2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

Vegas fell victim to a Carter Hart 47-save masterclass last night, losing 2-1 to one of the worst teams in the league.
All though it doesn’t entirely show up in the stats sheet, Eichel looked incredible out there. Finished with an assist on the PP and 9 SOG. Dude was all over the place, skating confidently all around the offensive zone.

Our good buddy Patrick Kane had 6 points last night, and Arizona’s Nick Schmaltz now has 11 points in 2 games, with a +11 rating.

Colorado blew a 3-0 lead to a young Devils team. Although their record is still bad, this team has shown that they have the offensive firepower to keep up with much better teams. J. Hughes has 22 points in his last 17.

Battle of the goalies in Nashville as Juuse Saros and the Preds out-dueled Lakeville native Jake Oettinger and the stars 2-1.

Otter is going to be something special.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I don’t think this has anything to do with cap situation. McBain doesn’t see how he slots in with current rostered players and Rossi.

exactly, if anything signing him would help the capcrunch as he would be a $800k salary for 2 years. This is the risk in not signing college players by their junior year (McBain’s junior season was average at best) if they blow up their Senior year they just need to wait until July/August to become a UFA and play where it makes the most sense for them.

It’s really a no brainer for McBain, sign a 2 year deal with the Wild locked in at $800k aav and be a likely 4th line sacrificial Iowa waiver casualty when needed or sign somewhere like Seattle/Ottawa/Arizona and play every game with a larger aav contract.

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Then why would Myers want to sign here.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Then why would Myers want to sign here.

He’s a wing and I think there are better chances for him there. There are a bunch of UFAs that probably arent coming back next year.

A bunch at wing? Like who Bjugstad? Maybe in Iowa but don’t think Myers is thinking the AHL route either.
And he has been playing center as well.
Guess my point is if McBain doesn’t think there is room don’t see why Myers would.
My point on the contract is they would burn this year and it is only a 2 year him being a senior so he would need an extension following next season.

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Then why would Myers want to sign here.

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Why do any sign vs wait and become a UFA? Maybe he wants to play for the Wild? Maybe he could care less where he plays and just wants to get play asap? Maybe he spoke with GMBG and was sold on his plan for him and the Wild org…

Bjugstad, Sturm, Dewar, Rask. Sure the thought of playing in the NHL over the AHL is important, but realistically how many undrafted college kids go straight to the NHL? Very few. He would get a chance to play with the Wild org with all the FAs they have on the big club and in Iowa. There would certainly be a home for him somewhere.

So basically McBain is giving up a $92,500 signing bonus this season for the opportunity to sign with any team this summer. Betting on himself that he’ll get more NHL time and NHL $$$ with a team other than the Wild… seems like a fair bet. Who knows if that’s actually the case, just speculating. I still don’t understand why why drafted NCAA kids are allowed become free agents 4 years after their draft. I get it if the team doesn’t offer them a contract. But if the team wants to sign them, why do they get to just say no thanks I’ll go sign with whoever I want instead.

It’ll be interesting what, if anything, they can get for McBain. 2nd rounder seems like a massive stretch but if teams really think he can slot right in then I guess that’s worth it. I’m not super familiar with him, other than he is big and he had 3 underwhelming years at college and now one pretty good season. His goal production tripled this year, with a big thanks to his 25% shooting percentage. Every other season he shot a little above average at 10%-15%.

These college UFAs all have different reasons for where they end up signing… it’s not as simple as who they see in front of them on the depth chart. Sturm had a girlfriend from MN. Meyers is a local kid. That stuff stuff can certainly play a role with some players. Guessing McBain has zero ties to Minnesota.

tswoboda wrote:

I still don’t understand why why drafted NCAA kids are allowed become free agents 4 years after their draft. I get it if the team doesn’t offer them a contract. But if the team wants to sign them, why do they get to just say no thanks I’ll go sign with whoever I want instead.

I agree its a head scratcher. The other thing is the weird age thing for kids playing in certain leagues in Canada, etc. Isnt there something about European players too? Like they cant play in the AHL or something?

Yeah kids drafted out of the CHL can’t play in the AHL until their age 20 season. It’s meant to keep the best CHL players, drafted prospects, playing in the CHL instead of going to the AHL. It’s definitely not what’s best for the players’ development though. In a normal non-covid & non-myocarditus year Marco Rossi would have been forced to play in the OHL after his draft even though he was way too good for that league. It’s also why kids like Lafreniere couldn’t go down to the AHL even though he was struggling in his rookie season.

There’s been exceptions made the last couple years with the OHL/WHL shutdowns and modified seasons. There may be permanent changes made moving forward.

I see the LTIR rumors started flying again, but looks like it already got squashed and figured out that doesn’t work. Sad I missed that one

tswoboda wrote:

I see the LTIR rumors started flying again, but looks like it already got squashed and figured out that doesn’t work. Sad I missed that one

it was brought up on Hockey Night in Canada between periods as an option for the Wild and Russo even wrote about it as a possible option, that gave it some more life until Russo admitted it wasn’t feasible.

Calen Addison
Fiala a big outlier as well… no shocker there

CaptainMusky wrote:

Bjugstad, Sturm, Dewar, Rask. Sure the thought of playing in the NHL over the AHL is important, but realistically how many undrafted college kids go straight to the NHL? Very few. He would get a chance to play with the Wild org with all the FAs they have on the big club and in Iowa. There would certainly be a home for him somewhere.

So why not a home for McBain then.
So basically Bjugstad.😂 We already established Sturm is gone and replaced by Freddie hockey as Rossi is taking a center spot. Rask is just holding a spot in AHL cuz we can’t do anything with him.
Dewer is restricted. So far from a bunch of wing spots.

He just doesn’t want to be here, its his decision… every year there’s a handful of college seniors that generate some buzz, they never turn into more than role players otherwise they would have been signed years earlier…

Get whatever you can and move on…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

He just doesn’t want to be here, its his decision… every year there’s a handful of college seniors that generate some buzz, they never turn into more than role players otherwise they would have been signed years earlier…

Get whatever you can and move on…

Yeah I think it’s safe to say McBain is a lot closer to the Mike Reilly caliber than an Adam Fox. The goalie from Providence did the same thing to the Wild last year and signed with the Penguins. Can you imagine how Calgary or Carolina feels knowing they drafted or traded for Fox and he refused to sign with them? Now that would suck!

Many more examples than just Fox in this scenario.
Wild tried to sign him after last year.
So they at least had some interest in his game. A second rounder is a pipe dream IMO however.

Over 32 percent of the NHLers who played college hockey spent all four years in school, with 70 percent staying at least three years on campus. Twenty-three percent of the former college players who played in the NHL this year were undrafted free agents.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Many more examples than just Fox in this scenario.

But are they 23 year old Norris winners? I listed a couple others I could think of off the top of my head. But the reality is there’s very few top tier NHLers who got drafted and then played 4 years of college and picked their NHL team.

It sucks to lose McBain for likely noting. Good chance he could have fit right away in a bottom 6 role. But there’s also a good chance he never has more than a cup of coffee in the NHL. Jack McBain isn’t a player I’m losing sleep over.

tswoboda wrote:

It sucks to lose McBain for likely noting. Good chance he could have fit right away in a bottom 6 role. But there’s also a good chance he never has more than a cup of coffee in the NHL. Jack McBain isn’t a player I’m losing sleep over.

I am certainly not going to lose sleep over it and I know he is doing this for himself, but it would have been fun to see what he could have done here. Would have added a bunch of size. His skating isnt the greatest though.

I can already tell I’m not going to enjoy this play by play announcer. Sounds like she’s giving me the on flight instructions before the plane takes off.

BOLDY!!!!!

mahtofire14 wrote:

I can already tell I’m not going to enjoy this play by play announcer. Sounds like she’s giving me the on flight instructions before the plane takes off.

Agreed! Hope Hartman comes back.

She’s actually not too bad. Kind of a soothing voice, just not used to that during a hockey game. HA

Wow. Never seen that before……

LOL

She’s able to articulate a thought in 2 clear sentences so yes, an upgrade

That’s an Ek goal if there ever was one!

Leah Hextall – makes Gigi look good!

Looks like Talbot is back to his subpar self. Moving the opposite direction on that one.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Looks like Talbot is back to his subpar self. Moving the opposite direction on that one.

He was screened really well but I agree he anticipated the wrong direction.

Umy wrote:

Leah Hextall – makes Gigi look good!

Lord. She does regionals in the NCAA tournament too…