imo they should keep fiala but will keep dumba

Top 40 pick and prospect isn't even close to fiala value. It starts with a 1st and prospect

Trouble trading Dumba is his 6m X 1 contract. The only teams interested in him would be contenders who don't have cap without sending cap to the Wild, which defeats the purpose of the trade.
A signed Fiala can be traded to a non playoff team with cap. Ottawa, Jersey, LA, Detroit, Buffalo to me seem like logical fits. IMO Ottawa might be the best fit.

Top 40 pick is a first or a high second. Saying it "isn’t close" is inaccurate imo because what I suggested and what you suggested it starts with is actually very close. The post wasn’t necessarily about values but more so about trying to gauge who people think is more likely to be traded between Fiala or dumba tho. I do think if they ultimately decide to trade him he fetches a nice haul

*Dumba… and yes I see the merit in this argument!

Dumba makes a lot of sense to trade if someone is interested. Maybe a 3 way deal with a team where Minnesota gets assets for Dumba, sends him to Arizona who then retains the 3 mil and sends him for an asset for the retained salary to a different team (Tampa would be an interesting option)

This makes sense in theory. A more complicated deal to get done tho! If they can get that cap hit down I’m sure contenders will be interested

Almost guaranteed not to happen, but imagine a 4 way deal. Tampa sends whatever Dumba alone is worth to Minnesota (imagine the return Dumba would get at full cap hit, this is what Tampa sends to them. Probably a young forward prospect and something). Then Minnesota sends Dumba to Arizona, who then gets paid a 2nd by Tampa to retain 3 mil of Dumbas contract. Then Arizona sends Dumba, at 3 mil cap, to another team, such as Buffalo, who then retains the final bit of 1.5 mil and sends Dumba at 75% retained to Tampa for like a 4th. Extremely complicated but Minnesota gets their return for Dumba and clears the full 6 mil, Arizona and Buffalo get assets for money, and Tampa gets Dumba at only 1.5 mil

For Fiala, a pick between 20-40 and an inexpensive NHLer or prospect sounds right. Buchnevich or Reinhart deals as comps.

Devils and Senators have that ammo.

The more teams involved also complicates things because as you indicated they need to be paid, but many contenders are asset dry as it is. You only have so many picks to give. If a team like Tampa got a player like Dumba on that low of a salary tho it would be huge for them undoubtedly

It's been made clear Guerin has no intention to keep fiala. Whenever negotiations go wrong, that player is gone. Guerin is the kind of gm that offers fair deals, and if you won't take it, your gone. Wild took fiala to arbitration last summer and it's been reported Guerin has no intention of paying fiala what he's seeking. So fiala is gone

I don’t think anything is set in stone yet. I’m sure management is doing all the due diligence necessary to make a decision. Will be interesting to see! There’s also a world where they both stay, or they both go! Who knows!

Generally I agree, altho I think this situation is murky for a variety of reasons. Obviously Fiala will be coming off a very strong season and those two comps were slight underpays (especially the buch one imo), however, the wild are not in a position of leverage due the cap situation plus Fiala is an RFA … what does that next contract look like? So many questions!

I think they could do it tbh. A 2nd to Arizona for the retained salary and Chicago’s early 4th to Buffalo. That just means they need to figure out what to give Minnesota. Considering Minnesota would be moving the full 6 mil, I doubt the price is astronomically high. Maybe Cal Foote and a minor piece, or a forward prospect like Maxim Cajovik + another asset