2nd period. The Ugly Offense from the Blueline - beyond a few ok shots by Boka, the Wild defenseman didn't help the attack too much. Adam Beckman's skating - the kid has skill, good offensive instincts and a decent release on his shot, but lead in his skates...he's not the slowest player but he needs to be faster

(cough) We had Jennings Trophy winners once @IllaZilla, but yea...nothing else to write home about unless you want to toss in Jacques Lemaire's Jack Adams' Award too. Either way, I don't think we'll see miracles from Guerin, not this season at least.