2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

Ripjiggen wrote:

Merril

Is he coming back anytime soon? Last I heard he may have broken his hand.

Last I heard it wasn’t serious as he joined the team on the road after the back to back and is skating. Obviously you can skate still with a broken hand, but if it is long term then Addison has to be the play. Short term is probably Benn.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Last I heard it wasn’t serious as he joined the team on the road after the back to back and is skating. Obviously you can skate still with a broken hand, but if it is long term then Addison has to be the play. Short term is probably Benn.

Well that’s good to hear. Hadn’t heard that. Hopefully it’s right.

How good can Wild prospect Pavel Novak be? The kid has a smaller frame, but he’s a right handed shot winger and has 70 points in the WHL this season.

His progression to the AHL next year will be interesting to watch.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

How good can Wild prospect Pavel Novak be? The kid has a smaller frame, but he’s a right handed shot winger and has 70 points in the WHL this season.

His progression to the AHL next year will be interesting to watch.

Not discounting what he’s doing, but isnt his team stacked with talent?

No Kelowna isn’t anything special as far as prospects, Novak might actually be their best forward. I think Kirby Dach’s brother plays for them too but he’s nothing special. CHL kids are hard to judge off stats, seems like they are all scoring over a point per game. I think guys like Beckman, Dewar, and Khovanov were all at almost 100 point seasons their last year of juniors.

tswoboda wrote:

No Kelowna isn’t anything special as far as prospects, Novak might actually be their best forward. I think Kirby Dach’s brother plays for them too but he’s nothing special. CHL kids are hard to judge off stats, seems like they are all scoring over a point per game. I think guys like Beckman, Dewar, and Khovanov were all at almost 100 point seasons their last year of juniors.

Yeah, 70 points on Kelowna is pretty good, he also played 1st line and 1st pp on the CZECH WJC team and played well before it shut down…but as you stated, the WHL can kick out alot of high point scorers that turn into nothing after they leave…this kid has a huge motor and desire to make it, so we’ll see…

Judd Brackett definitely likes the WHL which I’m sure comes from spending so much time out in Vancouver. His other specialty area of scouting is the Midwest, so the USHL and MN High School.

Any more news on Dumba? Russo’s latest article didnt say anything new on it in his latest article. Just that its a right shoulder injury and Dean said not good.

I imagine we will hear whatever news there is on Dumba sometime today. Blues beat Kraken last night and are now only one point behind the Wild. Sets the stage for a good game. The Wild are going to be stinging from what happened in Nashville and will not want to lose to another division rival. The Blues are going to be salivating at taking over second place in the division.

It’s going to be a battle of can the Wild remain disciplined enough to stay out of the box or can the Blues do to them what Nashville did.

Boldy and Merrill on the ice in St. Louis but not a peep about Dumba. They are playing this one close to the vest.

Ice Cap wrote:

Boldy and Merrill on the ice in St. Louis but not a peep about Dumba. They are playing this one close to the vest.

They might not know, you typically take a day or two for the swelling to go down before they can do any imaging testing…he’s likely out 2-3 weeks at a minimum…

There’s been no press availability since the post game so if they actually do share his injury it will come after practice or before the game tomorrow. Russo won’t share the injury unless the team gives the green light, and Billy G likes to keep those hush hush.

Hopefully it’s the shoulder and out a couple weeks like Joe said. But if it’s the collar bone that’s 4 week minimum which would be back right at start of playoffs. Longer if surgery is required.

I just read that Evason said Dumba’s injury is “not as serious as we thought”. Not sure how serious they thought it was, but this is at least a bit encouraging.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I just read that Evason said Dumba’s injury is “not as serious as we thought”. Not sure how serious they thought it was, but this is at least a bit encouraging.

One thing i’ve learned this season is to pay ZERO attention to Deano’s postgame injury comments…we all thought Kirill was done for months when he got hurt, same with Brodin…both were back in 1-2 games…

my guess is even if its a simple grade 1 separation, they will keep him out longer than needed to hopefully get to 100% for the playoffs, no point in bringing him back early and risk re-injury…

Merril and Boldy not playing. D are Brodin/Kuli and Goli/Benn.

Still playing for home-ice down the stretch here.

tswoboda wrote:

Still playing for home-ice down the stretch here.

Home ice is very important.

Not as important as being healthy as possible heading in.

The Ben Meyers watch has officially started allthough I think he’ll make his decision AFTER the Hobey winner is announced….

Ripjiggen wrote:

Not as important as being healthy as possible heading in.

Honestly I’d rather be down a guy like Dumba and playing at home vs having a full roster and on the road. This team is so much better at home.

I just think with a likely shoulder injury you don’t rush him back early, the odds of reinjury are very high with a shoulder separation…we have adequet short term replacements…

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
Not as important as being healthy as possible heading in.

Honestly I’d rather be down a guy like Dumba and playing at home vs having a full roster and on the road. This team is so much better at home.

Not me you only have to win one game on the road. All teams are way better at home.
I am speaking overall health too not just Dumba.

This could be dumb take on Dumba but I think we are better off without him. I can just see him costing us a game in the playoffs with one of his turnovers or dumb moves he makes. Lots of dumb in this post haha

Yeah they played real well when he was out before. (Sarcasm) I think they are better equipped with the addition of Middleton now however.
Last person I want to see playing in the playoffs however is Benn.

KP wrote:

This could be dumb take on Dumba but I think we are better off without him. I can just see him costing us a game in the playoffs with one of his turnovers or dumb moves he makes. Lots of dumb in this post haha

If it’s a Dumba out Benn in I’m not so sure. If it’s Dumba out Addison in I agree. It was one of his dumb moves that put him out. Trying to skate into a guy with a shoulder check who is 6’6″ and 210 after the puck is 20′ off his stick is a dumb move and costs us a goal on top of it.

But he is one of Deans and BG’s darlings so he’s got that going for him.

If Benn or Addison plays that means we are down two D and that probably isn’t good.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Addison is currently not even playing top two in Iowa so not sure he is exactly NHL playoff ready.

I dont really follow the Iowa Wild but is Addison playing that bad that hes not in the top two?

I agree that was a terrible play but that’s 100% based off being an obvious penalty in a game they couldn’t kill a penalty. Fans knocking dumba for hurting himself just shows how biased we are against him.

Wild fans: we need some physical D that can hit
Also Wild fans: Dumba’s so dumb for hitting people

I’d love to see Addidon, but jeez the team is not better off without one of their top 3 D. Not to mention Dumba has always been better in the playoffs.

I retracted my statement as I am not 100 percent sure as it’s hard to find the logged minutes. I read it somewhere that he was not and now I can’t find it so I pulled it back. He definitely is not a defensive guru however.
But stand by my other statement.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I retracted my statement as I am not 100 percent sure as it’s hard to find the logged minutes. I read it somewhere that he was not and now I can’t find it so I pulled it back. He definitely is not a defensive guru however.
But stand by my other statement.

Unfortunately AHL doesn’t publish time on ice stuff. I saw the lineup card that had him on 3rd pairing but he was also with Smoky Joe Hicketts who’s been one of their best veteran D-men so I wouldn’t put much stock in where the social media graphic had them.

The kid needs to learn how to defend the rush and block shots. But he’s so smooth in transition and breakouts that I can’t believe they don’t make room for him. He’s the kind of D that makes skilled forwards better.