still paying Roberto Luongo

So…speaking of MoneyBall! The Minnesota Wild will be playing MoneyPuck for the next few years, trying to look for the most bang for their puck!

In and Out

I hope that didn’t make you hungry.
AAV = Average Annual Value
ELC = Entry-Level Contract

In:

• D Alex Goligoski – 1 year/$5M
• D Dmitry Kulikov – 2 years/$4.5M (2.25M AAV)
• D Jon Merrill – 1 year/$850K
• D Jordie Benn – 1 year/$900K
• F Frédérick Gaudreau – 2 years/$2.4M ($1.2M AAV)
• F Rem Pitlick – 1 year/$917K (Waiver Claim)
• F Brandon Duhaime – 2 years/$1.5M – ELC ($750K AAV)
• F Dominic Turgeon – 1 year/$750K (2-way)
• D Joe Hicketts – 2 years/$1.5M (2-way)
• D Jon Lizotte – 1 year/$750K (2-way)
• D Kevin Czuczman – 1 year/$750K (2-way)

Out:

• D Ryan Suter – Contract Bought Out
• F Zach Parise – Contract Bought Out
• D Carson Soucy – Chosen in SEA Expansion Draft
• F Nick Bonino – Signed w/SJ for 2-yr/$4.1M 
• D Ian Cole – Signed w/CAR for 1-yr/$2.9M
• F Marcus Johansson – Signed w/SEA for 1-yr/$1.5M
• D Brad Hunt – Signed w/VAN for 1-yr/$800K
• D Brennan Menell – Traded (TOR-conditional 2022 7th-rd pick)
• F Gerald Mayhew – Signed w/PHI for 1-yr/$800K
• F Luke Johnson – Signed w/WPG for 1-yr/$750K
• F Gabriel Dumont – Signed w/TB for 1-yr/$750K
• D Louis Belpedio – Signed w/MON for 1-yr/$750K

Forward-Thinking

Kirill Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala, Joel Eriksson Ek, Ryan Hartman & Nick Bjugstad were re-signed. Ek looks to build off his breakout 2021 season as he moves to the top line between Kap & Mats. That allows Hartman to easily take Ek’s place between Foligno & Greenway as he’s the same kind of player Ek is, a hard-checking forward with very good offensive skills who will be a forechecking in-your-face pest just like Ek is.

They lost some veteran forwards but replaced them with younger, less expensive forwards with one younger vet in Frédérick Gaudreau (28) and 2 younger forwards that are still developing into NHL players in Fs Rem Pitlick (24) & Brandon Duhaime (24.) It looks like the bottom-6 could have some flexibility to it. Other than Fiala, who should easily stay on an offensive line & role, every player could be moved around as they can all play center or wing. Nico Sturm seems like he could be another Ek, a ferocious forechecker and someone who could make a bigger impact in his 2nd full season. He did have 11 goals. Maybe he sees time with Fiala at 

Gaudreau played with Fiala when they were both developing on Nashville’s AHL team, the Milwaukee Admirals, and he “was one of Wild coach Dean Evason’s favorites from his time in Milwaukee and somebody who played a major role in Nashville’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2017.” Duhaime made the team out of training camp because he showed he was willing to do anything to make the team. He stepped up to protect his teammates on more than one occasion, scored a sweet crazy-angle goal and showed speed and a grind-it-out mentality. 

Rem Pitlick might develop into a very good player. He scores goals. We know. He’s from Minnesota and he played for the Minnesota Gophers from 2016-19. He scored just 47 goals & 108 points in 112 NCAA games before turning pro after his junior year.

Is the Defense Still a Strength?

The Minnesota Wild have always been one of the better clubs on the blue line. They’ve had to be since they came from a time when expansion meant losing right away and building through the draft, not from the rest of the league.

Will we see the defense change a little since they lost half of them this offseason? Probably but Alex Goligoski is a very good defenseman who has his name on the Cup* and should take that top pair spot next 2 Jared Spurgeon without a problem. Dmitry Kulikov is Russian** so…there’s that for one but, he’s also a big physical defenseman so he should be able to fill Ian Cole’s role on the bottom pair and Jon Merrill was pretty good defensively for a bad Detroit Red Wings team last season but didn’t play well for Montreal after being acquired at the Trade Deadline. Jordie Benn was also signed to provide some veteran depth.
*The 2008-09 Penguins that also had a certain current GM on it. It helps when a player has that kind of history with a General Manager.
**Hey! Another Russian! Kirill, Dmitry. Dmitry, Kirill. Погнали! Pognali!

‘Tending to the Cage

Cam Talbot was signed to a 3-year/$11M contract before last season to be their #1 goalie and he lived up to that role. He was very good in the regular season and even better in the playoffs. He thought the Wild were a perfect fit for him because of their defense. 

Kaapo Kähkönen was very motivated after the way his 2021 season ended. He looked like the real deal in his first 16 games as he went 12-4 with a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 2.05 & a Save % of .927 which included a personal 9-game winning streak, showing the form that earned him the AHL’s Goaltender of the Year award when had almost identical number (2.06 GAA, .927 Save %). 

In his next 8 games, though, he went 4-4 with a 4.51 GAA & an .858 Save % and there were 3 games where he allowed 6, 9 & 7 goals. If you take those games out, his number would’ve been a 1.75 GAA & a .904 Save %. That slide was enough for the Wild to leave Kähkönen exposed in the Seattle Expansion Draft and, apparently enough for Seattle to not take him.

Cam Talbot’s play in the postseason (3-4, 2.45 GAA, .923 Save% w/2 shutouts) likely helped with that decision.

The goaltending should be very solid again this season.

Depth Charge

When Ryan Suter & Zach Parise signed with the Wild in 2012, one of the reasons they picked Minnesota was because they thought the Wild had some very good prospect depth that would help them contend in the near future. Players like Jason Zucker, Charlie Coyle, Jonas Brodin, Matt Dumba & Mikael Granlund looked like they were going to develop into big pieces of the future but not enough of those guys panned out to help them get over the hump.

So…now, the Wild have built up their prospect depth to a point where they have a full line of prospects that will, eventually, be the top line in the American Hockey League with the Iowa Wild. Fs Adam Beckman, Marco Rossi, Matt Boldy & D Calen Addison were the final four cuts in training camp with Boldy going on the NHL Injured Reserve List with a fractured left ankle that should see him miss 4-6 weeks.

That says a ton about the Wild’s depth and we haven’t even mentioned some of the other players on the Iowa Wild and in the system.

The Bottom Line

We showed you all of the change the Wild have gone through since General Manager Bill Guerin joined the organization to show how much he’s putting his stamp on this team. He’s building them into what he thinks it takes on & off the ice to win the Stanley Cup. Why should we trust him?

Because he’s won the Stanley Cup 4 times, 2 on the ice with the New Jersey Devils in 1994-95 & with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008-09 and off the ice with the Pittsburgh Penguins in both 2015-16 & 2016-17.

He ended his playing career in December of 2010, retiring as a Penguin then 6 months later he was hired as the Penguins Player Development Coach. 3 years after that, he was promoted to Assistant General Manager and was tasked with developing the analytical side of the game. After those back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 & 2017, he was assigned the duties of General Manager of the Penguins AHL club, the Wilkes-Barre Penguins.

That’s 8 years working with Stanley Cup-winning general managers Ray Shero, who he hired as Senior Advisor to the General Manager on June 9th, 2021, & Jim Rutherford.

We love what he’s been doing because it’s clear culture is something very important to him and to move this team forward. He hired Dean Evason as the head coach and has worked well with him to develop that culture into something that is felt throughout the organization because that’s how they want it to be and how they believe you succeed in the NHL.

We saw a different Minnesota Wild team last season and we expect that to continue with the removal of rumored locker room leaders and Marcus Foligno & Matt Dumba named new assistant captains. 

“Everything we do from today on is all about Winning the Stanley Cup!” – Bill Guerin

“We want to make this room enjoyable, welcoming for everyone…we want everyone to have a voice. That’s the way we want this culture to be in this room starting now.” – Marcus Foligno

and…

It is because of that culture the Wild are building that we believe they will have a great season and go on their longest playoff run since that amazing run in 2003 and they’ll get past the 2nd round!* BOOM! We do have 2 Russians on the roster, again, just like in 2003!
*No pictures of this prediction are allowed! Please disregard if we’re way off!

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and…

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