I think just about everyone is sentimental about something. It could be a dish your grandma or mother makes or it could be a childhood toy or game that you loved so much. The value goes beyond a monetary amount. In fact, to get that back most would pay just about anything to get it just to have it back in some way. Playing to sentimentality is big business. Whole industries are dedicated to providing opportunities for Generation X’ers to regain their childhood by bringing back old concepts or old games hoping to entice those of that generation to recapture their childhood. Sports fans can occasionally feel a similar desire when there is a personal or a local connection to well-liked player. Provincial fans like these will lobby on social media or fill up comment sections pleading for the local club to acquire this ‘fan favorite.’ This can be especially true when that ‘fan favorite’ is nearing the end of his playing career.
The Minnesota Twins played to this when they brought back ‘local legends’ Dave Winfield, Terry Steinbach and Paul Molitor in their final seasons in major league baseball. The Twins were not really all that competitive and their return to the home town team was more or less a long goodbye. Minnesotans love their long goodbyes. Is the same true of some Minnesota Wild fans want for the team to bring back Matt Cullen? Is this more of that strong Minnesotan provincialism where they want their ‘local legends’ to be given one last hurrah with the local team. When I suggested such a premise the responses were pretty predictable.
“He will help the team”, “he will add to team depth” and “he is still productive.” Were common comments I saw as I scrolled through my Twitter feed. I think they’re reasonable points, and many of which I do not disagree with. He had 16 goals and 32 points last season for the Penguins including 4 goals (including 2 game winners) in the playoffs. That’s great news for the Moorhead, Minnesota-native who many expected to ride off into the sunset after winning the 2nd Stanley Cup of his 18-year NHL career. Yet he decided to come back, but the Pittsburgh Penguins are currently $1.35 million over the salary cap of $73 million so that prompted many Wild fans to become hopeful of his return to the State of Hockey.
Do the Wild really have the cap space?
At this point we don’t really know. With the Minnesota Wild still in the midst of negotiations with Mathew Dumba and pending arbitration with Jordan Schroeder its uncertain how much will be left of the team’s $5.368 million in cap space (thanks CapFriendly.com!). However, using Columbus’ Ryan Murray (a player who not quite as good as Dumba in my opinion) as a baseline the 21-year old defenseman will probably sign a bridge deal of 3 years at a little over $3 million a season. That will leave roughly $2.3 million to sign Schroeder who will probably command $800k. Ok, so if Cullen is willing to play for about $1 million per season they could probably afford it but the team will then find itself right up underneath $73 million cap.
While its likely possible to secure Cullen does his value to the team outweigh the importance of having the flexibility of cap space if injuries become a factor in 2016-17? I know that may not be an approach that many Wild fans want to hear but flexibility is important if you have an unforseen situation. For a professional sports team, if you do not have cap flexibility then you are effectively stuck with any problem you face. A few million dollars can be the difference between able to adding a player to bail out your situation or being forced to do so with a player from the farm because you lack the funds to do anything else.
Cullen would be a likely upgrade over Tyler Graovac who is currently slotted to be the team’s 4th line center. He could help boost the team’s forward depth, but it would do nothing if an injury occurs on the blueline or between the pipes. It is especially that latter situation that would put the Wild in a lot of trouble. Darcy Kuemper has been very inconsistent and has struggled to stay healthy even when receiving infrequent amount of starts. The Minnesota Wild do not have a Matt Murray waiting in the wings on the farm team to bail out their big club like he did with Pittsburgh.
I am doubtful that Cullen can replicate his 14-16 goals, 30-34 points on this team not because I see his game slipping as much as I think he’ll have lesser linemates to work with and less opportunity than what he had with the Penguins. So will he really be the kind of upgrade that will lead the Wild to contender status? No. I don’t think we’re that close to being a contender, at best I think we’re a 2nd round of the playoffs kind of team. Why expect a big change when the changes involved were pretty minor this offseason?
If anyone wants to be angry about where the Wild find itself cap-wise that makes a Cullen signing problematic, save your ire for General Manager Chuck Fletcher who is burning $2.5 million cap space to buyouts for Matt Cooke and Thomas Vanek. That effectively eliminates what sort of cushion the team had to leave itself some safety room but also being able to sign Cullen for his great victory lap.
If you want to hear some great offseason Minnesota Wild banter, please listen to this episode from the guys at 3 in the Box who you can follow @3IntheBox on Twitter. These guys provide insight with plenty of humor mixed in, well worth a listen.
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