Quoting: F50marco
Quality. They have a plethora of "good" players. Time to start trading some of those good players for one elite player. Unfortunately those trades take time to make. They are at a crossroads right now. All I know is Greenway, EEK and Kunin need full time top 6-9 that means a couple guys need to go. Coyle, Granlund and Brodin are my choices to be moved out.
Obviously if Parise and Koivu can be moved out that would be preferable but NMC's so prolly not.
Zucker (probably at his peak value), Spurgeon, and Coyle would be who I was looking to move. Suter's injury/recovery makes Brodin less expendable (imo). Granlund could be moved if he wasn't in the team's long-term plans, but he's too valuable to the current team (unless something major is coming back).
Kunin and Greenway need AHL time (1st line, all situations) for at least part of next season.
-Kunin losses this off-season to ACL (or MCL) recovery. I'd like to see him start lighting up the scorecard in the AHL before moving him to the NHL.
-Greenway needs to refine his game and learn to use his big body more effectively. I think the Wild want to see if he can become a center, like he was last year in college and the Olympics.
re to Wild FWDs swapping sides: Yes they have the ablity to play LW or RW, but the team is so unbalanced with 11 LHS and 1 RHS FWDs adding another LHS doesn't accomplish much. Patches might be the best wing on the Wild, but he wouldn't be a huge upgrade over the ones they already have (when healthy). It's just not a good fit for what the Wild would have to give up in trade.
re to what the Wild need: play in another Division besides the Central.
Seriously they need a Stamkos/Kucherov type of combo. And they need some team health, injuries really took their toll this year.