2022/2023 NHL/Wild Offseason-Season-Postseason Thread

Freddy placed 2C/3C (whatever you call last year’s line) because we had NOBODY else to play it… Sturm & Bjugstad didn’t work, Dewer was too green, etc…

Freddy was a defensive focused player on a line with 2 guys (well Fiala for sure) who didn’t play any defense… Now we have a much more responsible center (Rossi) who also has an elite offensive toolset, they won’t waste him on the 4th line or at wing…

I think a Jost/Rossi/Boldy line makes alot of sense and Jost’s slot can be the one they plug players in/out of if needed, keep Rossi and Boldy together and let them build some chemistry together, we know for sure they will be on the team for years to come and likely expected to anchor the 2nd line at least until Zuccy & Hartman’s contracts are up, if his play warrants a significant salary bump next contract, Jost is likely gone after this season due to cap issues anyways…

Rossi won’t be on L4, Jost will be. The coach loves Freddy Hockey.

When Deano sees Freddy “play the right way” and “do a lot of right things”:

That picture and capture is hilarious. I would like to see Jost play up at least to get a look at him with some more talent, but I agree Freddy is going to get the first glimpse there.

tswoboda wrote:

Rossi won’t be on L4, Jost will be. The coach loves Freddy Hockey.

When Deano sees Freddy “play the right way” and “do a lot of right things”:

I think GMBG will discuss the lineup with Deano and talk him off the ledge with his loveaffair with Freddy, they need to replace Fiala’s production and Jost is a better option to do so… but I agree in that Jost & Freddy will likely be moved back & forth on that line..

I see to much of this on twitter? How are you going to replace the point total of Fiala. Simple you are not going to 1 for 1.
Doesn’t mean they can’t be as good or close to as they were last year.
1. PP improves
2. PK improves
3 Boldy takes another step
4 Rossi contributes

He had 33 goals in 82 games. Of which only 5 were on the PP. You do not need to make up that many to virtually break even in the GF/GA department to still be a relevant playoff team.

One thing we have to remember about Fiala’s “lost points” is that Boldy didnt play the entire season with the big club so if he maintains the pace he was on theres a significant portion of the lost points right there.

Watch Jost put up 20 and wild fans go bonkers when he walks. I just haven’t seen enough out of Jost to say he deserves an elevated role except he was drafted high.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I see to much of this on twitter? How are you going to replace the point total of Fiala.

It’s because Russo has dropped that line in pressers and podcasts all summer – fans love to parrot Russo. More flashy than just saying ‘how do you replace Fiala’s offense’. And you nailed the answer – you can’t, at least not 1 for 1. Doesn’t mean the team will be worse though.

I love watching Jost, thought he had a great playoffs. He’s the next Hartman/Foligno – those 2 both took over a full season with the Wild to hit their potential. Give Jost some time, I hope he’s here for awhile.

tswoboda wrote:

I love watching Jost, thought he had a great playoffs. He’s the next Hartman/Foligno – those 2 both took over a full season with the Wild to hit their potential. Give Jost some time, I hope he’s here for awhile.

This will be a full season test for him. I hope they give him some opportunities to showcase his skills.

Jost has more game than what we saw when he played with Duhaime and Dewar.
How good would anyone other than KK look playing on our 4th line?
Jost needs a better chance to prove himself before I dismiss him.

It’s not like this is Jost 1st 2nd or 3rd year in the league. He has been a full time NHL player for 5 seasons already. Maybe he was rushed, maybe he hasn’t had the opportunity or maybe he is what he is at this level. I too would like to see him flourish, but am keeping expectations in check. Primarily because I think Freddie hockey will start with Boldy and Rossi.

Spacek has looked good in todays WJC game, big right handed D shot, plays the body and is calm with the puck, doesn’t look out of place playing with Jiricek who went #6 overall.

Petrofsky had a great goal for Slovakia too!
Great late round picks by Judd and crew!

Ripjiggen wrote:

maybe he hasn’t had the opportunity

I think this is what it is. I mean he had no shot up the lineup with the Avs, now this year he technically has a bit of a shot with the Wild. No way he was replacing Boldy or Fiala and I dont think they trust him enough at Center to swap out Freddy.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I see to much of this on twitter? How are you going to replace the point total of Fiala. Simple you are not going to 1 for 1.
Doesn’t mean they can’t be as good or close to as they were last year.
1. PP improves
2. PK improves
3 Boldy takes another step
4 Rossi contributes

He had 33 goals in 82 games. Of which only 5 were on the PP. You do not need to make up that many to virtually break even in the GF/GA department to still be a relevant playoff team.

I edited my post to say we’ll need to replace Fiala’s production because it’s not just goals/points, it’s also taking some of the D coverage off Kaprizov, producing in 3-3 OT, etc… it won’t be 1 guy who does this (as you stated) it will be a collective effort, my take was that Jost is a much better option towards helping do this vs Freddy…

Ripjiggen wrote:

It’s not like this is Jost 1st 2nd or 3rd year in the league. He has been a full time NHL player for 5 seasons already.

Same thing can be said for Hartman and Foligno and neither of them took off until half way through their 2nd season with the Wild. They were like 26/27 years old, Jost will be 24 this year. I’m not expecting him to replace Fiala or be a #1C, just hoping he can find a permanent role as a useful top 9 forward on a bargain contract.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
I see to much of this on twitter? How are you going to replace the point total of Fiala. Simple you are not going to 1 for 1.
Doesn’t mean they can’t be as good or close to as they were last year.
1. PP improves
2. PK improves
3 Boldy takes another step
4 Rossi contributes

He had 33 goals in 82 games. Of which only 5 were on the PP. You do not need to make up that many to virtually break even in the GF/GA department to still be a relevant playoff team.

I edited my post to say we’ll need to replace Fiala’s production because it’s not just goals/points, it’s also taking some of the D coverage off Kaprizov, producing in 3-3 OT, etc… it won’t be 1 guy who does this (as you stated) it will be a collective effort, my take was that Jost is a much better option towards helping do this vs Freddy…

That remains to be seen.

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
It’s not like this is Jost 1st 2nd or 3rd year in the league. He has been a full time NHL player for 5 seasons already.

Same thing can be said for Hartman and Foligno and neither of them took off until half way through their 2nd season with the Wild. They were like 26/27 years old, Jost will be 24 this year. I’m not expecting him to replace Fiala or be a #1C, just hoping he can find a permanent role as a useful top 9 forward on a bargain contract.

Hey I’m with ya. I hope so to. Just meant more that it’s not like he was an up and down NHL/AHL player that couldn’t crack the lineup.

Crazy he’s only 24 and it’ll be his 6th full year in the league.

I think no matter what happens they’ll switch the lines up a lot more this season. Last year the top 3 lines were pretty much set after the covid break and it handcuffed them in the playoffs. Part of that was being so healthy but I think they learned you need more than just one lineup that works.

Necas just got a 2 x $3 bridge deal from Carolina (I thought it would be alot more)

Good comp to Boldy

It sure is nice to watch meaningful hockey in August! WJC is one of my favorite sporting events to watch, the fact that MN has only hosted one (1982) is a travesty!

Faber and Peart playing tonight vs Germany, Petrovsky and Spacek played in the earlier game and were very noticeable, Wallstedt, Ohgren, O’Rourke and Lambos start tomorrow.

Petrovsky 1G-1A
Spacek 1A
Not bad for late round picks, though I believe Spacek was an over-ager.

Wasn’t there games at the mini Ralph in TRF during the Ovi-Sid WJCs? I suppose ND was still technically the host.

Faber is the real deal and silky smooth with the puck (he’s more defensive minded) but showed glimpses of offensive ability, he plays a very similar game to Brodin in that they have elite skating ability and break out passes.

Peart showed glimpses of his offensive talent running the 2nd PP unit, but had a huge mental gaff that lead directly to an opponent breakaway… it was sit on the bench worthy…

Excited to see Wallstedt/Ohgren and our Canada D boys today

tswoboda wrote:

Wasn’t there games at the mini Ralph in TRF during the Ovi-Sid WJCs? I suppose ND was still technically the host.

Yes there were, but it is still sad that MN hasnt actually hosted this event. I suppose with so many countries vying for hosts it is hard, but it still seems like a shame. This is really good hockey.
I kinda chuckled when I read a tweet where someone was suggesting Canada get 3 or 4 teams in the tourney. 1 for each Canadian league. Same could be said about the US with USHL, NCAA, etc. There are a lot of good players not able to compete due to lack of spots, but agree Canada is likely deeper.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tswoboda wrote:</div>
Wasn’t there games at the mini Ralph in TRF during the Ovi-Sid WJCs? I suppose ND was still technically the host.

Yes there were, but it is still sad that MN hasnt actually hosted this event. I suppose with so many countries vying for hosts it is hard, but it still seems like a shame. This is really good hockey.
I kinda chuckled when I read a tweet where someone was suggesting Canada get 3 or 4 teams in the tourney. 1 for each Canadian league. Same could be said about the US with USHL, NCAA, etc. There are a lot of good players not able to compete due to lack of spots, but agree Canada is likely deeper.

I like Dave Starman’s suggestion – Have all of the major countries (Canada, USA, Sweden, Russia, Finland) in 1 pool (Pool A), then have all the 2nd tier countries in another pool (Pool B) Pool A plays each other for seeding 1-5, Pool B plays to figure our their top 3 teams and those teams fill out Seeds 6-8. Then it’s basic 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc for the knock out rounds…

The point being you no longer see the waste of time blowout games in the preliminary rounds that we see every year when Canada plays Latvia, USA plays Switzerland, etc…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I like Dave Starman’s suggestion – Have all of the major countries (Canada, USA, Sweden, Russia, Finland) in 1 pool (Pool A), then have all the 2nd tier countries in another pool (Pool B) Pool A plays each other for seeding 1-5, Pool B plays to figure our their top 3 teams and those teams fill out Seeds 6-8. Then it’s basic 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc for the knock out rounds…

The point being you no longer see the waste of time blowout games in the preliminary rounds that we see every year when Canada plays Latvia, USA plays Switzerland, etc…

I like that idea as well.

There’s just too many teams. Most years you have the big 5 and then Czechia and Slovokia are good some years. The remaining 3 teams almost always get beat on.

tswoboda wrote:

There’s just too many teams. Most years you have the big 5 and then Czechia and Slovokia are good some years. The remaining 3 teams almost always get beat on.

That’s why I would prefer to see the best play against the best, there’s only potential for 1 blowout game 8 vs 1 in the tourney as like you said the 6th & 7th seeds are likely Czechia and Slovakia and they can typically put a good team together (although Germany and Switzerland are gettng alot better)

Are there still inside covid limitations in Canada? There’s hardly any fans in the stands for a Canada game….

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Are there still inside covid limitations in Canada? There’s hardly any fans in the stands for a Canada game….

I don’t know but it’s sad to watch. They’d fill it up in MN.

There may be more fans at Da Beauty League tonight.