2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

Good start. Fiala is flying.

Good start, but terrible set of power plays.

And terrible second…puck is bouncing every where tonight.

Don’t understand how the #1 PP can be so bad.
Why are goals not just reviewed and you have to challenge. Completely changed this game. 2 min penalty seems kind of silly for challenging a high stick or something fluky like that.

I just hate how much the reviews slow the game down. Kills all momentum and feel of the game… absolutely miserable if you’re at the game. I wouldn’t mind if they got rid of them all together, or something close at least. Make it a 5 minute penalty if you lose on some borderline ticky tack call like that high stick. Even stiffer if you lose a goalie interference.

Fiala looks great tonight, creating a ton of offense but still can’t bury one. Someone get Goaligno his hat trick, just don’t try to do it when the empty net

And get Addison on top of PP1!!

I mean it’s not that bad every sport has them now. Only one penalized like this is NHL. Why not lose your timeout or something. Either don’t have it or just review the goal quick on ones that are not clean.

Agree on Addison.

I agree with Rip. In the NHL they are penalized if they lose the challenge not lose a timeout. Big deal.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I agree with Rip. In the NHL they are penalized if they lose the challenge not lose a timeout. Big deal.

Honestly I reluctantly do too. I just get annoyed by how long they take and the challenges like that high stick where it was 30 seconds before the goal and really had nothing to do with it.

Wild are dominating this 3rd period.

I’d be fine without those challenges. The one off the guys chest though I’d be pissed if that was on the flip side and it cost you a GWG.

Just have an official up stairs quickly reviewing the actual goal. Hell have him grade the refs each night while he killing time.

Our D pinch and get caught down low way to much.

Fiala was a beast tonight. Kaprizov says thank you!

Good way to have your stars finish.
Both played pretty well. Fiala was all over. Best player on the ice. Pop that cherry for KK finally.
Sturm line was good and Ek was all over the ice too.
Gaudreau had some game but dude just not a goal scorer.

That game winner was all Fiala he had a heck of a game. Once the monkey is off his back he’s going on a tear!

Even if he didn’t score, we finally saw the Kaprizov of old tonight, he was obviously dealing with some kind of injury the last week or so..

CaptainMusky wrote:

Fiala was a beast tonight. Kaprizov says thank you!

You mean Спасибо!

When does GMBG hit the reset button and hire a new special teams coach? The 1st powerplay unit is all over the place with no plan or direction, the penalty kill setup has more holes in it than swiss cheese… both seem to be getting worse as the season goes along…

They more than have enough talent, its all coaching…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Even if he didn’t score, we finally saw the Kaprizov of old tonight, he was obviously dealing with some kind of injury the last week or so..

I’m still not buying the injury speculation. He looked better last night than he has for awhile but he was still getting knocked off the puck and or stripped of it at times. I’d like to see him stop with the trick plays like between the legs/behind the back in front of net or the spin o rama carrying into the zone. He tried both last night and both failed. Those plays aren’t for when you are struggling to get goals. You save those for when everything you touch is going in.

Nice to see KK finally get the goal though and hope that’s enough to spark the flame because we are going to need him to be last years player. Fiala’s effort on that game winner was the play of the night. He had been out there for nearly two minutes at that point and to get the inside on the checker and shake him off his back and make a tape to tape pass for basically a tap in by KK was outstanding.

Kaapo in the net against the Penguins Saturday? He needs to get some net time or he’s never going to get any groove going. I don’t see Talbot being able to carry the Wild with a heavy load all season long.

Ripjiggen wrote:

You mean Спасибо!

LOL

JoeMX1825 wrote:

When does GMBG hit the reset button and hire a new special teams coach? The 1st powerplay unit is all over the place with no plan or direction, the penalty kill setup has more holes in it than swiss cheese… both seem to be getting worse as the season goes along…

They more than have enough talent, its all coaching…

Found myself wondering the same thing during recent games. The PP was borderline embarrassing last night and a couple times couldn’t even get a clean zone entry. Swiss cheese is the perfect way to describe the PK. They absolutely have the right personnel but continue to struggle on both. A PK group of Foligno, EK, and Brodin should not be giving up goals and grade-A chances every time they are out there. Agree that it’s a reflection of the coaching staff and I’m not sure who runs what, but it’s usually the D coach running PK and the F coach running PP. Either way Deano is ultimately responsible for his coaches, and they need to get these groups at minimum up to league average. I don’t think firing/replacing assistant coaches mid-season is really a thing, is it?

The Foligno-Ek-Fiala line should stick moving forward. They all looked great last night and really thrived playing together. We know how good the Ek-Foligno combo is, and Fiala had good numbers in limited time with Ek last year even stuck with Greenway. Can throw either Hartman or Gaudreau between KK and Zuccy, either one is an upgrade from who they had most of last season.

I agree the lines overall looked good last night. After seeing the projected lines yesterday I was thinking the line with Kaprizov was going to be bad but was pleasantly surprised. When Zuccs is back then swapping out Gaudreau makes a ton of sense.
What are they going to do at D when Goli is ready? I mean Addison has earned his shot.

CaptainMusky wrote:

What are they going to do at D when Goli is ready? I mean Addison has earned his shot.

I know it’s only 2 games and I clearly have a soft spot for this kid, but Addy’s been sooo good. He looks so much more confident this year. He’s a neutral zone wizard and now it’s obvious he wants the puck on his stick all the time – we didn’t see that from him last year. Every neutral zone breakout or regroup that starts with Addison ends with the forwards having O-zone possession, whether that’s a controlled entry or dump in with speed.

Kaprizov got a haircut. He went from looking like he’s 17 to looking like he’s 12. Baby Kaprizov gets the gamewinner!

am I the only person who thinks Merrill is soft & terrible? Addison should stay with Koulikov when Gologoski comes back, even if it’s only for 10 minutes a game…Keep Merril as an injury fill-in, send Benn to Iowa…

Ive been pretty impressed with Kulikov. I didnt know what to expect, but he has seemed to be pretty steady out there.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

am I the only person who thinks Merrill is soft & terrible? Addison should stay with Koulikov when Gologoski comes back, even if it’s only for 10 minutes a game…Keep Merril as an injury fill-in, send Benn to Iowa…

Thought the same thing until the last 2 games, but he’s looked good with Addison. Not sure if it’s because of Addison or because Merril finally gets to play his strong side. He’s been stuck on his off hand with Kulikov.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Ive been pretty impressed with Kulikov. I didnt know what to expect, but he has seemed to be pretty steady out there.

Agree his skill is very evident but also don’t fully trust him. IDK what it is but I just feel like he could do something dumb on any given shift, and he almost cost them the game with a minute left last night. Watch Kulikov on the play Stutzle almost scored and it’s like wtf is that guy doing.

Eichel to Vegas… FINALLY.

tswoboda wrote:

Eichel to Vegas… FINALLY.

I have to give some credit to Vegas, they’ve bucked every expansion team “rule for success” ever…. What’s crazy is that they still have some good prospects left in their system….

It will be interesting to see how they make this all work from a cap/LTIR perspective… Another example of LTIR being a joke…. Vegas has $79 million tied up in only 11 skaters next season!

I wonder how Alex Tuch felt waking up in his Vegas flat only to find out he’s living & playing in Buffalo the next 6 years…

If I was GMBG i’d be on the phone asap with Buffalo to see if they’d want Victor Rask so they can comfortably get above the salary cap floor.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Another example of LTIR being a joke…. Vegas has $79 million tied up in only 11 skaters next season!

It’s a hair under $78 million tied up in 16 players, leaving them juusssst enough space to sign 6 league minimum guys to fill out the roster lol.

Gotta hand it to Vegas though… every time a star player comes available they go hard after them. Their top 6F/top 4D are going to be among the best in the league. And their bottom 6 will probably be among the worst.