To trade or not to trade, that is the question for the Minnesota Wild

To trade or not to trade...

To trade or not to trade, that is the deadline question for the Minnesota Wild in 2010-11

Written by Derek Felska | 27 February 2011

I think its safe to say that most Wild fans remember this deal from last year where the Wild sent steady blueliner Kim Johnsson and 2009 1st round pick Nick Leddy to Chicago for Cam Barker. To be polite, I think many fans wish Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher could have a redo on that one. I am not a big Nick Leddy fan, in fact I am still not in awe of his NHL potential as he bides his time in Rockford, the Blackhawks AHL affiliate. Yet, giving away Leddy almost as an afterthought in addition to the Wild blueliner who averaged the most time on ice. Johnsson only ended up playing a few games before being saddled with a concussion but that didn't make the deal seem any better as Cam Barker still has not shown anyone why he was worthy of being selected 3rd Overall in 2004. Barker has been relegated to a 3rd pairing defenseman, but at crunch time feels far more confident in giving Clayton Stoner ice time speaks volumes about what Barker has been able to accomplish. 3rd pair ice time (16:29 average minutes of ice time per game), and with 1 goal and 5 points in 51 games at a pricetag of $3 million per season hardly seems like a lot of bang for the puck. If the Wild seem to have any depth in their prospect pool its on the blueline where they have a few youngsters seasoning in Houston that look as though they project into NHL'ers so to lose Leddy may not be a giant loss for the franchise but for a team that has had so many drafts where their top pick has underwhelmed to just give Leddy away (who I must reluctantly admit he has NHL potential) still kind of smarts. So as the trade deadline is set to begin tomorrow what are the Wild to do? To trade or not to trade, that is the big question.

Our suggestion? Unless someone is going to give you a ridiculous deal like the Colorado Avalanche did by offering conditional 2nd round pick as well as Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk for a 3rd line grinder like Jay McClement and overhyped blueliner Erik Johnson as well as a conditional 1st round pick I think the Wild's best move is to do nothing. In all honesty, I am amazed I'm even saying that. In year's past where the Wild needed to make a move former General Manager Doug Risebrough either did nothing or pulled off a pathetic trade that seemed more insulting to the fans it calls "the Greatest Hockey Fans in the World" than anything else. Just look at the Wild's trade deadline history. In 2006, it was a trade for Dominic Moore, and in 2007 it was the most notorious trade deadline move of them all when the team dealt a 6th round pick for Chris Simon. In this article, I will provide reasons to support this assertion that the best move for Minnesota to make is none at all. (click on the link for the rest of the article)

What do you think? Let me know...

Great Article. I wouldn't mind seeing them shop either Mittens or Kobasew around for picks.. sad part is shopping mittens might screw up the locker room chemistry since he and Koivu are buds. If we could get something for Barker I wouldn't be opposed to that either but with his contract it might be a bit rough. I dont think we'll see much happen this trade deadline.. but all in all I'm happy with the effort the guys are giving at the moment I just wish we had someone other than Mittens on that wing..as im sure alot of us would.

so the only deal we did was for 2 prospects that cost us... a prospect. I understand why no deal was done, we are still trying to "restock" a bit, it's not the right time to pull the trigger on "rentals" to get us to the cup and you don't want to sell off the "rentals" we do have because we are still very much in the playoff hunt. So what do you do? Yeah I get the whole Mittens and such talk, but really.. what would we get for them (in the real world... not in fantasy land that a lot of people like to live.)

If we think a player is garbage, odds are... so does others. Look at the whole BP/GL deal last year, we were trading a "bust" for a "bust" in hopes that maybe a change of cities would help.. and it did (so far.)

I think it was stupid to deal Khudobin. As the old saying goes, you can never have enough good goalies. Mikko Lehtonen won't come back to North America to the Wild. And this Penner kid? MEGA YAWN! I really hope this doesn't turn out into a Zbynek Michalek give away...

but at some point you have to "give to get" (if you will.) I think we are more then fine at goalie... from Backs all the way down to that german kid. We already have to figure out what will happen next year between Theo and Harding (do we resign either?) then add in Khudobin who's also going to be a FA next year and ready to be "back up" somewhere... and you have a log jam going on at the lower levels (does it really pay to have some of our better goalie prospects playing overseas or in "junior" type leagues when they could be in the AHL?)

Penner, yeah... not really expecting much at all (and since our D is starting to show some promise, I really don't care if he never makes it.)

But Lehtonen... I wouldn't be surprised if he did come back to the NHL with Koivu on the roster (the kid is a 23 year old Fin... you think playing with Koivu wouldn't make him a little excited?) The only reason he left Boston (from what I had seen) was because he didn't feel he had a good chance of making their NHL roster. After this year we'll have Kobe, Bruno and Mittens that are FA forwards... think all 3 are coming back at their current pay? Bruno is getting to "that age" where retirement is just around the corner, Mittens will probably have to take a pay-cut to get resigned as will Kobe... so who knows, maybe all 3 move on to other teams? That would open the door for a kid like Lehtonen to make the roster.

Maybe...I'll believe it when I see it.