2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

Speaking of Foligno he hasn’t looked himself the past few games. After that hit into the boards last night I think he could use a little maintenance time off.

I think when Bjugstad is back that might be option to give some guys a rest during their condensed part of schedule. I think they hate playing Rask. Duhaime can probably move up and down the line up a bit here and there.

I think Kakko will get the start tomorrow. I think it would be foolish of the wild not to rotate more than most teams in goal to keep both healthy,fresh, and engaged.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

It’s just unbelievable that we have a team that can go up against firepower like the Rangers have in Panarin, Kreider, Zibanejad, etc. Then go down by 2 goals in the first and the Wild are like, “We got them right where we want them.”

Hit the dressing room, fire up the espresso machine, everybody’s now out of bed and awake for the last 2 periods, it’s a win. Simples. How could I have doubted them… Like what kind of MN sports team DOES that? No panic, no over-reaching, no pushing too hard at the wrong times (not much, anyway),

The GREEF line is just awesome to watch. Greenway is so much more engaged this year on that line, I have to think playing with Foligno got through to him about playing heavy and with higher battle levels.

It’s just so much fun watching this team. There isn’t an NHL team that can just steamroll the Wild like in years past. The Wild are in every game for 60 minutes or more. Love it.

well said! I think the other difference now is that we have game changers that can quickly turn the game around in just a few shifts. When they eventually replace Gaudreau with somebody more talented it makes them pretty impossible to line match…

If you were playing a hockey video game in franchise mode and building your team, you’d be hard pressed to put together a better roster within the caplimit….

Vegas and Tampa coming up on the NHL network. Should be a good one to watch.

Watching Vegas and wondering how they are going to fit Eichel in cap wise. They are going to have to move some players contracts out. I wonder what it would take to wrestle Chandler Stepheson away from them? He comes with a cap hit of 2.75 mill through next year. That doesn’t get the Wild past the cap hell years but he would fill our need for center pretty nicely at a cozy 2.75 for a year at least. With Eichel coming in does Stepheson become expendable?

Ice Cap wrote:

Watching Vegas and wondering how they are going to fit Eichel in cap wise. They are going to have to move some players contracts out. I wonder what it would take to wrestle Chandler Stepheson away from them? He comes with a cap hit of 2.75 mill through next year. That doesn’t get the Wild past the cap hell years but he would fill our need for center pretty nicely at a cozy 2.75 for a year at least. With Eichel coming in does Stepheson become expendable?

He’ll be their 2C and likely most important player… Reilly Smith and likely one of their D will need to get moved though…

Team never quits. The confidence they have is contagious. They are all feeding off each other and have one of the better team/coach mentalities I’ve ever seen on the ice and on the bench. Number 17 has been great for number 18. 12 has been great for 22. 97 is just always doing something even in games he’s a little off. Damnation, an awful period in every aspect. Slow legs, passes were terrible, tons of turn overs, etc. Yet somehow they beat a very talented team on their home ice with a very aggressive crowd and on a very special night for a special Swede. Rask, uff dah he ain’t great.

If you have Twitter, go to Dan Meyers page. He got another incredible quote from Evason after the Rangers game. Dan was apparently wearing a purple suit and Deans reaction was classic! The look on his face when he turns and sees it for the first time!!!! So good.

That is awesome and Gorgs cackle is even better.

I can’t get over his face when that suit hits him. He’s so shocked and intrigued. It’s so good…..

Scott Wheeler is doing his annual team prospect ranking releasing a new team every day (he’s currently down to #12 Nashville)

Nice little Wild nugget when he was talking about Nashville’s #1 prospect Yarosov Askarov (Widely consider a once in a generation goalie prospect a few years ago)

“enough for me to say that I’d rank Wild first-rounder Jesper Wallstedt as the No. 1 goalie prospect in the world today ahead of him“

Curious to see where he ranks the Wild this year, I believe he had them #5 last year with a big unknown on how Rossi would bounce back… pretty safe to see he’s just fine

Ice Cap wrote:

Speaking of Foligno he hasn’t looked himself the past few games. After that hit into the boards last night I think he could use a little maintenance time off.

Whelp…

He lifted Zuccarello like 5’ into the air at the end of the Rangers game, he’ll be just fine. It will be a rotation of players getting a game off every few weeks as maintenance days off during the next few months of 2-3 games every 5 days…

Never thought I would say this but it would be nice to get Bjugstad back. Hate seeing Rask in a bottom six role.
I think Moose will be fine after he sits in Dumba’s Ice tub for a few days.

Might be a boring game tonight against the isles gents. They are terribly hard to watch as they slow the pace of game to a crawl. So be prepared.

Kakko to start which is smart.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Might be a boring game tonight against the isles gents. They are terribly hard to watch as they slow the pace of game to a crawl. So be prepared.

that was the wild style not all that long ago.

Lapanta must still have Wine Cork Vision, constantly mistaking players the past few games…

Dumba trying to score on his own team…..smart guy.

Can you imagine Parise still on this team? He has been invisible all game.

How good has Kappo been??? Man, he has been absolutely clutch. Reminds me of last year on his run. I think it would be smart to get both him and talbot a lot of playing time to keep them both fresh.

He was never in doubt….Parise that is.

Let’s go. Boldy 9pts in first 9 NHL games.

Somehow I missed that incredible play by Foligno during the rangers game that he got injured on. Unbelievable play. Such a different team from what this franchise is used to. Man it’s been fun.

Ripjiggen wrote:

He was never in doubt….Parise that is.

Let’s go. Boldy 9pts in first 9 NHL games.

When will Boldy experience his first loss in the NHL? He’s 8-0-1 since being called up.

I find it increasingly more difficult to hate on Rask. He doesn’t complain about being a healthy scratch and when he gets his chance to play he somehow shows up on the scoreboard. I also get the impression he’s well liked in the locker room.

Kaapo has played better games but he played well enough to get the win. Fiala continues his point streak and Dumba continues to forget who’s jersey he is wearing. I fear the Wild are going to make a bad decision when they decide how they are going to handle these two after the season.

Ek with his 8th PPG, Kaprizov on pace for 109. Boldy finding the net or someone else to score. Dewey 1 and 2 looking like they belong. What’s not to like about this team?
The Dumba vs Fiala thing is certainly going to be interesting to follow. By all accounts its one or the other. Its hard not to fantasize about this team in the future with an upgraded 2C between Fiala and Boldy with what they could do. Those two look like theyve been playing together for 5 years.

So the Wild are 8-1-1 in last 10 and the Avs are 10-0! How dang good is that team? Hopefully the Wild can avoid any big injuries because this stretch run is going to be a blast. Why are two Central Division teams playing an 8:30 game Wednesday? Dumb.

Russo reporting the Wild are working on extending Greenway. Fiala gets nothing but tough love from Evason. The bad part about that is they don’t respect the play that he brings. I think they credit Boldy with Fiala’s play. Evason can’t talk about Fiala without mentioning turnovers but never a word about Dumba’s huge gaffs.

When you don’t respect or have confidence in a player you are likely not going to get value for that player in a trade. I just don’t see how Fiala is on this team next year but Greenway and Dumba are. This is a land mine the wild seem to be willing to step on.

Ice Cap wrote:

I just don’t see how Fiala is on this team next year but Greenway and Dumba are.

Completely agree on this. Unfortunately as we go further and further it seems as that’s what’s going to happen. And it may be that he keeps this hot streak going the rest of the year and then we’d have NO chance of affording him, but it sure would be nice to find a way. I wouldn’t even blink at the loss of Greenway and Dumba but we would have no second scoring line without Fiala.

Dean did say after the game that Fiala has been playing the right way for awhile now. So he at least did say something positive about him.

Ice Cap wrote:

I just don’t see how Fiala is on this team next year but Greenway and Dumba are. This is a land mine the wild seem to be willing to step on.

The GREEF Line hasnt given up a 5×5 goal all season I believe. Read that earlier today and I just find it mind boggling. The line looked great again last night with Dewey in Moose’s spot. I see a better future team without Dumba instead of Fiala.

Wow look at all this Fiala love on the Wild thread! Who could have ever seen this coming after everyone was trashing him 2 months ago.

I wish we could rewind this thread to when Fiala was snakebit and just about everyone was saying how easily replaceable he was. Not sure how many times I had to to say just wait until he gets hot… Fiala is a slow starter every year.

Seems like when Deano is happy with Fiala he rewards him with PK time. Last night Fiala had 2+ minutes of PK and did well. Weird reward, but he seem to like it.

tswoboda wrote:

Wow look at all this Fiala love on the Wild thread! Who could have ever seen this coming after everyone was trashing him 2 months ago.

I wish we could rewind this thread to when Fiala was snakebit and just about everyone was saying how easily replaceable he was. Not sure how many times I had to to say just wait until he gets hot… Fiala is a slow starter every year.

Seems like when Deano is happy with Fiala he rewards him with PK time. Last night Fiala had 2+ minutes of PK and did well. Weird reward, but he seem to like it.

Ok that’s funny chit right there! But I don’t think I’m guilty on this one. I’ve been a Fiala fan boy from the get go. Seriously though I get the feeling the Wild would seem to feel with Kaprizov they will have no problem putting points on the board and any offensive worries are put to rest.

You could tell Fiala was going to come around because of all the scoring chances he was getting. My only issue with him was his turnovers. Those have been much better. Dumba on the other hand……maybe he needs another Bruce style benching for half of a game like he got a few years ago when it turned him around.