Jason Gregor is back with another offseason edition of The DFO Rundown and today, he was joined by Michael Russo of The Athletic. He’s spent the last number of years covering the Minnesota Wild but has been working in hockey for a lot longer than that. The guys started the pod off by talking a little bit about Russo’s career and how he ended up in ‘The State of Hockey’.

From there, they got into the current situation with the Kirill Kaprizov and the Wild. He’s eligible for an extension and there’s no doubt that the Wild would love to lock him up, but is he open to a max-term contract? Russo gave some insight into that before getting to another contract situation that GM Bill Guerin is currently dealing with in Marco Rossi, who is an RFA.

They then talked about how certain offseason moves could change the balance of power in the Central Division. There are some serious question marks around teams like the Jets and Avalanche meanwhile the Stars are going to get a full year out of Mikko Rantanen, which could change things.

The Utah Mammoth are also quickly becoming everyones favourite underdog. GM Bill Armstrong had himself a very busy summer, but did he do enough to make them a playoff team? 

They also talked about Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks and the Nashville Predators chances of bouncing back after a miserable season.

Tyler then popped in for Fill in the Blank, where he asked the guys about who will start Game 1 for the Edmonton Oilers, Mitch Marner’s ceiling in Vegas, and if they think there could be any surprise teams who get to 100-points.

3:50 - Kaprizov & a short-term deal

9:50 - Will Marco Rossi in Minnesota?

15:05 - The Central offseason

20:25 - Everyone loves Utah

24:05 - Can the Hawks take a step?

28:40 - Can the Preds rebound?

33:10 - Fill in the Blank

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