TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 From NJ dot com:https://www.nhl.com/wild/news/minnesota-wild-michael-kapla-trade-013019/c-304330782 The Minnesota Wild continue to stockpile obscure defensemen. Who is it now? Well, as the title suggests, it is the Devils' minor leaguer, former college stand out defenseman, Michael Kapla (24) in exchange for buried-in-minors Ryan Murphy (25). I honestly don't know a bunch about Kapla except what I see on a stat sheet, but this deal MIGHT turn into something for the Wild (maybe not this year, but perhaps next). Why? Well, compared to the other d-men Minnesota has been collecting (Hunt and Bitetto), Kapla is still young, spending most of his time getting himself an education while playing good college hockey, and has spent two solid seasons at the AHL level for the Devils without the up n down that many young players get..... he had steady playtime and got a solid chance to acclimate himself to the pro game with Binghamton. Obviously, this does NOT mean he is a shoo-in NHL'er for Minnesota, but if he becomes even just a solid third pairing guy, that is a step up from Ryan Murphy whom the Wild obviously were not going to bring up and keep on the big club. Kapla represents a year younger than Murphy, with a bit more offensive potential, and a player who is slightly larger at 6' 200, as opposed to Murphy at 5'10 185. Once again, nothing to get overly excited about, but at least this deal will bring in a guy to play for the winning Iowa Wild with a much better chance at seeing time at the NHL level than Ryan Murphy apparently was going to get. The placement of all these defensemen (Hunt, Bitetto, Kapla, even guys like Prosser and some others in the minors) will be determined next season once Mat Dumba is back, playing his regular minutes, and he sets the pace as to who Minnesota gives ice time or even keep, at the big league level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey-78 Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 Pretty safe to say at this point BB saw nothing in Murphy, #12 overall pick in 2011. 2 games and out he went. Hunt, Bitetto, Kapla... I guess quantity over quality and Fenton hopes at least ONE of them will pan out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted January 31, 2019 Author Share Posted January 31, 2019 2 minutes ago, Hockey-78 said: Pretty safe to say at this point BB saw nothing in Murphy, #12 overall pick in 2011. 2 games and out he went. Hunt, Bitetto, Kapla... I guess quantity over quality and Fenton hopes at least ONE of them will pan out. Exactly this. Of course, Fenton DID say he was just going to "tweak" the roster. Man....not sure if I can stand all this defensive 'tweaking'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockey-78 Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 2 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said: Exactly this. Of course, Fenton DID say he was just going to "tweak" the roster. Man....not sure if I can stand all this defensive 'tweaking'. Yeah, I agree. Although at this rate in which D-men are flying in from windows and who knows where the hell else I'd call it twerking. That's right, Fenton isn't tweaking but twerking. And if he is... *insert a meme here* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 (sigh) My guess is Murphy wanted out. Iowa has been loaded up with right-shot defenseman so it felt hey, let's at least get a left shot defenseman here. Ok, does Kapla work...sure, Craig Leipold will like it because he's from Eau Claire, WI. No defenseman in Iowa was really putting up a lot of points this season. Still, Kapla has produced less than Murphy and he costs more. Tough to see how that is a real good deal but he wasn't really picked up to help the Minnesota Wild anyway. Hunt on the other hand might be Iowa's go-to offensive defenseman for a deep playoff push. My guess is Prosser gets shipped to Iowa too to keep Bitetto around. No matter what, they're not even tweaks as much as Fenton bringing in a few soldiers he likes. Just as Yeo helped bring in Prosser because he was a soldier he liked. The intangible as Russo pointed out in his latest podcast is the fact that Prosser is very well liked by peers. They may not be so thrilled when their 'team' guy is replaced. Supposedly Parise and Prosser's families went to Disney World together over the break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rottenrefs Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 Is he a distant relative of Parise, Suter or Leipold? Suter and Leipold are linked to Wisconsin, Parise to the New Jersey Devils... Too bad this kid isn't a Nanne or he'd already be wearing a Wild sweater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 2 hours ago, Hockey-78 said: Pretty safe to say at this point BB saw nothing in Murphy, #12 overall pick in 2011. 2 games and out he went. Hunt, Bitetto, Kapla... I guess quantity over quality and Fenton hopes at least ONE of them will pan out. Looks like the collection of junk Bobby Clarke and Homer would collect for the Flyers a decade back... ....the Matt Walker, Kent Huskins, Michael Sykora, Steve Eminger and Will O'neill junk cast off from around the league. The Wild seem to be trying to figure something out...maybe surgically remove parts from the guys and reassemble into a complete defenseman...man these are some slow hockey days waiting for something to happen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbgarnett Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 I think the wild are trying to do the opposite of the flyers 5 forward PP and get lots of Defensemen so they can run a 5 D PP. In the end I'm fine with the deal both players weren't producing and Murphys contract was up after this year and so we at least got something for a guy who probably would have walked anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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