Hired in after the draft and before FA, sucked because the previous Wild management did a pants job scouting.
They had 3 first round picks and only 1 of their picks has #1-2 potential.
It was obvious that rebuilding through Prospects and Picks would take some considerable time, as all their farm system was severely lacking. Again only one top line prospect in their whole list of prospects.
And with half the team leaving in a week to the open market, i thought it was best just to buy a winner.
1st move in FA was adding a top center Mikko Koivu just wasn't gonna cut it, with his Career high of 76 points several seasons behind him.
Added Brad Richards(5.6mil), Lars Eller(3.2mil), Blake Wheeler(4.4mil), Antoine Vermette(3.1) and Brian Sutherby (1.4) as Forward Through FA and Picked up Ryan Suter on D through FA for 4.4mil.
Added some scrubs to the mix through trades Patrick Eaves (856k) BJ Crombeen(800k), Alex Burmistrov*(750k) Denis Siendenberg(900k), Brett Lebda(900k) and Karl Alzner(1.2mil) And added Dainius Zubrus for a 2nd rounder
So my lines now look like
Koivi-Richards-Neiderreiter
Eller-Zubrus-Wheeler
Vermette-Sutherby-Eaves
Coveny-Burmistrov-Crombeen
Kulikov-Suter
Alzner-Seidernberg
Lebda-Hamonic
With J.S Giguere in net and Benjamin Lehner as a Backup.
Was sitting at 50mil in Cap used.
All the FA's i signed i gave 2 years at the absolute most, Except Eller given his age of 27 and his relatively cheap price for a 60 point(30 goal) scorer i felt best to get him locked up for some years have him for 5.
Wasn't happy about rolling with Giguere, being 39, with Lehner being unproven(12 games last season 3.4gaa) But didn't have any Better options for less than 3mil (i like to keep some cap space avail)
Camp came and went without any real surprises. The Wild prospects were all busts, left #4 overall pick in Juniors. And released rights to about 10 other prospects. Signed only 1 player... a 5th round pick that isn't good enough to make the NHL, but i have a soft spot for Enforcers. Plus he's cheaper than Crombeen who i only have for 1year.
The major issue my roster has now is no Natural LW, and non of any impact on the way. The only area the wild have any "depth" is at goalie and non of them are really even close to NHL ready, all of which are slated to be backups anyway. So any trades are out of the question without sacrificing draft picks. And I'm not expecting Richards to be able to carry the team to the playoffs, so that is out of the question.
To start the season We went 13-2-1. Good enough for 1st in the league.
By the start of February we currently sit #1 overall with a record of 44-9-1.
Kulikov finally had a breakout year (His previous career high was 20 points in 76games and he is on his last year of his contract
)He currently has 42 points in 54games.
Alzner has 30 points in 54games
Suter has 43 points in 45 games(only injury thus far)
Lebda has 18 in 54
Hamonic has an averaged rating of 7.5 with 10 points(defensive D-man) in 54
Seidenberg has a 7.56 rating with 16 points in 54
Richards being double shifted on PPs has 99 points in 54 games
Koivu has 54 in 54,
Neiderreiter has 60 in 54,
Wheeler has 67 in 54,
Vermette has 24 goals and 39 points
Eller has 23 in 54
Sutherby has 22 in 54 and a 7.8 rating
Zubrus has 30 in 54
Poor Richards, he's going to be dead by the time the playoffs roll around, as much as he plays 12.38 Average PP time per game with 32 minutes per game. But he really stepped up and carried the team, While Koivu has been streaky at best. So i decided to strip him of the C, and gave it to Richards.
Eller was a major disappointment so i traded him to the Avs for Van Riemsdyk. I needed a true LW an he was slightly cheaper than Eller.
My lines now look
Van Riemsdyk-Richards-Wheeler
Vermette-Koivu-Neiderreiter
Sutherby-Zubrus-Eaves
My 4th line and defense pairs stayed the same.
The USA ended up winning Gold at the Olympics, Richards and Canada finished 3rd.
Resigned Kulikov to a 3year 2.4mil a year deal. After the season he's had i figured it was a steal, and my whole cap crisis was avoided.
Continued on the same pace until early April, when Richards got injured (3months)
That's what i get for overplaying him. No prospects and being passed the trade deadline had no option but to call up a scrub from the AHL. (Brought up the enforcer mentioned earlier)
Jumped Vermette up to the top line center
Wheeler-Vermette-Neiderrieter
Van Riemsdyk-Koivu-Zubrus
Sutherby-Burmistrov-Eaves
Sucked it up the last few games of the season but still finished first. Vermette finished the active leader in goals (not bad for a guy who got very little pp time until the 2nd half of the season)
Koivu completely tanked and was replaced by Sutherby on the 2nd line for the playoffs... He finished the season with 62 points (8 points in 28 games just wasn't going to cut it)
Vermette caught and passed him had 65 points with 41 goals
Drew the Sharks in the first round (I have a trend of playing former teams it seems)
lost the first 3 games all of which went into OT. Lost Giguere to injury in the 3rd game. Figured it was time to just hang it up. So i changed the lines around
I had
Van Riemsdyk-Sutherby-Neiderrietter as my top line
Vermett-Zubrus-Wheeler
Eaves-Burmistrov-Crombeen
Coveny-M.Zubov-L.Booth
Scratched Koivu. Let Lehner start game 7 instead of playing an injured yet playable Giguere.
Ended up winning 5-1.
Stayed with the same lineup and pulled out a 4-3 ot win.
Ended up winning game 6, 4-3
Game 7 i was getting my ass kicked.. 5-0 at the end of 1. Ended up setting my tactics to overload and stuck with Lehner. Caught up in the 2nd 5-4. ended up tied in the 3rd at 7-7.
Then i took a gamble and put Burmistrov on the 1st line(only player without a point a sub 7 rating)
Started Giguere in the OT. 30 secs in Burmistrov scored.
Kept Koivu scratched at let Lehner start the 2nd round.
Ended up winning the season 4-2 agaisnt the Avs
Third round got Richards back, Although still injured. Put the lines back to the way they were before Richards left, but kept Koivu scratched. ended up winning 4-0. against the Yotes
Got the the Stanley cup played the Sabres.
won the first 3 games, lost the next 3.
Game 7, Richards scored with 2 seconds left in the 3rd to break the 0-0 tie and win the cup.
Koivu was widdled that he was scratched for the basically the entire cup run. I traded him for a 1st(#18) and 2nd round pick.
Drafted a 1st line Potential LW, and a 1st line Potential C with my 2first round picks.
Grabbed a #1-2 D-man in the 2nd round, and a 2nd line Potential RW also in the 2nd round.
Resigned all the essential players. Making sure to stay under the cap, Koivu's salary off the books helped tremendously, then i resigned from the Wild.
Currently waiting to see if I'll go the Florida, Dallas or St. Louis.