OT: Someone explain to me how the Wild are a better team now?

[purplefaithful]

I don't get these off-season moves at all so far...

[Guest]

Good question...

[Guest]

They aren't better. Fletcher was forced to fix his bad trades and free agent signings by packaging Scandella and Pommenville's bad contract to Buffalo for more players who haven't lived up to their potential yet like Ennis. Foglino will be a solid Fourth Liner and will add a physical presence, but Fletch got far less in return than what he should have for Scandella. Pommenville's contract was a boat anchor that nobody wanted. Fletch had to dump some cap space in order to add some role players because the Parise/Suter contracts are only going to get worse over the next several years as their play continues to decline and their contracts saddle this team from being able to make any moves. Bottom line is that we need to be really bad for several years in order to have any shot at the elite difference makers in the top of the draft. We will never see those kinds of players with where we finish every year. Good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to get past the first round. We are stuck in purgatory until we can free ourselves of Parise/Suter.  

[Guest]

@TBro said:
They aren't better. Fletcher was forced to fix his bad trades and free agent signings by packaging Scandella and Pommenville's bad contract to Buffalo for more players who haven't lived up to their potential yet like Ennis. Foglino will be a solid Fourth Liner and will add a physical presence, but Fletch got far less in return than what he should have for Scandella. Pommenville's contract was a boat anchor that nobody wanted. Fletch had to dump some cap space in order to add some role players because the Parise/Suter contracts are only going to get worse over the next several years as their play continues to decline and their contracts saddle this team from being able to make any moves. Bottom line is that we need to be really bad for several years in order to have any shot at the elite difference makers in the top of the draft. We will never see those kinds of players with where we finish every year. Good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to get past the first round. We are stuck in purgatory until we can free ourselves of Parise/Suter.  

Didn't Sutter lead the league in several categories last year like minutes and +/-  for defensemen?

Also doesnt the Wild have several of the top ranked players in the world in their minor league system?

No that trade didn't make the team better, but I hardly think things are as dire as you make them sound.

[Guest]

Kuemper is gone!  B)

[Guest]

@Kentis said:
Kuemper is gone!  B)

now they just need to have Duubs implanted with a small device that gives him a shock if his heart rate isnt above a certain marker to keep him focused.  when he is on... he is on,  but some of the goals he gives up are so weak.

[Guest]

the wild will go nowhere with the core of mikko, suter, and parise. they need to bottom out before it gets better. the peak has been passed a few years back.

[Guest]

@JimmyinSD said:

@TBro said:
They aren't better. Fletcher was forced to fix his bad trades and free agent signings by packaging Scandella and Pommenville's bad contract to Buffalo for more players who haven't lived up to their potential yet like Ennis. Foglino will be a solid Fourth Liner and will add a physical presence, but Fletch got far less in return than what he should have for Scandella. Pommenville's contract was a boat anchor that nobody wanted. Fletch had to dump some cap space in order to add some role players because the Parise/Suter contracts are only going to get worse over the next several years as their play continues to decline and their contracts saddle this team from being able to make any moves. Bottom line is that we need to be really bad for several years in order to have any shot at the elite difference makers in the top of the draft. We will never see those kinds of players with where we finish every year. Good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to get past the first round. We are stuck in purgatory until we can free ourselves of Parise/Suter.  

Didn't Sutter lead the league in several categories last year like minutes and +/-  for defensemen?

Also doesnt the Wild have several of the top ranked players in the world in their minor league system?

No that trade didn't make the team better, but I hardly think things are as dire as you make them sound.

Jimmy, 
The wild had to trade Tuch, one of their top prospects to Vegas in the Haula deal in order to protect Dumba or one of their other defensemen they wanted to protect. Of all of our prospects, he was one of the few big bodied wingers that had offensive skills. He didn't show much in the few games when he got a shot with the big club early in the season, but he improved a lot in Iowa the rest of the year. Kunin and Lucia aren't ready yet and need more time in Iowa. Kaprizov is probably our best pure goal scorer, but we still don't have any idea when and if he will leave his KHL team in Russia to join the Wild. Greenway is returning to BU for another year. With Ek, Oluffson, and Reilly pretty much a lock to make the big club out of camp this year, we really don't have that much firepower in Iowa, and didn't have a first round pick this year after Fletch traded it away for a rental player in Hanzal. The Wild's biggest weakness is that they play a finesse style of Hockey in a league that demands physical play. That was very evident in the playoff loss to the Blues. Allen was definitely out of his mind that series, but we made it easier for them by an unwillingness to go to the net and settle for easy to stop perimeter shots. We don't have any elite goal scorers or finishers with this current lineup and that isn't going to change with the moves Fletch made this offseason. Will we make the playoffs again? I think there is a good chance. Do we have the type of team that can win in the playoffs? I don't see it with this squad. Don't get me started on Suter. He puts up meaningless stats and is terrible on the power play. He looked awful in the playoffs and gets too many minutes on our top power play line because of the A on his sweater and big salary. 

[Guest]

@JimmyinSD said:

@Kentis said:
Kuemper is gone!  B)

now they just need to have Duubs implanted with a small device that gives him a shock if his heart rate isnt above a certain marker to keep him focused.  when he is on... he is on,  but some of the goals he gives up are so weak.

The problem with Dubnyk is that he is what he is. He isn't a special goaltender. Once the league figured out his glove side they shot high and Dubnyk cant stop it as he has one of the slowest gloves I have ever seen.