Dan Wallace: What a Shock Wild Fall in Lottery

Carolina won 2nd overall last year.. and they're just trying to stay in the league. Buffalo won last year.. and who cares about Buffalo? Devils, Dallas, and Philly won in 2017. Is Dallas the darling of the NHL?? I can guarantee you the Devils are NOT the darlings of the NHL, despite winning 2 of the past 3 drafts.

Is it suspicious Chicago won? Look at the odds of them winning, compared to that of 10 teams around them. Chances are one of those teams would win.. so one of them winning isn't a surprise. Philly would've been 13th overall in 2017. Dallas would've been 8th. Carolina would've been 11th in 2018. It happens. I think it's more coincidence than causation with Chicago. At least I'd like to hope.

The issue that continues to plague the Wild is the lack of real roster turnover. They continue to field the same mediocre roster year in and year out and expect different results.

Nino-for-Rask?
Granlund-for-Fiala?

The Wild need to shake things up in a MAJOR way and if Fenton wants to distance himself from past management he’ll make a drastic offseason decision.

Continuing to teeter in the middle is the worst place to be in the league, and that’s where the Wild have been since the dawn of time.

Embrace a full scale rebuild, or go all in and see what kind of blockbusters you can pull off this summer.

Also...

*yawn* to the Blackhawks remarks. Lottery jumps happen. Your comments reek of envy.

its a RANDOM lottery.

Get over it.

Being a numbers guy I would like to know what the total amount of balls was. Then from there they have to make their selections. Sure it's nice to get a higher pick. I also thought it was interesting watching the draft where I believe they stated Sakic was an 11th overall pick? Plenty of great players get drafted outside of the top 5. Lets just hope its not a repeat of Cam Barker

If the NHL were smart, they would scrap the lottery. It is prone to corruption. Just let teams draft in the inverse order of the standings. At least if a team tanks, it is transparent to everyone. With the lottery, who really knows what goes on behind close doors. Tuesday's lottery (given all big markets won)seems very fishy. A result that someone might engineer.

2015 (Edmonton) and 2016 (Toronto and Winnipeg) lotteries engineered to help the Canadian markets. 2017 bigger US markets get the assist (NJ, PHILADELPHIA,and Dallas). 2018 featured two teams that deserved some assistance after years of losing the lotteries Buffalo and Carolina, and of course the flagship of Canadian franchises, Montreal. 2019 helps the bigger US markets. My prediction for 2020 is the both southern California franchises will do well or at least the Kings.

If the NHL were smart, they would scrap the lottery. It is prone to corruption. Just let teams draft in the inverse order of the standings. At least if a team tanks, it is transparent to everyone. With the lottery, who really knows what goes on behind close doors. Tuesday's lottery (given all big markets won)seems very fishy. A result that someone might engineer.

2015 (Edmonton) and 2016 (Toronto and Winnipeg) lotteries engineered to help the Canadian markets. 2017 bigger US markets get the assist (NJ, PHILADELPHIA,and Dallas). 2018 featured two teams that deserved some assistance after years of losing the lotteries Buffalo and Carolina, and of course the flagship of Canadian franchises, Montreal. 2019 helps the bigger US markets. My prediction for 2020 is the both southern California franchises will do well or at least the Kings.
- marcfournier

Good point. How many #1 picks have the Oilers had the past several years? 3? I would like to think its not corrupted but it does make you wonder.

Oh my fellas......your starting to sound an awful lot like the Sabres. Take the nut punch and move along.. keep this up and Garth will be looking for your spot.

Now on the bright side....your a few good pieces away from a really good team. Yes your GM has done nothing since he took over. This summer will see if he actually has his own nads or just a cookie cutter corporate man. I live in the Edmonton gong show so keep your chins up.

Anyone who points to New Jersey as a sign the lotto is rigged loses all credibility

Darlings of NHL, no...you are just full of sour grapes.

Maybe worry less about the draft lottery and more about the fact that your GM just fired the guys that told him NOT to trade Nino for Rask.

My guess is the owner did not want to pay Boudreau to sit while paying a new coach. Might as well ride out the contract in a rebuilding year.

omg lol.

try dropping 4 years in a row and see how you feel.

Maybe worry less about the draft lottery and more about the fact that your GM just fired the guys that told him NOT to trade Nino for Rask.
- BINGO!

So you were at the meeting where they told Fenton not to do that? For all we all know, they were the ones that said "yes, take that trade, as we need a C and we can work on this guy". Every NHL GM KNEW Fenton was in a bad spot. Do you really think teams are going to try and make sure a trade is even...of course not. Each GM is trying to improve their roster and give back the least they can. Fenton HAD to change things on the Wild roster, and still has to. The roster, the management, the farm club...all need a lot of change over. I don't see any teams climbing over each other to grab the people that were let go. Can you name a different center that the Wild could have gotten for Nino, that was cheaper?

So you were at the meeting where they told Fenton not to do that? For all we all know, they were the ones that said "yes, take that trade, as we need a C and we can work on this guy". Every NHL GM KNEW Fenton was in a bad spot. Do you really think teams are going to try and make sure a trade is even...of course not. Each GM is trying to improve their roster and give back the least they can. Fenton HAD to change things on the Wild roster, and still has to. The roster, the management, the farm club...all need a lot of change over. I don't see any teams climbing over each other to grab the people that were let go. Can you name a different center that the Wild could have gotten for Nino, that was cheaper?
- Gusrichards

Yep, and Nino had done nothing here for the last season and change. Obviously Wild fans wanted him to succeed here but it was clear he was not going to. Clearly the trade was a win for Carolina, no doubt but he needed to go and it seems obvious that teams were not falling over themselves to acquire him. All is not necessarily lost with Rask, yet... He may still grow into a role with the Wild but i'm guessing it will need to happen before the end of next season or he will be bought out.

It's easy to pick apart these deals but the fact of the matter is like you said, moves needed to be made and every other GM knew that Fenton had to start making these moves. Aside from Nino, it's not like Coyle and Granlund are making huge impacts on their respective new teams. Besides, if everyone remembers, Nino made a pretty big impact in a Wild sweater his first 2 seasons. My guess is he falls back into the same lack luster complacent role with the Canes over the next couple seasons.

So you were at the meeting where they told Fenton not to do that? For all we all know, they were the ones that said "yes, take that trade, as we need a C and we can work on this guy". Every NHL GM KNEW Fenton was in a bad spot. Do you really think teams are going to try and make sure a trade is even...of course not. Each GM is trying to improve their roster and give back the least they can. Fenton HAD to change things on the Wild roster, and still has to. The roster, the management, the farm club...all need a lot of change over. I don't see any teams climbing over each other to grab the people that were let go. Can you name a different center that the Wild could have gotten for Nino, that was cheaper?
- Gusrichards

It's been reported in several places that the two fired were dissenters, but okay.

Y'all can chill out.

It's been reported in several places that the two fired were dissenters, but okay.

Y'all can chill out.
- BINGO!

Dissenters, maybe. But that doesn't prove that Shep, Bruno or the other Andrew were in favor or not in favor of getting Rask. It may have been everyone telling Fenton to just trade Nino and get whatever for him. No one will actually ever know, unless someone comes out and talks about it.

Just about everyone in management had been with the Wild under CF, and we all know where the Wild have been under that regime. I would think that when a new GM is brought in from the outside, a team is going to have leftovers/dissenters from the previous regime for a year or 2. I think the mess starts with how long Leipold waited to pull the trigger on hiring Fenton. Do I think both PF and BB screwed up with Nino, hell yes. But its done and over with, so Fenton needs to start making more changes.

I just hope for Canes fans that Nino doesn't revert back to coasting once he is all settled and comfortable there. I do really like him as a player.

Dissenters, maybe. But that doesn't prove that Shep, Bruno or the other Andrew were in favor or not in favor of getting Rask. It may have been everyone telling Fenton to just trade Nino and get whatever for him. No one will actually ever know, unless someone comes out and talks about it.

Just about everyone in management had been with the Wild under CF, and we all know where the Wild have been under that regime. I would think that when a new GM is brought in from the outside, a team is going to have leftovers/dissenters from the previous regime for a year or 2. I think the mess starts with how long Leipold waited to pull the trigger on hiring Fenton. Do I think both PF and BB screwed up with Nino, hell yes. But its done and over with, so Fenton needs to start making more changes.

I just hope for Canes fans that Nino doesn't revert back to coasting once he is all settled and comfortable there. I do really like him as a player.
- Gusrichards

I'm not too worried about Nino. He's already done what we needed him to do. If he reverts back to being the 20~ goal, 40~ point guy he's been his entire career, that's fine, because Rask ain't ever getting back there and it's really all we needed.

Well said, Stormy.👍

Yep, and Nino had done nothing here for the last season and change. Obviously Wild fans wanted him to succeed here but it was clear he was not going to. Clearly the trade was a win for Carolina, no doubt but he needed to go and it seems obvious that teams were not falling over themselves to acquire him. All is not necessarily lost with Rask, yet... He may still grow into a role with the Wild but i'm guessing it will need to happen before the end of next season or he will be bought out.

It's easy to pick apart these deals but the fact of the matter is like you said, moves needed to be made and every other GM knew that Fenton had to start making these moves. Aside from Nino, it's not like Coyle and Granlund are making huge impacts on their respective new teams. Besides, if everyone remembers, Nino made a pretty big impact in a Wild sweater his first 2 seasons. My guess is he falls back into the same lack luster complacent role with the Canes over the next couple seasons.
- MnGump

Nino was 4th in goals last year and had the best +/- of all wild forwards. I know complacency might have been a problem with him at times, but that has been the case of all Wild players except for #11.
Was complacency Nino's problem, or more of a symptom of a problem with the whole team??
Either way, let's not pretend that Nino was "doing nothing." Maybe he needed to go, maybe not, but getting Rask in return was absolutely unacceptable from the very beginning for a perennial 20-ish goal scorer.

Nino was 4th in goals last year and had the best +/- of all wild forwards. I know complacency might have been a problem with him at times, but that has been the case of all Wild players except for #11.
Was complacency Nino's problem, or more of a symptom of a problem with the whole team??
Either way, let's not pretend that Nino was "doing nothing." Maybe he needed to go, maybe not, but getting Rask in return was absolutely unacceptable from the very beginning for a perennial 20-ish goal scorer.
- gypsypunk01

That I will agree with. Rask was not the return the Wild should have gotten on Nino. I'm more angry that it now has been proven that BB, along with other coaches, were not using Nino correctly. He's a very good player that the Wild lost. Like I have said before, you need to trade something good to get something good. Rask is not good. I'm all in favor of the Wild buying him out this off-season and instead of just rolling with the mistake. But I doubt ego will let that happen. NO GM wants to admit a mistake that fast...whether it was suggested by the staff or his own idea.

I need to move on from this one, enough said about it. But now I am wondering about the remarks from Parise...is he opening up the door to waive his NMC? What team would take him at that price, even with the Wild paying some of the salary, along with his injury history and length still left on that contract. I won't put blame on Parise or Suter for the contracts they signed (though neither they or anyone else is worth that much to play a game), but I put it fully on CF and that he wasn't good enough at his job to make a true contender.