2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

Ice Cap wrote:

There’s a article up on the Athletic outlining all this tv stuff. You need a subscription of course. If it’s not confusing enough already you will be looking to get HBO Max next year to watch some games.

All this fragmented viewing must be detrimental to trying to grow a fan base. Only the committed fan is going to wade through all this. The casual fan is going to say meh, don’t need to watch it that bad. The potential new fan is going to say screw this I think there’s a Seinfeld rerun on.

it sure was easy and fun to watch all of the 6 or so games last night on ESPN+…i’ll be interested in seeing if the Avs broadcast the game tonight and if I can watch it in MN…

I fall into the casual fan base I guess. Most games outside of the Wild don’t hold much interest for me to spend time watching. Especially pre-season games. Once we get close to playoffs and other games have impact on the Wilds playoff position I’ll tune in if they are on and I’m not doing anything else.

I have Bally Sports so I will see most of the Wild games I’m home to watch and I call it good at that I’m not going to spend any money chasing out of market games.

I’ve seen alot of websites post their Wild line projections, here’s what I think the lines look like opening night vs 1 month into the season:

Opening Night:
Kaprizov – Ek – Zuccarello
Boldy – Gaudreau – Fiala
Greenway – Hartman – Foligno
Bjugstad – Sturm – Rask/Duhaime/Rau

Spurgeon – Goligoski
Dumba – Brodin
Kulikov-Benn-Merrill

1 month later:

Kaprizov – Ek – Zuccarello
Boldy – Rossi – Fiala
Greenway – Hartman – Foligno
Sturm – Gaudreau – Bjugstad/Rask/Duhaime/Rau

Spurgeon – Goligoski
Dumba – Brodin
Kulikov-Benn-Merrill

I don’t see the Wild putting all the pressure on Rossi to be 1C when he’s called up from Iowa, plus is gives us a potentially (if Rossi and Boldy are legit) super deadly 2nd line to take pressure off the 1st line. I think Hartman centering the 3rd line is a perfect fit that will drive opposing teams CRAZY with their physical in your face play.
The 4th line will be a sort of “everything line” with defense, speed and intensity (there will be a rotation of 2-3 other guys into the 4th line depending on injuries and how they play)

Looking at the projections, I don’t see a spot for Beckman until next season (taking Greenway’s spot) so I think they give him top 3 minutes in Iowa all season to polish off the warts in his game…

Looking farther into the future, there’s really no spots that will be open in the top 6 (assuming we resign Fiala) perhaps Khusnidinov/Beckman slot in next season but until Zuccarello’s contract is up, our top 6 is locked in pretty much.
Defense top 4 is locked up this season but long term Dumba moves on after his contract is up or he’s traded (we just don’t have the capspace to re-sign him if we sign Fiala long term) and Goligoski is only offered a cheaper 1 year extension. Addison would slot into the open top 4 spot with Hunt/O’Rourke/Lambos slotting in longer term (2-3 years away)

Looking at who’s still available (Beckman, Rask, Addison, Merril, Duhaime, Rau) to slot into the lineup due to injuries, the Wild are in decent shape with replacement options (besides center)

Khustnutdinov has 7 pts in 10 games. Pretty dang good. The guy is just everywhere. Even hustled back in OT to help break up a breakaway attempt to save the game at least through OT.

With all this TV talk, I decided to look and Bally Sports is only $23 a month. I don’t have problem paying that per month. Less than a buck a day.

For some reason I thought it was much more than that last year?

CaptainMusky wrote:

Khustnutdinov has 7 pts in 10 games. Pretty dang good. The guy is just everywhere. Even hustled back in OT to help break up a breakaway attempt to save the game at least through OT.

I got worried that he hurt his shoulder again crashing onto the goal post after watching that OT defensive save video…I think he needs to ADD alot of bulk to his frame before he would be ready for the NHL, he looks like a 1st year bantam on the ice (in terms of his size vs everyone else) I’m excited to watch him as a veteran on the Russian WJC team, he should be dominating…

Fancy stats article ranked top left wings in the league. Kaprizov came in at 5th and Fiala 13th. Interesting to see where some of their underlying numbers rank league wide. Not sure if the article is behind a paywall now so added screenshots.

https://eprinkside.com/2021/09/29/the-top-20-left-wings-in-the-nhl

Lines I’d love to see:

Kaprizov-Ek-Fiala
Greenway-Sturm-Foligno
Boldy-Rossi-Zuccarello
Gaudreau-Hartman-Bjugstad

Brodin-Dumba
Goligoski-Spurgeon
Kulikov-Addison

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I got worried that he hurt his shoulder again crashing onto the goal post after watching that OT defensive save video…I think he needs to ADD alot of bulk to his frame before he would be ready for the NHL, he looks like a 1st year bantam on the ice (in terms of his size vs everyone else) I’m excited to watch him as a veteran on the Russian WJC team, he should be dominating…

Yeah it looked bad, but I think it was his other shoulder he injured. Either way he is lucky he didnt get hurt.
I agree with the bulking up a bit, but he certainly doesnt shy away from physical play. I hope he gets over here to Iowa once his season is done in the KHL. It would be great to get some eyes on him.

tswoboda wrote:

Fancy stats article ranked top left wings in the league. Kaprizov came in at 5th and Fiala 13th. Interesting to see where some of their underlying numbers rank league wide. Not sure if the article is behind a paywall now so added screenshots.

Those Kaprizov stats look like the “Create a Player” feature in old NHL Video games were you would max out every stat you could…He’s gonna be alot of fun to watch the next 5 years…

Interesting line combos tonight.
Beckman playing with Ek and Zucc. Late change as Greenway is sick.
Boldy Fiala and Gaudreau
Hartman Foligno and Duhaime

Addison also in tonight.

Beckman may make these decisions for game 1 lineups even tougher.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Interesting line combos tonight.
Beckman playing with Ek and Zucc. Late change as Greenway is sick.
Boldy Fiala and Gaudreau
Hartman Foligno and Duhaime

Addison also in tonight.

Beckman may make these decisions for game 1 lineups even tougher.

sucks we can’t watch the game tonight (I just checked and it’s not on ESPN+ either) I’d really like to watch that Boldy-Gaudreau-Fiala line…I think Beckman would need to play top 6 to be successful and the only player he could displace would be Boldy…

Probably and I know Boldy is the sexy high draft pick but Guerrin and Evenson are in love with him right now and so are a lot of vets on the team
Nice little article on him in Athletic.

Greenway better be looking over his shoulder.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Probably and I know Boldy is the sexy high draft pick but Guerrin and Evenson are in love with him right now and so are a lot of vets on the team.

Nice little article on him in Athletic

I’m certainly rooting for him, if we can find a legit NHL goal scorer from the 3rd round those are the types of guys that move the needle for a franchise…

IceNEyes1986 wrote:

With all this TV talk, I decided to look and Bally Sports is only $23 a month. I don’t have problem paying that per month. Less than a buck a day.

For some reason I thought it was much more than that last year?

The problem is Bally isn’t even available with certain providers, including Dish

Kaprizov wasnt able to skate while in Florida so that is why he hasnt entered the lineup yet. The next game should have some added NHL guys in it that havent played thus far.
Yeah that article everyone was glowing about Beckman. That is great to see. Foligno had high praise.

I think they are now down to 34 players in camp, so after tonight’s game, it will mostly be the full team from now on with a few hopefuls sprinkled in…

Game’s on YouTube tonight

tswoboda wrote:

Game’s on YouTube tonight

Really?! Do you have to have a subscription or something for that? I cannot keep up with all you guys and your techno wizardry LOL

I see its on the Wild Youtube Page. NICE!

They probably got tired of complaint calls so they flew out an intern group to film/stream it, works for me!

How are these games not televised? Aren’t they usually?

tswoboda wrote:

Game’s on YouTube tonight

I don’t see anything about it on their youtube channel.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I don’t see anything about it on their youtube channel.

Live stream will pop up on their page before puck drop, just like the prospect games.

Nice

Dang and I used a huge chunk of data on my phone listening to this Russian cover band with a hot Russian chick who has a set of lungs while drinking vodka sevens on this gorgeous day at the lake! Maybe AT&T will be nice and not choke my streaming back later.

Ice Cap wrote:

Dang and I used a huge chunk of data on my phone listening to this Russian cover band with a hot Russian chick who has a set of lungs while drinking vodka sevens on this gorgeous day at the lake! Maybe AT&T will be nice and not choke my streaming back later.

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There are people that still have data plans?

It’s unlimited data until they want to limit it.

Ice Cap wrote:

It’s unlimited data until they want to limit it.

Oh man, this stream is going to be an adventure. It’s choppy and we can hear all the off air comments from Reid and the radio production crew. Could be very entertaining…..