1) being a wings fan living in Minnesota, it would be fun to watch Larks in person more often, but I’d rather watch him on tv with the wings.
2) Larkin will be resigned or dealt before walking for nothing.
3) you can’t sign him to an 8 year deal.

Why the Greenway hate?

Yeah I don’t think there is any chance Larkin leaves Detroit but if he does Guerin has to make a move, we’ve needed a 1c forever and Larkin is a heck of a player/teammate. I wasn’t aware you couldn’t sign him to an 8 year deal. Also I don’t have any hate for Greenway I just don’t think he impacts games in many ways, he’s just skating around out there most of the time.

A true number one with Kap would be scary. That kid is going to be fun for years. I hope personally it isn’t Larkin, and that Rossi claims that spot.

Watching Greenway last season I loved his game. Missing the time he did, it probably takes him a bit to get back into the swing of things.

All things considered, BG is doing very well getting through the Parise/Suter dilemma. Imagine when he has a full cap to work with, mixed in with the defensive prospects coming in. Speaking of which, Detroit would gladly take Faber or Addison lol

There is nothing unpopular about trading Spurgeon to Wild fans with 1/2 a brain!

1) He's the team Captain.

That's the first reason why it'd be stupid.

2) He was literally our best defenseman by analytics last year. By a wide margin.

And low and behold. He looks like our best defenseman again by far this year.

So there's reason number two, for why it'd be stupid.

3) He's still the most productive defenseman in Wild history and currently sits as the longest tenured player on roster.

If hating on his contract and height are the sole reasons and qualifications for fans having *1/2 a brain*. I'm rather glad I'm not one of them. Because I'd rather use the full 100% of it and keep the player that will likely be the second player jersey number to be retired by the franchise at some point.

If for no other reason than for holding off while he's still one of our two best defenseman and he holds a NMC in his back pocket. Which changes to a 10-team M-NTC on July 1st 2024, which is just in time for the heaviest and hardest year of the deadcap to navigate.

Because you see, THAT IS when you trade him. We can afford to keep him and pay him this year and next, but the option to move him at that point will give us the wiggle room we need in order to navigate the final year of the deadcap.

Yes, moving him now would likely net you better assets. But you also lose the flexibility to free up cap space when you most need it two seasons from now.

Think smarter not harder.

You have way too much time on your hands!

Go preach your always inside the box thinking elsewhere please!

Oh, and what is it that makes you think that?

Furthermore. How I choose to spend my time, free or otherwise, isn't really anyone else's concern but my own.

Wouldn't you agree?

And I'm sorry if my logical and sound reasoning and the conclusions based off of them because of the Wild's $12-14M in deadcap the next few years destroys your precious but ludicrous notions of fantasizing over moving certain players.

For the record, I've posted many outside-the-box thinking posts in my time here as well. But if my tendency to keep a realistic outlook on things upsets you.

Oh the f*** well! 🤷‍♂️

You have an impressive vocabulary!

Spurgeon is a stud and has been a stud for his entire tenure with the Wild. I love watching the dude play and have loved watching him since he entered the league with us.

That being said, this team is going into a transitional period and he will be turning 33 years old two weeks from now with probably the highest value he will ever have.

If you can net a 2023 1st or 2024 1st for him at the deadline or during the next off season then you’d have to at least consider it. He’s bound to regress at some point over the next 2-3 years and if you’re a GM you don’t want to be stuck paying 35-36 year old defenseman 7.75m a year after he’s regressed. Look at OEL for example, that’s a nightmare situation for a GM and I’d rather be on Arizona’s side of that deal, not stuck overpaying a washed up defenseman.

None of that is meant to underestimate Spurgeon and his capabilities, it’s just what happens to the human body once you start reaching a certain age.

Lastly, I hope Spurgeon does defy the deterioration of the human body and plays lights out until he decides to retire but considering the circumstances, trading him within the next year isn’t a bad idea in my mind. Especially with Addison thriving and Faber looking to join the team next season.

And that right there is the crux of it. He's still good. So there's no need to move him. And we have a defensive prospect pool that'll be pushing for ice time in the next two years.

But you don't move him now before they're ready. You move him in two years when his NMC changes to a 10-team M-NTC, and that $7M coming off our cap hit is most crucial in getting through the last year of the heavy buyouts, and when Addison and Faber are pushing to become the teams 1-2 punch on the right side. In two years time.

Trading him now is, frankly, premature. Yes, his value will be less, and you potentially will have to pay to have someone take him. But why are we trading him now, just so we can spend that cap space regardless and then find ourselves screwed for having done so two years from now.

Move him now, spend the opened cap space over the next two years, and lose the flexibility of moving $7M in cap space while having $14.7M in deadcap and having 14 roster spots to fill in 2024.

It doesn't make sense to move him.

Not yet.

It doesn’t make sense if you truly believe this is a cup contending team. As of right now, this is nowhere close to a cup contending team and they don’t have any reinforcements that would make me think otherwise. To me, this current team is another 1st round exit at best and more likely a team that just barely misses the playoffs.

As for Spurg still being good, you’re right. The only issue with that is as soon as he’s no longer good, nobody will want any part of him, therefor leaving us paying a washed up defenseman 7.75 a year.

Good GMs make moves when the moves make sense, great GMs make moves before the moves make sense. Several teams in the league are currently reaping the benefits of trading star players right before their age catches up to them and I would prefer to be one of those teams, not the other way around.

So....

You're just going to ignore everything I wrote that basically countered your argument then.

Gotcha.

Nice talk.

I agree with you it doesn’t make sense to move him yet, read the last segment of my previous response.

He's good, but not worth his contract. He's overpaid by the same amount as Dumba is. He's also not good in the Playoffs.

$7.5m would get a good 2C/low1C; which is something that might help the team in scoring things called goals. Injuries have hurt MN, sure, but it's not like it's been Boldy, Kap, and Zucc out of the lineup. It's bottom-6ers like Hartman, Greenway, Foligno, and Duhaime.

Foligno is another player I'd be looking to move. He looks like the player he was his first year in MN. Jost just needs to be gone.