2021 MN Wild/NHL Thread

mojogunter wrote:

Who knows if my two sources are correct or if Gimruis are correct. Could be fake news.

I’ll just chalk it up to “2020” and call it good.

Coverage of the allegations and handling of the sexual assault complaint while now-Wild-GM Bill Gruin was GM of the Pittsburgh AHL team continues to gain steam. Today USA Today and their wire service posted an article:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/penguins/2020/12/08/penguins-clark-donatelli-lawsuit-jarrod-skalde/6493827002/

So far, Gurin’s handling of this matter (if the facts and timeline reported are accurate) appears to me to be above-board and in line with policies. Let’s hope this incident involving the wife of then-assistant coach Jarrod Skalde was the only incident reported to Gurin and that his handling was all in line with policies.

From the reports so far, I don’t see evidence that Gurin told Skalde to “keep it quiet” as a coverup attempt. It looks more like a reminder that this is a personnel and legal matter and that it can’t be openly discussed.

Let’s hope this is the only allegation that was reported to Gurin and that all his actions were in line with the league and the law. IMO Gurin is the closest thing the Wild have ever had to a real GM and he has the potential to be an above-average performer.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Coverage of the allegations and handling of the sexual assault complaint while now-Wild-GM Bill Gruin was GM of the Pittsburgh AHL team continues to gain steam. Today USA Today and their wire service posted an article:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/penguins/2020/12/08/penguins-clark-donatelli-lawsuit-jarrod-skalde/6493827002/

So far, Gurin’s handling of this matter (if the facts and timeline reported are accurate) appears to me to be above-board and in line with policies. Let’s hope this incident involving the wife of then-assistant coach Jarrod Skalde was the only incident reported to Gurin and that his handling was all in line with policies.

From the reports so far, I don’t see evidence that Gurin told Skalde to “keep it quiet” as a coverup attempt. It looks more like a reminder that this is a personnel and legal matter and that it can’t be openly discussed.

Let’s hope this is the only allegation that was reported to Gurin and that all his actions were in line with the league and the law. IMO Gurin is the closest thing the Wild have ever had to a real GM and he has the potential to be an above-average performer.

Grouse

100% agree

JoeMX1825 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TheFamousGrouse wrote:</div>
Coverage of the allegations and handling of the sexual assault complaint while now-Wild-GM Bill Gruin was GM of the Pittsburgh AHL team continues to gain steam. Today USA Today and their wire service posted an article:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/penguins/2020/12/08/penguins-clark-donatelli-lawsuit-jarrod-skalde/6493827002/

So far, Gurin’s handling of this matter (if the facts and timeline reported are accurate) appears to me to be above-board and in line with policies. Let’s hope this incident involving the wife of then-assistant coach Jarrod Skalde was the only incident reported to Gurin and that his handling was all in line with policies.

From the reports so far, I don’t see evidence that Gurin told Skalde to “keep it quiet” as a coverup attempt. It looks more like a reminder that this is a personnel and legal matter and that it can’t be openly discussed.

Let’s hope this is the only allegation that was reported to Gurin and that all his actions were in line with the league and the law. IMO Gurin is the closest thing the Wild have ever had to a real GM and he has the potential to be an above-average performer.

Grouse

100% agree

1000% agree.

IT’S HAPPENING!!!!! OK, everyone remain calm and in their seats.

CaptainMusky wrote:

IT’S HAPPENING!!!!! OK, everyone remain calm and in their seats.

Not finalized yet, but the 2020-21 four-division re-alignment currently looks like this according to sources:

Bos-Buf-NJ-NYI-NYR-Pha-Pgh-Was

Car-CBJ-Det-Chi-Fla-Min-Nas-TB

Ana-Ari-Col-Dal-LA-SJ-STL-VGK

All-Canadian teams

Interesting alignment….seems like they could have localized a bit more.

Anyone read the court affidavit of the abuse in the Canadian junior hockey leagues. Man some of the hazing acts were hard to even read and I have been in a locker room most of my life. I had heard some things growing up but man some were down right hard to even read about. Don’t even want to post the article here.

Is the realignment just because they needed to separate canadian teams or are they doing bubbles again?

Separate the Canadian teams. Everybody uses their home ice sheet as in the old days. No fans at this point I don’t think.

Some teams are kicking around the idea of having outdoor games to allow some fans in attendance.

Here is a GREAT article Russo did for the Athletic.

https://theathletic.com/2247132/2020/12/10/nhl-mark-parrish-minnesota-wild-alcoholism-recovery/

Dutchboy wrote:

Here is a GREAT article Russo did for the Athletic.

https://theathletic.com/2247132/2020/12/10/nhl-mark-parrish-minnesota-wild-alcoholism-recovery/

Wowsers, that is a tough read. Glad for Mark that he is in recovery. Man, I would have never guessed.

It’s not all peaches & cream being a pro athlete. The eye opener is he said he was popping more pain killers then Boogie.

Dutchboy wrote:

It’s not all peaches & cream being a pro athlete. The eye opener is he said he was popping more pain killers then Boogie.

Exactly! He is so lucky to be alive. I can only imagine the pressure of being a professional athlete, playing on the hometown team and then getting bought out?! I am sure that really weighed on him, but he was on the downturn of his career anyway.

Dutchboy wrote:

Here is a GREAT article Russo did for the Athletic.
https://theathletic.com/2247132/2020/12/10/nhl-mark-parrish-minnesota-wild-alcoholism-recovery/

Wow. What an article by Russo.

I just hope on some level Parrish knows that most fans get it as far as the way things ended with the Wild. He’s still a great MN hockey player. I watched him play at SCSU and loved that he came to the Wild, but we get that at the Wild level it’s no longer a sport, it’s a business and nobody goes out and burns thier Parrish sweater and says oh that guy is a bum just because the Wild chose to cut ties with him.

I just hope he continues on the recovery road and that his story inspires others who need it to get help and get sober.

Unrelated, but through a volunteer job I do, I get to seem some personal information and hear in-depth things about people that this charity organization serves.

Alcohol and drug abuse is a plague on this country. You look at people across society and wherver there is somebody struggling with, say, keeping a job. Or is in relationship counseling trying to save a marriage. Or is a kid that ran away at 14 and now is in bad trouble. All this stuff is rooted in addiction when you get into the case file, it’s a 100% correlation. Just start talking to the person in trouble and it takes about 2 minutes to get to the part where it all went off the rails because of addiction. It’s just that common.

Grouse

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
It’s not all peaches & cream being a pro athlete. The eye opener is he said he was popping more pain killers then Boogie.

Exactly! He is so lucky to be alive. I can only imagine the pressure of being a professional athlete, playing on the hometown team and then getting bought out?! I am sure that really weighed on him, but he was on the downturn of his career anyway.

Honestly what probably weighed on Mark more was what he was going to do with the rest of his life and career. Like most pro athletes when there time is up they struggle with day to day living as their lives are so structured when playing. These guys especially in the NHL put a lot of abuse in their bodies and mind that when they are done playing they have aged beyond their years. Some also do some things when they are playing to help their bodies in recovery and those things are not always the best for a person. He unfortunately is not the only one to go down this road. He has a long hard road ahead of him. Much harder than being a pro athlete. I wish him luck as he is good guy.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

I just hope on some level Parrish knows that most fans get it as far as the way things ended with the Wild.

I think he does, he is on the KFAN morning show pretty regularly and jokes about how things went with the Wild and all his NHL teams quite a bit. Seems like a great guy! I grew up watching him at SCSU, along with Tyler Arnason and Matt Cullen, just some awesome memories.

So, who will be wearing the “C” for the wild this year? Predictions?

I’m going with Marcus Foligno.

Spurgeon will wear the C for sure….

I also read that word got out that the NHL purchased 600 doses of vaccine for its players…this will not go over well with the public when there’s not enough to cover the 1st responders or vulnerable elderly initially…

I’m not so sure. The entertainment / distraction has some value. All these sports teams can get tested and have same day / next day results and the general population can’t, nobody complains about that.

At this point it is what it is and everybody knows that money talks anyway.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Spurgeon will wear the C for sure….

I also read that word got out that the NHL purchased 600 doses of vaccine for its players…this will not go over well with the public when there’s not enough to cover the 1st responders or vulnerable elderly initially…

Stalock can have my dose.
DT

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Spurgeon will wear the C for sure….

I also read that word got out that the NHL purchased 600 doses of vaccine for its players…this will not go over well with the public when there’s not enough to cover the 1st responders or vulnerable elderly initially…

Don’t disagree with Spurg was trying to guess outside the box.

Dutchboy wrote:

I’m not so sure. The entertainment / distraction has some value. All these sports teams can get tested and have same day / next day results and the general population can’t, nobody complains about that.

At this point it is what it is and everybody knows that money talks anyway.

I agree with most of this, just know we’re going to hear some uproar about taking away doses from those putting their life on the line every day, can’t argue with that point…at least news about it is getting out, would have been worse had the NHL tried to hide it…

The Athletic breaks down the Wild.

https://theathletic.com/2246956/2020/12/11/minnesota-wild-prospects-rebuild/

CaptainMusky wrote:

IT’S HAPPENING!!!!! OK, everyone remain calm and in their seats.

Sweeeet the Wild Signed Reiley, can we get Jonsey and Shorsey.

BigWerm wrote:

I grew up watching him at SCSU, along with Tyler Arnason and Matt Cullen, just some awesome memories.

My freshman year there was Arnason’s last year. They were ridiculously good that year, and the year after.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Spurgeon will wear the C for sure….
I also read that word got out that the NHL purchased 600 doses of vaccine for its players…this will not go over well with the public when there’s not enough to cover the 1st responders or vulnerable elderly initially…

I like Spurgeon for a lot of reasons, but Gurin seems to favor a more fired-up type of captain which would point to Foligno. I think both are great choices.

I think the Wild will benefit from captain change not just from the inside the locker room perspective, but also for the fans. Koivu simply was not fan-friendly. If you go to any of the open Wild practices, both Spurgeon and Foligno are two of only a few players who interact with the fans. Foligno is very funny in person and last time I was at practice a little girl about 10 years old had a Foligno sweater on and had a sign asking him for an autograph and he came right over as soon as he got on the ice and talked to her and signed her sweater and sign. It was really sweet.

All the vaccine rumors I’ve seen indicate the NHL “has plans” to purchase vaccine if it becomes available on the private market. They can plan all they want, they won’t get any, and even if they could, actually buying it and using it to vaccinate pro athletes would be a PR nightmare. Even the NHL office, which has had some questionable decision-making abilities, will realize what an oil slick would be created if they were to actually buy the vaccine and jump its athletes to the front of the line.

Grouse

My preference for captain would be Foligno, but agree that I think Spurgeon will get it. Foligno isnt under contract long term and Spurgeon is a guy we had in our system since the beginning and really is a no nonsense kind of guy.

Reading that breakdown of the Wild and what they should do going forward on the Athletic my heart skipped a beat when Dom suggested trading Fiala. Only to see Russo jump start it again at the end by saying no chance the Wild trade him. LOL