Compete Level

I think they had to -- you're not getting a 1C with a mid-to-late 1st rounder, even with four kicks at the can

and Larkin so magnanimously added Dallas to his now-4-team list

If it opens the door for some three-way deal involving Robertson, it's better than whatever Minnesota, Florida, or Vegas could offer.

I would really just like it to be over, as great as Wild fans losing their shit about Yzerman saying "The only thing I'd want from Minnesota is Boldy" and them saying "Actually Yurov can't be part of the deal because he's too good" may be.

Apparently Yzerman's initial ask was Wyatt Johnston

Tom Dundun got his wife and kids on the Stanley Cup but not the team’s longtime (since Hartford!) equipment manager

I hate that asshole

[media] [/media]

Yzerplan Yzerdone

The right call

Hopefully the new GM isn’t Draper or some other former Wing

Mantha signs with the Devils, 2 years 9.5 total

That dude should permanently be on one-year deals

I think Mantha could have been an ok fit with the SNES this year.

Mantha's a tough player to evaluate because he's totally capable of playing top six minutes and getting sixty points, but they're the most frustrating sixty points a player can get you because he floats so much and seems so disengaged 80% of the time.

I do think the SNES could use another scoring winger, but going from Brady to Mantha would've infuriated the fan base. Nobody ever says "We need to get easier to play against."

It's fairly clear that they have prioritized speed with the roster changes and I THINK the hope is that they need to get pair Timmy with someone who can keep up with him (Eklund) vs Brady who does a lot of good things but "be fast" isn't one of them. Or at least that it can help Timmy get to the next level (is he a 82 point guy or is there another level?).

I think that was the idea with Zetterlund, tho.

But I do think there's a big lack of pure scoring on the team in general. Feels like they will be setup to get a lot of W's on the Money puck Deserve-To-Win-O-Meter next year but that won't matter if they can't finish.

What was the Yzerplan anyways

Cacophony wrote: ↑Wed Jul 15, 2026 12:58 pm What was the Yzerplan anyways

big ben chiarots are the best, get high (late) draft picks all the time

He did well on the initial phase of the rebuild (tearing everything down, moving guys like Mantha and Bertuzzi and Hronek for picks, drafting cornerstones in Seider and Raymond) but I don’t know if it was The Plan to turn the corner with vets like Chiarot, Compher, and Copp or ownership didn’t want them to be 2019-2020 bad indefinitely, but the roster never pushed into the playoffs.

The concern for me wasn’t “the Yzerplan in 2020” but “the Yzerplan now,” like even if Larkin didn’t request a trade, I don’t know if they were likely to make the playoffs anytime soon given the division. It may have just been BS but the reports of him wanting help now instead of futures seems misguided. Maybe this comes down to realizing that they need, at the very least, a soft reset, and Yzerman doesn’t want to do that.

There are like four pieces on Yzerman's departure today including one about how it adds a "new wrinkle" to the Wild's pursuit of Larkin. It's not just that Yurov / Stramel / 1st does nothing, but I want the fans who insist "they'll take that deal and like it" to suffer.

i've already resigned myself to the fact that a shitty larkin deal will be made

have to think yzerman's stepping down is in large part because of his refusal to do it

I've resigned myself to the fact that a shitty Larkin deal will be made, and am just holding onto the hope that the Minnesota Wild will not be the beneficiaries.