Nah. Dellandrea is projected as top6 C, and I don't think DAL has the money to add Bonino as it prevents them from taking Seguin out from LTIR once he gets healthy.

The Wild could retain half and take on a cap dump to make the cap work. That said, yeah I can't see the Stars eager to trade Dellandrea. I would up the OP's offer a fair bit if they wanted to though.

I'm not seeing the reason for MN to do this.

Khovanov is a guy you keep and hope he turns into something. I'm not as high on him as many other Wild fans, but he is a boom or bust prospect.

Dellandrea would be nice to get in MN's prospect pool, but I'd rather do Bonino+pick to make it happen.

The reason is you upgrade from Khovanov to Dellandrea at the expense of something that isn't going to be a part of the future at all. Unless the pick is a 3rd, which Dallas shouldn't really consider, then it figures into the Wild's future in a relatively significant way. Bonus points: he's a right handed guy that fits into your top 6 in the next year or two.

The flip side is if you do Khovanov+2nd for Dellandrea, you better be getting at least a 2nd back for Bonino at the deadline.

Where in the top-6? Boldy, JEE, Fiala, Kaprizov, Rossi (?) should be the top-6 in a year or two. MN has plenty of wings to fill out all 8 of the wing spots.

I'd like another center bullet in the pipeline, but how much separation is there really between Khovanov and Dellandrea other than draft position? The stats between them are pretty similar since their draft year.

I completely agree here with the fact Dellandrea is going to be top 6 (I think the Wild could throw him in their right now), and I should have added retention but that won’t be an issue for the Wild. My thought was the stars get Bonino this year to shore up the middle and add a C prospect that is gonna be boom or bust. I’m also under no delusions that the best piece is going to MIN...

It's funny to me that your only basis of comparison between Dellandrea and Khovanov is points scored in two different junior leagues, but at the same time you also don't think Rossi is going to be a top 6 center.

To address your question, if we go with your assumption, where does Khovanov fit? The simple answer is Eriksson Ek plays the third line.

There’s quite a bit. Dellandrea is a fast 2 way C, he would slide right in with Fiala this year and let him figure it out. He was fighting to make DAL out of camp and what I’ve read is that he’s made really good impressions.

And JEE isn’t a top 6 guy, as much as we’d like him to be.

@wabit, @Caerii and I tend not to agree, but we agree here.

No from Dallas.

Well there is the WJC, other U-20 games, and Liiga/VHL to compare their stats, not just the Q and the OHL.

Rossi is smaller than both of these other guys and spiked a good year on a powerhouse OHL team. I don't think he has any elite qualities that make up for his lack of size. Everything about him says Jordan Schroeder 2.0 to me.

I mean, I agree that Rossi needs to prove it but it’s not like he didn’t score before he was on a stacked team. He got tools to work with and he used them.

Totally disagree about Khovanov/Dellandrea though. There is a reason Dellandrea is fighting for a spot at camp and Khovanov got relegated to VHL duty, he’s got A LOT to prove in Iowa this year.

I’m with you on pumping the brakes about expectations for Rossi...I do not project him as a true #1 center, but i do believe he will be a very good player. His processor speed, work ethic, and competitiveness are off the charts. However, to compare him to Schroeder makes no sense at all. The only thing they have in common is size...or lack-there-of. Schroeder had a very slow motor for processing the game and was an exceptionally fast skater. They are polar opposites more than they are similar...

I saw an analytics guy projecting Rossi as the best rookie scorer this year around 50 points, before his injury obviously. And at a certain level, that makes sense. He’s the most NHL ready of the draft class, processes the game well, and he’s gonna have KK/Fiala on his wing. So while I’m gonna play wait and see, I’m also a believer that he’s gonna be a top 6 guy immediately. I also think he could be a point per game guy in a couple years with the right supporting cast, which is a #1 center IMO.

And spot on with Schroeder and holding a bit of skepticism, but it does feel a bit different with this pipeline we’ve got now.

This is where I think people need to temper their expectations, and could maybe stand to learn about and understand the nuances and differences about projected player ceilings. And to learn to trust the opinions of professional scouts and analysts who do this for a living.

Even still, not to fall into the trap of listening to the thoughts and opinions of just one either. Because they are just that. Instead, listen to many. Their analysis will differ depending on their own preferences but will help to understand what the actual likely median truly is.

This method has yet to steer me wrong. It's allowed me to have faith in Boldy, when he started off slow last year then took off when put into the correct situation he needed to be put in, in order to succeed. It's why I have faith in Rossi now.

Everything I heard about Rossi, said his ceiling is as a Low-End 1C. That right away tells me quite a few things about the kid, and I'm able to temper my expectations because of it. Once he hits his prime he'll be in the same range of centers like Scheifele, Barzal and Larkin. That isn't anything to sneeze at, and he's still the best center/prospect we'll have ever had. He's either going to be a really really good 2C (on a top contending team) or a legitimate top line center and player for us.

Furthermore, within that Low-end tier of centers, Rossi is more akin to somebody like Barzal or Larkin than say Scheifele.

Truth, another interesting thing I saw this year was other teams pundit's panning some picks when certain players were still on the board, i.e. OTT taking Sanderson over Rossi at 5. Regarding both Rossi and Boldy, they aren't superstars and they aren't projected to be superstars but they could be top line players that we can build around. Hell, I'm not convinced Fiala replicates what he did last year with the way our lines are set up and that's knowing what he brings after X years in the league. But we do know Rossi, Boldy, and Fiala all bring talent, which is the thing that matters.

As an aside, I think there is definitely some bias with how MIN fans hammer the phrase "#1 center" but that means so many things and I don't think its beneficial when thinking about how the Wild can build themselves into a contender. Unless we get a lotto pick, and even then, we don't really have a surefire shot at getting that elite talent and its pretty unlikely we get one of those in the near future.