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

mahtofire14 wrote:

Really good to see Rossi get one game after getting it taken away. I didn’t see the game last night but it’s really good to see him getting on the score sheet early. Looks like the hope might be back for him.

Anyone surprised to see Dean leave Gus in for that whole game? Wasn’t getting much help from the D but let in a couple softies it looked like from the highlights too.

Honestly, Rossi has been our best offensive player the first 2 games, even in last nights game where he officially scored, he also had a stopped breakaway and was absolutely robbed on a crease shot..Deano had total faith putting him out in the 3rd period important situations…. He’s even leading the team in shots on goal, that’s something Deano is going to need to talk to Kirill about…

Two of the goals Gus gave up where on him vs our poor defense, but it was also Nylander shooting with open space and he’s going to beat any goalie in those situations…. Wild were right in the game until Goligoski’s boneheaded penalty (why the ref decided to call it vs all the other times players swear at them is a mystery)

why the ref decided to call it vs all the other times players swear at them is a mystery)

The Wild were rallying and Toronto needed a momentum swing, so they get a lame call.
Just like the lame call on Merril that turned into their first goal.
Home cooking refs.

Merrill is consistently painful to watch. I can’t believe we couldn’t get one of our Iowa D-men to play as good or better, trade Merrill’s salary for a prospect or draft pick, and come out better on the salary cap.

fishinfreaks wrote:

Merrill is consistently painful to watch. I can’t believe we couldn’t get one of our Iowa D-men to play as good or better, trade Merrill’s salary for a prospect or draft pick, and come out better on the salary cap.

The problem is other team’s scouts watch the same games we do… Would you trade for him at $1.3 million and additional term still left on his deal?

Can waive Merrill and send him to Iowa for only a 50k cap hit penalty so no need for a trade. Based on the first couple games they need some major help on D and not sure where that’s coming from with no cap space. Maybe split up Brodin and Faber?? Life without Spurgeon isn’t real fun

Life without Spurgeon isn’t real fun[/quote]

I think this is what people fail to understand with the game today. With all of the emphasis on top 6 forwards and scoring, having 4 consistent dmen is really the anchor of good teams (contributes to why edmonton will never win a cup imo). It really sucks to not have spurge, but we are very lucky to have our recently formed infinite dmen prospect pool courtesy of GMBG.

tswoboda wrote:

Maybe split up Brodin and Faber??

Looks like they’re going this route, kinda surprised to see Dean make a change so quickly but I like it. Hopefully Addison steps up

Brodin-Addison
Middelton-Faber
Goose-Merrill

Boldy is out a couple weeks and not sure who is getting called up. Would be going 11/7 with Mermis if they don’t call a forward up. Note that in order to call a forward up, they need to send Mermis down

little concerning they used “Week to Week” for Boldy’s injury…

for those with an Athetic subscription, Russo and Smith put out a great article this morning on NHL coaches and their abuse of officials..lots of great quotes by the offending coaches including Deano…

Happy gameday! enjoy this Shorsey clip…

Top 3 Wild Prospect Update:

Danila Yurov is playing 1st line wing today and already scored in the 1st period… He’s been on an impressive point streak lately and averaging over 16 minutes of icetime playing all situations, they even play him at center sometimes, but he’s been most effective playing Wing.

Marat Khusnutdinov centered a line with Mitchkov yesterday, so nice to confirm he’ll likely be playing with the stud prospect so we’ll get a glimpse of what his offensive output looks like playing with an elite skilled winger…He’s playing all situations and averaging over 17 minutes a game since being traded to Sochi…

Liam Ohgren has started practicing again and should be back playing games soon…

What was Ohgren’s injury again? He is the one they brought over here to get evaluated right? Was it his back?

CaptainMusky wrote:

What was Ohgren’s injury again? He is the one they brought over here to get evaluated right? Was it his back?

Yes, and we think so…never confirmed…it was strange imo, we’ll see if his body holds up once he starts playing games again…

Did you see the video of Yurovs goal? Hes got an elite release my goodness. Right off the faceoff!

Did Deano nancy kerrigan goose? They’ll skate short tonight and then allowed to call a < $875k forward up until someone is healthy. Assume it will be one of Khaira, Walker, or Letteiri called up

JoeMX1825 wrote:

for those with an Athetic subscription, Russo and Smith put out a great article this morning on NHL coaches and their abuse of officials..lots of great quotes by the offending coaches including Deano…

The part about Paul Maurice having a staring role in the NHL’s potty-mouth coaches video was terrific. As was his rather unapologetic response. I somehow don’t sense a real commitment to change on his part…

And also it is a perfect commentary on Clueless Bettman’s NHL that the commish is making a personal appearance on stage to try to shame the coaches into using less colorful language. That’s what passes for priorities in today’s Bettman NHL. Meanwhile, in Arizona, the Coyotes start a second season of playing in a converted 5000-seat pole shed.

I was at the arena last year to watch a wild game(they lost). It is a nice building but very small. I will say they charge a crazy amount for tickets compared to Minnesota to try to claw back as much as they can get. That market is a lot like Vegas in that there are a lot of visiting team fans there. The game I was at had at least half the crowd being Wild fans. Did I mention they lost?

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Meanwhile, in Arizona, the Coyotes start a second season of playing in a converted 5000-seat pole shed.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Meanwhile, in Arizona, the Coyotes start a second season of playing in a converted 5000-seat pole shed.

Lol its not a pole shed. Mullett Arena is a nice venue. Its brand new.

The problem is that its not an NHL sized arena. Its the home of ASU Sun Devils and they’re simply renting that space because the Coyotes are in limbo. 5,000 seat capacity for a college arena is pretty standard. NHL, not even close.

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TheFamousGrouse wrote:</div>
Meanwhile, in Arizona, the Coyotes start a second season of playing in a converted 5000-seat pole shed.

Lol its not a pole shed. Mullett Arena is a nice venue. Its brand new.

The problem is that its not an NHL sized arena. Its the home of ASU Sun Devils and they’re simply renting that space because the Coyotes are in limbo. 5,000 seat capacity for a college arena is pretty standard. NHL, not even close.

I watched a couple of college games there last year. Great college venue. Not so sure about watching an NHL game there.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
for those with an Athetic subscription, Russo and Smith put out a great article this morning on NHL coaches and their abuse of officials..lots of great quotes by the offending coaches including Deano…

The part about Paul Maurice having a staring role in the NHL’s potty-mouth coaches video was terrific. As was his rather unapologetic response. I somehow don’t sense a real commitment to change on his part…

And also it is a perfect commentary on Clueless Bettman’s NHL that the commish is making a personal appearance on stage to try to shame the coaches into using less colorful language. That’s what passes for priorities in today’s Bettman NHL. Meanwhile, in Arizona, the Coyotes start a second season of playing in a converted 5000-seat pole shed.

I find it interesting that Bettman is trying to show Coaches/GM’s that the percieved public image of the NHL is important and needs to be protected yet the NHL’s premier show off event for the general public/fans (The Skills Event & Allstar game) are just a gong show year after year in terms of TV Production…The owners need to push Gary out, he did his job in growing the game in the 90’s-2020 in the USA, but the NHL needs to join the other major sports leagues in ways of promoting itself with modern media technology and social media, it still looks like it’s trapped in the dial-up age…The TV Production differences between ESPN & TNT are a great example, one is trapped in the 90’s, the other is cutting edge and topical…

All all star games are a joke.
In all sports.
His big miss is Olympic hockey.
Showcasing his best players in a World Cup format would also be way more effective than any all star game gimmick skills competition.

It doesn’t help that the TV contract is all over the board.

Ripjiggen wrote:

All all star games are a joke.
In all sports.
His big miss is Olympic hockey.
Showcasing his best players in a World Cup format would also be way more effective than any all star game gimmick skills competition.

It doesn’t help that the TV contract is all over the board.

I agree Olympics are a miss, but its every 4 years and viewership (beyond hardcore fans) is heavily determined by location which impacts when live events are televised, who beyond diehards is going to watch a USA hockey game played at 3am and with modern social media, all of the highlights are going to be tweeted after the fact…Plus the IOC OWNS ALL media rights for every second of Olympics action, so even if something incredible happens, you’ll rarely see it replayed afterwards because of the tight IOC control (Think of USA’s Vince Carter’s INSANE slam dunk over the 7′ France player, you rarely ever see it replayed because the IOC owns the rights and limits who can show it…)

The Allstar weekend is typically played during primetime and on OTA channels (actual game itself) This has the biggest opportunity to capture new fans… Exclude the NFL as they could make a million mistakes and still have record viewership, but the NBA and even MLB do a much better job promoting & televising their allstar events, and thus grows their fanbase…Hockey is the most niche sport of the major 5, so it’s behind the 8 ball before they even start, but it looks like a High School media team puts their programs together, that’s what i’m saying the NHL MUST address…TNT broudcast is the model they need to follow imo…

I understand the Olympics are only four years hence I mentioned a World Cup format other years.
I think they need to look way way past a silly all star game however to grow the sport.
Viewership has declined in all sports for all star games. MLB this past season set an all time low viewership passing 2022 for lowest viewership. Obviously going in wrong direction.
I use the MLB as an example as it is the highest viewed all star game out of all the sports.

I just don’t think it is something that people care to block off time for and watch anymore.

lol premier event and all-star game.. The premier event is the playoffs, and they rock. Just ask Charles Barkley. Unfortunately they finish in late June when no one wants to sit inside and watch TV. The TV numbers still blow the all-star game away. No one is going out of their way to watch all-star games in 2023, in any sport

Gary’s not going anywhere so long as he keeps the cash flow coming from his hard salary cap and franchise values going up

I think most of us would prefer to see NHL players in the Olympics, me included.

Several issues. NHL owners, are they for or against it? What if a star player gets hurt? Can you imagine the uproar in Leafs Nation if Austin Matthews gets hurt playing for team USA? Pitchforks.

They halt the entire NHL schedule for about a month. That puts the NHL playoffs further into “summer time” which stated above has less viewership as we get further into the nicer weather period.

Gary uses the OGs as a bargaining chip because he knows how much the players want to go and what concessions they’ll make in order to go.

I hope the new PA Director takes him to the cleaners but that would probably require another lockout or strike or whatever and I would absolutely not like that.

Of course WE all think the Playoffs are the premier event, but I’m talking about part-time and brand new fans….The Allstar game is the best opportunity for the NHL to reach out to EVERY team’s fanbase & those curious about the sport, they just need to sell it better (that responsibility also falls on the players giving a $hit)

I can see both sides of the Olympics/World Cup participation arguments…. The owners are most likely paying huge salaries to the players good enough to make their respective teams and they dont want to see their players hurt and risk losing out on the playoff/cup revenue…

Players just want to play for their country but you dont see them offering to void their contracts if they get hurt so….

I’d like to officially nominate Foligno to be the new Stone Hands….

Two shorties in one penalty? Can’t say I’ve seen that before.

Good penalty by Hartman.