I like Henrique, and I don't like Zucker...but, I'm not sure I do this deal. The last thing the Wild need is to get older! I would have to sit down and spend some time thinking about this one though...value is definitely close.

It's not a huge age difference (2 years), and I see it as more of swapping a 40-50p winger for a 40-50p center. I also think Henrique will age better than Zucker.

Carter is the other name being tossed around lately, that would be getting older.

I'd rather get picks and prospects instead of an older player who isn't the fleetest of foot. He's not Rask slow, but losing Zucker and adding him makes us even slower. I'd like the trade if we hadn't acquired Rask and Koivu weren't injured, but since both of those have happened I'd pass. Adding Henrique isn't going to magically take us on a deep cup run. Cut our losses this season, prepare for the draft, and gear up for next season should be Fenton's plan of action.

Gear up with what? Rask/Coyle/Granny and JEE as the 1C/2C. Koivu's likely going to miss time, and no clue how it will effect his game. It was a similar injury to Kunin, but big age difference and Kunin recovered close to the best projections. If Staal isn't signed soon, I don't think he'll be back.

Zucker has foot speed and that's it. He doesn't process the game fast and doesn't pass very well. Good passing and hockey smarts are what makes teams fast. Otherwise Schroeder and Brown would have lineup spots and be in high demand because they can skate fast, but little else.

Look at Spurgeon, he's not a fast skater, but plays faster than Dumba (probably the 2nd fastest skater on the team). Granny is an excellent passer, average skater, but has the ability to play fast (although he slows things to a halt way too often). Vanek was as fast as Zucker skating, he just rarely showed his speed. McDavid has top end speed, but the puck still moves faster than he could ever hope to be.

The Wild look slow because they play with the puck too much and can't complete a pass most of the time. Then they'll play a game against Tor and be the faster team.

Great up with prospects, what else? We'll have tons of cap to play with next year with no big extensions coming up, so maybe we offer sheet Kapanen for a 2nd round pick in next year's draft. If not maybe you take a bad contract (with only a year or two after this season) for some prospects and picks.

I agree that Zucker speed is often underutilized but he still pushes the pace on the ice. I'm not against trading him but if we do I'd rather we try to build for when Kaprizov comes versus adding an older vet (as you've done here) that does nothing to increase our chances of winning now or in the future. This year's draft is very deep, most of the top 10 picks project to be better plays than a lot of top 5 picks in previous years. Even if we land a top 15 pick, they will be a much better player than an Eriksson Ek or Kunin. How are you not frustrated with lackluster playoff performances? What good is making the playoffs when we have no star players to shine in the playoffs? I'm sick and tired of watching the Wild turn guys like Jake freaking Allen into playoff studs, I'm sick and tired of getting whipped by the Hawks (formerly) speedy play, I'm sick and tired of these core players doing absolutely nothing in the playoffs. Aren't you? The only way you fix that is by trading them, and instead of making lateral moves why not start building through the draft as teams like Winnipeg, Calgary, Tampa, and Toronto have done. Kaprizov looks like he'll be a great player, but what good is he if we have no talent surrounding him? Making trades like Zucker for Henrique only worsens that problem.

How is trading a 40-50p winger for a 40-50p center making the problem worse they have bacially the same contract? Kaprizov isn't some speedster or anything, besides both KK and Zucker are LHS wings, to go with Parise and Greenway (neither of them are going anywhere).

The only way Zucker pushes the pace is by cheating out of the d-zone. He's not the one carrying the puck in the transition game unless it's a breakaway. He doesn't pass or stick handle well.

CGY (and Bos) retooled and didn't rebuild. WIN sucked for their entire existence building though the draft, now they are finally a good team. Tor sucked for a decade, and they need to win it all this year, or they become the Hawks, but without the Cups.

This year's draft isn't that good. Even the top pick this year wouldn't have gone higher than 3rd in at least 2 recent drafts (McDavid/Eichel, Matthews/Laine), it'll be the 2017 draft all over again: nothing really special at the top and mostly middle-6 talent after that. The best player at the draft was picked 3rd, and the true breakout talent was picked 5th. I'll gladly take a middle-6 center now, than wait the 3-5 years for the middle-6 center drafted 10oa to develop into something.

Watching 82 games x how many years of bad hockey just to get the next RNH, Yak, Eberle, and Hall and do nothing with them because losing is so ingrained in the team's culture that not even one of the top3 players in the world can pull them out of it. I'll easily take the 240-600 games of good hockey and years of my life of 1st round exits, over garbage.

In 3-5 years of tanking you'll be begging just to make the Playoffs and a 1st round loss will be considered a good year. If your goal is Cup or 1st oa, hire Chia as your GM and let him do his thing. You'll be a "winner" 1 out of 4 years with the 1oa pick.

Because Henrique is 2 years older and it's basically a lateral move at best where we also lose a considerable amount of speed in the process. Kaprizov is a good skater, I've watched about 20 of his KHL games this year and he can push the pace. He also plays primarily RW. Like I said, I'm not against trading Zucker I just don't think making a lateral move like Zucker for Henrique is the best idea.

That's your opinion about Zucker. He doesn't have great hands but he scored a lot of goals last year rushing down the wing.

I'm not saying we need to do a full rebuild, I'm saying we need to get some picks to refill the pool maybe get some prospects in the process and "retool" to use your words.

Then why are all of the draft analysts saying it's such a good draft year?

Edmonton screwed the pooch on their development and trading. They'd have an awesome team if they hadn't had Chiarelli. Just look at the many posts people have made of the Oilers roster without Chia. What good are those 240-600 games if you never see this team win a cup? Why even be a hockey fan if you don't want your team to win? Your whole argument is that you want to watch good hockey, so by definition don't you want to win the cup? Because this team has proven for 6 years in a row that it's not good enough to do that.

Lol. I'm a Minnesota sports fan, you really think I'll be begging for the playoffs after only 3-5 years? I've watched so much sh*t unfold in my lifetime with this state's sports. 3-5 years is nothing to me if it means we can be better in the future. Also for the record, I never said we needed the 1OA pick.

Because if they didn't hype it why would people bother to pay attention to them? You ever watch the draft and notice they are comparing 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round picks to 1st line players. Deep just means there are a lot of guys who will be NHLers (play 100 NHL games in their career). The talent pool in this draft is like the Wild, "good but not great" The Wild have been rolling 3 lines of solid players for the last 4 years, they don't have the quality of the RNH/McDavid/Drais or Landy/MacK/Rat; which would be a top heavy draft.

To say guys would be a top-5 pick in other years is easy with the benefit of 20/20 goggles and G. Reinhart, a couple of Stromes, Yak, etc as previous top-5 picks. This can be said any year and be true. Same as I can say "it'll snow this winter in MN" with as much confidence.