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Paul Fenton has been fired as GM after just one season.


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19 hours ago, JR Ewing said:

 

Whenever the Oilers make the news for something stupid, like hiring somebody without interviewing, flying to the wrong country to scout a player, or allowing their Head of Scouting to live in Mexico, you can actually hear the sound of my blood pressure spiking. If there's anything approaching that level of dysfunction with the Wild, I pity the fans.

 

The Wild are getting closer and closer. I fear for this team when 11 and 20 are on the last two years of their contracts. I can see Leipold really going nuts and setting the franchise back another 10 years with getting involved in bad moves and decisions. I truly believe, just like the Nashville Predators, the Wild will become a serious contender the day Leipold sells the team. He makes the teams he owns middle of the road but nowhere good enough to get out of the first round of playoffs.


I mean we were known as the retirement team for shell of their former selves vet players in the twilight of their careers to get one last over bloated contract and now those players don't even want to come here. Says a lot about the franchise.

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On 8/6/2019 at 10:54 AM, IllaZilla said:

Looks like the Wild have interviewed Don Waddell and Bill Guerin for the GM position...

Holy scraping the bottom of the barrel, Batman. (directed more at Waddell than Guerin) 

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On 8/5/2019 at 2:57 PM, IllaZilla said:

 

I personally wouldn't mind this, but the owner is in a "win now" mode.

 

That's why he came out right after he fired Fletcher and stated that he felt the team didn't need a rebuild, but just a few "tweaks". And shortly after the Niederreitter/Coyle/Granlund trades, he made a video for the season ticket holders emphatically telling them that the Wild were NOT in rebuild mode...

 

So I don't think Hextall's "Just be patient" mantra will work on Leipold...

As long as CL is the owner, all we can really hope for are tweaks, as he looks at his team as a business first and foremost.

Keeping the seats full is the key, and all that's ever been necessary to do that since he's been owner are tweaks here and there to keep the team competitive.

That may/will be? changing soon but IMO hasn't yet. Probably won't until RS/ZP can't play anymore. As long as he is giving the appearance (max cap team, ie) his goal for the Wild from a competitive standpoint is to win the Cup--and he may actually believe that's what he is doing--the fans will keep filling the seats regardless of how close they actually are to doing that. 

I believe the majority of the fans have spoken in this regard and really don't care about how CL runs the team--we are happy enough with having a good team that's fairly competitive and gets to the playoffs once in a while--we don't care that much about winning the big prize(its a Minny thing). 

From that standpoint, CL is the perfect owner.

Maybe CL and the Wild get lucky sometime and CL's method of running the team actually leads to the ultimate success, but that can only happen if he surrounds himself with the right people--and we've seen how good he is doing that🙄 

Go Wild!

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5 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

I tend to think it's pretty clear at this point that:

 

Waddell > Fenton

 

And it's not even close.

Really not sure about that. I appreciate the sentiment given what a train wreck Fenton was. But I think Waddell is ridiculous terrible. It's really close to me. 

 

But the fact we're even talking about Waddell shows how bad the timing of this was.  Sadly, the Wild have a bigger problem than the general manager position. 

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12 hours ago, ruxpin said:

But the fact we're even talking about Waddell shows how bad the timing of this was.  Sadly, the Wild have a bigger problem than the general manager position. 

 

You can say it...it's the owner.

 

He "feels" the team is only a "tweak" away from a Stanley Cup. Analytics say otherwise.

 

He's more concerned that if he utters the dreaded "R" word, fans will stay away in droves, and he'll lose money. So he keeps up this false narrative of "We're just a tweak away" and throws silly money at an over the hill free agent to keep the sheeple buying season tickets.

 

Sooner or later this strategy is going to backfire and the team is going to be saddled with aging vets that they can't get rid of and young players that aren't developing because they cant get ice time because all the ice time is going to the aging vets because they get paid more...

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On 8/8/2019 at 6:48 PM, Lonkkis said:

Did you read the latest 'Down goes Brown'-article? It's pretty comical to read because it's pretty much the truth.

 

Yea, the 6 franchises he just doesn't understand?  Yea, kind of figured we'd be on that list.  The Wild are arguably the most irrelevant franchise in the NHL right now.  

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On 8/9/2019 at 7:53 AM, IllaZilla said:

 

You can say it...it's the owner.

 

He "feels" the team is only a "tweak" away from a Stanley Cup. Analytics say otherwise.

 

He's more concerned that if he utters the dreaded "R" word, fans will stay away in droves, and he'll lose money. So he keeps up this false narrative of "We're just a tweak away" and throws silly money at an over the hill free agent to keep the sheeple buying season tickets.

 

Sooner or later this strategy is going to backfire and the team is going to be saddled with aging vets that they can't get rid of and young players that aren't developing because they cant get ice time because all the ice time is going to the aging vets because they get paid more...

 

This...is 100% correct.  I don't think the fans will stay away in droves.  Do I think season ticket sales will be far tougher to sell, you bet.  Yet, I have a simple solution to that.  The team didn't have to spend the money it did this summer on Zuccarello.  It will be inconsequential.  It could've just saved the money, given the kids more ice time and let them develop with more quality opportunities.  Instead, we're going to relegate the youngsters to lesser / bit roles...because we have to justify all that $$$ we spent on players over 30-years old.  

 

The new GM, whoever he is...is going to walk into a team that has even more money tied up to more 32 & older guys than did Fenton.  And most of the decent move-able assets we had, we mostly dealt away for little to nothing in return.  We have a $4 million a season center that has no spot to play and he's signed for 3 seasons including this one.  We have NMC's to geezers meaning we'll have to risk losing the 'gamebreakers' we got in return in those previously mentioned deals.  

 

The truth is, this team was a laughingstock BEFORE we fired Fenton.  

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I'm always amazed at how they say "The Wild have some of the most intelligent hockey fans" yet they are afraid to tell the fans, "We need to rebuild the team over the next couple of years."

 

Intelligent fans understand in the Age of the Salary Cap that teams need to be rebuilt every now and then. You can't just keep buying players like in the good old days. Players get older, players plateau, prospects just don't develop. The team needs to be able to look at itself objectively and say "We tried with these guys and it didn't work. We need to start over."

 

People can get just as excited about a team full of young exciting players as they can over a team with a bunch of big name has-beens. Look across the river at the Twins...

 

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On 8/11/2019 at 7:39 AM, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

This...is 100% correct.  I don't think the fans will stay away in droves.  Do I think season ticket sales will be far tougher to sell, you bet.  Yet, I have a simple solution to that.  The team didn't have to spend the money it did this summer on Zuccarello.  It will be inconsequential.  It could've just saved the money, given the kids more ice time and let them develop with more quality opportunities.  Instead, we're going to relegate the youngsters to lesser / bit roles...because we have to justify all that $$$ we spent on players over 30-years old.  

 

The new GM, whoever he is...is going to walk into a team that has even more money tied up to more 32 & older guys than did Fenton.  And most of the decent move-able assets we had, we mostly dealt away for little to nothing in return.  We have a $4 million a season center that has no spot to play and he's signed for 3 seasons including this one.  We have NMC's to geezers meaning we'll have to risk losing the 'gamebreakers' we got in return in those previously mentioned deals.  

 

The truth is, this team was a laughingstock BEFORE we fired Fenton.  

3 reasons for the Zuccarello signing:

 

1. Shows that they did something to try to improve the club--keeps the fans in the seats.

2. It does--at least short term--improve the team or at least helps keep them at a competitive level--keeps the fans in the seats. 

3. Fenton's respectability. 

 

I see this as mainly a business move with the goal being keeping the seats full. If it happens to actually improve the Wild and makes them a better team, great. If not, reasons 1 and 2 achieve the main goal.

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10 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

For better or for worse, looks like Waddell is out...

 

'Canes sign Waddell to three year contract

 

I'm ok with this.
Really didn't think Waddell was going to be the guy to do anything with this franchise.

Still would rather see a Hextall, Mellanby, or Drury get a shot...although, I read that the Rangers put the kabosh on any possible Drury poaching.

 

Wish I read a story that said Chiarelli had been hired somewhere else and the Wild are just gonna have to be severely disappointed he is no longer available (snicker) :shifty:

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1 hour ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

I'm ok with this.
Really didn't think Waddell was going to be the guy to do anything with this franchise.

Still would rather see a Hextall, Mellanby, or Drury get a shot...although, I read that the Rangers put the kabosh on any possible Drury poaching.

 

Wish I read a story that said Chiarelli had been hired somewhere else and the Wild are just gonna have to be severely disappointed he is no longer available (snicker) :shifty:

 

I think Waddell got too much credit for “The Bunch of Jerks”. Getting Niederreiter for a Rask looks like a brilliant move until you realize that Fenton probably would have been happy with a gift certificate to Denny’s in exchange for Niederreiter. I feel Ron Francis deserves more credit for that roster than Waddell does. He was very ineffective when he was GM of Atlanta. 

 

I wouldn’t mind Guerin or Fitzgerald. 

 

But it it will all be for naught if Leipold keeps sticking his nose in the GM’s business...

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6 hours ago, Icechipper said:

Kurvers kids too young for scouting roles but an interim gig may be in the cards for the asst gm.

 

Personally, I’d like to see Kurvers just keep the interim GM role until next off-season, just to keep some stability. Get a better pool of talent to select from. And who knows, Kurvers could be exactly what they are looking for. But apparently with his health concerns, it’s not in the cards. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't know if he'll be a decent GM but Bill Guerin was one of my favorite players back in the day.  Had an all time great play in an All Time great game.   Probably my second favorite game of all time - US vs Canada in 1996 World Championships.  The US had a really, really great team.  Guerin dropped the gloves and went after Keith Primeau.   Beat the hell out of him in my memory.  Then Keith Tkachuk beat the hell out of Claude Lemieux.  I"ve often thought about looking for a tape of that game!  And when Lemaire's NJD team won the Cup Guerin was a key guy.  I hope he becomes as good a GM as he was a player.  Old school Power Forward.  Was also a big time leader for the player's Union back in the day.

Edited by Fargocase
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