Is Spurgeon really a "TOP10 RHD" though? I mean, he's good, but is he really THAT good?

That's a nice roster. Once Kaprizov comes over, swap Kunin to center and we have ourselves a solid top 6. Bonus points if we land a top 10 pick and grab one of the many quality centers in the draft this year.

That was a good game last night. Would be a tough series against you guys!

I think he is. The guy takes away the puck like nobody's business and despite his tiny stature he is a beast along the boards. He can throw in a bunch of offense and he is great at transitioning the puck. He has one of the best poke checks in the league IMO. Basically, he's a jack of all trades guy but instead of being good at everything but great at nothing, he's great at everything.

Honestly I was shocked we won. Calgary had their foots on our throats almost the entire game and we had two lucky goals (the Staal goal and the Smith screw up) that I think sealed the win for us. I think Calgary would demolish us in a series...

Good and I'd say realistic trades for the Wild and they could easily flip Frolik at the next deadline for a pick, lots of teams would want him for a playoff run, he's a solid all round player who's won a cup before.

Yes, but the TOP10 contains in my opinion the absolute elite: Doughty, Karlsson, Burns, Pietrangelo, Klingberg, Subban, Letang and such - the players that would be established first pair D-men in every team of the league. Spurgeon doesn't really fit to that description - I mean he doesn't play even the first pair in the Wild, does he? I think Dumba is ahead of him in the team rankings.

TOP20 seems more realistic, TOP10 is a bit iffy in my opinion at least.

I hate to make excuses but Smith was far from good last night. Either way the Wild played a solid road game and locked the Flames down in the 3rd

Eh, I wouldn't put Subban in there, he's overrated IMO. Spurgeon is much better defensively than Burns, Karlsson, Letang, and Subban for sure. I wouldn't say he's better than Doughty, though. Haven't payed enough attention to Klingberg to know how good defensively he is.

Spurgeon does play first pairing for us. Dumba has a much better shot and is a little bit better skater, but Spurgeon is way ahead of him defensively.

No you can definitely make that excuse, Smith lost the game for you guys. He always plays awful against the Wild. It's kind of like the reverse Iginla effect who leads every NHL player in points and goals against the Wild, lol. I was really happy when I found out he was starting for you guys last night...

I honestly have nothing to say to this, I'm not sure why he is so underrated then. But if he is so good, why would you trade him? Based of what you've said to me, the guy like him are in the likes of players that are far too important to move from a franchise.

He's underrated since nobody cares about the Wild on a national level. It's the reason we've only ever had 1 outdoor game, our national ratings are awful since we've been a really boring team for so long. You almost never hear our team mentioned across the national media.

I'd trade him because Fenton has made it a point that he wants to build on the fly to make our team younger, and a 29 year old Jared Spurgeon doesn't really fit that bill. Other than Dumba, Spurgeon has the most value of any of our "old core" so we could trade him for a very large return. Plus, we have Louis Belpedio, Filip Johansson, and Simon Johansson as RD prospects and pretty much all of those guys have ceilings of becoming top 4 D. Spurgeon is an extremely important piece to our franchise, I'd even go as far to say he's the heart of our team, but we have to start thinking about the future and with the emergence of a young Dumba as a 1st pairing quality player, I think it makes some sense to move Spurgeon. I would be extremely happy if we did decide to keep him, though.

To be fair, I don't really know about the national media in US, because I live in Finland. So I have no comments on that point. But generally, the winners will be remembered. That's a basic thing that combines all sports, whether it's a team sport or an individual one. Wild haven't been that successful, and in a sense, it resonates to the popularity. This is why for example Barkov is so underrated - because a player like him are pretty much stuck in a small hockey environment without true chances to become successful.

As of the changing point, I get where you're coming from. If the team starts to rejuvenate, Spurgeon doesn't really have a place in there.

I shall hope that Wild gets a nice return for him.

And btw, Wild is actually one of the more popular NHL teams in Finland, because in 2011 Granlund and Koivu were such a media sensations after they were big parts of our team winning the World Championships. After that, Wild has become a favorite of many hockey fan in here lol.

TB fan. The deal is fair. Cally only a 1 year deal. Stephens a good prospect. They say he plays like cally and is a speedster. We need to dump a contract to pay point

Yep great point, we have always been great in the regular season but can't get the job done come playoff time. Over here in the States nobody cares about the Wild other than their own fans. We have played a pretty boring brand of hockey the past 6-7 years and we don't have any superstars like Crosby, Kane, Kucherov, McDavid, etc to make up for that. Hopefully this new team and the emergence of Kaprizov changes that, but I'm not holding my breath. Landing a guy like Hughes would certainly get us a ton of recognition, but there's a pretty slim chance of that happening. Barkov is extremely underrated, but if Florida lands Panarin and Bob I think that's sure to change.

Too bad we just moved our beautiful Finnish prince, I miss him already. I have a feeling he's going to score on us tonight...

I've seen Kaprizov playing twice when CSKA Moscow has visited here in Helsinki, and he's a freaking beast. Wild will have a heck of a player on him.

For the sake of Wild's future, I hope Kaprizov won't make a Panarin and decide to leave the team because it's too small. Generally, that's what happens in Europe - once a player plays one good season with a not so good team, you almost immediately move to a high-end team that has all the luxury and can pay big money. It happens way too often, and that's why I like the NHL so much more because it doesn't happen there nearly as often...

Agreed I've watched about 10 CSKA Moscow games this year to see him play. He's insanely skilled, scored the most goals in the KHL as a 21 year old which is crazy. I think he's going to be a top player in the NHL once he comes over.

Yeah me too. Sounds like he's excited to come over, though. Our GM visited him this past fall and had dinner with him and his dad, and apparently it went really well. His agent, Dan Milstein, has repeated constantly that Kaprizov wants to come play here. Kaprizov has been taking English lessons as well which is encouraging. I guess we better have a competitive team or else he might pull a Panarin, as you mentioned. Good news is that if he wants to play in the NHL he has no choice but to play here for a while.

Imo KHL has a lot of players that can play in high level at the NHL - Kaprizov and Gusev in the front, They've been playing better than Panarin did before he came to NHL...I'd be excited to see how would Gusev perform in Vegas - assuming that he wants to come.

Without question, yes! He's nothing short of terrific!

IMHO, he's better than Subban, Pietrangelo, and Letang from that group. If I could pick one player from that group to play in game 7 of the Stanley Cup, Spurgeon would be the 4th d-man I would take from that group. Dumba, because of his age, has a longer and brighter future...but if you are talking about right now...and for the next 2-3 years...Spurgeon is better. The ONLY reason I am always "trading" him is because I worry about his longevity due to of his size...or lack there of. For a team who is set up to win now and over the next 2-3 years, Spurgeon is a perfect fit. If you put him with Hedman...easily the best pairing in the league...easily!