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

I hate the NHL review process so much. That was a 10 minute delay in the game for nothing.

Yep slows the game down so much ridiculous

Ovechkin might score his last 100 goals all as ENGs

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
It has to be sooner than later if he is going to practice with the team and not just skating like he has been.

I hope so but it could just be a conditioning thing. Guys skate with a red jersey for a long time before coming back.

Either way I’ll take it. Ramping up regardless. He has been skating already.

Really curious to see what Sami Walker looks like tonight… hoping to see some sort of energy out of that 2nd line, they’ve been on life support the last month or so.

Its amazing how few shots our Defense get on net, I swear 9 out of 10 times they just dump it down in a corner or rim it around the net…

Shaw and Dewar have been buzzing for a couple weeks. Would love to see Boldy with them, if nothing else get some energy back in his 5v5 game.

Does Reavo finally fight tonight? It’s HNIC

tswoboda wrote:

Shaw and Dewar have been buzzing for a couple weeks. Would love to see Boldy with them, if nothing else get some energy back in his 5v5 game.

Does Reavo finally fight tonight? It’s HNIC

I agree with this

Is Walker the kid that played at the U?

Yeah they signed him this summer as a FA after 4 years with the Gophers

Almost scored off a rush in the 2nd

Now a breakaway in the 3rd just missed high. Rest of his game has been pretty uneventful or unnoticeable, that’s probably a good thing.

tswoboda wrote:

Shaw and Dewar have been buzzing for a couple weeks. Would love to see Boldy with them, if nothing else get some energy back in his 5v5 game.

Does Reavo finally fight tonight? It’s HNIC

What do you mean he has 3 assists and is a plus whatever. He’s an offensive threat now not a fighter.

Dewar’s Rolston impersonation was awesome.

I have to admit, Boesser was pretty unnoticeable last night…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I have to admit, Boesser was pretty unnoticeable last night…

Could say that about the entire Vancouver team. When you get shutout by a career back up goal tender at home that’s a bad night. These are the exact kind of games the Wild are going to have to keep winning to stay in the mix.

Walker looked good for a kid who only had a morning skate with new linemates… I hope he gets a 4-5 game trial run to see if he can develop some chemistry…

tswoboda wrote:

Speaking of the great one – today I learned he rattled off a 51 game point streak while averaging THREE POINTS PER GAME!!! What a mutant.

There are a couple of things when it comes to Gretzky that I don’t think can be fully appreciated by the fan who wasn’t there during his playing career.

First of all, having seen him play full games live and of course many times on TV, I can’t find any way that accurately communicates just how much BETTER he was compared to other players at the time. He wasn’t a little better, he wasn’t somewhat better, he was way, way, way better than anything we’d ever seen. He was on another level that was so much higher than any other player, it was like he was dropped off from another planet. You can’t appreciate that looking at stats, IMO you had to SEE what he did game after game after game.

We watched Gretzky back in his day with a sense that in every game he wasn’t just going to score. Yeah, that part became so ho-hum it wasn’t even talked about after his rookie season. No, he was going to do something un-freaking-believable in every game. He was going to skate into the middle of 4 opposing players and dangle it around them like they were wearing lead skates and there was just nothing they could do to even touch him. Every game was like that, there was just this “holy sh!t” factor of Gretzky doing his thing at a level that was so far above what had come before.

The next thing that can’t be fully appreciated by today’s fan is Wayne did everything he did with a wooden stick. We now have at least a full generation of players or more who have never, ever played a single period with anything but carbon sticks. Yeah, there might be some who have held or shot a little with a wooden stick, played in a wood stick league, whatever, but the vast majority of players and fans out there have no real clue what it was like and the only way to really compare Gretzky to another player is now impossible because no pro is ever going to play again with a wooden stick. There’s no way I can communicate the differences between wood and carbon sticks and how much carbon changed things.

Every player can only play in his era, so it is not possible to compare Gretz to another player in a different era, but IMO the context that he played in within his own era is key to understanding why regardless of the stats, he’ll always be The Great One.

In addition, in the era of Bobby Hull, Gordy Howe, Bobby Orr he was known as the GREAT ONE. You can debate it in every other sport but for me it’s clear cut in hockey.

Not to mention Gretzky played his entire career when the two line pass rule existed. Can you imagine what his numbers would be if he could play without that rule. I remember in a interview he commented that he would have loved to have played without that rule. The sport really started to change post Gretzky in a effort to produce more offense. That’s how much offense and excitement Gretzky created without him they had to change the rules to try to bring in some of the excitement lost.

Much of the tight defense that evolved also came about because of Gretzky. Teams had to figure out how to neutralize him. If they could neutralize Gretzky they could neutralize everyone.

I beleive team Canada announces their WJC team today and Wild 6’2″ 200lbs Center Prospect/3rd round draft pick from a few years ago (Cadian Bankier) has a really good shot to make the team! If he were to make the team, that’s a HUGE statement in his development as Team Canada is typically a roster full of high 1st round picks the past 1-2 drafts..

The fact he is even their is huge on his development. Good article on him in Athletic.

Bankier picked up an assist already. It was because of a shot that led to a rebound, but starting out good for the kid.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Bankier picked up an assist already. It was because of a shot that led to a rebound, but starting out good for the kid.

2 assists now!

Rossi is nearly a point per game player since being sent down. That is encouraging.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Rossi is nearly a point per game player since being sent down. That is encouraging.

The only thing a little worrisome is that I think 1/2 of his points came in period 1 of his first game… His linemates have been juggled alot so that is likely a little factor as well…

Bankier made the team. That is a heckuva story!

CaptainMusky wrote:

Bankier made the team. That is a heckuva story!

yep! Lambos got cut though….

According to Lebrun…Sounding like Bo Horvat rejected his offer and is going to be the prized trade target for someone at the deadline.
Hindsight is one thing but if wild fans think losing Fiala was bad. Being a Vancouver fan has to be horrible.

So they extended Miller and Boeser last summer on contracts they can’t give away and now they lose their captain and only forward that plays defense.

I still won’t believe he’s gone until it actually happens, just like Hertl last year. Top-6 centers in their 20s just don’t get traded or walked to free agency.

tswoboda wrote:

Top-6 centers in their 20s just don’t get traded or walked to free agency.

Well except for Ryan Hartman

tswoboda wrote:

So they extended Miller and Boeser last summer on contracts they can’t give away and now they lose their captain and only forward that plays defense.

I still won’t believe he’s gone until it actually happens, just like Hertl last year. Top-6 centers in their 20s just don’t get traded or walked to free agency.

Yeah not sure what they are doing up there. Dont think they really know either. Bruce is just a sitting duck in the middle.