2021 MN Wild/NHL Thread

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

The last thing I want to see is another Gaborik situation. Gaborik was a great player, but some players want to be THE guy. Gaborik didn’t. Multiple sources close to Gaborik have pointed out that the pressure to carry MN made him want to leave.

Grouse

I get the impression that Fiala absolutely wants to be THE guy. The team focal point and resident superstar. So hopefully his breakout can continue and that will take take pressure and attention off Kap. It is funny how the meadia attention on Fiala has faded since Kaprizov signed.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Boldy looked awesome last night, he’s the focal point of that team in all situations, while I still wanted the Wild to draft Caufield (who scored 2 goals) I’m liking Boldy more and more…he’s going to be a good NHL power forward…Caufield is a pure sniper though and we needed goal scorers in the prospect pool…

Rossi showed his skill and body control throughout the 1st period, but after he got his 10 minutes misconduct for boarding, he appeared out of it for the rest of the game…you can tell the lack of skill of his teammates slows him down though….

I’m excited to watch Marat K tonight against the top competition for his age in team Canada…

Where are you watching the games from? Either way keep the updates coming! I’ve only watched the highlights and Boldy definitely stands out, as does Caufield – his second goal showed some crazy skill and didn’t look like a fluke at all.

NHL network is showing EVERY WJC game this year! Canada vs Russia warm up game today at 5pm

I agree that having Fiala be the expected scorer will take alot of heat off Kaprizov and vice-versa…they will hopefully motivate each other to be great!

Like i said earlier, BillyG has a big decision on signing both long term after this season, if they pan out we might finally have our Kane/Toews or Crosby/Malkin type of dual threat combo to build the franchise around…

Ripjiggen wrote:

If a player doesn’t want to be “the guy” they are usually not the guy. The true super stars HOF type of players all want to be “the guy”. If you can’t handle the pressure then that player most likely isn’t the guy in the first place. Excited to see him play.

I remind you Joe Mauer will be a first ballot HOF’er…..Just saying.

Oh wait. You said TRUE superstars.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
If a player doesn’t want to be “the guy” they are usually not the guy. The true super stars HOF type of players all want to be “the guy”. If you can’t handle the pressure then that player most likely isn’t the guy in the first place. Excited to see him play.

I remind you Joe Mauer will be a first ballot HOF’er…..Just saying.

Oh wait. You said TRUE superstars.

Ha I think Joe Mauer is the perfect example of having the tools to be THE GUY, but not wanting to be THE GUY – so he wasn’t THE GUY.

Lots going on around the league today…

Full schedule came out… all back to backs with a few four game series mixed in.
Kucherov out for the season in Tampa. Probably not how they wanted to fix their cap issues but it does clean up that mess for them.
Granlund and Haula both signed for bargain deals in Nashville.

Just saw that Kicherov is out for the season.

Curse o’ the Pug?

Grouse

We were hacky sacking earlier this month and he followed the beanie after I kicked it over the seawall. I wish it was high tide.

I think it’s a blessing in disguise, although a rusty Kuch might not be so great in the playoffs.

USA had a rough start against Russia, but tonight up 7-0 in 2nd against a totally out of their depth Austria team. Boldy has 2 goals.

Nice to have some hockey to watch.

Grouse

Only 3 games in, Boldy has been one of the best players in the entire tourney sofar imo. He uses his size all of the time and basically does whatever he wants out there. I knew he had an NHL level shot and is great around the net, but I had no idea he was such a good passer, he and Caufield have great chemistry together and this shows what he could look like playing with our shoot first players Fiala or Kaprizov in the future.

Rossi looks like an NHLer in terms of how he uses his body positioning and his smarts, tough to see him have any success when his teammates lack skill.

The 2 Russians haven’t been that impressive at all and are barely part of the play when on the ice. Marat K is playing like the younger player he is which is predictable, the fact that he centers the 1st line shows what Russia and head coach Larionov think of him though. Firstov has shown nothing in limited ice time…

Pavel Novac has looked pretty good, he definitely likes to shoot the puck and puts himself in scoring positions all the time.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Only 3 games in, Boldy has been one of the best players in the entire tourney sofar imo. He uses his size all of the time and basically does whatever he wants out there. I knew he had an NHL level shot and is great around the net, but I had no idea he was such a good passer, he and Caufield have great chemistry together and this shows what he could look like playing with our shoot first players Fiala or Kaprizov in the future.

Rossi looks like an NHLer in terms of how he uses his body positioning and his smarts, tough to see him have any success when his teammates lack skill.

So does Boldy turn pro next year or play another year at BC and come straight to the big club in 2022? There should be plenty of roster spots available next season. Either way it sure is relieving to see him look like a true top prospect after his disappointing start last year!

News out of Pugville Bay… the Lightning traded a couple depth NHLers and a 2nd round pick to Ottawa and acquired Marian freakin Gaborik. With that trade they have officially signed all of their RFAs while miraculously staying cap compliant for the 2021 season.

The circle of ice.

So they would need to clear like $10+ million to let Kucherov play in the playoffs then right?

This trick of piling up LTIR salaries for the sole purpose to circumvent the cap needs to go…

TB gets bailed out again, take on Ottawa LTIR contracts to relieve more cap space. Gaborik and Anders Nilsson will join Kucherov on LTIR and are projected to save TB nearly $16M in cap space.
Rumor has it that Kucherov actually needs hip surgery, so that may be a legit injury.

Regarding WJC, for those that have a subscription to The Athletic, check out the piece that Scott Wheeler did on Boldy. Pretty interesting to see how he got to where he is today. After being cut by the US National Team a year ago and to now one of their stars. He has dedicated himself and was given some very good advice by a former Pro who was in his same shoes, Brooks Orpik. Boldy will finish this year at BC and there will be a decision for him to make. Its true the Wild will have some openings, but what would another year in BC do for his development OR do you have him balance his time between Iowa and give him a shot at the big club? I think the Wild will let the decision up to him, but he certainly could leave after this year.

Rossi is head and shoulders the best player on Austria. This tourney is really a 4 maybe 5 team race and the rest are just not that competitive. I really feel bad for Germany. They only had 14 skaters available to play due to Covid quarantine and then had to play Canada after playing the night before. It went about as bad as you could expect.
The Russian kids looked better in their game last night. Marat sure can push the pace of play. It would be nice to see Rossi with some talent around him because he has nothing to really work with. He went into the corner in the US zone with 2 USA players and came out with the puck. In their first preliminary game he had 3 shots on the power play, one was an absolute snipe but it hit the outside of the post. Totally had the corner picked, but just didnt connect.

I’m fine with LTIR IF its actually an existing player on your team that gets hurt, I mean that’s the whole point of it right?!?

but when you basically “buy” cap space from other teams LTIR players in order to get cap compliant because you so poorly managed your contracts by handing out NTC’s like candy that’s just a blatant mis-use of the intended purpose of the rule, bottom line you shouldn’t be able to buy your way out of cap mistakes…This makes all the other cap rules like recapture look like a joke…

I agree 100 percent! I have to believe there will be some sort of CBA changes regarding this in the future. I mean, teams take on bad contracts just to get cap floor compliant. Its really not within the spirit of the rules. The Wild were essentially hosed with the whole Cap Recapture thing as a penalty of the 12 year contracts to Suter and Parise when the next year’s CBA was ratified it had that penalty added.
I dont fault TB here since they arent the first to do it, but they were probably the worst off with their contract situation.

in terms of Boldy and Rossi, I think Rossi is given every opportunity to make this year’s squad, this could be done by moving Johansson back to wing (like he should be playing) BUT Rossi will only be effective if he’s playing in a top 3 center position, playing center on the 4th line is a waste of his skillset and won’t let him properly develop. So do you put all that pressure on a young rookie to play a 1C or 2C position straight out of junior? Who is then bumped down to 3C then? Ek? Bonino? In this shortened season (and COVID closing down other leagues to even play in) I say put him at the #2 center spot and let him learn on the fly…

I think Boldy signs this spring when the NCAA’s are done or this summer and leaves BC. He’s looked like a man amongst boys since the 2nd half of last year and the start of this BC season/WJC. He could easily slide into the 3rd line wing next year or sent down to Iowa without waivers early in the year to get used to the pro game.

One other note on the WJC, Finland’s Anton Lundell is the real deal and if Rossi wasn’t available it’s rumored the Wild would have gladly taken him (it’s also rumored the Wild tried to trade back into the early 1st round and take him but Florida didn’t pass on him). Florida might be another team interested in Dumba (they have a need to get younger on defense and cap space) and perhaps Lundell would be a key prospect the Wild would want back in return in addition to draft pick(s)?? The comparison’s to Koivu were spot on, he looks like a Koivu clone out there but with a little more offensive upside. He was something like 95% face-off win % sofar in the tourney…Rossi/Lundell would be an awesome 1st & 2nd Center tandem to build around…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I’m fine with LTIR IF its actually an existing player on your team that gets hurt, I mean that’s the whole point of it right?!?

but when you basically “buy” cap space from other teams LTIR players in order to get cap compliant because you so poorly managed your contracts by handing out NTC’s like candy that’s just a blatant mis-use of the intended purpose of the rule, bottom line you shouldn’t be able to buy your way out of cap mistakes…This makes all the other cap rules like recapture look like a joke…

I don’t get what your issue is? LTIR doesn’t give teams more cap space. It lets them go over the cap by whatever that player’s AAV is, but the player’s AAV still counts towards the cap. This trade was extremely lopsided – TB gave up two players + a 2nd round pick + has to pay $6m in dead contracts, all for just $3m in cap space. The Rangers only gave up a 2nd round pick for $5m in cap space earlier this offseason.

So TB took on Gaborik – his AAV is $4.875m – he is on LTIR so TB is allowed to go over the $81.5m cap by $4.875m – that $4.875 AAV STILL COUNTS TOWARD THE TOTAL CAP HIT. Net cap space gain = $0.00

TB didn’t gain anything by taking on Gaborik. Ottawa gained the fact that their owner doesn’t have to write him a $4.875m check for sitting at home. It’s similar to when there was cash involved in trades – I believe there still is in other sports.

TB is accruing an expected nearly $16M in cap with the players they have on LTIR. The thing is, if one or all of the players are able to play at any point, they then need to become cap compliant at that point, but none of these guys will be playing regular season period. Kuzy might make an appearance for Playoffs, but he will probably just ride out the season is my guess.
Cap Friendly does a wonderful job with their calculators and you can see all the details here: https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/lightning
Yes, they are “over” the cap, but it allows them to actually put a roster on the ice and sign guys they otherwise wouldnt have been able to like Cirelli.

CaptainMusky wrote:

TB is accruing an expected nearly $16M in cap with the players they have on LTIR. The thing is, if one or all of the players are able to play at any point, they then need to become cap compliant at that point, but none of these guys will be playing regular season period. Kuzy might make an appearance for Playoffs, but he will probably just ride out the season is my guess.
Cap Friendly does a wonderful job with their calculators and you can see all the details here: https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/lightning
Yes, they are “over” the cap, but it allows them to actually put a roster on the ice and sign guys they otherwise wouldnt have been able to like Cirelli.

Yes I understand how LTIR and the salary cap work. I just don’t understand what you feel is unfair? Do you think players on LTIR should count against the cap?

Do you think taking on the contracts of Gaborik and Nillson somehow helps Tampa’s cap situation? It doesn’t. They are just writing the checks to pay their actual salary since Ottowa has cheap ownership.

Does anyone really think there is even the slightest chance Tampa would fake an injury to one of the best players in the NHL (who is on a bargain contract) and give up the regular season just to be cap compliant? If they were going to do something like that it sure as hell wouldn’t be Kuch.

tswoboda wrote:

Yes I understand how LTIR and the salary cap work. I just don’t understand what you feel is unfair? Do you think players on LTIR should count against the cap?

Do you think taking on the contracts of Gaborik and Nillson somehow helps Tampa’s cap situation? It doesn’t. They are just writing the checks to pay their actual salary since Ottowa has cheap ownership.

The premise of taking on someone else’s contracts to solely put them on your team’s LTIR is what I have a problem with. Kuzy, no issue there if he is legitimately hurt, which in past cases, there were “injuries” that were not really injuries but disguised as such to allow a team to go over said cap and still have a competitive team.
Yes, the teams are overspending, the principle of shifting someone else’s problem to “help” another team is what I have a problem with. If Gaborik and Nilsson were not traded to TB, they wouldnt have been able to sign Cirelli simple as that. Otherwise why would TB even do it? Makes zero sense. THe fact that his contract signing was announced only a few minutes after this trade was cemented proves it.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tswoboda wrote:</div>
Yes I understand how LTIR and the salary cap work. I just don’t understand what you feel is unfair? Do you think players on LTIR should count against the cap?

Do you think taking on the contracts of Gaborik and Nillson somehow helps Tampa’s cap situation? It doesn’t. They are just writing the checks to pay their actual salary since Ottowa has cheap ownership.

If Gaborik and Nilsson were not traded to TB, they wouldnt have been able to sign Cirelli simple as that. Otherwise why would TB even do it? Makes zero sense. THe fact that his contract signing was announced only a few minutes after this trade was cemented proves it.

Disagree. The reason they could sign Cirelli is because they shipped out $3.35m of cap space in Coburn/Pacquette.

TB took on the Gaborik/Nilson contracts because Ottawa is cheap and didn’t want to pay them. Without taking the bad contracts, TB would have sent more/higher draft picks. By writing a $5.5m check, TB likely saved a mid/late round pick or the 2nd becoming a 1st. The cash was more desirable to Ottawa ownership than another/better draft pick.

tswoboda wrote:

Disagree. The reason they could sign Cirelli is because they shipped out $3.35m of cap space in Coburn/Pacquette.

I dont know how you make that math work to sign Cirelli at $4.8M per year against the cap by only freeing up $3.35M when TB was literally at the cap prior to that. Of course you cant see the history since it only reflects current situation, but I know TB had less than $1.5M in available cap space because I was scheming for a way for the Wild to put in an offer sheet on him because they would have had no way to do it by looking at what money they had and who all the FA’s they had to sign.
The sole reason TB did this deal was to offload $3.35 million, but taking more more than $7M to be put directly onto LTIR. If they had not done this deal they would not have been cap compliant. Without that deal, they would not have been able to sign Cirelli.
https://www.tampabay.com/sports/lightning/2020/12/27/lightning-trade-paquette-coburn-to-gain-salary-cap-flexibility/

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tswoboda wrote:</div>
Disagree. The reason they could sign Cirelli is because they shipped out $3.35m of cap space in Coburn/Pacquette.

I dont know how you make that math work to sign Cirelli at $4.8M per year against the cap by only freeing up $3.35M when TB was literally at the cap prior to that. Of course you cant see the history since it only reflects current situation, but I know TB had less than $1.5M in available cap space because I was scheming for a way for the Wild to put in an offer sheet on him because they would have had no way to do it by looking at what money they had and who all the FA’s they had to sign.
The sole reason TB did this deal was to offload $3.35 million, but taking more more than $7M to be put directly onto LTIR. If they had not done this deal they would not have been cap compliant. Without that deal, they would not have been able to sign Cirelli.
https://www.tampabay.com/sports/lightning/2020/12/27/lightning-trade-paquette-coburn-to-gain-salary-cap-flexibility/

Grab a calculator and go to the Capfriendly page you linked earlier. Now take take the Gaborik/Nilson contracts away – just pretend the Bolts never acquired them. Guess what… they’re still cap compliant by $1.158m (the exact number in the article you linked).

Got this notification from russo on tweeter

Wow, that was one of the quickest between the leg shots I’ve seen. Says something about his confidence to try something like that also….

mahtofire14 wrote:

Says something about his confidence to try something like that also….

this exactly!! He’s really impressed me sofar, Caufield has been a nonfactor since the exhibition game..

Boldy. Wow.

USA appears to be hitting on all cylinders. Trouncing my Czech brothers after the Czechs pulled off a nifty win against Russia.

I just want somebody to beat Canada.

Grouse

Toews out indefinitely in Chicago with an undisclosed health condition??? Hope everything is ok with him…tough week for the Blackhawks losing Dach and now Toews likely for an extended period if not the season…