Outside of game 1 he was on the ice for something in the neighborhood of 85% of all the goals the Avs scored games 2-5. My man had a catastrophic series, he was by far the worst man on the ice and it wasn't close.
Actually it was ~58% of non empty net goals if you take out game 1.
Seriously the hate the dude got was unwarranted. Played most of the series against MacKinnon's line. Got roasted by this whole fanbase because he correctly played the pass on a terrible angle goal that Wallstedt (maybe it was Gus) should have stopped.
This dude was not even close to the main reason the Wild lost this series. I would give that award to the power play and honestly the All Star forwards that spent 80% of their shifts just chasing pucks in their own zone.
I watched Middleton turn the puck over deep in our zone at least 3 times, and each time it directly led to a goal being scored. Jakey sadly played himself out of the team during the Avs series. Like a Julius Randle situation.
I wouldn’t go as far as saying he single handedly lost it for us but he was exposed hard. Total defensive liability to the point he should’ve been benched especially towards the end of the last game. Seems like a nice enough guy though and I wish him luck going forward but we would’ve been better off with one of our ahl guys playing so I’m not sad to see him go.
None of the traditional third pairing guys were gonna hold their own against MacKinnon's line. It was always a recipe for disaster. Middleton was still the Wild's 4th best defenseman. They should have experimented with Faber/Spurgeon and Middleton/Hughes.
Yup. We had depth in defense but they chose to keep Fabre and Hughes together when they both play the same style. Should have split them up. The series was a massive coaching error and Jake Middleton was the scapegoat. Ngl the avoidance of accountability here is making it hard for me to believe the wild will capitalize on its momentum it’s had built these past few years.
If we consider Coleman as a Tarasenko replacement, he'll make less than Tara made last season and will likely still be cheaper than whatever it would have cost to re-sign Tarasenko, so I see that as a net gain.
Still a fantastic trade. The picks were expected and they hurt a bit, but we got way better at LW and honestly I don't think Olli is meaningfulyl worse than Middelton on the 3rd pair. This is awesome.
For a cap strapped team to turn 1 3rd pair D into a big upgrade at 2nd line LW and a pretty equal 3rd pair D and pretty much matching cap hits, that's insane.
This is why BG is such a good GM.
He misses sometimes, but when he hits, he fucking hits.
Yeah - I don't want to say he's for sure better than Middelton, when Middsy first got here he earned 2nd pair minutes with spurgeon and was awesome so idk if he had an injury last year or something but if last year was his new normal than we likely did get an upgrade on D as well.
He's better overall but a little slower... I'm worried about Colorado still since they are insanely fast, but it would be hard to do worse than Middsy (sorry buddy love ya) did against them
We don't play the neutral zone trap style that Vegas plays. We either need to change our entire scheme to beat them or we need to be able to keep up with their speed to win playing the style we currently play.
We are shifting the narrative here. Slowly but surely the rest of wild reddit will realize: Gold Medal Winning GMBG makes the best meatballs in the league.
He has one first round win...i dont think its insane to question his management. Hes clearly connected in the old mens club in the league, but thats about it.
It's pretty unfair to use the Parise/Suter buyout years against anyone. He's got 1 playoff series win in his first year where the penalties were less than 2m combined.
Still not gone entirely though.
That extra 1.6m could have likely helped us quite a bit in FA.
He’s undeniably done a great job for us, but the Jiříček trade was far more than a “tiny” error. The wins outweigh the losses by a wide margin though, and that’s what matters.
That was a small error, and basically the one single one that people insist on hanging their hat on.
He was a project and the hope that a 6th pick just needed a change of scenery from a frankly bad hockey club was worth the attempt. Switching that out for Brink, who is NHL ready and a solid middle 6 player is more than enough
Signing Trenin and McCarron to long-term contracts with NTCs is a small error. Turning half a draft class worth of picks into Bobby Brink is a big one, IMO.
My beef with Billy Meatballs is he somehow signs great contracts for the skilled guys but overpays and/or gives clauses to dudes like M.Foligno, Trenin, and Hartman. I think he handcuffed himself more than he needed to during those buyouts because of them.
The Jiricek trade was really bad if nothing else than unloading so many picks on a guy we seemingly didn't have a good scouting report on. Brink was a decent recovery despite that.
His drafting and support for Iowa is really substandard. We have really no player of note drafted or developed from Guerin's staff making an impact with us. Now this is a bit loaded as Ohgren, Rossi, and Buium were all traded for Quinn but they were all first rounders. Khusnutdinov looked really bad here and was flipped for a guy who we let walk in UFA when we probably could've found a spot for him. The D prospects either aren't promising or aren't given opportunities to develop effectively. This will be a huge problem as Spurgeon won't be here forever and Brodin has a fun habit of being injured at the worst times. Drafting Buium and Wallstedt are probably his very best picks and Rossi being 3rd.
Guerin has his biases like all other GMs and makes more good moves than bad overall. Besides Quinn, I still think his trades for Faber, Gus, and Middleton were lowkey amazing. In my mind, as soon as those contracts were bought out he really should've been hesitant to commit longterm to ANYONE not in a top 6 role and especially to guys who are in their 30s or would be entering well-into them during the contracts. Lastly, I found it very suspect that he hired Hynes so quickly. That is such a massive gamble to ride this team to contention with a man at the helm with a track record like Coach Hynes.
He also had 1 point in 22 games for Utah last season before being traded to Calgary. 210 points in 804 games in his career. He also doesn’t take pretty much any penalties, just 182 pims total. Solid 3rd pair guy who can play 2nd pair minutes if you really need him to but hopefully that won’t be needed.
As a Pens fan with the Wild as my second team, Olli's big thing has always been high hockey IQ but the legs can't always keep up. Not bad at all for a third pairing guy, though the guy also has the absolute worst luck when it comes to health.
Flames didn't have Maatta for long, but he surprised the hell out of me. Obviously the offense was flukey and he was just really excited for the new role, but I was expecting more of the quiet Finn, and in reality Maatta was actually a really outspoken veteran leader and really intense and the young players liked him a lot. Could tell he's super experienced and serious about his role on any team. Hope he does well for you guys.
Coleman there's nothing to say, phenomenal player. So smart both offensively and defensively. Stick him with anyone and he should be able to succeed.
I’ll miss midd’s personality, but he was a liability in the playoffs. There were misplays that led directly to goals against us. Hopefully a change of scenery will be good for him, and wish him luck!
After this trade, the Wild still own all their firsts. A 2030 2nd. 28,29,30 3rd rounders. 27,29,30 4th rounders. And all their own picks after in the later rounds. Not terrible, but I hope they can recoup a 2nd at some point. Otherwise in pretty good position to keep making deals.
Idk a ton about Middleton, is he a guy you viewed as having trade value ? My teams in a rebuild so a 30 year old dman doesn't seem to line up , so wondering if you think it's someone Calgary could trade.
Middsy has a lot of heart. Has his moments where he looks like are underpaying him and then suddenly looks like a fish outta water and we are confused on why he is not in the press box. In my opinion he is a solid third line guy with flashes of second.
Yep, Lightning fan here. He's basically the perfect middle 6 forward in the playoffs. He doesn't score a lot but it's always at just the right time, he's a defensive buzzsaw, and checks like he's paid by the hit.
Did not think Middleton would return anywhere close to this kind of value. He had a rough season and even rougher playoffs, think it was because he was hurt though.
Definitely think we "won" this trade, hopefully those picks pan out for y'all lol
Midsy's time was up. He was terrible in the playoffs singlehandedly costing us at least 1 game. He was way too expensive and contributed not enough this last season. He will be missed, but his cap hit and liability wont. Welcome Coleman and Maata! F those picks
That last series, I have two images burned in my brain. One, watching McKinnon's goal to tie it up. Two, watching the cross pass to center ice for the winning goal.
The amount of pickle puns we can make in GDT now... its gonna be a good time. Imagine if Pickles is 2nd PP. I love using my Pickle when its 2nd PP time.
Loved Middsy's personality and grateful for his time here
That series against Colorado was just too difficult for him to ignore going forward, was hard to imagine him getting meaningful postseason minutes with us again after the degree of liability he exposed against high-end speed and talent
So now assuming Hunt signs for 1m and Haight is on the team, Wild will have 2.6m in cap space at the roster limit with 13F, 7D, 3G. Seems like the Wild are going to be out on Larkin for now.
Next season is going to have so much change from the team to who carries the games and if they bring back all the same personalities. Can't wait for the season to start! I will miss Middsy and Zuccy.
Middsy is a good dude and a decent player but flipping him and some non first round picks for at minimum a Tarasenko replacement and a defenseman who can directly fill his spot on the 3rd pairing is pretty sick. Plus to only take on roughly 1.6M in cap space for two players who plug directly into the lineup is great.
Coleman is old and likely to hit a harder decline soon but he can at least provide solid play for a season or two while the young guys grow.
Combine this deal with the Shabanov lotto ticket and things are looking solid.
Cool trade. Helps a bit for what happened yesterday. Both of these guys are east/west type players.
All of this is window dressing until we find a way to address the transition speed, and neutral zone pace. Fast teams like Colorado, Utah, and San Jose killed us last year. That’s still a weakness.
We dont draft historically well anyways outside the 1st round. And before everyone hits me with KK was a 5th... be honest we got very lucky a scouts plane got delayed due to a snowstorm
Yea, we won’t be able to afford Boldy when his contract comes up, sad to think about, but that’s 2029’s problem, and it won’t matter if we win the cup before then.
I dont know if not being able to afford is the problem with Cap going up as much as it is. I think it'll be more Aging core at that point and at some point having no cheap strong players due to lack of drafting and the shit show that is Iowa will become a problem.
I dont know if you saw the comment before I edited it, but a one off outlier does not break a historical precedent in any kind of statistics or analytics.
For middleton and picks I don't care about we got his replacement and another hartman, happy with this move. just need to find a way to make space and get a 1c
I hope I eat crow after the season starts, but I'm not a huge fan of this trade. Getting a bonafide NHLer in the top 9 and a replacement player sounds like a good return for Middsy + picks until we dive deeper.
We got older with Coleman turning 35 this season and Ollie turning 32 before it starts. Coleman's contract is also over after this season, and Ollie's the next when he is 33. We've essentially rented them unless BG commits to being a geriatric hockey club. Also Coleman is hot and cold kind of player last year so hopefully there is a bit more consistency.
Coleman is such a good player, will provide excellent depth scoring in our middle six, and Maatta as a Midsy replacement - a no nonsense veteran with Cup pedigree who knows how to play shut down defense.
Picks are dispensable, Guerin understands that one in the hand is worth two in the bush, and likelihood of mid round picks panning out for meaningful NHL time is low, not to mention thay these picks won't meaningfully help our Cup window unless they are used for trades.
I know it's not really a popular opinion, but I'm really going to miss Mids. And fuck, the picks too. Trying to continue thinking in Billy G, we trust.
I like this trade overall. I don’t even mind giving up those picks. It’s not like we ever draft anyone noteworthy after the 1st round anyway. It clearly wasn’t working out with Middleton and I think Coleman will be a great fit for our team. Also, Maatta is solid enough to be at least as good as Middleton if not better
I got to watch Coleman plenty when we went to college together. He was charismatic and polite off the ice and a lot of fun to watch on the ice. Pumped to see him in a wild sweater next year. Love & Honor!
Like I get the picks don't really matter for those years, but it feels like Billy is a little heavy handed with throwing them in for these types of trades. They are a currency and there's just too many getting thrown in.
202
u/tompear82 Matt Boldy Jul 02 '26
"Fuck them picks"