2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I think Duhaime “could” be an eventual Greenway replacement on that line if the $ just won’t workout to resign him, but i’ve never been more impressed with Greenway’s game, and he’s FINALLY starting to show some of the nastiness we’ve all been begging for from him…

Agree on all of this. This Greenway is the guy I kept hoping he would turn into. I never wanted to give up on him because his combination of size and skating is something that doesnt come around very often. My buddy kept riding me about how I liked him and he kept saying he was trash. I feel a bit vindicated now though I admit I was on the struggle bus a lot with that take.

Don’t follow the Wild much, if at all, but keep hearing the hype..thinking I should start watching.. I’m guessing they must be a top 3-4 team in the league, top 5 at the least.

I look out on CBSsports and they just put out their NHL power rankings.

Wild are #12.

Is this just the first year of a nice run?

stout93 wrote:

I look out on CBSsports and they just put out their NHL power rankings.

Wild are #12.

Hard to judge/follow power rankings with any meaning. The Wild are 11th in points in the league. 6 teams in front of them have played 4 & 5 more games. Wild are only 8 points out of being #1. That’s 4 games. I don’t think they are #1 in the league, but damn close with this team they have.

Joe we must be watching different Greenways. Sure he has played well for SOME of the season. It’s no different than any other year. What I will say is when he is engaged and with EK and Foligno that line as a GROUP is insane. I think Greenway is easily replaceable personally. Maybe not his size, but by production easily. Maybe it’s my fault for expecting him to score more…..

i’ve never paid any attention to those rankings websites, they are basically click bait for the larger markets…

The Wild are for real, their success this season will likely come down to injuries (you can kind of say that for any team though) if they stay healthy, they are as complete a team as anybody in the NHL…

mahtofire14 wrote:

Joe we must be watching different Greenways. Sure he has played well for SOME of the season. It’s no different than any other year. What I will say is when he is engaged and with EK and Foligno that line as a GROUP is insane. I think Greenway is easily replaceable personally. Maybe not his size, but by production easily.

I agree he’s a different player when playing with Ek and Foligno, likely because he can focus on just playing his role on the line vs trying to do too much elsewhere, I guess that’s what I was talking about…Sure, he had a few hiccups early in the season that were called out, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen the level of beastmode performances he’s been giving most of this season. Some guys (he’s still only 24) take longer to mentally mature and figure out how they need to play in the NHL to be successful, I’m hoping that lightbulb finally clicked on in his head this season. Ultimately it will come down to GMBG believing if he has figured it out for good or not…

These guys are all been having career years points wise, their increased scoring is an added bonus as their main responsibility is to be a shutdown line..

stout93 wrote:

I look out on CBSsports and they just put out their NHL power rankings.

Wild are #12.

“Power Rankings” are junk, waste of time unless for pure entertainment purposes. The Wild are tied for 5th/6th/7th in the league, 2nd in the Western Conference. They have a good squad.

Sturm and Duhaime had a rough couple months after starting the season hot. Nice to see them getting their grove back. Hopefully Sturm can build momentum off a big 3 point night. If they could combine “The Deweys” into one player that would be a force. Duhaime has the size, speed, and physicality. Dewar has the brains with some quickness and decent hands. Dewar is always in the right place at the right time, and had a couple big backchecks last night too. Whereas it seems like I catch Duhaime looking over his shoulder a lot or losing his guy in the D-zone. Nothing that can’t be corrected with more NHL experience. I love the energy that line is bringing though, so cool to have 3 young Iowa grads manning the 4th line and playing well. I wonder what they do when Bjugstadt comes back.

Greenway is a beast when playing with Ek, we saw it to start the season last year too. He just needs to bring more consistency and learn to play that way no matter who he’s with. He’s also a very underrated passer, Foligno OT goal is a good example, but he’ll never be a scorer.

I saw Montreal play last week in Vegas and they took them to OT so I was expecting to see more out of them even though their record doesnt show it.

Side note games in Vegas are a blast! They have a fun atmosphere and the crowd really gets into it.

Something called sportsnet650 is claiming that the Wild, Bruins and another team have been inquiring about JT Miller. Apparently it’s Vancouvers sports radio station. Tweeted out yesterday.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Something called sportsnet650 is claiming that the Wild, Bruins and another team have been inquiring about JT Miller. Apparently it’s Vancouvers sports radio station. Tweeted out yesterday.

That’s from Frank Seravalli, president of the PHWA. The guy who leaked every single Kraken pick the morning of the draft. Also the guy who “leaked” KK had a $10,000,000 contract on the table from CSKA… so not always accurate lol.

He reported in a podcast that the Rangers are the team hot after JT Miller and “the other three teams that I’ve heard that have been interested in JT Miller are the Boston Bruins, Minnesota Wild, and Calgary Flames.” Also said the cost could be “more than a 1st and top prospect”.

JT Miller was drafted by the Rangers and played the first 5 or so years of his career there before being traded to the Bolts with McDonagh.

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
Something called sportsnet650 is claiming that the Wild, Bruins and another team have been inquiring about JT Miller. Apparently it’s Vancouvers sports radio station. Tweeted out yesterday.

That’s from Frank Seravalli. The guy who leaked every single Kraken pick the morning of the draft. Also the guy who “leaked” KK had a $10,000,000 contract on the table from CSKA… so not always accurate lol.

Yeah I wasnt putting too much faith into it.

The JT MIller trade scenario just creates more issues for GMBG after the season is over with vs just going with a rental. I guess he could just trade JT before the draft and get some of his trade capital back, but if he can’t find a trade partner, he’ll then be forced to trade Fiala or Dumba or both just to get the capspace back to sign his other players. The other rumor is that the Rangers are very interested in Miller, he probably makes more sense there as is familiar with playing in New York…

I wold rather they go the rental direction this season and then rolling with Hartman-Rossi-Ek-Gaudreau/Sturm centers next year and beyond…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Please don’t use the G word when talking about the future…..

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>

Please don’t use the G word when talking about the future…..

as in Gaudreau? He’ll either be here next year as a 4th liner on the last year of his contract or he’s somehow traded

Problem with Greenway is he should have consistently been playing the last two seasons the way he is now. He’s a one trick pony that needs Ek and Foligno with him. Either one of those two are injured it effects Greenways play as well. Without them he’s back to a big guy who plays small. My concern if you give him three years you are going to be pushing and prodding him to keep his level of play up most of the time the way he’s been his entire career here.

I would certainly gauge his trade value if I’m BG.

Ice Cap wrote:

Problem with Greenway is he should have consistently been playing the last two seasons the way he is now. He’s a one trick pony that needs Ek and Foligno with him. Either one of those two are injured it effects Greenways play as well. Without them he’s back to a big guy who plays small. My concern if you give him three years you are going to be pushing and prodding him to keep his level of play up most of the time the way he’s been his entire career here.

I would certainly gauge his trade value if I’m BG.

100% agree. He’s almost 25 years old and consistency should not be a concern anymore. I said the same thing about Fiala with his maturity issues. Once these guys hit 23/24/25 with multiple full NHL season they do not get the benefit of the doubt.

Ice Cap wrote:

Problem with Greenway is he should have consistently been playing the last two seasons the way he is now. He’s a one trick pony that needs Ek and Foligno with him. Either one of those two are injured it effects Greenways play as well. Without them he’s back to a big guy who plays small. My concern if you give him three years you are going to be pushing and prodding him to keep his level of play up most of the time the way he’s been his entire career here.

I would certainly gauge his trade value if I’m BG.

Nailed it.

Guys check your guides for the becoming wild episode about winter classic. The view into Dean and the staff and coaching is awesome. Watching it now.

If, and a big if, there is someone that might be trade bait, it would be Greenway. He has that size upside to him that a team might think they could be able to capitalize on for a playoff run. But to plan on him consistently being g the player he was this week…I don’t think so. I don’t think he can keep his interest up through the full season grind. A change of scenery would likely spark his interest and best play at playoff time. I don’t know that I trust he’ll do that come playoff time for the same old, same old…as in the Wild.

Joe Pavelski lighting it up tonight, playing center too… Giroux scored as well..

fishinfreaks wrote:

If, and a big if, there is someone that might be trade bait, it would be Greenway. He has that size upside to him that a team might think they could be able to capitalize on for a playoff run. But to plan on him consistently being g the player he was this week…I don’t think so. I don’t think he can keep his interest up through the full season grind. A change of scenery would likely spark his interest and best play at playoff time. I don’t know that I trust he’ll do that come playoff time for the same old, same old…as in the Wild.

1. Why would the wild trade the big rig to a possible playoff team they would play this year.
2 This ain’t the same old wild me boy.

Daemon Hunt scored his 11th goal tonight to lead all WHL defenseman! All while missing several games to injury this season. He could be the first of our stable of young D prospects to push for a Wild spot in a few years.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Daemon Hunt scored his 11th goal tonight to lead all WHL defenseman! All while missing several games to injury this season. He could be the first of our stable of young D prospects to push for a Wild spot in a few years.

I can’t get over how much fun it is to have prospects playing at top tier skill levels. We just don’t get that in this state. Huge props so far to our scouting/drafting team over the last few years.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Daemon Hunt scored his 11th goal tonight to lead all WHL defenseman! All while missing several games to injury this season. He could be the first of our stable of young D prospects to push for a Wild spot in a few years.

First? What about Addison? Any other team but the Wild and he’s playing full time on the big boy club. No way Benn should be playing over Addison right now. Benn is not part of the future of this team and Addison is. Addison has proved he’s a NHL’er. I know you guys like to rave about all the great prospects but sometimes it feels the way Evason and BG go about this we will still be developing these guys in when they are 28 years old.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Daemon Hunt scored his 11th goal tonight to lead all WHL defenseman! All while missing several games to injury this season. He could be the first of our stable of young D prospects to push for a Wild spot in a few years.

He also had a good tussle to complete the Gordie Howe Hat trick! This kid is tough as nails and reminds me of a young Matt Dumba (minus the great skating ability)

First? What about Addison? Any other team but the Wild and he’s playing full time on the big boy club. No way Benn should be playing over Addison right now. Benn is not part of the future of this team and Addison is. Addison has proved he’s a NHL’er. I know you guys like to rave about all the great prospects but sometimes it feels the way Evason and BG go about this we will still be developing these guys in when they are 28 years old.

[/quote]
I don’t consider Addison a prospect anymore, as you said he could easily be playing in the NHL full time this season, but is in/out due to similar size & playstyles of our defensive core more than anything…

Some people are surprised Spurgeon didnt even get a call on that play where Dvorak got hurt. To me it looked like Spurgeon was trying to avoid contact with Ek and he turned his shoulder toward Ek, but Dvorak contacted him. I dont think Spurgeon even looked at Dvorak at all which would mean to me that he wasnt trying to contact him. Aaron Dell laid out a guy in the game last night again and he will have a hearing today. That was a clear penalty but wasnt called.

Ice Cap wrote:

First? What about Addison? Any other team but the Wild and he’s playing full time on the big boy club. No way Benn should be playing over Addison right now. Benn is not part of the future of this team and Addison is. Addison has proved he’s a NHL’er. I know you guys like to rave about all the great prospects but sometimes it feels the way Evason and BG go about this we will still be developing these guys in when they are 28 years old.

Preach!! Addison and Merrill have been a great D pair. I will say I’m getting sick of people sh!itting on Benn on Twitter. Not his fault they’re playing him, and it’s probably better for the team to have another bigger D that’s in game shape down the stretch anyway. He’s not playing terrible either, he’s just not as good as Addy.

I’m thinking this is a Billy G decision… he has a lot more control over the lineup than anyone lets on. Bruce and Dean have both let that slip in podcasts and interviews. BG brought Benn in last minute as the 7th D so he’s making sure he’s used as the 7th D… not a full time healthy scratch. If you buy the “similar play style” BS that Evason is saying then I got something to sell you. Spurgeon was hurt for a month before Brodin but Benn still played over Addison.

2 reasons Billy G doesn’t want Addison playing this season… It will keep his next contract more affordable. He can’t waive Benn so sending Addy down right now is creating more cap space for the deadline. They’ve been aggressively creating cap space with AHL and taxi squad reassignments so he’s clearly planning something.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Some people are surprised Spurgeon didnt even get a call on that play where Dvorak got hurt.

Kinda like all the Wild fans that were – – oh so shocked – – when Frederic didn’t get a call for the hit on Kaprizov….

tswoboda wrote:

I will say I’m getting sick of people sh!itting on Benn on Twitter. Not his fault they’re playing him, and it’s probably better for the team to have another bigger D that’s in game shape down the stretch anyway. He’s not playing terrible either, he’s just not as good as Addy.

The two are completely different players. I dont see them swapping Benn out for Addison. Benn has been playing fine. Addison makes sense when a top 4 spot opens up, but bottom pair needs to be Benn. Some people just get too wound up on flashy players and overlook the role guys. This is exactly why Pitlick got waived. He wasnt fitting the role the Wild wanted him to fall into because Dewar fit that need better. Pitlick may succeed in Montreal but hes at an elevated role. He was never going to get that here.