All-Things 2023 Minnesota Wild Off-Season Thread

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The Gila River Arena that the Coyotes were playing in was an absolute shithole. I went to 2 different Coyote games there a few years ago and I thought I was walking into an AHL game. It was a terrible game-day experience.

The PHX metro area is big and the transplants/snowbirds are spread all over the place. It's not likely there will be a great place that will satisfy everyone in regards to a new arena.
 


The Mullet Arena (great name LOL) looks nice, but only 5k. Similar to arenas built in Iowa City and Fargo, probably other places, for smaller (semi-?)professional teams.

Great for ASU but not sustainable for NHL.
 

Another viable option I think would be Milwaukee except the Chicago Blackhawks would make that rather difficult.
 

Ope3 said:
I wonder if a 2nd franchise in the Toronto area gets explored or nearby Hamilton. I think the population and appetite is there to support two.
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Yeah, and with Toronto - an original sixer - having never made the Stanley Cup Finals since before expansion (1967), it would be ripe for a relocated team to steal some market. Would be interesting. Pretty doubtful, though. I'm sure the NHL wants some huge US TV market.
 


Ope3 said:
Another viable option I think would be Milwaukee except the Chicago Blackhawks would make that rather difficult.
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Last I heard, Milwaukee is a terrible hockey market. I doubt Chicago would be too concerned.
 


GophersInIowa said:
Yeah I don't think Milwaukee would work. Not big enough and not enough hockey fans.
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Probably true, but I think they could draw better than the 5,000 that they are limited to currently in Tempe. It would have to appeal to fans across the entire state (just as Badger puck did when they were thriving) and even the Michigan UP.

Really nice new facility.

Just first impression, I think it would be a better US option than Houston, Atlanta or Hartford. I can't really think of any other viable American options.
 

Ope3 said:
Probably true, but I think they could draw better than the 5,000 that they are limited to currently in Tempe. It would have to appeal to fans across the entire state (just as Badger puck did when they were thriving) and even the Michigan UP.

Really nice new facility.

Just first impression, I think it would be a better US option than Houston, Atlanta or Hartford. I can't really think of any other viable American options.
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I did think of another American possibility, Kansas City. It's been nearly 50 years since Scouts moved to Colorado (and later NJ). No NBA competition.

I am not sure if the Blues can claim any territorial rights either in practice or de facto.
 



Ope3 said:
I did think of another American possibility, Kansas City. It's been nearly 50 years since Scouts moved to Colorado (and later NJ). No NBA competition.

I am not sure if the Blues can claim any territorial rights either in practice or de facto.
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KC has a nice arena, opened in 2007, that is easily the quality of a NBA or NHL arena. Just need a team
 

GophersInIowa said:
Yeah I don't think Milwaukee would work. Not big enough and not enough hockey fans.
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Well it's clearly big enough. Bucks do very well, now that they have a perennial contender.

Your second point could well stand. But there is money in the suburbs. Don't know what hockey participation is like there, compared to Twin Cities suburbs.
 

Another possibility: Indianapolis is the #25 TV market and a hub of year-round sports. The NHL could possibly work there. But I still think they would want Houston or Atlanta. Those are #6 & 7 TV markets respectively, with over twice the market size as Indy.

Nielsen DMA Rankings 2023

ustvdb.com ustvdb.com
 

Gophers_4life said:
Well it's clearly big enough. Bucks do very well, now that they have a perennial contender.

Your second point could well stand. But there is money in the suburbs. Don't know what hockey participation is like there, compared to Twin Cities suburbs.
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Milwaukee would be the smallest market by far to have 3 professional teams if they added an NHL team (and that's not including the Packers which I think you can because they do tap into the area significantly for sponsorships, tickets, etc).

And they're in an area that already has diehard Blackhawks fans.
 
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Gophers_4life said:
Well it's clearly big enough. Bucks do very well, now that they have a perennial contender.

Your second point could well stand. But there is money in the suburbs. Don't know what hockey participation is like there, compared to Twin Cities suburbs.
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While hockey participation has an influence, I am not sure how big.

San Jose, Anaheim, Nashville, Tampa, Las Vegas & Seattle have all have successful franchises, and I would guess their hockey participation levels (when they came into existence) were all much lower than Milwaukee/Greater Wisconsin currently.

Conversely, none of have NBA competition city they are in nor have to share an arena. I do realize San Jose and Anaheim have NBA franchises in their TV markets, but there is still some separation and identity in and of themselves.

In the end, I am not sure what should become of the Coyotes but it feels as though chances are much greater they bail than stick it out somewhere. Understatement.
 

Ope3 said:
While hockey participation has an influence, I am not sure how big.

San Jose, Anaheim, Nashville, Tampa, Las Vegas & Seattle have all have successful franchises, and I would guess their hockey participation levels (when they came into existence) were all much lower than Milwaukee/Greater Wisconsin currently.

Conversely, none of have NBA competition city they are in nor have to share an arena. I do realize San Jose and Anaheim have NBA franchises in their TV markets, but there is still some separation and identity in and of themselves.

In the end, I am not sure what should become of the Coyotes but it feels as though chances are much greater they bail than stick it out somewhere. Understatement.
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Solid point about hockey participation not necessarily correlating with NHL fandom in a market.

Tampa has Orlando 85mi away, Nashville pretty isolated with Indy 288mi and Memphis 212mi away. Vegas and Seattle might get NBA back one day.

About 26mi from Anaheim to LA downtown, about 55mi from SJ to SF.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Milwaukee would be the smallest market by far to have 3 professional teams if they added an NHL team (and that's not including the Packers which I think you can because they do tap into the area significantly for sponsorships, tickets, etc).

And they're in an area that already has diehard Blackhawks fans.
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Lot of population in eastern Wisconsin is spread out. Of course, that's tougher for people to make it to NHL/NBA type of weekday night games, than it is a weekend football game.

But when you're talking Combined Statistical Areas, you have roughly like:
Milwaukee CSA - 2M
Madison CSA - 1M
Green Bay CSA - 400k
Fox Cities CSA - 400k
 

Gophers_4life said:
Lot of population in eastern Wisconsin is spread out. Of course, that's tougher for people to make it to NHL/NBA type of weekday night games, than it is a weekend football game.

But when you're talking Combined Statistical Areas, you have roughly like:
Milwaukee CSA - 2M
Madison CSA - 1M
Green Bay CSA - 400k
Fox Cities CSA - 400k
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And that's why I don't think it would work for an NHL team there. It's much more of a niche target audience and it's going to be harder to get sponsorships, suite sales, etc.
 

GophersInIowa said:
And that's why I don't think it would work for an NHL team there. It's much more of a niche target audience and it's going to be harder to get sponsorships, suite sales, etc.
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Well again, Bucks do OK with all of that.

But as you've noted multiple times, the -- ahem, demographics of urban Milwaukee -- are more supportive of that sport.
 

Interesting article in The Athletic, a ranking for every NHL team in how they've managed their team in the "salary cap era", which goes back 18 years.

NHL Franchise Rankings In The Salary Cap Era

Winning the Stanley Cup (SC): 11 points
Losing in the Stanley Cup Final (SCF): 5 points
Losing in the conference final (CF): 3 points
Making the playoffs: 1 point

The MN Wild come in with a 5-way tie for 20th.

>>"If making the playoffs were the goal, this would be the best franchise in the NHL. Nobody does it more consistently. The same can be said for their postseason flops. Two years in a row, the master of the “first-round exit” choked away on 2-1 series’ leads, most disappointingly in 2022 after a franchise-best season and a laundry list of no-shows by everybody not named Kirill Kaprizov. This April, it was Kaprizov and Matt Boldy who were MIA. With dead-money buyout charges of $14.7 million for the next two years, it’s hard to envision Minnesota being a true contender until 2025-26."
 

A blurb from The Athletic on the salary cap situation for all of the NHL teams; not surprisingly, the Wild are ranked 30th in the league for their cap status;

30. Minnesota Wild​

2023-24 salaries: $74,418,588
RFAs estimate: $9,229,000
LTIR candidates: None
Dead money deals: Zach Parise buyout ($7.371 million), Ryan Suter buyout ($7.371 million)
Notable unsigned UFAs: Matt Dumba, Gustav Nyquist, Ryan Reaves, John Klingberg
Problem contract: None
Projected cap space: $-147,588

Minnesota’s completely capped out once you factor in its potential RFA deals, led by breakout goaltender Filip Gustavsson. The Wild could choose not to qualify an RFA like Sam Steel or trade Calen Addison to create a little bit of breathing room, but any way you slice it, they’re heavily restricted by their cap limitations. That’s the unfortunate consequence of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter’s combined $14.742 million dead cap charge.

Alex Goligoski’s in the final year of his $2 million contract and only suited up for 42 games. Could the Wild convince Goligoski to waive his no-movement clause and create some space via trade?

Ultimately, Minnesota can’t bank on external additions making a difference next season; the improvement has to come from within from prospects like Marco Rossi.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
A blurb from The Athletic on the salary cap situation for all of the NHL teams; not surprisingly, the Wild are ranked 30th in the league for their cap status;

30. Minnesota Wild​

2023-24 salaries: $74,418,588
RFAs estimate: $9,229,000
LTIR candidates: None
Dead money deals: Zach Parise buyout ($7.371 million), Ryan Suter buyout ($7.371 million)
Notable unsigned UFAs: Matt Dumba, Gustav Nyquist, Ryan Reaves, John Klingberg
Problem contract: None
Projected cap space: $-147,588

Minnesota’s completely capped out once you factor in its potential RFA deals, led by breakout goaltender Filip Gustavsson. The Wild could choose not to qualify an RFA like Sam Steel or trade Calen Addison to create a little bit of breathing room, but any way you slice it, they’re heavily restricted by their cap limitations. That’s the unfortunate consequence of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter’s combined $14.742 million dead cap charge.

Alex Goligoski’s in the final year of his $2 million contract and only suited up for 42 games. Could the Wild convince Goligoski to waive his no-movement clause and create some space via trade?

Ultimately, Minnesota can’t bank on external additions making a difference next season; the improvement has to come from within from prospects like Marco Rossi.
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Jeez, there's two teams that have a worse cap situation?
 

Gophers1992 said:
Jeez, there's two teams that have a worse cap situation?
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That was my reaction as well, so I had to check out the article directly to find out who deemed worse:

#31 Boston Bruins (makes the 1st Round exit sting a bit more)
#32 Edmonton Oilers

#1 does not bode well for the Wild. The Chicago Blackhawks rank as most favorable in terms of Salary Cap.
 

The Athletic ranks the fan base confidence in each respective teams' Front Office. A LITTLE surprised to see the Wild ranked 11th overall, but they have done some good things, for sure. And of course, Minnesota fans are a very accepting and forgiving bunch.

The Athletic: NHL Front Office Confidence Rankings

Wild fans love Bill Guerin, who has done a good job in turning a middling team around quickly into a true playoff team. But it’s more than that. In the meantime, they’ve also built up one of the league’s best prospect systems that should continue feeding talent onto the roster, creating sustainable long-term success. That’s hard to do when a team is winning, but the Wild are having their cake and eating it too. Hiring Judd Brackett certainly helps with that.

On top of strong work at the draft table, the Wild have also done well at making moves and managing the cap. The public may not see it that way thanks to the necessary dead weight of the Ryan Suter and Zach Parise buyouts, but the front office has done extremely well despite the dead weight and it speaks volumes that they have crafted a consistent playoff team under those constraints. Deals for Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek stand out as being especially good.

It did mean losing Kevin Fiala, but they did get prospect Brock Faber and made up for it with other trades — namely swapping Cam Talbot for Filip Gustavsson. That might’ve been the best trade last season.
 

I'm still far from being sold on BG, and I don't quite get the infatuation some fans have with him. I'm not ready to ship him out of town by any means, but it seems like he has done a lot of shuffling of deck chairs without a ton of substantial improvements. Would love to hear what others' takes are.
 

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