imo the Wild have very little leverage in a Fiala deal. I'm obviously not an NHL gm but I feel like Wild fans are expecting wayyyyy too much

Other than the Wild's inability to afford him, I think it hurts them more that there will be a lot of other forwards available via trade/FA this off-season that will drive his market down a bit.

Still, not often does a rights-controlled 25 year old winger coming off an 85 point season become available. Imagine him playing with consistently great-to-elite players... he could easily get to 90 points. He did what he did this season playing with an overachieving Freddy Gaudreau and rookie Matt Boldy who only played 47 games.

This 100%. And BG has shown he doesn’t get ripped off, he gets what he wants for a player or he doesn’t move them. He doesn’t have to trade Fiala if he doesn’t get an offer he deems worth it. The blowback on making a bad Fiala deal is huge, whereas the blowback on making a bad deal for say Dumba, is very minimal.

I don't think Ottawa does this, they'd rather just offer other pieces for Fiala or move to a different target if Min is only willing to accept for Pinto. I think the Org really likes Pinto

Absolutely! Trade deadline last year with everyone he picked up we still have our future picks. Yes we all have thrown out very high priced trades to get Fiala but the reason the price may be lower is due to the fact there are some really good players available. But Guerin will get us fair value.

I have that same feeling.

The blowback on making a bad deal for Dumba would still be huge as he is a great character in the room and acts as one of the captians on the team and the team dynamique could get screwed up if the players see that bad deals are happening for good players.

In fact no bad deal for a team is very minimal. All deals have massive consequences that can be both negative and positive.

he’s often injured and doesn’t put up a bunch of points. And his value mostly lies behind closed doors. Whereas Fiala going anywhere and putting up 90+ points is highly visible, Dumbas performance is not. Hence, bigger blowback. And by blowback that’s fan blowback, not locker room blowback. BG controls that locker room. Ryan Suter ain’t running **** anymore haha. Plus the team has known Dumba has been dangled as trade bait for 2+ years, they wouldn’t be shocked if he’s finally traded.

I am guessing fans outside of Ottawa won't realize how valuable Pinto is to them. They probably value him more than the 7th overall pick.

The reason the 7th overall pick is what is rumored to be on the table is because they need their NHL ready ELC talent. I highly doubt they'd move both Pinto and the 7th overall from Fiala. If Minnesota can get that kind of return, that's a home run. I think it will be the 7th overall, Filip Gustavsson (C level piece, fringe NHL ready goalie on a cheap contract), and maybe a 2nd round tier prospect or another pick. Player/Pick/Prospect.