Wild sign defenseman Jake Middleton to 4-year contract extension
July 2, 2024
Wild sign defenseman Jake Middleton to 4-year contract extension
11 comments
$4.35M AAV
The cap will go up this year and next year when this kicks in. If by year 3 or 4 he’s on the third pair, it means we have three great pairs.
Still a slight overpay. Love the stache but these 4M+ contracts are going to add up quickly
Hard not to see this as an overpay, but I like the guy and it will be good to have veteran presence on the roster after signing all those new entry-level deals
When Guerin gets fired hopefully Beckett will get to stay.
Paying to much for a slightly above average defenseman who doesn’t have much offense and still has some defensive deficiencies and adding a partial no trade clause. Not worth it
Partial no move as well
*Posted this on another site, so I’ll copy it here too*
I wonder what the GMs and coaches see that we don’t. They don’t re-sign Middleton for so long if they think Hunt, Lambos, etc. are ready made obvious replacements. Faber from day one proved he was good, and then exploded to where he is now. Some guys never do. I couldn’t tell you anything Hunt did last year when he got in games that made him any more noticeable than a Mermis. At best, he was Mermis, but not as bad as Goligoski. What did Beckman or Walker ever do on their stints (4th line limited minutes sure) to say, “God, we gotta keep them?” Chisholm got his chance, and now probably gets to be that #6 they probably would think a Hunt, Lambos, etc. “should” be already, but aren’t.
I just listened to Russo and LaPanta’s rundown of the Trenin thing, which bled into Middleton. Russo seems to think you gotta let players play and churn the lower guys out because they price themselves out. It makes sense…but what if the 3rd/4th line guys are just expendable quality anyway? The Wild found out what a bunch of AHL lifers as 3rd/4th line depth will do. LaPanta’s point is, “Yurov and Ohgren are going to get opportunties in the Top 6 BECAUSE they are those guys.” Buium you hope is going to BE those guys. LaPanta, for all his supposed homerism, has been consistent in saying, “You don’t want MoJo in the top six? Go fucking outplay him then!” Addison stunk up the back end for a year, so they got Bogo instead. They wouldn’t have done that if Addison knew how to stop a puck.
I think you can skirt the line and understand that not everyone you sign is going to be an NHL quality player. For their faults, MoJo and Gaudreau have at least been veteran NHL depth and know what it takes to do that. You hope you find better players, but you can’t just give out favors to people who aren’t good enough. Beckman and Walker aren’t those guys. Maybe Ohgren, Khusnutdinov, and Yurov are.
People acting like the Wild are overpaying and wasting cap space are forgetting the new players are mostly gonna be getting paid when the veteran contracts expire. Middleton is worth this in my opinion dude has size something Wild defenseman ain’t known for and he has been great when paired with Spurgeon and Brock at different points.
People constantly act like NTC and NMC are immovable but it’s not true. Sure a guy could say screw off I’m staying but most guys aren’t gonna stay where they aren’t wanted they just don’t wanna get cap dumped to a garbage team. In three years if you wanted to you could move him (I wouldn’t he makes for a good third pair in that case.)
Wild were never going to go out and spend big on free agency after Parise and Suter buyouts were done. What they were gonna do is fill the team with vets and build the depth while developing rookies.
MN Wild POV: Oh Yeah it’s all coming together!
Dumba almost got 4 per so this seems fair. Not sure what everyone is so upset about.
Too many bottom 6 players over 30 making 4 million AAV. That will not win us a cup or keep Kaprisov here, BG needs to stop being the nice guy and let these older guys go. Old teams don’t win Stanley Cups
11 comments
$4.35M AAV
The cap will go up this year and next year when this kicks in. If by year 3 or 4 he’s on the third pair, it means we have three great pairs.
Still a slight overpay. Love the stache but these 4M+ contracts are going to add up quickly
Hard not to see this as an overpay, but I like the guy and it will be good to have veteran presence on the roster after signing all those new entry-level deals
When Guerin gets fired hopefully Beckett will get to stay.
Paying to much for a slightly above average defenseman who doesn’t have much offense and still has some defensive deficiencies and adding a partial no trade clause. Not worth it
Partial no move as well
*Posted this on another site, so I’ll copy it here too*
I wonder what the GMs and coaches see that we don’t. They don’t re-sign Middleton for so long if they think Hunt, Lambos, etc. are ready made obvious replacements. Faber from day one proved he was good, and then exploded to where he is now. Some guys never do. I couldn’t tell you anything Hunt did last year when he got in games that made him any more noticeable than a Mermis. At best, he was Mermis, but not as bad as Goligoski. What did Beckman or Walker ever do on their stints (4th line limited minutes sure) to say, “God, we gotta keep them?” Chisholm got his chance, and now probably gets to be that #6 they probably would think a Hunt, Lambos, etc. “should” be already, but aren’t.
I just listened to Russo and LaPanta’s rundown of the Trenin thing, which bled into Middleton. Russo seems to think you gotta let players play and churn the lower guys out because they price themselves out. It makes sense…but what if the 3rd/4th line guys are just expendable quality anyway? The Wild found out what a bunch of AHL lifers as 3rd/4th line depth will do. LaPanta’s point is, “Yurov and Ohgren are going to get opportunties in the Top 6 BECAUSE they are those guys.” Buium you hope is going to BE those guys. LaPanta, for all his supposed homerism, has been consistent in saying, “You don’t want MoJo in the top six? Go fucking outplay him then!” Addison stunk up the back end for a year, so they got Bogo instead. They wouldn’t have done that if Addison knew how to stop a puck.
I think you can skirt the line and understand that not everyone you sign is going to be an NHL quality player. For their faults, MoJo and Gaudreau have at least been veteran NHL depth and know what it takes to do that. You hope you find better players, but you can’t just give out favors to people who aren’t good enough. Beckman and Walker aren’t those guys. Maybe Ohgren, Khusnutdinov, and Yurov are.
People acting like the Wild are overpaying and wasting cap space are forgetting the new players are mostly gonna be getting paid when the veteran contracts expire. Middleton is worth this in my opinion dude has size something Wild defenseman ain’t known for and he has been great when paired with Spurgeon and Brock at different points.
People constantly act like NTC and NMC are immovable but it’s not true. Sure a guy could say screw off I’m staying but most guys aren’t gonna stay where they aren’t wanted they just don’t wanna get cap dumped to a garbage team. In three years if you wanted to you could move him (I wouldn’t he makes for a good third pair in that case.)
Wild were never going to go out and spend big on free agency after Parise and Suter buyouts were done. What they were gonna do is fill the team with vets and build the depth while developing rookies.
MN Wild POV: Oh Yeah it’s all coming together!
Dumba almost got 4 per so this seems fair. Not sure what everyone is so upset about.
Too many bottom 6 players over 30 making 4 million AAV. That will not win us a cup or keep Kaprisov here, BG needs to stop being the nice guy and let these older guys go. Old teams don’t win Stanley Cups