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CreaseAndAssist

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Everything posted by CreaseAndAssist

  1. @IllaZilla You and I have have been saying this for years. Wild have been in denial about a rebuild and the salary cap crunch should've made this an easy pivot instead they resist and we only delay the inevitable and just cement more years of mediocrity. I think he keeps delaying a rebuild because the owner lives in this ridiculous fantasy world that this team needs to pretend its trying to contend each year.
  2. Rossi does provide some built in excuses (Myocarditis, the lost season, etc) but he's had time to develop and this team needs him to be ready to make an impact. He's a Top 10 pick on a team that rarely gets to select from that part of the draft and as a center this team desperately needs him to live up to that potential / hype, because if not it will be a major setback. I think I said this earlier in this thread, but this is a big year not just for Guerin IMO where you start to see if Rossi and maybe others have what it takes to make the next step but its also big for Judd Brackett. Brackett who was heralded needs to start showing tangible signs that he can mine talent for this team that will actually be a difference maker. So far, none of his selections have made an impact yet. It doesn't matter that publications and 'experts' chime in saying you have a top prospect pool, until it makes a difference on the ice for the Wild it's just that...words and nothing more.
  3. I was pretty ambivalent. Either way, I think this summer proved that Matt Dumba didn't exactly draw a ton of interest. $3.9M is far more than I would've paid him, and in a strange way our salary crunch helped us avoid making that kind of salary mistake. He already had a house in Arizona so I guess this 'move' is fairly easy for him and he still has a house in Minnesota too in case anyone cares about stuff like that. Arizona has been in this cycle of rebuilding, etc for a decade. They might be better next year but good enough to make the playoffs?!?! Not so sure; although I am not sure we're good enough either. Certainly not good enough to do much of anything if we do make the playoffs. Can Dumba rediscover his game? Not likely. I heard he kept things loose in the locker room and was well-liked, but 'ok' defense and an offensive game that more or less disappeared certainly wasn't worth $6M a season anymore. If anything, his fight should be a cautionary tale for young players who decide to oblige a lame request to fight by a player who is going to talk trash no matter if you kick his ass or not. Chris Stewart was never the same after he broke his hand on Kyle Brodziak's helmet and was resigned to being an energy player instead of the promising power forward he was prior to that ill-advised fight. In thinking about Dumba's whole career with the Wild, he was a classic teaser. Where at times he showed us some of the offense and physical play we were sold on when he was drafted, but it was never quite enough. The big shot was more like Happy Gilmore where he'd blast it but it seemed to miss the net or was easily blocked. His defensive lapses and gaffes with the puck in his own zone often seemed to counter those moments where he'd make a great offensive play; you seemed to get 5 atrocious mistakes to one great play. Then when he seemed to kind of put it all together, just as suddenly it was gone. I think he was a very good citizen, but at the end of the day that's not really what matters most in professional sports. I'm sure he'll come back and do interviews and tell us funny Jonas Brodin and Marcus Foligno stories someday.
  4. It will be interesting to see if Guerin starts defending Rossi the way he did Dumba. Where he feels people are counting him out and whether he'll ask people to stop being so vocal in their criticism of him. Just a bit of a prediction...
  5. I agree. It would be a mistake to add Dumba again after this season even if he was making half of what he was making last year (so $3 million instead of $6 million) simply because you want the young ones (cheaper) to battle for those spots. As far as Addison goes, I don't think he's that special. Dan Boyle may have been about his height, but he had a lot more ability than Addison does on both sides of the puck. I think Addison can distribute the puck but I don't think he's a real dangerous threat to score and I don't think he defends particularly well. In my opinion, you can find players with that kind of M.O. all over the league and in any draft. Small mobile puck movers...with some offensive ability. Look at our prospect pool of defense prospects. Its full of around 6'0" puck mover guys who have some skill but are perhaps not going to be big scorers. I don't see why Addison is this indispensible prospect; maybe 2-3 years ago...but not so much now.
  6. The fact people are getting pumped up for Yurov moving to center or being a viable center candidate continues to show how little faith they have in Rossi. Don't get me wrong, Yurov and Khusnutdinov and Ohgren are the forward prospects that seem to have the most potential. I can't wait to see them make the trip across the pond next year. (knock on wood)
  7. I agree with @IllaZilla I don't think he's in a good position to play hardball with the Wild, the team has a ton of defensive prospects and his game isn't complete. Faber may not have as many points but he is a far better defender than Addison. No arbitration...so accept a $800k deal or sit.
  8. Thanks again for listening! We really appreciate it. It was interesting to see the relative consensus on the Gustavsson deal; most people see it as a sensible contract.
  9. (sigh) Meh, Dumba going to Arizona isn't a big deal. They better hope they can give him a very defensively responsible partner for all the watching he likes to do in and around the crease. Nice guy, but I am not sentimental about his departure. It was time and the cap crunch probably helped spare the team from making a contract mistake although they will have a chance to make it again next year when he's a UFA again.
  10. Episode #20: Hail to the Chief In this episode, @MNSOTA and I are joined by Justin Caesar as we discuss the promotion of Wild GM Bill Guerin to President of Hockey Operations. We also discuss Gustavsson's new deal and discuss what to do about the large class of Wild UFA's next season. @Jimtown guy, you got a mention on the show. Check it out!
  11. Where there is a very limited NTC in the last year of the deal, just a 5 team no-trade list.
  12. Pretty close to what most of us were saying. 3 years is a bit longer than I was expecting, but it also gives Jesper Wallstedt time to season both in the minors and as an NHL backup before he's given that chance to assume the #1 role. Also buys the team some time to draft and develop Wallstedt's backup too if they choose to go that route.
  13. If the team hadn't bought them out and Parise retires they would've gotten hammered even harder than the buyout cost. But because of that, they didn't have to be worried about being ambushed that way. It really was a Catch-22 for the Wild as soon as that rule was put in place. And that should answer the question to any dolt you come across that thinks the team would've been better off not buying them out. The 'early' retirement punishment would've happened whether chose to retire as a member of the Wild or wherever they continued their NHL careers. Gustavsson's arbitration hearing is up this week. It will be interesting to see how fast the Addison deal gets worked out after Gus signs whatever it ends up being. I'm still guessing at a 1-year or 2-year deal at about $3.5M.
  14. Interesting. On the flip side, did you see that Wheeler felt the Wild should've drafted Anton Lundell at #9 instead in his 2020 re-draft article. Alexis Lafrieniere was re-drafted 5th Overall instead of 1st Overall.
  15. We'll probably sign him before that unless he really is giving us a feeling he's not going to re-sign.
  16. If it happens, as long as its part of a trade rather than just seeing him go via free agency I'd be fine with it depending on the return.
  17. Will Kirill want to stick around? Or will he seek a championship elsewhere?
  18. (shrugs) I think they will keep saying they're not making excuses to only make excuses because they know the sheeple will buy it. The team doesn't want to buy out the coach, especially as it still is in a cap crunch. I don't think his promotion makes one ounce of difference; Guerin was able to do as he pleased even before he was named President of Hockey Ops. Now he's his own boss...accountable to probably the owner and that's about it.
  19. Woopty doo. This is a total non-story. His role doesn't really change and it doesn't do anything to improve the team on the ice. He just gets a fancier title and a bigger paycheck. Good for Bill, but for the team...meh. The only real takeaway from it is it proves Craig Leipold is buying ANYTHING that Bill Guerin is selling him. If you're happy with that great...if not...well that's the world the Wild are living in now.
  20. Yea, it seems like a meh return in a supposed deep draft.
  21. Adam Beckman was able to play more in a Top 6 role last year compared to the Bottom 6 role he played the season before in Iowa. Not only did he produce more offensively, but you could see his confidence grow as the year went on. That was about the opposite of his first pro season where he shot the puck a ton and didn't find the back of the net very often. I don't care what # Beckman wears with the big club as long as he can contribute in a meaningful way. Goals, hits...show us you are not just a warm body on a line and I'm probably happy.
  22. Anyone see Wheeler's article grading the 2023 draft classes? Basically the Wild reached too early in the draft and other than the Riley Heidt pick which is a high risk possibly high reward he seemed to think most of our guys are long shots to make it and that the grade would've been near the bottom instead of 'overtime losers' as he had them rated.
  23. I agree, there has been enough 'soak' time on some of these young players to see whether they will actually make an impact or that it was just a but of hopes and / or hype. Other than the fact Bill Guerin seems to like Dean Evason, I don't see a particularly skilled tactician. I see a guy who mostly just runs the same stuff and hopes it works. With all of these back to backs this season, you can bet that might really make Evason hesitate to have the team practice under the guise that rest is more valuable. I too hope its a Come to Jesus moment for the organization and they finally just are bad and we can get a few players that can actually move the needle for this organization from a one-&-done dud into something that can actually contend.
  24. I agree. Yea that was a pretty obvious contradiction. I still think its odd he mentions its season four for Dean Evason etc, so what? How many more seasons does he need to learn from before he finally learns enough to be able to coach a team beyond the 1st round?
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