2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

Poor Ek’s face is a mess holy hannah!

CaptainMusky wrote:

Poor Ek’s face is a mess holy hannah!

Gruesome! Imagine being in that trainer’s room when he was getting worked on. I can’t remember another time where player went back into a game with a full shield.

agreed, but the league isn’t going to stop calling penalties so I factored that in to me defensive opinion…You don’t pick a goalie in the 1st round and just sit on him for years and years..yes that’s a strategy in later rounds because typically the non-elite goalie prospects take longer to develop (or more likely don’t get the chance to prove themselves right away) but the studs typically get a shot at the crease in 2-4 years depending on leagues played in (Overseas, NCAA, etc)

in terms of finding some other quality goalie, no astablished goalie is A) going to be affordable for the Wild the next 3 seasons B) going to want to sign a short term deal as a stop-gap C) want to be any type of mentor for a young goalie about to take their job. So you’re almost forced to choose from either no experiance (then why not just go with your young stud prospect) or the tenured veteran who knows his career is on the tail end, but still hopefully has some game left (Flower being the obvious top selection here)

Yes, there’s no gaurtentees, but Wallstedt has DOMINATED every level he’s played sofar, he has pretty much unanamous praise by goalie experts as the next big thing, it appears he’s a key to the Wild’s long term plan as his 2nd contract (bringe deal) will overlap some with Kaprizov’s monster extension and hopefully balance it out for a few years…

tswoboda wrote:

Gruesome! Imagine being in that trainer’s room when he was getting worked on. I can’t remember another time where player went back into a game with a full shield.

I know when Jost first came here he had a bubble, but IDK if he returned to the Avs game when he got hurt initially.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

agreed, but the league isn’t going to stop calling penalties so I factored that in to me defensive opinion…You don’t pick a goalie in the 1st round and just sit on him for years and years..yes that’s a strategy in later rounds because typically the non-elite goalie prospects take longer to develop (or more likely don’t get the chance to prove themselves right away) but the studs typically get a shot at the crease in 2-4 years depending on leagues played in (Overseas, NCAA, etc)

FYI Here’s the list of goalies to be the starter/1a within 4 years of their draft since 2012: Carter Hart

of the UFA/RFA’s, who get’s resigned?

UFA’s:
Fleury – Yes, if they can get him in the $4aav range for 1-2 years
Deslauriers – Yes if he stays at or below his current $1aav, he’s a good 4th liner and takes the fighting responsibility off Foligno
Benn – ummmm no
Bjugstad – ummm no

RFA’s:
Fiala – No, he’ll be too expensive
Middleton – Yes, I would sign him long term at a lower aav, played well paired with with Spurgeon, brings much needed size and sandpaper, hard to believe he’s only 26 years old!
Dewar – Yes, he’ll sign a 2-3 year bridge/1 way deal…

DeBoer officially out in Vegas. Have to imagine they bring in Trotz for next season.

tswoboda wrote:

FYI Here’s the list of goalies to be the starter/1a within 4 years of their draft since 2012: Carter Hart

Well, there’s only been 15 goalies taken in the 1st round since 2000, some of that starting designation is situational, if Spencer Knight was on ANY other team without a goalie already on the payrole at $10aav he’d be starting… Jake Oettenger took over for Khudobin in his 3rd year, Ilya Samsonov took over in 4

Hart might be the poster child for putting a young goalie in too early, so that’s the big risk…his issues now are all mental…

It will be interesting what happens in terms of timing with Askarov in Nashville as Suros still having 3 more years on his deal and only 27 years old…Will Askarov even sign with Nashville this offseason or stay in the KHL?

tswoboda wrote:

DeBoer officially out in Vegas. Have to imagine they bring in Trotz for next season.

or Joel Quennville

How unfair is that for DeBoer…his coaching decisions are painted into a corner with all of the injuries and cap issues that gives him no alternatives other than to start AHL scrubs or actually play with fewer players…

tswoboda wrote:

DeBoer officially out in Vegas. Have to imagine they bring in Trotz for next season.

Vegas really is something with how they manage their coaching staff. I guess with Trotz out there they wanted a new shiny penny.

Never even thought about Q, but if there’s a team who would hire him and an owner that could get Bettman to allow it – It’s Vegas 100%

PDB is a whiny crybaby so I’ll never feel bad for him – but the deck was definitely stacked against him this year.

tswoboda wrote:

Never even thought about Q, but if there’s a team who would hire him and an owner that could get Bettman to allow it – It’s Vegas 100%

That was exactly my thinking as well…

Vegas is just such a hard franchise to like right now. They used to be a cool story with their instant success, but now its just gross. How they treated Fleury, etc.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Jesper Wallstedt posted a good bye to Lulea fans message on his social media accounts, expect a Wild signing announcement soon…

Here’s how I think the Wild’s goalie situation will play out the next 3 years…

* Wild Trade Talbot this offseason
* Wild resigns Fleury to a 2 year $8 million contract extension ($4aav)
* Wild signs a cheap veteran backup goalie to spot start Fleury for the 2022/2023 season
* Wallstedt starts in Iowa for the 2022/2023 season
* Wallstedt backs up Fleury for the 2023-2024 season (Fleury retires after)
* Wallstedt is the Wild starter 2024/2025 season

I think the Wild loves the idea of Wallstedt learning under Fleury for 2 years (1 year directly) before making the jump to Wild starter…obviously injuries and/or development setbacks can throw a wrench into this plan, but I think it’s what the Wild is hoping for…

It’s now offically done, will start in Iowa next season… I also believe the Wild can slide his ELC 1 more season since he doesn’t turn 20 years old until November 14th???? similar to Rossi who made the ELC slide cutoff by 8 days….

Interested to see what the Wallstedt Performance Bonus break down is, especially for year 3. Spencer Knight got almost $2m per year and I think max is $2.5m

Sounds like the Dumba injury was wildly different than any of us thought, makes sense now why he went to the hospital. Wow!

tswoboda wrote:

Sounds like the Dumba injury was wildly different than any of us thought. Wow!

Yikes, nobody should ever question the kids heart, he’s a warrior for sure, it’s his decision making that gets him in trouble…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Yikes, nobody should ever question the kids heart, he’s a warrior for sure, it’s his decision making that gets him in trouble…

Sheesh, I never in a million years would have guessed that was his injury based on the hit.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Yikes, nobody should ever question the kids heart, he’s a warrior for sure, it’s his decision making that gets him in trouble…

Sheesh, I never in a million years would have guessed that was his injury based on the hit.

knowing this now, I could see how his ribs could get cracked/dislocated, he opened himself up exposing his midsection when he came in for the open ice hit sort of sideways, just takes the Preds player’s elbow or stick/glove to collide with his ribcage and crack… then all the pain from the shooting motion pulling on those damaged ribs & core muscles everytime until fully healed…ouch!

JoeMX1825 wrote:

knowing this now, I could see how his ribs could get cracked/dislocated, he opened himself up exposing his midsection when he came in for the open ice hit sort of sideways, just takes the Preds player’s elbow or stick/glove to collide with his ribcage and crack… then all the pain from the shooting motion pulling on those damaged ribs & core muscles everytime until fully healed…ouch!

I suppose or the fantom butt ending too!

Here’s the hit that gave Dumba a punctured lung and broken and dislocated rib. Had to be his own elbow pad that did the damage. I maintain it was an obvious and stupid penalty.

Ek never was the most handsome devil on the team so this isn’t going to hurt him with the ladies. It may be awhile before the Wild have another season like this one. Lots of franchise records, numerous guys having career seasons, Kaprizov, Fiala scoring machines. It feels like a wasted season not getting out of the first round because it is. Couldn’t even push it to a game seven. The players got stifled by the Blues or lost their confidence and Berube out coached Evason big time.

Fluery did say he wants to test free agency but says coming back here is attractive. In translation that means if Pittsburgh has a spot for him he will take it otherwise he may settle for being here he wants to retire in Pittsburgh and who can blame him really.

If they couldn’t bust the second round with this team the struggle is going to be real going forward imo.

Evolving Hockey just did a free agent salary projections for this year and my eyes popped out of my head with what they projected Fiala’s to be. LOL $9.4M. Not a chance I’d pay that.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Evolving Hockey just did a free agent salary projections for this year and my eyes popped out of my head with what they projected Fiala’s to be. LOL $9.4M. Not a chance I’d pay that.

What does it show for Middleton?

JoeMX1825 wrote:

What does it show for Middleton?

I dont have a subscription to their service so I can only see the top few rows. They have Matthew Tkatcuk at $11.2M

yeah, I don’t have a sub either… man, how good does that $9aav for Kaprizov look now?!?

JoeMX1825 wrote:

yeah, I don’t have a sub either… man, how good does that $9aav for Kaprizov look now?!?

Incredible. Not surprised, but speaking of Kaprizov he says he is going home later today. This concerns me on multiple levels.

The Evolving Hockey contract projections are historically really good and the best thing to go off. I don’t have a subscription, but my guess for Middelton is 3 x $2.5

So lucky they don’t have to do the Kaprizov deal this summer. It would be $11m+

CaptainMusky wrote:

Incredible. Not surprised, but speaking of Kaprizov he says he is going home later today. This concerns me on multiple levels.

It concerns me as well with everything going on but cant blame him because thats home for him. Was really hoping that he would stay here and train for next season.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
yeah, I don’t have a sub either… man, how good does that $9aav for Kaprizov look now?!?

Incredible. Not surprised, but speaking of Kaprizov he says he is going home later today. This concerns me on multiple levels.

Y???