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

well at least there will be no drama around do we keep Riley Heidt with the Wild or do we send him back to Junior…

He’s not even close to NHL ready…

Don’t think there was much drama to begin with. Roster has been set for a couple months now. Especially with this wonderful 3 goalie rotation.

I’m no hockey preseason expert but I did NOT see our top lines playing that far into the game. Holy smokes every time they went off the ice I thought it was their last, and they kept coming back out.

My kids don’t know the difference in that it’s preseason and nothing matters, they had a great time. Gonna have to have a difficult parenting conversation though….”son….our team will not always be scoring 8 goals…”

Patrick Liane looks to have a major knee injury just now…. Ouch

Who had shellacking hellebuyk for 8 goals on their bingo card?

CaptainMusky wrote:

Who had shellacking hellebuyk for 8 goals on their bingo card?

imo it makes GusBus’s performance the other night vs Dallas’s full squad more impressive…

Ballzy move by Cam Neely today when asked by the press about Jeremy Swayman’s contract negotiations and how far apart they are, he answered, “I don’t know what his ask is, but I have 64 million reasons why i’d be playing right now”

That’s basically putting Swayman up against the team & fans for not accepting Boston’s 8 x $8 hometown discount offer…rarely do you see a GM/President put the contract number out there for fans to react to… kind of a d-bag move imo…

Seabass don’t F around.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Seabass don’t F around.

Maybe we can move GusBus to Boston after Swayman holds out for a trade

Korpisalo is their current starter now…it’s one thing behind closed doors to ask players to take discounts to stay on a good team (it happens all the time, by all teams) but its another thing go public about how said player won’t play ball with the team and is in a way greedy…

no surprise, Riley Heidt sent back to the WHL…he now knows what to work on, my guess is Iowa Wild next season and then maybe NHL ready in 3 years…lets hope…lines up with Hartman’s deal expiring…

Liam Ohgren is one of the remaining 30 still in camp, but my guess is he starts in Iowa and if successful, would be a top 9 injury call up if a forward gets hurt…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

no surprise, Riley Heidt sent back to the WHL…he now knows what to work on, my guess is Iowa Wild next season and then maybe NHL ready in 3 years…lets hope…lines up with Hartman’s deal expiring…

Crazy this was even a story, like he had some shot at making the NHL club. Russo reported it all summer so someone must have put the bug in his ear. But cmon the kid is on the bubble for team canada world juniors, I don’t know how he ended up as an NHL candidate as well.

Wasn’t he one of the reasons Rossi was getting traded

Crazy this was even a story, like he had some shot at making the NHL club. Russo reported it all summer so someone must have put the bug in his ear. But cmon the kid is on the bubble for team canada world juniors, I don’t know how he ended up as an NHL candidate as well.

Wasn’t he one of the reasons Rossi was getting traded
[/quote]

I think it was due to 2 things, 1 – It was the summer and nothing hockey related was going on to get new The Athletic memberships 2 – Riley’s situation was a little unique in that he either has to go back to Junior hockey for a 5th season (not ideal for development) or the NHL…

I really think the Wild should have appealed the CHL and see if he could get credit for the 1st covid shortened season he played in (he missed the games played to count as a full season rule by 3) That would have given him 4 seasons played in the WHL and allowed him to play in the AHL this season…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Patrick Liane looks to have a major knee injury just now…. Ouch

That looked bad. Really bad.

I think it was due to 2 things, 1 – It was the summer and nothing WILD hockey related was going on.

Fixed for you.

The sh!t might be hitting the fan in Boston.. apparently Swayman is considering putting in a trade request. For a team that is lacking at center to really be a threat, paying a goalie 10mil a year is going to make it tough to bolster the team. As good as he is, paying a goalie who has played more than half a season once $10mil is demanding.

I think Neely’s comments have really muddied the water between Swayman and the organization regardless if he signs or not.

Well who you think the Boston fan base will embrace Cam fing Neeley and his jersey in the rafters or Swayman.

Sorry Cam is one of my top 3 players of all time growing up.

Hell he’s Seabass and drinks boilermakers.

jack klusa wrote:

The sh!t might be hitting the fan in Boston.. apparently Swayman is considering putting in a trade request. For a team that is lacking at center to really be a threat, paying a goalie 10mil a year is going to make it tough to bolster the team. As good as he is, paying a goalie who has played more than half a season once $10mil is demanding.

I think Neely’s comments have really muddied the water between Swayman and the organization regardless if he signs or not.

yeah, i’m not sure there’s any chance Swayman signs with them now…UNLESS he and his agent play dumb and say they will sign the $64 million offer Neely hinted at because they truly didn’t know about it (yeah right)

Neely is a known hothead and i’m sure the other upper management guys wished he didn’t say that…it’s a bad look to go public like that with dollar amounts…

I’m sure there’s some resentment from the older NHL generations when they see the dollar amounts these kids are getting nowadays…understandable

Pretty much the opening night roster tonight vs Chicago (Bedard is playing as well) Really interested to see the 3rd line (Foligno – Rossi – Trenin) play together…Middleton and Boldy not playing….

Pissmissle is flying tonight!

and Brodin is Brodin….

Brock has taken his game to another level over the summer, he’s flying around the ice and jumping up in the play at will…. The way he wears his helmet and face shield is hilarious…

The Kirill PP one timer goal was a sight for sore eyes. He wasn’t burying those until Thanksgiving last year. Reverse hit on Nick Foligno was pretty cool too.

I guess it’s good timing for the owner to tell the media he’s literally giving Kiril a blank check. Leipold saw what the Bruins are doing and said he wants no part of that

Is Lauko just Brandon Duhaime reincarnated?

tswoboda wrote:

Is Lauko just Brandon Duhaime reincarnated?

well, doesn’t he have like 4 goals and ZERO assists in 3 preseason games? so yeah, he’s Duhaime…

I really like our 4th line (I’m still meh on Gaudreau though) but the Marat we’ve seen the past few games has played like everything we heard about him in the KHL, a puck hounding pissmissle, he looks so much more comfortable now…

They swapped Hartman with Rossi the second half of the game and it was very noticeable, much more speed and puck movement…I really think Hynes is going to keep Rossi as 1C and put Hartman with Foligno and Trenin…

I realize it was an AHL Jets & the Blackhawks, but this team is looking alot better than I thought they would (and we haven’t seen Boldy yet)… the UFA’s signed appear to be great fits…I still can’t believe how much better Faber looks this season, he’s taken his offensive mindset up a notch too…You forget how good Brodin is when you don’t see him for awhile…

we’ll see in 8 days…

No surprise on Leopold’s statement, of course he’ll pay our superstar what he’s worth (hopefully its within reason of the current top Wing aav goal post) and we’re the only team that can offer him the max 8 year term…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

No surprise on Leopold’s statement, of course he’ll pay our superstar what he’s worth (hopefully its within reason of the current top Wing aav goal post) and we’re the only team that can offer him the max 8 year term…

Russo said it best “provided the Wild can prove to him they can win”.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Russo said it best “provided the Wild can prove to him they can win”.

I just don’t get that “prove it to him” thinking… isn’t EVERY team trying to win? A couple of seasons ago the Wild did the most “winning” they ever have in the franchises 22+ years…

if we’re talking Playoffs, how are those failures not mostly on the PLAYERS (including Kirill) vs Management, obviously Management put together good teams to get 113 & 103 regular season points…

I do agree that it’s Management’s responsibility to build a “proper” team that is built to survive playoff hockey, but that’s typically not something you can do in 1-2 seasons, you usually need to build upto it (like the plan is starting next season)

I found this Leopold quote most interesting:

“We’re going to have money available. We’re going to have the resources available to do what we need to do to get back to Wild hockey. And we’re looking forward to that. We look at who could be available next year. You’re going to ask me, who are those players? I won’t tell you.

“But we know who they are, and we don’t know whether they’ll end up signing with their current teams or they become UFAs. But we’ve got a list, and if they’re available, we’re going to go after them. And we feel like we’re going to be able to get one or two really good players to add on to this team.”

This also begs the question, where are these supposed new players going to play in the lineup? (with Yurov likely swapping in for Jojo)

Prove it to him by adding more talent around him is what I think he means. Granted adding some stud vets doesnt ensure winning, but if KK is honest I am sure he thinks this current roster is NOT built to win a cup which you know is what he wants in the worst way.

Another important point from the Leopold interview:

Leipold said the Wild already got their first two payments from Bally Sports North as the TV local rightsholder enters the final year of its contract and they’re expecting to be paid in full.

Leipold said the Wild had a contingency plan if Bally Sports North didn’t return for this season and said “we’ve got another option ready right now” if the Wild don’t do a new contract with the network beyond this season. It’s believed to be an over-the-air option that would be free, but the Wild have discussed streaming options as well.

“(The option we have is) not as good as the Ballys, but long-term, it may be better,” he said.

So these sound like the rumored Channel 45 OTA option and the Wild.com streaming option they’ve been using for preseason…The offer being “not as good” as Bally’s is mostly the reason why Bally’s filed for bankruptcy…

CaptainMusky wrote:

Prove it to him by adding more talent around him is what I think he means. Granted adding some stud vets doesnt ensure winning

That’s all about hoping your Prospects develop and UFA’s want to sign here. Those choices are out of Managements hands, they can help influence them a bit, but ultimately its upto the players themselves….

IF Billy could wave his hand and have all his prospects turn into studs and get the perfect mix of UFA’s to sign here under the cap he would…as would every team/GM

Money is not the cure for Kirill. He wants that Cup sooner than later and the years slip by pretty fast for a hockey player. Waiting around for prospects to develop is not part of his plan I don’t think. Guerin and Leipold can want all the ufa free agents they want and have a fist full of money to pay them but these pesky no trade lists can rear their ugly heads. Phil Kessel and Laine both have already said thanks but no thanks.
And these were free agents most other teams were meh about.

The Wild will be competing with destination franchises like Vegas and Florida. Minnesota is not a destination for most. Kirill is here because he had no choice. Soon he will.

More Cap Circumvention… How is this even possible?

Lehner will NOT be on Vegas’ salary cap this season. Believe Lehner will still be paid.

Big win for the Golden Knights, who likely will not have to operate in LTIR to start the season.