EJ0226 Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 15 hours ago, sweetshot said: EJ-check this out. It may give you a better view of where Liepold is at with this franchise. It's mainly quotes of his from a 2016 interview. . I saw an old article in the Strib from 2016 stating that Leipold had just bought 27% more ownership in the Wild from one of his partners--giving him 95% ownership. In the same article Leipold stated that" he wasn't sure when he purchased the Wild if it was a long term investment for him and his family". He said that he now believes--because of the "economics of our business in this market and the economics of the NHL"--owning the Wild is a "sustainable" business and that the team is now a "great generational business for our family". Also from this article was a quote from Leipold regarding the partner he bought the 27% from: "he continued to have a higher interest level in being involved in the hockey side like drafts and trades, but I wasn't willing to give that up". "That's not my style with Chuck, so I certainly wouldn't let a minority owner have that kind of input to Chuck". Looks like that means at least up until 2016(when this article was written) he pretty much gave Chuck free reign to do whatever Chuck thought was needed. I am not shocked by it. I was never a CF fan at all. I always thought he got way more credit for his little stint with the Pens then he should have ever gotten. I am curious about who this 27% owner was. I can almost forsee it being somebody who knows hockey well and might have been useful to have. I fear CL being involved with these decisions would be fatal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetshot Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 39 minutes ago, EJ0226 said: I am not shocked by it. I was never a CF fan at all. I always thought he got way more credit for his little stint with the Pens then he should have ever gotten. I am curious about who this 27% owner was. I can almost forsee it being somebody who knows hockey well and might have been useful to have. I fear CL being involved with these decisions would be fatal. Looks like CL is in it for the long haul--tweaks are all we are going to get for now. I think for CL and PF to decide to do more than tweak the current roster, the Wild would have to continue playing the way they have played so far this season throughout the rest of this season and possibly into the next. It seems to me that some type of rebuild down the road is inevitable. The person who CL bought the 27% share from was Matt Hulsizer, who had assumed Phil Falcone's share in 2015. You are right about him, hockey is his passion. He played college hockey at Amherst, and is co-founder and CEO of PEAK6 Investments in Chicago. According to CL, Hulsizer was the driving force in challenging the Wilds hockey operations to use analytics more in the Wilds play, drafting, and scouting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetshot Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 10 hours ago, EJ0226 said: I am not shocked by it. I was never a CF fan at all. I always thought he got way more credit for his little stint with the Pens then he should have ever gotten. I am curious about who this 27% owner was. I can almost forsee it being somebody who knows hockey well and might have been useful to have. I fear CL being involved with these decisions would be fatal. I had trouble buying into the fact tha CF was the driving force building(except Koivu) the current roster. I just didn't see how he could think the team he's had a huge hand in building was the type team that could have a shot at the Cup. He witnessed the success his father had building a winner and has been around hockey his whole life. That's why I always thought CL had a bigger hand building this team than he did. I guess CF thought he could do it his way--he made some mistakes--his biggest was was putting too much faith in Suter and Parise. I think he kind of panicked after he realized that wasn't enough and made some ill-advised trades that put this team in an even worse position. I hope PF does a better job--but he's got a big hill to climb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJ0226 Posted October 19, 2018 Share Posted October 19, 2018 On 10/17/2018 at 7:30 PM, sweetshot said: I had trouble buying into the fact tha CF was the driving force building(except Koivu) the current roster. I just didn't see how he could think the team he's had a huge hand in building was the type team that could have a shot at the Cup. He witnessed the success his father had building a winner and has been around hockey his whole life. That's why I always thought CL had a bigger hand building this team than he did. I guess CF thought he could do it his way--he made some mistakes--his biggest was was putting too much faith in Suter and Parise. I think he kind of panicked after he realized that wasn't enough and made some ill-advised trades that put this team in an even worse position. I hope PF does a better job--but he's got a big hill to climb. I just didn't see the ability in CF to make a winning team. For sure after a few years with Parise and Suter the panic set in and made poor decisions. The draft pick throwaways for rentals that literally disappeared out of the NHL after their time with the Wild was over is by far some of the worst decision making I have seen. That really tells me CF was panicking and throwing away the future for some kind of patchwork that was already shredded up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rottenrefs Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 On 10/19/2018 at 8:56 AM, EJ0226 said: I just didn't see the ability in CF to make a winning team. For sure after a few years with Parise and Suter the panic set in and made poor decisions. The draft pick throwaways for rentals that literally disappeared out of the NHL after their time with the Wild was over is by far some of the worst decision making I have seen. That really tells me CF was panicking and throwing away the future for some kind of patchwork that was already shredded up. The biggest thing with CL and CF to a great degree, is they don't have patience. They wanted immediate results and forgot to stick with what appeared to be a pretty decent 4-5 year plan upon getting Parise and Suter. Too often they robbed Iowa of under-developed players while feasting their eyes on has-beens by clearing out the bank and stripping the cupboards bare. They allowed for the locker room to be divided and didn't give a rip. None of those younger players being given a grand opportunity were granted any voice or means to grow better than their older mentors. They were stymied and stepped on time and time again, thrown under the bus constantly and most problematic is they were never able to build their confidence. Of all the countless line combinations we never saw one line of youthful players show what they can do without some older vet dragging them down. Instead they were all used in supportive roles - not leading roles. Not that they needed to be leaders per-se, but they needed the team to put some trust in them and that is exactly what the team deprived them of. To this day it's hardly any different. In the meantime other teams have younger players maturing together on lines they've been tied to for several years now and while they're progressing nicely, the Wild players are still playing with apprehension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.