2024/2025 NHL/WILD Offseason-Season-Postseason Thread

Goose finally retired….

CaptainMusky wrote:

Can we move on to talking about the offsides challenge?

Is there a rule change I’m not aware of with offsides and challenging it?

No rule change I just wanted to move into something else for a few pages rather than continue to deadpan about the prospects and whether KK wanted to sign.

Lol gotcha

There is a rule change that affects all youth players under the age of 18. Neck protection is now required per USA Hockey as of Sept 1. We could burn that bridge for a while.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Goose finally retired….

Great Minnesota player and great representative of the State of Hockey. Will miss him.

gim wrote:

There is a rule change that affects all youth players under the age of 18. Neck protection is now required per USA Hockey as of Sept 1. We could burn that bridge for a while.

USA hockey, USHL, AHL, ECHL, all 3 CHL leagues, Canada Jr A. I think almost every major North American hockey organization except the NCAA and NHL require neck guards now. Not sure on the lower US junior leagues I guess, for kids over 18 anyway.

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
There is a rule change that affects all youth players under the age of 18. Neck protection is now required per USA Hockey as of Sept 1. We could burn that bridge for a while.

USA hockey, USHL, AHL, ECHL, all 3 CHL leagues, Canada Jr A. I think almost every major North American hockey organization except the NCAA and NHL require neck guards now. Not sure on the lower US junior leagues I guess, for kids over 18 anyway.

No idea how the NCAA still hasn’t made it mandatory yet? maybe they feel the full face mask already provides enough protection? or its just $ driven in that they are looking for a league wide neck guard sponsor to pay them… NHL will likely follow suit in the near future as designs improve or they are required for those with fewer than X amount of NHL games played (like they did with half shields)

Do you guys have kids in youth hockey this upcoming season? Just wondering what they’re all using for neck protection. I always thought the most comfortable one would be a kevlar wrap attached to an undershirt.

I’ll have 3 in mini mites and they won’t wear any until it’s actually enforced. The shock doctor look the thinnest and least obtrusive for the little little kids.

Shirts are the way to go for older kids for sure but it takes a special kind of intense parent to buy that for 4 and 5 year olds

tswoboda wrote:

I’ll have 3 in mini mites and they won’t wear any until it’s actually enforced. The shock doctor look the thinnest and least obtrusive for the little little kids.

Shirts are the way to go for older kids for sure but it takes a special kind of intense parent to buy that for 4 and 5 year olds

Our association is providing all kids with free shirts with Kevlar neck guard. They will also have the logo on the neck. They had a try on event so you could order the right right size. My son who is 8 already wore an underarmor shirt so this option is the best.

I thought it was a good use of association funds.

Shirts for my 8 year old. There are plenty of companies now and deals to be had. He wore a long sleeve undershirt before so not that big of deal. Been wearing them all summer.

I still think it’s overreaching and still haven’t seen rules of how it will be enforced but it is what it is.

gim wrote:

Do you guys have kids in youth hockey this upcoming season? Just wondering what they’re all using for neck protection. I always thought the most comfortable one would be a kevlar wrap attached to an undershirt.

2 years ago coaching Mites one of my players skated back to the bench after a multi-player corner pileup and said his neck hurt, he had a 1″ long skate blade grazing cut (both edges of the blade marks) right across his jugular, a fraction deeper and things would have got very serious very quickly…That scared the $hit out of me and I ordered my kid a protection shirt the next day (he had always worn a hockey turtleneck undershirt, but it was just fabric)…I ended up getting my kid the Duzter brand shirt with wrist cut protection (lots of brands are doing the combo protection shirts now) He ended up taking a swung stick blade to the neck a few games after getting it and only had a red bruise from the impact, no cut. I know neck slash injuries are rare, but 2 instances happening with me a few games apart and i’m a firm believer…

From what i’ve seen the kids could care less about wearing them (They are nothing like the old thick neck rings some of us grew up with)

Wow, saw a report that said the Wild had a trade in place for Laine that the Columbus GM accepted but Liane wouldn’t lift his NTC to go…

Wonder what we offered?

Guerin confirmed that Laine didn’t want to come to Minnesota

JoeMX1825 wrote:

They are nothing like the old thick neck rings some of us grew up with

Ya I can remember the old Itech neck wraps I wore for a while. I hated that thing. Soaked up all the sweat like a sponge and the velcro made my neck itch too. Hopefully the new versions are easier to wear. I assume any player who steps on the ice without one will not be permitted to play if its a mandated piece of equipment now.

tswoboda wrote:

Guerin confirmed that Laine didn’t want to come to Minnesota

yes, but we didn’t know there was an agreed upon deal…

It’s Laine’s loss. All for the best because I didn’t like that idea at all

It would be more interesting to know why Laine did not want to come here.
Joe do you have a link to that report?
Disregard I found it..

tswoboda wrote:

Guerin confirmed that Laine didn’t want to come to Minnesota

My shocked face…
I read it was Philly he rejected the trade as well.

CaptainMusky wrote:

It’s Laine’s loss. All for the best because I didn’t like that idea at all

That remains to be seen…imo

Depending on who was going back to Columbus (had to be Freddy + ?) and ultimately what caphit we would have been paying him for 2 seasons it could have been a really good deal and worth the risk…

Why he would accept to go to Montreal and likely only get PP2 limited minutes (Caufield is the RH shot on PP1) and deal with that insane media pressure is anybody’s guess…

Maybe worked out for the best that Freddy didn’t get traded to Columbus though, right. Pretty much zero percent chance of that happening now

tswoboda wrote:

Maybe worked out for the best that Freddy didn’t get traded to Columbus though, right. Pretty much zero percent chance of that happening now

Huh?

Ripjiggen wrote:

That remains to be seen…imo

He has had spurts of being an elite forward. We are used to those ie Fiala. Hard pass. The only thing good about him is he is a right shot.

He has had spurts of being an elite forward. We are used to those ie Fiala. Hard pass. The only thing good about him is he is a right shot.
[/quote]
We’ve needed a RH 1 timer on the Powerplay since Dumba forgot how to hit the net x amount of years ago…Just providing that skillset alone could equate to 4-5 more wins in a season (counterpoint – maybe his lack of defense costs us a few games though too?) either way a few more wins could be the difference in making the playoffs or not…if he didn’t work out this season he could always get unloaded at the trade deadline and maybe you recoup some/most of what you gave up to get him (reminder that we would have likely unloaded an unwanted contract in the deal, so it wouldn’t have been a total loss)

again, it would have depended on what we would have needed to do to get him, but it was likely a worthy risk imo… we’ll see how it plays out in Montreal…

So he might get you 4 to 5 wins, but because he doesnt play defense it will actually cost you some games as well. That sounds like someone worth trading for. NOT.

CaptainMusky wrote:

So he might get you 4 to 5 wins, but because he doesnt play defense it will actually cost you some games as well. That sounds like someone worth trading for. NOT.

i’m just playing devils advocate… not very many players available who can singlehandedly win you 4-5 games though right??

either way, its not our problem…I’d just love to know what the supposed deal looked like… we likely had to include a big kicker to get them to eat 50%….

You can find a lot of players that dont cost you games though.

I don’t get it. So the Wild just spent the last 3 seasons in cap hell buying out two guys the fans loved to hate because they were a dressing room toxin.

And now we’re supposed to be all in on Laine, a streaky primadonna who DEMANDED a trade from his last TWO teams?

Who does this ass clown think he is? He just spent a good chunk of the last season out with “mental health” issues and then came back and played just 16 games. He’s 4 seasons and now three trades away from the last time he scored over 30 goals.

And we supposed to be falling all over this clown? Hard-hard pass. I don’t care if all we had to give up was JoJo and a sack of pucks and used goalie equipment.

Now if he does well in Montreal somebody will say look what the Wild missed out on. Bullcookies. Montreal will put up with anything because of the pressure cooker atmosphere up there. He probably will do well up there is my prediction because they will give him anything he wants to keep him happy.

CaptainMusky wrote:

You can find a lot of players that dont cost you games though.

what does that ultimately mean? He turns the puck over? Kirill does that 5 times a game, He takes stupid penalties? Hartman does that all the time…He doesn’t backcheck? You can find examples of that every game with a host of players…

but you know he would be dangerous bombing 1 time passes from Kirill and Zuccy on the PP…