Only way wild could buy NHL level talent is trading away prospects and draft picks. Kaprizov and Boldy would fetch a nice return. If Wild did this they probably still wouldn't be good enough to win a cup. Put some potential trades out there and see what people are willing to give up.

Go all in or tear it down as much as possible, this staggering along as is isn't gonna get this team anywhere.

If you're going to be a buyer, you have to have surplus assets to offer (if they're not surplus, it's difficult to make anything more than a lateral trade). For example, without passing on their value, Buffalo has an excess of RD and Anaheim has an extra young LD (Jacob Larsson, Brendan Guhle, Josh Mahura). I don't see anything "extra" on your team other than a surplus of middle-six forwards, all of whom are left-handed at that, which seems to me to restrict your possibilities. Furthermore, forward is where your need is, because you have a strong defense set through next season and goaltending hasn't really lost you a significant number of games even with Dubnyk underperforming. And other than Chris Kreider (yet another leftie), I don't see anyone on the horizon that might make a significant difference for you even though I've suggested a trade with Pittsburgh for homeboy Nick Bjugstad (based more on the Penguins' cap needs than anything else) a couple of times. Maybe some dice rolls like Ho-Sang or Puljujarvi might bear unexpected fruit, but they're risky.

I hope the thought of trading Boldy or Kaprizov makes you shiver as much as the thought of trading Zegras or Lundestrom or Comtois or Tracey does me.

Yes it does. Unfortunately the Wilds prospect pool is pretty shallow. Most of the other prospects would probably fetch 3rd line talent at best.

Oh I totally agree. The majority of our prospect pool are bottom 6 potential players (minus the likes of kaprisov and boldy), but Wild have made stagnant moves for the longest time and i feel a risk has to be taken at some point

We have a few prospects with better than bottom 6 potential but they are not far enough along to get top 6 return.

Blues are different, on paper their team was packed full of talent and should have been winning all season, it was legitimately a goalie difference. Minnesota is a team with some talent yes, but they are also a team that has a lot of older contracts. It should be noted that the only team the Wild beat of recent that are actually a legitimate playoff team is Colorado, who us quite injured right now.

Like Filip Forsberg for Martin Erat?

I mean honestly, no one should ever assume their team is gonna do what the Blues did last year. It was magical and amazing, but remember they were the dark horse candidate in the preseason to make the Cup Finals. So it wasn’t like it was unbelievable that the talent finally meshed.

As for the Wild, I would go full on sell mode and work on dealing anything with value over 25 years old I’d ship out and maintain just a few vets for development sake. This is supposed to be a good draft so I’d take as many picks as I could get my hands on plus futures who are a year or two out.

It won’t surprise me one bit when/if the Wild talk themselves into being buyers at the deadline this year... They have spent the better part of 20 years borrowing from their future to build a decent team for today and have literally nothing to show for it but yet another decent team and a prospect cupboard that is barren. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.