2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ice Cap wrote:</div>
I will add signing Merrill and especially Gologoski when he did was a bad decision. He could have waited and probably got Merrill for less. Gologoski could easily be $2M taking up space in the press box for half the season not what you need in the cap hell era. Much remains to be seen. BG has his attributes and he has the advantage of past comparisons and maybe he is the breath of fresh air everyone seems to think but I get a whiff of a little halitosis as well. He imo clearly fumbled the way they handled Fiala from the start and Evason is part of that as well.

As much as I like BG he has made a couple questionable moves. Goligoski especially. Merrill I’m ok with. He is a good 3rd line D man. Could’ve maybe got him cheaper but who knows.

I am still not on the Fleury resign bandwagon. I just don’t think he’s worth the $$ it will take to resign him anymore. I don’t care that he was with a crap team in Chicago and it inflated his stat line. He wasn’t anything more than average with our group either.

regarding the Gologoski extension, I too was a bit perplexed, but I heard somebody online mention that if he did indeed have a hand-shake agreement to do the 1 year x $5 and then a 2 year extension at $2 x 2 then GMBG was simply honoring his word, if he cut Goligoski loose after 1 year, word of that would surly make its way around agents and players and “poof” your reputation as an honest negotiator goes out the door… I thought that made alot of sense…

If he turns into a dumpster fire next season, he can be bought out for the last year at $666,000 for the next 2 years…

Ice Cap wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
Icecap is about the only person here who thinks BG has made poor decisions. He’s dogging him every chance he gets. I don’t blame BG for those comments regarding Dumba because he’s heard them all the time. He’s no dummy. He played the game and was traded etc. He knows what it’s like. It’s a business you don’t produce then they’ll find someone to replace you. Regardless of what Fiala did this season and over what period of time it happened in the fact remains there was going to have to be other changes in order to afford him regardless of the buyouts. Those two anchors still being on the roster doesn’t change much and would make things worse. A tiny amount of more cap but it’s irrelevant.

Kind of nice having someone around who’s not part of the group think right? Keeps things fresh and real!

I will add signing Merrill and especially Gologoski when he did was a bad decision. He could have waited and probably got Merrill for less. Gologoski could easily be $2M taking up space in the press box for half the season not what you need in the cap hell era. Much remains to be seen. BG has his attributes and he has the advantage of past comparisons and maybe he is the breath of fresh air everyone seems to think but I get a whiff of a little halitosis as well. He imo clearly fumbled the way they handled Fiala from the start and Evason is part of that as well.

Again don’t see what he fumbled. Please elaborate. If you just think not signing Fiala long term as a fumble fine but then fill out the rest of the roster and moves to do so.
Easy to say he didn’t do this or that right and not say what you think they should have done.

How much do you think he could of signed Merril for by waiting?

Goose was an agreement he had that happend last season.
Odd timing sure but it was always going to happen.

I am as critical as anyone of MN pro sports, but BG just put together the best Wild season in franchise history.
Seems to have a real team first philosophy throughout his team.
So I am going to let this play out and see where it goes.

Injuries are piling up in the blues avs series. Binner out with a knee and Girard a fractured sternum. Ouch.

I expected this fla Tampa series to be a lot better than it has been. Fla is doomed.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I expected this fla Tampa series to be a lot better than it has been. Fla is doomed.

Just saw they lost again so Tampa up 3-0, ouch!
It helps the Wild’s 1st round pick slot, so go bolts!

CaptainMusky wrote:

Injuries are piling up in the blues avs series. Binner out with a knee and Girard a fractured sternum. Ouch.

Girard hit was nasty.

Are there any small defenseman left healthy in the playoffs?

Ice Cap wrote:

Saying something like “why because he got hot for a couple months?” Is a absurd thing to say in a number of ways particularly about a player you have to trade and you’re not dealing from a position of power to start with. Yeah KK got hot for a couple months too but whatever.

As I’ve said numerous times before, BG just flat out doesn’t WANT Fiala on his hockey club. Period. He isn’t going to discuss what other pieces can be moved to make room for Fiala because he wants him off the bus.

I don’t see how it could be any more obvious. The KFAN interview was just the latest in a long string of interviews where BG had anything from lukewarm “damning by faint praise” comments to comments that bordered on derogatory when discussing Fiala. Why? Again, as I’ve written numerous times before, BG flat out doesn’t like Fiala.

If Fiala were to sign with the Wild for the league minimum, the only reason BG would sign him is then he’d make an even better bargaining chip. Then his buttski would still be dealt on outta here because BG wants him gone. Playoff productivity (or lack of same) is the last straw, but Fiala would be getting gone regardless.

Now we can all speculate on WHY BG doesn’t like Fiala. IMO it’s because of Fiala’s tendency to sulk and brood over coaching decisions, but it doesn’t matter. The fact that BG clearly doesn’t like him is plain as day.

Dumba is just the opposite. It’s not about the tangibles with Dumba, BG likes him for the intangibles and that’s that.

Fiala gets dealt, and Dumba stays. Take that to the bank and cash it.

McDavid is on a whole different level this playoffs. 22pts in 10 games and counting.

Pardon me 23pts now.

McDavid is ridiculous.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Are there any small defenseman left healthy in the playoffs?

There are a handful of sub six footers.

Fiala gets dealt, and Dumba stays. Take that to the bank and cash it.

Dumba has more of a chance to give up 85 points than score half that many. I agree with what you are saying that BG just does not like Fiala nor does Evason. The reasons don’t matter at this point. Him and his 85 points are gone and he will probably be better off for it but I would hesitate to say the Wild will be. Such a strange dynamic between player and team. Never seen anything like it before. But then again it’s so Minnesota sports.

Again it’s not just Fiala or Dumba. They don’t make the same and will not make the same moving forward. It’s not that simple.

Um Jack Eichel, Evander Kane, Laine, Tarasenoko most likely. Some players just don’t fit for multiple reasons and get traded or worse not resign.
Teams under value players and players over value themselves all the time. Good players get traded or not resigned every year.

Hell Gretzky was traded.
Ok bad example how that turned out.😂

You just hope they maximize and move on.

If there is one thing we agree on is he is getting traded.

It can never be Dumba or Fiala, it would have to be Dumba and another $2 million player or players or Fiala.
Fiala made it pretty clear last year that he thought he deserves Kaprizov type money. But he doesn’t, not even close.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t move Dumba, or even Spurgeon as long as the return is right.

Connor McDavid is the most skilled hockey player of all time.

Tom schmitt wrote:

It can never be Dumba or Fiala, it would have to be Dumba and another $2 million player or players or Fiala.
Fiala made it pretty clear last year that he thought he deserves Kaprizov type money. But he doesn’t, not even close.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t move Dumba, or even Spurgeon as long as the return is right.

It’s not too hard to make the money work for affording a Fiala extension this upcomming season, but do the lineup math for 2023/2024 & 2024/2025 seasons (fitting in a Boldy extension after next year) and get back to me…

Right on Joe. Id rather loose Fiala and be able to afford to keep Boldy than the other way around. Fiala benefitted greatly from Boldy, but I think Boldy cold really flourish with a multitude of other guys. Plus he just seems like a level headed even keeled dude. Fiala has been a streaky guy his entire career dating back to his days with the Preds. When he is on he is lights out, but when he is off its like a black hole.

It’s not even about zero’s and decimal points for me. I get the whole salary cap issue. It’s the obvious disdain the GM and coach have towards him. It’s not like Fiala got caught betting on games or arrested for DUI or spousal abuse or kicked puppies. He didn’t bring any bad press or embarrassment to the team. As far as I can tell his only crime was putting up 85 points and leading the team in scoring the previous two years iirc.

It’s just such a weird dynamic and it’s become fascinating and weird to watch at the same time.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I expected this fla Tampa series to be a lot better than it has been. Fla is doomed.

And I thought the wild PP was bad. Florida was 0-25 in the playoffs before they scored yesterday.

Florida is done and I’m not so sure Calgary is going to escape Edmonton. Might be the Canes year? Both the Blues and Av’s are getting beat up.

Ripjiggen wrote:

And I thought the wild PP was bad. Florida was 0-25 in the playoffs before they scored yesterday.

I saw that too and was very surprised. The highest scoring team in the regular season is getting snuffed out. Case in point why regular season stats mean squat come playoff time.

Ice Cap wrote:

It’s not even about zero’s and decimal points for me. I get the whole salary cap issue. It’s the obvious disdain the GM and coach have towards him. It’s not like Fiala got caught betting on games or arrested for DUI or spousal abuse or kicked puppies. He didn’t bring any bad press or embarrassment to the team. As far as I can tell his only crime was putting up 85 points and leading the team in scoring the previous two years iirc.

It’s just such a weird dynamic and it’s become fascinating and weird to watch at the same time.

I don’t think there was really any ill will towards Fiala, I think 3.5 years of having a bad attitude and being a turnover machine took it’s toll on the coaching staff and management (he does seem to have solved those problems the last half of this past season, maybe it’s just maturing?) and the immediate emergence of Kaprizov as a league superstar contributed to GMBG putting a prove it deal on the table and Fiala proved it…now he’ll get traded and paid very well and the Wild will get compensated very well…if 3 years from now Fiala in an allstar and Boldy/Rossi & whomever we draft with his trade compensation don’t pan out, you can post back that you were 100% correct, but if Boldy/Rossi take off and some of these draft picks take off, it will sure be nice to have the capspace to keep them…

Another question regarding Fiala’s breakout season would be the Kaprizov factor…Did Kevin break out because he’s always getting the weaker defensive opponents vs Kaprizov getting the main defensive focus? Will Kevin regress if he’s traded to another team and gets 1st line defensive coverage? we’ll see…

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
And I thought the wild PP was bad. Florida was 0-25 in the playoffs before they scored yesterday.

I saw that too and was very surprised. The highest scoring team in the regular season is getting snuffed out. Case in point why regular season stats mean squat come playoff time.

This really points to the coaching staff needing to figure out a powerplay strategy that takes best advantage of the skillsets they have vs trying to force existing strategies (example – Trying to adopt the Washington Capitals Powerplay when you don’t have an Alex Ovechkin)…The Panthers & Wild have WAY TOO MUCH SKILL to be that bad…

Panthers were a top PP team in the regular season though. They’ve been changing it up in the playoffs too running a 5F unit a few times. The whole team has just gone ice cold.

And the Capitals special teams Deano talked about was the penalty kill not the powerplay… assuming you’re referencing the exit presser.

tswoboda wrote:

Panthers were a top PP team in the regular season though. They’ve been changing it up in the playoffs too running a 5F unit a few times. The whole team has just gone ice cold.

And the Capitals special teams Deano talked about was the penalty kill not the powerplay… assuming you’re referencing the exit presser.

I’m just pushing a hypothetical example of the dangers in copying other teams strategies, Yes, Deano mentioned the Caps PK in his presser…

Fiala situation is pretty simple… They’re choosing depth over a star, and that decision was made last summer. The Greenway, Goose, Merril, etc. extensions didn’t handcuff them into moving Fiala, they were all made knowing full well Fiala wouldn’t be on the team next year. Ice Cap obviously doesn’t like that decision and I think that’s pretty fair! The off-ice/personality stuff may be part of it but I don’t think it’s that they hate him as a person. They just don’t think he’s good enough to warrant blowing up the depth to keep him.

Bingo…

Ripjiggen wrote:

Bingo…

I didnt even have that on my Bingo card. BG has been consistent with his messaging all along. “We know what we have to do.”

Interesting the Bolts and Panthers play a back to back. Don’t see that too often. FLA could be bounced tonight.