MINI BTP: Vision For The Division (Minnesota Wild)

Brandon Mileski and Pat Micheletti continue their "Vision For The Division" Series as they preview the Minnesota Wild's season on this episode of MINI BTP!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, Brandon Lewski, Pat mcilatieanother episode of Mini BTP. We're continuing
our vision for the division series andwe've been going up from the bottom to
the top of the Central Division basedoff the last Fanning's pad and we've reached
the Minnesota while who finished third inthe Central Division. We all know what
happened in the playoffs last season,but Pat, not a lot happening this

(00:21):
offseason. And I think the salarycap issues are are well documented, but
it's been more of an off seasonof players not returning as opposed to players
coming in correct. And you know, I think Brandon, we could go
all season long and talk about youknow, that excuse or however you want

(00:46):
to phrase it as, oh,well, you know, just wait.
I don't think the organization looks atit like that, where you know,
yeah, two years down the road, you know, we'll have all this
money blah blah blah. They don'tthink like that, And I don't think
we should use that crutch for thateither. You know, they they made

(01:07):
that decision, which agree with itor not. I happen to agree that
it was the right move for theorganization. You know, are are they?
You know, realistically, we whenwhen we look at it, we
need to say, you know,is this team ready to win a Stanley
Cup? Now I don't think theyare. And but I don't think we

(01:30):
should use that excuse either. Thatwell, because because of the buyouts,
this is why they're not ready.They don't look at it like that.
They they look at it, youknow, like, hey, we're going
to give ourselves every chance to winwith what we have. We think this
is the direction that we're going.Yes, we're short money, but you
know they're they're not gonna they're notgoing to talk about that, right and

(01:53):
so and and nor I don't thinkI don't think we should either going into
it. They are what they are. They had one hundred points what the
last two years in a row,and in my mind, there's no reason
to think that they won't hit thatlevel again. And then you know,

(02:14):
and then you have your playoffs.Here's my concern with the salary cap,
Pat and I think out of allthe years, this is going to be
the biggest crunch of them all becauseeven next year, even though the buyouts
are the same, you know,you technically have Zucarello's money coming off the
books. I think they have Felinoor Hartman. I have to look it
back up again, but they havesome money coming off the books where maybe
they can reduce some salaries or switchouts and players. You know, last

(02:39):
year's team they had five million dollarsin salary cap space going into the season.
And what's what that allowed them todo is if they had a team
that was competitive, they could makemoves before the trade deadline, which they
did. They brought in Marcus Johanson, they brought in John Klingberg, Oscar
sun Quest, goostap Night Quest.Right, So if you had team that

(03:00):
was at least competitive enough to couldsay, hey we can add to this
team, or even Bills and Billwas even you know, making some move
for some draft picks. Right thisyear, they are up against the cap
big time. I mean, theyhave less than million dollars as we speak,
and they still have Kiltison to signand maybe by the time people are
listening to this podcast or watching hemight have signed. By then, this

(03:21):
this team's gonna be up against it. So once barring there, unless they're
able to move salary out, whichI think would be very challenging at this
point. Unless you want to movea. Zucarello. This team's really not
going to be able to add cometrade deadline time like they were last year,
which means to me, Pat,the only way this team has any
more success than they've had in thepast is young guys have to step up

(03:43):
big time. And other than MarcoRossi emerging Rosie, I should say,
what young guy do you see onhere that could emerge and surprise us?
I don't. I don't know ifanyone could. Well, well, that's
that's that's the key we You know, we've been talking about how many how
many times Brandon have we heard inthe last two years, bring Beckman up,

(04:03):
Bring Beckman up. And you know, so Beckman's name has been discussed.
You are one hundred percent correct interms of everything you laid out with
them with the money situation. Sowhat does that tell you? You know,
they have their core players, butand and in that young group.

(04:26):
I'll look at it from this perspective. Okay, this is the year where
Brandon Duhaim Connor duart Uh have toemerge and be better. Okay, they
can't be happy to be there.They have to be contributors to this team.

(04:46):
Now, I'm not saying you know, hey, guys, yeah,
no, or or even twenty yeah. Because of their role that they play.
Sometimes people want, oh, he'snot he's not getting twenty goals.
Well, you know, he's ina third fourth line role. He's not
on the power play, you know, whatever the case may be. But
we're talking five on five. Youknow, they'll get their minutes five on

(05:10):
five. Uh, sometimes they willget a little bit of power play.
But bottom line is, you getyou gotta get a forty point producer out
of one of them. And ifyou don't, then Minnesota is going to
be an easy team to defend.You know, we expect uh, you
know, boldy caprice of eck,excuse me, to to have the years

(05:32):
that they're supposed to have and butit but it makes their job a heck
of a lot easier if you havea backup, backup guys to to say,
oh, we got to keep aneye on you know, look at
look at what Connor Doer is doing. Don't sleep on him. So I
think that overall is going to bethe key for Minnesota. All right,

(05:53):
let's talk about the players they lostin the off season, then some of
the acquisitions they made before the trade. The line. I've already mentioned stuff
Night Quest, John Klingberg, oscarSon Quest, and then two players I
had on the roster long time.Obviously, the biggest name is as Matt
Dumba, he's moved on to Arizonain free agency, and Ryan Reeves I
think got a three year deal.Uh not not bad coin, But talk

(06:15):
about your thoughts and some of theplayers they leave it, you know,
I I would say Dumba specifically.I think brock Faber can fill his role.
I know he's young, and wedon't know and haven't seen him play
Top four, but just from whatI've seen previously with him, I'm not
really concerned about the drop off ofDumba. I guess some might be concerned
about the locker room without Dumba andwithout Ryan Reeves. Who knows unless you're

(06:35):
in the locker room. But theguys they lost, what kind of losses
are they? Well? First,can I bring up the locker room issue
and the culture that that you know, we use that word culture, so
let's use the word culture. Ithink that they've created that, right,
I don't. I don't. Ithink with the with the returning guys that

(06:56):
they have, you know, justbecause you lose a Mat Dembo good locker
room guy and Ryan Reeves a goodlocker room guy. They've established that that
takes time to build, and Ithink they've established what they want as a
culture in the organization. So justbecause you lose two of those guys doesn't

(07:17):
mean your locker room is a mess. So I think that part is done
and I don't think we have totalk about that anymore. And so with
that being said, you have MattDenbo. You're losing him. Matt did
a lot of good things here andand then he started to get hurt,
and then that hurt him a littlebit defensively, and then he wasn't creating

(07:40):
offensively. Is he still? Arethey gonna miss him? Yeah, of
course you know they're they're gonna misshim. But you replace him with a
brock Faber, who I think surpriseda lot of people with this play,
jumping from the National Championship game intothe playoffs and forming like he did,

(08:01):
and and to have a partner likeJonas Brodin, I think that is really
gonna solidify Minnesota on the back end, something we were worried about. Now
my I worried about number five andnumber six, No question about it.
H Ryan Reeves, they're losing himto Toronto. Good for him that he
got the deal that that he got, you know, more power to him.

(08:22):
But let's face it, did Ilike I liked Reeves as just a
placeholder and a guy who could letthe other team know, you're not gonna
come after Caprisa and Boldy and youknow, but he you know, and
and and I don't don't want toquit him to fighting, just as presence

(08:43):
there I think will be a lost. They add Pat Maroon. Maroon is
getting a little long in the teeth. You know, he's going to be
a fourth liner for you. He'snot afraid to to. You know,
he's a he's a I don't wantto say calmer Ryan Reeves, but he's
got a little bit more game thanRyan Reeves. And uh uh, you

(09:05):
know, we're we're just gonna haveto wait and see how that plays out.
And but you know, because wegot Pat roone does not mean oh
boy, this you know, thisteam is markedly improved. We're gonna have
to wait and see how that playsout. I should also mention that Sam
Steele not tender call up, sohe moved on and technically Mason Shaw not
on the roster anymore after that's toyour injury. Though, you know,

(09:28):
when he does come back healthy,I think it's possible he could end up
on the while they really liked hisgame as a fourth liner last year.
They also signed Vinyl Terry, whoare you are very familiar with, and
a guy I'm not very familiar with, Jujar Kara, who they just signed
within the last week. Yeah,Kara, I think is a guy that
is just gonna be a placement holderand if some something happens. He's played

(09:56):
a little bit. I really reallyreally like lati Ay and I think that
he's good enough to be on thisteam. I don't know if you'll make
the team out of camp, justbased on financially financially and the players that
they have and and the in thein the opportunity that they're going to give

(10:16):
Rosy so but I think I thinkyou will see him at some point during
the season, because you know,he's not afraid he can score goals.
He's uh, he's good defensively,and he can really really skate. So
I like, I like Vinnie A. Lott, and I hope they hope

(10:37):
they got him a chance. Allright, let's talk about Marco Rosy because
I think if this team is gonnaimprove in any way, shape or for
him, I think kind of it'son his shoulders unfortunately, putting all that
pressure on him. But if you'reif you're finding a way for them to
improve, it would be his development. I was just reading The Athletic yesterday
and Michael Rose and Michael Russo hadhad a nugget on Rosy that basically like

(10:58):
one of the players had told Russothat that Rosie has gained fifteen pounds this
off season, which you know,he was a guy pat that he couldn't
go to a lot of the toughareas like the corners out front and would
get pushed around and knocked off buckspretty easily. If he gained fifteen pounds,
if that is an accurate assessment,that would be huge for him because

(11:20):
he needs to be able to playin those areas. I'm not sure what
that would do for his quickness becauseI think he could use a little bit
of first step quickness as well,And you know, I guess maybe if
that muscles leg muscle, maybe maybehe's improved in that area as well.
But it's a guy that clearly hestayed in Minnesota instead of going home to
Austria. Russo even had the notethat he missed his sister's wedding back in
Austria this summer because he wanted tostay here, which that's going a little

(11:43):
bit too far for me. Iwould have gone to the wedding. But
but I think he knows this iskind of I don't want to say make
or break year, but this isa huge year for Marco ROSSI well,
it is, and it's a hugeyear for the organization too, because you
do not want to miss on afirst rounder. We've seen that happen here
with this organization. Yeah, Idon't need to bring up names, but

(12:05):
you know this is the time.And yes, some guys take longer,
uh you know, to get acclamentedand and you know used to playing in
the league, and you know,he's one of those guys. If this
organization is going to take a step, he's got to be uh. You
know, you're talking a top nineguy, right and and if he doesn't

(12:26):
perform it, it's gonna it's gonnaset the organization back a little bit.
And you know, I think we'reall you know, he's a great kid.
You and I have talked to him, you know, a couple of
times, and and you know it'sit's just, you know, you hope
that now is the time for forhim to to you know, accelerate his
progress and and be a mainstay withthis team. All right, last question

(12:48):
before I ask you the season predictionquestion, kill Capriso. Can he get
better? And what what areas ofhis game could he get better at?
Where? Like is he at kindof his I mean, he's already a
superstar in the league, Like hashe maxed out or there's still an area
of his game or you go,man, he could get better in this
this area? Well, I thinkI think he can get better. I

(13:09):
really do. I think he Ifthere's one area I'd like to see him
get a little better at is thathe is a go, go, go
guy, right And I think thereare times in the game where you know,
he can slow it down a littlebit and and and and not make
that that first initial uh play.I you know, I just think I

(13:33):
think they're because he's so strong onhis skates. On his skates, you're
not going to take the puck offit and uh, you know, I
I'd like I'd like to see thata little bit more out of him.
I think he can get better.You know, he's he's a top five
player in the league in my opinion. And and and the thing is,
he wants to get better. Andyou know, when you when you have

(13:54):
that mindset, you know, Istill think there's more to come from him.
I think you can get a betterlineman. Then that's how his production
is well. Easier said than done. But yep, yep, I was
being kind, being very kind.All right, thanks Pat, We'll talk
to you next week. Thanks,Brandon, take care of you. Oh
no, no, before you go, I gotta ask you your prediction.
I realized I screwed up with theJets last. I didn't ask you if

(14:18):
you thought the Jets makes last togo to Jets first and then the wild.
Where do you think they're gonna beranked in the standings? Well that
first quarter of the season, Brandonon November with Winnipeg. If they're there,
they'll stay intact. And and yes, keeping this team intact, they
will make the playoffs. Minnesota isin that bubble with Nashville, Saint Louis,

(14:39):
and Arizona. I think Minnesota justwith the structure and the way they
play that they will sneak in theplayoffs and make it all right. Thank
you, Pat, Thanks Brandon.Take He's Pat mclattie and Brandon Mulawski.
This has been another episode of MiniBTP. We have two more teams left

(15:00):
our Vision for the Division series,the Dallas Stars on the Colorado Avalanche.
If you've missed any of our previouspodcasts on the Vision for the Division,
we've talked now about six teams inthe Central Division. You can watch them
on the kf and YouTube channel,or of course you can listen to them
on the iHeartRadio app or wherever youget your podcast. Thank you so much
for watching or listening to many BTPthis week.