2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

I hope the plan was to rest Kappo last night to get him ready for starting the next 2. Too many soft early game goals by Cam. Not good.

Anyone else not particularly fond of the decision to put Foligno with Hartman and Kaprizov? I was hoping for one of the young guys to get elevated. Not that Duhaime has been playing wonderfully lately, but perhaps moving him up there instead would have been a better decision. Obviously Boldy would have been fun to watch with them, but with how he and Fiala have been playing together I just dont know how you brake them up.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

I hope the plan was to rest Kappo last night to get him ready for starting the next 2. Too many soft early game goals by Cam. Not good.

yep, he’s been leaky lately….not good….i’m starting to pay more attention to where Fleury is rumored to go now vs worrying about available centers…

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

I hope the plan was to rest Kappo last night to get him ready for starting the next 2. Too many soft early game goals by Cam. Not good.

These are going to be the next measuring stick games for sure. The Flames are hot and Toronto is well toronto.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Anyone else not particularly fond of the decision to put Foligno with Hartman and Kaprizov? I was hoping for one of the young guys to get elevated. Not that Duhaime has been playing wonderfully lately, but perhaps moving him up there instead would have been a better decision. Obviously Boldy would have been fun to watch with them, but with how he and Fiala have been playing together I just dont know how you brake them up.

I’m really surprised they didn’t move Foligno back on the GREEF line after the miserable 1st period…My guess is they felt maybe Foligno could open some space for Kaprizov? Kirill definately had his chances last night, but mostly looked like a lost puppy without Zuccy…

Granted we had a couple key guys out, but Ottawa and essentially any other physical team we have played recently gives us issue. A glaring sign of what may be to come in the playoffs as things definitely ratchet up there.

When discussing Wild goalies, can anybody provide a good answer on what else Kaapo needs to do to be give alot more games or even the starter position? What else must he prove?

I mean he’s 12-3 with a 92% save percentage this year, last year he was lights out for a majority of his starts before a bad string of 4-5 games destroyed his stats when most of the time in those games the team just gave up and Deano left him in vs putting Cam in…

I think Dean wont come out and say it, but he only played Cam last night hoping it would be an easy W to get some confidence back after a few rough outings. When he’s good, he’s very good. In his 4 or 5 game win streak he only allowed like 5 goals with a 95% save percentage and a shutout. In the last five losses however he has given up 25. That is NOT good.
Kaapo has earned to take the majority of the starts. Ride the hot guy is what I have always said. Actually he is in the Calder conversation now. We could have two in the running by the end of the season with Boldy entering the chat. Wouldnt that be something?

Apparently it’s been put out there the Wild are interested in Josh Bailey from the Islanders. 6’1″ 200lb right wing 32 years old. 3 goals and 19 assists in 40 games. Color me confused if that’s got any truth to it. Forward depth I suppose?

Ice Cap wrote:

Apparently it’s been put out there the Wild are interested in Josh Bailey from the Islanders. 6’1″ 200lb right wing 32 years old. 3 goals and 19 assists in 40 games. Color me confused if that’s got any truth to it. Forward depth I suppose?

If one of the big guns (Giroux/Pavelski) don’t want to come here or are too expensive I really only see GMBG going after a big physical veteran Defender (like a Chara, Manson or Braun) and perhaps a swissarmy knife guy (like Paul Stasney) who can take faceoffs and fill in anywhere in the lineup if injuries happen. Goalie only makes sense if they could get proven playoff difference maker like Fleury for cheap (doubtful and teams like the Oilers will overpay for him)

Giroux, Pavelski, Miller and Flower are only in the mix if BG thinks we are one guy away from a Cup. I don’t believe that but all that matters is what BG thinks.
It’s been confirmed BG has inquired about Miller but it’s been radio silence on that for awhile. BG does not want to give up much the way it sounds to me.

If he’s going to go in on someone I’d like to see it be Chycrun. Big young defenseman and he carries 4.5 M cap hit for the next two years and would help beef up our blueline now and in the future. But it sounds like LA is quite aways down the road to getting him. That of course is if BG does not think this team is Cup ready yet.

Man, wild looked rough last night. Still probably could have won with better goaltending. It was one of those weird games where Ottawa had some great scoring changes(including short handed) that they didn’t score on, but then scored some iffy ones. So maybe it all evens out in the end.

But holy cow, lucky we didn’t walk away from that game with some big time injuries. Boldy barely avoided a BAD hit trying to dangle horizontally just over the blue line, and think there was one or two other situations where he really put himself out there.

Overall just looked sloppy, lots of passes in the skates, just looked like we got beat up badly out there.

for Athletic subscribers, Russo just co-wrote a good article on scenarios needed to re-sign Fiala. In a nutshell it’s basically what we’ve been talking about in this thread, Fiala could price himself out of any chance of re-signing or we trade Dumba and dump UFA’s to afford him, one assumption I don’t agree with is that Russo seems to think Boldy will sign a 2 year bridge deal at around $3aav, I don’t see that low number happening at all…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

for Athletic subscribers, Russo just co-wrote a good article on scenarios needed to re-sign Fiala. In a nutshell it’s basically what we’ve been talking about in this thread, Fiala could price himself out of any chance of re-signing or we trade Dumba and dump UFA’s to afford him, one assumption I don’t agree with is that Russo seems to think Boldy will sign a 2 year bridge deal at around $3aav, I don’t see that low number happening at all…

Just read the article. I agree getting Boldy on a $3aav is probably a pipe dream. Also I don’t think you get Fiala signed for under $6.5aav. There is a human nature part to this and that is how slighted Fiala feels from past attitudes between him and the suits. Boldy may have actually helped the Wild out here. Boldy and Fiala have some pretty high praise for one another and clearly enjoy what they have going. Would they both be agreeable to to somewhat smaller deals to keep their dancing partner?

It’s very complicated no doubt. I’d hate to see Dumba stay and Fiala go is how the article concludes. Without Fiala this team takes a pretty big step backwards.

I almost wonder if the results of this season will dictate what BG decides to do with the two of them. If they were somehow able to win the Cup, does he relish in that and cut bait with one of them in the hopes that after the “lean” years our prospects are stepping up or we have a the funds to acquire someone else to make a run again?

That was a fantastic article. Laid out all options on the table and put it all into perspective. It’s going to hurt either way they go. Losing Dumba or Fiala. I just think you can replace more of what Dumba brings on the ice than you can with what Fiala brings. It’s going to be tough either way.

mahtofire14 wrote:

That was a fantastic article. Laid out all options on the table and put it all into perspective. It’s going to hurt either way they go. Losing Dumba or Fiala. I just think you can replace more of what Dumba brings on the ice than you can with what Fiala brings. It’s going to be tough either way.

Moving Dumba also brings a better cap balance as we have too much cap allocated to Defense. We also have a few top 4 defensive prospects likely ready in a few years, they’ll need a slot to play in and extending him just shuts the door on them. We’ve waited how many years for offensive game changers, we should explore all avenues for keeping them!

I really don’t forsee Fiala here next year.
I’m not sure about Dumba either.
But I’m not terribly concerned about either as GM Bill Guerin has, so far, proven to have good instincts on who to sign and keep.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

We’ve waited how many years for offensive game changers, we should explore all avenues for keeping them!

This pretty much sums up everything. It’s also why I thought everyone was nuts when they were ready to get rid of Fiala because he started the season in a shooting slump!

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
We’ve waited how many years for offensive game changers, we should explore all avenues for keeping them!

This pretty much sums up everything. It’s also why I thought everyone was nuts when they were ready to get rid of Fiala because he started the season in a shooting slump!

Completely agree. Hence, Dumba replaceable, Fiala not.

TNT pre game show is ruined for me now with that clown Carter on there. Can’t stand to hear his voice anymore. Watching Oilers and Tampa pre game and they talked about the beat down the Wild gave the Oilers the other night. Carter couldn’t bring himself to even mention it but talked about the Oilers coach Woodcroft and what a great job he’s doing. Clown can’t even do his job honestly.

Ice Cap wrote:

TNT pre game show is ruined for me now with that clown Carter on there. Can’t stand to hear his voice anymore. Watching Oilers and Tampa pre game and they talked about the beat down the Wild gave the Oilers the other night. Carter couldn’t bring himself to even mention it but talked about the Oilers coach Woodcroft and what a great job he’s doing. Clown can’t even do his job honestly.

I don’t like the way he handled it, but as the games since then have played out, he hasn’t exactly been wrong.

Whether his analysis was right or wrong has absolutely nothing to do with it as far as I’m concerned. The clown is part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Carter also went on to praise the LA kings for their depth?

HUGE game tonight to calm some nerves (mostly fans)

No Greenway but it looks like Zuccy is back, Kaapo in the net…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

HUGE game tonight to calm some nerves (mostly fans)

No Greenway but it looks like Zuccy is back, Kaapo in the net…

Make that the next three games. Toronto and back to back with Calgary. Need at least four of the six points to hang with Colorado.

mahtofire14 wrote:

but as the games since then have played out, he hasn’t exactly been wrong.

lol, I said the same thing to myself the other day…While I think it’s mostly just the D pairings we’ve tried haven’t worked more than the players aren’t good enough to be playing thus we don’t have great depth…
I think another part of it is Anson just trying to keep his name in the news cycle and TNT liking the press (any press is good press)

Russo just did a podcast with some African American Canadian hockey journalists and they talked about the Anson comments, they all took Russo’s side and speculated Anson just got triggered based on previous private hate messages & comments he’s received over his TV career, he obviously misreperesented Russo’s comment about him not watching the Wild enough to make the no depth comment… I agree Anson should have made a public apology, but it is what it is, Anson is in the wrong and the vast majority of public opinion agrees he is…

Ice Cap wrote:

Make that the next three games. Toronto and back to back with Calgary. Need at least four of the six points to hang with Colorado.

Completely agree, if the boys can win tonight they’ll carry some much needed confidence into the Calgary home & home series…if they lose, it could snowball…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Completely agree, if the boys can win tonight they’ll carry some much needed confidence into the Calgary home & home series…if they lose, it could snowball…

Calgary is no joke. THey have won what 10 or 11 in a row? I think Toronto played last night so maybe that is a good thing.

TSN cracks me up, on their trade bait list they have Toronto’s 1st round pick ranked #17 and Arizona’s capspace to broker other team’s deals ranked at #25