Minny can certainly compete..... and I look at this season as a bit of an outlier in terms of how good they really are. Balanced club.... compete and scrappy. Made some additions to the bottom 6 which does chew up cap space, but adds compete to it as well.
Signings:
Stenlund: an extremely underrated and effective 4th line player. An excellent insurance policy on Kuznutdinov.
Sherwood: completely embodies the Wild style.of game. Tough, plays a sound 200 foot game with some offensive pop. Ability to play his way to the 3rd line.
Chisholm: has looked very good as a Wild. Playing minutes. Absolutely being him back on a bridge deal. Not out of place at all.
Beckman: enough game to male the lineup. Cheap 13/14th forward that will fight for icetime with Lettieri and Kuznutdinov. Let the best player win.
Side notes:
1. Obviously Wallstadt makes the team. Absolutely no reason to think otherwise and sign a goaltender.
2. With having cap space, it was tempting to make a major addition to the blueline..... it's a deep pool and thus some effective players may end up signing for less (supply and demand). Opted not to simply because the blueline functions very well. Middleton has a clear role on the team, and would say an extention would be in the cards. It also leaves opportunities open for Hunt and Lambos - noting Hunt is more ready.
3. With $14 million in Parise amd Suter coming off the books next season, signing Rossi, Faber and Wallstedt to extentions should be an issue. Leaving extra cap space to look at adding in 2025-26 depending on what those contracts look like.
Overall: I really like this club. Youth in the right places. Vets in the right places. A pretty solid system. A lot to like moving forward.
McDavid, Connor
250 000 $)
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