Under valuing the KK contract by almost half, but I would be ecstatic if we could get Danault on the deal. Great value, great term, and it can be traded easily with his age. I’d even offer that on a 1 or 2 year deal.

I also think your expansion trade is reasonable, good work.

I gave him a 2 year bridge using the Kubalik contract as a comparable. If I gave him term, then definitely a short sell. He isn't getting 7m on a 2 year deal.

Yeah, it’s almost guaranteed we are gonna lock him up long term. Bridge doesn’t make much sense as that deal walks him right to UFA.

I've also thought about the idea to pay Seattle to take Soucy + so they don't take Greenway/Foligno/Hartman/Sturm ... I'm not sure Lodnia/3rd will do it but I'm all for it. Maybe Soucy + Firstov or Hentges or McBain? idk just guesses.

In one of the talknorthpodcast, it was reported Wild GM is going to target signing kaprizov , & fiala long term this summer

Wild don't want to take risk of kaprizov becoming free agent in 2 years, & leaving

Does anyone think, & this may be conspiracy theory; wild GM has a backdoor handshake deal with Seattle. It was reported Ron Francis is one of Guerin mentor. Also Guerin comment after signing foligno reeks of Backdoor deal, paying Seattle to take soucy, or paying to protect dumba, & foligno

No. There is no “backdoor deal” if there is a deal of any kind it’s from within the organization ala Parise or Zuccarello. BG gets to talk to his players and their agents about these things and they mean a lot more to him than the word of another GM trying to put together a winning hockey team from scratch. It will almost surely be Greenway or Soucy.

Would a 2nd or 3rd round pick be enough especially since calen addison needs a spot?

Enough for what? Addison is exempt and I’m guessing he’s 3rd pair to start next year.

To give away Carson soucy to Seattle

I would try to sign Ek to a 5-6 year deal at $4.75-5.25 million per.

I think there might have been talks between the 2 GMs to get an idea of it would take for MN to keep the guys they want, but nothing set in stone for a deal. There are just too many variables until all the teams release their actual protection lists.

Oof. That’s an over pay. Couts in PHI got 4.3 mil by 6 years and he had at least 3 consecutive 35 pt seasons in a row leading up to that. 6 year term, definitely, but I think he could be had at 4 mil or less.

It’d probably cost about that to force another team’s hand. Whether it’s Soucy or Greenway, the Wild will have to replace a middle 6 winger or a 4/5/6 defenseman which shouldn’t be tough either way. I, personally, don’t think it’s a big deal to lose either guy.

I’m sure they’ve talked. But until they have a deal in place with the league that could all change. The Foligno signing makes me think that Zuccarello or Parise had agreed to waive at that point. They all share an agency and that is more convincing to me than a handshake deal with another GM.

That contract (6% of the cap) would be just about $5m with the $81.5m cap. It was also signed before the 15-16 season. If it was signed after the 15-16 season it would have been for more money.

Fair, I also don’t think JEE is as Couts like as we believe. More than 4 mil with term is a risk this team can’t take.

We're not expecting him to be Couts; that would easily be an $8m+ contract. We're expecting him to be a fairly paid 2-way, 2C; which is a pretty standard $5m+ around the league.

Foligno got too much money and a year too long for what he is as a player. He'll be 30, plays a physical bottom-6 game, and chips in 20p a year. There will be several other versions of him on other team's list available for SEA. Plus each offseason has several on the UFA market that will take $1m x 1 deals. Greenway, Hartman, and Sturm would/should all be picked over Foligno for FWDs from MN.

Who’s your RFA comparable here? I don’t deny that he should be paid fairly but he’s still not a 2C, and we should see his role as a 3C of we’re contending.

His QO is 1.5 plus arb rights, which easily pushes him over 2 mil. I think 4 mil by 6 years is good money for what he is. And my comparison to Couts was that it was his second contract as a RFA, which is more akin to his value than a UFA 2C.

I used Hintz as my comparable here. They play moderately different types of games but the production has been similar.

That’s a good one. I’d put Ek in a slightly lower tier but that’s just me.

A $4m x 2 would take him to UFA and that's less than Domi and Strome (NYR). No way he takes $4m x 6. Danault will get $6m this summer. Cirelli got a $4.8m bridge deal, with no arbitration rights. FFS Foligno just got a $3.1 x 3 deal.

JEE has bee a .5ppg player since early last season with basically 0 PP time. He's an adv stats darling 5v5 while playing the shutdown center role. He's have a career year in a contract year.

Hintz was coming off his ELC and signed a bridge deal after playing 2 NHL seasons. JEE is coming off his bridge deal and in his 5th NHL season.

I think we’re gonna have to agree to disagree here. I think if you asked around the league, they would tell you his best role is as a 3C and maybe a fringe 2C. He’s not Cirelli, Danault is coming off 2 50 pt seasons off the back of 2 40 pt seasons, Domi had a 70 pt season, and Strome leveraged arbitration to get his money and walk to UFA. Ek is a great player and is doing a hell of a job but he lacks the playmaking ability of any of these guys and that’s where the money comes from. His scoring this year his driven by him getting dirty goals but is real value to a team is on a checking line that drives possession.

If he thinks he can get the deal those guys are gonna get, I say power to him for getting that bread. Signing him at 5 mil is just too much for what he is and the cap situation in MIN.