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

CaptainMusky wrote:

This team is playing much differently now.

That’s it, right there. Regardless of a W or L against this/that team, the Wild are playing differently in several ways that are either winning games for them outright or at the very least making them a LOT tougher to play against.

Easy/hard/big/small doesn’t matter the size of the change, the point is Deano didn’t know what to do. What we’re seeing is the difference between an inexperienced Deano and a much more experienced coach in Hynes.

Sure, other non-coaching pieces are in play. The goaltending has been solid, although tweaking the PK has probably helped the goaltending stats because we aren’t getting lit up on the PP like we were in the last weeks of the Deano era. There are always other factors, but I have a lot more confidence that Hynes has multiple tools he can use where Deano seemed to be stuck for ideas beyond “more grit”.

I think Deano’s real downfall was sticking with his coaching staff for so long.

The Penguins are now in a 0-34 Powerplay stretch with 4 first ballot hall of famers and Jake Guentzel as their top unit… Maybe we shouldn’t get to upset the next time the Wild PP doesn’t score for a few games…

I don’t think the Penguins are a playoff team anymore. They weren’t last year either (although they probably should have been because they lost to the lowly Blackhawks late in the season at home that would have secured a berth). While I do think they are still competitive, they are not the team they once were with all those great players. Father time has caught up and the rest of the metropolitan division has gotten better. I watched some of their game against the Flyers last week and their biggest rival has passed them with younger, faster players now. Just my opinion of course.

I also think the Capitals are on a similar trajectory as they were once a dominant staple in the east playoffs (often playing the Penguins).

gimruis wrote:

While I do think they are still competitive, they are not the team they once were with all those great players. Father time has caught up

I don’t know, their top players are still top players and they are still effective scorers..I think its more of all the mortgaging of picks and prospects over the years during their cup runs that’s now forcing them to spend $ on more expensive tenured NHL players for their bottom 6 vs plugging in top prospects on cheap ELC deals…Go look at the Penguins stats, their stars are still over or near 1 point per game pace, then scroll down a bit and eveyone else is terrible in terms of production…

Penguins are my dark horse pick to do some damage in the playoffs, assuming Sid/Guentzel/Karlsson/etc. and Jarry stay healthy. Have you actually watched Sid play… He’s still got it. Their studs have all been real good everywhere but the powerplay where they’re obviously ice cold. That’s costing them games but do you really think that group of 5 finishes the year shooting 5% on the PP like they are now? Dubas deserves GM of the year for the Karlsson trade alone with how he’s played.

Caps are toast, starting to question if Ovi hits Gretzky’s mark.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I think Deano’s real downfall was sticking with his coaching staff for so long.

I agree. BG wanted him to fire Woods at the end of last year but Dean talked him out of it so that was the demise of Dean right there. Woods owes him a trip to Mannys for that.

tswoboda wrote:

Caps are toast, starting to question if Ovi hits Gretzky’s mark.

Backstrom likely now to retire and Kuzy being so flakey definately changes the timeline, but they get to finally dump Mantha after this season and will have alot of capspace to get Ovi a setup guy…He’s currently 68 behind, he’ll still get 30+ this season and then that just leaves 30+ left, he’ll break it next season…getting cheap empty netters will now be more important than ever….

You’re probably right, I really hope you’re right, but I’m definitely nervous for Ovi getting there now. He’s on pace for less than 20 right now, slowest start of his career by a big margin. I’m sure he’ll get hot and take off at some point. But the longer he pushes his career out, the steeper the cliff at the end is.

That Caps team right now looks awfully similar to the Wild with Evason this season, their leading scorer is John Carlson with a measly 14 points…They will likely make some sort of trade with Backstrom’s LTIR to try and shake things up soon…Kuzy was put in the press box the other night…he’s been completely invisible this season sofar, i’m sure they are trying to shop him around, but with another year at $7.8 they will likely need to eat some of it to get him out…

Interesting technique by JT Miller on his faceoffs… as one of the best faceoff guys in the league, it’s different for sure…

Goligoski is just terrible… they just cant play him anymore… what’s strange is that it’s mostly mental mistakes…

We already know about Merrill….

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Goligoski is just terrible… they just cant play him anymore… what’s strange is that it’s mostly mental mistakes…

We already know about Merrill….

He’s unwatchable. Just out of position, falling down and constant mental mistakes.

For those that didnt stay up to watch the game, the Wild played well enough to win, the Vancouver goalie stood on his head all game, especially the 1st period, he’s 5-0 against the Wild in his career, GusBus played really well, BOTH Merrill and Gologoski shouldn’t play anymore, they are costing us goals every game including a backbreaker last night…

I saw the first period. The Wild were the better team but they couldn’t score.

gimruis wrote:

I saw the first period. The Wild were the better team but they couldn’t score.

That’s as much as I watched too. I kept thinking if they don’t bury one or two when they’re dominating they’re going to lose. That’s exactly what happened.

AK Guy wrote:

I kept thinking if they don’t bury one or two when they’re dominating they’re going to lose. That’s exactly what happened.

I said the same thing. That is a huge momentum boost when dominating to get that first one, but if it doesnt happen then the wheels fall off usually.

It was similar to the Deano stage of the season where they outshot them by a mile in the first half of the game but couldn’t score despite a ton of chances. The rest of their game wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good enough.

Johansson should be the one being talked about to be benched before ANYONE else on the team. I haven’t seen him win a puck battle or race to the puck all season.

KK, come the F on! You gotta bury that one!

Great, so now we’re back to the “Stupid Ryan Hartman” version again. I get you want to protect Brodin after that hit, but its a tie game and the Oilers PP is in cruise control right now… just dumb…

Brodin likely out a long time would be my guess, at least Boldy appears to to completely out of his funk…

This time the guy actually deserves the nick name…..

How many more times can Gus stop eberle on the goal line? And how many more times will the D let it happen?

Charlie W wrote:

How many more times can Gus stop eberle on the goal line? And how many more times will the D let it happen?

as long as Eberle can’t get across the crease (which he didn’t) You’ll let him take that shot every time, there’s nothing to shoot at…

Not a bad game against a struggling Seattle team. I thought the new lines played well, GusBus’s numbers his last 5 games are outstanding…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Not a bad game against a struggling Seattle team.

Guess I didn’t realize that Seattle had lost 8 games in a row. Struggling is an understatement.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Not a bad game against a struggling Seattle team.

Guess I didn’t realize that Seattle had lost 8 games in a row. Struggling is an understatement.

Evason for Hakstol???

JoeMX1825 wrote:

as long as Eberle can’t get across the crease (which he didn’t) You’ll let him take that shot every time, there’s nothing to shoot at…

Exactly, they tried that play like 6 times – because it was wide open – and only once was it even remotely dangerous. The one where it banked off Spurgeon and then dribbled right through the crease.

The Dew’s look recharged since Hynes took over. Both of them are all over on the forecheck and getting chances too. Hartman finding a role on that line too and together they’re winning their matchup every game.

Boldy has been a monster under Hynes, fun to watch. Generating chances of his own and gave Kirill a couple grade A’s.

Gus is so back.

AK Guy wrote:

Evason for Hakstol???

Haha. Wouldn’t that be something.

The Vikings and Wild ending in the same score on the same day is something we won’t ever see again. Woulda been a lot more fun to watch if that score was like 10-7 instead of 3-0

Kinda concerned about Kirill’s lack of finish this season, we’re well past the early season rut he typically starts with…The snap shot to the glove 20′ out on a clean breakaway is a bit telling (yes, I realizing I’m critizing Kirill’s thinking, but it’s pretty obvious an NHL goalie is going to stop that shot so far out, he didn’t even need to move his glove, in the past when he’s scored on that shot it was in much closer)…He and Boldy have played really well together, so that’s a great sign for the future when Zuccy is gone…Rossi and Zuccy looked good together as well…Faber’s analytic score last night was off the charts good, I think he can technically be extended after January 1st…

Goose just can’t keep up anymore in the NHL, he’s had a great career but its time to hang them up…