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

I dont think BillyG and Talbot’s agent will be sending each other Christmas cards anymore… lol

Talbot trying to get himself traded…

I don’t have a problem with how BG is running the team. Far better than past Wild teams. I like how he isn’t afraid to make bold decisions. Starting with dumping ZP and RS.

The goal is to win a Cup. Not be mediocre.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
I stated if Cam falters I wouldn’t have much confidence to throw in a random backup goalie. They had one goalie under contract. They needed another goalie.

Slight confusion then. I do agree with this part and that is now I how I read it. As far as the goalie making a difference, we don’t know. It may have. They hung him out to dry for most of the series and then tossed him into the fire for game 6 on the road which was virtually an impossible position for him.

What is the goal here with the goal tending situation? Have Fleury be the starter and Talbot be the backup or just split games down the middle all season and make a random decision come playoff time?

Talbot is FA after this year. Would you sign him longer for more money. I would not.
Hate to break it to you but goalies don’t play 82 games anymore. Most clubs also don’t stick with a goalie long term outside of a few. AVs just won the cup with a goalie they had for one year. Don’t forget their back up won six games as well in the playoffs.
Only 5 goalies played 60 games last year and how did that work out for Saros and Nashville.
So yes rotating goalies is exactly the plan. It wasn’t a random decision either. You may feel that way but I assure you they don’t. Would you rather have 2 good not great goalies or 1 good and 1 terrible going into the season.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I dont think BillyG and Talbot’s agent will be sending each other Christmas cards anymore… lol

Talbot trying to get himself traded…

He’s only worried about Cams next and last contract. Which most likely won’t be 1A money or with the Wild.

Guerin: “I don’t have poop to do. Cam Talbot’s under contract. George can say whatever the hell he wants. My team’s set right now, and that’s the way it goes. We can have all the discussions we want. Cam’s a member of our team. We really like Cam. All we’re trying to do is win”

It’s not the mechanics of contracts and who is going to be a free agent after next year or who or who doesn’t have a right to be butt hurt it’s BG’s approach. He got rid of the locker room problems and now he just created another one unnecessarily. BG is no nonsense hard headed stubborn etc but that don’t always work in every situation sometimes you need to finesse things a bit to keep everyone in harmony.

Anyone heard from Kaprizov yet?

Ice Cap wrote:

It’s not the mechanics of contracts and who is going to be a free agent after next year or who or who doesn’t have a right to be butt hurt it’s BG’s approach. He got rid of the locker room problems and now he just created another one unnecessarily. BG is no nonsense hard headed stubborn etc but that don’t always work in every situation sometimes you need to finesse things a bit to keep everyone in harmony.

Anyone heard from Kaprizov yet?

Reports are saying he tried at least once to get out of the motherland and they blocked him. Not good.

Russo is reporting he tried twice. Second time through the Caribbean Or something and was blocked again. Makes me wonder why is he trying to come back now he just got back there. You’d think he’d spend the entire off season with his family. What’s here for him?

Ice Cap wrote:

It’s not the mechanics of contracts and who is going to be a free agent after next year or who or who doesn’t have a right to be butt hurt it’s BG’s approach. He got rid of the locker room problems and now he just created another one unnecessarily. BG is no nonsense hard headed stubborn etc but that don’t always work in every situation sometimes you need to finesse things a bit to keep everyone in harmony.

Anyone heard from Kaprizov yet?

What controversy? And you know there is one in the locker now how?

BGs comments have been targeting a more even split. They’re both older goalies so riding either for 50 or 60 games is not the greatest idea. Talbot’s agent seems to think Cam has some sort of leverage here by saying BG has “he has some things to think about”. BS. Cam is under contract. The team is better off in net going into this season vs last year and I had high hopes for Kahkonnen.

CaptainMusky wrote:

BGs comments have been targeting a more even split. They’re both older goalies so riding either for 50 or 60 games is not the greatest idea. Talbot’s agent seems to think Cam has some sort of leverage here by saying BG has “he has some things to think about”. BS. Cam is under contract. The team is better off in net going into this season vs last year and I had high hopes for Kahkonnen.

yep, its just agent talk, they have ZERO leverage and he’s in a contract year, he’s obviously not going to be re-signed by the Wild so this season is his audition for another team… Cam won’t last past the trade deadline when they’d roll with Flower fulltime anyways…

Talbot tried to put on the good face at the end of last season when he got kicked to the curb for BG’s bud flower. So signing Fluery now for more money than Talbot is currently making and then go to Talbot after the fact and basically saying there’s no number one here but if there was it wouldn’t be you yeah I can see where that causes some friction. But as BG says he don’t have to do $hit.
Real people kind of guy.

Sorry but if you’re a general manager of a professional hockey club you best be able to know how to deal with personalities and people. Athletes are competitive, arrogant and yes have feelings. You best know how to deal with all of that. The ones you like as well as the ones you maybe don’t like as much. My observations so far is he is pretty pi$$ poor at it. I’m not trying to change anyone’s perspective here as I know I won’t I just like observing human nature.

I’m giving BG the slack of knowing he is probably on the verge of a nervous breakdown of the possibility of KK not coming back.

Ice Cap wrote:

Real people kind of guy.

Sorry but if you’re a general manager of a professional hockey club you best be able to know how to deal with personalities and people.

BG is one of a few GMs who actually played the game at the highest level. Won at the highest level, been traded multiple times he knows what it’s like. These guys are professionals and know it’s part of the game and if they didn’t well that’s on them. Their job is to perform and win. His job is to put the best team on the ice year in and year out and not coddle some mid thirty-something professional athlete because his feeling may have been hurt. Tough. It’s a business. He’s under contract and will play. A lot of games provided he is any good. I like Cam and I expect him to be a professional. What we’re hearing is a PO’d agent who sees dollars flowing out of the window for him.

Can 3 years 11 million.

Flower 2 at 7 million.

So technically not more money…
I don’t think Cam necessarily gets traded at the deadline, but we shall see.
So he should have signed a lesser backup so Cam feels nice and cozy?
That’s the Vikings approach not the Wilds.

As I see it the problem isn’t so much Fluery as it is the 3.5 million spent on 1 guy instead of 3 guys.
Right now the Wild have very little cap space left with more positions that need to be filled.

Pretty sure they know that and have a plan for that. Trading Kulikov makes the most sense to me.

Yes I am sure they do have a plan. However plans don’t always work out and it would have been much easier with a cheaper backup goalie.

Last year the team chemistry was far better than the past 5 plus years, easy. You could see it, and players on the team publicly admitted it. But BG doesn’t have “people skills”???

I doubt Chicago would have wanted to trade within the division, but if they did, would you have offered the 19th and 47th picks for Kirby Dach? His RFA bridge deal AAV value obviously would be a big factor as well..

How about this reckless speculation scenario:

Kaprizov is “forced” to spend a year in Russia and misses the 2022/2023 season, the Wild tanks because of no scoring and picks in the top 3 of the 2023 NHL draft and gets one of the big 3 generational talents (Bedard/Michkov/Fantilli)

Kaprizov comes back in 2023/2024 motivated to prove he’s the same player and is maybe more inclined to sign back with the Wild when his deal is up to get the max 8 year deal…

i’m bored and it’s a Monday morning post with no new info to work with….

looks like Kuemper might be more available than initially thought considering the Av’s just signed Georgiev @ $3.4M AAV and sounds like he is expected to be the starter

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

looks like Kuemper might be more available than initially thought considering the Av’s just signed Georgiev @ $3.4M AAV and sounds like he is expected to be the starter

He’s already been told he will not be resigned, he’s a FA

Kuemper to the Caps seems like the most probably landing spot for him.
Anyone taking in any of the prospect camp/scrimmages? We did a few years ago and it was fun. A lot of numbers you will never see in the NHL.

Is there anything more obvious than the Blackhawks tanking for Bedard this season…good lord…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Is there anything more obvious than the Blackhawks tanking for Bedard this season…good lord…

Yeah, I cannot seem to make any sense out of it either. I will be surprised if Kane and Toews dont ask to be traded. I have been out of the loop for the last week since I was melting in Houston, so perhaps they already have LOL.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Is there anything more obvious than the Blackhawks tanking for Bedard this season…good lord…

Yeah, I cannot seem to make any sense out of it either. I will be surprised if Kane and Toews dont ask to be traded. I have been out of the loop for the last week since I was melting in Houston, so perhaps they already have LOL.

My guess is they will be deadline trade chips as their huge salary ($10.5aav) will be a fraction of what it is during the season…only other way some team’s could afford them would be if the Blackhawks ate 50% of it (which they totally would)

JoeMX1825 wrote:

My guess is they will be deadline trade chips as their huge salary ($10.5aav) will be a fraction of what it is during the season…only other way some team’s could afford them would be if the Blackhawks ate 50% of it (which they totally would)

That would certainly make sense at the deadline. There was a lot of offseason chatter about Kane finishing his career in his hometown of Buffalo. That team is on the rise, the Hawks are going to be several years out.

I was able to watch some of the draft last week and from what it looks like we did very well after first reaction to the selections based on the experts. It was pretty crafty to pick the Swede ahead of the Russian in the hopes he was still there at 21. Lets hope we arent waiting 5 years to get a good look at him.
Getting more nervous about the Kaprizov situation. I wonder why he didnt just say he was visiting for vacation. He should be able to do that correct? The whole Work Visa thing is sort of a joke for professional athletes. What if they want to work out here with trainers year round?

They’ve ranked the NHL Teams based on their Salary Cap situation and the Wild are not last. Vegas is #32 which comes as no surprise. Will be interesting to see how that transpires.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Getting more nervous about the Kaprizov situation. I wonder why he didnt just say he was visiting for vacation. He should be able to do that correct? The whole Work Visa thing is sort of a joke for professional athletes. What if they want to work out here with trainers year round?

Not sure on the particulars how a work visa works. Seems to me if everything was hunky dory with KK over in Russia he would have reached out to BG or his agent by now to say so. Not hearing from him would indicate things are not all as they should be. Trying to enter the country twice in two different ways gives the look of someone fleeing. As I said earlier why’s he trying to come back now anyhow I would think he’d want to spend the entire off season with family and friends which was the point in going back in the first place.

If Kaprizov is not here for this season I doubt we see him in a Wild jersey again.

Ice Cap wrote:

As I said earlier why’s he trying to come back now anyhow I would think he’d want to spend the entire off season with family and friends which was the point in going back in the first place.

Well development camp started this week, so it wouldnt be out of the realm of possibilities that he wanted to get back here to begin training with teammates since many live here in the offseason. Of course the situation in Russia is influencing it since his former teammate and buddy was arrested and sent to Siberia or Lord knows where. The situation with Kaprizov appears to be different since he was a model citizen in Putin’s eyes throughout his Russian career days. If they wanted to arrest him he would be in custody already I would guess.