MAILBAG: Danila Yurov’s CEILING REVEALED | Is Jack Johnson QUALITY Depth? #minnesotawild

MAILBAG: Danila Yurov’s CEILING REVEALED | Is Jack Johnson QUALITY Depth? #minnesotawild

On today’s episode of Lockdown Wild, we answer your mailbag questions. From Denili Eurovv’s upside to Marco Rossy’s trade value to a Minnesota Wild logo rebrand and Jack Johnson, not the singer, signing a PTO. Hey, this is Matt Baldi and you’re listening to Locked on Wild. You’re Locked on Wild. Your daily podcast on the Minnesota Wild, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. What’s happening everybody? Welcome in to another episode of Locked On, your daily Minnesota Wild Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. We are your team each and every day and we thank you for making Lockdown Wild your first listen each and every day as well. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube and your favorite podcast platform so you don’t miss out on any new episodes throughout the week. On today’s episode of Locked on Wild, we’ll dive into your mailbag questions, taking a look at a wide range of Minnesota Wild questions and plenty to discuss. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockdown NHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Appreciate everybody that took the time to submit questions for this mailbag. Uh, like I said, we haven’t done one of these in eons and figured it might be a good time to just take a look at some of the things that uh, Wild fans are interested in getting answers to. Uh, so we’ll get to as many as we can here today. If we need to, we’ll certainly circle back for the rest, but we do have a piece of Minnesota Wild’s news to get to here before we dive in to all the mailbag fun. Uh because the Wild signed defenseman Jack Johnson to a PTO yesterday, a professional try out with an invitation to training camp this upcoming season. Jack Johnson, not the singer, is 38 years old. He’s coming off of a season in which probably didn’t expect to play a ton. played in 41 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets and had a total of six points on the season. Played roughly 13 minutes, just slightly below that on ice per night. And uh Johnson is coming off of a couple of seasons in which he has played 80 plus games. you know, he was a big piece kind of of veteran leadership for the Colorado Avalanche the last couple of seasons. He’s played with the Kings. He’s played with Columbus, Pittsburgh, the Rangers, Colorado, Chicago, uh, as a backend piece of a decor. So, let’s let’s talk this out because there are a couple of different ways that this can be read. Me, an avid book reader that I am, I like to try to read between the pages sometimes. And I’ve seen a wide range of reaction to the move as well on social media. Um, one side of my head says a PTO is just that it’s an invite to training camp. there really is no Johnson um were to make the team u for some reason. I know we are expecting that Jonas Broaddin will miss the start of the season and maybe the first couple of weeks of the season. So injury insurance for the Minnesota Wild in the event that Broaddin is not ready for the start of the year. So that’s that that is one side of this. But the other side of this that I think is kind of interesting is we’ve seen this kind of thing from Bill Garren before where he makes a move for somebody and you think, “Oh, there’s this isn’t going to amount to much of anything. That player ends up making the roster.” And so I kind of wonder this is I I’m choosing to read this the same way that I read the Cal Peterson signing is with Cal Peterson. It’s pretty easy to say, well, all Yes. for Valstead has to do is beat out Cal Peterson to make the opening night roster. And then Peterson is organizational depth in the event that somebody gets hurt on uh in the big leagues. But on defense, it’s a little more complicated than that because we are assuming, at least according to our wonderful friends at Puck Pedia, you’re assuming that the defense that breaks camp looks like this. Brock Faber, Jared Spurgeon, Jake Middleton, Zack Begoian, Zeve Buham, David Uraichek, you know, that’s six right there. And you know, you could also bring Carson Lambos along for the ride uh just to be the seventh defenseman to start the season. And you could look at this as, well, all Zeve Boy, David Urechek, and Carson Lambos have to do is beat Jack Johnson out of a roster spot. What should be easier that said than done for a few of those players. And so if this is a situation where Bill Garren brings Jack Johnson on this roster to sit to continue to play the likes of Lambos, Uracam as opposed to having them sit on the bench. There are a lot of moving parts for this, but it is I have to say it is one that kind of I I did a little bit of a double take when it happens. There’s obviously plenty of time before we get to training camp for this to play out, but simple simple task is okay, you just got to beat out a 38-year-old defenseman. And if that’s truly how this goes and Johnson’s released from his PTO after training camp and nothing comes of it, that’s one thing. But it’s going to be real interesting to see how much leeway uh a guy like Jack Johnson is given um in training camp. That’s way more Jack Johnson than I thought I was going to talk about here. Uh Johnson is 6’2, 225 uh as far as his uh last weight that was recorded. He was the third overall pick in the 2005 NHL draft. And he has been more of a physical defenseman, logged 233 hits with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a 32y old. That’s a lot. And also had 147 blocks. So, he’s a back-end physical defenseman, the Bill Garren blue light special. Uh, so let’s Here’s here’s what I’m going to do is I’m just going to wait and see how this plays out in training camp, but it’s going to be very interesting if he is in the mix in any way for a spot once camp is done. Um, then we’re going to have to have a conversation about that. Now, I’ll get to the first mailbag question as a way to kind of keep this organizational depth theme going. Uh, Brian GV4JZ on YouTube asking, “What’s going on with Vinnie Hinestrosa? Is he going to play in Iowa or in Minnesota?” Great question, by the way. And, uh, Hinestrosa is signed to a two-way contract. So, he is in the organization for 775K if he’s on the NHL roster this year, but since it’s a two-way contract, he can be in Iowa as well. I assume based on the current roster composition, I assume that he’s going to start the season in Iowa and can be a little bit of a veteran thumper down in Iowa and can help some of the the youngsters navigate um playing at the Iowa level for the first time. you know, Riley Height, I would assume, will be uh playing in Iowa for most of the year. You’ve got other guys like Hunter Hates, Rasmuscalin, other names that are playing at the Iowa level for the most part for the first time. And Henrosza has been around the league quite a bit. Good veteran sounding board. And if you get in a pinch and you suffer a bunch of injuries, it wouldn’t surprise me if we see Hinestroza again this year. But it’s all about the roster pecking order and I feel like Hinestrosa just is kind of on the lower end of this right now. And again, Bill Garren could go full wild card and he could say, “We’re taking all the vets. We’re taking all the vets with us um to start off the season.” But I would imagine Hinestroza starts in Iowa. If the injury situation is like it’s been the last couple of years, we could very well see him. But um nothing against Vinnie, but for the sake of the NHL team, I hope we do not see him this year and that he just kind of hangs out in Iowa and does his thing and that’s that. But it’s just it’s good. It’s it’s a guy that’s played NHL games before. Uh, and if you get in a pinch and you need him to come up and play fourth line minutes, potentially third line minutes for you, he’s going to work hard and it’s going to be better than what you saw from the likes of Devin Shore, Brendan Gaunt, uh, in those same type of roles. So, he’s organizational depth at this point, unless things go crazy crazy wrong again, in which case we could potentially see him. We have plenty more mailbag questions to get to some Marco Rossy discussion and uh Danila Yurov on the horizon as well. Plus, we’re going to dive into the Minnesota Wild logo and color scheme on today’s show. Plenty more to get to on today’s mailbag episode of Lockown Wild right after this. Today’s episode of Lock 10 Wild is brought to you by Indeed. You just realized your business needed to hire somebody yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? It’s easy. Just use Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other sites. Indeed’s sponsored jobs put your post at the top of the page and help you reach the right candidates faster. As a job seeker myself last summer, there was nothing more frustrating than just feeling like I wasn’t getting the job opportunities that fit me. Incomes indeed, and all of the ones that it feels like were tailored directly to my specifications show up right at the top of the page. So, it does from a job seeker, it does work. And if you are a business looking to hire, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 sponsored job credit. Just go to indeed.com/lockedon right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Welcome back to today’s episode of Lockdown Wild. Once again, we thank you for making Lockdown Wild your first listen each and every day. Once again, make sure you subscribe on YouTube and your favorite podcast platform so you don’t miss out on any new episodes throughout the week. We continue our march to 3600 subscribers on YouTube. So, if you are not yet one of the subs, make sure to join today so you don’t miss out on any updates as we get closer to the start of the season. We’re going to be hitting you with a lot this season and uh it’s all going to be plotted out. So, there aren’t going to be the the laps in coverage that we had last season. The routine is figured out and it’s a matter of just putting stuff down on paper at this point. So, I feel like it’s going to be a much more smooth process for the 2025 2026 season. So, let’s dive back into the mailbag questions and I’m going to go into an ocean between us 89 on YouTube. What do you think the ceiling is for a player like Danilurov? I love this question because as uh Alex and I talked about a couple of weeks ago, Denilov is in an interesting spot for this Minnesota Wild team. He is a player that if he really really hits, considering what he’s going to be asked to do, if he really really hits, he solves a couple of different issues uh for this Minnesota Wild team. And he could he could be somebody that gets you the dynamic playmaker the Wild have been looking for in their top six to complement Carroll Capri off. and he can also help with a little bit of the center conundrum. Uh we’re going to talk Marco Rossi here in a second. So I’ll just focus strictly on Denilov. So let’s say Denilov at the beginning of the season and I’m I’m going to reiterate this for the everydayers. Uh you have heard me make this point before. I don’t think we’re going to see Yurovv start in the top six this year just to get him acclimated, just to give him an opportunity to have his kind of get your feet wet moment. Uh it would not surprise me if we see him on like a third line role to start the year. Is that where he’s going to finish the year? Certainly not. He has all of the opportunity to bump higher up in the lineup. His bumping up in the lineup depends a lot on what happens with a couple of different pieces in the top six. Most notably um Vladimir Terosenko. If Terasenko is cooking this year and he is has bounced back from last year’s debacle uh then he’s going to keep that seat warm for a year. If he is not performing well, then the desire to get Eurovv higher in the lineup, that’s going to accelerate. That’s going to accelerate because, as we’ve seen over the duration of the Carrill Capri off tenure. It’s really hard to win hockey games when you only have one line that can consistently score. There are plenty of lines that can generate opportunities. The Wild have had no trouble with generating opportunities, but the scoring is an issue from time to time. So, if Vladimir Terasenko plays like he did last year, then you’re going to need somebody to step in and fill that spot on that second line, if he has a a nice step up and he gets you 20-ish over 20 goals. If he if he just looks more like he did previously, then the need there is not as pressing. And it’s the same thing for Matt Zarelloo. If he continues to perform at the level that he has the last few years, the need to insert somebody into the top six to fill that spot is not as pressing. But if those guys struggle or if Zukarelloo shows his age, then you got to get somebody into that spot ASAP. And so I I think it’ll be a little bit of a gradual increase into the uh the top six role. And if you’re off, if he shows the topline upside that he that we’ve been told he’s capable of, then all of a sudden you can put him in between Carell Capri off and if you start to find some guys that hit on that second line, then you can overload and go Capri off. You’re off Matt Baldi on your top line. you can afford to do that. Right now, they’re trying to kind of deepen out the lineup. So, Capri off and Baldi are most likely not going to be on the same line. If you have more lineup depth, you can go super saiyan, so to speak, with your top line and you can have Danil Yurov be part of that. So if Yurov does hit his ceiling, a top line, topline wing, top six center, like bonafide, that does uh that does this team a lot of good. Uh and it’s just one box that you don’t have to check. And you know, instead of having to go out and get somebody to fill one of those spots, you can allocate more of the money to a different need or to keeping players around. So, it’s about the money, too, but it also is just about just looking the part, just looking like a capable NHLer. And uh that’s honestly that’s half the battle. So, if Yurov hits that ceiling, it’s going to be a lot of fun. Lot of fun to watch this season. Now, let’s talk about Marco Rossi a little bit here. Um, second half of the question for an ocean between us. At this point, if the Wild were to seek a trade for Rossi, what would his trade value be given that we are almost at the start of the season? See, that’s the thing. this situation. There may be some teams in the league that would have got this done quicker, but it’s not as if the Wild didn’t put Marco Rossi out there. And yes, their asking price was high. But not only was it the asking price, it’s also the fact that the team that was acquiring Rossi would be in a similar situation to needing to put him and sign him to a long-term deal, the same situation as the Wild were in. So I I think I think still think there’s the price angle to this and the fact that the most tangible offer that we had out on the table for Rossi was the 15th overall pick from the Vancouver Conucks and a player. That’s the most tangible offer that uh that is out on the board that we know of. There were other teams that were interested, sure. But as far as Rossy’s worth goes, I have heard that he has added some more poundage and is just under 200 lb at 5’9. So, he is in literal tank mode. Um, I ultimately I think what ends up happening is a get this to free agency contract. Two-year deal. Let’s get this to unrestricted free agency. That gives the Wild time to explore a trade. If they want to still go that route, that gives them the opportunity to still look at a long-term deal. The biggest thing is it gets Marco Rossi on the ice. I don’t think his situation is going to be improved at all if he decides to hold out because if he holds out here, you know, you’re still going to have to get a deal done. And I don’t think that makes any other team more likely to do it. I think if there were teams out there that were legitimately interested in his services right now uh and willing to make a deal, I think it would have already been done. I know Bill Garren is asking a hefty price for him, as he should, but I think if there were teams that were serious about it during this current contract situation, I think they would have already made the deal. I think many, if not all of the rest of the NHL GMs are watching this and saying if he signs like a two-year deal to get him to unrestricted free agency, then maybe we’ll talk. Um, I I think teams just want to kind of see. I think the like the Wild do. They want to see if he can do this again. They just don’t feel certain that he is capable of it for whatever reason. um they they want to see him do this for a third straight season and then maybe at that point that’s enough to convince him. But ultimately, I think that’s how this plays out is like a two-year deal to get him to unrestricted free agency and the Wild will explore possible extension after that, possible trade after that. They’ll explore their options or they’ll lose him for nothing. Those are the two options at that point when he gets to UFA status. Um, Marco’s just going about his business too, just to kind of respond to Dylan Watsky’s comments uh about Rossi adding poundage. Um, sounds to me like he’s putting his money where his mouth is and uh Dylan gets the feeling he if he isn’t traded, we’ll see a much different Marco. I think we’re just going to see kind of a a furtherance. Furtherance is definitely not a word, but I’m using it anyway. A furtherance of what he has done over his last couple of seasons. He’s a bulldog out there. He goes to the front of the net. He scores goals and bunches off of rebounds and he’s going to play physical. I think we’re just going to see a, you know, a slightly souped-up version of that same type of player. But like I I’m just going to go back to the the line that I’ve held for most of this saga. If there was a GM that was completely totally enamored by what Marco Rossi brings to the table and the contract was not a factor whatsoever, this would already have gotten done. Once a deal of some sort is struck. I would expect that the market will pick up considerably, but I just don’t I don’t think any team wants to try to haggle on a uh potential extension at this point. They’re all they’re all watching with uh with open eyes like the Minnesota Twins are. So, that’s that’s my Marco Rossi piece. Uh when we come back, we’ve got a few updates for you as well as a look at the Minnesota Wild logo. I had chat GPT help me out with this a little bit and um we’ll we’ll talk about the results. I’ve got visuals for you, but that’s all coming up as we continue today’s episode of Locked on Wild after this. Today’s episode of Locked Wild is brought to you by Monarch Money. Most people can’t name all of 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 does the heavy lifting for you. You can link all of your accounts in minutes, see clear data visuals, get smart characterization of your spending, and finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. I love the fact that now I don’t have to flip through my phone to check my credit card app, my investment app, my 401k app. I can get all of it in my Monarch Money Command Central. It just makes keeping track of every dollar so much easier so I can optimize my full budget every single month. Don’t let financial opportunities slip through the cracks. Use code lockdown NHL at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code locked on NHL. Final segment of today’s episode of Lockdown Wild. And once again, we thank you for making Lockdown Wild your first listen each and every day. Uh we’re getting closer to September 1st, and that is when boot camp begins for the Minnesota Wild. So, we got a lot to get to here over the next couple of weeks. We have um we got three crossovers we’re trying to line up here for the rest of the week. Uh we’ll let you know on the dates for those as they get ironed out. And of course, player evals, we’re going to get through them all. Just it’s a it’s a bit of a monumental undertaking of my own making, but we’ll get it done. We’ll we’ll get through it. Let’s finish with a few more of the mailbag questions here. uh for this episode. Um I’m going to I’m gonna make Urban a Deal since we didn’t really talk about Bill Garren in this episode and I’m overdue for a Bill Garren episode. I will work in my report card for Bill Garren and we’ll we’ll get that done here within the next week. Um Urban wants some uh some love for uh for Billy G. We’ll uh we’ll dive into the we’ll dive into everything and um we’ll do that here within the next week to uh to keep that current. But I do want to get to uh Lee Castraale on YouTube. The Wild logo is great, although fans tend to be kind of divided on the color scheme. If you were to redesign or freshen up the color scheme, what would you choose? Is it time for a new alternative logo? Plus bonus points for creativity if you whip out some crayons and a color and color a logo or uniform in. And even more if you make your own unique logo. Well, I kind of cheated. I had chat GPT work up a potential new logo around what I think is probably the biggest issue for the Minnesota Wild at this point, the color scheme. I feel like after 25 years, it may be time to either get rid of the red or the green. We’re not a Freddy Krueger outfit here. We’re not a Christmas We’re not a Christmas outfit. Let’s let’s really dive into the green and just let’s let’s let the Let’s let the red become what the Northstar colors have been as far as a reverse retro goes. like your first 25 years of existence. If you want to go the old Northstars colors for retro stuff, perfectly fine. Turn the green and the red into your reverse retro for the next 25 years. Obviously, not 25 years, but you get you get what I’m saying. the next quarter century, have the uh the red and the green be a reverse retro. You could have the you could have the North Stars colors be your alternate home or or whatever, like a a signature jersey you wear a couple of times a year cuz they do that too in the NHL. And so I had Chad GPT take a look at the logo without the red and here’s what we came up with. Now, it’s the same general idea, but obviously it kind of is encompassing the um it’s encompassing the bear, the sun, whatever you want to call it, in the background, some more pronounced trees in the front. I’m not a huge fan of this, but it just gives you an idea of kind of what that would look like if you take out the red. And I think that is where I think that’s where this uh this dance should start is just remove a color and see if that see if that gives you a little bit of a different something something. Uh because I I just like I I just don’t know what direction I would go if I was going to change the logo entirely. Give me a week or two, we’ll come up with something. But I tried to kind of keep the same theme, Minnesota Wilds, North Wilderness, what what have you, and just said, let’s just do a little something different with the color scheme. So, let me know if the red needs to go in the comments. Let me know what color you think needs to be gone or if you think it’s time for the logo to go. It’s a good question and uh I definitely wanted to to throw it in here for this uh mailbag today. Uh we’re going to finish with a couple of updates. Jay wondering how Denny’s doing and how things are going for me off the air. Well, talked to Denny a couple days ago and biggest thing for Denny at this point is that um the doctors kind of want him to just take it easy. They think a lot of the stress of uh putting shows together is what um led to his condition being kind of accelerated. So, at this point, he’s just kind of laying low. We’ll uh we’ll check back after uh after a set amount of time has kind of gone by, month or so. We’ll we’ll check in and and kind of see how things are doing. But he’s in good spirits considering which is uh is certainly good. And as far as me off the air, um I’m loving it. like we we got a new place, we got a new city, uh new locations to explore, new hideouts to uh to find, new spots to hang out. It’s all It’s all new. It’s all change. It’s all exciting. And uh it’s it’s been a great transition so far. Um, we’re not even a year into uh being at the new digs, but um I’ve I’ve loved every second of it. So, I I appreciate everybody asking, you know, how things are going off mic. Um because there that is part of the equation, too. And sometimes it kind of rears its ugly head. But I feel like lately, especially this summer, I think uh I think we have been in um I I think we’ve been in a good spot and uh I look forward to kind of continuing that into the show um now that we’ve got the routine down and uh now that we’ve got some uh some exciting plans for the upcoming season. So uh that’s going to do it for today’s episode of Locked on Wild. again. Urban, I did not forget about you, but we’ll uh we’ll do a full Garen episode here coming up. Um, and we’ll uh we’ll give we’ll give Billy his due. Uh, make sure to like and subscribe if you have not already so you don’t miss out on any new episodes throughout the week. And make sure to subscribe on YouTube so you don’t miss out on any new episodes when they air. Locked on Wild has you covered every Monday through Friday as part of the Locked On podcast network.

Marco Rossi’s trade value, Danila Yurov’s potential, and a Minnesota Wild logo rebrand take center stage in this mailbag episode. Jack Johnson signs a PTO, sparking roster speculation. Will Vinnie Hinostroza play in Iowa or Minnesota? The Wild’s defensive depth chart gets a shake-up.

Host Seth Toupal breaks down Yurov’s ceiling and how he could solve the Wild’s playmaking woes. Rossi’s contract situation and possible trade scenarios are dissected. A fresh take on the Wild’s logo ditches the red for a sleeker look. Updates on Denny’s health and off-air life round out the show.

Is it time for the Wild to embrace a new color scheme? Should they keep the red or go all-in on green? Get the full scoop on these burning questions and more. Tune in now for expert analysis on the Minnesota Wild’s roster moves and visual identity!

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