Dan Wallace: Wild Still Room For More Changes

You sound like the stereotypical Mild fan who thinks this vanilla, joke of a roster is a Cup contender every season.

1.) Granlund was your best player and Fiala will likely not come close to replicating Granny’s stats.

2.) the jury is indeed out on Rask. He’s garbage. I’ve watched him with Carolina long enough to realize he’s at best a 4th line C. You traded a fine top 6 winger, whom wasn’t utilized correctly on a bad team, for a healthy scratch.

3.) to show I’m not just anti-Wild, I will say I’d much rather have Donato than Coyle, that was a good trade for the future.

PS. Fenton needs dementia meds. His zucc quotes freaked me out. Poor signing too on an already ancient roster by the way.

Rant over. Carry on with your day.

>>"I say so what, those players all had their time and had varying degrees of success. Granlund, one can argue was the Wild's most talented player much of the last few seasons. That may be true, yet he still was not the star that could make everyone around him better. Granlund maxed out as a solid 70-80 point guy that will be a UFA next July."

Seriously, not being a homer here, but WHAT? Please explain to me how topping out at, say, 70 points could be considered bad in any context whatsoever?

Even if he isn't a driver he seems like an awesome passenger that any sane team would move mountains to sign.

More pom pom cheering from Dan. Nino for Rask might go down as the worst trade the Wild has ever made. Granlund trade makes sense if Fenton wasn't planning on re-signing him but 70 points is not something that is replaced with ease. Fiala has much to prove before he's considered in Granlunds class of player. Coyle for Donato is a wash because Coyle was pretty much the same player for years without much growth. I wish they would have kept Nino while trading Coyle. Granlund should have given us a better haul so for that reason I wish they would have kept him as well and if not re-signing him then flipping him at next years deadline where we might have gotten a 1st for him plus maybe a good prospect. Also Id take Granlund over the Norwegian hobbit any day of the week because of age and mileage on the player at this point.

Hey ready for a very Mild season...

More pom pom cheering from Dan. Nino for Rask might go down as the worst trade the Wild has ever made. Granlund trade makes sense if Fenton wasn't planning on re-signing him but 70 points is not something that is replaced with ease. Fiala has much to prove before he's considered in Granlunds class of player. Coyle for Donato is a wash because Coyle was pretty much the same player for years without much growth. I wish they would have kept Nino while trading Coyle. Granlund should have given us a better haul so for that reason I wish they would have kept him as well and if not re-signing him then flipping him at next years deadline where we might have gotten a 1st for him plus maybe a good prospect. Also Id take Granlund over the Norwegian hobbit any day of the week because of age and mileage on the player at this point.
- mnhockeyguy

It is the worst trade they’ve ever made. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like Niño is a showstopper or MVP or anything nuts like that. But when you give up a more than serviceable top 6 NHLer for literally nothing, yeah it’s pretty bad given how teams are always looking for that kind of talent.

Finn, no need to kick us while we're down. Any real Wild fan knows whats going here, how bad some trades were, and how bad of a season its going to be. Lets take it a little easier on dan here, the guys job is to give us some reading material.

That being said, Nino for Rask= bad trade.
Coyle for Donato= good trade. Coyle needed to go and i think donato can become a good player here.
Granny for Fiala= lost trade so far. I think we couldve gotten more, but i also see the idea of clearing cap space. I still think he should've tried for at least a pick, Fabbro, or Tolvanen. We will see what Fiala becomes.

The thing that really grinds my gears with this team is their lack of a true number 1 center. Theyve swung and missed so horribly over the years drafting centers its not even funny. And dont even get me started on taking JEE over Boeser.... This team isnt going anywhere until they they get top center. Too much pressure on Staal, and we all know Koivu should be playing 3c in a shut down role.

Sorry for the rant. Heres hoping for a 2020 lottery pick!

Forgot to mention, Fenton could redeem himself here by figuring out a way to get Gusev From Vegas. Would probably take a couple moves since vegas cant take on a contract, and bringing in Gusev would make the wilds cap tight, if not over (i dont know their exact numbers). Having a duo of Gusev and Kaprizov next year would definitely be an exciting product to watch.

[quote=mnMild]
Agreed and now with Spurgeon seemingly not willing to sign here it becomes even more confounding that Fenton didn't use him to acquire Kadri from the Leafs. Kadri would have been a fantastic edition to the Wild, being both a 30 goal scorer and a shutdown defensive center. Now we risk having to trade Spurgeon at the deadline for probably a pick and prospect, not a true difference maker... It's crazy but with how quite Leopold has been on Fenton I wonder if his seat is already getting warm? In terms of Dan, I think the most grating thing is that all of his posts are essentially the same thing just worded differently... He never does an analytical analysis of the forwards or defense and he doesnt seem to have any actual sources within the organization. It actually seems like it's a burden on him and he writes something quickly just so he can get paid by Ek...

[quote=mnhockeyguy]

Then maybe you should contact hockeybuzz and volunteer to do your own write ups?

[quote=mnMild]
What a great idea... why doesn't everyone on HB who has an opinion do the same thing...?

Ok, I'm not going to rehash on the trades, because I think most of us are in general agreement on them. And I really think the way Dan writes here is just to get all of us talking and giving our opinions, whether we agree with his take or not. So I think Dan needs to be cut some slack....imagine if all he wrote here was "oh the Wild suck, they are headed for the pit of misery, woe are the Wild"...would anyone keep coming back here to read and post? Majority of us probably wouldn't.

That being said, I am starting to really feel almost sorry for Fiala. Yes, it comes with the territory to be compared to a guy when you are traded straight up for him. Do I believe PF could have gotten more in a couple of his trades? Yes. But on the flip side, every GM in the league knows the kind of position the Wild have been painted into (thanks CF and Leipold), and knew that it should be somewhat easy pickings to get some talent away from the Wild without having to pay that much.

I'm not so negative as of yet on the upcoming season for the Wild. They started off the season being able to score, and we as fans have (for several years now) complained about Coyle and Nino only showing so much, complained about Granlund not scoring enough goals...I agree, they had their chances to carry this team and they didn't. Did the Wild get back enough in their trades? No, but at least it is a change of the status quo, as much as was humanly possible. Now, for the positives going into the season...

I see this is the roster and/or nightly lines to start with...and remember, I am saying it's what they should start with. After 3 weeks of the season, if it's not working, then make changes.

Zucker/Staal/Zuccarello - Staal is (even as he slows down) that closet the Wild have EVER been to a true #1 C. Wish we could have had him a dozen year ago. But he is still the best C on this team. And Zucker is a season removed from scoring 30 goals. How did he do that? By playing with a playmaker...which is why I have him on a line with Zuccarello. This line can get 30+ goals from each Staal and Zucker...add in 15-20 from Zuccs, plus all the helpers he gives them...sounds like a #1 line.

Parise/Eriksson Ek/Kunin - you will be hard pressed to find a line that will be harder working than this one. And with some skill on the wings, I hope this is the season that JEE becomes the player the Wild envisioned when he was drafted. I know the Wild are really thinking about Kunin as a C, and maybe he gets moved there if JEE doesn't improve. But I think this line will give goalies and defensemen all they can take in front of the net game in and game out.

Donato/Koivu/Fiala - Two young guys learn to play D with the old man. I envision Donato and Fiala racing up the ice with the puck, carrying it in and then ending up too deep to do anything with it. And then in comes Koivu like he was meant to be the trailing on the rush...it's just his skating speed that makes him the trailer. Koivu/Granlund worked for a while, maybe that can be re-created with Koivu/Fiala? And yes, I have heard that these 2 wings can't play with Koivu, because they aren't that good with cycling the puck behind the net. Point is, you shouldn't have to cycle for a long time, as the point is to get the puck out IN FRONT OF THE NET to shoot. I won't call Donato a sniper, but we all know that he will at least shoot.

Foligno/Greenway/Hartman - Now I have Greenway here 1 main reason. If the Wild need centers and Greenway has played that in college...let's see if he can in the pros. Foligno has shown he can play decent 3rd line minutes and not look completely out of place, so there is some skill there. Hartman has scored 20 goals before (albeit with CHI), so there is some skill there. Greenway has shown he can hang onto the puck in the offensive zone...some more skill. Can you imagine if the start were aligned perfectly what this line COULD do? I am not expecting all 3 of these guys to score 18-25 goals a piece, but I think it's a line that could score. And having these 3 guys running around the ice blowing others up would be fun to watch.

With all that said, yes, Rask is still the odd man out. He will either see a lot of press box time, or end up getting buried in Iowa for most of the season. I really think it's just a matter of 1 more season, then he is bought out. He has a TON to prove, along with Fiala, to make things right. But if both of them do starting playing up and above expectations, that's all just good news for the Wild. I also have Greenway as the 4th line C, as I think he is a player that the Wild could still trade away to try and bring in a future (very, very near future) #1 C. Who am I looking for? I don't know, but a package of Greenway & Spurgeon should be able to net a very good C.

Ok, now yell at me for making this so long.

I forgot to add a few more thoughts...I am very open to trading Greenway and Spurgeon. Both are excellent assets, and if you are familiar with my posts, then you know I think Spurgeon is probably right at the start of his decline. Now I may be wrong with that assumption, as Zuccarello has played for years as a small player and hasn't started to show that he is slowing down. But I also believe he hasn't had the injuries that Spurgeon has had. Trade him now while his stock is still high.

And with the glut of LWs on this team, Greenway has become a tradable asset as well. I say that because PF brought in Donato and Fiala, but didn't draft Greenway, so he won't be as connected to him. Someone between Rask and Nico Sturm can handle the 4th C spot, and with what I saw last year, I would hope for Sturm.

And if he Wild think Kunin needs to play C, then move JEE to RW on the 3rd line with Koivu and Donato, though I think this would really hurt Donato. And move Fiala to RW with Parise and Kunin. Or if JEE just can't do much, drop him to 4th C, move Greenway to LW on the 3rd line, pushing Donato over to RW.

I forgot to add a few more thoughts...I am very open to trading Greenway and Spurgeon. Both are excellent assets, and if you are familiar with my posts, then you know I think Spurgeon is probably right at the start of his decline. Now I may be wrong with that assumption, as Zuccarello has played for years as a small player and hasn't started to show that he is slowing down. But I also believe he hasn't had the injuries that Spurgeon has had. Trade him now while his stock is still high.

And with the glut of LWs on this team, Greenway has become a tradable asset as well. I say that because PF brought in Donato and Fiala, but didn't draft Greenway, so he won't be as connected to him. Someone between Rask and Nico Sturm can handle the 4th C spot, and with what I saw last year, I would hope for Sturm.

And if he Wild think Kunin needs to play C, then move JEE to RW on the 3rd line with Koivu and Donato, though I think this would really hurt Donato. And move Fiala to RW with Parise and Kunin. Or if JEE just can't do much, drop him to 4th C, move Greenway to LW on the 3rd line, pushing Donato over to RW.
- Gusrichards

Spurgeon and Donato packaged together should be able to land you a very good scoring winger or a good center.

Spurgeon and Donato packaged together should be able to land you a very good scoring winger or a good center.
- mnhockeyguy

If that's the avenue that you want to go with, I am on board with it as well. This "we'll make it work" idea with trying to get all the LWs in the NHL on the Wild roster is not going to go well. Professional sports that are played at very fast paces need to have continuity to what a player is playing. In other words, the muscle memory a player has from looking to his right to see the entire rink is completely changed and difficult to switch to constantly looking to your left.