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

JoeMX1825 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>wormdunker wrote:</div>
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…

There is a huge risk reducing the effectiveness of the other two pairs, they were all young players. Thinking it is an easy decision, is easy the day after, from a keyboard. Carle didn’t think of it. Listen to his post game. Gave all credit to Killer. The first flip was last shift of first period. different game after that.

You think Cole Hutson actually plays defense? If so, that automatically disqualifies you from commenting further… Down 2 goals, They simply pushed their chips in and loaded up the offense by putting him with Buium and pairing them on the ice with the Leonard line (all of those players played a part in the last minute tying goal in the second period) It’s no different than when Hynes puts Boldy with Kirill when they are down in the 3rd sometimes…if anything it weakened their defense when they were on the ice together, but solidified the other pairs defensively…those 5 dominated the last half of the game and should have won it had the Finland goalie not stood on his head in the 3rd and OT stopping their chances…

I do agree that keeping them together AFTER the game was tied was a more risky decision defensively and deserves credit, but as you watched, they just dominated when they were on the ice…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

If so, that automatically disqualifies you from commenting further…

good lord

tswoboda wrote:

good lord

Yeah Joe is being overly dramatic. So, he may not play D that doesn’t mean the other guy he would be paired with doesn’t.

omg, you guys are a bunch a nancys…. lol

Hynes said Middleton might be back for tomorrow night’s game…that would be awesome

oh and Rossi was named the NHL’s #1 star this week…

oh man, I might need to take another look at the 2026 WJC ticket packages even with those ridiculous prices…

2026 Group of Death announced with USA, Canada and Sweden all together!

What was Team USA most excited about after their back to back golds?

https://x.com/usahockey/status/1876284510616391914?s=46&t=uoRWUp28rKzoSODmtmr3Lw

JoeMX1825 wrote:

oh man, I might need to take another look at the 2026 WJC ticket packages even with those ridiculous prices…

2026 Group of Death announced with USA, Canada and Sweden all together!

You better look at the D pairings first.

CaptainMusky wrote:

You better look at the D pairings first

You’re doing it wrong, that just didn’t work…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

omg, you guys are a bunch a nancys…. lol

Ignorance is bliss. Apparently.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

oh man, I might need to take another look at the 2026 WJC ticket packages even with those ridiculous prices…

2026 Group of Death announced with USA, Canada and Sweden all together!

Better yet you may want to apply for GM and Coach.

I understand what Joe is saying here with Hutson. Its more of a generalization on the type of player he is rather than the technical assigned position.

He is in fact a defender, that is his position. But clearly he’s one of those offensive-minded defenders. A valuable assett, regardless.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

omg, you guys are a bunch a nancys…. lol

Well at least you stopped one step shy of calling us Karen’s so that is a plus.

for those without an Athletic account, here’s Corey Pronman’s recap of the top standout players in the WJC, Zeev Buium was the top of his list…

Finland’s Aron Kiviharju didn’t make the list, but I watched every Finland game and his play style looks identical to Jared Spurgeon’s, like he said at the draft to GMBG, he could be a steal if he develops his game to better fit the NHL level…he’s even younger than Buium, so again he has more time to grow and mature…

Standouts
Zeev Buium, LHD, USA (Minnesota)
Buium didn’t get the points his teammate Cole Hutson did, but he was clearly USA’s best defenseman and a guy they leaned on to play massive minutes in the important games including a 30-minute performance in the semifinal against Czechia. Buium’s talent is obvious. He’s an outstanding skater with a high skill level and great hockey sense. He makes so much happen around the puck, but what I was also impressed by was his defending. There weren’t many chances going against USA when he was on the ice, showing a compete level that some NHL scouts questioned going into last year’s draft.

Yeah his game sure seems to have grown in the last year or so. Everyone knew he was dynamic with the puck and could skate with the best of them, but if he can be solid on D that is a major bonus.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Yeah his game sure seems to have grown in the last year or so. Everyone knew he was dynamic with the puck and could skate with the best of them, but if he can be solid on D that is a major bonus.

granted it was against other 18-19 year olds, he was throwing defenders off with 1 arm all tournament (the biggest knock on him has always been a lack of strength) so it looks like he’s improved on that last offseason…like any kid, he’ll need to add more weight and muscle to help survive the pro game… still need to remember he’s an under-ager (he just turned 19 a month ago) so he still has alot of physical maturing that will naturally happen…his 2 year older brother is 6’3″ so maybe he has another growth spurt in him…

A growth spurt wouldnt surprise me at all. I grew 2 inches after HS and no, it wasnt around my waist.
Once he gets in the hands and management of the trainers and nutritionists he will bulk up really fast. I didnt even recognize my buddy’s kid the first time I saw him after he was with the blackhawks training staff. He was eating 5000 calories a day! It had been a couple years since I saw him because of Covid, but my goodness he looked so different.

When Kirill gets back I wonder if Hynes will (I can’t believe i’m saying this) swap Rossi and Ek to see if Rossi & Boldy can maintain their chemistry together and help build up the 2nd line scoring…it would be so nice to spread the scoring out and take SOME weight off Kirill’s shoulders…

Russo also had an injury update. Middleton may play in next game and is practicing. That would be huge. KK still day to day he has missed 6 games now and has not skated once.

I know i’ve been one of the loudest complainers about the Wild drafting Charlie Stramel over Gabe Perrault, but after watching Perrault play in the WJC and looking at the Wild’s future roster i’m starting to see maybe what the Wild brass was thinking and why the they didn’t draft Gabe. If they did, where would he play on the Wild?

Look at the Wild’s future roster 1-2 years out when Gabe & Charlie would likely be ready to play in the NHL (Assuming Kirill re-signs, One of Yurov/Ohgren/Heidt is a top6 player, Zuccy retires and Hartman traded) Yes, other things could happen with the roster, but I chose the most likely forward roster based on player age/contract status:

Kaprizov – Rossi – Boldy
UFA – Ek – Yurov/Ohgren/Heidt
Trenin – Gaudreau/Stramel – Foligno
Lauko – Khusnutdinov – ??

Where would Gabe Perrault play on that roster and be effective? That top 6 is likely signed for the next 3+ years at a bare minimum, The Wild will most likely sign a top 6 UFA Wing this offseason (I’d put my money on it being Brock Boesser) or next so that fills one of the top 6 Wing spots, Kirill/Boldy/Yurov/Ohgren/Heidt fill the others. Perrault isn’t a checker at all and wouldn’t work on the 3rd or 4th line vs Stramel who is a prototypical 3rd/4th line center/checker with his size and skating ability.

You can’t ignore the trade value Perrault would have brought, but teams don’t draft players in the 1st round with the known intention of trading them…The Wild obviously didn’t draft best player available in 2023, but you can maybe see what they were thinking with drafting Stramel (at least that’s what i’m going with as justification)

Ripjiggen wrote:

KK still day to day he has missed 6 games now and has not skated once.

to still not be skating after 2 weeks is a bit concerning and leads to thinking maybe there was some sort of muscle tear they caught on imaging that Kirill didn’t think he had and a complete shutdown/rest was the best option to hopefully avoid re-injury down the road…

Hey guys! I’ll post this in the classifieds as well. One of my boys won 4 Wild tickets and unfortunately it’s the same day as my daughter’s wedding. So he asked me if I wanted to post them on here for sale. He’d love to be able to use the money to buy tickets to a different date cause he was pretty excited to get to go to one. Just not this date. Must buy all 4. Tickets are digital on his phone and can be transferred.

4 tickets. Saturday January 25th. 6pm game vs Calgary Flames. Section 119 seats 15-16-17-18.
Asking $800

JoeMX1825 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
KK still day to day he has missed 6 games now and has not skated once.

to still not be skating after 2 weeks is a bit concerning and leads to thinking maybe there was some sort of muscle tear they caught on imaging that Kirill didn’t think he had and a complete shutdown/rest was the best option to hopefully avoid re-injury down the road…

just listened to the latest Worst Seats in the House Podcast, Russo said Kirill has flown out of state to get treatments from a groin specialist, they are just playing it safe and trying to get it 100% healed before bringing him back to hopefully avoid another flare up towards the end of the season…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

just listened to the latest Worst Seats in the House Podcast, Russo said Kirill has flown out of state to get treatments from a groin specialist, they are just playing it safe and trying to get it 100% healed before bringing him back to hopefully avoid another flare up towards the end of the season…

Not really sure if that is good news or bad news…

Middleton activated

Charlie W wrote:

Middleton activated

Tarps off imminent

Binnington gonna fight someone tonight?? Rough start.

Faber not on the bench, uff dah!

Well no one is going to claim that the Wild are having most complete game tonight.