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

Listened to as much of the post-season presser as I could stand.

Gurin was nonsensical. Was he even sober? Too many old-school hockey hits to the head?

He repeatedly said that getting past the first round is not the goal. As if he has some other way to get to the finals that does not involve winning the first-round series. WTF Billy? You sounded like Denny Green. So we can talk about the goal, which isn’t the goal…

And then the classic was his rambling about how this was somehow NOT another Round One Fail because we have some new/different players who were not part of the last Round One Fail just last season. So you can’t really call this a repeated Round One Fail, because even though the PK, PP, and vet players’ inability to score all still sucked as bad or worse than they did last year, this sucking was done by some of the players who weren’t here to suck last season. Again, WTF Billy?

Why go all bitter and get combative with Russo for asking what EVERY fan wants to know? As if you didn’t know the question was gonna get asked by somebody. Get past it.

These guys always seem to think they have to spew this sports cliche sh!t all the time. The truth is simple. We got killed on the PK because first, we were in the box way too much for trying to play a heavy game. Then, on the kill we were missing a key player and we were gawdawful on the dot which enabled Dallas to just pull back faceoffs and dish the puck for multiple set play goals.

Also, why keep up the “Well find a way to get there.” lie? The fact is that NO, we’re in cap hell for 2 more years and we won’t be finding a way to get to the finals. The goal is BS because you simply cannot win at today’s level of play with a $14 million dollar arm tied behind your back. Simple as that. Why keep lying to the fans and pretending it’s possible?

I sense a lot of this defensiveness has to do with the nagging question of whether or not it was a smart GM move to buy out TWO big money/term contracts at the same time? Again, people are going to ask the question so why get bitter about it?

Gurin seems to be feeling the heat as much as Deano. Trying to spin another Round One Fail into some kind of success story is just not going to fly, especially given the fact that there is very little to indicate we will be a substantially different team next season.

I think Goose, Dumba, Sundquist, Foligno, Merrill, Reaves, Nyquist, all might be gone.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

You sounded like Denny Green.

LOL I thought the same thing listening to that. He was working himself up with his own self-inflicted aggression and for a second I thought he might say “they are who I thought they were!” to finish.

Nyquist is closer to 3 than 5.

BG regurgitated bs. Chewed his cud bs a bit. Then looked mentally constipated.

Horrible presser imo.

Grouse nailed it.

Multiple sighs in that presser that said way more than the words he spoke.

I can tell you why he snapped on Russo. Cuz Russo has been stirring the pot for the last 3 months with his articles. Basically ragging on the team for the last part of the season.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Listened to as much of the post-season presser as I could stand.

Gurin was nonsensical. Was he even sober? Too many old-school hockey hits to the head?

He repeatedly said that getting past the first round is not the goal. As if he has some other way to get to the finals that does not involve winning the first-round series. WTF Billy? You sounded like Denny Green. So we can talk about the goal, which isn’t the goal…

And then the classic was his rambling about how this was somehow NOT another Round One Fail because we have some new/different players who were not part of the last Round One Fail just last season. So you can’t really call this a repeated Round One Fail, because even though the PK, PP, and vet players’ inability to score all still sucked as bad or worse than they did last year, this sucking was done by some of the players who weren’t here to suck last season. Again, WTF Billy?

Why go all bitter and get combative with Russo for asking what EVERY fan wants to know? As if you didn’t know the question was gonna get asked by somebody. Get past it.

These guys always seem to think they have to spew this sports cliche sh!t all the time. The truth is simple. We got killed on the PK because first, we were in the box way too much for trying to play a heavy game. Then, on the kill we were missing a key player and we were gawdawful on the dot which enabled Dallas to just pull back faceoffs and dish the puck for multiple set play goals.

Also, why keep up the “Well find a way to get there.” lie? The fact is that NO, we’re in cap hell for 2 more years and we won’t be finding a way to get to the finals. The goal is BS because you simply cannot win at today’s level of play with a $14 million dollar arm tied behind your back. Simple as that. Why keep lying to the fans and pretending it’s possible?

I sense a lot of this defensiveness has to do with the nagging question of whether or not it was a smart GM move to buy out TWO big money/term contracts at the same time? Again, people are going to ask the question so why get bitter about it?

Gurin seems to be feeling the heat as much as Deano. Trying to spin another Round One Fail into some kind of success story is just not going to fly, especially given the fact that there is very little to indicate we will be a substantially different team next season.

I get the frustration, but what would you like him to say. Hey we got no chance to win the cup so stop asking about losing in the first round.

If Seattle can get to second round in there second season, don’t see why the wild can not. If Boston can lose in the first round this year no reason why the wild can’t move forward.

If they win the first round and get swept in the 2nd does it change the narrative. Serious question.

If they win the first round and get swept in the 2nd does it change the narrative. Serious question.

It might not change the narrative, but it gets this thread closer to breaking 241 pages from last year.

My point about Rossi at 1C is where else could he play? We have 2C and 3C now locked in for 5+ years potentially… if Rossi is going to be given a legit chance at success where is he going to play? 4C? That’s a complete mismanagement of his skillset and putting him in a role he’s never played before and isnt built for..

If he’s not going to be given a legit shot at 1C, then they might as well just package him in a trade at the draft and see if they can get into the top 10 and start over trying to draft a 1C prospect…

I think we all thought BG worked some pretty serious magic at the deadline. This team was dead in the water before that. Also, I like the culture he has created. Way better team feel than the old Wild ZP and RS crap.

I didn’t see the presser but sounds like it went poorly. But I kind of agree with Rip what do you want him to say? Or do? He was dealt a mess and still working with one arm tied behind his back.

If we want to be mad, and we have the right, be mad at the day we signed ZP and RS that doomed the Wild for a looooooooong time. Still screwing us today.

Gus is way more important than Foligno. And I hope Flower retires.

Ripjiggen wrote:

If they win the first round and get swept in the 2nd does it change the narrative. Serious question.

Yes, it changes the narrative from “another 100+ point season followed by another first-round flameout” to “At least we got out of the first round.” Fans that know something would give credit where credit is due.

Unlike (apparently) Billy Gee, I don’t believe the knowledgeable fans really buy into the idea that the goal is winning the cup because that’s just not realistically achievable right now. I think many of us would consider progressing to round 2 as, well, progress. I don’t think the fan frustration is about losing in R1 as much as it is the belief that we could have and should have won that series had the Wild just showed up and played a game no better/no worse than their regular season game.

As Rip said, what do you expect GMBG to say at the presser? He for the first time publicly acknowledged that the deadcap is a problem they cant try to ignore and its really not fair to expect the coaches and players to overcome it… I thought that was very telling… of course he knows it sucks and it’s basically impossible to complete with $12-$14 million less in player talent, to expect $850k Sam Steel to produce like a $8 million Ruupe Hintz can in absurd… he knows that, but cant do anything about it…

BUT

He’s not going to say that publicly… he’ll say all the right things to project confidence in his team…

lindyrig79 wrote:

Gus is way more important than Foligno. And I hope Flower retires.

he isn’t retiring… he’s 8 wins from passing Patrick Roy…

I’m still kinda surprised Kaprisov disappeared as much as he did. Just a whole lot of disappointment all around.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

he isn’t retiring… he’s 8 wins from passing Patrick Roy…

Great…

lindyrig79 wrote:

I’m still kinda surprised Kaprisov disappeared as much as he did. Just a whole lot of disappointment all around.

I think it was a combo of rust, linemates hurt and being the ONLY focus of Dallas… he didnt overcome any of those… disappointing for sure… i’m also not buying he was healthy (even though he has absolutely denied he was injured in any way) he looked hampered skating games 2-6…

tswoboda wrote:

Add Zuccy and Goose as potential trades to create cap space

forgot about Goose, he has a NMC so it will be upto him to find a team that will take on his $2aav, if the Wild need to retain some then your splitting nickels… What are the rules around just cutting him with his evenly spread out $ contract again?

Nobody is going to touch Zuccy’s aav without the Wild retaining alot… then you need to find a top6 wing with whats left over, not likely…they’ll keep him to keep Kirill happy and hope his nosedive play the last half of the season was injury related. I seriously think he’s Kirill’s only “family” type of relationship he has here in MN (although I heard Kirill’s girlfriend is in MN alot now) as Kirill gets more comfortable living in MN during the season, the less the need will be to keep Zuccy around…maybe he gets a 1-2 year extension after his current deal is up, a year ago I thought it would be a surething, now I think it’s more 60/40 he gets another short deal..

JoeMX1825 wrote:

As Rip said, what do you expect GMBG to say at the presser? He for the first time publicly acknowledged that the deadcap is a problem they cant try to ignore and its really not fair to expect the coaches and players to overcome it… I thought that was very telling… of course he knows it sucks and it’s basically impossible to complete with $12-$14 million less in player talent, to expect $850k Sam Steel to produce like a $8 million Ruupe Hintz can in absurd… he knows that, but cant do anything about it…
BUT

He’s not going to say that publicly… he’ll say all the right things to project confidence in his team…

Bingo. I agree the presser was BS but it’s to be expected with the same results from this duo 4 years in a row. It’s end of year presser BS we go through this every year they lose. Nothing they say in the press conference is going to change next year’s outcome.

it looked like the longer the presser went on and Billy kept giving the “That’s not our goal” answer, the more he realized it didn’t make much sense…

I think that’s partially because he really doesn’t have a good answer… The last 2 years he’s put together really good teams (2 of the top 4 point seasons in Wild history) that played great during the regular season and just went completely south after winning 2 of the first 3 playoff games…How do you really fix that other than trying to put a few more experianced guys around the players already signed for next year, add a few guys at the deadline to plug any holes still in the roster and hope they learn from their past failures…

I agree Rossi shouldn’t be anywhere near the Dewey’s, but also… Penciling Rossi anywhere near the top 6 can’t happen after what he’s done in the NHL. He has 20 games under his belt, that’s a 1/4 season – not anywhere near enough to define him at all but it’s enough to show he wasn’t even close to ready for the NHL. Pt/game AHL blah blah blah yeah so was Nic Petan and Kyle Rau for their entire career.

Some stats… Of the 465 NHL forwards with 200+ minutes this year: Rossi was 464th – 2nd to last – in pts/60. (Greenway 447th, Duhaime 411th, Foligno 366th, My guy Reavo 355th, etc.) Rossi was 455th – 10th to last – in shots/60. I guarantee you no one else in the bottom 20 has the 20+ minutes of PP time Rossi got either.

And it’s not like the stats don’t match the eye test – he did nothing out there. He wasn’t getting robbed, hitting posts, setting guys up who couldn’t finish. No he was just… there. I don’t care who he plays with, he was the dead weight. We can’t complain about linemates or role when that’s what he’s doing with the minutes he’s given.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

My point about Rossi at 1C is where else could he play? We have 2C and 3C now locked in for 5+ years potentially… if Rossi is going to be given a legit chance at success where is he going to play? 4C?

Wing. Play him at wing. Ya’ll watched Mikael Granlund’s career in MN, right? Was an under-sized, OK not great skating, life-long center, with great puck skills, vision, and playmaking ability. Spent 4(??) years jammed into the top-6 center spot because “we never had a legit 1C” and he was the promised one but at center he was basically Freddy Gaudreau. Moved him to wing and he was instantly the catalyst of the offense most dynamic player on the team (not saying much at the time) and top producer of offense/chances. Bruce called Granlund “their best player” his entire time here – all while he was at Wing.

Doesn’t have to be a career long thing, just saying if there’s not room at C with good linemates then try him on the Wing. Worst case ontario they move him back to C.

I suppose I should feel better about the Wild losing if Dallas advances. But I am sick of playing that game.

Go Kraken!!

lindyrig79 wrote:

I suppose I should feel better about the Wild losing if Dallas advances. But I am sick of playing that game.

Go Kraken!!

if the Kraken win, the Wild move up a spot in the draft, Go Kraken!

tswoboda wrote:

I agree Rossi shouldn’t be anywhere near the Dewey’s, but also… Penciling Rossi anywhere near the top 6 can’t happen after what he’s done in the NHL. He has 20 games under his belt, that’s a 1/4 season – not anywhere near enough to define him at all but it’s enough to show he wasn’t even close to ready for the NHL. Pt/game AHL blah blah blah yeah so was Nic Petan and Kyle Rau for their entire career.

Some stats… Of the 465 NHL forwards with 200+ minutes this year: Rossi was 464th – 2nd to last – in pts/60. (Greenway 447th, Duhaime 411th, Foligno 366th, My guy Reavo 355th, etc.) Rossi was 455th – 10th to last – in shots/60. I guarantee you no one else in the bottom 20 has the 20+ minutes of PP time Rossi got either.

And it’s not like the stats don’t match the eye test – he did nothing out there. He wasn’t getting robbed, hitting posts, setting guys up who couldn’t finish. No he was just… there. I don’t care who he plays with, he was the dead weight. We can’t complain about linemates or role when that’s what he’s doing with the minutes he’s given.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
My point about Rossi at 1C is where else could he play? We have 2C and 3C now locked in for 5+ years potentially… if Rossi is going to be given a legit chance at success where is he going to play? 4C?

Wing. Play him at wing. Ya’ll watched Mikael Granlund’s career in MN, right? Was an under-sized, OK not great skating, life-long center, with great puck skills, vision, and playmaking ability. Spent 4(??) years jammed into the top-6 center spot because “we never had a legit 1C” and he was the promised one but at center he was basically Freddy Gaudreau. Moved him to wing and he was instantly the catalyst of the offense most dynamic player on the team (not saying much at the time) and top producer of offense/chances. Bruce called Granlund “their best player” his entire time here – all while he was at Wing.

Doesn’t have to be a career long thing, just saying if there’s not room at C with good linemates then try him on the Wing. Worst case ontario they move him back to C.

and yet I don’t believe he played a minute at wing in his 2 seasons in Iowa? You’d think they would have tried that in 2 years no? I agree playing wing an easy solution alot of young centers go through (those are mostly due to defensive issues though, something GMBG and Deano never said was an issue with Marco) but they seem dead set at him playing center…

Lastly, in the 18 NHL games he got to start the season (which was a nightmare start for the entire team besides Kirill) how many of those games did he play top 6? (I’m asking because I don’t know the answer or remember who he mostly played with) how many of those 18 games did he get less than 10 minutes of icetime? I believe 1 game he had less than 2 minutes didnt he? I’m just saying he was never given much of a chance to succeed or push through rookie growing pains… I know he has a proven track record, but how many games was Hartman given to claw his way out of his funk this season? 20-25 games? Did Rossi’s 18 game linemates suddenly light it up scoring after Marco went to Iowa? Didnt Boldy only have a handful of even strength goals all season until Jojo got here?

We’re past the point of needing to earn anything bs… we need to find some f’ing solutions to get the kid going or he could turn into another wasted top 10 pick…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

and yet I don’t believe he played a minute at wing in his 2 seasons in Iowa? You’d think they would have tried that in 2 years no?

Neither did Granlund.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

We’re past the point of needing to earn anything bs… we need to find some f’ing solutions to get the kid going or he could turn into another wasted top 10 pick…

LOL he’s young and has plenty of time to get better… there’s no expiration date on him, relax. All I did was put some context on how terrible he’s been in his NHL games.

This is what I expected Pavelski would do against us (deflecting everything)… Dumba likely kept the series closer taking him out…

And Seattle wins in ot, even with Pav getting 4.

We need Ek to develop Pavelski’s tip skills… its kind of a lost art…

Has anyone seen Robertson in the playoffs? He apparently had 7 points against the Wild so it’s tough to say he was bad but I do not remember him actually playing.

tswoboda wrote:

Has anyone seen Robertson in the playoffs? He apparently had 7 points against the Wild so it’s tough to say he was bad but I do not remember him actually playing.

Listened to the Dallas/Kraken game on the radio last night and maybe heard his name twice. In the wild series still can’t believe he got 7 points, he seemed nonexistent.