Big Changes (Should) Result After Another 1st Round Exit for the Wild as team parts ways with Chuck Fletcher

There is a saying on the Wild.com message boards a long while back, “Win three games in a row, plan the parade; lose three games in a row, trade everybody.”  The saying encapsulates the mercurial nature of fans and their favorite teams.  While I think for some fans they ride the wave of emotions in this way, but after a while you tend to distance yourself emotionally from peaks and valley.  I think its a natural defense mechanism to spare yourself the pain of the bad times and not getting too carried away when things are going well.

For the Minnesota Wild who suffered another playoff exit, their 4th such exit in their current 6-year playoff streak the question is this team a real contender or just a highly paid pretender?  As the Minnesota Wild were being humiliated in Game #5 by the Winnipeg Jets, the fan reaction on Twitter was quick to aire their frustration as the Tweets below would suggest, much of it calling for the team to give General Manager Chuck Fletcher the boot.

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And those wanting him out would get their wish…

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Even with Chuck Fletcher’s dismissal, Minnesota finds itself in a tough situation.  Its cap strapped as you can clearly see for yourself on CapFriendly.com.  They have extremely limited room to make any moves of significance this offseason.  With Jason Zucker and Matt Dumba as restricted free agents its going to be a crunch to be able to re-sign them with just $7.5 million in cap space after both players had career seasons with Zucker notching 33 goals and Dumba putting up 50 points.  I think its logical that both will likely be asking for at least $4.5-$5 million per season each.  If that guess is accurate the team will have to get creative in order to create some space to afford it.  I think another RFA due for a raise is Nick Seeler who really rose to the occasion to be a good stay-at-home presence in the last quarter of the season.  The team will gain $2.5 million as the last portion of the buyout of Thomas Vanek comes off the books.  If the Wild choose to re-sign all of them I think that will leave virtually no room to add anyone else of significance unless they move out some other contracts.

Daniel Winnik, Matt Cullen and Kurtis Gabriel are notable unrestricted free agents.  Cullen is probably going to retire and seemed to find his groove a bit in the 2nd half the season.  Winnik was a good solider and while he didn’t put up a lot of points he was one of the team’s hardest working players and provided help on the penalty kill.  I could see the team offering him another 1-year deal.  Yet beyond that its hard to believe the Wild will have room for any players that are not prospects.  So in essence that means the roster will likely see very little changes this summer and after 6 straight years of playoff mediocrity you wonder if this fits the layman’s definition of insanity where you do the same things and expect different results.  Gabriel spent most of this season injured and had a pretty forgettable season in Iowa.

It is the Wild’s paralytic state that make fans believe its time the team make a change to its management.  Fletcher did make some good moves; swapping Cal Clutterbuck for Nino Niederreiter, and adding Eric Staal at a bargain at $3.5 million per season.  Yet he’s also had some significant gaffes too in the trade for Martin Hanzal and dealing away Nick Leddy for Cam Barker.  Fletcher’s handling of the Kirill Kaprizov situation seemed awkward and while some wanted to blame that on those near the young player it later appeared as though Fletcher may have been able to do more to contact the talented winger than he originally let on.  He’s also drew criticism for doling out no movement clauses which has further handcuffed the organization.

Fletcher’s decision to extend team captain Mikko Koivu for two more seasons at $5.5 million and then offering him a no movement clause seems especially maddening when you consider he’s going to be turning 35-years old when the extension starts next season.  Koivu ‘rewarded’ the organization that extended him with a 14-goal, 45-point season.  Is that great production from a top-6 center?  Not really.  At times when others have criticized Koivu the fall back has been about his defensive prowess and his ability to win draws.  However faceoffs are an area that seems to be on the decline as much as his scoring as he went from winning 56.2% of his draws in 2015-16 to 51.4% in 2017-18.

Some have attributed this drop to the league being more strict on ‘cheating’ in the faceoff circle and Koivu’s reputation as a cheater has meant he’s been tossed out of more draws being unable to cheat he’s had a tougher time.  In the playoffs Koivu’s struggles on his draws were very apparent where he won just 46.3%.  But the extension has been signed, sealed and delivered and the team is committed for at least another two seasons.  And if its about leadership, with an organization that is spinning its wheels is good to keep soldiering on with the same on-ice leadership unchanged?  That goes for the alternate captaincies of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise too.

I know some people roll their eyes at the ‘strip the C’ comments but when you feel like the team didn’t compete hard enough against the Jets and Blues respectively isn’t that a reflection of the off-ice and on-ice leadership?  I think it kind of is.  Lots has been said about ‘angry Koivu’ where it almost becomes a meme, but how often do we really see it and find him raising his game when the team needs it?  I can’t think of many examples of ‘angry Mikko’ channeling that energy to leading the way for the team in a clutch moment either.  Sorry, one open ice hit to Mathieu Perreault doesn’t impress me and certainly wasn’t enough to get the Jets to back off physically.

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This tweet to me is pretty damning.  It indicates rather clearly that no one in their young core raises their game in the post season and with the disappearance of the offense the team flames out pretty quickly which is why they have won just 4 games in their last 3 sojourns to the playoffs (4-12).  Ouch.  These are all players whom the team gives lots of ice time and opportunity to each and every season.  Considering these stats were compiled under two different head coaches, John Torchetti and Bruce Boudreau respectively I think this is more of a reflection of management and with Fletcher’s dismissal after 9 years one would hope the team is going to make some big changes.

However listening to the team’s principle owner Craig Leipold it almost sounds like he wants to stay the course as he suggests minor adjustments and thoroughly objects to a rebuild.  Players were quick to fall on the sword for Fletcher’s firing blaming their poor performance in the post-season for his ultimate downfall.  But forgive me if we’ve heard those pledges about needing to be better, etc before.

“What’s defined as good enough? Well, you know, I guess it’s like pornography. When you see it, you know it.” ~ Wild Owner Craig Leipold

Leipold made it pretty clear he isn’t looking to gut the team.  And even said he’d like to bring in General Manager that who is not looking to do that.  If you just change driver of your race car but insist they drive the same way as their predecessor you’ll probably get similar results.

If the point of firing Fletcher was to get ‘fresh set of eyes’ on the team; then they have to be able to have the freedom to make the necessary changes.  If they’re expected to just make minor adjustments to their predecessor’s failed experiment then why fire Fletcher in the first place?  So in other words we want a ‘fresh set of eyes’ to wear these ‘rose-tinted glasses’ where we overvalue our own players and get stuck in the same lame contracts that continues to promote this failed culture.

Could it anger some of those veteran players who have contracts extending beyond the next 4-5 years?  Possibly, but has bending to the veteran players’ demands brought about the Cup contender status Leipold has been seeking?  As my friend Kenney Hanzely stated on the most recent 3 in the Box podcast, who cares if they’re mad because they’re under contract regardless (“we’re stuck with them as they are stuck with us”).

Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star Tribune is calling for action from Wild owner Craig Leipold.  Fans are calling for it and they seemed to get at least one big splash early as Fletcher’s contract was not renewed for the 2018-19 season.  But is that enough?  What do the fans think should be done?

I tweeted this out shortly after the season ending loss on Friday.

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For whatever reason it seemed to resonate with those that follow me and I think the Wild are a fan base that is growing more and more apathetic with the path of their favorite NHL team.  They feel like the team isn’t built to be a contender as much as it is to qualify for the playoffs and then exit early and history supports that notion.  If you think this is just sour grapes after our latest playoff series loss my annual Wild Fans Speak article I wrote prior to the start of the 2017-18 season prove the pessimism isn’t a recent manifestation.  Just to see if this skeptical trend has carried over I put up a 2-day poll on Twitter, and here are the results.

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With 82 votes, by a narrow margin fans feel a rebuild is necessary.  Like a house that has a mold infestation its time to gut it completely and start over.  Yet for 16% of those surveyed they don’t see any hope at all.  Ouch.

Is now the time for a Wild firesale?

It may not seem so silly.  As the old stock market axiom states, ‘buy low, sell high’ and some of Minnesota’s most enticing players like Zucker, Dumba and Staal are either coming off their career-best season or one of their best in a long while.  If the Wild believe the flaws in the organization run deeper than just a few simple tweaks it might be for the best to get as much as you can and begin a true rebuild.

Or is the timing of such a move ill-advised with high profile players like John Tavares, Evander Kane, James Neal, James van Riemsdyk, John Carlson and Paul Stastny in the mix as unrestricted free agents.  Another possibility is it might tempt other teams to try to keep up with the clubs that are able to land these free agents and thus drive up asking prices and netting more value in return.

Both approaches have the risks and while I wouldn’t mind gutting the team and being bad and building through the draft that doesn’t appear to be the method endorsed by ownership.

So with Brent Flahr as Wild Interim General Manager, who should the Wild consider to replace Fletcher for that role?  I will toss out a few candidates and give reasons why I think they’d be a good hire.

1. Paul Fenton (Nashville Assistant GM) ~ like his boss David Poile, Fenton has been there all 20 years in Nashville.  The Predators are a model franchise of prospect development and team building (mostly through the draft) and did much of that while operating at a budget that was below the NHL salary cap ceiling.  His name has been bantered about in GM openings for the last few years but he hasn’t made the jump yet, but it certainly hasn’t been because he wasn’t qualified.  Nashville’s teams had a strong defense with a stable of great two-way blueliners and has augmented that with a number of highly skilled, fast forwards.  Even ESPN agrees with me.
2. Kelly McCrimmon (Las Vegas Golden Knights GM) ~ I heard an interview with former Wild Assistant General Manager Tom Lynn who stated that McCrimmon basically followed a lot of the advice tendered in his book, How to Bake An NHL Franchise From Scratch.  If he did so, then he’s helped build one helluva team in the Golden Knights.  They are fast, strong, and skilled.  The former long-time Brandon Wheat Kings’ bench boss’ teams were fast, skilled and had decent amount of grit to their game which are elements the Wild have lost a bit in recent years.  If he wants a chance to cash in on his Vegas success with a GM job there certainly are tougher gig’s to be had than the Wild job.  Another reason to consider McCrimmon, he studied every other NHL team’s roster as the Golden Knights plundered the hidden gems around the league in the expansion draft and trades.
3. Bill Guerin (Wilkes-Barre / Scranton GM) ~ the former NHL player has learned the ropes in Pittsburgh which has been a nice training ground for learning the ropes of the front office.  Guerin had a decent scoring touch as a player and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has been a nice little pipeline for Pittsburgh as they seem to be able to contribute speed and scoring whenever the big Penguins need it.  He’s more high risk since this would be his first big NHL job.

It is unknown how soon the Wild will move on adding a GM, but with the draft coming up in about two months one would think they’d want that perspective as they begin to put together their draft lists.  Who do you think the Wild should hire as GM?  Would you like to see the team continue by making little tweaks or should they gut the team as much as they can and start over?  Tell us on Twitter @CreaseAndAssist or in the comment section below.