Wild sign Yakov Trenin, C, 4yr/$14M ($3.5M AAV)

[IllaZilla]

Wild sign Trenin

 

The Minnesota Wild have signed physical and defensive winger Yakov Trenin to a 4 year, $14M contract. Trenin is one of the most physical and solid penalty killing forwards available in free agency. 

[bbgarnett]

Better not be any NMC/NTC included. Either way still 2 to many years. Should have been 2X2 or 2.5 IMO

[IllaZilla]

1 hour ago, bbgarnett said:

Better not be any NMC/NTC included. Either way still 2 to many years. Should have been 2X2 or 2.5 IMO

Of course there will be a NMC/NTC. It's a Guerin trademark. He can't help himself.

 

And I agree, 4 years is too long. For a projected fourth line center.

[CreaseAndAssist]

$3.5 million for a 4th line center / wing.  Genius...that's it, plan the parade route in St. Paul.  

 

J/k

 

Yea, while I don't think anyone was expecting a big splash in free agency, but you have a big failure from your farm system where we just keep restocking the 4th line with overpriced players.  For as smart as the move to get Jakub Lauko was, 1 year on a cheap deal...this is just foolish.  Too much $$ and too much term.  Interesting that Utah got Kevin Stenlund, who was a player who I think is a lot like Trenin but signed for just 2 years at $2 million and oh by the way just won a Stanley Cup with Florida.  Same age, 27 too...

[Tomdog]

3.5 per year for a guy who puts up 82 points in 299 games, 1/4 point per game? WTF

[bbgarnett]

1 hour ago, Tomdog said:

3.5 per year for a guy who puts up 82 points in 299 games, 1/4 point per game? WTF

well I don't think we signed him for his offensive abilities or lack thereof. His true strength is as a penalty killer, an area of his game where he can claim to be one of the NHL's best. Over the past three seasons, Trenin ranks 21st among forwards by providing 3.0 Goals Above Replacement (worth about a point in the standings) with his penalty-killing alone, granted he was doing that with Juse Saros in net so we'll see how that translates to a combo of Fleury, Gus and Wally. Also as already said is a physical bruiser type guy.

[Alexandron]

I think it is a good sign. We definitely need these types of players: "

Trenin, 27, has 705 hits in 299 career NHL games. He recorded 207 hits last year in 76 games with the Nashville Predators (60 games) and the Colorado Avalanche  (16 games) during the  2023-24 NHL season. 

The Wild will hope that the elite penalty-killing, power forward will stay in the Central Divison, but this time with the Wild."

Another good thing, hopefully he will develop a nice friendship with Kirill Kaprizov .Both have same age, and both are originally from Siberian cities with a long hockey traditions.

 

[Alexandron]

I just checked through eliteprospects site when our head coach John Hynes was a head coach for Nashville Predators and when Yakov Trenin played for that team. Both started there in 2019-2020 season and worked together till 2022-2023 season (4 seasons). Probably, Hynes has a high trust to this player. And it seems Trenin has +/- + stats practically every season as well as also has a very nice experience after playing in always such a tough teams for us like Predators and Avalanche. In my opinion, that experience would be very valuable for us.

[Tomdog]

I guess 3.5 million is the old 2 million. 

[Math]

I don't like this deal. Too much term and too much money for a bottom-6 guy. While I understand the grit/physical and the Hynes-Nashville connection, it's still too much for a guy that didn't show anything and was barely a non-factor in last season's playoffs.

[Alexandron]

1 hour ago, Tomdog said:

I guess 3.5 million is the old 2 million. 

That is a very true calculation with all economic crisis around. 

[Alexandron]

38 minutes ago, Math said:

I don't like this deal. Too much term and too much money for a bottom-6 guy. While I understand the grit/physical and the Hynes-Nashville connection, it's still too much for a guy that didn't show anything and was barely a non-factor in last season's playoffs.

I like that deal a lot. I even didn't expect that we are going to sign him. It was a pleasant surprise  for me to read when IllaZilla posted this thread. I think it will be a huge factor to hold Kaprizov here, which is the most important part for us. Plus to that factor if Yurov will come here in 2025-26 season and if Zeev Buium will build a nice chemistry with Faber then we are going to see an absolutely different level of the team. And Boldy, and Rossi youngsters will be more experienced by that time. Kind of a dream to see that in a nearest future.

Edited July 3 by Alexandron

[TallyTigerShark]

1 hour ago, Alexandron said:

I like that deal a lot. I even didn't expect that we are going to sign him. It was a pleasant surprise  for me to read when IllaZilla posted this thread. I think it will be a huge factor to hold Kaprizov here, which is the most important part for us. Plus to that factor if Yurov will come here in 2025-26 season and if Zeev Buium will build a nice chemistry with Faber then we are going to see an absolutely different level of the team. And Boldy, and Rossi youngsters will be more experienced by that time. Kind of a dream to see that in a nearest future.

I like this deal as well. Had you told me the dollars the day before I would have said it was probably too much, but after what happened yesterday, I think a lot of folks got paid too much, so it probably isn’t too far out of line. I also have no issue with the 4 years. He’s 27, and is close to an elite defender on the PK. That’s huge for us, not to mention what his physical presence brings to the party with Lauko and Foligno. Folks are gonna think twice about working over KK97 and others because it’s going to come back on them.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

I think what it comes down to is expectations.
If people are expecting this guy to be some sort of offensive contributor and start comparing him to offensive players signed by other teams, then sure, it looks and sounds rather disappointing.

But looking at it from the perspective of experience, work ethic, and actual defensive work on the ice, and some toughness to go along with all that, then the 3.5M doesn't seem too bad.
Even the term isn't horrible, as was mentioned already, guy is 27, in 4 years, he will still be in that prime age range, give or take, depending on wear n tear on his body.

Which brings me to one other point no one has mentioned yet, but IMO, very important:
The guy HAS stayed healthy throughout his NHL career. Looking back at games played since he became a regular, he has played anywhere from 75-80 games a year.
Given he won't be considered an "old man" during the life of this current contract, I think it is reasonable to expect him to continue to actually be on the ice and not laid up on IR somewhere like some of the Wild's players seem to have a tendency to end up.

Finally, his overall PIMs, for a guy who plays his style, is pretty low.
164 PIMs over the course of a 299 NHL career of games played. That works out to about half a penalty a game.
Wild fans screaming about 'staying out of the penalty box', well, this guy plays hard, plays physical, plays defensively, and does it without taking a bunch of penalties for the most part.

I get that the Wild need some steady offense, and Trenin won't move the needle in that area....and on the minus side, he isn't the fleetest of foot and WILL have to rely on intelligence and positioning to not get burnt out there, and he DOES have a tendency to cough up the puck to better stick handlers if he is pressured too much (so best if he doesn't hang onto the puck too long), but I think overall, those are things the team can live with, and possibly cover up, for all the things he can do well.

There definitely has to be more done to this roster to make it a true contender, but this signing at least addresses some important areas of need for the here and now.

[JR Ewing]

Wow, there's a lot more hand-wringing than I expected. The Athletic's model has Trenin pegged at a market value of $3M... That's 3.6% of the previous cap, and Guerin signed him at 3.9% of the cap, so it's not like he cost a mint. That's more than explained by the "it costs extra to sign players in certain markets" tax.

[Alexandron]

6 hours ago, JR Ewing said:

Wow, there's a lot more hand-wringing than I expected. The Athletic's model has Trenin pegged at a market value of $3M... That's 3.6% of the previous cap, and Guerin signed him at 3.9% of the cap, so it's not like he cost a mint. That's more than explained by the "it costs extra to sign players in certain markets" tax.

Good point. "It cost extra to sign players in certain markets ", especially now.

[JR Ewing]

17 minutes ago, Alexandron said:

Good point. "It cost extra to sign players in certain markets ", especially now.

 

From Oilers+, here are Doug Weight and Bill Guerin talking about this very thing, with their general feeling is that young players should be happy to go anywhere in the NHL and just have a good time and enjoy playing hockey. Instead, GMs like Guerin have to target local guys or over-pay.

 

 

 

[CreaseAndAssist]

I don't buy that line of reasoning at all.  Good teams are able to draft, develop and promote from within to fill out your lower lines.  Pittsburgh, Colorado, Florida, Tampa Bay did this for years and even developed some of those lower level guys into decent players that were able to move up in the lineup.  Minnesota hasn't shown an ability to draft or develop 4th liners and when they do, because of overpayments to guys like Trenin, Middleton, Foligno, Hartman...etc, etc...then they are forced to deal the bottom 6 guys you did cultivate like Brandon Duhaime and Connor Dewar because you decide you can't even afford to give them a small raise.  However, look at what Middleton (who was already under contract for this season BTW) and Trenin got?  It certainly cost more than the raises Dewar and Duhaime received to play elsewhere.    

 

But we not only overpay, we then cement / chain them to the roster with NMC's or NTC's.  

 

At what point are those roster spots going to open up for your younger cheaper players so you can actually economize some cap space so you can go after an impact player?  Instead...the kids wait with little or no opportunity, the team keeps overpaying old bones...gets worse and by then those kids have been shipped off and now you are waiting all over again.  

 

The Wild had a chance to re-shape itself and ready itself properly once the dead cap money was gone.  It knew it was going to have to save some cap $$ to re-sign Kaprizov, Brock Faber, etc...but will they have the space to do that?  No, because they are overpaying 4th liners.  

 

Trenin looks like he might be a great 4th liner.  Wonderful, for a team that has an underachieving 3rd line with Foligno, Gaudreau and Hartman.  Yes, he's a penalty killer but did they really need to give him 4 years?  Kevin Stenlund, who played much the same role at the same age winning a Stanley Cup with Florida this June took half the term and $2M a season to play for Utah.  

 

The Wild hold onto mediocrity like grim death and because of it...nothing really changes.  They're maybe good enough to get into the playoffs but not nearly good enough to do anything if they get there at all.  Its crazy, and I feel bad for anyone who keeps buying tickets to watch this play out in person.  

 

Alexandron likes Trenin because he's a Russian.  And before anyone says that might matter to Kaprizov, want to know what matters to Kaprizov?  WINNING.  He doesn't care where someone is from.  So Trenin is on the team, so does that mean the team has more or less decided to move on from Marat Khusnutdinov?  I see Khusnutdinov's rights were traded to SKA St. Petersburg (his old team) this week, doubt they do that unless they had some thought he just make take them up on coming back.  

 

You can't keep your old friends forever, and you can't just overpay marginal guys like Trenin and others mentioned without it coming back to bite you.  Moves like this keep your club mediocre for the rest of this decade.  Not just this move by itself, but the collection of moves...this team won't actually be good for a long time.  

 

Even the Athletic said it was a bad deal...wake up folks.  

[CreaseAndAssist]

Team's Free Agency summed up in one word

 

I don't disagree with Sara Civian one bit in regards to the Wild.  

[Alexandron]

We tried before players (3-4-5) in the same Wild team roster from different countries(from Finland, from Sweden and etc...) and nothing was working. Why not to try at least 3-4 players from Russia, which we never had before?Why we didn't do this even 20 years ago? Maybe during that time we would be passing 2-3 playoffs rounds or even will be able to reach playoffs finals? We never tried that option in our history. They practically all very tough players, nice fighters ,but, of course with a different level of talent. This year 4 Russian players have got a Stanley Cup together with Panthers team (Bobrovsky; Barkov, Tarasenko and Kulikov). They all made a superb input during meaningful crucial playoffs games. Panthers added Tarasenko and Kulikov this season. Tarasenko (understandable) is a nice producer. Kulikov is a nice tough player - defenseman. I am glad for his title and his winning assist in a final game, but if we would keep him in our team then Kaprizov wouldn't be injured every year. Team overall had the best record when Kulikov was in our team, Kaprizov had the best record at that year, and Kulikov himself had his best record in his career. Why we didn't keep him? He was not expensive for us. And team was stronger then. 

And of course, I do not like long NTC's and NMC's contracts, because they always are limiting us to choose a better player.

[CreaseAndAssist]

(sigh)  Why should it matter ONE BIT where they are from?  Our penalty kill wasn't bad because it didn't have Russians on it.  Heck, they even added a Russian in Khusnutdinov towards the end of the season and did it get a lot better?  

 

If Yakov Trenin wasn't from Russia you'd be saying it's a crappy contract.  

[Alexandron]

2 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

(sigh)  Why should it matter ONE BIT where they are from?  Our penalty kill wasn't bad because it didn't have Russians on it.  Heck, they even added a Russian in Khusnutdinov towards the end of the season and did it get a lot better?  

 

If Yakov Trenin wasn't from Russia you'd be saying it's a crappy contract.  

I paid attention  to Trenin's play before, especially when he played for Nashville.  For other players , first I need to see their play. 

Everything that brings intrigue to the team I am always glad to see.

Regarding Khusnutdinov, he showed me a nice speed, a nice puck control, but too many passes instead of shooting towards the net. I really wanted to see at least one NHL game for Firstov , but it never happened.  It seems all Russian players which got first to the Wild AHL farm system never got a chance to play in NHL. I have never seen one who have got this opportunity. My advice remains the same to all our Wild Russian prospects as it was 20 years ago, do not make an agreement  to go first to Iowa farm system. We are different in comparison to other AHL farm clubs which are using Russian prospects in NHL tryouts very often. This way they able to find necessary talent. Almost 2 decades showed that difference. 

 

 

 

Edited July 10 by Alexandron

[CreaseAndAssist]

There is a simple reason Khovanov and Sokolov didn't get a chance...their own personal habits.  They didn't stay in shape and liked eating junk food too much.  That lack of personal discipline led to uneven play on the ice, and being more one dimensional players as they were...it wasn't that hard to dismiss them.  It had nothing at all to do with their heritage.  

 

I can assure you, the team and their respective agents (I even talked to one of them) were well informed of the team's disappointment over their lack of attention to fixing those personal habits.  The players ignored it, and eventually the team grew tired of waiting for them to get it and they were gone.  It would not have mattered if they were Canadian, American, Finnish, or whatever...if you're not going to train and act like a professional (which is bare minimum requirement) you won't last long.  

 

But regardless of Trenin's game, its a terrible deal.  At least two years too long IMO.  

 

 

[Tomdog]

After seeing the free agent inflation that went on this year I have backed off on the Trenen overpay bandwagon. 
It seems to me this year there was a lot of overpayment. 

[CreaseAndAssist]

32 minutes ago, Tomdog said:

After seeing the free agent inflation that went on this year I have backed off on the Trenen overpay bandwagon. 
It seems to me this year there was a lot of overpayment. 

 

There usually is in free agency.  All the more reason why the team needs to develop talent for their bottom 6 as much as their top 6.