Joined: Jun. 2017
Posts: 8,697
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I wouldn't expect any big moves. After the Fiala trade I was convinced we'd be after Miller to replace Fiala's production and stay competitive, but after thinking on it some more Guerin's plan is 100% to build through the draft.
Russo has said numerous times that buying out Suter/Parise bought Fiala one more year with the Wild and the plan all along was to move him. Guerin would probably argue otherwise, but nobody thought Hartman, Gaudreau, and Foligno would have as good of years as they did. There were definitely concerns about Kaprizov, too, since he had mainly played against 7 teams his rookie year and while he looked great that season a lot of people questioned whether or not he could keep that up in a normal season. Had those guys not performed at the level they did, and Fiala were moved last offseason, we're probably looking at a team that ends up with a lottery pick this year. Our prospect pool is probably the best it has ever been in franchise history, especially after acquiring Faber. We've got two legitimate potential top pairing defenseman with Lambos and Faber (not saying they'll reach that potential - but it's there), a potential top line center with Rossi, and the best goalie prospect in the world. We also have some pretty decent secondary prospects with Khusnutdinov, Beckman, Peart, O'Rourke, and Hunt. If we can get one or two more forward prospects with high upside, this team could be incredibly dangerous in 3 years when the Parise and Suter dead money is almost negligible.