It’s Been an Huge Week for the Minnesota Wild Who Signed Two of Their Stars to Big Extensions
It’s been a very busy and eventful week in Minnesota. First Capri off signs, now Philip Gustiffson. Seth Tupel of Locked on Wild is here to talk about the implications of these signings and a lot more coming up next on today’s Locked on NHL podcast. You’re locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Gil Martin here and welcome everybody to the Monday edition of the Lockdown NHL podcast. We are part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. I want to thank everyone who makes Locked on NHL your first listen every day. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. It is my pleasure to welcome back to the show the host of Lockedon Wild, Seth Tupel. And uh Seth, could you have been any busier this past week? Uh, Capriovv and Gustoson signing long-term extensions. Capriovv’s a record setting extension. Le let’s start with this. How do you grade Bill Garin for this week’s two signings? I I think Garren did very well in both cases. I know it was a little odd the way that Capri off’s deal went down after turning down the initial record setting extension that was offered. Although in an interview that Craig Leupold did with Michael Russo, he said it’s not like Capri off turned it down. He just didn’t say yes, which I find very odd. And you you get a couple of weeks that go in between all the national writers throughout the NHL suggesting trade possibilities saying we haven’t seen any indication that the Wild are going to trade him, but I kind of wonder if that changes. So just running the gambit on every possible scenario with this and then all of a sudden boom, Kevin Weekes drops in from the lower third of your screen and says Capri’s office signed. The national nightmare is over. trends. $17 million per year uh per year is obviously a high price point. Uh but this is going to be a deal that will age well, I think, uh as the cap goes up. Um I maintain that the Wild would have paid a far heavier price had they let Capri off walk or tried to put a trade package together for him. I think that would have uh set the franchise back considerably. So yeah, you got to overpay a little bit to uh to get a guy to stay, but Capri off wanted to be here. He’s been adamant that he loves it here and the Wilds get it done and now they can get to work on building around him. And I have to say, as far as the Gustiffson deal goes, just outstanding work by the Minnesota Wild. I talked about this over the weekend, Gil, Philip Gustoson is tied for fourth in the NHL in save percentage over the last three seasons. The only two that are above him are Connor Halabuk and Lenus Omar. Pretty good goalies. Uh his goals against average in that same span is seventh in the league. and he’s made, you know, 30, 40 fewer starts than some of these other top end goalies have made, but it’s pretty clear that the Wild view him as the guy, even though they’ve got Yesper Valstead in the system. Um, they they still view him as the guy. And I I talked about it, too. Boston Boston had two young goalies that they they went to to battle with, and that worked out just fine. They did end up eventually having to trade after he couldn’t agree to an extension, but you deal with that then. You deal with that down the road. For right now, you’ve got Philip Gustoson who is one of the better goalies in the league. You’ve got Yesper Volstead who can grow and uh and learn the NHL style at a little bit of a slower pace. Um I I think it works out great. And you look at the going rate for some of the goalies throughout the league. There are 10 goalies that are making more money per year than Philip Gustoson right now. And I would say there are several on this list that Gustiffson is probably better than. So $6.8 million for a goalie of Gustoson’s caliber I think is a steal. And that’s how that’s how you take the extension that Capri off got. That’s how you start to kind of get some of that money back is by little savings here and there. You save a a mill plus on Gustoson. You’re saving a ton on Matt Baldy. You’re saving some on Marco Rossi. Like this is just kind of how business is done. And I think the Wild did a really good job in both cases. Are there any cap concerns either short-term or long-term as a result of these two deals coming back to back? I think the only thing is one that you can’t really um contend with. And if like for instance, let’s say, you know, we’ve been talking about the cap going up over the next few years and the NHL has planned for that. If there would be any instances that would cause a flat cap and would would cause it to not rise, obviously that’s that’s going to hinder you a little bit, but that’s going to hinder everybody. So, it’s not going to be something that just you have to deal with. Uh, beyond that, I mean, the Wild have contracts that are coming off the books pretty much every season going forward. Uh, next year, Vladimir Teroseno and Matt Sukarella will be off the books. Uh you’ve also, you know, got some other spots further down the line. In two years, Jared Spurgeon will be an unrestricted free agent. So that will take $7.5 million off the books. Uh Jonas Broaddin a year after that. So they’re just going to gradually have spots and money open up as this contract unfolds. So, you pair that with the cap going up and I I think, you know, there’s so much talk about you can’t win a Stanley Cup with somebody that’s making over $10 million. I mean, I I don’t I guess see major issues with building around this deal. And for those that say that you’re right back in the Zack Perezy Ryan Sudter problem with those two contracts, I would I would say Carroll Capri off probably brings a little more to the table than they both did. And by a little, I mean substantially more. Um, so I I just I’m I’m excited that this stuff is all done. And uh I’m excited that you know we’re going to get to see Carrill break every record that Minnesota has as a franchise. And you’re going to have Philip Gustoson climbing up those goalie leaderboards too by the time his deal is done. So with these two players now wrapped up long term, what are the keys for the Wild to advance beyond where they’ve advanced in the playoffs and be more successful this season? Uh again, it’s a number one of those things that you can’t really control. It’s the health. The Wild were the best team in the NHL on uh in the first week of December. They had the most points in the league even after even over Winnipeg after Winnipeg had their hot start. Uh the Wild were the ones leading in the entire NHL in points in the first week of December and then the injuries hit. So, the team that is there’s a team in there that is capable of playing really really good hockey. It’s just how many injuries do you have to contend with along the way? Um, and who is going to be filling in in those cases? You know, if you lose Carell Capri off for 41 games this year, again, that’s going to put you behind the eight-ball a little bit. If he can play closer to 70 games, 75 games this year, the Wild are going to be much better. And they lost Juel Ericen. He only played 46 games last year. Several key players were in the 60s as far as games played are concerned. So, if you can just if you can get players closer to 70 as far as games played go, you’re going to have a much better year. And you know, as far as the division goes as well, the there were like the the Avalanche dealt with a ton of injuries and have over the last few years. Winnipeg very healthy and that is I think a big reason that they were able to get off to the start that they did. Are they going to have that same injury luck this year? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. But if the Wild can stay even slightly more healthy than they were last year, I think they uh stand a good chance to go much further this year. Well, I know you’ll have that covered every step of the way. Seth, why don’t you tell our viewers and our listeners where they could find the podcast and where they could find you on social media? You can follow the show on your favorite social media platforms and on your favorite podcast platforms by searching Locked on Wild. We’ve got you covered uh every step of the way with some uh surprise guests coming up this week to uh kick us off with Thursday’s opener against the St. Louis Blues. And you can follow me on X as well, Seth Tous for, as I like to call it, mostly hockey with a pinch of nonsense. Sounds good, Seth. Thank you so much. Thanks, Gil. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth, whether it’s 401ks, properties, or investments. And when you don’t have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That’s why there’s Monarch Money. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. Monarch is built for people with busy lives. If you’ve been putting off organizing your finances, Monarch is for you. Monarch does the heavy lifting for you. 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The Minnesota Wild had an eventful week, signing Kirill Kaprizov and Filip Gustavsson to big contract extensions including a record-setting deal for the high scoring forward.
Seth Toupal of Locked On Wild joins us to discuss the two deals, how well Bill Guerin did on both of them and what it means for the Wild going forward both on the ice and with the cap.
All this and more on today’s Locked On NHL Podcast with Gil Martin.
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