BOS does that deal, but IDK why MINNY would. Right now you're $91k under the cap without a 7th d-man and filling out your 4th line with some very low cost players.

It wasn't a full trade, Bos adds. Just looking at the cap situation, and the most cap the Wild could take back in a trade from Bos. I couldn't make the cap work with either Hayes or Spooner (at a realistic AAV) coming to the Wild.

The pressbox guy would probably be a 7th d-man, it's just a placeholder.

Is Folin bad enough to make a trade like this necessary? Keeping him would save 2 mil that you can then spend to bolster the fourth line or get a better backup tender.

I'd prefer to keep Folin. and trade Scandella for nothing that effects the cap this year for the Wild. Pick/prospects. It's hard to trade $4m away and not take back anything cap wise.

I've said all along the Bruins don't need another LHD. We have Joe Morrow to be the 7th man and Kevan Miller can start the year on the left. The Wild don't want Hayes, Spooner or McQuaid if they trade a defenseman. The whole point to trading Scandella is to save cap room, but you're giving them a 2.75M player in return for their 4M player. That's not enough of a savings to downgrade at the position.

The guy the Wild should trade for Spooner is Pominville. They save approximately 2.5M or more and get back a top 9 forward to replace him. That's the trade that makes sense for these 2 teams.

If Spooner was a good 3C then I'd be all for it. Spooner wouldn't be a good 3C in the Wild's system; he's not good defensively, and can't win a FO. At wing he is even worse: doesn't win board battles, and has no physicality to his game.

He's as big of a downgrade from Pommer as McQuaid is to Scandella. McQuaid would at least add a physical element to the Wild's blueline. Spooner is really a protected minutes PP specialist that will make too much money for the Wild to afford.

Spooner's averaged 44 points the last 2 years and Pominville has averaged 42. Spooner shoots a higher % and is better on the PP than Pominville. Yes, Spooner is terrible at wing and has no intensity to his game, but they can work around that easily. They can just play Spooner at C, but have someone else take the face-off. Spooner will be better in any other teams system than Boston when it comes to playing defense. Boston has put one of the biggest priorities on defense that there is across the league. The grand savings in a deal of Spooner for Pominville is more than double what you're saving them by giving them McQuaid instead of Scandella, which makes it far more logical. If they really want to save money while at the same time downgrading less then they should only consider a Spooner / Pominville swap. You talk about McQuaid's toughness like he's a good hitter, which he really isn't. He's just a good fighter which is barely even beneficial anymore. To add insult to injury you called Ryan Spooner too much money for the Wild to afford, when in reality theres a 99% chance he gets less than the 2.75M McQuaid makes.

I'm not much of a Spooner fan but I would definitely be up for this deal. Figuring Spooner probably ends up with a deal in the 2-2.5 million range it would allow the Wild to keep their 5 defensemen (or at least not feel like they need to trade one to make the cap work) and still have some coin to add a 3rd line center and a backup goalie to compete.

Having no intensity isn't an easy work around.
The Wild's solution to Spooner sucking at FO would be to send Koivu to take the FO. Same way Bos sends Bergeron out for every possible FO. The wing that would be taking FOs on the 3rd line would be Pommer.
Spooner won't see the PP for on the Wild. Granlund/Koivu/Nino and Parise/Staal/Coyle are the normal FWD groups. Spooner doesn't beat out any of those players. The only reason Pommer gets any PP time is he plays the point position and that's sporadically.
3C on the Wild is expected to play on the PK, not winning FO's and not good defensively isn't a of much use.
Wild have JEE slated to play 3C to start the season, Coyle is also an option.
Center position (d-zone) for the Wild plays around the top of the crease, helps clear the crease, and covers for whatever d-man is pursuing a puck carrier. It's one of the things that makes Spurgeon effective, he's free to float around. None of those things are Spooner's strong suits. It's one of the reason's Granlund couldn't make it as a center in the Wild.

Wild need center depth, for sure. But Spooner isn't really a good option as a 3C, and not an option at all as a wing. I really don't see him getting less the $2.75m a year 49p and 39p seasons are worth money. He's a really bad fit on the Wild team.

Morrow did not receive a qualifying offer and is now a UFA....Boston is moving on from him.