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

Rossi is night and day different from last year. Hunting pucks, demanding the puck, and making plays when he does get it. His fingerprints are all over every shift. He’s not holding pucks forever like kirill or Boldy, the puck is more on and off his stick but he’s making good plays most of the time. Last year it was usually dump in the corner or hold until he lost it. Just a completely different player.

This might be overboard but I can’t stop seeing Faber look like Charlie McAvoy. A Midwest Charlie McAvoy. 21 YO rookie D don’t look like this.

T, dont get me started on Faber! Man, that kid is just so far ahead of where a typical rookie is. Man is he good and he will only get better. That pairing with Brodin could be the best pairing in the NHL, but we need our guys healthy to get them back together.

I haven’t been keeping up on all 30 pages here, but with Bally’s no longer around, is ESPN+ the primary broadcaster of the Wild now?!!?! I’ve had 2 games (at least) available on ESPN+ which is about half of how many I had all of last season.

Bally is still around and broadcasting Wild games.

tswoboda wrote:

This might be overboard but I can’t stop seeing Faber look like Charlie McAvoy. A Midwest Charlie McAvoy. 21 YO rookie D don’t look like this.

I said the same thing to my buddy on opening night. So, if two of us see that it’s not overboard.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Bally is still around and broadcasting Wild games.

Hmm that’s even more weird then, that the FSN/Bally’s broadcast with Lapanta was on ESPN+.

Yeah ESPN+ will have both the home and away broadcasts available I believe.

Fun game last night. Storyline for me was Fleury and some of his theatrical saves!

What do we think of a 2 games Gus 1 game Fleury rotation? Obviously back to backs change things up, but I’m a fan of that move!

I think by the end of the year it will be roughly Gus 50 games Flower 30. Give or take.
Faber might be our best Dman on the roster.
Rossi definitely is playing fast.
Can’t help but see number 20 skating around and not think of the old number 20.

AnotherFisherman wrote:

What do we think of a 2 games Gus 1 game Fleury rotation? Obviously back to backs change things up, but I’m a fan of that move!

I think that rotation was dictated by flower getting the start in Montreal. I’m pretty sure he writes into his contract that he gets all starts at the bell centre

I haven’t been impressed by Maroon so far. I will be at the game tomorrow and look forward to being able to watch guys away from the puck to get a better idea of how hard they are skating.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I think by the end of the year it will be roughly Gus 50 games Flower 30. Give or take.
Faber might be our best Dman on the roster.
Rossi definitely is playing fast.
Can’t help but see number 20 skating around and not think of the old number 20.

mojogunter wrote:

I haven’t been impressed by Maroon

I noticed #20 last night too, and man does he lumber around the ice.

Also, Kirill almost looked upset he scored. Russo was talking about how down he gets at the start of the season/series bc he thinks of himself as a slow starter, that it’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy.

tswoboda wrote:

This might be overboard but I can’t stop seeing Faber look like Charlie McAvoy. A Midwest Charlie McAvoy. 21 YO rookie D don’t look like this.

I see the same thing, hell they even skate similarly…Charlie’s a bit thicker, but he has a few more years of NHL training/diet on Faber… Faber’s play has blown me away sofar, it’s obviosly still very early and Rookie of the Year won’t go to a defense first player, but if Faber maintains his play, he’s deserving of votes..

Maroon while a bit slower now vs 4-5 years ago in his prime, was never a good skater, he brings beef with soft hands who can surprise goalies in close…

The 4th line has been impressive sofar this season, they are a good matchup of different skillsets (how under the radar is Dewar as a 4th line grinder? he’s never talked about)…Our 3rd line has been our best the first 3 games and it’s not even close, Rossi has had so many grade A chances stopped that there was a small part of me questioning his finishing ability, but the kid is just skating under a raincloud it seems in terms of scoring, he’s gotta produce more now that he got the 1st one out of the way…Kirill and Zuccy still pass to much 5-5 and our 2nd line has been invisble 5-5…I’m starting to see similarities with Hartman’s start this season and last year, that will be something to watch…Seems like he’s always behind the play of Kirill and Zuccy…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Maroon while a bit slower now vs 4-5 years ago in his prime, was never a good skater, he brings beef with soft hands who can surprise goalies in close

Exactly. He’s essentially Reaves 2.0 but with slightly more scoring ability. I’m sure his time late in the post season has some value too.

I actually thought Hartman played pretty well last night.
I think Maroon hurts that 4th line overall so far.
2nd line is kind of missing a key cog right now but EK was one of there best players last night.

gim wrote:

I’m sure his time late in the post season has some value too.

I think that was GMBG’s biggest reason for getting him, letting the players absorb his experiance and professionalism. He may act & look like a goof on the ice sometimes, but Tampa friggin loved him and they are a huge character driven team…

gim wrote:

Exactly. He’s essentially Reaves 2.0 but with slightly more scoring ability. I’m sure his time late in the post season has some value too.

Similar role, very different players. Maroon can’t skate, Reaves can’t handle a puck. Reaves’ game is to be F1 and try to go blast the defenseman. He’s fine defensively but any time the puck came to him in the O-zone it was game over. Maroon doesn’t hit nearly as much but he can help that L4 sustain pressure in the 0-zone by keeping the cycle going and make some sneaky plays off the rush as well.

tswoboda wrote:

and make some sneaky plays off the rush as well.

He did the Casey Middlestadt reverse toe drag move on a rush last night and looked smooth doing it…

The third and fourth lines have been our best lines IMO. If Rossi keeps playing the way he is and can put up 20 goals this season that would be a HUGE boost for this team. It is pretty amazing how he’s come in and played like a totally different guy. Great to see.

Fleury showing he still has it last night is also big. I’ve never been a huge fan of bringing him here but it’s hard not to love the guy and for the most part he’s played well. He was spectacular last night.

BigWerm wrote:

Also, Kirill almost looked upset he scored. Russo was talking about how down he gets at the start of the season/series bc he thinks of himself as a slow starter, that it’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy.

After the game last night he actually joked that he scored earlier in the season than he normally does. Heres to looking up that he is starting faster.

Goligoski to LTIR….Oof. Although Mermis looked solid last night.

Mermis is not great by any stretch of the imagination. Loosing goose definitely hurts the depth at D which is thin already. Hopefully this team is getting the injuries out of the way early.
I’d take Maroon over Reaves any day but sure would be fun to watch that fourth line buzz with another speed guy.

Not sure how anyone can hate on the Flower over Talbot thing at this point. The wild are far better off how that situation played out.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I’d take Maroon over Reaves any day but sure would be fun to watch that fourth line buzz with another speed guy.

Bout time Shaw makes a comeback. I’m kidding. But also wouldn’t be real surprised if we see him in a wild uniform again sometime.

good test for the boys tonight, Kings are all offense so we’ll see how our D holds up…Hopefully Kirill’s last game is a sign of things to come…we’ll need it…

Odd bounce and Dewey 2 (or is it Dewey 1) ties it up.

That one is offsides.

And that kind of fires up the Green!

Wow that puck clearly came outside the zone too

Offsides challenge is so dumb

The first goal could have been icing challenged but thankfully the NHL isn’t batshit crazy over millimeters on that rule as well