2023/2024 NHL/WILD Offseason-Season-Postseason Thread

That would have been a great game for faber to tally a pile of assists to stay up with bedard. He definitely created offense but was not on the scoresheet.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Honestly I didn’t think goaltending was that much of an issue. 2 of the gus goals I saw he should’ve had but many others on either side were just good goals.

So 2 of 5? He gave up 5 on 16 shots. Pretty sure he gave up 2 on 2 shots may have been 3. Not blaming Gus but 17 goals goal tending is an issue.
It’s at the very least not a strong point to the game.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Pretty sure he gave up 2 on 2 shots may have been 3

It was 2 goals on the first 2 shots.

Ripjiggen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
Honestly I didn’t think goaltending was that much of an issue. 2 of the gus goals I saw he should’ve had but many others on either side were just good goals.

So 2 of 5? He gave up 5 on 16 shots. Pretty sure he gave up 2 on 2 shots may have been 3. Not blaming Gus but 17 goals goal tending is an issue.
It’s at the very least not a strong point to the game.

Did you watch the game? The first goal he was way out of position which I commented. There was 1 other I thought on him but I also missed a lot of the game due to the gaff when I paused TV.

Yup the whole thing, in person. Pretty good vantage point as well.

Watched the first period, recorded the game (just in case), and went fishing. My wife called while I was on the ice and wanted to give me an update (she was watching). I told her don’t ruin it for me. Glad she didn’t say anything. I just finished the last two periods and bonkers pretty well described it. I enjoyed Anthony’s enthusiasm, and enjoyed how Carter didn’t talk over the goal and let the moment marinade before adding commentary. I’m sure if Walz was working he would’ve referenced every goal call with some quip about Jacque.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Yup the whole thing, in person. Pretty good vantage point as well.

you need your eyes checked. I can’t comment on the goals after the second period because stupid TV issues but otherwise I thought gus was fine. Heck vancouver never yanked desmith and he gave up 10

He didn’t play in the second.
I think you do 3 of his five were far side blocker shots. 1 was a weird bank shot that he got completely lost. I’ll give him that one as everyone got lost. His fifth he gave up way too much room on his strong side to Miller on a sharp angle. Not taking anything away from miller good player who can net. You even said 2 were soft well 2 of 5 ain’t great. I honestly think more than 2 were, but I’ll go with 2.
Yes Desmith should have been pulled to. Started out great and then started to sink into his net.
But yeah 17 goals in a game and goal tending was legit.

Just went back and rewatched them all. Yup my eyes are just fine.

Canucks expected goals in all situations today: 1.64. Actual goals: 5. Per

Thank you to Joe Smith for saving me time looking up the stat.

Wild Prospects rank #11 in Scott Wheelers annual ranking. Rossi and Faber graduated out of Prospect status.

Top 15 prospects ranked as:
1) Wallstedt
2) Yurov
3) Ohgren
4) Heidt
5) Khusnidhinov
6) Stramel
7) Hunt
8) Lambos
9) Bankier
10) Beckman
11) Haight
12) Kumpeliainen
13) Lorenz
14) Peart
15) O’Rourke

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Wild Prospects rank #11 in Scott Wheelers annual ranking. Rossi and Faber graduated out of Prospect status.

Top 15 prospects ranked as:
1) Wallstedt
2) Yurov
3) Ohgren
4) Heidt
5) Khusnidhinov
6) Stramel
7) Hunt
8) Lambos
9) Bankier
10) Beckman
11) Haight
12) Kumpeliainen
13) Lorenz
14) Peart
15) O’Rourke

I’m getting overcome with Wild Prospect Pool Fatigue. I’m sure GM Average very much wants the fans and the media to continue being titillated by prospect pools and rankings, but let’s open the door and let in a cold draft of hard reality.

What is GM Average’s strategy for using this much-ballyhooed prospect pool? Right now, strategically, Gerin looks lost, dazed, and confused.

1. The Wild are NOT better this year than they were the day after the P&S buyouts. There has been no substantial improvement.

2. We dumped older players, most notably Praise, Suter, and Koivu and everybody hailed the beginning of the youth movement…

3. However…. Gurin then signed a whole raft of mid-career or older players like Zuc, Hartman, Foligno, Goose, etc, etc. to some very questionable contracts as far as length and NT/NM clauses. And, and, and, 3 of these contracts haven’t even started yet, the new deals for Zuc, Hartman, and Foligno only kick in NEXT season.

4. Which, of course, has created a log jam of forwards that begs the question how is Gurin going to sign and move up these top prospects when there’s absolutely NO roster space now? And let’s be honest, the Wild have no real ability to make trades to free up roster space because they don’t have any significantly tradeable offensive players in the top lines because of contract length and NTC/NMC.

Gurin’s Wild are in a tie for the 8th oldest team in the league with multiple key players in the top 3 lines all locked in for 2, 3, and 4 seasons and that’s AFTER this season ends.

So looking at some of the\20+ year old prospects like Yurov, Beckman, Khusnidhinov, etc, how is all this talent going to be utilized when we’re so locked in with so many older players in the top lines?

IMO, GM Average is in over his head. He has NOT used this buyout period to position this team to be significantly better because he didn’t commit to either a “win now” strategy or a youth movement slow burn to get a much younger team in place so there’s light at the end of the buyout tunnel.

We are also rapidly cruising toward yet another bubble playoff appearance. Has anybody seen this movie before? Yes, yes, the Wild gleefully burn themselves to the ground for the privilege of providing Round 1 cannon fodder to give the real contenders an easy R1 win in 5, and in the process, we cost ourselves precious draft positions. Again.

GM Average’s seat should be scorching hot and getting hotter with every passing week. Time for either a real strategy or a GM change.

Im just here to bee entertained by how many different ways Grouse misspells Guerin.

I actually agree with most of what Grouse has said.
The D prospects seemed to have tumbled down the list.
I remember when Lambos was the next coming of Ray Bourque.

Prospect pools are typically used the same way by all teams with the exception of the few teams that are in absolute rebuilds…

There will never be enough roster spots for your prospects (except the full rebuilds) so they are basically incubators where the teams picks and chooses who they want to keep to replace expiring contract players with and who they can trade with for player types/skill sets they don’t have in their system for playoff runs.

Just focusing on the Wilds top 10 prospects per this latest ranking/list.

1) Wallstedt – We’ll keep as he’ll replace Flower next season and if all goes well replace GusBUs in a few seasons as the team’s starter of the future.
2) Yurov – Expected to replace either Zuccy or Johansson in the top 6 in 1-2 years
3) Ohgren – Expected to replace Zuccy or Johansson in 1-2 years or a top 9 slot or could be a prime trade chip if he doesn’t slot well with the team makeup…
4) Heidt – Expected to replace a top 9 player in 2-3 years (still to early to see where he could fit within the Wild roster structure, top 6 of bottom 6?)
5) Marat K – Likely a bottom 6 replacement for the Duhaime/Dewar slots next season, can he work his way into the future top 6? we’ll see
6) Stramel – who knows at this point, likely a bottom 6 guy in the future, his size and faceoff prowess will help his cause to stay with the Wild, they will need to make a decision on him next year though or risk losing him as a college UFA…
7) Hunt – likely 3rd D pair option next season or could be traded
8) Lambos – still early in his development (his first AHL season) but a likely trade bait if he doesn’t improve alot next season with Faber/Spurgeon/Brodin locked in for at least another 3 years and Middleton likely extended after next year…
9) Bankier – early in his development, but likely bottom 6 guy 2-3 years down the road who will compete with Stramel, likely more a trade bait option
10) Beckman – Likely trade bait at this point as there are better prospect options (Yurov/Heidt) with his skillsets…

The Wild’s overall age is heavily impacted by Goose, Flower, Zuccy, Maroon, Spurgeon and Bogosain, 4 of those 6 will most likely be gone next year and that average will drop alot…

I can’t argue with you questioning the extensions handed out for Foligno (hardest for me to understand) Hartman (He’s a utility guy who has multiple years playing 1C for a team with limited center options) Freddy (the 5 year deal looks bad right now, but the aav isn’t terrible for a 3C/4C player) especially with the cap going up…Zuccy (I have no issues with the 2 year deal, he’s still almost a ppg player and best friends with our franchise player)

They’re gonna have 2 Calder finalists this year, a calder winner 3 years ago, almost finalist in Boldy, best players all 26u, still have some more juice coming in the pipeline, and didn’t have to be Buffalo or Anaheim or Columbus or Chicago to make that happen.

24 hours after the regular season game of the decade (which I haven’t even got to watch yet) and wtf are we complaining about??

tswoboda wrote:

They’re gonna have 2 Calder finalists this year, a calder winner 3 years ago, almost finalist in Boldy

Great point here, they also have Wallstedt likely a preseason Calder candidate next year (if he gets enough games) and Yurov likely the following year, maybe Heidt in the future if he keeps developing as he has sofar…

I think it’s the over the top future projections that get fans soured on having a good prospect pool

What the hell to expect from this team tonight? Will Kirill make it out healthy?

tswoboda wrote:

I think it’s the over the top future projections that get fans soured on having a good prospect pool

Agree.

How about the quiet but pretty remarkable season EK is having. Guy is just a machine and keeps getting better literally every season he has played.
Almost a PPG player and will blow by 30 goals this year.

Pretty damn good for old Stonehands.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Pretty damn good for old Stonehands.

He’s learned to use his feet now too. So we can call him Stonefeet.

Call him Stone Pekker Ekker. I’ve been trying to give him his flowers for a few years now

Oh wait sorry it’s all his linemates, a monkey could score next to them

When I met him in person the other night in street clothes. He looked even bigger. Most guys look way smaller off the ice.
Only fanboy pic I took because the flow was incredible to see in person.

Guerin hot water? How do you grade easily the best trade in wild history? He got rid of a selfish stat hunting me only player in Fiala for a captain material elite d-man in Faber? And a first rounder to boot? Ask LA fans how they think that turned out?

He traded Zucker for a 2020 (turned 2021) first (Lambos), Addison and Galchenyuck (a throw in)

Low key trade, Addison for Bogosian (traded 7th round pick or something) and Raska? Raska looked good when up. Bogosian is a huge upgrade to Addison based on team need now.

Obviously, prospects are not only prospects to make the team, they are more valuable as trade fodder.

Yeah don’t think he is in hot water right now. It will be telling though over the next two seasons.

…Talbot for Gus, Kahkonen and a 2nd for Flower and Middleton, Greenway for 2nd. If anything most trades Guerin touches turns to Gold. No Parise buyout would mean no Brock Faber, so that’s a W.

He was maybe in hot water when the investigations were going down and if he wasn’t promoted and extended this summer that might have gone different. But when he came out the other side of that he probably feels untouchable now.

Note on the horrible awful evil No Trade Clauses: 2 of the NTC guys on the team are Bogosian and Maroon… ya know players they traded for.

2 goals for Ovi tonight, he’s upto 16 goals this season…

Marco is like 0-5+ on breakaways this season… kinda surprising with how skilled he is…

And Hartman being a bonehead should just about do it.

Vilardi is a weapon on the powerplay, had to gameplan around him

Lowry is a shutdown beast. Like a younger Foligno that plays center.

Too bad the game went this way, they played a lot better than the score. Could see this coming after yesterday though

could have used a little puck luck tonight too. man, I hate losing to our friends in manitoba