You can never have too many centers. Jost could play the wing if necessary. Sturm has played the wing. I think Khusnutdinov will be a winger.

Good point about expansion, I forgot about that.

Jost isn't really a center, as he lacks the acceleration to push play. He's extremely good defensively though. Works well on the wing and on the PK.

I think Avs would rather acquire Bonino using picks, rather than giving up a young roster player, unless there's a piece beyond Bonino that makes it worthwhile. A 3rd round pick isn't really that.

Unfortunately the wing are where the wild are completely fool. Jason Zucker, Previously if wild was traded by their GM Guerin to make room in top 4 w for Kaprizov. Sooner, as soon this year, or for sure next year, try to move Zuccarello or Parise to make room for Matt Boldy.

That's the Predictament they are in is having to work with agent of Parise/ Zuccarello to find spot for them.

I think the OP is making a suggestion for what it would take to pull him from MON. We’ve talked about it in lots of other threads and we are pretty convinced that signing him as a UFA and not trading is the best move here.

He’s playing to his level, bottom 6 guy that can fill in the top 6 when needed. I think he’s been playing well enough to resign in the off season.

So Minnesota don't want C's because you have Eriksson Ek, Rossi, etc. And you don't want wingers because of Parise and Zuccarello. And your D is strong too. I guess Guerin should just stay put because the Wild have every position filled, no changes needed!

OK Mr. Fenton.

That's completely fair!

I mean he wasn't wrong... He may have been a complete asshat but I have to say I agree with his philosophy and his front office did net us Fiala, Boldy, and Beckman...

I will say, the man could scout. But. It should have been Fiala plus, Rask plus, and not signed Zuccarello to that deal. He had zero clue how to deal with a salary cap. Good and bad.

Reason I had Mojo attached was because they have identical cap hits, and is also a UFA after this season so it kept our situations more or less identical as well.

I get that Gusev is the younger better player... but c'mon, he's not that much younger. He's only 28 to Mojo's 30. That's not that big of an age gap if we're being realistic here.

The Devil's are a rebuilding lottery team at the moment, so I figured they'd be willing to part with Gusev for an additional draft pick.

If I switched out the pick for McBain would that make a difference? Mojo and McBain for Gusev, or would a pick still need to be added?

So this was probably my biggest question with your post. What’s the point of Gusev? I agree he’s better than MoJo but given they’re both UFA at the end of the year and they are both middle 6 wings.

Doing it after the ED only makes sense for the Wild, not so much for the Flyers. As we can afford to keep him past then but the catch is they need a defenseman yesterday. If we don't likely do it by the TDL, Fletcher probably makes a move to shore up the team and their defensive needs for a push for the cup, and we'll lose our chance to trade Dumba to them.

Besides, I strictly want Ghost on the Wild before the expansion draft in order to pretty much screw over Seattle. With Dumba gone, we can go 7x3-1 and protect our forwards. I could be wrong, but I believe Frost is exempt from the ED. So who're you going to take Kraken? Ghost or Soucy?

I'll talk about the idea for and my general line of thinking about the centers in another post.

Gusev costs exactly the same as Mojo, but is actually worth the price of admission and yet hasn’t really been anything special in New Jersey. Not the same player he was in Vegas. Given his level of play to date he shouldn't get any more than what he makes currently on a new contract, especially on a 2 year extension. He's bargain bin top six winger material, which would go a long way to affording the big boy contracts on the team. The fact he's a right handed shot who would play nicely with either Fiala or Kaprizov is actually just the creamy icing on the top.

Edit: I would be fine with pushing the 1st to a 2022 1st from Philly, offsets the difference in value nicely too. TBH, I'd be willing to drop the pick entirely if the value wasn't there for Dumba.

Got it. ED goal is 7-3-1, which clears up my thinking. I’m down for upgrading MoJo to Gusev in this case, and McBain is a small price to pay (I don’t think he makes the show).

As for Dumba, I was thinking about the ED from Philly’s perspective. Dumba forces them to expose Sanhiem or Myers, ether of who I assume get taken. I’ve gotta think that was a big reason this deal didn’t happen in the off-season. But I think Frost/Ghost and a 2nd is the right value, I would throw in a 3rd or so to make that a 1st. Dumba’s start this year showed he’s back at the level he can be and Philly is a really good fit for him.

Looking forward to the post on the centers. I love the idea of a Frost/Rossi/JEE as a core for the future but there are big risks in the near term.

Thanks, but you could just cheat a little bit and re-read what I wrote in this agm's description up top. I'm just more or less going to re-hash that and expound upon it some, and by post... I meant in the comments here. Hell if I'm gonna make another agm about it, I'm too lazy for that! Lol! 😉

Jost is as much a center as Greenway. Bonino for Jost 1-for-1 is about the best MN could hope for.

Danault and Gusev are both rentals, why is MN giving up stuff to get them when they can sign them as UFAs in a few months? They won't have the cap to re-sign of both them along with JEE, Fiala, and Kaprizov next year.

I really don't understand the fascination with Gusev either. If he and Kaprizov hadn't been on the international same team, would anyone care about him in MN?

Kaprizov will play well with anyone that isn't a pylon; which is all he's been with so far in the NHL.

Not what I said. Read it again. Minnesota has two possibly 3 c role filled up with Rossi, Sturm & Joel Erickson ek.

When looking at wikd wingers, / Prospects; Unless wild can move one of Parise or Zuccarello, they have no room. Like for example, wild moved Zucker to make room for kaprizov in top 4.

Adam Beckman, Matt Boldy are possibly 1-2years away, Maybe 3 max. If wild decide to trade bonino for Jost, where is the room for him?

Parise, Fiala
Zuccarello , Johansson/ Kaprizov
Greenway/Foligno
Marcus Johansson, Zuccarello / Hartman

Wasn't there a report that it was wild owner who pushed for zuccarello signing wild fans?

Not that I know of. It does seem like Fenton made the signing to try and have something to show, maybe that’s where that came from?

He’d be expansion bait. Otherwise he’d play a similar role as he does in COL, Hartman will probably be traded for cap reasons.

Bingo! You're catching on, my friend!

After this year we would let Hartman walk, he's due a raise and is Arbitration eligible. He'll be more expensive, while Jost isn't and probably gets paid slightly less than Hartman does now.

It makes sense, and he could bring back a nice little return. Not to mention his arb case is gonna force almost anybody that gets him to not give him a QO, so we could circle back next year if we want.

But regarding your center ideas, I think we’re on the same page. Let’s call Rossi/JEE middle 6, Frost/Danault as the other top 6 is a good look. The only thing holding me back is that Frost isn’t proven but is a much better bet IMO. Danault would make things more certain in the short run but it is really gonna need to be the right deal, especially if Frost meets his expectations.

He isn't, but he at least has NHL experience and some time spent in Philadelphia's top six on their second line, where he looked solid. Like you my concern with him is if he can stick on the NHL roster next year, and that kinda determines which moves happen and which get held off.

But yes, the name of the game is we're doing it to stock up on center depth but at the same deepen it by making it better overall.

Overall plan for next year would be as follows.

1) Move Hartman or just let him walk, pay Jost and give him Hartman's spot in the lineup. Jost takes over the role left by Johansson due to his same ability to play all three forward positions. Which is why I like the thought of getting Jost so much!

2) Depending on whether both Rossi and Frost is ready to make the team next year, move Sturm, and buyout Rask as well.

If one of them isn't, keep Sturm, and send whomever it is to play in the AHL instead.

If neither are ready, keep both Sturm and Rask on the roster.

Makes sense here, I think we could go back and forth about depth decisions but those aren’t really worth discussion at the moment. The big move here all hinges on the Dumba trade which I really hope comes through.