Edited Nov. 11, 2022 at 5:52 p.m.
Quoting: MNBassman
There is nothing unpopular about trading Spurgeon to Wild fans with 1/2 a brain!
1) He's the team Captain.
That's the first reason why it'd be stupid.
2) He was literally our best defenseman by analytics last year. By a wide margin.
And low and behold. He looks like our best defenseman again by far
this year.
So there's reason number two, for why it'd be stupid.
3) He's still the most productive defenseman in Wild history and currently sits as the longest tenured player on roster.
If hating on his contract and height are the sole reasons and qualifications for fans having *1/2 a brain*. I'm rather glad I'm not one of them. Because I'd rather use the full 100% of it and keep the player that will likely be the second player jersey number to be retired by the franchise at some point.
If for no other reason than for holding off while he's still one of our two best defenseman and he holds a NMC in his back pocket. Which changes to a 10-team M-NTC on July 1st 2024, which is just in time for the heaviest and hardest year of the deadcap to navigate.
Because you see,
THAT IS when you trade him. We can afford to keep him and pay him this year and next, but the option to move him at that point will give us the wiggle room we need in order to navigate the final year of the deadcap.
Yes, moving him now would likely net you better assets. But you also lose the flexibility to free up cap space when you most need it two seasons from now.
Think smarter not harder.