I remember a long time ago Don Cherry showed a Gretzky shift where he walked through an entire team but ultimately didn’t score as the goalie made a great save, Cherry called it “The greatest goal never scored”
That shift by Kaprizov immediately made me think of it…wow
Here’s the full shift:
Sonofab! KK sets up Hartman and now Sturm? Lord Stanley here we come lol
I think KK is feeling pretty confident tonight. He’s trying to stickhandle through the whole team every time he gets the puck! If he doesn’t solve the Wild’s OT woes with all that room I don’t know what will.
Can I say they look good now? Man! What a game.
I think KK is feeling pretty confident tonight. He’s trying to stickhandle through the whole team every time he gets the puck! If he doesn’t solve the Wild’s OT woes with all that room I don’t know what will.
Can I say they look good now? Man! What a game.
I want to see more OT games now!! What a fun game tonight, Kaapo’s early huge saves kept the Wild in it…
I want to see more OT games
Now there’s a slogan for a t-shirt I never thought I’d see anyone in MN wearing.
Kaprisov just powered the whole team and didn’t score a goal. Wow.
Grouse
When was the last time the Wild scored this many goals over a 4 game span? 20 goals over 4 games? That has to be a first.
Here’s a good mashup by the NHL.com website on Kaprizov last night, it extends the Avs commentators remarks where they mention Gaborik’s name (which was cutoff on the previous clips)
When was the last time the Wild scored this many goals over a 4 game span? 20 goals over 4 games? That has to be a first.
We finally have 3 lines that can generate offense now..I’ll eat crow on Zuc…I thought he was washed up after last season’s poor effort, but I guess the arm injury was more substantial than anybody knew because he’s a completely different player this year and looks to be in the same form as his dominant Ranger years…
Kaprizov is the straw that’s stirring the drink though…as Grouse mentioned, he dominated that game last night and didn’t score a goal… I think the Kings will put their shutdown guys on the Rask line this weekend and hopefully Fiala can then take advantage and dominate…
The Wild are finally getting to a point of the good teams where opposing teams need to pick their poison of who to focus on stopping and accept the results…
We finally have 3 lines that can generate offense now..I’ll eat crow on Zuc…I thought he was washed up after last season’s poor effort, but I guess the arm injury was more substantial than anybody knew because he’s a completely different player this year and looks to be in the same form as his dominant Ranger years…
There was more to it than just his arm though in fairness. His legs weren’t working either. He definitely has his legs under him now and this is the guy we hoped we would get. Exciting to watch and ahem, Rask in the middle of those two is certainly serviceable. He had a nice chance last night which was created by the other two so he is definitely benefiting from having skilled guys around him.
For the love of all things holy, can the Wild mic up Ek while playing at home please? I want to hear some chatter. Man do other guys get irritated by him.
On that KK impressive dangling shift, if Greenway hadnt crashed down toward the net I bet KK would have successfully wrapped it in. He hesitated a bit at the very end, but still an impressive effort. No fault to Greenway he was getting into better position which is what he should do.
The Wild are finally getting to a point of the good teams where opposing teams need to pick their poison of who to focus on stopping and accept the results…
I honestly don’t know if the Wild have ever had that before. Even in the days of Gaborik the rest of the lineup were essentially shutdown guys.
We haven’t had this many creative players at once.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
The Wild are finally getting to a point of the good teams where opposing teams need to pick their poison of who to focus on stopping and accept the results…I honestly don’t know if the Wild have ever had that before. Even in the days of Gaborik the rest of the lineup were essentially shutdown guys.
We haven’t had this many creative players at once.
We never have… and with potential impact players like Boldy and Rossi replacing role players next year, it should only get better by spreading the talent wealth over the lines…
Then the problem of affording them all year after year becomes the issue…
Then the problem of affording them all year after year becomes the issue…
Right, that is why you can never have a clunker of a draft. Have to always have a pipeline.
I realize Soucy just came back and he’s our only D man with some beef, but I would rather see Mermis out there IMO. He just hasnt looked good like he did last year. Maybe its rust, but hopefully he gets it going.
Hartman is really proving to justify his likely big arbitration raise case this season, he’s doing the hard work to get himself into positions to make plays…
my last point on last nights game, I read a tweet from somebody who mentioned that 4 of the best skaters in the NHL were in the game last night (Makar/McKinnon/Kaprizov/Brodin) but that all 4 were one of the best in their own specific style of skating. Brodin with elite transition footwork, Kaprizov with elite edge work, McKinnon with Elite speed and acceleration and Makar with Elite everything, I thought it was a great observation, it will be fun to watch these guys battle for years on end…
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Then the problem of affording them all year after year becomes the issue…Right, that is why you can never have a clunker of a draft. Have to always have a pipeline.
I realize Soucy just came back and he’s our only D man with some beef, but I would rather see Mermis out there IMO. He just hasnt looked good like he did last year. Maybe its rust, but hopefully he gets it going.
I’ve noticed alot of mental positioning mistakes with Saucy this season sofar, but he’s adds a bit of offensive rush ability (on Kaprizov goal the other night) and is our only sandpaper/physical defenseman and I think that gives him coaches preference over Mermis right now…
my last point on last nights game, I read a tweet from somebody who mentioned that 4 of the best skaters in the NHL were in the game last night (Makar/McKinnon/Kaprizov/Brodin) but that all 4 were one of the best in their own specific style of skating. Brodin with elite transition footwork, Kaprizov with elite edge work, McKinnon with Elite speed and acceleration and Makar with Elite everything, I thought it was a great observation, it will be fun to watch these guys battle for years on end…
I saw that too and it was impressive to watch all of them for sure. I heart still skips a beat when McKinnon gets the puck and has some space. Man, the only guy as fast or faster than him with the puck is McDavid. McKinnon has a much heavier shot.
Kaapo kept the Wild in the game early and made some VERY impressive saves. He leads the NHL in wins as a rookie that is dang impressive.
oh and what else does BillyG need to see from Kaaponen in net to realize he’s (at least for right now) the future franchise goalie? I think his play sofar this season has put that argument to bed…This should open up Talbot for potential trades and xpac draft vulnerability…
I mean, this cannot be even legal can it?
Nice finish by Hartman, but the work KK put in here is unreal.
and i’m not sold that Parise has the monkey off his back and he’s playing like the Parise of old argument that LaPanta and other media guys are trying to sell… He’s still making very strange panic plays when he gets the puck and turns it over way too often, not sure what the deal is with him (mental or physical) but getting a 1 handed stick in the way of a Dumba shot and getting a deflection goal isn’t solving anything…
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
The Wild are finally getting to a point of the good teams where opposing teams need to pick their poison of who to focus on stopping and accept the results…I honestly don’t know if the Wild have ever had that before. Even in the days of Gaborik the rest of the lineup were essentially shutdown guys.
We haven’t had this many creative players at once.
Not to be a downer here, but I want to see the play that shows this is sustainable and not just the Wild looking good against a so-so team.
And yes, I’m calling the Avs a so-so team, IMO they have been overrated since teh start of the season. They are a one-line pony that is overly reliant on the L1 of Burakovsky/MacKinnon/Rantanen. The Avs look great against teams that can’t match their first line for speed, have no defensive depth, and give up a lot of power plays where the #1 unit can really do some damage. Anybody else, and the Avs have to rely on streaky secondary line scoring and the depth just isn’t there. The Wild totally took advantage of all those weaknesses last night, but so will every other decent team in the division.
Regarding Parise, IMO he’s playing hurt. He looks and moves differently now than he did earlier. Is the back issue back again?
Grouse
so in watching the latest Wild Beyond our Ice video and while being interviewed on his comeback, Stalock said they found something on his post-covid physical and forced him to shutdown all physical activity for months…sound familiar???? (Rossi’s suspected myocarditis complication)
This was the first I heard Stalock’s likely issue publicly revealed?? Hopefully this yields a good outcome for Rossi as well…Anybody how how far into the 6 week shutdown he’s in? I suspect he’ll fly back to MN and start training with the team assuming everything checks out…
I love the little cameo Kaprizov had in the video, I swear if he could, he’d live at the rink…total rink rat…
We never have… and with potential impact players like Boldy and Rossi replacing role players next year, it should only get better by spreading the talent wealth over the lines…
Then the problem of affording them all year after year becomes the issue…
Can someone explain to me what is broken with Betman’s NHL when the little ol’ Wild finally get some decent–not superstar, mind you, but DECENT players–and instantly we have have to be discussing which of the two we will have to give up?
Meanwhile, in Washington you have Ovie, Kuznetsov, Bacstron, Orlov, Oshie, etc, etc, etc. Nobody’s talking about which one has to go, Ovie or Kuznetsov…
And in Pittsbugh, you have Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel, etc, etc. and again nobody’s talking about who goes next year, Crosby or Malkin.
What’s gone off the rails with the salary cap where some teams can sign multiple superstar deals and still stay under the cap and then the Wild can’t even sign a rookie and a player like Fiala who is good but I would not put him in the superstar camp.
It’s like there was a tipping point where salary inflation zoomed way, way, way past cap increases? I’m enjoying watching Fiala and Kaprisov, and maybe I’m nuts here, but it seems freaking ridiculous that the Wild have to be talking about giving one of them up when these aren’t what I’d consider superstar rosters like somehow other teams seem to be able to support.
What gives? Is this another hit we’re taking from the series of miserable GM failures we’ve been saddled with?
Grouse
The problem is with the money and term left for Suter/Parise, then its the big deals for Brodin/Spurgeon/Dumba. We have FAR too much money tied up at D. There is going to be a dramatic increase in salary next year for KK and Fiala so unless we move some other bigger contracts its going to be tough to improve at 1C and keep the band together as it is. Dumba really needs to get moved IMO. Solves multiple problems, bigger salary and allows us to protect a different player in expansion.
We could easily afford them, but look at our Defenseman contracts (39% of our total cap) vs Pittsburgh (24%) or Tampa (30%) or Washington (31%). We’ve decided to allocate more of our cap space on Defense vs Offense…Get rid of a Suter or Spurgeon or Brodin contract and you have the money needed to afford both Kaprizov & Fiala…
Those teams you mentioned (and i’ll include the Lightning & Blackhawks too) have high cap % generational players that can singlehandedly win games, especially the clutch games in the playoffs…Will Kaprizov or Fiala become those types of players? who knows right now…
It seems the like the NBA and to some extent in the NHL follow the new formula to load up with a handful of top tier (and top salary) elite talent and then plug in cheap role players around them vs a more balanced attack, when you look at the amount of icetime and critical situations players like a Kane or Crosby or Ovechkin are involved in, sometimes that doesn’t look like a bad strategy…..yes there are exceptions to that rule (blues) but look at the runs these teams have have over the years…
The problem is with the money and term left for Suter/Parise, then its the big deals for Brodin/Spurgeon/Dumba. We have FAR too much money tied up at D. There is going to be a dramatic increase in salary next year for KK and Fiala so unless we move some other bigger contracts its going to be tough to improve at 1C and keep the band together as it is. Dumba really needs to get moved IMO. Solves multiple problems, bigger salary and allows us to protect a different player in expansion.
Yes, if you project Dumba getting traded for a pick or prospect vs another player with salary, you take his $6 million and allocate it towards the Fiala/Kaprizov contract fund, you then backfill Dumba’s open slot with Addison on his rookie contract…
I think the issue is most think Dumba is going to be a big piece in a trade package for a potential top center, thus bringing salary (likely more than his $6) back on the books…The RFA’s traded or not resigned will then be the cash pool to use for Kaprizov, Fiala and Ek, is it enough though? We’ll also lose a contract in the xpac draft though too, but the range of that salary saved is all over the place depending on who gets picked.
I’d be fine losing Talbot in the xpac (saving $3.6) and rolling with a Kaapo and Stalock combo moving forward…
Sounds like you guys have your chairs set out for the parade, save me a spot!
Fun game to watch against a GOOD team last night. Maybe they had an off night and yeah the Aves have gotten off to a slow start, but they are a very good team. Did you watch them in the playoffs the last 2 years? They’re stars are still getting better and they pick up better role players each year too. Ask any non-Wild fan and they’ll take Colorado’s 2nd line (Landy, Kadri, Saad) over any of the lines the Wild had last night.
I will say Bo Byram did not impress me again last night and that’s his 4th NHL game I’ve watched. The talking heads mention him in the same breath as previous rookie D studs (Makar, Hughes, Heiskanen) and from what I’ve seen against the Wild he’s not even close.
I will say Bo Byram did not impress me again last night and that’s his 4th NHL game I’ve watched. The talking heads mention him in the same breath as previous rookie D studs (Makar, Hughes, Heiskanen) and from what I’ve seen against the Wild he’s not even close.
The first game I saw of him I thought he was good, but he hasn’t seemed to play at that same level since. He can skate, but you are right, he is nowhere near where those guys were immediately that is for sure.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
The problem is with the money and term left for Suter/Parise, then its the big deals for Brodin/Spurgeon/Dumba. We have FAR too much money tied up at D. There is going to be a dramatic increase in salary next year for KK and Fiala so unless we move some other bigger contracts its going to be tough to improve at 1C and keep the band together as it is. Dumba really needs to get moved IMO. Solves multiple problems, bigger salary and allows us to protect a different player in expansion.Yes, if you project Dumba getting traded for a pick or prospect vs another player with salary, you take his $6 million and allocate it towards the Fiala/Kaprizov contract fund, you then backfill Dumba’s open slot with Addison on his rookie contract…
I think the issue is most think Dumba is going to be a big piece in a trade package for a potential top center, thus bringing salary (likely more than his $6) back on the books…The RFA’s traded or not resigned will then be the cash pool to use for Kaprizov, Fiala and Ek, is it enough though? We’ll also lose a contract in the xpac draft though too, but the range of that salary saved is all over the place depending on who gets picked.
I’d be fine losing Talbot in the xpac (saving $3.6) and rolling with a Kaapo and Stalock combo moving forward…
This where I disagree with what will happen. If you are trading Dumba plus some stuff mentioned earlier like Like Fiala and taking on more money it better not be for a potential 1C. It better be bona fide 1C. I personally don’t see this happening.
More likely to trade Dumba and a pick for a potential/future/young 1C that should not cost more than Dumba on their current contract anyway.
How much salary and term do you see KK and Fiala getting?
I can’t see Fiala getting over $6 per year.
I think KK is the more interesting one of the two because do you try and lock him down long term to push out as far as you can his RFA status? If you do that its going to be higher $ per year I would think than you may value you him now.
It would be nice to get these to somehow coincide with when Parise/Suter come of the books.
Not sure…I agree on Fiala. Currently they have 22mill to spend next year but they only have 6 forwards under contract.
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