CreaseAndAssist

18 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

Haven’t made it through all six picks yet, but I’m working on it. 
I’m having visions of Colton Gillies with Charlie Stramel. Or maybe Charlie Coyle. I don’t buy for an instant he was always “their guy”. Unless their draft strategy was to draft the first slab of meat available to us because they were concerned about being pushed around in the playoffs. I think it’s kind of ridiculous too to shoot for an at best third line center with your first round draft pick, when there were more talented players on the board, but…

The Finlander got me about as excited as a piece of dry, white toast. Maybe another third-fourth liner. I get the team needs those too, but couldn’t you find those types in the later rounds?

I also thought the love/hate reviews of Riley Haight were interesting, and not in a Minnesotan way. Were these scouts watching the same player on the same night? Or is he a schizophrenic as the reviews are? Makes me wonder why a player that most had going top 20 drops to the late second round. 

I don’t know. I just don’t think the Wild can keep up their current game plan of always striving for the playoffs, getting a low first round draft picks, and then expect to build a Stanley Cup roster this way. I don’t blame Pat Maroon for being less than excited to be traded to the Wild. The Wild are going nowhere. 
 

I’ve gotten apathetic about this team. Their drafts aren’t exciting, the team isn’t exciting. There is nothing to look forward to other than a pretty good team having a pretty good season and then getting eliminated in the playoffs. How very Minnesotan. 

@IllaZilla You know as well as I do that almost all GM's say one of two things at the draft; "That was our guy" or "I can't believe he fell to us, but we're really happy he did."  I think they wanted toughness and I could see Bill Guerin and Leipold fixating on Stramel.  I kind of felt the same way when the Wild picked Luke Kunin and even Judd Brackett said those were orders from above.  I'm not real thrilled about it as he just doesn't seem to do enough things well where you feel confident he'll stick.  

I think on Heidt, it may simply come down to what people consider physicality.  I guess the best way I can differentiate it is how some people see a player who makes hits during the play that stop an opponent in their tracks versus a kid who might skate around and then finish checks after the puck is gone.  Eliteprospects, just looking at who their talent evaluators are are mostly in the the early to mid-20's.  HockeyProspect.com are people late 30's to being people our age.  So maybe that's part of it.  But one was clearly sold on Heidt and super impressed and other seemed to be very turned off and skeptical.  

However, you caught the other $64 question on Heidt in regards to so many teams passing up on Heidt allowing him to be taken at the very end of the 2nd round.  So that would seem that plenty of other teams that had their doubts too.  

Here is some more quotable stuff for Riley Heidt, this time from Eliteprospects.com.  

“Whether Heidt is initiating early contact to sweep in and behind a puck-retrieving defender, layering a west-to-east pass to stretch defensive schemes, or even processing the upcoming play to float a pass into space, he is a dominant presence on the cycle,” Crossover scout Daniel Gee wrote in an October Scout’s Notebook on EP Rinkside.

“Nasty physically, despite his 5-foot-11 frame, Heidt has the handling, shooting, and vision to inflict major damage on opponents.” This feels like a good time to get into Heidt’s physical dimension. In a word, he’s nasty. Even standing at a modest 5-foot-11 with a frame that isn’t all that developed, this guy packs a serious punch. He takes the extra stride to play the body, never passes up an opportunity to sneak in a shot behind the play, and is an enthusiastic combatant in scrums.

On retrievals, Heidt establishes inside positioning early, drives through opponents’ hands, and separates them from the puck. And the use of contact to create space in the small area game allows him to spin off of defensive pressure and attack the inside. The problem is that Heidt’s profile aligns with that of a lot of really good junior players in the past who struggled to translate their game to the next level. Whether it’s the disproportionate amount of power play offence, the lack of more explosive outside edge skating manoeuvres, wildly inconsistent play, and virtually no concern with playing defensive – the red flags are numerous. Granted, the potential is sky-high for Heidt, too. That’s why we’ve ranked him well inside of our first round. He can be a middle-six scoring winger with power play utility, and that sort of value is hard to find once you get out of the teens.

I agree with you when saying you're apathetic on the team.  I am too.  Unless they put themselves in position to draft a game changer they will probably continue to be slightly above average at best.  But to me the annoying part is seeing how many Wild fans out there that are 100% satisfied with that.  Its insane to me.  

I probably should've said this in the podcast, but the two defenseman are more of what they already have in abundance.  6'0"-ish puck moving defenseman.  I know Andrew Gibson, a physical stay-at-home defender got picked before we took Kumpulainen, but for their attempt to address their lack of size up front one would think they would try to do the same on the back end given their experience.  

Either way, thanks for listening to what you have so far.  I hope you enjoy the rest of it, even if maybe if you're not 'Feeling Minnesota' anymore.  

Yea, good things teams don't win that abuse LTIR...oh wait.  

Iowa Wild GM Mike Murray today announced that the American Hockey League (AHL) club has signed Kale Kessy, Greg Meireles, and Brenden Miller to 1-year, 1-way AHL contracts. The team also signed Brett Budgell and Kevin Conley to one-year, two-way AHL contracts

More names added to the mix to fill out the rosters with either Iowa club.  

Oh and don't forget RW - Pavel Novak who will be coming off a season lost to cancer.  He was looking rather promising in his time with Kelowna, but he might have to be used a bit more sparingly if there are any after affects to his treatment.  

1 minute ago, Math said:

Getting Maroon in place of Reaves is an immediate improvement. Seeing the Leafs giving Reaves a 3-year contract is baffling.

(shrugs)  I'm not going to worry about the Leafs problems.  There is enough Wild issues to be too concerned with that.  Besides, next year could be a rough one for Leafs nation with so many big names as UFA's.  

15 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

I can’t see the Wild signing anyone of significance. They just don’t have the cap space. Right now they have roughly $8.2M in cap space and need to sign 6-7 more players. Generally a team likes to keep about $1M in cap space for call ups, etc. so that leaves the Wild about $7M in cap space. They can spend on average $1M per player. You’re not getting difference makers for $1M. 
 

Maybe the buy-outs are going finally drag the Wild kicking and screaming into a rebuild…

Sometimes interventions happen on their own.  If this is how we get there, I won't feel bad about it.  

According to MNWild prospects, Cajakovic was booted off the Slovakian national team for being a bad teammate.  It didn't specify what he did, but according to him he's accepted their judgement and has tried to be better in that regard but interesting tidbit.  I just hope Tampa was jettisoning him now for this same reason even though the original incident happened back in 2018-19.  

3 hours ago, Icechipper said:

Interesting that big Pat had a limited no-movement clause and Minnesota was on the right side of that ledger.....

(shrugs)  I think for 1-year it probably doesn't seem like the worst place to go.  He'll probably get along with the team just fine.  But that does add a different layer to it as well.  

A lot of teams have shed younger, mid-20's players this season even if they were RFA's.  While Guerin has said Lettieri will be in competition for the bottom spot you know the younger players will probably have to schitt the bed in order to be supplanted by Lettieri or Lucchini.  

Now toss in Pat Maroon who is going to be on your 3rd or 4th line.  

He's mostly an ECHL'er.  He's only had a some limited time at the AHL'er.  But the Heartlanders need all of the help they can get.  Maroon only has one year left on his deal and if the Wild aren't anywhere near the playoffs he probably becomes an asset you can trade at the deadline as teams always look to toughen up for the post-season and with his extensive playoff experience he'd probably be in demand unless his game has gone to complete crap.  

IMO, a no lose move for the Wild unless you are of the mindset it blocks a young player out of the lineup.  

Tampa Bay is paying a portion of his salary, and while some roll their eyes at the 'toughness' adds this addresses that concern if there is any to have.  Whether people want to scoff or not, he has a ton of playoff experience and its tough to get annoyed at the cost of a 7th round pick.  Iowa Wild and / or Iowa Heartlanders get a little help too.  

Although I wonder if that means maybe they're going to move on from Brandon Duhaime?!?!  

Episode #18: Feeling Minnesota (2023 Wild draft review)

Kalisha, @MNSOTA and myself discuss all six of the Minnesota Wild's selections.  We analyze all of the picks and discuss fan reaction too.  Its a longer podcast, but we hope the detail we've provided is insightful.  

17 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

Add 

 

F - Casey Dornbach

D - Louie Boudon

D - Landon Koisior

 

Both are 5'11" offensive defenseman...

Edina-native, Casey Dornbach is a Invitee at this upcoming Wild prospect camp.  He didn't get much of a look late in the season for Iowa last year after he turned pro.  Boudon impressed with his play late in the season after signing as a free agent.  

Since I'm guessing the team is going to go with the kids; especially on defense this season they will need someone to make up for the points they got from Joe Hicketts they've had the last two years.  Joe Hicketts was a great leader / teammate for Iowa too.  

9 minutes ago, Tomdog said:

Actually not tendering Shaw a qualifying offer probably helps Shaw the most Now he can sign with anyone if he wants or the Wild can sign him later. 

We shall see.  I would still guess the team is on he hook for his rehab of his knee.  

2 hours ago, Icechipper said:

Has Gustafson accepted his qualifying offer?

Nope.  And it doesn't sound like either side is very close to a deal either according to Russo's latest Worst Seats from the House.  He thinks it may come to a point where the team just cuts bait and trades him and looks for another goaltender.  Unfortunately, a lot of the cheaper goaltenders were picked up today.  There can't be a lot of cheaper goaltenders available.  

I noticed a lot of teams jettisoned players in their early to mid-20's instead of re-signing them even though they were RFA's.  

Add 

F - Casey Dornbach

D - Louie Boudon

D - Landon Koisior

Both are 5'11" offensive defenseman...

Add Jake Lucchini to the Iowa Wild roster, another center.  

I would agree.  Everyone has been patting Judd Brackett on the back for a while, but so far...we haven't seen a single player that he's drafted make a difference for the Minnesota Wild.  This is a big year for his reputation here in Minnesota and for the players he drafted.  

So here's whose potentially in Iowa next year as I see it.  

C / LW - Caeden Bankier

LW - Mikey Milne

C - Sam Hentges

RW/LW - Sammy Walker

RW - Nick Swaney

C / LW - Steven Fogarty

C / LW / RW - Nic Petan

C / RW - Vinni Lettieri

D - Kyle Masters

D - Carson Lambos

D - Daemon Hunt

D - Ryan O'Rourke

D - Dakota Mermis

D - Simon Johansson

D - David Spacek

G - Jesper Wallstedt

G - Zane McIntyre

G - Hunter Jones

Wild re-signed Zane McIntyre, Dakota Mermis and Nick Swaney and added Vinni Letteri.  Hunter Jones probably just said FML when he saw that news because it likely means he's going back to the Iowa Heartlanders who probably have one more season left until they fold.  

Mermis is going to be the veteran and leadership voice for Iowa after being a good soldier the last two seasons.  Swaney has been good when he's been healthy and is a lot like he was in college where he's a streaky scorer.  

4 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

Interesting that Shaw wasn’t tendered. After he was injured, Guerin made it sound like he was going to keep him around. 

Zane McIntyre being signed to another deal is very interesting.  Because then its a 3-goalie competition in Iowa again.  That would mean Hunter Jones would likely be back as the starter for the Heartlanders who by all accounts have been a complete tire fire.  One would think this would be the year where Wallstedt's the starter and McIntyre / Jones is his back up.  

Blake Wheeler signs with the New York Rangers for $800k.  Sounds like the Wild is signing Vinni Letteri to a two-year, two-way deal.  Yea, the Shaw one had to be tough unless they have some other way to come back to it.  If not, then that's sad after doing all that he did only to blow his knee out a 4th time.  

On 6/29/2023 at 6:51 PM, IllaZilla said:

I don’t get how Pronman likes him but then says he has limited offense, the hockey IQ isn’t there, and if you get a third line center out of him you should be happy. 
 

That doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. 

I agree, it certainly doesn't.  Especially for your 1st round selection.  The interesting thing to see was how one of the 'experts' Byron Bader, the same guy who first said the Wild had the #1 prospect pool in the NHL, whom the Billy Goats all fell over themselves parading this around; he ripped the Charlie Stramel pick.  Then watching the same Billy Goats suddenly fall over themselves say that it was just one bad season at Wisconsin and he shouldn't be judged on that, the experts are wrong, in Billy G they trust and all of that crap.  So the analytics folks love analytics until it says the Wild were wrong...and then suddenly analytics has somehow got it all wrong.  

On 6/30/2023 at 7:23 AM, Alexandron said:

Here is a description regarding Heidt on eliteprospects link:

Nasty physically, despite his 5-foot-11 frame, Heidt has the handling, shooting, and vision to inflict major damage on opponents. He takes the extra stride to play the body, never passes up an opportunity to sneak in a shot behind the play, and is an enthusiastic combatant in scrums. On retrievals, Heidt establishes inside positioning early, drives through opponents’ hands, and separates them from the puck. And the use of contact to create space in the small area game allows him to spin off of defensive pressure and attack the inside. -EliteProspects 2023 NHL

Its interesting to see how different their description of Riley Heidt is compared to HockeyProspect.com's viewing of him.  They certainly see some similar things but while one make him sound like a hitting machine the other makes him sound a lot different.  If you're only going to consult one source, you're likely going to get deceived.  

9 hours ago, TallyTigerShark said:

This is true. I wasn’t “excited” with this pick when you look at others who were available. I was honestly very underwhelmed. But all that matters down the line is how does he develop. Pronman and some others like him. As you said, you can’t teach that size. I just hope he isn’t another Greeway.

 

Having said all of that, I love the pick of Heidt at the end of round 2. How did he fall that far when most projected him top 15 to top 20 overall? There had to be a reason but you can’t deny that is great value there for the Wild. That pick does excite me.

Heidt was a very polarizing player among scouts.  I will share a lot more when I do my draft recap this Sunday and I'll make sure I post it in the podcast thread.  

Minnesota Wild select Rosemount, MN-native; center, Charlie Stramel (Wisconsin, Big 10) with the 21st Overall pick in the 2023 draft.  

@MNSOTA and I will have a complete draft review that we will record on Sunday.  I have LOTS to say about this selection.