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

I do not want to see Shaw or Dewer in press box at all. Too valuable to the PK and always bring their game. Literally the only 2 guys that never seem to have an off night or not giving it there all.

To the comment about Reavo protecting Moose from fighting. Moose has more fights than Reavo since Reavo was acquired. How many scraps has Reavo had? So kind of a silly statement IMO.

Steel is 5th on the team in scoring. With the highest scoring percentage on the team for shots. So until there is a better option I am fine with him there. At least he can finish a bit.
Would like to know how many games he has been 1C to see his true stats there.

I have no problem with Steel on that top line even if/when Hartman comes back. I havent heard much about his return, but at least he is skating so he can work on conditioning. Much of what I had seen speculated he would be out most if not all of the regular season so I dont think we can count on him back anytime soon.
I agree with Dewar and Shaw. They are the energy line and bring it every single night and contribute consistently. Dewey2 almost had a shorthanded goal again. He has what 3 already this year?

Hartman has been skating basically since he was injured. The fact he is going to start practicing leads me to believe he is going to do more than skate. Shoot stick handle pass a bit.
I can not imagine if he is going to start practicing he is going to be out the regular season. Why bother practicing at this point if you are out that long? They would just shut him down until at least the all star break if that was the case.

I agree that his time table is still very much uncertain at this point.

Well we all speculate at what his injury is and you can certainly practice, but there is zero chance they would allow any contact. That is likely why he could potentially be out the regular season is my guess.

Yeah I guess I haven’t seen any speculation he would be out for the season. The fact he is practicing means he is progressing at least.

Definitely not saying he will be in the lineup in a week either.

It’s his shoulder and he’s trying to come back without surgery but might actually need surgery. Right? I swear I heard or read that somewhere.

And Duhaime is a concussion?

That’s what I have seen.

tswoboda wrote:

It’s his shoulder and he’s trying to come back without surgery but might actually need surgery. Right? I swear I heard or read that somewhere.

Russo has written about it multiple times and even BG was quoted “we hope to get him back during the regular season”. The quote was from a few weeks ago, so maybe its coming along better than initially thought.

Liam Ohgren with a hat trick today, he’ll be fun to watch at the WJC for Sweden… he’s been in fire in the Swedish Elite League as an 18 year old, another possible gem pick by Judd and company!

CaptainMusky wrote:

I have no problem with Steel on that top line even if/when Hartman comes back. I havent heard much about his return, but at least he is skating so he can work on conditioning. Much of what I had seen speculated he would be out most if not all of the regular season so I dont think we can count on him back anytime soon.

The problem with Steele isn’t his goal scoring. It’s his inability to win faceoffs. Once we have the puck he’s fine, but if we have to start in the faceoff circle, he’s a complete waste of Zuccy and Kaprizov’s energy, because they spend 75 % of their shift energy chasing the puck trying to get the puck possession back. We need a 1C that can win faceoffs. We have 2 scorers already on that line. If we have a center that can win faceoffs, chances are he’ll be a scorer as well. That will only increase the scoring chances for 97 & 36 because they won’t be chasing the puck in the defensive zone. They’ll be creating in the offensive zone.

We made it aways into the season without faceoff talk. But WOW, I’m biting my tongue hard on this one.

Steel is 50% on draws

Yeah 50% is serviceable. Ek has really improved his faceoffs too.

Lol faceoffs. 50 percent is more than serviceable. Hartman was 43 percent last year. Sometimes I wonder if people actually watch these games or just read comments on twitter.

They didn’t keep that stat during Wayne’s days but kept it the last five years of Mario’s. You want to know what arguably the greatest center of all time FO percentage was? 49.2
Stamkos hoisting cups 49.8
Mckinnon hoisting a cup 46.2
McJesus 46.6

You know who is second all time in that stat. Zenon Koenopka
Nothing says 1st line center like Zenon.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Sometimes I wonder if people actually watch these games or just read comments on twitter.

I’ll be the first one do admit this. I do not watch all of the games. I just don’t have the time for it.

I don’t get my information from twitter though. I get it from looking at box scores and watching highlights. I figure that’s the best I can get, other than watching the actual game from beginning to end.

Today Gary Bettman announced the players still owe $70 million in escrow, so the cap is likely only going up $1 million next year

BUT

The NHLPA could propose a deal with the league to spread the projected 10+ million total in cap increases more evenly over the next 3-4 years vs $1 next year, then $4 the following year and $5 the year after that…

We’ll see…

Pretty impressive how every fan base is convinced the Salary Cap going up helps their team. What it really means is higher ticket prices and more ads on jerseys.

Steel has been either hot or cold on faceoffs, one game he’ll go 10/13 the next he’ll go 2/13…

My biggest issue with him is he’s not generating any offense, I think he has 1 f’ing assist 5-5 in all the games he’s played with Kirill & Zuccy sofar, that’s just not even close to acceptable for a 1st line guy playing with a league top 5 offensive player… that’s why it makes ZERO sense to not even try Rossi with them, it couldn’t get any worse…

It’s all relative isn’t it. Just means that salaries increase even for the 4th liners.

Rossi is not even on the team so…

Aside from where they were drafted, why does Rossi deserve a shot at 1C over Dewar or Shaw?

Ripjiggen wrote:

Rossi is not even on the team so…

I meant during the musical chairs they played when he was….

It could get plenty worse with Rossi on the top line. Joe it seems that you like to ignore how bad he looked his first time up. Playing on the first line wouldn’t have helped him hang on to the puck, wouldn’t have helped him getting knocked off the puck, or losing every puck battle along the wall. He needs to improve still. Whether you believe it or not the coaches and BG have said EVERYBODY has to earn the right to play. Rossi didn’t earn playing with the top line. Steel has and has done just fine there. If Rossi can keep scoring in the minors and look like he belongs the next time he gets called up, he might get to play with them.

Right now though, I’m not sure he’s got a spot if he does get called up.

.

He didn’t do anything on the 2nd 3rd or 4th line. So just put him on the first after showing he wasn’t ready for lower line duty? I don’t understand that philosophy.

To me nobody deserves that role more than EK honestly. But since Greenway and Foligno look lost without him they will ride and die with that line.

tswoboda wrote:

Aside from where they were drafted, why does Rossi deserve a shot at 1C over Dewar or Shaw?

Why did Steel? Because he had one good game with a late tying goal and an assist in OT? Did that “earn it” ??

Rossi led the league in preseason scoring, so he proved he had the skillset to hang with NHLers (Dont give me the “Jost had X amount of preseason points too” jargon) i’m just saying he deserved the same look a guy who the Ducks didnt want and let go got…

Its funny for all the preseason talk by GMBG and the coaching staff about how they would protect Rossi and put him in lineup spots where he could be successful playing with other offensive players, they surely went off the rails and overreacted after the dreadful team start and likely set his development back a bit…

Ripjiggen wrote:

He didn’t do anything on the 2nd 3rd or 4th line. So just put him on the first after showing he wasn’t ready for lower line duty? I don’t understand that philosophy.

To me nobody deserves that role more than EK honestly. But since Greenway and Foligno look lost without him they will ride and die with that line.

i’d love to hear what Steel and Gaudreau did. How much time did Rossi get with Boldy? They had a player who’s played top line his entire life play as a 4th line grinder…even after they spent all preseason talking about how they wouldnt do that and Marco wouldnt be successful if they did…

and again, i’m just arguing he should have been given a few games as a look, what if he f’ing took off on that line and the rest is history? What the heck would it have hurt to try?

Joe Marco has 1 goal in 7 games in the AHL. The AHL Joe. He isn’t producing on the 1st line in the minors.

Hell steel had more goals in his half season in the AHL than Rossi has in over a season.

Seems we’ve flipped opinions on how to handle Rossi since his rocky start to the season. Just to be clear, you wanted him to start on the 4th line, and now after 16 games of nothing he should elevated to the 1st line??

Yeah, I didnt think he should be crowned 1C on opening night! After Hartman’s terrible start and injury they tried Gaudreau and he did nothing, then Steel and he’s done basically nothing, why not try something new with a kid who has worlds of potential??

You’re arguing like I want to replace Nicklas Backstrom with a rookie!?! It’s Sam F’ing Steel! So you’re good with our 1st line scoring an even strength goal like once every 4 games? Lol good lord!

And regarding Marco’s 1 goal in 7 Iowa games, look who he’s playing with… Camarrosa and Fogerty most nights…i’m sure he gets lots of great setups by those career AHL grinders… that team has no offensive talent at all left after injury call-ups.

GMBG and the coaching staff talked about it all offseason and preseason, Marco needs to play with other top6 offensive minded players to be successful, if he isn’t playing in the top6, its not his game. Those were their exact words! I’m fine with him staying in Iowa if that’s the case, but he wasnt given a shot to succeed.

I’m sure starting the season giving up like 30 goals in 5 games caused some panic decisions and change of plans…maybe they told him that before they sent him down, nobody knows…