Dan Wallace: Fenton Will Make His Mark on Wild

Dan Wallace: Fenton Will Make His Mark on Wild
- Dan Wallace

Uhhh you expected him to come in and make changes right away?

There's still plenty of time for Fenton to make trades. I think lots of people are being too critical of him too early. Yes, the first round pick was very questionable, but I still believe that pick was on Flahr. Looking at the types of players taken later, seem to be more along the Fenton lines. In the 3rd round he took guys with offensive upside, but also play with an edge to their game. They also took that big winger in a later round, once again, offensive upside and and edge.

Now we look at free agency. None of the signings were "sexy", but they all come with a bit of edge to their game, and they filled roles that the wild needed. I think its a little unrealistic to have expected the wild to go pay huge money for JVR, James Neal, or David Perron. Even the goalie market was a tad pricey. Hutton wants a shot to be a starter, Mrazek and Lehner aren't exactly cream of the crop goalies. I'm fine with Stalock as the backup again next year and Hammond going to Iowa.

The trade market is where Fenton will make his initial mark on this team. And there's still plenty of options out there. Very curious to see when he makes is move and what kind of return he gets.

I wonder if Fenton is in on Karlsson as a sneaky big move. Parise and Suter for an extended Karlsson and Bobby Ryan would be a pretty seismic shift in the MN locker room.

Except Melnyk doesn't want anyone that costs more than 53 cents coming back, so....

Except Melnyk doesn't want anyone that costs more than 53 cents coming back, so....
- ChonDerry

He's giving Ryan + Karlsson something like 37m for 35m in cap hit. He'd basically double his costs over the next several years, but triple the cap hit those costs get him in return. Those years of paying 2m in salary for 15m in cap hit seem like the exact sort of value Melnyk is looking for.

I wonder if Fenton is in on Karlsson as a sneaky big move. Parise and Suter for an extended Karlsson and Bobby Ryan would be a pretty seismic shift in the MN locker room.

They both have NMCs don't they? And aren't they from the area? I wouldn't think either of those guys would agree to go to Ottawa. Also, not what Ottawa needs - they have to be going for the rebuild, adding Suter and Parise would likely cause a riot.

They have full NMCs, and i don't see them waiving them to go to Ottawa. Parise is from MN and Suter from WI

They're not going anywhere, unfortunately. Both have full NMC's, and even if they didn't, who in their right mind would take on their contracts which have another 7 years left on them.

So the Wild have approx. $14.8 mil in cap space open right now, after the Ennis buyout. Figure that Dumba and Zucker are going to eat about $10-11 mil there, leaving the Wild with about $3.8 mil in cap space. And with the signing of those 2, the roster would be set at 22 players. And in Greenway, who I believe will be on the opening day roster and that puts them at 23.

Who is Fenton actually going to trade away? A sign and trade deal with Zucker? Yeah, a guy who just had a 30/30 season, has the unteachable asset of speed and is a guy that was developed through their own system? Rather doubt it, especially since Zucker said he would take a slightly less then market contract to stay with the Wild.

Nino or Coyle? Both had injury plagued seasons last year and are at the low end of market value right now. Not over-valuing them, but Fenton is NOT going to receive what they are worth. How about Spurgeon? With the NHL now making the puck-moving, right handed Dman a unicorn in the league now, Fenton is not going to let him go. How about Brodin then? With the questions surrounding Suter's injury and his recovery time, they can't afford to let him go, or his partner in Dumba...another unicorn.

I think we have seen the "tweaking" that Fenton is going to do with this lineup. He added a rough-n-tough Dman (bonus that he is right handed), and made the 4th line a little more rugged and added an agitator (ok, energy guy) in Brown. Plus a player to push Foligno in Matt Hendricks. Those 4 signings, along with Greenway making the roster are the tweaks. By definition, "tweak" means "a fine (read small) adjustment to a system". That is what has been done. Fenton was never going to be able to put a major stamp on this roster right away. I'd be willing to bet that Fenton is aiming for 2 years from now when the contracts of Koivu, Granlund, Coyle and Spurgeon end. That will open about slightly more than $19 mil in cap space. And I see some of these guys getting traded away mid season depending on where the Wild are at. But changes to the current roster for this season, I wouldn't bet on it happening more than what has gone on already.

Then again, I'm not an NHL GM, so I might just be grasping at air here.

So the Wild have approx. $14.8 mil in cap space open right now, after the Ennis buyout. Figure that Dumba and Zucker are going to eat about $10-11 mil there, leaving the Wild with about $3.8 mil in cap space. And with the signing of those 2, the roster would be set at 22 players. And in Greenway, who I believe will be on the opening day roster and that puts them at 23.

Who is Fenton actually going to trade away? A sign and trade deal with Zucker? Yeah, a guy who just had a 30/30 season, has the unteachable asset of speed and is a guy that was developed through their own system? Rather doubt it, especially since Zucker said he would take a slightly less then market contract to stay with the Wild.

Nino or Coyle? Both had injury plagued seasons last year and are at the low end of market value right now. Not over-valuing them, but Fenton is NOT going to receive what they are worth. How about Spurgeon? With the NHL now making the puck-moving, right handed Dman a unicorn in the league now, Fenton is not going to let him go. How about Brodin then? With the questions surrounding Suter's injury and his recovery time, they can't afford to let him go, or his partner in Dumba...another unicorn.

I think we have seen the "tweaking" that Fenton is going to do with this lineup. He added a rough-n-tough Dman (bonus that he is right handed), and made the 4th line a little more rugged and added an agitator (ok, energy guy) in Brown. Plus a player to push Foligno in Matt Hendricks. Those 4 signings, along with Greenway making the roster are the tweaks. By definition, "tweak" means "a fine (read small) adjustment to a system". That is what has been done. Fenton was never going to be able to put a major stamp on this roster right away. I'd be willing to bet that Fenton is aiming for 2 years from now when the contracts of Koivu, Granlund, Coyle and Spurgeon end. That will open about slightly more than $19 mil in cap space. And I see some of these guys getting traded away mid season depending on where the Wild are at. But changes to the current roster for this season, I wouldn't bet on it happening more than what has gone on already.

Then again, I'm not an NHL GM, so I might just be grasping at air here.
- Gusrichards

I agree, the only significant move we could see in the next year would be a mid-season trade.....and even that is highly unlikely at this point.

Fenton also may be looking at how Washington Capitals didn't make big changes, failed often in the playoffs, then finally put it all together once given enough shots. If he doesn't have any good deals, seeing if Wild do the same is better than a bad deal.