Would the Wild really be looking to move Greenway? 4 of their top 5 scorers last season were under 25 and they seem to have refocued around this young group which includes Greenway.

I think most of us Wild fans see Greenway as a dammed if you do/dammed if you don’t kind of player when it comes to trading him. On one side of the coin, he is an incredibly unique player because of his size and skill…but on the other side of that coin is the fact that he is insanely inconsistent! If the Wild trade him and he finally figures it out…he’s gonna be great…if they keep him and he doesn’t, he’s a 3rd line wing with a lot of wasted ability…

Best case scenario? He becomes the ideal power forward who can provide some size and muscle on a scoring line.
Worst case scenario? He stays a defensively solid third liner who can kill penalties.

Just a few million dollars in difference between roles. lol

What are Vilardi’s floor and ceiling?

Not exactly answering your question, but IMO Vilardi is pretty overrated on this site. I wouldn’t make this trade. Vilardi is not nearly as dynamic as Fiala, and unless he makes a big leap, he’s topping out as a very average 2C. If played as a winger, he won’t match Fialas production.

Villardi hasn’t played a full season yet, but his playmaking is elite. It’s ironic you’re using Fiala as a comparable because it took him a few years to get it and Villardi looks to be ahead of where Fiala was at this point in his career. The Kings aren’t giving up on Villardi when the issue isn’t skill. The issue is consistency. It also hurt him that the Kings thrust him into a 2C role last year when he wasn’t quite ready for all the defensive zone face offs. He’s going to improve with Danault taking the pressure off. I like Fiala, but hard pass by LA at this point.

Its not ironic - I’m using Fiala as a comparison because the trade is essentially a 1-1 swap on Fiala-Vilardi. It’s not like just picked him at random.

I also wouldn’t say Vilardi is “elite” at anything. That’s not saying he isn’t skilled, but that’s kinda exactly my point. Fans on this site overrate him. You’re saying he’s an “elite” playmaker, but the guy has 17 career assists.

I get that he’s basically still a prospect, I get that he has the toolkit, I get that he was a high draft pick, I get that he was deployed to a tough role. All of that may be true, but that doesn’t mean his value is equal to or greater than Fialas.

I respect that LA would pass on this deal and understand why. I would hope MIN does as well.

I’ll rephrase. Vilardi is the best playmaker in the organization not named Kopitar. He’s only played 64 games and if you watch his highlights, you can tell he sees the ice the way Zegras does. He’s just not as consistent yet or as fast (due to size.). But the real point I was trying to make is that we don’t want to give up on his promise, and have him be the next Leddy or Burns that we regretfully wish we didn’t trade.

That said, MN’s window is now and Fiala shouldn’t be traded for Vilardi’s present. LA’s window is in a couple years where Vilardi’s future should be better than Fiala’s, with a more favorable cap hit.

I agree with all of that. I don’t think either team should be making this trade, or more generally moving either player. It’s a particularly important year for both.

Remember that Fiala had a pretty nasty leg break that took him about 2 full years to recover from.