With the Wild having 3 of the best defensemen in the entire league(according to certain fans) Add Dubnyk as a solid goalie, and they should be a top team in the West.

Just need to figure out what the hell is going on with the forward group I guess lol

What? Is he underperforming or not?

Is he worth 7.5AAV when he's 36 and 37.

Lots of questions

The reply box is blank lol

You're really getting hung up on this "underperforming" bit, lol. It's not a big deal at all. Part of that is because Spurgeon got unlucky and goaltenders saved shots that should have went in. The more complicated version is that expected goals accounts for scoring probability for all shots, and on the higher probability shots Spurgeon made the opposing goalie saved them rather than let them in. That's not the same as saying "he's underperforming in general" because we're only talking about scoring goals. Everywhere else, statistics suggest that Spurgeon has been producing at an elite level. And if you actually watch the guy, you would agree. I'd say he's easily worth the $7.575M AAV, and quite possibly even underpaid.

As for the comment you replied to, Dubnyk has an extremely high expected goals against percentage (basically statistics suggest he's a bad goaltender), and when you calculated actual goals (not expected) for a player, the other part of the equations is that you factor in the goals that the team allowed when he was on the ice. The equation itself is just (Goals for)/(Goals for + Goals against). Since Dubnyk lets in a bunch of low probability shots (shots that have no business going in), Surgeon's goals against takes a big hit. So really it's a combination of Spurgeon getting unlucky when it comes to shots, as well as being dragged down by Dubnyk's lackluster goaltending.

This just sounds like a Wild Fan justifying the extension... not so sure the rest of the hockey fans view it the same way. But hey, Go Wild!?

They don't, because nobody outside of Minnesota pays attention to Spurgeon. Every fan outside of MN thinks Suter is our best D, which is not the case. Sure, he's a great defenseman and somebody you'd want on your top pairing, but I'll take Spurgeon 10 times out of 10 before I take Suter if I'm building a team. I'm not justifying the contract, I think 7 years a bit too long. I would have offered 5 years and maybe cracked for 6 if Spurgeon was completely unwilling to do 5, but I have zero issue with the AAV. Trouba got $8M with the Rangers, and Spurgeon is a much better defenseman than Trouba.

You want to talk about bad contracts? Don't get me started on Zuccarello.

L zucc is literally your best forward, unless staal goes back to 17-18 form

I have no issue with the player, I'm a big Zucc fan, I just take issue with the contract we signed him to.

I'd take Dumba and Suter over Spurgeon 10 out of 10 even if they were all only making $1. Trouba is younger and just as good as Spurgeon, I'd take his deal over Spurgeon's every day too.

This contact is worse than both the Zucc deal and Pommer deal from the previous GMs. The Wild don't miss Spurgeon whenever he misses games due to injury.

Paying $7.5m to have him play on the 2nd pair is horrible use of the cap. Trade him or let him walk for nothing after the season was what should have happened. Sign a Gardnier type $4m deal for someone to play on the 2nd pair and use the money gained to pay a friggin center.

Trade Zucker (or whichever LW) for Faulk and Spurgeon pick/prospects and the team would be no worse for this season. They would also have a much more flexibility going forward.

He's in the mix with Koivu, Staal, and Parise for best forward on the team. Says a lot the all of the Wild's best players, outside of Dumba, are 30+.

OK so you liked Brodin on his offside last year? Cause Gardiner sure as hell can't play the right side and Brodin is way worse there. What center are you signing next year? Backstrom is the only one worth signing IMO and I bet he re-sign with the Caps. I'll give you flexibility, but I bet Faulk would be in the $6M range so you're only gaining $1.5M in cap

I'm fine with Brodin on his offhand. There is no dropoff in his game. Bitteto being forced into the lineup was what made the 2nd pair look awful.

I didn't say re-sign Faulk, but use him for the year then get someone next offseason. Or use Spurgeon until the TDL then move him if the Wild are out of the Playoffs. Does it really matter if they are good the rest of the season after that?

Really lose Spurgeon next year, or Brodin the year after. I'd rather have Brodin, he can carry a pair. Spurgeon can't, he needs his partner to do the things like clear the crease so he can roam. You can pair a 5'9" d-man with any of Suter, Brodin, or Dumba; you can't do that with Spurgeon. He's so reliant on his partner and the center to swap coverage around the crease.

Put Spurgeon net front on defense and the other team is scoring a goal, it happened so many times on the PP last year. Look at his GA/60 on the PK over the past few seasons, the stats aren't pretty. But hey that's just him being unlucky again with the goalie being bad, right?

Brodin looked horrible on his off-side. He was so bad that Boudreau was forced to play Pateryn in the top 4, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. I disagree about Spurgeon needing to be carried, he has been great regardless of whether he's with Suter or Brodin. There's a reason Suter wanted Spurgeon as his partner over Dumba before Dumba was injured...

I never claimed he was a good PK'er, I was talking about his 5v5 stats so the PK is just an irrelevant point... Zdeno Chara has allowed 11 more goals against on the PK than Spurgeon from 2016-2019 (per Corisca.hockey) and you don't see Bruins fans complaining about Chara being a bad PK'er. Hell, Jacob Slavin allowed 19 more goals against on the PK in that span and he's regarded as one of the best defensive D in the league.

I was comparing Spurgeon's expected goals % on 5v5 to his actual goals % on 5v5, that's completely different than just cherry picking one of those stats and claiming one statistic means Spurgeon is a bad D.

BB was forced to play Pateryn in the top 4 because of Dumba's injury, it had nothing to do with Brodin playing off-handed. The pairing choices were Seeler/Brodin, Brodin/Pateryn, or Brodin/AHL callup. Trades for Hunt (good in the o-zone, bad in the d-zone) and Bitteto (bad everywhere). Brodin ended up playing with a different person ever shift (or so it seemed) and both sides of the ice depending on the situation/partner for the rest of the season.

So you see no corrolation between Spurgeon having a high GA/60 on the PK compared to everyone else and his 5v5 eGA? The guy can't play around the crease and be effective. Dub lets in some softies (same as every other goalie), but a lot of the time they are coming through screens from guys net front, or he can't see the shot off the stick because Spurgon is trying to block it (his main way of shot suppression).

Being the highest AAV on the team means you should be the best and/or most important player on the team; to me at least. Spurgeon is the 2nd or 3rd best d-man, and the team doesn't miss a beat when he's injured. Seriously the guy has missed 113 games throughout his career and the Wild have the exact same standings ppg (1.15) when he's injured or when he's playing. And this is with a "lesser" d-man playing in a top-4 for him. Dumba, Koivu, Parise, and Suter all leave noticeable holes when they are out injured; Spurgeon, not so much.

Pick up the phone!!!

Greated teams vs your one million comments lol