Jared Spurgeon isn't moving. Suter had an Epic meltdown when he was forced to play with a left handed Dman. He went to reporters thats how mad he was. Next week he was with Spurgeon again then a month later they gave Spurgeon an extension. You don't piss off your stars especially one paid that much for that long.

They do love Spurgeon and he compliments Suter well. They will have decisions to make regarding the cap. Vanek coming off will help but they need to sign Dumba and fill some spots.

Meh, he played fine with Brodin just fine for 3 years before that. With so much other stuff (lockerroom/Yoe issues/losing) going on with the Wild at the time take it all with a grain of salt. Pair Suter with Dumba and he'll be begging for Brodin.

I do like the trade.

Why would Suter beg to play with Brodin if he's forced to play with Dumba?

I litterally think Suter made his point very clear. What other way does Spurgeon get repromoted in such a short time while being given a contract for twice as much. If they traded him now they'd clearly piss off Suter and no FA's or current players would want to sign without a NMC.... If they do trade Spurgeon the effect will be bigger than just what they get in return for him.

Dumba can't play actual defense (yet). He is a 3rd pairing skill wise defender. You keep saying Spurgeon is a second paring Dman, Dumba is way behind him. He would need to take a huge step to be a top pairing guy.

Brodin and Scandella were Dumba's main pairing partners, they had to cheat towards the D-zone. It's not just the eye test, it's one of the reason's their stats both got worse.

Suter and Parise owned Yoe. They picked their linemates. Parise doesn't like Koivu as his centre and likes Pommer (the guy who didn't score his first goal until the 22nd game of the year) as his RW.

The defense was worse this year than the year before when the pairings were Suter/Brodin and Scandella/Spurgeon. Hard minutes it was Suter/Spurgeon and Scandella/Brodin (because Dumba wasn't good enough).

The idea was to move Brodin back to his natural handed side (LHD) and be Dumba's partner. It kind of worked when the Wild were outscoring people 4-3 and 5-4 early in the season, but it relied heavily on scoring goals not defending against them (the opposite of Yoe's philosophy).

Suter's comments came out after the Wild had just lost 6 of 7 while giving up 3 or 4 goals in each of the loses (lost the last game after being up 3-0). This is when the perceived locker room split started (old vs young). Spurgeon's signing was when GMCF was trying to trade Brodin to CBJ and the cap was projected to be $74m. The dynamics of the organization have changed dramatically since Spurgeon was extended.

I think the Wild need to trade Spurgeon, new coaching staff, new message. The inmates truly were running the asylum last year under Yoe. Almost all the coaches have been replaced (new head coach that makes sense), but some of the longtime support staff have also been released. So might as well use this year as the shift year from the old core (Parise/Suter/Koivu/Pommer) to the young core (Granny/Nino/Coyle/Brodin/Dumba). Scandella and Spurgeon (don't know how well BB/Stevens see him fitting into his philosophy) are the odd ones out age wise. The Wild don't have the money to sign a high priced FA this year (are dumb if they do).

I'm not worried about attracting and FA's if Suter gets mad (because someone was traded), winning and money cure a lot of things (besides the Wild really can't afford anyone for a few years). Trades happen all the time and NMC's have to approve the trades.

This trade is highly unlikely to happen, too much is involved. But it is interesting.

Cool thanks for the info wabit!

Great info,wabit! The Wild have a a spoil of riches on defense. It will be fun to see if they can cash some in for offense.