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

And I don’t get the trade talk in general. Yeah, let’s trade Gus let’s trade Rossi. Hopefully it’s just media and fan BS, which I’m guessing it is.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

yep, he had his 1st goal reversed and 2 or 3 other goals taken away after coaches challenges…

I think nearly all of them were because of Hartman too.

lindyrig79 wrote:

And I don’t get the trade talk in general. Yeah, let’s trade Gus let’s trade Rossi. Hopefully it’s just media and fan BS, which I’m guessing it is.

per the previous post, they and Middleton were the ONLY players who could get traded, so naturally their names would pop up…

Alot of times the best trades are the ones you dont make…. GMBG’s track record with trades and signings are pretty stellar (the recent Freddy/Hartman/Foligno extensions dont look great, but they are low caphit/lower term risks, if those guys all have big seasons the next few years we’ll be happy with them)

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
yep, he had his 1st goal reversed and 2 or 3 other goals taken away after coaches challenges…

I think nearly all of them were because of Hartman too.

Foligno actually, Hartman was playing alot with Kirill and Zuccy the first half of last season… I specifically remember Foligno being offsides and in the crease for 2 goals called back…

Ripjiggen wrote:

Grouse not sure why you think the front office treated Rossi poorly. Frankly they never once said he was a trade candidate.

It’s the fact that the front office including Guerin never just comes out and says it’s a no. They just let the reports simmer with no real signal to Rossi that the Wild really value him and that he’s part of the future. Classic MN passive aggressive. Contrast that to how giddy BG was in describing signing KK, it was like a buddy movie.

I don’t buy this “It’s just the media making stuff up.”. Russo has a whole podcast appearance on The Sota Pod where he named multiple teams that had both approached about Rossi and instances where the Wild approached other teams. So ALL this is just pure fiction and none of it ever happened?

If Russo came out tomorrow and said Kaprizov, Ek, Boldy, or Foligno had been offered to Team X for whoever, true or false, Guerin would be out there denying it. With Rossi it’s been the equivalent of a shoulder shrug.

Rossi’s performance is not replaceable for anything like what they are paying and even when the price goes up to market value it will be worth it just because when have the Wild ever had too many 30+ goal centermen? So why the passive bs?

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

If Russo came out tomorrow and said Kaprizov, Ek, Boldy, or Foligno had been offered to Team X for whoever, true or false, Guerin would be out there denying it. With Rossi it’s been the equivalent of a shoulder shrug.

No one denied anything when Russo said Boldy was offered to Florida at the 2020 draft or when he said Kaprizov was offered to Vegas in the expansion draft.

Where was the outage then? I don’t remember any “poor Boldy” or “poor Kaprizov” at the time

If GMs publicly denied trade speculation they’d be having press conferences every day. Hell Billy G would have the most active IDO account if he had to deny every outrageous trade posted on here.

tswoboda wrote:

No one denied anything when Russo said Boldy was offered to Florida at the 2020 draft or when he said Kaprizov was offered to Vegas in the expansion draft.

Where was the outage then? I don’t remember any “poor Boldy” or “poor Kaprizov” at the time

Not even close to a comparison. Neither Boldy nor Kaprizov had scored a single goal for the MN Wild at that point in their careers.

Rossi has been left swinging in the trade rumor breeze despite being on track to be a 30+ goal guy, which as a center on the MN Wild puts him in a pretty small club.

It’s pretty laughable to me even the idea of trading Rossi. Trade him for what???? What do the Wild need more than 30+ goal, puck distributing centermen? Cause we’ve got too many of them already.

Okay, here’s something that absolutely nobody needs. Completely stupid.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Cbo5n2hSA/

If you want popcorn, I’ve made plenty.

Not taking sides on the GM situation when it comes to Rossi. We also don’t know what’s said behind closed doors.

But I agree, the Wild have desperately needed a good centermen for years.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Not even close to a comparison. Neither Boldy nor Kaprizov had scored a single goal for the MN Wild at that point in their careers.

Lol and Rossi is not even close to as established as any of the guys you compared him to. I’m just using the guys you picked

Like I agree with you on not trading Rossi. The mistreatment narrative is just comical though. Kid’s played 140 games in the NHL and his most common linemates are Zuccarello, Kaprizov, Brodin, and Faber. I think the organization is treating him just fine, and I hope they keep him around.

After he was robbed of the OT winner by a great save, Zeev Buium makes a 60’ saucer pass on the tape to a streaking wing for the OT game winner! All Buium does is win championships, Wild need more of that pedigree in the organization…

https://x.com/spokedz/status/1876110510799876253?s=46&t=uoRWUp28rKzoSODmtmr3Lw

USA wins back to back WJC Gold

Contrast that to how giddy BG was in describing signing KK, it was like a buddy movie.

So he was excited to sign a top 10 player in the NHL that the wild never in the history of the franchise have had. Weird not wild.
Are you comparing KK to Rossi.
Sorry but they are not on the same planet currently. May as well compare Rossi and McDavid and talk about how giddy the oilers were to sign him.
Ek went through a similar situation. Now you look at EK say what were they thinking in trade talks. A first round pick that took some time to develop.
Again he was the only value player that could be included in a trade talks of any sort but unfortunately to IDO a Freddy hockey for Laine trade doesn’t happen in real world sports. Either does a Hartman and a d prospect that can’t crack the NHL lineup for JT Miller.
I have questioned BG plenty but the Rossi is the next top 5 center and the wild hate him is a little crazy.

Rossi has been left swinging in the trade rumor breeze despite being on track to be a 30+ goal guy, which as a center on the MN Wild puts him in a pretty small club.

Small as in the 2nd center to do it in the last year?

Again I’m not in favor of trading Rossi but like TSW said he is not McDavid and was the only player that can even enter trade talks from others by virtue of age draft position and contract.
The narrative that the front office has screwed him or hate him is pretty overblown.

The last thing i’ll say about the rumored Rossi trade reports is that a key factor rumored to give the Wild management doubts about his long term Center projection was his size would contribute to him getting bullied in the defensive zone (board battles, clearing players behind the net and in the crease) when facing other big 1Cs (Barkov, Mathews, Eichel, Scheiffle, MacKinnon, etc)
There’s maybe been a handful of times where his defensive coverage led to a goal that I can remember, but you can say that about EVERY player, Kirill had like 4 or 5 in the last few games he played in before he got hurt… There will ALWAYS be some give & take in terms of Scoring vs Defensive production, the top 6 will always lean more Scoring and bottom 6 more towards Defense.

Bottom line – This whole Defensive liability narrative is BS, the kid has proven he’s a capable defensive player when he needs to be…and he’s also proven to be durable as he’s played every game since the start of last season (yes, I knocked on wood)

I personally think GMBG is trying to lock him up long term on an $7-8ish AAV 7 year deal (I think Marco will reward the Wild with an easy negotiation for their patience with his covid recovery & slowed development (remember he was projected by most scouts and pundits to be one of the most NHL ready players in the draft) I don’t agree with the narrative that they’ve done him wrong at all, if anything they’ve been very helpful and supportive as his development took a bit longer than hoped) OR it could be that the Rossi camp instead insists on a shorter term 2 year bridge deal to try and cash in when the cap jumps another $10-$15 million over the next 2-3 seasons and he hopefully turns into a $9-10 AAV 1C player…either way he’s not going anywhere in the next +2 seasons at the minimum…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

USA wins back to back WJC Gold

Might as well call them Team Boston given the players on the top line and Hutson on defense.

Still a great accomplishment two years in a row. David Carle has now won two medals and two NCAA titles in the last 3 years.

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
USA wins back to back WJC Gold

Might as well call them Team Boston given the players on the top line and Hutson on defense.

Still a great accomplishment two years in a row. David Carle has now won two medals and two NCAA titles in the last 3 years.

BC and BU have turned into hockey star factories the past 5+ years and they are rumored to get alot of the stud CHL players that will transfer this August…I’d just be curious to know what their NIL benefits are vs other schools…

The two Boston schools have generally been national powers for many years, but the star quality they’ve kicked out (and recently have) seems high end for sure. I don’t see BU winning a natty this year, but BC certainly could. They easily could have won last year too, but ran into a hot Denver team coached by yours truly, David Carle.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Bottom line – This whole Defensive liability narrative is BS

Who is saying Rossi is a defensive liability? I think you made up a narrative to boldly disagree with and be outraged by. Don’t think I’ve heard or seen that one anywhere – he’s actually been pretty damn good, above average for a top 6 center for sure.

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Bottom line – This whole Defensive liability narrative is BS

Who is saying Rossi is a defensive liability? I think you made up a narrative to boldly disagree with and be outraged by. Don’t think I’ve heard or seen that one anywhere – he’s actually been pretty damn good, above average for a top 6 center for sure.

um, its been a part of pretty much every Russo rant on why they’ve looked into trading him…and all of this was based on his first 2 seasons (well, actually 1.x as he only played 18 games his rookie season?) and he had issues with his defense, I think he’s erased most if not all of those concerns this season…

LOL you guys need work on your reading comprehension. The only comparison I made between Rossi and KK was in BGs enthusiasm or lack thereof.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Small as in the 2nd center to do it in the last year?

Holy recency bias, Batman. Small as in the total number of centers the Wild have had that can be 30 goal guys for more than even 1 season. So you’re saying the center position has really never been a Wild problem?

The irony. Those two “tradeable” assets Rossi and Gus. Who needs them? I do think Billy will eventually come around to my way of thinking and re-sign Rossi. It just takes him a lot longer to see the light.

gim wrote:

The two Boston schools have generally been national powers for many years, but the star quality they’ve kicked out (and recently have) seems high end for sure. I don’t see BU winning a natty this year, but BC certainly could. They easily could have won last year too, but ran into a hot Denver team coached by yours truly, David Carle.

every year there are young players and old (second and sometimes third year) players on the team. This years crop of second year players were eastern based. last year they were all young and played lesser rolls. last years roster was carried by stronger, older western players with a mix of eastern. Opposite if this year. It is cyclical. I could go deeper but college teams are often based on rolls promised at commitment. Eiserman committed to U of M buy had a family issue that made him change. don’t think that he was going to be handed high minutes based on our current roster either. With 9 Minnesota’s in the support roster, expect it to flip next year. Ps Nelson and Ziemer were outstanding, may be contributed more than Leonard did last year. both will be back along with 7-8 more Minnesotans next year. In a one and done scenario a coach will ride his old guys every time, especially given they have all been teammates forever.

PS Buium is from CA, Augustine from MI,

Good info wormdunker, well played. I agree with the post.

What cannot be overlooked is that there are 9 players from the State of Hockey on this roster coming home with a gold medal. And an assistant coach.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

um, its been a part of pretty much every Russo rant on why they’ve looked into trading him…and all of this was based on his first 2 seasons (well, actually 1.x as he only played 18 games his rookie season?) and he had issues with his defense, I think he’s erased most if not all of those concerns this season…

Small, yes. Defensive liability, no. He’s never been bad defensively, even that first year. He just produced zero offense – similar Marat this year.

The fear Russo talks about is size, not defense. And that when physicality and intensity ramps up in the playoffs his production could dry up. It’ll be a lot tougher for a small player like Rossi to live in the slot and score the net front garbage goals he’s been so consistent with during the regular season.

wormdunker wrote:

In a one and done scenario a coach will ride his old guys every time, especially given they have all been teammates forever.

Perfect example Buium playing 25 minutes a game – clearly Carle’s guy he knows he can trust. Next closest player was at like 20:xx

tswoboda wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
um, its been a part of pretty much every Russo rant on why they’ve looked into trading him…and all of this was based on his first 2 seasons (well, actually 1.x as he only played 18 games his rookie season?) and he had issues with his defense, I think he’s erased most if not all of those concerns this season…

Small, yes. Defensive liability, no. He’s never been bad defensively, even that first year. He just produced zero offense – similar Marat this year.

The fear Russo talks about is size, not defense. And that when physicality and intensity ramps up his production could dry up. It’ll be a lot tougher for a small player like Rossi to live in the slot and score the net front garbage goals he’s been so consistent with during the regular season.

again, i’m just basing on what Russo has said is an issue Wild Management had a concern with, I think Rossi has put all of the concerns to rest this season, how he fares the back half of the season will give hints to your point about him possibly wearing down (he had 12 (5-4-3) points the final 3 months of last season) we’ll see…

The irony. Those two “tradeable” assets Rossi and Gus. Who needs them? I do think Billy will eventually come around to my way of thinking and re-sign Rossi. It just takes him a lot longer to see the light.

Not sure anyone said who needs them? Again if you are trying to improve your roster via trade, since they can’t spend in free agency. Teams will covet younger smaller contracts. Just what it is. To get a good player you will have to give up a good player.

Ripjiggen wrote:

To get a good player you will have to give up a good player.

The only Rossi trade rumor I heard of that I think had “some legs” was swapping Cutter Gauthier from Philly, I think Billy sees alot of himself in Cutter…

gim wrote:

Good info wormdunker, well played. I agree with the post.

What cannot be overlooked is that there are 9 players from the State of Hockey on this roster coming home with a gold medal. And an assistant coach.

Steve “Killer’ Miller (Gopher Coach) made the call to put Zeev and Hutson together end of 1st. He literally won the game with that decision. Go look for footage of the USA 2nd goal. The d men on the bench turned and shoved killer celebrating, their real time reaction acknowledged that he made that call. Then Carle confirmed post game Killer saved the game. Bottom line it is a team game. Everyone contributed.

wormdunker wrote:

Steve “Killer’ Miller (Gopher Coach) made the call to put Zeev and Hutson together end of 1st. He literally won the game with that decision.

wouldn’t exactly be thinking outside the box to combine your 2 best offensive D-men when you’re down by 2 goals with 2 periods left, but I get it…

This is a new one for a hockey game… cellphone falls out of a players breezers during a KHL game…

https://x.com/br_openice/status/1876304593111621730?s=46&t=uoRWUp28rKzoSODmtmr3Lw