What would it take to get Nino to leafs and switch Dumba to Spurgeon.

I was thinking Nylander, Gardiner, johnsson, a 1st rounder and say Neilsen.

Honestly I think that's an overpayment. You could probably get Nino and Spurgeon (probably have to retain half Spurgeon's salary) for Nylander and a little extra. I think if we lost Spurgeon it would do us some good to get Gardiner coming back and then have Brodin play his offside. Wild would probably have to add a little more. I'm not convinced Toronto would want Spurgeon since I think they are looking for a Slavin/Parayko/Jones type defenseman (young on a long term deal at a good cap hit) but if the Wild could get Nylander using Spurgeon I'm 100% for it.

What do you think about something like this:


Spurgeon (half retained)
Niederreiter
Eriksson Ek


Nylander
Gardiner (half retained)

Not sure if that works for the Leafs cap situaton, though. Also might be a little favored towards Wild. It's very hard to figure out a trade that works for both teams cap but also give fair value.

Much better than the original one. I still think it's too much though, esp. given what Nylander's value probably is right now.

Admittedly I'm a massive Nylander fan, have been since the day he was drafted, so I think I'd probably be willing to give up more than most Wild fans would want to. I'm very much against trading Dumba, this post was just more of a hypothetical trade if Dubas would only accept Dumba (which I think is very likely to be true given that Dubas wouldn't mind letting Nylander sit out for the season if there isn't a trade offer he likes).

Unfortunately for us Wild fans, Spurgeon is massively underrated in the national media and Nino had a pretty horrible year last year due to injury and his rough start this year has tanked his value. We know both of them are great players, but Toronto wants a young D on a long term deal and might not be willing to risk trading for Nino.

Selling Nino (and JEE, for that matter) low does not balance out TOR selling Nylander low imo. Nino's been getting hotter, and Spurg is just what TOR needs.

Say we drop Nino and TOR drops Gardiner. Then that brings the value closer. We'd prolly need to add something else, but I'd be cool with that.

As I mentioned I'm 100% on board with trading Spurgeon+ for Nylander, I just don't think Spurgeon gets it done. Trading Dumba is a mistake, but if the Wild want Nylander that badly I think that's who we'd have to trade to Toronto. Nylander could very easily be a 30-35 goal and 70-90 point player. It would come down to whether the Wild want a stud 20g/60 pt defenseman or a 30g/80pt C/RW. I think right now the Wild take the defenseman (and with how good Dumba has been I'm completely with them), but it's possible that changes.

What about swapping greenway for Eriksson?
Or is that asking g too much?

Remember Johnsson, 1st rounder and neilsen included too then.

Actually I think Greenway has more value than Eriksson Ek. Greenway and Spurgeon for just Nylander and a depth player is pretty close in value. I still don't think Toronto would do it though.

Nino > late 1st
Sprong = JEE
Brodin > Gardnier (not even taking into consideration he could walk after the season)
Dumba > Trouba (not even mentioning the headache signing him has been the last few years)
Coyle > Brown.

Nylander better be a 40g/100p player to suck up this much downgrading.

Is it really a good idea to have both the RFA signing problem children on the same team?

Where is any center depth after this season? Staal probably walks, JEE is gone, Coyle is gone, Koivu isn't going to last forever. Nylander/Granny (if he stays) as the top-6 centers doesn't sound too promising.

All valid points. I think Kunin or Greenway could slot into center if/when Staal and Koivu are no longer on the team, but I completely get what you're saying. I think it's hard to compare Brodin and Gardiner because they are such different players. Brodin is much better defensively, but Gardiner is much better offensively. I think I'm more inclined to say it's a wash talent-wise, but the fact Gardiner is older and a free agent next year tips the edge to Brodin. I'd imagine Gardiner would be willing to re-sign here since he's from Minnesota, but it's possible he walks.

I don't think he's that much better (but he is still better) than Brodin offensively. Gardiner also wasn't much of an offensive threat until his 26 yo season, and he's always had a lot of PP time. Brodin is finally showing some offensive chops now that he isn't being used as a babysitter, or the extreme shutdown role (Scandella/Brodin, Yeo coach).

He's had a lot of PP time but he's never scored more than 2 PP goals in a season. I still think he's a a lot better than Brodin offensively but we can agree to disagree. Brodin certainly has shown he can be offensive and flashed that ability from time to time, but at the end of the day he's still a stay at home guy who excels at shutting down play.

Check the 13-14 season, 3ppg, and a career .81ppg/60, 2.96 ppp/60. I don't count a career average of ~1 min/game PP ToI as a lot. Brodin's direct comparison would be Suter. Suter has a career high of 4 ppg, and a career average .51 ppg/60, 3.75 ppp/60. He does actually have a lot of PP time (3.5 mins/game pp ToI). For some reason Coyle keeps getting prime PP time and he's slightly better ppg/60 (.89) , but less ppp/60 (2.02).

Brodin has been pushed like 1 year, prior to this season, to be better in the o-zone (the Stevens was the d-man coach). He doesn't get much, if any, PP practice. His career has been weird overall with the RD/LD swapping and no real set partner for since Suter.

I was referring to Gardiner's PP goals and times, not Brodin's. Gardiner has never scored more than 2 PP goals in a season, and the most PP assists he's had is 14 last year, but prior to that it had never been more than 11 assists. My whole point was that Gardiner produces a lot of offense at 5v5, since you stated that he's always had a lot of PP time (in fact, Dumba and Suter have had more than him both this year and last year). Gardiner has a higher 5v5 points/60 than any of Suter, Spurgeon, Dumba or Brodin over the past 2 seasons. He also has a higher GF% at 5v5 than any of our top 4 defenseman over the past 2 years (although Brodin and Dumba come very close, but Gardiner has a slight edge). He's very good offensively 5v5.

But I agree Brodin's career has been odd.