2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

Some of you may have seen this from today already.

This is just camp so who knows what the starting lines may look like but it sure seems they want to see how deep a hole Fiala can crawl out of.

Tony Abbott is on drugs. Talk about a completely pointless article.
There’s no chance he wasn’t getting a NTC. It’s the going rate on big money contracts. Of the 38 contracts over $8m AAV… 36 have an NTC… 32 of them are full NTC. What a waste of 3 minutes that was.

Wouldnt say that Ice cap. Seams like more of a first practice seniority thing and making the young guys crawl up the lineup than anything.
Didn’t read the article but figured it was something pointless bashing the contract.

Somebody give Fiala a hug. Dude gets put in a group with Victor Rask and a bunch a AHLers. Then the media was absolutely brutal on him. All they would ask him about was his contract, after he clearly said he didn’t want to talk about his contract. Then also asking if he actuality liked being in Minnesota and if he saw a future here.

Why do I get the feeling he’s getting ran outta town in the next 2 years? He was the savior of the franchise like 14 months ago….

tswoboda wrote:

Somebody give Fiala a hug. Dude gets put in a group with Victor Rask and a bunch a AHLers. Then the media was absolutely brutal on him. All they would ask him about was his contract, after he clearly said he didn’t want to talk about his contract. Then also asking if he actuality liked being in Minnesota and if he saw a future here.

Why do I get the feeling he’s getting ran outta town in the next 2 years? He was the savior of the franchise like 14 months ago….

I agree completely. Reading Russo’s article on the Athletic Fiala was pretty ambivalent about the contract negotiations. All he said was how motivated he was for this season and he has fire in his eyes he’s so motivated to start the season. He wants to improve his game defensively without giving up too much on the offensive side of things. I think sometimes you just let goal scorers be goal scorers and let the defense handle the defense.

IMO he wants to have a monster year so he can shove it up BG’s arse. If he does he will get offers elsewhere the Wild just aren’t going to be able to match. And I’ll say good for him.

No doubt about Fiala. It’s unfortunate that his future is probably not in MN. All he has done is lead the team in goals and points since he has come here.

I just don’t think they trust him fixing the warts in his game for the price he’s likely to command with the capspace issues they have the next 3 years…

A great season “could” fix all of that, so we’ll see…

In terms of him getting asked the questions, he knew they were coming, it’s a sensationalized media world we live in, why focus on the positives when you can continue to poke the bear with the hope of a blow up that gets the paper/website/reporter a ton of attention…

These guys all get “Media” training, so they know what to expect and that’s why you always hear same the cliched answers, they are straight from the “How to deal with the Media” instruction manual…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

In terms of him getting asked the questions, he knew they were coming, it’s a sensationalized media world we live in, why focus on the positives when you can continue to poke the bear with the hope of a blow up that gets the paper/website/reporter a ton of attention…

Fair enough. The media threw softballs at all the other guys and were laughing and joking with them. Then Fiala steps up with a big smile on his face and they’re like, “Why does Dad love Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek more than you?”

For a team that was absolutely starving for a goal scorer which Fiala gave them I’d think they’d be able to overlook some defensive warts now and again. They do it with Dumba all the time.

I’d like to see him put up more points than KK this year and I’m guessing that might be a large part of his motivation.

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
In terms of him getting asked the questions, he knew they were coming, it’s a sensationalized media world we live in, why focus on the positives when you can continue to poke the bear with the hope of a blow up that gets the paper/website/reporter a ton of attention…

Fair enough. The media threw softballs at all the other guys and were laughing and joking with them. Then Fiala steps up with a big smile on his face and they’re like, “Why does Dad love Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek more than you?”

There’s really nothing else to talk about with this team other than Kaprizov & Ek got paid and Fiala didn’t… Ek’s a boring interview and Kaprizov doesnt talk to the media, that just leaves poor Kevin…
Some of the blame falls on Kevin and his agent though…if he would have asked for a realistic offer like Ek did, he probably would have been signed longer term…

Kevin will get the chance to prove himself this year..it will be interesting if GMBG talks extension with him soon if he takes off this season and will the Fiala camp even listen or simply say “see you at arbitration”

Rask at wing? I wonder how long that will last. Excited to see Ek with Kaprizov and Zucc and please get Boldy and Rossi with Fiala just to try it. Hearing encouraging things about Duhaime. Hes got some size and physical.
Appears that Kovanov will be reporting to Iowa on Oct 3rd so he must have his Visa thing mostly sorted out.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Rask at wing? I wonder how long that will last. Excited to see Ek with Kaprizov and Zucc and please get Boldy and Rossi with Fiala just to try it. Hearing encouraging things about Duhaime. Hes got some size and physical.
Appears that Kovanov will be reporting to Iowa on Oct 3rd so he must have his Visa thing mostly sorted out.

perhaps seeing if he would have a spot to play if they keep Rossi up?

Yeah don’t see how Rask fits into the fold unless there are injuries.
If Boldy doesn’t start opposite of Fiala I would be shocked. Don’t see Rask as a 4th line wing option then.
Ek Gaudreau Hartman and Sturm should be starting centers until Rossi is ready.

I read today that Staal wants to still play and his main target would be MN. I don’t think hes got much left and wouldn’t be an upgrade over what we have now. Just thought that was interesting considering I’m sure he was pissed he got traded.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I read today that Staal wants to still play and his main target would be MN. I don’t think hes got much left and wouldn’t be an upgrade over what we have now.

His faceoff percentage would sure be an upgrade. Gawd we were miserable on the dot last year.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
I read today that Staal wants to still play and his main target would be MN. I don’t think hes got much left and wouldn’t be an upgrade over what we have now.

His faceoff percentage would sure be an upgrade. Gawd we were miserable on the dot last year.

Miss Koivu yet? I always rolled my eyes when the only thing the media could say was how good Koivu was in the face off circle. After he left it really showed. Or maybe it just highlighted how bad everyone else was.

Marat doing Marat things again. Stole the puck in O zone burned toward net and sniped one short side.

Miss Koivu yet? I always rolled my eyes when the only thing the media could say was how good Koivu was in the face off circle. After he left it really showed. Or maybe it just highlighted how bad everyone else was.

Nope…

I like the Foligno (obvious choice) and Dumba (probably not expected due to his contract) picks for alternate captains. Good vocal leaders to compliment Spurgeon’s quiet leadership. Interesting how both guys mentioned in their speeches about changing the culture and being a more inclusive to all age groups (rookies and vets). Sure sounded like the current players wanted a change from the previous leadership….

I wasn’t expecting dumba just because of his uncertain future in Minnesota. But we know Billy G loves the guy for his character and he’s loved by teammates, so he’s definitely deserving. I guess worst case scenario is he does leave in a year or 2 and then they pick a new A. Not a big deal at all.

Maybe giving him the A gets attention and raises his draft stock. Or maybe it gets him to take a cheap 2 year extension. Probably not to both of those, but I can dream.

Not a good game last night for Boldy/Rossi. I believe they were -3 and -2 perhaps worse. It did seem that the Blues played more of their regular players and Neal who is on a PTO had a hat trick.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Not a good game last night for Boldy/Rossi. I believe they were -3 and -2 perhaps worse. It did seem that the Blues played more of their regular players and Neal who is on a PTO had a hat trick.

Not a good game for those two. Might be a good thing for them. Deflates the big head they may have been getting reading their own press.

Neal was a man among boys. I see Tarasenko got some ice time too.

Sounds like Evason was happy with how the young kids played and thought Boldy and Rossi played well but was not happy with the vets at all. Greenway apparently looked terrible.

Greenway is trade material but I don’t think he’s going to bring a lot of value. He’s been talked to several times about his play and what he needs to do to elevate it. Works for a handful of games then he’s back to being a pylon taking up space.

He doesn’t come across as the sharpest knife in the drawer. Maybe he has a learning disability.

Greenway in the doghouse already. Shocker. He doesn’t have a head on his shoulders. Pretty convinced that’s the issue with him.

Sounds like Boldy and Beckman are skating with the veterans today. Going to get a good look with the more talented players. Safe to say they are in strong consideration for making the team.

Maybe I’m overestimating how many games were on NBC and NBC Sports each season, but it sure seems like unless you have ESPN+ you are only going to get about 25 added games with the new ESPN contract.

ESPN+ will have 75 exclusive broadcasts and only 28 on ESPN or ABC.

Nice attempted money grab ESPN…..

I bundled in ESPN+ & Hulu because I already had Disney+, so it was kind of a no brainer for me, remember NHLTV is on ESPN+ as well..
I’ll cancel it as soon as the NHL season is over.

Do you get ESPN+ if you have Disney+? I always forget there’s a lot more than cartoons on Disney+