Wild acquires Kobasew from Bruins

From nhl.com

Quote :

Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher tonight announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has acquired RW Chuck Kobasew from the Boston Bruins in exchange for RW Craig Weller, a second round pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and the rights to RW Alexander Fallstrom, who was selected by Minnesota in the fourth round (116th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

Kobasew, 27 (4/17/82), recorded one assist in seven games with the Boston Bruins this season. The 6-foot, 192-pound native of Vancouver, British Columbia notched 42 points (21-21=42) and 56 penalty minutes (PIM) in 68 regular season contests with the Bruins in 2008-09. He set new career-highs in assists and points and reached the 20-goal mark for the third time in his career. Kobasew added six points (3-3=6) and 14 PIM in 11 playoff contests.

He has tallied 155 points (78-77=155) and 272 PIM in 368 career NHL contests during seven seasons with Calgary and Boston. Kobasew collected 49 points (27-22=49) in 43 games with Boston College in 2000-01 and was named the Most Valuable Player of the Frozen Four helping the Eagles claim the 2001 NCAA championship. He was originally selected by the Flames in the first round (14th overall) of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

Not sure if I like this trade. Can Kobasew play the left side too?

This is Fletcher's way of saying, "We ain't tanking! This damn boat is gonna stay afloat till our injured guys come back. We ain't tanking! You hear me! WE AIN'T TANKING!"

We shall call him Kobe.

Russo's Tweet:

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Also, Kobasew is a $2.33 million cap hit. Wild was 500K from cap. It has placed Pierre-Marc Bouchard on Long-Term Injury to go over cap

Russo's Rants

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The Wild has traded Craig Weller, a second-round pick and the rights to Alex Fallstrom to the Boston Bruins for forward Chuck Kobasew.

The pick is in 2011, meaning Fletcher will have plenty of time to acquire a second-round pick to replace it, especially with a potential selloff of free agents in the future this season. Also, to be able to acquire Kobasew, the Wild has placed Pierre-Marc Bouchard on Long-Term Injury status, which essentially means the Wild can go about dollar for dollar over the cap with Bouchard’s salary for the time he’s out.

I agree OTH, Chuck knows he HAS to stop the bleeding some how or this team is doomed before we even hit Thanksgiving.

Not a fan of giving up picks, but if he's going to try to land a player who can help.. so be it.

Kobasew is a decent player, but this is a bad move. There goes another 2nd round pick down the drain to acquire a short-term fix that won't make the Wild near contenders.... Didn't we fire DR?

OldTimeHockey wrote:

We shall call him Kobe.

]

Touchdown!!!!!

lolwat wrote:

Kobasew is a decent player, but this is a bad move. There goes another 2nd round pick down the drain to acquire a short-term fix that won't make the Wild near contenders.... Didn't we fire DR?

Exactly what I told my gf when i heard about it. I was wondering if DR snuck back in and made this deal.

I mean, i know the season is young but that could be a high 2nd rounder, and I thought Fallstrom was a pretty good prospect. Also not a fan of Kobasew's 2.33 million cap hit.

Edit: just realized it's a 2011 2nd rounder, nm. Still not a fan though.

Beer wrote:

lolwat wrote:

Kobasew is a decent player, but this is a bad move. There goes another 2nd round pick down the drain to acquire a short-term fix that won't make the Wild near contenders.... Didn't we fire DR?

Exactly what I told my gf when i heard about it. I was wondering if DR snuck back in and made this deal.

I mean, i know the season is young but that could be a high 2nd rounder, and I thought Fallstrom was a pretty good prospect. Also not a fan of Kobasew's 2.33 million cap hit.

Just noticed the pick is in 2011, so I guess that makes it a little easier for me at least, that's like a 3rd in 2010.
I do like Kobasew as a player, I did say back on the WMB before the Kessel trade/Sykora signing that I'd try to pry him from their cap issues, but I don't see the reasoning of bringing in 2.3M more into next year's already extremely thin cap space at this point.
Now if CF can dump Nolan and Missthenetagain for 3rd round picks each, then this was a decent move. Kobasew is more useful than either of them.

There is MORE than enough time to replace that pick.

interesting move, should be interesting to see what else pans out during the year. If this were still DR's team, he would have let this go on until January before even thinking about THINKING of making a trade.

OldTimeHockey wrote:

There is MORE than enough time to replace that pick.

Yes, but now there is over 36M committed to 11 players next season, and they still need alot of help.

Of course they need a lot of help. Chances are we could see the expenses trimmed down via trades in the next 9 months. I really think Fletcher wants to dump Butch, but nobody will take on that contract. At this point, something has to happen. We're still gonna suck, but I don't think Fletcher is the type of person who would get much pride out of tanking. Yes, losing a lot will make you a winner down the road. But you've got to at least try. Any good GM would. Doug didn't, and look where that got us.

werd. at least they are giving it the ol' college try. If this were the old system we would hear "wait and see" or "I have faith in our guys to pull through these tough times"

If this roster could be healthy, it'd be a freaking upgrade with him on the ice over Bouchard.

Toronto has had the motivation lately to pick up players left and right, maybe they'll want Butch?

We'll take Kessell even trade, lol

Butch had head issues at the end of last year too. What really sucks is that nobody wanted him when he was healthy. Now it'll be impossible to shop him. Don't get me wrong, I hope he's okay and can play again. I wouldn't wish any harm on him. I don't hate him...just his contract and what comes with it.

Why does it make people feel easier that's a 2011 2nd rounder? Does this mean folks think we will do much, much better next year and that pick would be a lower 2nd rounder? Or that we have time to get another 2nd rounder by the trade deadline?

OldTimeHockey wrote:

There is MORE than enough time to replace that pick.

Draft picks are never "replaced". That's just Russo trying to make excuses for Fletcher's strange move. Instead of drafting 2 or 3 times in 2011's 2nd round, we will be drafting 1 or 2. That pick will never be replaced. Fletcher has already traded away as many draft picks than he has acquired, not including Fallstrom. So much for being "gold".

We've got guys like Nolan and Johnsson (plus others) who will be on their way out this summer. I can't see this team doing too well this year, so we'll be sellers around the trade deadline. There's a good chance that a desperate team will be looking to get better. That means that Fletcher may be able to regain the pick. I can't see him letting every valuable guy walk for free. He isn't Risebrough. And if it doesn't work out before the summer, he's still got another year to do so. There are a lot of guys that are going to be moved between now and 2011 to clean out the old regime.

This trade doesn't even excite me. Maybe losing 6 in a row has dulled me.

I wonder if it will excite the fanbase? Or will it be receive as a meh, we have injuries and have a touch of desperation?

Well, we better hope that there is a market for Johnsson and Nolan. If they suck this year, it will harder.

Wild Fan #1 wrote:

OldTimeHockey wrote:

There is MORE than enough time to replace that pick.

Draft picks are never "replaced". That's just Russo trying to make excuses for Fletcher's strange move. Instead of drafting 2 or 3 times in 2011's 2nd round, we will be drafting 1 or 2. That pick will never be replaced. Fletcher has already traded away as many draft picks than he has acquired, not including Fallstrom. So much for being "gold".

Doug sits on his hands. He gets yelled at for not improving the team. Fletcher does nothing. He gets yelled at for not being better than Doug. Richards has only one win. He gets yelled at for not doing his job. Fletcher tries to do something to stop the bleeding. He gets yelled at for not tanking in order to make the team better.

OldTimeHockey wrote:

Wild Fan #1 wrote:

OldTimeHockey wrote:

There is MORE than enough time to replace that pick.

Draft picks are never "replaced". That's just Russo trying to make excuses for Fletcher's strange move. Instead of drafting 2 or 3 times in 2011's 2nd round, we will be drafting 1 or 2. That pick will never be replaced. Fletcher has already traded away as many draft picks than he has acquired, not including Fallstrom. So much for being "gold".

Doug sits on his hands. He gets yelled at for not improving the team. Fletcher does nothing. He gets yelled at for not being better than Doug. Richards has only one win. He gets yelled at for not doing his job. Fletcher tries to do something to stop the bleeding. He gets yelled at for not tanking in order to make the team better.

But no one really was clamoring for action from Fletcher. I thought a majority of the fanbase are in the "let's be patient mode and see when we get more of our guys healthy again."

A good number of folks weren't patient during the summer.

OldTimeHockey wrote:

A good number of folks weren't patient during the summer.

Not according to reports of STH renewals.

I was referring to a lot of the people on the different message boards.