lynxrattle

Those numbers tell a lot, and I agree on the Wild needing to be tougher on the players. NMC's are not something one can't avoid. Those teams with only one to three NMC/NTC's prove that without a doubt. 

Maybe the players are in a position to dictate the terms. Maybe they just say it goes their way or they won't sign, knowing the Wild won't find it easy to find any willing replacements. If it's like this we should just accept that the Wild really has no other alternative but rebuild. The only ones with an unquestionable will to play for the team are those players vying for a spot in the NHL.

The thing to do would be to cut losses and trade Parise for anything (a pick, a prospect) that would bring even a minor improvement to the team. But apparently that recapture penalty makes that impossible? We're stuck, apparently.

The term is too long, but as was said before... it is what it is. We can probably trade him, if need be.

I would be hesitant to pay Kaprizov a huge amount of money. Despite the KHL success he's basically an unknown quantity and the play in international games has been good but not that outstanding to risk a lot of money.

The Gamebreaker deal sounds reasonable to me. Two years to prove what's his worth.

I'm not so much looking for another coach, but thinking that we need to find that blue-collar underdog attitude again. The same things that you mentioned in the post. Is there grit, perseverance, pride, courage, even if these little things don't show on the score sheet. It seems like there won't be any Jack Hughes's or Kakko's in the Wild in the near future, so we need to find those players who are maybe not superbly skilled, yet still comfortable with what they are, and proud enough to keep throwing the logs in the wheels of the stars other teams have.

We need to get back to the roots of the Wild. Jacques Lemaire II, where are you?

9 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

Looks like Kevin "Gamebreaker" Fiala is the lone RFA holdout...

Perhaps Gamebreaker could be traded to Montreal. We could use the picks and lose the pricks. 

Another old gun taking space from a prospect. We have enough of them. I'd like to see an emphasis on young unknowns.

Guerin has a huge challenge to deal with. An environment with both physical and psychic wellbeing is needed to get back that blue-collar, underdog fighting spirit, but at the same time the old men retirement home needs to be put in order, and very likely nothing of significance can be done if the bad apples can't be thrown away.

Thanks for keeping us uptodate. Too bad, that it doesn't sound too promising. I was hoping for Sokolov to score some.

Thanks for the link! From what I've heard, seen and read, I'm confident Guerin is the right kind of person for the job. In time we'll see if he's skilled enough, and if he's given the power needed to succeed. For the first time in a couple of years I'm quite hopeful about the Wild's future

In the good old days the Finns typically didn't leave the Finnish league until they had played there for a couple of seasons. Selänne was 22, Saku Koivu 21, Jere Lehtinen 22 when they made the transition. Olli Jokinen was 19, played a  few games, came back to Finland, and returned to the NHL for the next season. In hindsight Puljujärvi and IMO Laine as well should have stayed in Finland and matured at least for a season, possibly two, before making the transition.

 If he plays well under Sebastian Aho's dad, who coaches Kärpät, maybe the Hurricanes would be interested.  It's 'prove it' -time for him, even to get a chance of a stint in the NHL.

Now that you've said it Alexandron, my thoughts almost exactly.

(The only difference being that I can understand signing McLeod, if McLeod has the right personality for mentoring youngsters. The youngsters in Iowa might gain silent knowledge from him on how to make it in the NHL with a lesser skill set.)

From the stats one would think that there would have been a worse player to throw away. Eliteprospects says Bouramman is not physical, though. Maybe Wild Bill wants his team to play more physically.

I think this is a nice deal. Eek gets a good chance to prove his worth and the Wild doesn't make a huge commitment to a player who hasn't proven anything particular yet. A win-win for both!

Wild Bill Guerin and the shootdown at OK Retirement Home... I like that! Let's hope Leipold looks the other way.

https://www.tsn.ca/new-wild-gm-guerin-facing-uphill-battle-in-minnesota-1.1354423

A Sportsnet article for those who missed it...

Pulju sure doesn't sound bright enough to ever play in a 1st or 2nd line role... the fact that he doesn't learn the language, tutoring or not... just listen to Esa Tikkanen mongering. He still doesn't speak anything that would be called English but there was no problem in his ability to communicate.

Well. Now we just hope Guerin is the right personality for the job and that Leipold makes it clear that it is Guerin who calls the shots from now on.

Rotating 4 lines is what should be done quite naturally here. Those teams that have franchise forwards can have the luxury of playing those players more. The Wild right now does not have those players.

For next season we should have one anti-McDavid/Crosby/Kucherov -line, and three even lines. Then put our hopes mostly on good PK and PP (Dumba). 

The Finnish junior coaching system has made a major change during this decade. The Finnish Ice Hockey Association was worried about the lack of individual skills and especially the lack of goal scorers. They made a change emphasizing scoring and individual skills, and de-emphasizing the previous everyone plays, and everyone plays for the team -approach. We Finns have been happy with the changes made and have felt that the individual skills have improved immensely without losing the capability to play for the team. Puljujärvi and Laine might be examples of a lacking team first mentality, though. Maybe our junior coaching system is not as perfect as we have been thinking for the last couple of years.

AjGoal, thanks, that was a thoughtful post.