Wild Free Agency Thoughts: 2019 Edition...

[CreaseAndAssist]

19 hours ago, TonyOday said:

 

I disagree with you to a point. This team will go one of two ways, the bottom or the top. Staal and Zucker had REALLY down years last year and I think they will both have a comeback season. Staal because he will not be asked to defend the top line again this year. I think Zucker will just be better, I have a feeling he wants to say F you to Fenton and I REALLY want him too. 

 

If Donato, Kunin, Greenway and Fiala can reach their potential this year we have a good chance of being a really good team.

 

Doobers is a solid regular season goalie that thy need to FING REST ONCE IN A WHILE! 

 

Rask is skating in MN so I REALLY hope he does well but who knows. JEE is what he is, a third line center. 

 

Of course this could be a 1st pick team too

 

No way the team goes to the top.  Not with the strength of the rest of this division.  IF a lot of players perform well I think we'd be super fortunate if we surprise and make the Top 3-4 AT BEST.  Otherwise...it will be scratching and clawing for a wildcard spot even if a lot of our guys have above average years.  

[IllaZilla]

16 hours ago, EJ0226 said:

With Fenton I am really worried we will see Kaprizov to Seattle to protect Staal or Fiala. Nothing Fenton has done has given me any confidence. At this point I have no problem saying he is worse then Fletcher. His trades make zero sense unless his goal was to improve the other teams he is trading with. Saying younger and faster well continuing to shop a younger guy who is the fastest for older and slower players shows no real true game plan. Trading or signing players just because isn't a sign of a good GM.

 

Kaprizov won't be eligible for the expansion draft, so there's that. First and second year NHL players are exempt from the draft. So it's probably a good thing that CSKA Moscow didn't let him out of his contract this year...

[IllaZilla]

1 hour ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

@IllaZilla the Jets still have a pretty loaded prospect pool.  Laine and Connor are two pretty important players they'll want to lock down, long term.  Still, I'm sure they will notice all of the moves Colorado made.  The Central is going to be a beast next year as it normally is.  

I think the Jets GM must be dumber than Fenton...I see they signed Anthony Bitetto...

[IllaZilla]

On 7/2/2019 at 11:12 AM, TonyOday said:

 

I disagree with you to a point. This team will go one of two ways, the bottom or the top. Staal and Zucker had REALLY down years last year and I think they will both have a comeback season. Staal because he will not be asked to defend the top line again this year. I think Zucker will just be better, I have a feeling he wants to say F you to Fenton and I REALLY want him too. 

 

If Donato, Kunin, Greenway and Fiala can reach their potential this year we have a good chance of being a really good team.

 

Doobers is a solid regular season goalie that thy need to FING REST ONCE IN A WHILE! 

 

Rask is skating in MN so I REALLY hope he does well but who knows. JEE is what he is, a third line center. 

 

Of course this could be a 1st pick team too

 

Well, Staal's numbers were down a bit from the previous season before the Koivu injury, 46 points through 2/6/2018 vs. 38 points through 2/5/2019 (date of Koivu injury). Could that be due to age catching up with him? They really bottomed out after that (30 points vs 15 points), which is understandable since he was forced to play defense, something he's not known for...

 

I think Zucker was trying too hard to live up to his big contract. And maybe now that Fenton can't trade him he'll settle down and get back to using his speed to cause problems for opposing defenses...

 

Kunin played hard all season and didn't pout when he got sent to Iowa like Donato and especially Greenway did. I wish the Wild would give Kunin a shot at the 1C or 2C, but that'll never happen. Donato seemed to fade after he initially burst onto the scene and then just kind of went through the motions in Iowa. Would have been nice to see more from him in Iowa. Greeway never wanted to be in Iowa. Mailed it in the entire time. Sokolov probably would have worked harder than Greenway did. To me that shows character issues. Team already has enough prima donnas. Don't need to keep adding them to the roster. Not sure what Fenton sees in Fiala. Never been a great player. Looks to me like a marginal NHLer or career AHLer.

 

I agree that Dubnyk needs to be rested, but the only way he gets rested is if Stalock starts winning more. But he's been barely a .500 goalie since joining the Wild:17-19, 2.84 GAA, .909 Sv%. For the team to give him more starts, he needs to start winning more, otherwise the team will continue to ride Dubnyk into the ground in order to make the Playoffs.

 

Fortunately or unfortunately, I don't think this team will be bad enough to land a top three pick. I think it will be more of the same, scrapping for a wildcard spot and then drafting in that 12-15 slot in June...

[EJ0226]

43 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

I agree that Dubnyk needs to be rested, but the only way he gets rested is if Stalock starts winning more. But he's been barely a .500 goalie since joining the Wild:17-19, 2.84 GAA, .909 Sv%. For the team to give him more starts, he needs to start winning more, otherwise the team will continue to ride Dubnyk into the ground in order to make the Playoffs.

I would be curious to know how many of these loses came from the team not scoring or only scoring 1 goal. I would also be curious to know how what the average of goals scored with Stalock on the ice vs Dubnyk on the ice. Looking at their GAA they only differ by 0.45. I always suspect this team tends to  give more of a effort on the offense side with Dubnyk in net.

[CreaseAndAssist]

24 minutes ago, EJ0226 said:

I would be curious to know how many of these loses came from the team not scoring or only scoring 1 goal. I would also be curious to know how what the average of goals scored with Stalock on the ice vs Dubnyk on the ice. Looking at their GAA they only differ by 0.45. I always suspect this team tends to  give more of a effort on the offense side with Dubnyk in net.

 

Stalock was sort of like McLennan, never got much goal support.  

[Icechipper]

I like the addition of Zuccarello and Hartman, made possible by moving Granny, Nino and Coyle. Two concerns: size and scoring. Speed looks good. If the Wild can teach Granlund to skate it can do the same with Task. You can improve skating efficiency and speed.

[Alexandron]

On 6/30/2019 at 11:06 AM, Alexandron said:

Both(Zuccarello and Hartman) are not impressing me at all with their stats. They better bring  Sturm, Mayhew, and Rau to the 4th line of the main roster to create that line  young, speedy, productive, dangerous to play against, poised to elevate the entire team's play level . What is the status of Panarin? Did he choose already a team where he is going to play? Probably, Florida Panthers. He is an extremely hard workhorse ( in all 4 seasons he played in NHL) but from my understanding he is too expensive for us ( he is looking for 11-12$M per season for a 7 years term or at least to match with Jeff Skinner contract ).

Panarin is going to play for New York Rangers  team($11.64M X 7 years).

Here is an article to read about a NY Rangers rebuild status to be a Stanley Cup contender:

https://www.blueshirtbanter.com/2019/7/3/20678715/artemi-panarin-new-york-rangers-jeff-gorton-rangers-rumors

 

 

 

[IllaZilla]

16 hours ago, EJ0226 said:

I would be curious to know how many of these loses came from the team not scoring or only scoring 1 goal. I would also be curious to know how what the average of goals scored with Stalock on the ice vs Dubnyk on the ice. Looking at their GAA they only differ by 0.45. I always suspect this team tends to  give more of a effort on the offense side with Dubnyk in net.

 

Fun with Numbers:

 

When Stalock was in nets, the Wild scored 39 goals, for an average of 2.16 goals for.

When Stalock won, the Wild scored 27 goals, for an average of 4.5 goals for.

When Stalock lost, the Wild scored 12 goals, for an average of 1.0 goals for.

The Wild scored 2 goals or less 11 times when Stalock was in nets.

Stalocks record was 0-11 when the Wild scored 2 goals or less (Seven losses had 1 goal or less).

The Wild scored 3+ goals 7 times when Stalock was in nets.

Stalocks record was 6-1 when the Wild scored 3+ goals (Zero wins had 1 goal or less)

 

When Dubnyk was in nets, the Wild scored 177 goals, for an average of 2.76 goals for.

When Dubnyk won, the Wild scored 112 goals, for an average of 3.61 goals for.

When Dubnyk lost, the Wild scored 56 goals, for an average of 1.75 goals for.

The Wild scored 2 goals or less 30 times when Dubnyk was in nets.

Dubnyks record was 5-24 when the Wild scored 2 goals or less (Sixteen losses had 1 goal or less).

The Wild scored 3+ goals 36 times when Dubnyk was in nets.

Dubnyks record was 26-10 when the Wild scored 3+ goals (Three wins had 1 goal or less).

 

With these two goalies, the Wild need to score 3 or more goals per game to win. Last season the Wild averaged 2.57 goals for per game, which was 28th in the league (league average was 2.89 goals for per game). They averaged 2.89 goals against per game, which was 13th in the league (oddly enough, that was the league average).

[Tomdog]

I think Fenton has done about all he could. 

Zuccereloe has a good recognizable name, should sell jerseys. Probably had to give the nmc just to sign him as no other big name wants to come here. 

Everything else is who he could get to come here. 

Sometimes you have to take what you can get. 

[CreaseAndAssist]

1 hour ago, Tomdog said:

I think Fenton has done about all he could. 

Zuccereloe has a good recognizable name, should sell jerseys. Probably had to give the nmc just to sign him as no other big name wants to come here. 

Everything else is who he could get to come here. 

Sometimes you have to take what you can get. 

 

Do you think Zuccarello asked for the NMC?  Or does Minnesota feel it has to toss that in to compel free agents to even consider coming here?  Just like 2nd round picks seem to be in the candy dish on Chuck Fletcher's desk to give away, NMC's were in the bowl right next to it....

[Alexandron]

3 hours ago, Tomdog said:

I think Fenton has done about all he could. 

Zuccereloe has a good recognizable name, should sell jerseys. Probably had to give the nmc just to sign him as no other big name wants to come here. 

Everything else is who he could get to come here. 

Sometimes you have to take what you can get. 

I understand your thoughts. But, IMO, sometimes, we do not need to waste our decent players just for players having a nothing special. I even not talking about NHL players who even mentally did not want to play well in AHL playoffs last year. It is a bad sign for the overall team's impression.  If some talented professional players are not available or do not want to come here at this moment, I think it is OK. We need carefully (maybe for a few seasons) collect enough money for a solid talented contact(for example, Kaprizov who is still not signed with us) or to use those money to sign our promising talented youngsters to attract them to play here but not somewhere else. It seems, for the first time, we have a decent amount of talents in our system already, which present a great interest. We need to build recognizable names out of them to sell their jerseys. It takes a while, but everything is possible.

[Alexandron]

8 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

 

Fun with Numbers:

 

When Stalock was in nets, the Wild scored 39 goals, for an average of 2.16 goals for.

When Stalock won, the Wild scored 27 goals, for an average of 4.5 goals for.

When Stalock lost, the Wild scored 12 goals, for an average of 1.0 goals for.

The Wild scored 2 goals or less 11 times when Stalock was in nets.

Stalocks record was 0-11 when the Wild scored 2 goals or less (Seven losses had 1 goal or less).

The Wild scored 3+ goals 7 times when Stalock was in nets.

Stalocks record was 6-1 when the Wild scored 3+ goals (Zero wins had 1 goal or less)

 

When Dubnyk was in nets, the Wild scored 177 goals, for an average of 2.76 goals for.

When Dubnyk won, the Wild scored 112 goals, for an average of 3.61 goals for.

When Dubnyk lost, the Wild scored 56 goals, for an average of 1.75 goals for.

The Wild scored 2 goals or less 30 times when Dubnyk was in nets.

Dubnyks record was 5-24 when the Wild scored 2 goals or less (Sixteen losses had 1 goal or less).

The Wild scored 3+ goals 36 times when Dubnyk was in nets.

Dubnyks record was 26-10 when the Wild scored 3+ goals (Three wins had 1 goal or less).

 

With these two goalies, the Wild need to score 3 or more goals per game to win. Last season the Wild averaged 2.57 goals for per game, which was 28th in the league (league average was 2.89 goals for per game). They averaged 2.89 goals against per game, which was 13th in the league (oddly enough, that was the league average).

Thanks IllaZilla for all those data.

Conclusion - We need in our team more talented high scorer players capable to put above 3 goals per game into opposing net.  Or to have a decent consistent production from all 4 lines, which we do not have because of the luck of talent in the big club at this moment. An indication of that  weak record - we were at the 28th place in goals production out of 31 NHL teams last year. Or we need to have a better goalies with all our current offense just to boost a confidence to our team. Aggravating factor was also, that a pretty solid players IMO were replaced by a nothing special players at the mid of the season and not sure about their future progress here. I am still impressed how the same team (St.Louis Blues) by replacing in the mid of December only 2 persons of the team( a head coach and inserted just a simple ,motivated for the win every game,  young rookie goalie Binnington) won a Stanley Cup last season  after coming from a deep bottom of the Central Division to the top of the Stanley Cup finals. Everything is possible in our life. It seems, Dubnyk and Stalock are not able to carry such a mental pressure during a playoffs season, and even were not able in helping last year during the regular season. Maybe Hammond was a good option(who carried all 11 playoffs games for the Iowa Wild team) or even Kahkonen (who had the most shutouts(6) in AHL) last year, but those options were not tried for the big club.  If I remember Philadelphia tried 6 different goalies last season, and we tried 0 additional goalies. Maybe we were more focused to get for the first time to the Calder Cup playoffs participation? I do not know, but Motte was not bad too for the trial.

[Tomdog]

2 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

Do you think Zuccarello asked for the NMC?  Or does Minnesota feel it has to toss that in to compel free agents to even consider coming here?  Just like 2nd round picks seem to be in the candy dish on Chuck Fletcher's desk to give away, NMC's were in the bowl right next to it....

Yes I do think the nmc was zuccarellos idea. 

I think he could have gotten the same money or close elsewhere but the nmc was the candy to get him. 

I doubt I would have gone that way but I think CL needed a highly recognizable name be signed. 

Imo not what this team needs at this time. 

[Hockey-78]

On 7/4/2019 at 8:35 PM, Tomdog said:

I think Fenton has done about all he could. 

Zuccereloe has a good recognizable name, should sell jerseys. Probably had to give the nmc just to sign him as no other big name wants to come here. 

Everything else is who he could get to come here. 

Sometimes you have to take what you can get. 

Do you really think so? When saying that means there were no alternatives. Really? Or the other alternatives were worse? I saw plenty of decent names out there.

 

They didn't want to come here? Tough luck but that is Fenton's job to try and persuade them to come. Fletcher managed to do it though I don't think there was much difference in Minnesota's reputation at the time.

 

I think Fenton took what HE could get. But remember, this is the same GM who's trying to trade Zucker for players with more age and less speed. IMO something's not right with this guy. I can definitely agree with some that the last 12 months haven't been a nice addition to his resume.

 

Sure he's gambled with the ambitious aim to improve this team and not just go through the motions, I'll give him that. But which of those gambles has paid off so far? Sample size is small yes, but I'd say none. Some might suggest Donato  but even Charlie decided to showcase in the playoffs some of his talent.

 

I'll go on record (I may have done it before) but what I've seen so far... I think as a GM Fenton is below average. Dare I say worse than Fletch.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Hockey-78

[Tomdog]

2 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

Do you really think so? When saying that means there were no alternatives. Really? Or the other alternatives were worse? I saw plenty of decent names out there.

 

They didn't want to come here? Tough luck but that is Fenton's job to try and persuade them to come. Fletcher managed to do it though I don't think there was much difference in Minnesota's reputation at the time.

 

I think Fenton took what HE could get. But remember, this is the same GM who's trying to trade Zucker for players with more age and less speed. IMO something's not right with this guy. I can definitely agree with some that the last 12 months haven't been a nice addition to his resume.

 

Sure he's gambled with the ambitious aim to improve this team and not just go through the motions, I'll give him that. But which of those gambles has paid off so far? Sample size is small yes, but I'd say none. Some might suggest Donato  but even Charlie decided to showcase in the playoffs some of his talent.

 

I'll go on record (I may have done it before) but what I've seen so far... I think as a GM Fenton is below average. Dare I say worse than Fletch.

I will agree with you on Fenton being worse than Flecher, so far. 

I hope he is smart enough to learn from his mistakes. 

Had he bargained out conditional draft picks with the trades he made, we would be having a different discussion. 

I do think Zuccareloe was the only bigger name he could talk into coming here and it cost a nmc. 

[IllaZilla]

I was browsing on CapFriendly.com and it seems to me that NTC/NMC's are becoming the new signing bonuses. The following players received some sort of NTC/NMC:

 

Zuccarello - $6M/5yrs - NMC (5yrs), mod NTC (2 yrs)

Stralman - $5.5M/3yrs - mod NTC (3yrs)

Panarin - $11.6M/7yrs - NMC (7yrs)

Duchene - $8M/7yrs - mod NTC (last 3 yrs)

Pavelski - $7M/3yrs - NMC (2yrs)/mod NTC (1yrs)

Bobrovsky - $10M/7yrs - NMC (7yrs)/mod NTC (2yrs)

Lee - $7M/7yrs - NTC (5yrs)/mod NTC (2yrs)

Varmalov - $5M/4yrs - NTC (2yrs)/mod NTC (2yrs)

Myers - $6M/5yrs - NMC (1yrs)/mod NTC (4 yrs)

 

Seems like the more desirable UFA's got the NTC/NMC's. Could be a strategy of all GM's, give them their price AND throw in the NTC/NMC.

 

I think another thing people are forgetting is that players want to play, so if the team wooing them doesn't have a spot open for them, they may reconsider signing there. I know a lot of people wanted the Wild to sign Anders Lee, but where would they play him? Pretty sure Lee isn't going to settle for the 3C or the 4C. Staal's the 1C for the next two seasons, and Koivu is the 2C for at least this season. 

 

And the obvious, if a player is looking to shoot for the Cup, a teams standing and make-up is going to play a big part. 

Edited July 5, 2019 by IllaZilla

[lynxrattle]

The GM's are shooting themselves in the foot with the NMC's. That doesn't change the fact that Fenton should not go that way - if the player in case is not McDavid and the term reasonable.

[IllaZilla]

On 7/4/2019 at 5:24 PM, Tomdog said:

Yes I do think the nmc was zuccarellos idea. 

I think he could have gotten the same money or close elsewhere but the nmc was the candy to get him. 

I doubt I would have gone that way but I think CL needed a highly recognizable name be signed. 

Imo not what this team needs at this time. 

I'm inclined to agree with you.

 

Think about it. The player has total control of where he goes with the NMC and the modified NTC. If he just had a NMC and waives it, Fenton can send him to the minors, trade him to the worst team in the league, trade him to a Canadian team, whatever. With the addition of the modified NTC, now the player has an additional say in where he goes.

 

That tells me that it was the players idea. What if he doesn't want to be involved in a rebuild? It's an escape hatch for him. If the Wild go full rebuild and Parise doesn't want in, and waives his NMC, Fenton can send him to Iowa or trade him to any team in the league. Zuccarello, on the other hand, can waive his NMC, and then tell Fenton, "These are the teams I want to go to."

[CreaseAndAssist]

3 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

I'm inclined to agree with you.

 

Think about it. The player has total control of where he goes with the NMC and the modified NTC. If he just had a NMC and waives it, Fenton can send him to the minors, trade him to the worst team in the league, trade him to a Canadian team, whatever. With the addition of the modified NTC, now the player has an additional say in where he goes.

 

That tells me that it was the players idea. What if he doesn't want to be involved in a rebuild? It's an escape hatch for him. If the Wild go full rebuild and Parise doesn't want in, and waives his NMC, Fenton can send him to Iowa or trade him to any team in the league. Zuccarello, on the other hand, can waive his NMC, and then tell Fenton, "These are the teams I want to go to."

 

Maybe its just me, but as soon as Zuccarello asked for that, I'd be like..."Ok Mats, we'll consider that for a while and call you back."  And I wouldn't call him back.  The more times I read Fenton and his stupid lizard-stick comments, I feel like we just sort of threw all of that on the table at him right at the start.  He wasn't getting offers like that from other teams, and like he said himself he began to think, "Damn, I'm good."  Well of course, a person just gave you a much greater offer than you were expecting and gave you the keys to the kingdom for 3 years of your contract with a full NMC.  We were desperate we were going to lose him so we pushed all in.  

 

IMO, if Fenton had any brains at all.  When Pavelski decided 'nah' and not fly to St. Paul our efforts should have been 100% in on signing Simmonds to a 1-year deal.  The Devils IMO, are in a better place than the Wild in terms of their teams' collective age and their young talent...but 1 or 2 years with no NMC to Simmonds made a helluva lot more sense from a need stand point than Zuccarello for 5 years with an NMC.  He's younger, and the 1-year deal is a no brainer.  Simmonds has all of the motivation to play well if he wants to get another nice contract and if he doesn't, then he's probably easy trade bait at the deadline.  

 

I kind of feel like when Fenton fixates on someone, then he fully commits and objectivity and everything else kind of fly out the window.  Like Fenton's fixation of getting Fiala.  He didn't seem to even consider the possibility of anything other than a 'hockey trade' 1-for-1 for Granlund / Fiala.   By the way, I am not sure who all subscribes to the Athletic, but this article by Sean McEndoe is pure genius and 100% true.  

 

20 Stages of Watching Your Team Make a Horrible Free Agency Mistake

[IllaZilla]

36 minutes ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

Maybe its just me, but as soon as Zuccarello asked for that, I'd be like..."Ok Mats, we'll consider that for a while and call you back."  And I wouldn't call him back.  The more times I read Fenton and his stupid lizard-stick comments, I feel like we just sort of threw all of that on the table at him right at the start.  He wasn't getting offers like that from other teams, and like he said himself he began to think, "Damn, I'm good."  Well of course, a person just gave you a much greater offer than you were expecting and gave you the keys to the kingdom for 3 years of your contract with a full NMC.  We were desperate we were going to lose him so we pushed all in.  

 

IMO, if Fenton had any brains at all.  When Pavelski decided 'nah' and not fly to St. Paul our efforts should have been 100% in on signing Simmonds to a 1-year deal.  The Devils IMO, are in a better place than the Wild in terms of their teams' collective age and their young talent...but 1 or 2 years with no NMC to Simmonds made a helluva lot more sense from a need stand point than Zuccarello for 5 years with an NMC.  He's younger, and the 1-year deal is a no brainer.  Simmonds has all of the motivation to play well if he wants to get another nice contract and if he doesn't, then he's probably easy trade bait at the deadline.  

 

I kind of feel like when Fenton fixates on someone, then he fully commits and objectivity and everything else kind of fly out the window.  Like Fenton's fixation of getting Fiala.  He didn't seem to even consider the possibility of anything other than a 'hockey trade' 1-for-1 for Granlund / Fiala.   By the way, I am not sure who all subscribes to the Athletic, but this article by Sean McEndoe is pure genius and 100% true.  

 

20 Stages of Watching Your Team Make a Horrible Free Agency Mistake

 

I don't disagree with you, but Fenton got his job because Leipold was looking for a GM that wasn't going to tell him "Your teams a mess and needs a rebuild." Leipold wanted a GM who was going to tell him "You're right! The team isn't far off from being a Cup contender. It  just needs a few adjustments and voila! Stanley Cup, here we come!" Leipold didn't want a GM. He wanted a Yes Man. And that's what he got. And as long as Leipold keeps sticking his nose in the hockey side of things, this team is going nowhere fast. He needs to stick to writing the cheques and that's it.

 

And Fenton does seem to have a one track mind. He fixated on Fiala, and come Hell or high water he was going to get him, even if he had to overpay. Same with trading Zucker. How many times did he try and unload Zucker? And now he says he really loves him as a player? 

 

I need to subscribe to The Athletic. I'm missing all the good stuff...

[Hockey-78]

20 hours ago, Tomdog said:

I will agree with you on Fenton being worse than Flecher, so far. 

I hope he is smart enough to learn from his mistakes. 

Had he bargained out conditional draft picks with the trades he made, we would be having a different discussion. 

I do think Zuccareloe was the only bigger name he could talk into coming here and it cost a nmc. 

I agree with what Crease had to say. With my own words:

 

1) Let's say NMC was Zucc's idea but was Fenton forced to accept Zucc's idea? I don't think so. I don't think there were dozen of teams after him and I have a hard time believing even an average thinker like Fenton believed/believes that Zucc is the missing TOP6 forward we needed last season. He had money and he wanted a FA to have something to show for.

 

Think about this: The Stars wanted to part ways with him even though they gave up a second and a third rounder just couple of months ago. What happened? Instead they wanted to give more money to an older player even though at the time they had so many nice things to say about Mats. From Nhl.com:

"Mats is a legitimate top-six forward in this League who possesses a high level of speed, skill, compete and grit," said Nill. "He will enhance our team in a number of ways, whether it is at even strength, on the power play or in the shootout. We strongly believe in what we have in our dressing room and we clearly wanted to support that group by adding a dynamic player like Mats."

 

Hey, I found this. Probably worth reading:

Why did Dallas Stars let Mats Zuccarello leave in free agency?

 

2) Simmonds. Less speed and talent but a VERY easy contract to live with. Crease described perfectly the scenario how to deal with Simmonds and what his own motivation will be. The Wild would be overpaying a year for grit, knuckles and 100% effort in every game. Something the Wild have been missing for ages, Stewart couldn't produce that.

 

I created my avatar out of frustration after Granny was traded but seems like for the sake of my own sanity, I'll have to stick to it...

[IllaZilla]

17 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

I agree with what Crease had to say. With my own words:

 

1) Let's say NMC was Zucc's idea but was Fenton forced to accept Zucc's idea? I don't think so. I don't think there were dozen of teams after him and I have a hard time believing even an average thinker like Fenton believed/believes that Zucc is the missing TOP6 forward we needed last season. He had money and he wanted a FA to have something to show for.

 

Think about this: The Stars wanted to part ways with him even though they gave up a second and a third rounder just couple of months ago. What happened? Instead they wanted to give more money to an older player even though at the time they had so many nice things to say about Mats. From Nhl.com:

"Mats is a legitimate top-six forward in this League who possesses a high level of speed, skill, compete and grit," said Nill. "He will enhance our team in a number of ways, whether it is at even strength, on the power play or in the shootout. We strongly believe in what we have in our dressing room and we clearly wanted to support that group by adding a dynamic player like Mats."

 

Hey, I found this. Probably worth reading:

Why did Dallas Stars let Mats Zuccarello leave in free agency?

 

2) Simmonds. Less speed and talent but a VERY easy contract to live with. Crease described perfectly the scenario how to deal with Simmonds and what his own motivation will be. The Wild would be overpaying a year for grit, knuckles and 100% effort in every game. Something the Wild have been missing for ages, Stewart couldn't produce that.

 

I created my avatar out of frustration after Granny was traded but seems like for the sake of my own sanity, I'll have to stick to it...

 

I do think Fenton was forced to take Zuccarello's contract proposal. Both you and @CreaseAndAssist are absolutely right. Fenton could have said "Thanks, but no thanks." But with so many UFA's taking a hard pass on the Wild (and even Phil Kessel thumbing his nose at the Wild), what are you going to tell Leipold after you just traded away some of the more popular players on the team for a ton of cap space and then the only players you sign with all that cap space is Ryan Hartman and a handful of Iowa bound players? "I changed my mind, the team needs a rebuild?" Ask Ron Hextall what happens when you don't do what the boss wants...

 

The one thing I take as a silver lining out of this situation is that maybe, just maybe, Fenton isn't going to extend Koivu. The gist of your Dallas article was that the Stars didn't want to give Zucarello term, because they were concerned his contract would eat into their ability to pay some up and coming prospects. Maybe with Koivu gone (and Staal gone the year after), Fenton figured he could give Zuccarello his term AND not impact the contract status of guys like Kunin, Donato, Greenway, Eriksson-Ek, etc.

 

Or maybe he's just a dunce...

[EJ0226]

On ‎7‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 7:39 AM, IllaZilla said:

 

Fun with Numbers:

 

When Stalock was in nets, the Wild scored 39 goals, for an average of 2.16 goals for.

When Stalock won, the Wild scored 27 goals, for an average of 4.5 goals for.

When Stalock lost, the Wild scored 12 goals, for an average of 1.0 goals for.

The Wild scored 2 goals or less 11 times when Stalock was in nets.

Stalocks record was 0-11 when the Wild scored 2 goals or less (Seven losses had 1 goal or less).

The Wild scored 3+ goals 7 times when Stalock was in nets.

Stalocks record was 6-1 when the Wild scored 3+ goals (Zero wins had 1 goal or less)

 

When Dubnyk was in nets, the Wild scored 177 goals, for an average of 2.76 goals for.

When Dubnyk won, the Wild scored 112 goals, for an average of 3.61 goals for.

When Dubnyk lost, the Wild scored 56 goals, for an average of 1.75 goals for.

The Wild scored 2 goals or less 30 times when Dubnyk was in nets.

Dubnyks record was 5-24 when the Wild scored 2 goals or less (Sixteen losses had 1 goal or less).

The Wild scored 3+ goals 36 times when Dubnyk was in nets.

Dubnyks record was 26-10 when the Wild scored 3+ goals (Three wins had 1 goal or less).

 

With these two goalies, the Wild need to score 3 or more goals per game to win. Last season the Wild averaged 2.57 goals for per game, which was 28th in the league (league average was 2.89 goals for per game). They averaged 2.89 goals against per game, which was 13th in the league (oddly enough, that was the league average).

Think you @IllaZilla. Fantastic number crunching there! Just goes to show it doesn't matter who is in net. If the Wild aren't scoring at least 3 goals they are pretty much screwed. And we have the offense power of a sparkler when we need a roman candle.

 

On ‎7‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 9:40 AM, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

Maybe its just me, but as soon as Zuccarello asked for that, I'd be like..."Ok Mats, we'll consider that for a while and call you back."  And I wouldn't call him back.  The more times I read Fenton and his stupid lizard-stick comments, I feel like we just sort of threw all of that on the table at him right at the start.  He wasn't getting offers like that from other teams, and like he said himself he began to think, "Damn, I'm good."  Well of course, a person just gave you a much greater offer than you were expecting and gave you the keys to the kingdom for 3 years of your contract with a full NMC.  We were desperate we were going to lose him so we pushed all in.  

 

IMO, if Fenton had any brains at all.  When Pavelski decided 'nah' and not fly to St. Paul our efforts should have been 100% in on signing Simmonds to a 1-year deal.  The Devils IMO, are in a better place than the Wild in terms of their teams' collective age and their young talent...but 1 or 2 years with no NMC to Simmonds made a helluva lot more sense from a need stand point than Zuccarello for 5 years with an NMC.  He's younger, and the 1-year deal is a no brainer.  Simmonds has all of the motivation to play well if he wants to get another nice contract and if he doesn't, then he's probably easy trade bait at the deadline.  

 

I kind of feel like when Fenton fixates on someone, then he fully commits and objectivity and everything else kind of fly out the window.  Like Fenton's fixation of getting Fiala.  He didn't seem to even consider the possibility of anything other than a 'hockey trade' 1-for-1 for Granlund / Fiala.   By the way, I am not sure who all subscribes to the Athletic, but this article by Sean McEndoe is pure genius and 100% true.  

 

20 Stages of Watching Your Team Make a Horrible Free Agency Mistake

I haven't seen one thing so far that gives me any confidence in Fenton. I am actually worried we somehow took a step down firing Fletcher and hiring Fenton.

It does feel like Fenton will fixate on one player and do anything to either get him or get rid of him. And he wants his safety blankets for sure in players like Fiala. Giving zuccarello the NMC is mind boggling. The last 3 seasons Zuckers and Mats stats are very similar. Nothing that really stands out. Also, what is wrong with Fenton telling a player you are trying to sign that the player reminds him of a lizard?! Also what is wrong with Mats for him to not go WTF?!?! and run away? If a potential employer said that to me I would seeing red flags.

[Icechipper]

Dallas looking for veteran d man. Maybe willing part with pick or prospect if they take Pateryn back.......???

Edited July 10, 2019 by Icechipper