Matt Boldy, Wild Beat NHL’s Best Team – Wilderness Walk

23 minutes ago, Thatoneguy said:

a 27 year old rookie giraffe on skates, with very little hockey skills.

Brazeau does have 11 goals and 10 assists this season(in 833 minutes=1.51 points/60 minutes), and he scored 61 goals in a season in the OHL back in 18-19.

In 82 career games(982 career minutes, 745 of which were not short handed), Khusnutdinov has 5 goals and 8 assists(1.05 points/60 when not short handed).

He’s clearly not a top 6 player, but Brazeau has some ability.

Lauko was hurt a lot and doesn’t score much. I believe the Wild decided neither of these guys would be on the team next season, and determined Brazeau was a guy they could play in the playoffs this season. There’s no denying that Khusnutdinov has some potential due to his skating, but he wasn’t playing at a high level in the role the Wild had for him today, and the Wild were going to build up with different players for next season, limiting the possibility of him elevating to a top 6 role.

I’m not suggesting the Wild got an incredible return, only reading into the rationale behind the decision given the way things have been playing out, and the fact that Brazeau’s lines have not gotten scored on at a high rate with either team.

Khusnutdinov’s line is allowing 3.5 goals per 60 even strength while generating 1.5 goals per 60 in Boston so far. He has 5 shots on goal in 9 games there, and his shooting percentage is likely to fall far below the 40% he’s currently at if he can get more shots to the net in the remainder of the season. Boston lost to San Jose and Anaheim in their last 3 games(those are not defensive juggernauts), sandwiched around the LA Kings. In his “elevated role”, Khusnutdinov averaged nearly 15 minutes per night and registered zero shots on goal across those 3 games.

Down the road, Ryder Ritchie may have higher upside, and Riley Heidt is a similar player to Khusnutdinov that may be ready next year or the year after. Heidt was actually ranked higher than Khusnutdinov as a prospect in this year’s rankings by The Athletic which were done halfway through the year–late January.

Yurov and Ohgren are also ahead, of course.

Bankier, Stramel, Kumpulainen, and Hunter Haight are other depth forwards in the pipeline. Mike Milne is another fast-skating wing. The Wild may not end up missing the potential of Khusnutdinov given their relatively strong pipeline.

I just hope everyone on the Wild is healthy for the playoffs so we can see how they perform in that atmosphere when fully healthy–then add Buium, Jiricek, Yurov, Ohgren, possibly Wallstedt, and a free agent to be named later for next season.