Niederreiter Traded For Victor Rask

[EmptyShelf]

He also has the second most TOI of the forwards - what a surprise?  Results from a defined and consistently high amount of ice time.  What a concept?  Wild decisions suck.  

[EJ0226]

It sucks to see Nino go but he was in a horrible stump and honestly regressed a lot and we all know when that happens on this team it's pretty much a death sentence. You do have to wonder why it happens here enough that we see those guys go and play for somebody else and look great. My gut tells me that Nino will do great elsewhere like how we seen Haula (I hope he comes back 100% and not have a issue) and Tuch. Hell Tuch right now would be third on our team for scoring and he literally got only 6 games with us to prove he deserves to be on the team.

 

It's like the Wild expect you to be a Kane or Crosby in a very short term. If you can't be those then you better be able to completely change your play style to suit a select few others. There is no rhyme or reason behind they guys on the ice. It's more of a group of 23 players with their own play styles that really don't complement each other. And good forbid you go onto a streak like Nino unless your name is Parise, Suter or Koivu cause you become a bulls eye very quick. I still can't shake there is a very toxic environment in that locker room that makes players become very wound up tight which causes more issues.

 

With that said I still think Nino needed to go. More and less for himself to improve and get back on track. It became pretty obvious that he wasn't going to be helped out of his hole he was in while here. It sucks to see a guy that almost every team would love to have on their roster go but I think if he stayed here he would never recover. I hope he does great where ever cause he still strikes me as a damn nice guy and probably a great guy in the locker room. I still am pissed this team gives up on guys so quick but when Parise goes through a huge drought they just pile him with as many minutes as possible and do whatever it takes to get him to score.

 

Last thing, it seems like for almost 7+ years now this is the typical Wild on how to handle players. Either have a big name and your safe or one of the following: play well with a select group and you are fine, be a player that plays at the level of Kane, Crosby, etc or be a favorite of Craig Leipold. We all played the coaches with this roster and after coach changes see the exact results. A lot of us blamed Chuck Fletcher and now we got Fenton and see the same results, maybe even a decline at a faster rate. There have been players blamed. Koivu, Suter and Parise (and I straight up admit I have and part of me still gives them a part of the blame). But the one constant we have had is the same owner. And he has even shown that he is very involved with decisions and becomes a fan of a player versus allowing a GM to actually mold a team. I think this happened around the time of signing Parise and Suter. I don't know if it got to CL's head or he is afraid to admit that the signings were terrible the way they were done but when he thinks the team only needs a minor tweak to push for a Cup when even the uncontacted tribe in Acre in Brazil can see this team is in some serious major tweaks then you got a mountain of a problems that will not do anything until you admit it. I think the Wild will be like Nashville well CL owned them. Never a threat to do anything.

[WileyOz44]

IMO none of this sh it even matters until Mikko is gone and I assume that will not take place until next year when he Retires as the Greatest Wild player ever. Get him the hell out of this organization as quick as possible so we can start building something.

 

[EmptyShelf]

BTW:  Tuchs 15Gs and 38 Points would sure look good right now on Wild at age 22.  If you were going to just blow up (or give away) the mid-20s assets, why not keep  Tuch before making him available for Vegas last year?  Thus, there IS NO PLAN ever with this team that is well thought out, and with complete contingencies (if the primary plan sputters).  9, 11, and 20, have been the Core,Country Club, Secondary Mgmt level, and Contingency Plan since they were acquired.  There is no plan thereafter.  Each year, they add a few bodies, and re-apply make-up to the Pig:  20 is the meaty head, 11 is the legs, and 9 is the ass of the swine. 

[Megawild]

46 minutes ago, EmptyShelf said:

Each year, they add a few bodies, and re-apply make-up to the Pig:  20 is the meaty head, 11 is the legs, and 9 is the ass of the swine. 

 

 

[Alexandron]

This 2019 year is a Pig Year according to Chinese Zodiac. Here is a link to read more about it:

https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/

 

[Alexandron]

On 1/18/2019 at 1:42 PM, rottenrefs said:

This is what the Wild dumped:

 

Their most durable player, allocated to 3rd line minutes with whatever other junk players they can scratch up to pair with him.

The least amount of average ice time with the highest scoring percentage.

Several years ago I did a chart comparing goals scored versus player salaries and Zucker and Nino's goals were by far the most cost effective; versus time on ice, etc.

Agree Rotty. Sincerely, I am still shocked that Nino is traded to Carolina, and who had 4 goals in his last 5 games.

According to that table Nino was the second in goals(110) after Parise (140). Parise also was not in his best mode at least last 3 seasons after his injuries and surgeries, but this year he really stepped up. Same happened with Nino this season, especially, when they put him mostly to play in a 3^rd and even 4^th lines. Playing time was less, as well as production was less, motivation was less, and still he was not scratched of any games. It seems he did not have any idea that he will be traded. What I did not really like – how they thrown him away like a homeless dog out of the house in seconds. Still I think it is not an acceptable way to perform with a professional player. I am getting more and more disappointing about GM Fenton decisions. I listened on a radio last week lots of hockey talks. Nino had a morning practice till noon on that day, than Paul Fenton called him at 2 p.m. and telling that Nino is already traded to Carolina, and at 4 p.m. the whole team was shocked about those news before the game started against Ducks. Through that way GM sent a message to the club that this can happen to the most of the players here, suddenly, without any previous notices. Wow! Do we live in a jungle without any civilization? I do not think any professional player deserve that way of kicking out of the club. My personal feeling that it was more a coach-player issue and nothing else.

  Previously, we were talking a lot on our boards about trades at the middle of the season that they are not very effective, more sporadic/hectic, and usually, not smart. I do not remember was something really good for the Wild history in trading at this period of time. And I am not sure about how good is going to be that recent trade when we have got 2 Swedish players.

 

[IllaZilla]

12 hours ago, EmptyShelf said:

BTW:  Tuchs 15Gs and 38 Points would sure look good right now on Wild at age 22.  If you were going to just blow up (or give away) the mid-20s assets, why not keep  Tuch before making him available for Vegas last year?  Thus, there IS NO PLAN ever with this team that is well thought out, and with complete contingencies (if the primary plan sputters).  9, 11, and 20, have been the Core,Country Club, Secondary Mgmt level, and Contingency Plan since they were acquired.  There is no plan thereafter.  Each year, they add a few bodies, and re-apply make-up to the Pig:  20 is the meaty head, 11 is the legs, and 9 is the ass of the swine. 

If the Wild protected Alex Tuch in the Vegas expansion draft, they would have lost Matt Dumba.

[4Check]

4 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

If the Wild protected Alex Tuch in the Vegas expansion draft, they would have lost Matt Dumba.

Not true.   Could have protected Dumba, Suter and Spurge and exposed Brodin.

[EJ0226]

11 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Agree Rotty. Sincerely, I am still shocked that Nino is traded to Carolina, and who had 4 goals in his last 5 games.

According to that table Nino was the second in goals(110) after Parise (140). Parise also was not in his best mode at least last 3 seasons after his injuries and surgeries, but this year he really stepped up. Same happened with Nino this season, especially, when they put him mostly to play in a 3^rd and even 4^th lines. Playing time was less, as well as production was less, motivation was less, and still he was not scratched of any games. It seems he did not have any idea that he will be traded. What I did not really like – how they thrown him away like a homeless dog out of the house in seconds. Still I think it is not an acceptable way to perform with a professional player. I am getting more and more disappointing about GM Fenton decisions. I listened on a radio last week lots of hockey talks. Nino had a morning practice till noon on that day, than Paul Fenton called him at 2 p.m. and telling that Nino is already traded to Carolina, and at 4 p.m. the whole team was shocked about those news before the game started against Ducks. Through that way GM sent a message to the club that this can happen to the most of the players here, suddenly, without any previous notices. Wow! Do we live in a jungle without any civilization? I do not think any professional player deserve that way of kicking out of the club. My personal feeling that it was more a coach-player issue and nothing else.

  Previously, we were talking a lot on our boards about trades at the middle of the season that they are not very effective, more sporadic/hectic, and usually, not smart. I do not remember was something really good for the Wild history in trading at this period of time. And I am not sure about how good is going to be that recent trade when we have got 2 Swedish players.

 

Here's more food for thought, Nino was scoring those points well eating 2nd and 3rd line minutes. Parise got his scoring on 1st line scoring and the occasionally 2nd line minutes. Also Parise got first pick for 1st unit on the PP. So if Parise had to do it like Nino and Nino had gotten Parise TOI I bet Nino would be way ahead of him.

3 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

If the Wild protected Alex Tuch in the Vegas expansion draft, they would have lost Matt Dumba.

It's hard to say if Vegas would have taken Dumba. Remember Dumba showed signs of scoring but made a lot of mistakes defensively that resulted in a goal against us. Dumba this year for sure showed signs of taking steps forward. But at the time the Wild gave up a guy showing promise (Haula) and a prospect who literally got 6 games to prove himself for a defenseman that showed signs of some offensive power but really lacking in the defensive end.

But then again, it is the Wild. They don't develop talent. They just demand you have it and display it 100% unless you are a known name and owner favorite. So more then likely, guys like Tuch, Haula and Nino, would not have recovered/developed further with the Wild. We got to see what Haula can do when not a rare 3rd line but mostly 4th line guy. Haula is hurt this year but I bet he would have another good  year. Tuch is having a great year. He never had a shot to show this with the Wild cause in 6 games he wasn't scoring like Ovechkin or Crosby. Nino has 2 goals since his trade and looks a lot better in Carolina. Seems like his skating is coming back and everything.

This train of thought falls back to the signing of Parise and Suter when all of a sudden Koivu, Parise and Suter became the core and who to build the team around. This was fine at the time but it became very clear after a few years these guys were not going to carry a team to the promise land and then focus needed to go around developing the young guys and nurturing them. Instead the Wild kept trying to convince fans and maybe themselves that these guys were Kane, Ovechkin, etc, basically franchise and game changers. Instead of admitting a mistake and try to develop the young kids they stubbornly kept going after shell of their former selves players that once had talent instead of building the correct way. We now see the end results. Wasted drafts that went elsewhere and became something with nothing the pipelines that shows true promise. In the meantime the core is getting older and slower and declining (Parise is a exception this year. Might just be a fluke year as we really don't know since he is all over the place on what he will bring year to year).

I hate losing our future for a present that shows zero ability to do anything.

[Alexandron]

Just checked the main webpage of the Carolina Hurricanes team where I found a fresh article about the inside of the Nino trade as well as I checked their Message Board. Practically all fans were happy to have him in their team. According to that article, Fenton lost the negotiation battle for the Nino trade. And definitely, it was not an equal trade. Here is also a paragraph of how the fans were saying about this negotiation: "recap:
they wanted to upgrade the top 6 forwards after the 6-3 win against Nashville.
Nino was on the list of 10-12 forwards that they put together after the WJC.
they started talking on the 14th. 
Tried complicating the deal, possibly making it a bigger deal. Talking over Monday and Tuesday about different scenarios.
Wednesday the 16th, said mine and your guy needs a change of scenery.  
Done.
pretty quick, IMO.  If I understand this correctly, the Wild GM was tired of negotiating with Waddell.  He gave in at the end and just said “let’s do it.”  
Solid negotiating technique, Waddell, solid.  The old “annoy them until they just cant take it anymore and give in” technique."
And below is the link to that article:

https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/news/inside-the-hurricanes-nino-niederreiter-trade/c-304102864

 

 

[EmptyShelf]

Not my words (one of many national articles):

 

Grand Larceny in Carolina

 

"Niederreiter has undoubtedly had his share of offensive struggles this season, on an 82-game pace for just 16 goals and 41 points. At five-on-five, he's averaging 1.39 points and 1.07 primary points per 60 minutes, both of which represent a sizable decline from previous campaigns; these rates are about half of what he produced in his career-best 2016-17 season. And yet, as depressed as both of those figures are, they're still better than Victor Rask's averages for his NHL career to date: 1.37 and 0.98, respectively.

 

The bigger issue here beyond the specifics of either player -- since it's clear that Niederreiter is a superior talent -- is that the trade itself is a classic example by the Wild of how not to handle an asset. By trading Niederreiter at this particular point in time, they were selling him at his absolute nadir, which is immediately evident in the return. It's a cold way to look at things, but the NHL is a business, and being able to carefully manage the value of your assets is a crucial skill."

 

 

We are a joke to do business with.  All other teams should take notice.  Assets can be stolen.  Fenton 'screwed the pooch' from any perspective, and now they have a liability on their 'balance sheet.'  

[EmptyShelf]

6 hours ago, EJ0226 said:

Here's more food for thought, Nino was scoring those points well eating 2nd and 3rd line minutes. Parise got his scoring on 1st line scoring and the occasionally 2nd line minutes. Also Parise got first pick for 1st unit on the PP. So if Parise had to do it like Nino and Nino had gotten Parise TOI I bet Nino would be way ahead of him.

It's hard to say if Vegas would have taken Dumba. Remember Dumba showed signs of scoring but made a lot of mistakes defensively that resulted in a goal against us. Dumba this year for sure showed signs of taking steps forward. But at the time the Wild gave up a guy showing promise (Haula) and a prospect who literally got 6 games to prove himself for a defenseman that showed signs of some offensive power but really lacking in the defensive end.

But then again, it is the Wild. They don't develop talent. They just demand you have it and display it 100% unless you are a known name and owner favorite. So more then likely, guys like Tuch, Haula and Nino, would not have recovered/developed further with the Wild. We got to see what Haula can do when not a rare 3rd line but mostly 4th line guy. Haula is hurt this year but I bet he would have another good  year. Tuch is having a great year. He never had a shot to show this with the Wild cause in 6 games he wasn't scoring like Ovechkin or Crosby. Nino has 2 goals since his trade and looks a lot better in Carolina. Seems like his skating is coming back and everything.

This train of thought falls back to the signing of Parise and Suter when all of a sudden Koivu, Parise and Suter became the core and who to build the team around. This was fine at the time but it became very clear after a few years these guys were not going to carry a team to the promise land and then focus needed to go around developing the young guys and nurturing them. Instead the Wild kept trying to convince fans and maybe themselves that these guys were Kane, Ovechkin, etc, basically franchise and game changers. Instead of admitting a mistake and try to develop the young kids they stubbornly kept going after shell of their former selves players that once had talent instead of building the correct way. We now see the end results. Wasted drafts that went elsewhere and became something with nothing the pipelines that shows true promise. In the meantime the core is getting older and slower and declining (Parise is a exception this year. Might just be a fluke year as we really don't know since he is all over the place on what he will bring year to year).

I hate losing our future for a present that shows zero ability to do anything.

EJ - I applaud every single point you made in this all-encompassing post.  You are 100% correct and aligned with any discerning Wild fan I know.  The Hubris of one CL (and any stooge he put in place to carry forward this Imbecilic Plan) has all but guaranteed no playoff success, and a VERY HARD fall to the bottom in the future with this geriatric Country Club core.  Unless they are rescued by Greenway, Kaprisov types almost by accident - it is going to be one HE77 of a long drought of competitiveness in the future.  The only players that will come in free agency, will be those inspired to cash a large check for meh performance (which is no different than 9 and 20).

[Bear]

13 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

If the Wild protected Alex Tuch in the Vegas expansion draft, they would have lost Matt Dumba.

I thought fletch was worried about Staal ? 

[rottenrefs]

1 hour ago, Bear said:

I thought fletch was worried about Staal ? 

I think it's pretty clear Vegas had Fletch worried about several players from many different angles, which is why he literally handed over Tuch.

[Math]

Devil's advocate here: Would Tuch have been performed as well as a Golden Knight if he remained with the Wild, and would he have had the same chance of showing what he's capable of ? With Las Vegas, brand new team, has nothing to lose and played pressureless. With the Wild, it would have been a different team, with a different mentality, playing with different players under a different system.

 

And about the Nino/Rask deal, like always, only time will tell. Sometimes you just need to reshuffle your cards, and we will get get a clear answer to this trade by the time the first contract expires. Then you can make a global analysis. And in the future, injuries can come in play, too.

[Bear]

11 hours ago, rottenrefs said:

I think it's pretty clear Vegas had Fletch worried about several players from many different angles, which is why he literally handed over Tuch.

Fletcher would have made a hell of a poker player not.

34 minutes ago, Villette/Lavaux said:

Devil's advocate here: Would Tuch have been performed as well as a Golden Knight if he remained with the Wild, and would he have had the same chance of showing what he's capable of ? With Las Vegas, brand new team, has nothing to lose and played pressureless. With the Wild, it would have been a different team, with a different mentality, playing with different players under a different system.

 

And about the Nino/Rask deal, like always, only time will tell. Sometimes you just need to reshuffle your cards, and we will get get a clear answer to this trade by the time the first contract expires. Then you can make a global analysis. And in the future, injuries can come in play, too.

You have a point I would like to think sooner or later they would gave him a long hard look but it sounds about right. As far as the Nino trade wasted assets there is no way you could ever convince me it was a good move. 

[Hockey-78]

9 minutes ago, Bear said:

As far as the Nino trade wasted assets there is no way you could ever convince me it was a good move. 

Big words, "ever" is a long time. And good...for whom? Think about the angle.

 

It was a good move for Nino! Now he gets to play in the same line with Aho big minutes. A genuine chance to showcase his talent. Hopefully he'll have success but if not; tough to come up with excuses at that point.

[Bear]

3 minutes ago, Hockey-78 said:

Big words, "ever" is a long time. And good...for whom? Think about the angle.

 

It was a good move for Nino! Now he gets to play in the same line with Aho big minutes. A genuine chance to showcase his talent. Hopefully he'll have success but if not; tough to come up with excuses at that point.

It was great for Nino Iam glad he got the hell away from this team I hope he scores a **** load of goals. I just mean that as far as value in return not there. Fletcher was good one for wasting assets and handing out bad contracts see current roster

[Hockey-78]

7 minutes ago, Bear said:

It was great for Nino Iam glad he got the hell away from this team I hope he scores a **** load of goals. I just mean that as far as value in return not there. Fletcher was good one for wasting assets and handing out bad contracts see current roster

I agree with your last sentence. And yet, they tried to ship Nino during offseason without gaining any interest. Unless Fenton is a crappy GM one could think Nino's value wasn't that high as some of you assume. Can you tell me if there was a better offer the Wild rejected?

[Bear]

4 minutes ago, Hockey-78 said:

I agree with your last sentence. And yet, they tried to ship Nino during offseason without gaining any interest. Unless Fenton is a crappy GM one could think Nino's value wasn't that high as some of you assume. Can you tell me if there was a better offer the Wild rejected?

I dont know if there were any other offers but buy high sell low isnt a good strategy If he was such a guy locker room guy off the ice he seemed to be a good guy what the hell was the hurry. Wait until his value comes back up then trade him .  I dont know if Fenton is trying to clear cap space for some other move but he sure didn't free up that much.

[EJ0226]

17 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Just checked the main webpage of the Carolina Hurricanes team where I found a fresh article about the inside of the Nino trade as well as I checked their Message Board. Practically all fans were happy to have him in their team. According to that article, Fenton lost the negotiation battle for the Nino trade. And definitely, it was not an equal trade. Here is also a paragraph of how the fans were saying about this negotiation: "recap:
they wanted to upgrade the top 6 forwards after the 6-3 win against Nashville.
Nino was on the list of 10-12 forwards that they put together after the WJC.
they started talking on the 14th. 
Tried complicating the deal, possibly making it a bigger deal. Talking over Monday and Tuesday about different scenarios.
Wednesday the 16th, said mine and your guy needs a change of scenery.  
Done.
pretty quick, IMO.  If I understand this correctly, the Wild GM was tired of negotiating with Waddell.  He gave in at the end and just said “let’s do it.”  
Solid negotiating technique, Waddell, solid.  The old “annoy them until they just cant take it anymore and give in” technique."
And below is the link to that article:

https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/news/inside-the-hurricanes-nino-niederreiter-trade/c-304102864

 

 

Any Wild fan should be very, very concerned if this is true. For Fenton to basically give up and get tired of trying to negotiate with Waddell and just trade a asset that has shown value for a asset that has shown he is a career 4th liner shows we have not improved at this point in the GM department. Fletcher 2.0. I had said on the old boards I was worried about that happening. Smh.....

 

15 hours ago, EmptyShelf said:

EJ - I applaud every single point you made in this all-encompassing post.  You are 100% correct and aligned with any discerning Wild fan I know.  The Hubris of one CL (and any stooge he put in place to carry forward this Imbecilic Plan) has all but guaranteed no playoff success, and a VERY HARD fall to the bottom in the future with this geriatric Country Club core.  Unless they are rescued by Greenway, Kaprisov types almost by accident - it is going to be one HE77 of a long drought of competitiveness in the future.  The only players that will come in free agency, will be those inspired to cash a large check for meh performance (which is no different than 9 and 20).

Thank you! I truly believe the only shot for the Wild is to have either some of these young guys take 30 steps forward or get lucky on a few draft picks that turn out to be top tier players. The core guys are aging and declining. Parise is having a stand out season but nothing in his past history shows that this is more then one of his good seasons he has every, roughly, 4 years. The core for sure has shown they do not have the ability to pick the team up and carry them in the playoffs.

I completely agree with the free agent people who look here. The Wild created that pasture for old vets to come and get one more giant pay day even though they are a shell of their former selves. I hate it.
I think the biggest disappointment is the Wild need to clear house and rebuild. But of course Parise and Suter are here to stay for another 6 years unless they are truly telling the truth and want to win a championship. If they are then they should wave those NTC and allow Fenton to see if he can get a bite. Let the franchise start to build for it's future instead of holding them back. The future doesn't look that bright right now. I still stand behind that Kaprizov won't come to the Wild after seeing the turmoil state of this team. Think about it as Kaprizov, you are already playing in your home country right now. You are playing on the best team on the KHL. He is making about a million a season there and with his performance will make more next contract in the KHL. Yea he does have the possibility to getting a big pay day in the NHL but the Wild are not going to have a ton of cap space to work with. In fact in 2020-2021 they are going to have Granlund, Koivu, Coyle,  Kunin, Brown and Spurgeon with expired contracts. The next season they have Dubnyk, Brodin, Seeler, Prosser and Foligno with expired contracts. Guys like Granlund and Spurgeon are going to need to get paid to stay or other teams will be watching. Coyle, Kunin and Brodin will get better contracts. Dubnyk is in the air. We still have Parise and Suter eating up their share. My point is that if Kaprizov comes over and lights it up he is going to want and deserve a big pay day. I just don't see the Wild affording it. Will Kaprizov want to play for a lower contract with a team he assumed didn't even want him, will he come over to play a year or two so he can hopefully strike a big contract with somebody else or will he just stay over there. It doesn't take a high IQ to see the Wild are only loyal to 4 players, Parise, Suter, Koivu and Dubnyk. Guys that have proven to be assets if given the chance like Nino, Haula, etc have a bad streak or season are shown the door. The Wild don't exactly show open arms for young players.

[IllaZilla]

2 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

I agree with your last sentence. And yet, they tried to ship Nino during offseason without gaining any interest. Unless Fenton is a crappy GM one could think Nino's value wasn't that high as some of you assume. Can you tell me if there was a better offer the Wild rejected?

^This.

 

Everyone assumes the other 30 GM's value Nino as much as we do. Russo reported that the Wild tried to move Nino in the off-season, and everyone Fenton talked to was scared off by the $5M salary.

[Bear]

24 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

^This.

 

Everyone assumes the other 30 GM's value Nino as much as we do. Russo reported that the Wild tried to move Nino in the off-season, and everyone Fenton talked to was scared off by the $5M salary.

I not assuming anything we will see what happens canes are going to give him more ice time pp good luck to him. 

[EmptyShelf]

8 hours ago, EJ0226 said:

Any Wild fan should be very, very concerned if this is true. For Fenton to basically give up and get tired of trying to negotiate with Waddell and just trade a asset that has shown value for a asset that has shown he is a career 4th liner shows we have not improved at this point in the GM department. Fletcher 2.0. I had said on the old boards I was worried about that happening. Smh.....

 

Thank you! I truly believe the only shot for the Wild is to have either some of these young guys take 30 steps forward or get lucky on a few draft picks that turn out to be top tier players. The core guys are aging and declining. Parise is having a stand out season but nothing in his past history shows that this is more then one of his good seasons he has every, roughly, 4 years. The core for sure has shown they do not have the ability to pick the team up and carry them in the playoffs.

I completely agree with the free agent people who look here. The Wild created that pasture for old vets to come and get one more giant pay day even though they are a shell of their former selves. I hate it.
I think the biggest disappointment is the Wild need to clear house and rebuild. But of course Parise and Suter are here to stay for another 6 years unless they are truly telling the truth and want to win a championship. If they are then they should wave those NTC and allow Fenton to see if he can get a bite. Let the franchise start to build for it's future instead of holding them back. The future doesn't look that bright right now. I still stand behind that Kaprizov won't come to the Wild after seeing the turmoil state of this team. Think about it as Kaprizov, you are already playing in your home country right now. You are playing on the best team on the KHL. He is making about a million a season there and with his performance will make more next contract in the KHL. Yea he does have the possibility to getting a big pay day in the NHL but the Wild are not going to have a ton of cap space to work with. In fact in 2020-2021 they are going to have Granlund, Koivu, Coyle,  Kunin, Brown and Spurgeon with expired contracts. The next season they have Dubnyk, Brodin, Seeler, Prosser and Foligno with expired contracts. Guys like Granlund and Spurgeon are going to need to get paid to stay or other teams will be watching. Coyle, Kunin and Brodin will get better contracts. Dubnyk is in the air. We still have Parise and Suter eating up their share. My point is that if Kaprizov comes over and lights it up he is going to want and deserve a big pay day. I just don't see the Wild affording it. Will Kaprizov want to play for a lower contract with a team he assumed didn't even want him, will he come over to play a year or two so he can hopefully strike a big contract with somebody else or will he just stay over there. It doesn't take a high IQ to see the Wild are only loyal to 4 players, Parise, Suter, Koivu and Dubnyk. Guys that have proven to be assets if given the chance like Nino, Haula, etc have a bad streak or season are shown the door. The Wild don't exactly show open arms for young players.

My thought exactly.  Kaprisov went from a talented, but potentially out of shape player when we draft him in Round 5, to a junior star, Olympic national hero, and core KHL commodity that can command the highest salary in the KHL soon.  Why would he want to come here?  I can only think of the prestige of the NHL, and perhaps more money.  However, there are ways he could force his rights to be traded (think Bo Jackson and Tampa Bay - I am dating myself), to a stable team that has a history and playoff success, versus one that $hit on him after drafting him, and continues to protect a Core that Kaprisov probably laughs about....Dire circumstances with him.  At least Fenton personally met with him since his hire, which is more than the idiocy of CF accomplished. But, times are worsening for the Wild - I don't think he will ever play for us for more than a couple years.  He and Greenway are our best hopes from the next wave of goal scorers....unfortunately, this is all I can see.  Our 2018 draft choice is failing/flailing miserably (and another small Euro defenseman),