Insider Drops BOMBSHELL Wild Trade Report...

Sunday in Washington, the Red Wings assistant general manager was sitting in the press box, not for his own team, for the Minnesota Wild. The Wild won that game 5-1, and two forwards, everybody links to a Larkin trade, Daniel Yurov and Bobby Brink both ended up on the score sheet. And this is not the first time Chris Draper has shown up. So is Detroit checking whether the Wild offer for Dylan Larkin is actually worth taking? And why was the most boring win of the Wild season the best news in the whole story? Start with the sightings. On October 6th, the Wild at Sabres. Michael Russo lists the scouts in the building, and the Red Wings' Chris Draper is one of them. Yurov scored that night too on the power play in a 3-2 overtime loss. That is one of the three goals the Hockey News is counting. Then against the Canadiens, Eric Engels wrote on October 28th that Chris Draper isn't going to all these games because he likes watching the Canadiens play. And Pierre LeBrun reported on October 29th that Draper has been to several Canadiens games too, even though Montreal is not on Larkin's list. So no, Chris Draper is not only watching the Minnesota Wild, he's looking at everyone involved, which is what a team does when it's in no hurry. But Sunday had the receipt, Yurov scored his fifth goal of the season, and the Hockey News counts three of those five with a Red Wings front office member in the building. Be careful with that though, because the Hockey News itself says it remains unknown whether Draper's visit had anything to do with the Larkin Talks, and executives go to games all the time. So this doesn't necessarily reference that a deal is close, but what it does tell you is that Larkin Talks did not go away from what we've been hearing. Detroit is still doing their homework, they're still doing their research. So who is on the homework list? And here's where the twist is too, because Washington is in this as well. Draper was also at Washington's 5-2 win over Philadelphia on October 28th, and Elliott Friedman reported he was there looking at one of the Protas. And LeBrun said Protas would be an obvious target for Detroit in any package, and that Washington is engaged to some level. So take a look at the week that Chris Draper had. Wednesday, he watched Washington. Sunday, he watched... Washington and Minnesota in that same building, and then a very efficient scouting trip. That is leverage for Detroit. If two teams are in the market, nobody gets a discount. So the Minnesota Wild cannot assume that their offer is the one that wins, which brings us to what that offer is missing. Start with what Detroit has been offered. LeBrun reports Minnesota had made multiple offers, more futures based, and he thinks they have included multiple first round picks. It's not nothing, he said. But the issue for Detroit, LeBron said, is the lack of immediate NHL talent in those offers and picks don't help a team that wants players now. And that's a big reason as to see who's playing for the Wild when names like Chris Draper scout this team. That is where Daniil Yurov comes in because he's 22 years old on an ELC still at $927,500 contract through 2027, 2028, and then is a restricted free agent. This season, he has five goals, one assist in 16 games. Now look at the shooting percentage, he has scored on 20.8% of his shots, and nobody's going to keep that up, Detroit would be paying for a player, he might become, not the one scoring right now. Bobby Brink is the opposite, he has one goal and 7 assists in 16 games, shooting 4.2% on a 2.75 million dollar deal, and he's an RFA in 2027. Both are cheap, and that's part of the Wild's real problem, because Larkin carries an $8.7 million cap hit through 2030-2031, and the Wild have about $1.2 million of cap space right now. And remember, the Hockey News says that Yurov and Brink have both been mentioned as potential pieces. Nobody has reported that either one is for sure in a deal, although I think we can basically confirm that Yurov would have to be part of it, if it wasn't him or Strammel. So if you are Detroit, Sunday was a chance to take a look at the roster, and here's what Draper actually saw, a team that did not need to try very hard. And if we look at where Detroit actually is, 14 games, they're 6-5-3 for 15 points, 8th in the Atlantic, and a 5-4 loss to St. Louis on October 31st. Larkin played 10 games for them this season with 2 goals and 4 assists, and that's 6 points in 10 games, and the team still remains 6-5-3 anyways. So Detroit has a captain-sized hole with no clear plan to fill it, which is why Draper is looking for players who could help right now and not a pick in 2028. Detroit's got about $16.8 million of cap space, and the Wild have about $1.2 million. So here's the math that nobody is saying out loud. Yurov and Brink together count for $3.7 million against the cap. Larkin counts for $8.7. That adds nearly $5 million to a roster with $1.2 million of room. So sending Brink and Yurov alone does not even make the trade legal for Minnesota. Someone else has to leave or Detroit has to keep some salary. And one name we've seen mentioned has been Ryan Hartman. That's the real negotiation. It has nothing to do with whether Girav scores on Sunday, which is why the thing that matters is whether the Wild can win without paying more. So let me know down below what you think about Chris Draper scouting this Wild team. Is that going to have an impact on any potential deal? Let me know down below. The youngster goalie Jesper Wallstedt called it a boring game. The 5-1 win against the Washington Capitals, and he meant that was a good thing. What makes us successful, he said, is that we never get... Bored by maybe sometimes playing a boring game. And Zach Bogosian said it too. At times, it can be boring, but boring is not always bad. Here is what boring looks like in numbers. The Wild allowed 2.25 goals a game, third fewest in the NHL, and they score 3.25, which is only 15th. It works. They're 10-3-3 with 23 points, first in the Central, five points ahead of Utah, who has played one fewer game. They've won four of their last five with an overtime loss in the other, and they've scored first in 11 of the 16 games they've played. A lot of that, though, is Wallstedt. He is 9-2-3 with 2.06 goals against average and a .920 save percentage, fifth in the NHL in goals against, and on Sunday, he made 26 saves on 27 shots. It was his first time ever facing Alex Ovechkin, and he stopped him twice. He did not become the 191st different goalie Ovechkin has scored on. Alex Tuch came into the game with 10 goals in 12 games. Wallstedt stopped four shots from him, including a breakaway. And with the Wild up 2-1 at 5:04 in the third period, Zach Bogosian gave the puck away, and he said afterwards that Wallstedt bailed me out. And the depth has showed up too. Michael McCarron scored at 5:27 of the first to make it 2-0, and said afterwards, our depth came through tonight for sure. Coach John Hines said that depth matters over a full season, and that the Wilds have won the games where it's contributed. Brink's two assists on Sunday were on the second goal and on Europe's. He also said the second period was ugly, and he was right. The Capitals had a goal six seconds before the break, and three of the Wilds' five goals came in the last two minutes and 23 seconds, one of them an empty netter. And look who's driving it. Kirill Kaprizov's 15 goals in 16 games, the most in the NHL. Quinn Hughes, 21 points and played 27 minutes and 44 seconds a night. Matt Foley has 14 points, Joel Eriksson Ek has 14, and a plus 10 rating. A core like that does not need to showcase a game to hold up. Powerplay is 26.8%, 8th in the NHL, and Kaprizov has 4 of the Wild's powerplay goals. The one number that is not boring good is the penalty kill. It's currently sitting at 81.3%, and if the Wild do have a weakness, it is there, and it's worth watching how things play out. That's the point. A team is that ugly for a whole period, gets 26 saves, and still wins by 4 goals. That's a good enough to win on the roster alone. And it loops right back to Detroit, because if Draper watched that, he watched a team that's first in the central, and the Wild do not have to panic about Larkin. So if we really put these two topics together, Detroit watched them, that win on that structure, with a goalie who bails it out, stars who have to finish, and two cheap forwards who do not have to be the story. So here's my kind of take on all of this, and how it combines to be one big picture. Yurov and Brink are the cheap pieces, The Wild can afford to To lose them, although, like I know, like you guys know, I'm not the biggest fan of trading Yurov, the core that wins, boring, Kaprizov, Hughes, Boldy, and Wallstead is the part that cannot move and will not move, so that's really where it stands, Drapers watch the Wild and the Capitals, and the catmasses Juravinka alone don't make it work, but Minnesota is first in the Central. By winning these games, winning boring games, nobody has to panic and nobody has to overpay right now. And if you want to follow this Dylan Larkin saga as it moves forward, be sure to subscribe because Wild Digest is currently sitting at 5,814 subscribers. We're on the goal to 6,000. So here's my question for you. If Detroit asks for one, who do you give them? Yurov or Brink? Drop in the comments below. I'm going all in on Bobby Brink. You guys know that's the best option in my opinion. Plus, I guess statistically the best option.