Yeah, I agree. I think if we're going to fit in Eichel we have to let Fiala go. We're not going to trade Dumba now and go from 4 top D down to 2 top D in one off-season.

I don't envy the Wild... if you look at the long-term outlook of your team next year when the buyouts of suter and parise rise, the Wild don't have enough cap space to cover those. And that's with Greenway and Kakkonen as RFA... rough.

Such a strange decision to buy out Suter. Wouldn't the Wild just be better off keeping him instead of having to sign someone like McCabe?

Absolutely. There is no way to keep Fiala if Eichel is here. Bill can't bank on the salary cap increasing by much in years 2-4 of the buyouts. If Fiala isn't included in the Eichel trade, then another trade would have to be made for a cheap young player or futures.

Dumba is here to stay...for now. I agree there is no way they go into next season without four top-6 defensemen from last season (Dumba, Suter, Cole, Soucy). They will have to address the situation again because he only has two years left until unrestricted free agency and will command a raise. They might not be able to afford him.

Players on entry-level deals will make or break the WIld in the next four seasons.

Well we’d have the cap for Fiala and Eichel this coming year. Then Zucc can be moved next summer. If you can get Fiala for 6M, I think it’s worth it to keep him around. You might have to pay a bit to move Zucc, but IMO it would be worth it to keep Fiala.

They definitely can't afford Dumba's next contact either way.

Isn't it a 10 team NTC for Zuccarello next year? He might be able to block alot of our trading partners.

Right it’s next summer, that’s my point. You’d have the room this coming year due to the buyouts but you’d need to ditch Zucc after. He could block some, but he’d be moveable. Not enough of a barrier to just surrender on Fiala IMO

I hope we can keep Fiala. But this is why I could never be a real GM. That was such a strong move by BG. I'm just waiting for what's next.

What’s next could be even bigger than what transpired yesterday. Bill wouldn’t pull off something like that if he wasn’t planning other big moves.

Lol well I sure as heck couldn’t either. It was a stunner of a move.

It definitely wouldn’t be easy to keep Fiala and bring in Eichel, but I think if you assume that you can dump Zucc the following year, it at least becomes possible. Bottom 6 would need to be very cheap plugs though.