2021 MN Wild/NHL Thread

JoeMX1825 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
KK and EK Joe?

lol, I just watched the replay of the 1st period (I missed it golfing last night) and saw Ek’s goal, the goalie had his stick backwards! wtf!

Ek’s been getting the lucky bounces (or in this case the backwards goalie stick luck) all season, good for him in a contract year….

You guys are disrespecting superstar goal-scorer Brodin who might just hit double digits this year, and I think they’re all ENG or GWG/GTG lol.

Saying Ek’s goals are all luck just highlights the blatant bias. Every player will score some “lucky” goals and get robbed on some “lucky” saves. But actually look deeper and you’ll see his xG are way up this season – actually ahead of Fiala and just behind Kaprizov at 15. His game is clearly progressing and this year getting way more chances (pretty much all right in the crease) than ever before in his career. In previous seasons he would throw all kinds of shots at the net from the half wall. This season most of his shots are taken from in the slot or the crease, thus the huge increase in shooting percentage and expected goals.

If Ek can elevate his faceoff game he could easily slot into Bonino’s spot on PP1 in the future – net front and puck retrieval are what he does best.

Ripjiggen wrote:

You have to admit Joe he has been a beast the last 8-9 games call it lucky bounces or what have you. I don’t think him being in a contract season has anything to do with his success this season though. He is definitely getting more opportunity then he has the past several seasons.

You don’t go on a full season 30 goal pace by being lucky IMO. Hard work for sure. Yeah, he gets a lot of greasy goals, but he had one flashy play that almost paid off last night splitting the D. At this point him playing with Foligno and Greenway is the best place for him. I would have liked to see him with more skilled players, but those lines have all been producing with who they have so I’s thinking why rob Peter to pay Paul? Leave them as they are unless injuries happen, which they likely will.
Those gift 2 pts and 1 lost point to Vegas because of that Parise gaffe early this season could loom large. Could be difference between home ice and on the road. If we play the Avs I would rather have home ice, but if we play Vegas I am not sure it matters. We will see.

CaptainMusky wrote:

$5000 fine and no suspension. Apparently the fine is for the punch in Pavel. He was on his back, stick under his neck pulling up and punched the back of his head. Pulled Panarins hair, body slammed him then slammed his head into the ice again.

WOW. We might see protesting and riots at NHL headquarters in New York.

That whole scrum never even happens if not for Wilson being the 4th Cap in and “falling” on Buchnevich. Watch the video and you’ll see 3 Caps players all standing in the crease not engaged with any Rangers, no face washes or cross checks or anything. The play was over…

Then Wilson proceeds to pile drive Buchnevich’s head into the ice, punch him in the back of the head, punch Strome while on the ice, rip Panarin’s helmet off, pull his hair while bulldogging his head into the ice, punch him while on the ice, lift him off the ice and slam him one more time, and then finally flex like a redneck after a bar fight while in the box.

I get that after whistle scrums are a part of the NHL, especially in the playoffs. But I can’t remember any where the league’s #1 villain pulls hair, ragdolls, and purposely smashes a superstar’s melon into the ice multiple times. History is factored into suspensions by the DPOS, and Wilson has 100% earned every bit of his reputation.

Ripjiggen wrote:

You have to admit Joe he has been a beast the last 8-9 games call it lucky bounces or what have you. I don’t think him being in a contract season has anything to do with his success this season though. He is definitely getting more opportunity then he has the past several seasons. Which is partially because they don’t have very good centers but also because he has deserved it. He is averaging almost 2 more minutes a game this year than last. 4 minutes more than the 18-19. He is not picking up those minutes by being on the PP now either.
As important as the KK and goalie additions have been. That Ek line has been pretty damn important.

Absolutely! The past few games he’s done things with the puck that he’s NEVER done in the NHL, not sure if it’s all due to improved confidence or his linemates playing better this year or what… You have to admit he’s getting all of the bounces this year (after years of flubbing shots, missing open nets, etc, etc) maybe he’s making his own bounces vs luck, time will tell…I still think he’s the prototype elite 3rd line shutdown center. What if he and his agent ask for $5+ per next contract based on this year? There’s no way he’s worth that with only 1 season of improved offensive output compared to his first few years…I think GMBG will want to do another short term bridge deal (2 x $3 million) to see if the Ek of this season is the Ek he’ll get moving forward…

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
$5000 fine and no suspension. Apparently the fine is for the punch in Pavel. He was on his back, stick under his neck pulling up and punched the back of his head. Pulled Panarins hair, body slammed him then slammed his head into the ice again.

WOW. We might see protesting and riots at NHL headquarters in New York.

That whole scrum never even happens if not for Wilson being the 4th Cap in and “falling” on Buchnevich. Watch the video and you’ll see 3 Caps players all standing in the crease not engaged with any Rangers, no face washes or cross checks or anything. The play was over…

Then Wilson proceeds to pile drive Buchnevich’s head into the ice, punch him in the back of the head, punch Strome while on the ice, rip Panarin’s helmet off, pull his hair while bulldogging his head into the ice, punch him while on the ice, lift him off the ice and slam him one more time, and then finally flex like a redneck after a bar fight while in the box.

I get that after whistle scrums are a part of the NHL, especially in the playoffs. But I can’t remember any where the league’s #1 villain pulls hair, ragdolls, and purposely smashes a superstar’s melon into the ice multiple times. History is factored into suspensions by the DPOS, and Wilson has 100% earned every bit of his reputation.

The NHL players have a way of policing themselves sometimes, the blatant disrespect Wilson showed will not sit well with every other player in the NHL, my guess is you see some guys taking liberties on him the final few games to send a message….

Is it just me or does Vegas have the refs in their back pocket? They are an above average dirty/physical team and don’t have a speedster McDavid/Mackinnon/Barzal that draws a bunch of penalties, yet somehow they lead the league in net PP/PK opportunities.

I’m not one to complain about refs but last night seemed waaayyy one-sided… Just off the top of my head:
1st goal was the a carbon copy of the Foligno goalie interference that got reversed against Kuemper.
2 blatant non-calls right after the 5 on 3…
Ek gets steam rolled away from the puck while trying to pressure the Vegas D who had the puck.
Kaprizov eats an obvious elbow while forechecking.
Ridiculous intentional off side on Dumba who had no idea he was off-sides. I don’t recall the last time I saw intentional off-sides called.
Last 5 minutes of the game there was an iceing where the Vegas D was a stick length from the puck at the blueline but just stopped skating (this goes uncalled all the time in the NHL and drives me nuts).
During the 6 on 5 they incorrectly called a hand pass where Vegas was first to touch the puck and it brought the faceoff out of the zone and put Talbot back in the net.

Does anybody know of any good pictures of Kaprizov’s celly after last nights goal? If ANYBODY had their cameras going he gave an awesome “Dumba” celly pose after scoring that would likely make a really awesome picture!

I’ve been looking online but haven’t found any….

JoeMX1825 wrote:

The NHL players have a way of policing themselves sometimes, the blatant disrespect Wilson showed will not sit well with every other player in the NHL, my guess is you see some guys taking liberties on him the final few games to send a message….

Wilson’s been in the league almost 10 years. Why is it taking so long for that message to be sent?

Maybe because it’s not 1980. I’ve said it for years but self-policing is not part of the NHL anymore. The closest thing you’ll see is Dumba glove on speed-bagging Reilly Smith after the elbow to Kaprizov last night. Not sure what kind of message that sent but it was pretty funny.

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
The NHL players have a way of policing themselves sometimes, the blatant disrespect Wilson showed will not sit well with every other player in the NHL, my guess is you see some guys taking liberties on him the final few games to send a message….

Wilson’s been in the league almost 10 years. Why is it taking so long for that message to be sent?

Maybe because it’s not 1980. I’ve said it for years but self-policing is not part of the NHL anymore. The closest thing you’ll see is Dumba glove on speed-bagging Reilly Smith after the elbow to Kaprizov last night. Not sure what kind of message that sent but it was pretty funny.

Sticking out your knee or an elbow even though likely intentional are still millisecond decisions, what he did last night was different….

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Does anybody know of any good pictures of Kaprizov’s celly after last nights goal? If ANYBODY had their cameras going he gave an awesome “Dumba” celly pose after scoring that would likely make a really awesome picture!

I’ve been looking online but haven’t found any….

THere is a video where he does the Dumba celly, but it keeps getting cut off so you dont see it real well. You can see the start of it here: https://twitter.com/AlexMicheletti/status/1389411100056186882?s=20

tswoboda wrote:

The closest thing you’ll see is Dumba glove on speed-bagging Reilly Smith after the elbow to Kaprizov last night. Not sure what kind of message that sent but it was pretty funny.

I thought that was tremendously stupid of Dumba to do that considering he ripped his pectoral muscle when Tkatchuk did that to him.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I thought that was tremendously stupid of Dumba to do that considering he ripped his pectoral muscle when Tkatchuk did that to him.

Not sure where that comparison comes from. Dumba tore his pec on an awkward missed punch.

Dumba on Smith was pretty much harmless, but definitely funny. Here it is:

https://twitter.com/CoopCarlson/status/1389393186653622274

re-watching the game from last night, my gawd did the Golden Knights miss a TON of point blank chances, for as awesome as the Wild’s Offense has been lately, our Defense has been absolutely terrible and needs to get buttoned up for the playoffs…I lost count on how many 2-1’s or 3-2’s we’ve given up and get bailed out either by our goalie making the save or the other team simply misses the net…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Sticking out your knee or an elbow even though likely intentional are still millisecond decisions, what he did last night was different….

So players should goon it up with Wilson? The Caps would love that, they’re one of the toughest teams in the league and that plays right into their game. Ask Jamie Oleksiak how making Tom Wilson “answer the bell” works out.

Wilson’s dirty play has been obvious and well known since 2015. Ryan Reaves is one of the few players who can actually do anything to him and he’s certainly tried. What has that changed?

Dude is a psychopath who clearly blacks out and loses control. And the NHL let’s him get away with it.

tswoboda wrote:

Not sure where that comparison comes from. Dumba tore his pec on an awkward missed punch.

Dumba on Smith was pretty much harmless, but definitely funny. Here it is:

I would have to go back to the video of the fight, but my recollection was that it happened before he even threw the missed punch.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tswoboda wrote:</div>
Not sure where that comparison comes from. Dumba tore his pec on an awkward missed punch.

Dumba on Smith was pretty much harmless, but definitely funny. Here it is:

I would have to go back to the video of the fight, but my recollection was that it happened before he even threw the missed punch.

I don’t think it was ever said when exactly it happened, so who knows? I just figured that since it was his punching arm and he stopped fighting after the last punch he threw. But either way I just didn’t see any similarities between the Tkachuk fight and what Dumba did last night.

tswoboda wrote:

I don’t think it was ever said when exactly it happened, so who knows? I just figured that since it was his punching arm and he stopped fighting after the last punch he threw. But either way I just didn’t see any similarities between the Tkachuk fight and what Dumba did last night.

How about instead of what I said first, this. “I think it was insanely stupid of Dumba doing what he did last night considering he tore that same pectoral muscle in a prior fight”?

just saw that Milan Lucic agreed to waive his NTC for Calgary in the Seattle xpac draft… I want to say I read that not a single NTC was lifted by any players for the Vegas xpac draft (don’t quote me on that)

Perhaps other players (cough cough Parise & Suter) will follow suit….

JoeMX1825 wrote:

just saw that Milan Lucic agreed to waive his NTC for Calgary in the Seattle xpac draft… I want to say I read that not a single NTC was lifted by any players for the Vegas xpac draft (don’t quote me on that)

Perhaps other players (cough cough Parise & Suter) will follow suit….

Suter wont lift his and I could see Parise lifting his but not sure if Seattle would want to take on his contract. We would probably have to trade them another player or something to make it happen.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

just saw that Milan Lucic agreed to waive his NTC for Calgary in the Seattle xpac draft… I want to say I read that not a single NTC was lifted by any players for the Vegas xpac draft (don’t quote me on that)

Perhaps other players (cough cough Parise & Suter) will follow suit….

I’ve said that before just going off memory, so hopefully you’re not quoting me because it’s definitely wrong lol. MAF waived his because he wanted to get out of Pittsburgh. There’s probably other examples too, I just couldn’t think of any until Fleury popped into my head.

I do recall that Fletcher didn’t even ask the guys with NMC’s to waive, which I thought was ridiculous at the time. It’ll be interesting how that plays out this time around. I think Guerin should bring every single one of them with a NMC into his office at the same time and ask them all to waive… frame it as the team doing what’s best for the team. Obviously still protect everyone except for Parise/Suter though.

I’ve always wondered about the NTC waive decision and why you almost never see it done…

is the players decision to NOT lift the NTC truly based on their worry that MAYBE they could get taken and would then have to move their family to the xpac team?

Are they pressured by their agent or the NHLPA to not waive a contract clause many players/agents fight so hard to get?

If it’s worry about getting selected, is their ego getting in the way of their decision making? No GM with 1/2 a brain will take on 4 more years of $7.5 million for a 37+ year old players, the players must know that…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I’ve always wondered about the NTC waive decision and why you almost never see it done…

is the players decision to NOT lift the NTC truly based on their worry that MAYBE they could get taken and would then have to move their family to the xpac team?

Are they pressured by their agent or the NHLPA to not waive a contract clause many players/agents fight so hard to get?

If it’s worry about getting selected, is their ego getting in the way of their decision making? No GM with 1/2 a brain will take on 4 more years of $7.5 million for a 37+ year old players, the players must know that…

All good points, I hadn’t really thought of the pressure from the NHLPA but that definitely makes sense.

There’s no way I’d waive if I were in their shoes. Players are constantly told by teams that “it’s a business” when they get traded, so why should they be expected to waive a big part of their contract for the best interest of their employer.

tswoboda wrote:

All good points, I hadn’t really thought of the pressure from the NHLPA but that definitely makes sense.

There’s no way I’d waive if I were in their shoes. Players are constantly told by teams that “it’s a business” when they get traded, so why should they be expected to waive a big part of their contract for the best interest of their employer.

I could see it for any combination of these reasons. A player like Parise wouldn’t waive it because BG could also slide something along with picks/prospects that SEA takes him. No way they would otherwise. I think it will be interesting to see who the Wild protect between Kahkonen and Talbot? Have we seen enough from Kahkonen to say he is the franchise guy going forward? Where would this team be without Talbot? During a stretch same could be said about Kahkonen.
No doubt they have to go the 7-3-1 route unless they can get Suter to waive his NTC.
I have to think that Talbot, Soucy, Foligno (higher $$) and Hartman would be the key ones SEA would go after. Just my thoughts anyway.

I think GMBG would give the players assurances that if they waive their NTC, he won’t do any funny business with picks and players thrown in and send them off…

I think if it’s pitched properly and if players TRULY want to win or do what’s best for the team, the NTC can be waived in certain situations (like aging 37+ players with 4 years left on their deals that have ZERO chance of actually getting picked) Their contracts are guaranteed so there’s nothing to worry about from a money perspective (unlike the NFL where I agree players should have ZERO allegiance to their team/owner as their contracts carry less weight other than signing bonuses) and if I remember correctly, if they waive, it’s just for the xpac draft and goes back into effect afterwards?

I would pitch it to Parise and Suter at the same time, if they waive their NTC, it benefits their final 4 years in the league (there’s zero chance they’ll ever get traded) so it’s all about how they want to end their careers here…not waiving it only hurts the team….

Interesting you bring up the goalies. I just read that there first goalie target is Driedger from Florida.

KP wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
just saw that Milan Lucic agreed to waive his NTC for Calgary in the Seattle xpac draft… I want to say I read that not a single NTC was lifted by any players for the Vegas xpac draft (don’t quote me on that)

Perhaps other players (cough cough Parise & Suter) will follow suit….

Suter wont lift his and I could see Parise lifting his but not sure if Seattle would want to take on his contract. We would probably have to trade them another player or something to make it happen.

It wouldn’t be asked to lift it to send either one of them there. It would be to protect other players that you would basically narrow their choice down to one player.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Interesting you bring up the goalies. I just read that there first goalie target is Driedger from Florida.

Driedger isnt under contract after this year and I would be surprised if FLA signs him considering who they already have on roster. Maybe they do, its definitely going to be a low value.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
Interesting you bring up the goalies. I just read that there first goalie target is Driedger from Florida.

Driedger isnt under contract after this year and I would be surprised if FLA signs him considering who they already have on roster. Maybe they do, its definitely going to be a low value.

If they do sign him to an extension, it has to be knowing that Seattle will take him. If they sign him and Seattle doesn’t take him, they’d be stuck with with carrying 3 NHL goalies or Knight being stuck in the AHL. That Bob contract is absolutely crushing them.

If they don’t sign him, Seattle can sign him prior to the draft but he would have to forego full on free agency.

If they don’t extend him, does Florida even have a goalie to meet the minimum exposure requirement?

It wouldn’t be asked to lift it to send either one of them there. It would be to protect other players that you would basically narrow their choice down to one player.
[/quote]

Ahh that definitely makes more sense. I wasn’t thinking that way but lets hope they do lift it to help the team out.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Interesting you bring up the goalies. I just read that there first goalie target is Driedger from Florida.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>KP wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
just saw that Milan Lucic agreed to waive his NTC for Calgary in the Seattle xpac draft… I want to say I read that not a single NTC was lifted by any players for the Vegas xpac draft (don’t quote me on that)

Perhaps other players (cough cough Parise & Suter) will follow suit….

Suter wont lift his and I could see Parise lifting his but not sure if Seattle would want to take on his contract. We would probably have to trade them another player or something to make it happen.

It wouldn’t be asked to lift it to send either one of them there. It would be to protect other players that you would basically narrow their choice down to one player.

Ahh definitely makes sense and I wasn’t thinking about it that way. Hopefully they both lift it to save some guys.

Found where I read it. Guess I didn’t realize he was a FA.

According to The Athletic’s James Mirtle, Ron Francis already has his target in goal. The Panthers Chris Driedger is someone he wants manning the nets for the Seattle Kraken’s inaugural season.

This year, Driedger has been impressive with a 13-6-3 record to go with a 2.17 GAA and SV% of 923. It makes you wonder why Florida would expose him? That’s because Sergei Bobrovsky and his no move clause must be protected. With Spencer Knight signed and in the fold, the 26 year-old Driedger is expendable.