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

Hurricanes said to be shopping for teams interested in Mikko Rantanen if the can’t agree with him on a new contract by the deadline. I wonder if he ever had any desire to sign with Carolina? Man that would be an interesting deal.

And the shine is off the Laine apple in Montreal. St. Louie demoted him to the 4th line before the break. 5 on 5 production non-existent. Is he about to shock the league and demand a trade? I mean if this guy keeps it up, I could start to get the impression that he’s a giant pain in the arse.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Hurricanes said to be shopping for teams interested in Mikko Rantanen if the can’t agree with him on a new contract by the deadline. I wonder if he ever had any desire to sign with Carolina? Man that would be an interesting deal.

And the shine is off the Laine apple in Montreal. St. Louie demoted him to the 4th line before the break. 5 on 5 production non-existent. Is he about to shock the league and demand a trade? I mean if this guy keeps it up, I could start to get the impression that he’s a giant pain in the arse.

I seriously think Rantanen is going back to the Avs this offseason as a UFA and they then end up trading away Necas for a haul…IF he indeed doesn’t sign with the Canes, that’s 2 UFA gambles (Jake Guentzel the other) the Canes GM took in consecutive years that failed and they got back basically nothing…

Laine needs to find some beer league team that lets him stand next to the boards and take 1 timers all game…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Laine needs to find some beer league team that lets him stand next to the boards and take 1 timers all game…

Within 2 weeks he’d be demanding a trade from Mississauga beer league powerhouse the Dave’s Pest Control Fighting Rodents, citing philosophical differences with the management about how he was being utilized.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
Laine needs to find some beer league team that lets him stand next to the boards and take 1 timers all game…

Within 2 weeks he’d be demanding a trade from Mississauga beer league powerhouse the Dave’s Pest Control Fighting Rodents, citing philosophical differences with the management about how he was being utilized.

I wonder if any GM’s would pick him up for a playoff run and only give him PP1 and limited 4th line minutes…yes he has many flaws, but he might get you 2-3 Powerplay goals in a series and that could be the difference…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I wonder if any GM’s would pick him up for a playoff run and only give him PP1 and limited 4th line minutes…yes he has many flaws, but he might get you 2-3 Powerplay goals in a series and that could be the difference…

They’d have to have the cap space, though. Do you think Laine’s playing for the Dave’s Pest Control Fighting Rodents for free? Dave’s no pay, Laine no play.

Colorado’s Behind the Scenes web series episode on the Rantanen trade….interesting watch…

I seriously think Rantanen is going back to the Avs this offseason as a UFA and they then end up trading away Necas for a haul…IF he indeed doesn’t sign with the Canes, that’s 2 UFA gambles (Jake Guentzel the other) the Canes GM took in consecutive years that failed and they got back basically nothing…

I guess I dont understand this take of him going back. What would that have accomplished. Don’t think the egos will allow that. I don’t see him signing with the canes either but doubtful he would go back to Colorado.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Colorado’s Behind the Scenes web series episode on the Rantanen trade….interesting watch…

That was interesting. You’d think the Avs would know by now that the Wild don’t play in Minneapolis, but ya know…

It would be really strange if the Canes did move Rantanen on again before the deadline though. How often does that happen with a player of that caliber, it can’t be very often.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I guess I dont understand this take of him going back. What would that have accomplished. Don’t think the egos will allow that. I don’t see him signing with the canes either but doubtful he would go back to Colorado.

I’m just basing that on what’s been publicly said by Rantanen, he was willing to take a significant paycut from his market value to stay in Colorado and appeared to be COMPLETELY caught offguard by the trade, it absolutely could just be a lie to save some face publicly, but he said it…I also can’t believe they didn’t consult with MacKinnon beforehand, yes its the GM’s decision, but you consult with your franchise player when about to trade his linemate and friend…even is he was asking for $14 million aav and the team was only willing to go to $12 but no more so MacKinnon was the highest paid player, they could easily find $2 million more elsewhere on the team to keep him, especially with the cap going up so much in the next few years, that’s where I call BS…What are they going to tell Makar in 2 years when his sweetheart $9aav deal is up, he cant sign for more than $12 either? BS

Why couldn’t the Wild offer him $13+ million? Yes Kirill will get a bigtime raise over his current $9aav and most are speculating it will be $15+ million, but what if that number is just speculation and GMBG convinces Kirill if he comes down a bit in AAV, they could possibly afford to sign Rantanen as well? The cap explosion the next few years would likely cover the other extensions we’re due the next 1-3 years anyways (Rossi bridge deal, Buium & Yurov 2nd contracts, etc) If you can find a way to dump Spurgeon & Hartman this offseason and Foligno the next and replace them with an ELC kids (Buium, Yurov and Stramel) that should make up a good chunk of the difference you were already going to spend on signing a top 6 guy like Boesser or Nelson vs now potentially signing somebody like a Rantanen… Just pointing out its possible if its a direction GMBG wants to go in…

So Bettman announces World Cup of Hockey every 2 years between the Olympics starting in 2028

Poor gus bus.

No need to worry about the game pace or if these guys will try hard… holy crap what a pace by Canada!

Brodin and Hedman pair lasted 2 shifts…

Lol, their first shift back together 1/2 way through the 2nd period and Brodin scores…

Crazy how invisible Cale Makar has been and how good Erik Karlsson has been…

Wild players with a great showing…

Fun game.

F*$@, Gus deserved better. He got peppered in OT and looked real good.

Not excited to see Ek take a high stick to the face but he seems fine.

That was a fun game. Easily the best in- or post-season exhibition in years for any of the four major sports.

Guess i missed what’s in the gift bag Crosby got? Looks like something my aunt would give at a baby shower.

McDavid – MacKinnon – Makar in OT is just bonkers…

USA vs Canada Saturday night should be wild…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Crazy how invisible Cale Makar has been and how good Erik Karlsson has been…

Wild players with a great showing…

Gus kept them in that game. Nice to see Brodin and Ek get goals.

Am 7/8th’s Swedish and thought this was going to be a blow out. I’d be embarrassed if I was team Canada. That amount of fire power on offense, the Swedes did not play well at all, it’s a home game for Canada, and you get taken to overtime in your home building? Not impressed at all with team Canada. Should have been 8 nothing. Getting taken to overtime, laughable. Then acting likes it’s a big deal, give me a break. And I love hockey and don’t hate Canadians or Canada. Mackinnon is one of my favorite players.

Vegas now has their LTIR injury to milk with Theodore.

That is all I need to see for the argument to make OT 10 min long…

Sure is funny how all the haters on the tourney have shut up after that game. What a blast

I watched a good amount of the game. Brodin made a very uncharacteristic mistake on I think the second maybe third goal on a 2 on 1 and left Gus hanging. Always leave the shooter for the goalie and take away the pass. Gus looked really good for the amount of the game I watched, though the Swedes were still down when I flipped it off. I missed Ek’s goal. Let me guess from 3 feet away? LOL

CaptainMusky wrote:

I watched a good amount of the game. Brodin made a very uncharacteristic mistake on I think the second maybe third goal on a 2 on 1 and left Gus hanging. Always leave the shooter for the goalie and take away the pass. Gus looked really good for the amount of the game I watched, though the Swedes were still down when I flipped it off. I missed Ek’s goal. Let me guess from 3 feet away? LOL

Canada was absolutely buzzing in the 1st and Sweden was rattled, they calmed down in the 2nd and took control of the rest of the game, OT was absolutely ridiculous with Canada following a NBA move and “clearing the floor” for MacKinnon to get a ton of speed and go 1-1 on the lone defenseman…

The scary thing is that for the most part McDavid and Makar weren’t involved much (McDavid had a few shifts early that he completely dominated but after that not much else as he deferred to MacKinnon, Makar was invisible all game) I’d be a little worried if I was Team USA that we’ll see a McDavid game Saturday night where he reminds the world why he’s the best…

A bad Hedman pinch left Brodin out to dry on the Marchand goal, it looked worse because Brodin lost his balance at the end and wiped out…I though he was a good skater?

at this level, any mistake that results in an oddman rush likely ends up in the back of the net…

Another funny thing was after the game most reporters were asking the players how they felt about a 10 minute 3-3 OT and possibly bringing that to the NHL to reduce shootouts and most of them said no thanks, 10 minutes was too long…

What was Karlsson doing on the game winner goal? There was no effort to defend at all.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I watched a good amount of the game. Brodin made a very uncharacteristic mistake on I think the second maybe third goal on a 2 on 1 and left Gus hanging. Always leave the shooter for the goalie and take away the pass. Gus looked really good for the amount of the game I watched, though the Swedes were still down when I flipped it off. I missed Ek’s goal. Let me guess from 3 feet away? LOL

Enough blame to go around on that 2 on 1 goal. Horrible turnover by Hedman and very little effort to try and recover from his mistake.

Tom schmitt wrote:

Enough blame to go around on that 2 on 1 goal. Horrible turnover by Hedman and very little effort to try and recover from his mistake.

That is true. I just didnt expect Brodin to go after the shooter in that case. I realize it was kind of a jail break situation and perhaps since he stumbled like Joe said he thought his best chance was to go after the shooter instead.

CaptainMusky wrote:

What was Karlsson doing on the game winner goal? There was no effort to defend at all.

That Crosby zone entry was just strange (he entered the zone, then passed backwards out of the zone, then just got back onsides before Marner entered) Honestly the Sweden D had been backing up all OT when MacKinnon and others rushed it up against them, its just that Gus made the saves on those shots, not on Marner’s… That was Canada’s strategy all OT, single out a defender and come at him with speed…

One thing no one can deny that ended up being one heck of a hockey game.
I think the all-star game thing will be gone unless there’s a big injury pile up.

ESPN needs to completely reboot their NHL coverage… just keep Ray Ferraro, AJ Mileskjo and their main players by play guy, everyone else needs to go…

Tom schmitt wrote:

One thing no one can deny that ended up being one heck of a hockey game.
I think the all-star game thing will be gone unless there’s a big injury pile up.

I sure hope so. If you enjoy the novelty of this tournament it’s truly must-watch, whereas i couldn’t care less about missing an all-star game. If the league keeps doing something like this they’re gonna have the only showcase exhibition worth watching out of the 4 major sports.