Wild Deadline Watch

[ClusterChuck]

2 1/2 hours away and nothing's happened...Yet.

[IllaZilla]

47 minutes ago, ClusterChuck said:

2 1/2 hours away and nothing's happened...Yet.

 

Doesn't sound like anything will happen. Kind of glad they're not doing anything because there is no way this team is a Cup contender. Maybe a Playoff team, but that's it. Once a team figures out how to shut down Kaprizov, you can stick a fork in the Wild because no one else can score...

[Alexandron]

47 minutes ago, ClusterChuck said:

2 1/2 hours away and nothing's happened...Yet.

Her are today couple articles to read:

https://www.hockeywilderness.com/2023/3/3/23623414/nhl-trade-rumors-deadline-tracker-minnesota-wild-news

 

https://www.hockeywilderness.com/2023/3/3/23623386/nhl-trade-deadline-rumors-minnesota-wild-van-riemsdyk

 

Sincerely, it is sad for me that we were not able to sign Boeser who was a very nice candidate in our team. Definitely it would be an improvement for the team's offense.

 

[TallyTigerShark]

Greenway going to the Sabres. Wild get a 2023 2nd round pick and a 2024 fifth round pick. I can’t believe BG got that back for Greenway. What a deal!!

Edited March 3, 2023 by TallyTigerShark

[TallyTigerShark]

Wild have acquired Oskar Sundqvst from Detroit in exchange for a 4th round pick this year. He’s a UFA.

Edited March 3, 2023 by TallyTigerShark

[TallyTigerShark]

 

[bbgarnett]

 

[Icechipper]

On 3/1/2023 at 1:46 AM, Icechipper said:

We're one defenseman short of rolling out a Swedish juggernaut of Gustafson in net, Erickson-Ek pivoting Johannsson and Nyquist, and Brodin back on that blue line....

And in comes Klingberg, and Sundquist to complete the Swede sweep...

[Alexandron]

Here is more to read about these 2 trades (1st part about Klingberg and 2nd part(below the 1st one) is about Sundqvist):

 

https://eprinkside.com/2023/03/03/report-john-klingberg-headed-to-minnesota-wild

 

Interesting, GM Bill Guerin surprising me more and more about his unique decisions. These 2 trades from Sweden too. Total 4 signs during this week and all from Sweden. Wow.  

With this defensive power we are probably will be able to pass round#1 of this playoffs season. Time will tell us. It seems Klingberg is pretty expensive ($7 mln.). Are we going to trade Dumba then?

 

 

 

[Alexandron]

28 minutes ago, bbgarnett said:

 

I think Nesterenko was a pretty promising stable prospect. I liked his play during our camps. 

[ClusterChuck]

Nice rental for the rest of this season I guess. Definitely inprove the PP.
But Dumba remains as BG's little buddy so I'll expect him to sign him somehow now. I highly doubt BG let's him walk.
I wish Greenway all the best in Buffalo but we had to get rid of him for more reasons than $$. So 1 down, 1 to go...

[Alexandron]

Joe Smith

@JoeSmithNHL

1h.

Bill Guerin said both Klingberg and Sunqvist will be in #mnwild lineup tomorrow

 

 

 

Joe Smith

@JoeSmithNHL

1h.

Lot more coming. But Guerin said talked w/several teams on Greenway. Came down to price. Made deal once had backup in Sunqvist, which came today. Been on Klingberg while, got price down at end. Didn’t come close on Dumba. Liked deadline adds “We’re serious about winning.” #mnwild

[Alexandron]

I am sure if some of our forwards did produce well before the trade time then all these new trades will not happened. And after all these new 4 Swedish players came to the Wild team it came for me an association to a nice Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup team which had few good players from Sweden: Lidstrom; Zetterberg; Kronwall; Holmstrom; Franzen in addition to the Pavel Datsyuk's outstanding performance. Who knows maybe we have a chance to improve our results during playoffs season with all these signings?

[Icechipper]

On 3/1/2023 at 1:46 AM, Icechipper said:

We're one defenseman short of rolling out a Swedish juggernaut of Gustafson in net, Erickson-Ek pivoting Johannsson and Nyquist, and Brodin back on that blue line....

And in comes Klingberg, and Sundquist to complete the Sweet Swede sweep. Wings has their Russian Machine....we got the Swedish Rifles 

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Icechipper

[bbgarnett]

Once Brodin is healthy we'll be having a Smorgasbord out on the ice.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

 

[IllaZilla]

15 hours ago, Alexandron said:

I am sure if some of our forwards did produce well before the trade time then all these new trades will not happened. And after all these new 4 Swedish players came to the Wild team it came for me an association to a nice Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup team which had few good players from Sweden: Lidstrom; Zetterberg; Kronwall; Holmstrom; Franzen in addition to the Pavel Datsyuk's outstanding performance. Who knows maybe we have a chance to improve our results during playoffs season with all these signings?

 

Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Kronwall, Holmstrom, Franzen:

 

Nyquist, Klingberg, Johansson, Sundqvist

[Alexandron]

I did not say that we are going to win a Stanley Cup with them, but only to pass 1st round playoffs. But who knows with this renewed team because it gives some hope. We will see this soon. Like said Guerin: "It is all about winning and nothing else".

[ClusterChuck]

If Klinger QB's the PP I can only imagine his reaction to the set plays and mentality of it. 

[ClusterChuck]

4 minutes ago, Alexandron said:

I did not say that we are going to win a Stanley Cup with them, but only to pass 1st round playoffs. But who knows with this renewed team because it gives some hope. We will see this soon. Like said Guerin: "It is all about winning and nothing else".

Some fresh players might give a spark to the scoring hopefully and now many can relax after the deadline has passed.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

1 hour ago, ClusterChuck said:

Some fresh players might give a spark to the scoring hopefully and now many can relax after the deadline has passed.

 

Yea, but NOW, I have a bunch of Greenziak T-shirts piled up in my garage I won't be able to sell!  

[ClusterChuck]

2 hours ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

Yea, but NOW, I have a bunch of Greenziak T-shirts piled up in my garage I won't be able to sell!  

Hot seller in Buffalo about this time next season.

[ClusterChuck]

With the deadline gone, What happens with the 6M elephant in the room?
What do you all think will happen with Dumba?
-Will we let him walk after this season?
-Will BG work out a smaller entended contract to keep him? 
If that's even possible and will Dumba accept way less maybe knowing he won't get anything close somewhere else to what he's been getting?

Now with the way Gustavsson has played, That has to have thrown a huge wrench in BG's goalie plans. Gustav will be looking for a well deserved pay raise.
He took this opportunity given his status and made the most of it. A bit of a gamble since it could be a 1 season breakout and how much do you commit to keeping him?

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

2 hours ago, ClusterChuck said:

With the deadline gone, What happens with the 6M elephant in the room?
What do you all think will happen with Dumba?
-Will we let him walk after this season?
-Will BG work out a smaller entended contract to keep him? 
If that's even possible and will Dumba accept way less maybe knowing he won't get anything close somewhere else to what he's been getting?

Now with the way Gustavsson has played, That has to have thrown a huge wrench in BG's goalie plans. Gustav will be looking for a well deserved pay raise.
He took this opportunity given his status and made the most of it. A bit of a gamble since it could be a 1 season breakout and how much do you commit to keeping him?

 

Good questions there. Here is what Minnesota's cap structure looks like at the moment....including the two injured players Brodin and Nyquist.

BG is going to have his work cut out for him, and I believe most of that will be in the forms of conversations he will need to have with players.
From the GM and team standpoint, he'd have to be firm with players on what can be offered, how much the front office may or may not desire to keep a given player, and if the player is willing to take a team friendly, though still reasonable contract FOR the player, they can stay on.

Right off, the cap retained for O'Reilly, Orlov (3.1M) comes off so BG has that to work with. Also right off, frankly, I'd let Reaves walk freeing up another 1.75M.
IMO, Dumba's status could come down to what the team does with John Klingberg, should Kling actually look like he is working out with the team and they'd like to keep him on.

Obviously, Dumba is NOT a 6M cap hit player, and he is NOT suited for a top 4 role. If Klingberg has anything left, and he and the team can come to some decent, oh, I dunno, say, 3M per year deal, I'd be ok with a top 4 of Spurgeon, Brodin, Klingberg, and Middleton.
If Dumba is retained (I'd say if he is going to play a bottom pair role, possibly be in a defensive rotation with the remaining defenders), no more than 2-2.5M should go to him.
Again, these are some conversations BG is going to have to have with Dumba and some other players, because they ALL know the crunch the Suter/Parise buyouts are causing and the limited amount of money to go around to keep a competitive team.

If Dumba agrees to a lowered contract, I'd be ok with him staying on. If he is seeking more, then good luck to him. Yes, he'd "walk" for nothing, but since he didn't figure into the financial plans due to any demand from his camp, it is just as well...ESPECIALLY if the team has already agreed to something reasonable with Klingberg.

The two bottom defensive spots, assuming all stay, can be rotated between Dumba, Merrill, Goligoski, and possibly Addison as well.
But at some point, that will have to be thinned out by at least one (maybe not so if Dumba isn't there).

As for Gustavsson, he is only 24, had some decent years with the Sens coming up and has now had his first real good, complete season, I'd try to more than quadruple his contract to around the 3.2M mark (the money coming off from the retained contracts) on a shorter bridge term (till the Parise/Suter cloud blows over) and then see where he is after that, when he will just be 27... in his prime for goalie years.

I'd let one of Sundquist/Johansson and as mentioned, Reaves walk, maybe Nyquist too if he demands too much or if it looks like his injury is more serious than though, and use that money to spread around to give small raises to guys like Addison, Duhaime, Shaw, possibly Steel and/or Gaudreau as well.

Lots and lots of conversations and hard decisions will need to be made.
Perhaps some of what I am thinking isn't even possible for one reason or the other (cap space being likely the biggest culprit), but I do believe BG does have some wiggle room, albeit not a whole lot, to ice a decent team once again next year....all the while trying to stay afloat till more serious cap space can open up after the 24-25 season.

[Math]

Why not taking a shot with Klingberg as he will be UFA at the end of the season. He wanted too much for too long with the Stars and he was really on my nerves with his Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde type of hockey for the last two season, capable to win a game all by himself at any time but also to lose a game all by himself at any time too... Went to a prove-it deal with the Ducks but he was godawful with them, not only defensively, but offensively too. It was a bit better lately but the whole Ducks defense is a mess anyway.

 

He's still a terrific puck mover with his unique skating duckfeet style but his also a defensive liability. Some were saying that he's difficult to coach because he often want to play like a savior with his typical suicidal-kamikaze rushes. Again, he's on a prove-it mission with the Wild and his tenure will be very interesting to follow, especially if he can be productive on the first PP unit.