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They Were Once Wild: The Star Talent that Passed Through Minnesota


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17 hours ago, Fargocase said:

I've researched exWild players many times.  Crazy that so much time has passed since we were trying to guess who would be the first Wild Captain.

 

Here's an exWild player who I thought turned out to be an above average defenseman - Andy Sutton.  Huge and super raw.  Lemaire played him at forward and D but Risebrough traded him too early.  Was pretty good for Nashville.  I don't remember if you mentioned them but Joel Ward and the defenseman Michalek went on to have good careers after a cup of coffee with the Wild.  I'd say Nick Leddy would also be on the list of players mistakenly traded.  IMO good chance Tuch will turn out to be the biggest Eff Up, along with losing Gaborik as an UFA.

 

Those are names I thought about briefly, but I couldn't use Andy Sutton because we got him in the expansion draft.  Zbynek Michalek, that reasonable serviceable defenseman we spent the time to develop and then just tossed him away for Erik Westrum and some other minor league defenseman?!?!  Yea, I thought about him but since I somewhat based my decision on points he didn't quite make the cut.  But he would've fit the parameters since like Dupuis, we didn't draft him and signed him as a free agent out of major junior.  

 

Joel Ward is another good find.  We didn't keep him long enough, but he had some good years.  Not too shabby for a guy who took the super rare Canadian college route to the NHL.  Points-wise he still gets edged out.  Leddy and Tuch are disqualified from this list because we drafted them.  But you're right...they are certainly players whom the team will look back after their careers are done and wished we hadn't let them get away.  Heck even now...both of them could've helped fix some holes on this team.  

 

The Leddy deal...our best defenseman at the time AND Leddy for Cam Barker.  I can understand maybe one-for-one in that kind of a deal...but why were we giving two players away when IMO were the club that was selling in that one.   

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  • 3 weeks later...

It's really crazy to see how many times the Wild chased the "star" or very good player who was in the decline of their career in hopes they would somehow revert back to their younger self. Or chase players would come here, not produce, get traded or go elsewhere where they would be used correctly and produce.

 

The list was really good LiG.

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I agree the LIG's list was really good, because we had some talent . Unfortunately, it had a short period of time profile. Probably, for most of them their main fault was the inability to show consistency in the production of goals. I am sure that if they will be able to produce 30 and more goals every season than they will be able to find their stable untouchable comfortable place in the big club. Professional hockey is a huge business capable to grind hundreds and hundreds players or into something special or not really special at all. Most depends of the talent, physical and mental status of the player. All traits are important. Of course, I did not put contracts and relations between players,  coaches, GM and owner. That is the reverse side of the coin, which is,unfortunately, important too. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/20/2019 at 11:50 AM, EJ0226 said:

It's really crazy to see how many times the Wild chased the "star" or very good player who was in the decline of their career in hopes they would somehow revert back to their younger self. Or chase players would come here, not produce, get traded or go elsewhere where they would be used correctly and produce.

 

The list was really good LiG.

 

Thanks...I tried!

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  • 2 weeks later...
12 minutes ago, rottenrefs said:

What could have been... because there's not much to talk about now.

 

True.  Sadly we rarely got any of these players in their prime.  Rolston, Daigle were the only ones who sort of had their best seasons with the Wild while they were here.  Everyone else was mostly of circling the drain of their careers.  

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