2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

I haven’t seen anything on Foligno yet but we should hear something today.

I haven’t heard anything official but Dean was on Beyond the Pond this morning and said he’s hoping to have his full lineup for the playoffs. Not sure how much you can read into that (if at all). But that’s at least good news for Zucc and “hopefully” Foligno.

Russo hinting that Moose escaped any major injury… expecting an update tomorrow after practice

Remind me how playoff seeding works again, so the Wild are the #2 seed, does that give them home ice upto the Finals as long as they dont play the Avs?

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Amazing how the NHL is run by such a bunch of retreads that they can’t figure out that the audience would be bigger if the games were shown in prime time.

Seriously, ESPN has how many channels? This happened every post season when NBC had the playoff games too. God forbid 2 games should overlap in different time zones. No one on the entire east coast even sees these games when they start at 9:45 eastern time.

The fact that the Kings are the only team to qualify in the Pacific time zone isn’t helping with the schedule either.

It’s going to be a great series. I like the Wild’s chances.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TheFamousGrouse wrote:</div>
Amazing how the NHL is run by such a bunch of retreads that they can’t figure out that the audience would be bigger if the games were shown in prime time.

Seriously, ESPN has how many channels? This happened every post season when NBC had the playoff games too. God forbid 2 games should overlap in different time zones. No one on the entire east coast even sees these games when they start at 9:45 eastern time.

The fact that the Kings are the only team to qualify in the Pacific time zone isn’t helping with the schedule either.

I love all the channels…..You’re telling me you didn’t watch the National Chase Tag championships last night on ESPNNEWS????

Foligno practicing today. Huge if he can go but that is a great sign.

Everyone at practice today. Let’s go!!!

CaptainMusky wrote:

Foligno practicing today. Huge if he can go but that is a great sign.

unreal! Bionic knees!

My 10 yr old son is kinda bummed about the late start times. He’s super into it and been watching a lot of games with me this year and now won’t be able to see the majority of the playoffs.

Hope they kick the Blues in the teeth and sail into the 2nd round , maybe we’ll get some better game times then

In case you’re wondering how DLo is feeling going into the blues series. Make sure the sound is on!

**Sorry Mods for the F bomb in the tweet**

Lol This series is going to be wild. As long as it doesn’t get cheap where everyone just gets hurt in the first 7 minutes.

We finished third in the league in penalty minutes. We can’t do that in the playoffs or we will get crushed. Our pk has been good lately but not good enough to give them 5-10mins each game with an extra guy. We’ll see how/what they call this year with the newish enforcement of the slashing and cross checking calls. I just don’t think they’re gonna be as strict which should benefit us as our 5-5 game is so good.

Anyone fill out a Stanley Cup bracket? I filled one out. I’ve got Calgary over Carolina in the finals. My big first round upset is Nashville over Colorado.

You might want to fill out another one.

I’ll play the homer and pick the Wild to get to the cup from the West, I think there will be at least 1 upset in the West, other than the Panthers (who I think gets to the cup) any of those East teams can beat each other…

I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Preds bump the Av’s. It would raise an eye brow but not a shocker. When your as heavily favored as the Av’s that’s a lot of extra pressure. Other teams can play much looser against you they don’t have the expectations that come with being expected to win the Cup.

The Wild are in a good spot in regards to this. They are not really attracting a lot of attention in comparison to the Av’s or Panthers. They are in the middle of the pack when it comes to power rankings and expected Cup chances. I like their chances and hopefully things line up for them.

Ice Cap wrote:

I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Preds bump the Av’s. It would raise an eye brow but not a shocker. When your as heavily favored as the Av’s that’s a lot of extra pressure. Other teams can play much looser against you they don’t have the expectations that come with being expected to win the Cup. That pressure compounds if things don’t go your way and you get behind in a series or a couple goals down late in a game. That pressure is impossible to ignore.

The Wild are in a good spot in regards to this. They are not really attracting a lot of attention in comparison to the Av’s or Panthers. They are in the middle of the pack when it comes to power rankings and expected Cup chances. I like their chances and hopefully things line up for them.

Ripjiggen wrote:

You might want to fill out another one.

I just realized that Frederick Anderson is out for the first series in goal for the Canes, so changed my east pick to Toronto. An all-Canadian Stanley Cup final instead.

Everybody post their predictions by the first game tonight, use my format below so it’s easy to follow:

Here’s my predictions:

Round 1:
Avs over Preds in 6
Wild over Blues in 6
Flames over Stars in 4
Oilers over Kings in 6
Panthers over Capitals in 4
Lightning over Leafs in 6
Canes over Bruins in 5
Rangers over Penguins in 7

Finals:
Panthers over Wild in 6

Just a few oddball predictions – I think the Avs lose a star in round 1 to injury from a HUGE hit, I think Fleury will eventually get the crease and never give it back, Round 2 Panthers vs Lightning will be the best series of the playoffs…There’s going to be a superstar on some team that gets taken out of the playoffs due to a cheap hit (either a knee on knee or a cross-check into the boards)

Lot’s of love here for the Preds considering Juuse Saros has a high ankle sprain. They’re either playing a small goalie with injury/mobility issues or playing Rittich who is a low level backup. I can see that being a sneaky good series with a healthy Saros, but without him… Avs in 3

tswoboda wrote:

Lot’s of love here for the Preds considering Juuse Saros has a high ankle sprain. They’re either playing a small goalie with injury/mobility issues or playing Rittich who is a low level backup. That could have been a sneaky good series with Saros healthy it won’t be close without him.

I think Nashville knows the only chance they have is to physically beat the Avs into the boards eliminating thier space and speed and hope for retaliation penalties that result in PP goals…That’s how I think the Preds steal 2 games, once the Avs figure out how to control their emotions, they’ll roll…I don’t think the Avs get out of the series without a major injury and tons of bruised bodies…

Here’s the current odds for all 16 teams to win the Stanley Cup. Taken from Draft Kings.

Colorado (+350; bet $100 to win $350)
Florida (+550)
Calgary (+800)
Toronto (+900)
Tampa Bay (+1100)
Carolina (+1200)
New York Rangers (+1600)
Minnesota (+1600)
Boston (+1600)
Edmonton (+1800)
Pittsburgh (+1800)
St. Louis (+2000)
Washington (+3000)
Nashville (+4500)
Dallas (+4500)
Los Angeles (+6000)

Avs over preds in 4.
This will be nothing short of a massacre.

Wild over blues in 6
Gonna be a high scoring series.

Flames over Stars in 5
Dallas has 0 depth, although Oettinger will play very well.

Kings over Oilers in 7
Kings first line shuts down McDavid line, Draisaitl is a ghost

Panthers over capitals in 4
Panthers score 24 goals over 4 games.

Lightning over Leafs in 7.
Best series of the playoffs

Canes over Bruins in 6.
Lowest scoring, dullest series of the playoffs

Rangers over Penguins in 6
Low scoring, Shesterkin and the defense shine

I’ll give an update after round 1.

Going full homer…

Round 1:
Avs in 3
Wild in 7
Flames in 6
Oilers in 5
Caps in 6
Bolts in 7
Bruins in 7
Penguins in 6

The only prediction I feel confident about is the Bolts/Leafs going to game 7 and it being the most talked about game of the entire playoffs.

Round 2:
Wild beat Avs in 7
Oilers beat flames in 6
Bolts beat Caps in 5
Bruins beat Pens in 7

Round 3:
Wild beat Oilers in 5
Bolts beat Bruins in 6

Finals:
Wild beat Bolts in 5

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I think Nashville knows the only chance they have is to physically beat the Avs into the boards eliminating thier space and speed and hope for retaliation penalties that result in PP goals…That’s how I think the Preds steal 2 games, once the Avs figure out how to control their emotions, they’ll roll…I don’t think the Avs get out of the series without a major injury and tons of bruised bodies…

All really good points and yeah they’ll definitely play physical but…. Rittich gave up 5+ goals in every start after Saros went down. It really could have been a good series with Juicy playing.

Huge for the Wild to have everyone healthy, those top 3 lines are all massively hurt if you take away any 1 player. Wild should control the play at 5v5 if healthy.

This Wild/Blues series could be seriously impacted by the refs. Blues are the best combined PP/PK team in the league and I think Wild are the worst of the playoff teams. If they lose the series, it’ll be due to special teams. **Friendly reminder there’s actually more penalties called per game (and less fighting majors) in the playoffs than the regular season. So I suppose it’s good news that Detroit Lakes native Jake Brenk is reffing game 1. Weird to put his playoff debut in his home state.

Not sure why, but I’m getting a feeling that Flower might start game 1.

tswoboda wrote:

Huge for the Wild to have everyone healthy, those top 3 lines are all massively hurt if you take away any 1 player. Wild should control the play at 5v5 if healthy.

This Wild/Blues series could be seriously impacted by the refs. Blues are the best combined PP/PK team in the league and I think Wild are the worst of the playoff teams. If they lose the series, it’ll be due to special teams. **Friendly reminder there’s actually more penalties called per game (and less fighting majors) in the playoffs than the regular season. So I suppose it’s good news that Detroit Lakes native Jake Brenk is reffing game 1. Weird to put his playoff debut in his home state.

Not sure why, but I’m getting a feeling that Flower might start game 1.

at least the best ref are the ones who get the playoff games…so they should at least be consistant vs some newb crew who is either too scared to make calls or has an ego and wants to impact the game with too many…

tswoboda wrote:

Not sure why, but I’m getting a feeling that Flower might start game 1.

Looks like your feeling is true.

in terms of health, i’m a tiny bit worried that Foligno is coming back too early and will be more susceptible to re-injury or making it worse…I hope the team doctors take control vs putting the decision on Foligno (yes he can obviously lie about the pain)

If they deem him ready to play, then play him, but if the doctors says an extra 2 days of rest/healing will have a positive impact for the next month grind, then sit him out for game one, obviously you need to get out of round one to progress, but this team needs to think about a long playoff run vs 1 game…

From the press conferences I’ve heard Deano mention that Marcus needs to think about the team impact of him playing hurt, will it help or hurt? so i’m hopeful they make the right choice…