Quoting: GiggywithGibby
Who is Brackett, did you get spell checked from Bedard? Did I miss the part when Minnesota is going to tank this year to try and get in on the sweepstakes? If you make it as far as you did last year, you are talking about moving down 10 spots in the draft from late 20 to late 30.
If you are tanking, why bother signing Flower. You guys have almost 15 mil in dead cap for the next two seasons, so I doubt you find an option as good as Stolarz on that cheap of a contract.
Brackett is in reference to the Wild's Director of Amateur Scouting
Judd Brackett. Who is widely considered to be one of the best head/lead scouts in the business. He was hired by Guerin after Jim Benning forced him out of the Canucks front office like the moron he is 3 years ago.
Since then he's taken and transformed the Wild's prospect pool from the mid-teens (16th) to a top 5 prospect pool in the span of 3 years with his drafting.
The man has only had what are considered to be homerun picks in each of the last 3 drafts in terms of 1st round selections. He's added Rossi, Wallstedt, Lambos, Ohgren, and Yurov with those picks.
The fundamental point we're trying to make here. Is that we'd rather have Gustavsson and that 1st rather than Stolarz and a 2nd. It's not rocket science.
Do we trust Brackett to make that pick 20 spots lower? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, it's
still 20 spots lower in the largest stacked draft since 2015. A 20 spot difference is still going to mean the difference between a surefire top-six caliber player and a middle-sixer.
That matters.
Furthermore, Stolarz is already 28 years old. Which is a typical age for a guy to break into the league as a goaltender. Sure, he's better right now. But he's still going to be an UFA next offseason who's going to command $2M+ on his next contract. Which ain't great for a team that's fighting $12M+ in deadcap the next few years.
Gustavsson is only 24, a whole FOUR years younger, and has only played 18 NHL games to date. He has shown flashes where he has looked as good as or downright better than Stolarz in terms of skill and potential. He's still going to be a RFA next offseason, but we can likely expect to extend him at either $1M or under on a 2-3 year extension. I would much rather have Gustavsson learn and backup under MAF for the next two years while we wait for Wallstedt to develop down in Iowa. Gustavsson simply bridges the gap to Wallstedt too beautifully to trade him. At the time MAF's contract is up in two years Gustavsson will be 26 and Wallstedt 22. Which lines up perfectly.
Finally, Gustavsson was traded straight up for Cam Talbot. This would imply that Gustavsson carries as much value as Talbot. And Talbot carries more value than Stolarz, period.
So can you honestly sit there and continue to think that the difference in value is a 1st and a 2nd?
I don't.
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