2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

Ripjiggen wrote:

He is going to be a fan favorite.

Good skater, high motor? I remember getting those vibes from Tyler Graovac

Let’s hope Duhaime can keep up mentally.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Boldy fractured ankle. This is about the best outcome for what looked to be a bad injury. Far better than ACL or perhaps even a high ankle sprain.

Yup! Got lucky!

Once again can anyone tell me what DirecTV channel the wild game is on tonight? They keep moving the flipping game night to a different channel and I can’t find it using the search. Channel 665 is NBC sports and it claims to have it but it says it’s blacked out.

They are on ESPN + tonight (Chicago’s broadcast)

Ooof we saw the old Dumba there on that defensive brainfart…

Yikes! These guys must be thinking about the R&R in Duluth the next few days… Nobody has their head in the game tonight…

TSW… appreciate the name drop. Been a long time since I heard that name. Duhaime is not nearly as big as Tyler much faster as well. Has a chance to be one of the fastest players on the ice each game. IMO Didn’t notice it as much until I saw him in person. His north south speed is pretty impressive.
Mental no idea but only find that out once you play.

What a cluster F of a game! I know the goal was to just get through it without any injuries, but yikes!

Duhaime was the best Wild player, Kaprizov was off all night, did nothing…Pitlick showed absolutely nothing, but i’ll cut him a break as he only had a few practices to get ready…

I hope Benn never sees the ice…

Is it just me or could these 2 be related?

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Ooof we saw the old Dumba there on that defensive brainfart…

Nothing old or new just Dumba. They constantly ride Fiala about his flaws but Dumba and Rask are adored by the front office. Go figure.

Evason already has a doppelganger… Creed from the office.

tswoboda wrote:

Evason already has a doppelganger… Creed from the office.

Parise’s Islanders deal finally filed with the league, 1 year $750,000 veterans minimum contract with incentives

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Parise’s Islanders deal finally filed with the league, 1 year $750,000 veterans minimum contract with incentives

Parise and Chara are both listed on the islanders roster but with no contact details. Seattle couldn’t keep a single draft pick from breaking but Lou can keep contract details secret for 3+ months up until the week the season starts. It’s funny that Lou pulls this stuff but also, why?!?!?

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Parise’s Islanders deal finally filed with the league, 1 year $750,000 veterans minimum contract with incentives

Parise and Chara are both listed on the islanders roster but with no contact details. Seattle couldn’t keep a single draft pick from breaking but Lou can keep contract details secret for 3+ months up until the week the season starts. It’s funny that Lou pulls this stuff but also, why?!?!?

Contract details were released yesterday, per league rules they don’t need to be officially announced or sent to the league until the start of the season deadline….it’s been said Lou does this so as to not show other GM’s his exact capspace until he absolutely needs to….

I’m not sure how the Islanders are alot of experts pick to get to the eastern conference finals…their defense corp is a mess, pinning their hopes on 44 year old Chara being in the top 4 is a stretch…

if I was Adam Beckman I would keep my travel bags packed ready for a Wild callup. Granted it was just based off of 1 game where everybody not named Duhaime played like crap, but I saw absolutely nothing in Rem Pitlick’s game the other night, he just looked like a player going through the motions all game, I saw no attributes (speed, puck handling, physical play, offensive creativeness) that warranted him being on the ice, especially if he’s going to play the wing and not center… My guess is that he gets 3-5 games to prove himself before he’s placed on waivers again and the Wild call up Beckman…

Pitlick is going to get much more of a chance than 3 to 5 games. He’s going to have to be worse than Rask before the Wild give up on him and the front office loves Rask. BG is going to be happy to let the kids tear it up in Iowa for awhile. Unless the Wild get off to a bad start or incur some injuries early.

Ice Cap wrote:

Pitlick is going to get much more of a chance than 3 to 5 games. He’s going to have to be worse than Rask before the Wild give up on him and the front office loves Rask. BG is going to be happy to let the kids tear it up in Iowa for awhile. Unless the Wild get off to a bad start or incur some injuries early.

according to recent practice lines, he’s already been put on the 4th line extra wing slot…he looked BAD last game….

Pitlick is a low/no risk signing, but if he doesnt improve he will be sent packing and Beckman will be coming up unless they slow roll him too with the concern over contracts and burning a year.

What are some predictions you guys are thinking this year for the team? Record, players who out perform or under perform, playoffs, etc.

Personally I think we will be in the 4 to 6 range for playoff spot. I also think we sign Fiala at some point during the season.

This author seems to agree with you guys here on Pitlick.

Just knowing the way Wild have done things in the past my guess is Pitlick just doesn’t have to hurt us to stick around awhile. The Wild have a way sticking with unproductive line combinations and players too long always waiting for the magic to happen.

The Wild just don’t have enough quality depth players to put together two high caliber lines. This may be a stop KK and whatever line he’s on and you stop the Wild team. Sending Beckman down makes no sense to me. BG is terribly stubborn on slow rolling these guys.

Ice Cap wrote:

Nothing old or new just Dumba. They constantly ride Fiala about his flaws but Dumba and Rask are adored by the front office. Go figure.

How much if it is down to attitude? Is it just me or does Fiala look like he’s pouting and sulking a bit out there?

One pretty good season doesn’t give you superstar status in this league. I’m sure Fiala feels like last season was as good as the previous season, but the reality is it was a shortened season and so we’ll never know.

If Fiala has a problem with being challenged to prove it, well, welcome to the NHL. Dumba went through the same thing and yet he was the guy last year that was basically told don’t bring too much stuff in for your locker because you’ll just be packing it again. I never had the sense that he was out there pouting about it.

Grouse

I think the Wild will take 10-15 games to figure out where to put the right players on the right lines, mostly who can help Fiala out… (I think they win 8 or 9 of the first 15 games) after that I think they will play well and I expect them to finish 3rd or 4th in the division… I think Kaprizov gets 40+ goals and 50-60 assists (I think he’ll get a ton of assists on the powerplay) I think Fiala gets 35+ goals. I think the Wild get to the 2nd round of the playoffs but then run into the issues they’ve always had (They get beat up due to lack of size)

I think Beckman & Boldy get called up by mid-season or earlier (Boldy only after he plays awhile in Iowa once healed) Addison will get NHL time only due to top 4 injuries…I think Greenway is traded either at the deadline or before and Wild makes a non-rental trade to get a better #6 defenseman at the deadline replacing Benn/Merrill

How much if it is down to attitude? Is it just me or does Fiala look like he’s pouting and sulking a bit out there?

[/quote]
I haven’t noticed Fiala complaining at all this preseason (if anybody has a right to complain, it’s Fiala) He’s always given the table scrapes of offensive talented players we have left for his line mates. My guess is that he’ll personally drive down to Iowa to pickup Beckman or Boldy when they are ready…

and I’m not faulting the Wild for getting Pitlick off waivers, it was the right move to do and worth it…I was just extremely dissatisfied with his play Saturday night when he should have been doing everything he could to make a good impression, he looked really bad imo…

If he doesn’t improve they put him on waivers and if he gets plucked, then we get the capspace back, if he clears, then he has more time to find the player who scored 30+ goals in only 70 games in the AHL…Beckman gets his ticket to the NHL…

Wow that is a lot of saucy predictions there, but I could see it all happening as you laid out. Dom Lxugyeirdddnw on Twitter has them as a Top 10 team league wide based on this analytics.
What that gets them is absolutely nothing, but I would imagine they are in the playoffs and it will really depend on who their first round opponent is to determine how far they go. They could get dumped in the first round or could push potentially past round 2 which would be unreal.
I would really like to see Rossi get some games at the end, or in the playoffs just to see his development.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I haven’t noticed Fiala complaining at all this preseason (if anybody has a right to complain, it’s Fiala) He’s always given the table scrapes of offensive talented players we have left for his line mates.

That’s life in the NHL for the majority of teams out there. Yeah, I’m sure Fiala would love to be able to hand pick his own dream line. Wouldn’t every player? That’s not how it works, though.

I don’t think Fiala has any more of a right to complain about it than any other player. Again, given the choice, I’m sure every player would believe they would benefit from an upgrade in talent on their line.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

and I’m not faulting the Wild for getting Pitlick off waivers, it was the right move to do and worth it…I was just extremely dissatisfied with his play Saturday night when he should have been doing everything he could to make a good impression, he looked really bad imo…

Jeepers. The guy drops his bag on the floor in the hotel room in MN and had to run to the equipment guys to get outfitted. Then he got one full practice in, and then 4 different coaches carpet bombed him with chalk talks about the system before the team doctors put him through his paces just before the team dietician interviewed him about his eating and toilet habits. Then he got put on a plane.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say what we saw in Chicago was not necessarily a representative sample. I know, I know, it’s only a great hockey mind that can see through the fog like that, but there you go.

Jeepers. The guy drops his bag on the floor in the hotel room in MN and had to run to the equipment guys to get outfitted. Then he got one full practice in, and then 4 different coaches carpet bombed him with chalk talks about the system before the team doctors put him through his paces just before the team dietician interviewed him about his eating and toilet habits. Then he got put on a plane.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say what we saw in Chicago was not necessarily a representative sample. I know, I know, it’s only a great hockey mind that can see through the fog like that, but there you go.

[/quote]

I prefaced all of my knocks on him that it’s only been 1 game, but he was so bad in a game that he should have at least been playing hard in… He looked terrible and disinterested…I honestly was so surprised by it that’s why I commented about it…it’s not like he was plucked off the street and thrown on the ice, he had been in the Preds camp all preseason, yes you can argue he won’t have chemistry with linemates, but he didn’t show anything while on the ice… That’s why I said he get 3-5 games to prove himself, if he continues with the same miserable level of play that he showed Saturday, he’ll be on waivers as fast as GMBG can put the call in…

Clarification- Waiver wire pickups MUST be on your roster for a minimum 30 days from the day they were picked up, so that must be factored in on how many games he’ll get (I was saying 3-5 before I knew that rule)

CaptainMusky wrote:

Pitlick is a low/no risk signing, but if he doesnt improve he will be sent packing and Beckman will be coming up unless they slow roll him too with the concern over contracts and burning a year.

Only Rossi can have his contract slid till next year, Beckman and Boldy’s contract clocks are running no matter if they are in Iowa or the Wild…

This is all just speculation obviously but why trade for a bottom pair defenseman when you can stick Addison in there? I know he’s projected as a top 4 but you can still plug him into the PP, where he looks capable, and let him simmer in the NHL with bottom pair minutes.

I know his defense is a little shaky but it is bad enough to trade for a 6 or 7 instead of bringing him up?