Dan Wallace: Are The Wild All That Far From Contention?

The wild are my second favorite team, so I'm not trolling when I say the following:

You are the 2007-11 Sabres.

Good enough to make the playoffs regularly, but not good enough to make much noise. The rebuild in Buffalo has been horrendous, but if the wild keep some vets, you can do it quicker.

A rebuild is necessary

I like the Wild too, but... the Parise and Suter contracts are killing you... and re-upping Koivu for another two years makes zero sense.

Hopefully with new blood in the front office, the Wild will get back on the right track.

BTW, I really enjoyed watching that Greenway kid in the 1st round.

Part of the problem is there is too many players on this roster that lack a high compete level, and are just passive players. Other than Parise, I can't think of one guy on roster who even comes close to that level of compete. Just look at the series against the Jets, they clearly wanted to win more than anyone on the ice, and they won seemingly every board battle and loose puck. It's sickening hearing the players spit out all the same old cliches year after year, and watching guys with the tools to be good players just disappear (I'm looking at you Coyle). You can watch any other team that made the playoffs this year, and its very clear the guys on their roster have a stronger will to win than this Wild team. I'm really hoping the new GM makes some significant moves. Michael Russo said it best in one of his interviews, this core has been together too long, and its just gotten stale. Everyone has their given roles, and there's no threat of them being bumped down the lineup for poor performance.

Rant over.

Nino and Staal for Faulk, Rask, and a 2019 1st.

Yes.

I think Leopold is fooling himself if he thinks this roster only needs some minor tweeking. The core players of this team are the same core players that have been to the playoffs 5 of the last 6 seasons and they are/were no closer to making any more noise than this season then they were 6 seasons ago in the first round against the then speedy hawks.

Essentially nothing can be done about the Suter/Parise contracts so just deal with it. If you can't move Koivu then you stick it out one more year and then buy out the last year. Aside from that, you figure out where to move Staal, you shop Zucker, Nino and Spurgeon for either first round picks or promising young prospects.

I don't see Coyle having a whole lot of upside as far as trade returns go and his deal is pretty cap friendly anyhow. It's not like Charlie is a bad player, he just never lived up to that BU potential.

Lastly, get Sokolov playing lots of minutes starting next season and find some way to get Kaprizov signed/committed to the Wild ASAP!

Nino and Staal for Faulk, Rask, and a 2019 1st.
- BINGO!

You want him back now?!?!

You want him back now?!?!
- jcragcrumple

Yeah I'd be fine with him coming back. New coach, new organization entirely. Just don't make him the captain, but let him play 2C behind Aho and have fun.

are the Wild all that far away from being a contender?

They are in the top ~35 teams in the league!





and they need to get some of these prospects into the house so they can give them to Seattle to protect..... hmmm, some veteran

Wild have one thing other teams don't have. The Minnesota sports curse. I am becoming a true believer in it. Comparing the Caps to the Wild is a long shot. Wild need to rebuild their core, and after Fletcher traded a lot of our picks away in the past few seasons, it is going to be a bumpy road at that. OR, we can just keep giving our same old team ANOTHER chance to pull it together. Even though they are aging and getting hurt more and more. Either way, can't wait for 20-21 season so I can have a TRUE #2 team to fall back on when the Wild fall face first on a big meat shaft. GO SEATTLE GO!

I think Leopold is fooling himself if he thinks this roster only needs some minor tweeking. The core players of this team are the same core players that have been to the playoffs 5 of the last 6 seasons and they are/were no closer to making any more noise than this season then they were 6 seasons ago in the first round against the then speedy hawks.

Essentially nothing can be done about the Suter/Parise contracts so just deal with it. If you can't move Koivu then you stick it out one more year and then buy out the last year. Aside from that, you figure out where to move Staal, you shop Zucker, Nino and Spurgeon for either first round picks or promising young prospects.

I don't see Coyle having a whole lot of upside as far as trade returns go and his deal is pretty cap friendly anyhow. It's not like Charlie is a bad player, he just never lived up to that BU potential.

Lastly, get Sokolov playing lots of minutes starting next season and find some way to get Kaprizov signed/committed to the Wild ASAP!
- MnGump

I concur

GO SEATTLE GO!
- Tweaterben

Minnesota West

refer to Vegas, Minnesota South

Goodluck accomplishing anything with Parise and Suter on the roster, not going full rebuild.

Go ahead and tank with them on the roster, if they are even healthy, it'll take massive retention that'll handcuff the organization for years. Good luck weathering the media storm of rumors if a collapse or tank occurs with both in Minny.

Pick your poison and get ready for years of the bottom 10. There's no logical way out.

Goodluck accomplishing anything with Parise and Suter on the roster, not going full rebuild.

Go ahead and tank with them on the roster, if they are even healthy, it'll take massive retention that'll handcuff the organization for years. Good luck weathering the media storm of rumors if a collapse or tank occurs with both in Minny.

Pick your poison and get ready for years of the bottom 10. There's no logical way out.
- dan_77

Stop supporting Wild completely > Team moves to Quebec in 2 years > Expansion draft for new Wild team in 5 years = Conference finals ready team.

Hard to believe it's been 6 years with this group. Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Something like that. As challenging as it may be for a short period, as this group gets older, the odds of more playoff success diminish. It really is a small window. Chicago went from champs to one of the worst records in the league in only 3 years.

Dan, I'm glad to see that you had Spurgeon listed as one of the tradable assets. I think he is one of the best trade chips the Wild have, along with the idea that I truly believe his game is going to start decreasing. I also think that Coyle is very tradable as well, for the fact that his cap space is workable. I don't think the Parise/Suter contracts are going to hurt the Wild as bad as everyone is making them out to be. Suter still is a top dman (and will hopefully recover 100%), and Parise has found new life (and a slightly new way to play) after the back surgery. I am being optimistic here, but that is what a fan should be.

I think that if BB is going to continue to be the coach, then the players that are brought in will need to fit his system. So, I honestly believe the new GM should see what Granlund can fetch in a trade as well. My list of players to have on the trading block as Spurgeon, Zucker (in some type of sign and trade deal), Granlund, Koivu, Coyle and Ennis. And I would leave it up to Staal on whether he wants to leave or not.

But some of the things that are going to HAVE to happen next year is 1) the Wild have to let Ericksson Ek play with skilled players and not waste his developing time playing 4th line minutes, 2) play Greenway top 6 minutes (as he is part of the future) and 3) stop trading away 1st rd picks!