2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

CaptainMusky wrote:

Zucker took a hard shot early in the game and hobbled down the runway. He did return but I am sure that is what he was fighting the rest of the game.

I didn’t catch him getting banged up, but it seemed like he hobbled down the tunnel at least once a week with Wild.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

also look who he’s playing with right now, No Crosby, No Malkin, No Guentzel… players like Zucker need guys to get them the puck in scoring spaces…

So it’s Kapanen’s fault that Zucker looked lost even though Kapanen looked great? Pens are injured all the time and it should be guys like Zucker stepping up. And his poor play in Pittsburgh isn’t new. He’s that fanbase’s Victor Rask…

tswoboda wrote:

So it’s Kapanen’s fault that Zucker looked lost even though Kapanen looked great? Pens are injured all the time and it should be guys like Zucker stepping up. And his poor play in Pittsburgh isn’t new. He’s that fanbase’s Victor Rask…

Zucker was always a streaky player for us. Remember us always wanting more out of him and then just like he was shot out of a cannon he gets like 9 pts in 4 games or something? He’s done the same thing in Pitt. Its the player he is but I think with Pitt they have more talent around him now than the Wild had when he was here. We relied on him more, they dont really need him to drive the offense I dont think, but he should be when Crosby and Malkin arent in there.

Does Dylan Strome interest any of you guys? He’s an RFA after this year and the Hawks are listening to offers on him now that Toews came back and they got Johnson over the summer. Who would he replace? Gaudreau would be my thought.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Does Dylan Strome interest any of you guys? He’s an RFA after this year and the Hawks are listening to offers on him now that Toews came back and they got Johnson over the summer. Who would he replace? Gaudreau would be my thought.

Honestly both Strome brothers interest me since they’re offensively skilled centers. But GMs league wide never seem high on them so I’m not sure what the hold up is. I’ve never watched either closely and don’t know much about them, just seem like skilled guys that can play center and produce offense.

What’d you guys think of the “kick” last night? My take on that is the NHL unofficially defines a “distinct kicking motion” as a full on 66 yd field goal wind up. It never gets called or overturned so I think they should just full on allow kicked puck goals. I’m guessing it’s a safety issue where they don’t want guys kicking away on net front scrums.

tswoboda wrote:

Honestly both Strome brothers interest me since they’re offensively skilled centers. But GMs league wide never seem high on them so I’m not sure what the hold up is. I’ve never watched either closely and don’t know much about them, just seem like skilled guys that can play center and produce offense.

I am in the same boat with you on that. I havent seen them much, but from what I have they seem like decent players.

I guess it all depends on what the contract would look like for Strome? We’re so locked up from a cap perspective, I don’t see the Wild doing anything like acquiring a $4+ aav standpoint for at least 2 more years until they can finally see the last year light at the end of the buyout caphit hell tunnel (i’m guessing a “Strome” like center would cost at least that much, likely more)

Once you get past this feeling out/growth season, our Center depth will actually be in a good/great place next season and onward (Ek/Rossi/Sturm/Gudreau) with Khusnidinov/Khovanov/? likely maturing in Iowa…

THE ONLY way we acquire a mid-level center would be if we can sign/trade for a “Christian Dvorak type” Good center with a great $4aav for multiple years) that would allow us to move Ek back to 3rd line, Sturm/Gudreau to 4th line and Hartman back to wing…Doing this likely means Fiala is gone though

OR

If you want to reallocate that 2nd line center money towards keeping Fiala longterm, then you put Rossi as 1C, bump Ek to 2C, Sturm to 3C and Gudreau to 4C…(this is the Center lineup I would prefer with Khusnidinov marinating in Iowa prepping to slot into 2C when ready)

(If you can re-sign Fiala, Sturm, Kahkonen and maybe Goligoski at a super low aav (if you can’t, you promote Addison) all with the limited capspace we have) That turns us into a scary good looking lineup next season!

Zuccarello – Rossi – Kaprizov
Boldy/Beckman – Ek – Fiala
Foligno – Sturm – Boldy/Beckman
Hartman – Gudreau – Duhaime

Spurgeon – Addison/Goligoski
Dumba – Brodin
Kulikov – TBD UFA Vet

with Khusnidinov/Khovanov/Lambos/Hunt/O’Rourke/Wallstedt all playing in Iowa available for callups

I wonder if they’ll play with the top 4 D pairings at all this year. Brodin-Spurgeon & Goose-Dumba is intriguing to me. Brodin-Spurgeon taking the tough matchups and Goose-Dumba playing a more offensive role. They paired Brodin-Spurgeon in the past and they were very good together. I think it’s worth a shot and would love to see it.

I never realized Goligoski is the same size as Addison. For some reason I thought he was bigger all these years, like 6′-1″ or 6′-2″.

tswoboda wrote:

What’d you guys think of the “kick” last night? My take on that is the NHL unofficially defines a “distinct kicking motion” as a full on 66 yd field goal wind up. It never gets called or overturned so I think they should just full on allow kicked puck goals. I’m guessing it’s a safety issue where they don’t want guys kicking away on net front scrums.

I hadnt seen it until you mentioned it so I looked for the replay and to me his skate was moving toward the net intentionally so that seems like a kick. I realize you can direct it in with your skate by changing the angle of your foot, but that isnt what it appeared to be to me.

tswoboda wrote:

I wonder if they’ll play with the top 4 D pairings at all this year. Brodin-Spurgeon & Goose-Dumba is intriguing to me. Brodin-Spurgeon taking the tough matchups and Goose-Dumba playing a more offensive role. They paired Brodin-Spurgeon in the past and they were very good together. I think it’s worth a shot and would love to see it.

I think they will eventually have to do that as there’s zero chance financially we resign Dumba in 2 years, so Brodin and Spurgeon will need to be paired up as the top pair, with Addison slotting next to whoever is ready in 2 years (Lambos? Hunt? O”Rourke?) to fill out the top 4…

tswoboda wrote:

I wonder if they’ll play with the top 4 D pairings at all this year. Brodin-Spurgeon & Goose-Dumba is intriguing to me. Brodin-Spurgeon taking the tough matchups and Goose-Dumba playing a more offensive role. They paired Brodin-Spurgeon in the past and they were very good together. I think it’s worth a shot and would love to see it.

The thing with Brodin though is he really covers for Dumba’s mishaps. Yeah, it would be fun to have Brodin and Spurgeon together, but I have a yikes moment thinking about Goose and Dumba. Maybe it wouldnt be as bad as I think but certainly worth trying. They will likely have some mismatches in game with special teams when the lines get shuffled.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tswoboda wrote:</div>
What’d you guys think of the “kick” last night? My take on that is the NHL unofficially defines a “distinct kicking motion” as a full on 66 yd field goal wind up. It never gets called or overturned so I think they should just full on allow kicked puck goals. I’m guessing it’s a safety issue where they don’t want guys kicking away on net front scrums.

I hadnt seen it until you mentioned it so I looked for the replay and to me his skate was moving toward the net intentionally so that seems like a kick. I realize you can direct it in with your skate by changing the angle of your foot, but that isnt what it appeared to be to me.

Logically I agree with you that it was a kick. But going off how that’s been called in the past there was no way it was getting overturned. I really think it takes a full wind up soccer kick or football punting motion for the Refs to actually call a goal off.

^^^can almost guarantee the Wild get a kicked goal called off this year after me posting this

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tswoboda wrote:</div>
What’d you guys think of the “kick” last night? My take on that is the NHL unofficially defines a “distinct kicking motion” as a full on 66 yd field goal wind up. It never gets called or overturned so I think they should just full on allow kicked puck goals. I’m guessing it’s a safety issue where they don’t want guys kicking away on net front scrums.

I hadnt seen it until you mentioned it so I looked for the replay and to me his skate was moving toward the net intentionally so that seems like a kick. I realize you can direct it in with your skate by changing the angle of your foot, but that isnt what it appeared to be to me.

They just need to remove ALL rules around not kicking the puck in, if it results in a few more goals a year GREAT! isn’t that what the NHL has been trying to do the past few decades? It also REMOVES ALL questioning if its a goal or not…I draw the line with hands though, keep the zero tolerance on hands knocking the puck in…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

They just need to remove ALL rules around not kicking the puck in, if it results in a few more goals a year GREAT! isn’t that what the NHL has been trying to do the past few decades? It also REMOVES ALL questioning if its a goal or not…I draw the line with hands though, keep the zero tolerance on hands knocking the puck in…

I’d have no problem with that. Fix one thing now lets talk about the point system, 3 pts for win in reg, 2pts for win in OT or Shootout, 1 pt for losing in OT or shootout. LOL

JoeMX1825 wrote:

They just need to remove ALL rules around not kicking the puck in, if it results in a few more goals a year GREAT! isn’t that what the NHL has been trying to do the past few decades? It also REMOVES ALL questioning if its a goal or not…I draw the line with hands though, keep the zero tolerance on hands knocking the puck in…

Basically exactly what I was saying. But I think it won’t happen because of safety. The league doesn’t want guys kicking away during a goal mouth scrum when the goalie’s trying to cover it and defensemen laying on the ice.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
They just need to remove ALL rules around not kicking the puck in, if it results in a few more goals a year GREAT! isn’t that what the NHL has been trying to do the past few decades? It also REMOVES ALL questioning if its a goal or not…I draw the line with hands though, keep the zero tolerance on hands knocking the puck in…

I’d have no problem with that. Fix one thing now lets talk about the point system, 3 pts for win in reg, 2pts for win in OT or Shootout, 1 pt for losing in OT or shootout. LOL

Abolish the shootout, abolish the point system. Play 3 on 3 OT until someone scores. Go to win-loss standings like every other sport instead of the stupid point system.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
They just need to remove ALL rules around not kicking the puck in, if it results in a few more goals a year GREAT! isn’t that what the NHL has been trying to do the past few decades? It also REMOVES ALL questioning if its a goal or not…I draw the line with hands though, keep the zero tolerance on hands knocking the puck in…

I’d have no problem with that. Fix one thing now lets talk about the point system, 3 pts for win in reg, 2pts for win in OT or Shootout, 1 pt for losing in OT or shootout. LOL

hehe, at least they finally solved the cross-checking rule this season

Abolish the shootout, abolish the point system. Play 3 on 3 OT until someone scores. Go to win-loss standings like every other sport instead of the stupid point system.
[/quote]

I agree, but TV time allotment comes into play then…I guess I never pay attention, do they ever cut to commercials during the 3-3 ot?

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I think this one is likely to eventually happen, I think they gradually phase out the shootout by increasing the 3-3 OT period to 10 minutes. I think after that amount of time you’ll very rarely even get to a shootout, so they’ll just phase it out then… TV time will have an impact on the decision, but imo it will actually be a faster game as it won’t require the extra time scraping the ice before the shootouts…

The NHL’s big stink is that they don’t want any ties, so the game must be decided one way or the other and it must be done where it doesn’t mess with tv timeslot schedules…

And if they quit giving out loser points then we’ll see less of the Torts special. Every tie game in the 3rd period goes straight back to dead puck era hockey with both teams playing for overtime to get at least 1 point. Torts teams were great at loser pointing their way into the playoffs. Can’t even blame them for it because the NHL rules reward them for doing it.

And if they quit giving out loser points then we’ll see less of the Torts special. Every tie game in the 3rd period goes straight back to dead puck era hockey with both teams playing for overtime to get at least 1 point. Torts teams were great at loser pointing their way into the playoffs. Can’t even blame them for it because the NHL rules reward them for doing it.
[/quote]

agreed, the last few weeks of the season this dial gets turned to 11, it’s just gross hockey…not sure the coaches and GM’s will agree to it though, it actually gives them a bit of control on getting into the playoffs of which their jobs are mostly based on……

Do you think that casual hockey fans like the shootouts? I know the majority of hockey fans hate them, but I wonder what casuals think. Do you think the NHL would keep it around for the sole reason they are trying to grow the game and they think casual fans get excited for it? I have no idea, but the NHL does some dumb things for sure.
I’d also like them to change the offside rule. If the trailing skate is in the air but on the line that is onside. I think that is so dumb that it has to be ON the dang ice.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I’d also like them to change the offside rule. If the trailing skate is in the air but on the line that is onside. I think that is so dumb that it has to be ON the dang ice.

It’s no longer an on the ice/off the ice rule for 2021…

The official rule:
A player is on-side when either of his skates are in contact with the blue line, or on his own side of the line, at the instant the puck completely crosses the leading edge of the blue line. On his own side of the line shall be defined by a “plane” of the blue line which shall extend from the leading edge of the blue line upwards. If a player’s skate has yet to break the “plane” prior to the puck crossing the leading edge, he is deemed to be on-side for the purpose of the off-side rule.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

It’s no longer an on the ice/off the ice rule for 2021…

The official rule:
A player is on-side when either of his skates are in contact with the blue line, or on his own side of the line, at the instant the puck completely crosses the leading edge of the blue line. On his own side of the line shall be defined by a “plane” of the blue line which shall extend from the leading edge of the blue line upwards. If a player’s skate has yet to break the “plane” prior to the puck crossing the leading edge, he is deemed to be on-side for the purpose of the off-side rule.

Perfect! That has always irritating me. Whether the skate was on the ice or not has zero bearing on the play.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Do you think that casual hockey fans like the shootouts? I know the majority of hockey fans hate them

I still get excited when the skilled guys shoot, because you just might see something special (Patrick Kane/Pavel Datsyuk/Mike Robeiro) but after that it’s just meh, they could liven it up a bit and go with International rules where you can repeat shooters after the first 3 go… I more thoroughly enjoy 3-3 now though…if they extended it to 10 minutes of 3-3, shoot outs would be very rare…

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tswoboda wrote:</div>
I wonder if they’ll play with the top 4 D pairings at all this year. Brodin-Spurgeon & Goose-Dumba is intriguing to me. Brodin-Spurgeon taking the tough matchups and Goose-Dumba playing a more offensive role. They paired Brodin-Spurgeon in the past and they were very good together. I think it’s worth a shot and would love to see it.

The thing with Brodin though is he really covers for Dumba’s mishaps. Yeah, it would be fun to have Brodin and Spurgeon together, but I have a yikes moment thinking about Goose and Dumba. Maybe it wouldnt be as bad as I think but certainly worth trying. They will likely have some mismatches in game with special teams when the lines get shuffled.

I wanna see them unlock Dumba’s offense again. In theory playing Brodin should allow him to be more offensive minded but the results have actually been the opposite… The numbers say playing with Brodin has actually held him back.

17-18 & 18-19 were Dumba’s big breakout years offensively and he actually played just as many minutes with Suter as he did with Brodin those seasons. Points/60 with Suter was about 1.3 and points/60 with Brodin was 0.90.

Yes his big injury happened in 18-19 but I’d argue that only affected his powerplay production and his 5 on 5 game has changed to be more conservative since then. In 19-20 & 20-21 he played almost solely with Brodin, actualy 5x as many minutes with Brodin that with Suter. Dumba’s points/60 fell off a cliff those two seasons with only 0.60 points/60 playing with Brodin. BUT in his minutes with Suter his points/60 was actually still up around 1.30 points/60 similar to what it was before the injury.

Lotta fancy stats there to say I think Dumba’s offensive production is hindered when playing with Brodin. I know it doesn’t make sense and I’m not sure why, maybe it’s the matchups they get or the forwards they are paired with. But over a 4 season sample size his production has definitely been down when with Brodin. Dumba obviously has the raw talent to still produce offense so I think they should try unlocking that again this season. I mean what better way to finally bring his trade stock back up…

CaptainMusky wrote:

Do you think that casual hockey fans like the shootouts? I know the majority of hockey fans hate them, but I wonder what casuals think. Do you think the NHL would keep it around for the sole reason they are trying to grow the game and they think casual fans get excited for it? I have no idea, but the NHL does some dumb things for sure.
I’d also like them to change the offside rule. If the trailing skate is in the air but on the line that is onside. I think that is so dumb that it has to be ON the dang ice.

You might be on to something with casual fans. Shootouts make for easy highlight reels but it’s become the most boring and anti-climactic way to end a game. They were fun for a couple seasons but I’m not sure anyone still likes them.

I think the off-side rule changed beginning of last season. I’d like to see them change it so an off-side challenge has to be within 5 seconds of scoring a goal. I HATE when there’s a challenge on an off-side that happened like 30 seconds before a goal was scored and the missed off-sides didn’t directly lead to a goal.

#1 rule that absolutely has to go… Puck over glass. Not up for discussion. OMG is that ever dumb.

If you can pull stats, I’d like to see Dumba’s PP points his 3rd-5th seasons in the league vs his last 6th-8th seasons…

How much has his PP usage effected his offensive stats (He used to be the PP focus early in his career, but that has been taken away the last 2-3 seasons)

tswoboda wrote:

#1 rule that absolutely has to go… Puck over glass. Not up for discussion. OMG is that ever dumb.

Are you saying it’s ultimately no different than a penalized icing? The NHL would argue that it’s an easier panic move to get out of a bad defensive situation and must be penalized…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tswoboda wrote:</div>
#1 rule that absolutely has to go… Puck over glass. Not up for discussion. OMG is that ever dumb.

Are you saying it’s ultimately no different than a penalized icing? The NHL would argue that it’s an easier panic move to get out of a bad defensive situation and must be penalized…

You’re exactly right, it’s the same as penalizing an icing. Pucks over glass wasn’t an issue before they made the rule, and before they implemented the automatic minor penalty it could still be called a penalty if deemed intentional. I think the NHL is dumb and just like to laugh at all the players and fans simultaneously raising their hands like a bunch of lunatics every time a puck goes out of play. I’ll be honest, I even do it in my living room during the playoffs.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

If you can pull stats, I’d like to see Dumba’s PP points his 3rd-5th seasons in the league vs his last 6th-8th seasons…

How much has his PP usage effected his offensive stats (He used to be the PP focus early in his career, but that has been taken away the last 2-3 seasons)

17-19 were his 2 best seasons, pre-injury. 19-21 are the 2 seasons post-injury. This is powerplay minutes only. The stuff I posted earlier was 5 on 5 only.

Looks like Dumba PP-TOI is about the same, shot rate is a bit down, and his shooting percentage cratered.