Dan Wallace: Where Do The Wild Go From Here?

Winning in the first round of the playoffs is absolutely the hardest series to win, period!

Not really. Wild are screwed with mediocrity. Not bad enough to tank and not good enough to compete. Seeks like a never ending theme of the franchise's entire existence.

Dallas ?

Guerin and Brackett have upgraded the roster with sound drafting. They need to continue that. Fletcher and Fenton set the franchise back with poor GMing.

The Wild selected Filip Johansson(a bust) at #24 in 2018.The Rangers moved up 4 spots in that same draft to select D’Andre Miller at #22. Miller played HS hockey in Minnesota yet Fenton couldn’t see that talent and try to get him? Stuff like that shows why the Rangers are where they are and why the Wild can’t win a round.

I think it's pretty simple (at least to say it, maybe not to do it) in what needs to be done. Trade off Fiala, Greenway, Jost, Dumba and Kulikov. This gets the Wild to about $23 mil in cap space, with 11 roster spots to fill. Roster Boldy, Rossi, Duhaime, Addison and Mermis (as the 7th Dman), and you are left with 6 roster spots to fill and about $19 mil in cap space. Use a good portion of that to sign Vincent Trocheck, a good C to play between Zucc and KK. Let's say $8 mil, leaving $11 mil for 5 roster spots. Hartman drop to a line with Boldy/Rossi. Gaudreau take Greenway's spot with Ek and Foligno. $2 mil to Middleton, at $9 and 4 spots. See if MAF takes $3 mil...3 spots, $6 mil cap space. Combined, give Deslauriers and Dewar a total of $2.5 mil...leaving just under $3.5 for that 22nd spot on the roster. And who knows, maybe Beckman wins a spot on the 3rd line, moving Gaurdrea to the 4th line. And maybe one of Lambos, Johansson, O'Rourke or Hunt win a Dman spot out of camp. Point is, there is a path that is doable.

Zuccarello/Trocheck/Kaprizov
Boldy/Rossi/Hartman
Gaudreau/Eriksson-Ek/Foligno
Duhaime/Dewar/Deslauriers (and someone unknown in the stands)

Middleton/Spurgeon
Brodin/Addison
Merrill/Goligoski/Mermis

Talbot/Fleury

Of course, this all depends on what the Wild get back in those trades as well.

Gus, I don’t favor paying $8 mil for Trochek who is a 2C. He’s a good 2 way center and besides Strome there doesn’t appear to be many good FA centers out there. Trochek will want term as well. Someone may pay that, but hopefully not the Wild.

It could be tough to get Middleton for $2 mil. It’s a substantial raise but that much for a guy you want on the 1st pair. Middleton fit in well and I think the Wild have the inside track but I think it will take a little more.

Good news is most of the core is under contract and the Wild could return a similar team to last year. The question is, would that be good enough?
I 100% agree that playoff matchups make a huge difference. Taking advantage of the last change at home can really be an advantage. Chicago used to have their best centers (Toews and Vermette at the time) take the draws in their own zone even if their line wasn't on the ice. Then after gaining control, having them jump off and getting the other player on the ice. Match-ups and puck possession can be big advantages.
With the exception of the Penguins from a few years ago, it seems that the teams that go deep into the playoffs also have experienced coaches. Hopefully Dean and his staff can take that next step soon.

Gus, I don’t favor paying $8 mil for Trochek who is a 2C. He’s a good 2 way center and besides Strome there doesn’t appear to be many good FA centers out there. Trochek will want term as well. Someone may pay that, but hopefully not the Wild.

It could be tough to get Middleton for $2 mil. It’s a substantial raise but that much for a guy you want on the 1st pair. Middleton fit in well and I think the Wild have the inside track but I think it will take a little more.
- Minnyhock

Any interest in the other Strome? He seems to have finally gotten his head out of his rear and competes a lot harder. He's a good playmaker (although a somewhat slow skater). He's an RFA who would come with a reasonable qualifying offer. My guess is that Davidson wouldn't be too greedy on the return.

Dallas ?
- henny1953

This is phenomenal.

Gus, I don’t favor paying $8 mil for Trochek who is a 2C. He’s a good 2 way center and besides Strome there doesn’t appear to be many good FA centers out there. Trochek will want term as well. Someone may pay that, but hopefully not the Wild.

It could be tough to get Middleton for $2 mil. It’s a substantial raise but that much for a guy you want on the 1st pair. Middleton fit in well and I think the Wild have the inside track but I think it will take a little more.
- Minnyhock

Wild need a true #1C. I agree that I dont think Trochek is that guy. The other guy Im concerned with is Hartman. Can he really replicate the season he had last year or will he regress back to a 20 point guy. Goalie wise I think the Wild should upgrade as well.

Wild do have a good team they are just missing a few pieces to push them over the edge

Gus, I don’t favor paying $8 mil for Trochek who is a 2C. He’s a good 2 way center and besides Strome there doesn’t appear to be many good FA centers out there. Trochek will want term as well. Someone may pay that, but hopefully not the Wild.

It could be tough to get Middleton for $2 mil. It’s a substantial raise but that much for a guy you want on the 1st pair. Middleton fit in well and I think the Wild have the inside track but I think it will take a little more.
- Minnyhock

I made a mistake in my idea. It might be possible to get Trocheck for $6.5 mil and not $8 mil. If true, then that helps in creating more cap space to sign Middleton. Looking for upgrades over Hartman centering Zucc and KK. I think Trocheck would be. The biggest asset with him, he wins faceoffs. Looking at faceoffs for the Wild on last year, Gaudreau was the only one at 50% or better (he was exactly at 50%). Hartman was below 45%. Over the last 3 years, Trocheck has been at 55%. Imagine the 20-35 times over a season that KK and Zucc start with the puck in the offensive zone. The Wild are starved for true centers. Hell, there best C plays 3rd line basically. I truly believe Trocheck would be worth a lot more points than Hartman, playing on that line. And I think Hartman's grit would play better with Boldy/Rossi. Reasons to trade the others...?

Fiala - can't afford and best trade asset.
Greenway - still is not consistent...time to let go before he becomes an expensive bottom 6 skater.
Jost - BG didn't want to pay Sturm Jost kind of money. So he tried to catch lightning in a bottle and it didn't happen. Just unload because the next 3 years, 4th line skaters will have to come on the cheap.
Dumba - expiring contract and the best way to open cap to improve the team.
Kulikov - my 9 year old nephew plays better defense. More cap space.

Of course, this is all EASY to say. Probably quite a bit harder to actually do.

Wild need a true #1C. I agree that I dont think Trochek is that guy. The other guy Im concerned with is Hartman. Can he really replicate the season he had last year or will he regress back to a 20 point guy. Goalie wise I think the Wild should upgrade as well.

Wild do have a good team they are just missing a few pieces to push them over the edge
- xShoot4WarAmpsx

There is likely to be regression for Hartman but not to the 20 point level. If the Wild get a true center, that player and Rossi will probably start at 1-2C with Hartman moving to wing. Hartman is a guy that can move up and down the lineup effectively. It is likely that the Wild just do stop gap in goal for 2-3 years hoping that Wallstedt will be ready by then.

Any interest in the other Strome? He seems to have finally gotten his head out of his rear and competes a lot harder. He's a good playmaker (although a somewhat slow skater). He's an RFA who would come with a reasonable qualifying offer. My guess is that Davidson wouldn't be too greedy on the return.
- Chunk

Strome has some size too. He would likely need a significant raise and he’s probably a 2C. Hard to say if Guerin would pursue him. Being slow works against him since chemistry with Kaprizov would be hampered.

I made a mistake in my idea. It might be possible to get Trocheck for $6.5 mil and not $8 mil. If true, then that helps in creating more cap space to sign Middleton. Looking for upgrades over Hartman centering Zucc and KK. I think Trocheck would be. The biggest asset with him, he wins faceoffs. Looking at faceoffs for the Wild on last year, Gaudreau was the only one at 50% or better (he was exactly at 50%). Hartman was below 45%. Over the last 3 years, Trocheck has been at 55%. Imagine the 20-35 times over a season that KK and Zucc start with the puck in the offensive zone. The Wild are starved for true centers. Hell, there best C plays 3rd line basically. I truly believe Trocheck would be worth a lot more points than Hartman, playing on that line. And I think Hartman's grit would play better with Boldy/Rossi. Reasons to trade the others...?

Fiala - can't afford and best trade asset.
Greenway - still is not consistent...time to let go before he becomes an expensive bottom 6 skater.


Jost - BG didn't want to pay Sturm Jost kind of money. So he tried to catch lightning in a bottle and it didn't happen. Just unload because the next 3 years, 4th line skaters will have to come on the cheap.
Dumba - expiring contract and the best way to open cap to improve the team.
Kulikov - my 9 year old nephew plays better defense. More cap space.

Of course, this is all EASY to say. Probably quite a bit harder to actually do.
- Gusrichards

I think it’s more likely they get a center from NJ for Fiala than going after Trochek. Personally, I would like to see them get that 2nd overall pick and get Cooley who I think will play in 23-24. NJ probably won’t do that. But NJ has 3 good young centers and probably would be willing to give one up for Fiala. Maybe Nico would be the one they would part with. But I’m just spitballing.

So, had to think about the idea of getting Nico Hischier in a trade with NJ. I guess I would be good with that. But if that happened, the Wild would definitely have to trade Dumba then. The whole point of trading Fialalalala away is because they can't afford to pay him. Hischier is a $7.5 mil cap hit for the next 4 years. That kind of defeats the purpose of trading away Fiala. And I honestly believe they could get Trocheck for cheaper. Of course, I am wrong a lot too. Now if it was Yegor Sharangovich, the cap space works for the Wild. But he is TERRIBLE at faceoffs and I don't really know much about him. Would Sharangovich be an upgrade over Hartman?

This is why I am preferring trading Fiala to the Islanders for the 13th pick and Noah Dobson. Then you know Dumba is being traded, and you get a cheaper replacement for him in Dobson, and a good pick in the draft and more cap space opened up for finding a C upgrade to put between Zucc and KK. This does come with also trading Kulikov, Greenway and Jost away as well.