MN Wild 2019-2020 Official Thread

sticker wrote:

Stalock may not be an elite goaltender, but man he is playing pretty good and keeping them in games!!! Couple of game savers again last night

He truly has won them several games lately…my grand hope of the Wild tanking and getting a high draft pick is fading fast…BUT…other than their win against the Predators who were on the 2nd night of a back-to-back, the Wild have been beating bad teams…yes, they leapfrogged 4 teams and moved into the top Wild card spot last night, but they could get leapfrogged themselves by those same 4 teams with their next loss…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

my grand hope of the Wild tanking and getting a high draft pick is fading fast

I think even if the wild finish out at a .500 pace they will be in.
Evanson has the whole team playing inspired Hockey, it sure is nice to see.

I would bet on them getting in at this point,they have a good blend of young guys playing hard and some of the veterans are doing well also.

That Fenton guy

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I see Stalock coming back down to earth once we start playing good teams again and they finish just out of the playoffs and we miss out on the top tier of prospects per usual…rinse and repeat

I’m being cautiously optomistic about the Wild. Like Joe says a couple losses and they could get leap frogged right back down. The only really decent team they’ve played is the Caps recently and even though they lost they hung with them. So they are beating the teams the have to and should beat right now so they are doing their part.

They have Philly, Nashville and Chicago twice, Jets, Colorado, Buffalo, Blues Islanders, and Caps left on their schedule so they are going to have to beat some good teams along the way. Fortunately for them some of those good teams are the last week of the season when they are going to be resting some players.

This has been the Wild’s method of operation for awhile, having to play play off hockey the last 5 or 6 weeks of the season just to have a shot of making the playoffs. Constant pressure cooker wears on a team. Difference this year is they are able to roll four lines which helps. They didn’t always have that luxury in the past.

I’m glad to see the 3 o’clock start time with the Kings on Saturday!

I fell asleep before puck drop. Man I am getting old. LOL
I was happy to see the outcome obviously, but disappointed Fiala couldnt extend his multi-point game streak. Big back to back coming up. It will be interesting to see if Stalock gets both or just one. He is playing well and the team is certainly feeding off him.

CaptainMusky wrote:

but disappointed Fiala couldnt extend his multi-point game streak.

He played another good game, one assist on Parise goal I believe

Game time was perfect, left the Highschool games and picked up on the 3rd period of the Wild. Full day of hockey.

jeff_huberty wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
but disappointed Fiala couldnt extend his multi-point game streak.

He played another good game, one assist on Parise goal I believe

He did and I saw a replay of that goal and Fiala drove the play, defender pressured him, he made a pass to Kunin who then got a nice backhand over to Parise who scored. Great pass by Kunin, but Fiala is who made the play.

Fiala was still a highlight show last night, got absolutely robbed on a back door shot…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

The NHL salary cap is expected to go up anywhere between 2-8 million next year, everytime this happens it makes the cap hits for Parise and Suter hurt just a little less…

The current NHL TV deal expires next year and the rate that sports franchise values and advertising is growing the next deal will likely increase league revenue quite a bit raising the cap more each year and thus increasing new player contracts higher and higher…

For the production level both Parise and Suter have right now and probably will have by the end of the season neither contract looks like a bad deal in terms of salary. Parise could well be on his way to 30+ goals. I know nobody wants to admit it but that puts him at the elite level of the entire league.

I can see a double edged sword coming with the TV contract. The problem is this is directly related to the reason all the streaming companies are dropping Fox sports North. As the NHL owners jack up the TV contract price that cable companies do the same to us.

At the current rate hockey will be pay-per-view or will require a team specific high-dollar subscription level for all games within five years.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

For the production level both Parise and Suter have right now and probably will have by the end of the season neither contract looks like a bad deal in terms of salary. Parise could well be on his way to 30+ goals. I know nobody wants to admit it but that puts him at the elite level of the entire league.

But, but, but, if you give Ek or Greenway that kind of ice time, they too would put up those kids of numbers. Plus, the cancer thing.

It’s funny how winning extinguishes those discussions.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TheFamousGrouse wrote:</div>
For the production level both Parise and Suter have right now and probably will have by the end of the season neither contract looks like a bad deal in terms of salary. Parise could well be on his way to 30+ goals. I know nobody wants to admit it but that puts him at the elite level of the entire league.

But, but, but, if you give Ek or Greenway that kind of ice time, they too would put up those kids of numbers. Plus, the cancer thing.

It’s funny how winning extinguishes those discussions.

Would they really? How can you know that? It’s a great theory, but….. I think Parise has proven if you give him the minutes he will get points.

I am not buying the whole cancer in the locker room thing.

I think Ol’ Gilly is being sarcastic and exposing some tired old arguments.

And I agree, it’s hard for me to know from my recliner what’s going on in their locker room, but maybe others have a real good read on who is or isn’t a cancer to the local professional hockey club.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Parise could well be on his way to 30+ goals. I know nobody wants to admit it but that puts him at the elite level of the entire league.

I wouldn’t call #34 in the league elite, however all things considered (age, contract, team) that isn’t bad.

Rest in Peace Rocket Richard

Ripjiggen wrote:

Elite that is a pretty strong word he has 45 points which is 80-87th in the league.

I wrote if he were to end the season with >30 goals…

So that doesn’t qualify for the elite level? Just shows how many think that 30+ goal scorers are common as dirt in the NHL.

Only 38 players in the NHL scored more than 30 goals last year. That’s 1.23 players per team producing more than 30. But doing so doesn’t qualify as elite?

So all you guys are saying that if we have we had a Laine or Nugent Hopkins, you wouldn’t consider them? Because neither scored more than 30 last season.

You guys might be just a little unrealistic in terms of scoring expectations.

Grouse

Ripjiggen wrote:

Actually there was 46 guys with 30 goals last year and Laine was one of them. Would I consider them for the team sure but I definitely wouldn’t consider them elite. Especially Nugent-Hopkins. I know you said more than 30. Kind of my point Laine and Nugent Hopkins are not even the best players on there teams. So if your best player is Nugent Hopkins you are not winning the cup. Much as if Zack is you best player. Maybe our definitions of elite are different and that very well could be. If you are in the top 20 maybe too 25 in goals you are elite. 80th in points is not elite. Very good sure not elite in my mind. Like I said no knock on Zach as he is having a great season and has been able to stay healthy, but 80th in points in my mind is not elite. I mean he arguably had a better season last year at least point wise and he missed a few games. He can not be the best player on a cup winning team. Not his fault more on the management thinking that Zach being your best player can win you a cup. I guess maybe if you goalie is a sheet of plywood then he would have a chance.

I pretty much agree with this with the exception of the top 20 to 25 scorers in the league being elite I don’t think I would go quite that deep. Elite is defined differently in different context. Is T. J. Oshie considered elite? Probably not while he’s playing under the shadow of Ovechkin who is elite. But put T.J. on a lot of other teams and he becomes their elite player on that team.
It then could be said Parise is the elite player on the Wild. If you’re going strictly by goals scored Parise leads the Wild with 25 and 45 points overall which is 4th on the team.
Overall production contribution is different. Then Fiala would be you’re elite player for the Wild with 21 goals only 4 behind Parise but Fiala has 31 assists 11 ahead of Parise with 52 points for 1st on the team. They are clearly different players. Parise is the grinder hanging in paint waiting to pound in the rebounds. Fiala is proving to be for now at least that he is the nifty skating smooth puck handling play maker who is going to rack up both goals and assists.

Sure it’s nice to have both and every team needs both styles but if I had to say who the Wilds elite player is right now I’d be inclined to say Fiala.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Actually there was 46 guys with 30 goals last year and Laine was one of them.

Actually, more than 30 goals means more than 30 goals. As I wrote, 38 players had more than 30 last season.

Even if we lower the bar by a goal and say 30 or more,
that works out to each team, on average, having just less than 1.5 players producing at that level.

So bottom line is as I said before. Unlike what some seem to think, these guys are not a dime a dozen.

Grouse

Back to earth for the Wild today. They were pretty much dominated every way they could be. It was bound to happen, I guess this is where you say you can’t win them all. See how they bounce back tomorrow. Foligno and Zuccarello put some points up while Fiala, Parise and the rest had a off day. Stalock didn’t have his best day but not a lot of help at times.

These losses this time of the year when you are fighting for you’re playoff life stings a little more.

Elite is a subjective term. When talking about goal scorers I would put it at around the top 15 goal scorers in the league. Moreso, to be considered an elite player I think you need to consistently be top 15 year after year. But that is if we are talking elite goal scorers. Elite player collect points. That is all I’d say on the subjective subject.

Jonathan choo choo put up 56 goals one year. Would anyone call him an elite goal scorer? Maybe.

No as far as hockey goes, I have to say I cannot stand the Bruins. Jesus what a bunch of floppers and hacks.

Were in Again
That Fiala trade is going to be looked on for years as one of the Wilds best moves.

jeff_huberty wrote:

That Fiala trade is going to be looked on for years as one of the Wilds best moves.

But is he elite?

When you consider the trade history of this team trading Granlund for an old bag of pucks looks pretty good.

biggill wrote:

But is he elite?

Only years will tell, he is exciting to watch though.

2019-2020 Team MVP

Ripjiggen wrote:

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

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>jeff_huberty wrote:</div>
That Fiala trade is going to be looked on for years as one of the Wilds best moves.

But is he elite?

Not yet but his skill level he has a chance. Only time will tell.

I don’t care if he is or isn’t. I just love being able to watch a player on OUR TEAM and think “this has a chance of going in the net” every time he touches the puck. I can’t remember this team having a player like that. Gaborik every now and then but certainly not to this level. He’s making everyone around him pick up their level of play also. That in my mind makes him elite at the moment.

Zuccarello,Fiala,and Rask all scored goals… Can you call that a Fenton hattrick?

Show me 100.

Either 100 team points for the season or a 100 point scorer. With the overtimes and shootouts you wouldn’t think those numbers would be that hard for a good team or player.

My point was i’ll get excited when they toss up a 100 point season. Do you really have to be very good to get 100 points? How many do they have this year? Last year? I see 101 in ’17-’18 were they good that season?

He’s sure been elite lately, dang.

In today’s edition of ‘arbitrary endpoints’, he has 26 points in his last 18 games, which is definitely elite.

That’s a 118 point pace, but more impressive is that 14 of those points are goals. That’s a ridiculous and un-sustainable 63 goals/year pace.

Could be really fun to watch if that Russian kid comes over on the same line and they find a worthy center. Look out!

Its pointless to watch standings right now as a win might move you up 5 spots but a loss might move you back 5 spots…

Fiala continues to carry this team on his back, I think we have our superstar of the future, but he’ll need help. Their run of playing bad teams is over so the next 5-7 games will determine their season…

Off until Thursday with Vegas up next. For whatever reason the Wild has had the Golden Knights number from the get go. So hopefully they get another win there. Then it gets a little tougher from there. Philly for a early noon game followed by Nashville then back to back with Chicago and then the Jets. Important stretch there.

Chicago is going nowhere but you know they would love to play the spoilers to do what they can to keep the Wild out of the playoffs. This could likely go down to the last game. Be nice if they didn’t have to play balls to the walls the last 5 weeks of the season just to make the playoffs. When and if they get there they are emotionally spent and physically wrung out.

Fiala has been something to watch! If he turns out to be the Wild’s Crosby what ever else Fenton did will be forgotten he will always be known as the GM who brought Fiala to the Wild.

Ice Cap wrote:

Off until Thursday with Vegas up next. For whatever reason the Wild has had the Golden Knights number from the get go. So hopefully they get another win there. Then it gets a little tougher from there. Philly for a early noon game followed by Nashville then back to back with Chicago and then the Jets. Important stretch there.

Chicago is going nowhere but you know they would love to play the spoilers to do what they can to keep the Wild out of the playoffs. This could likely go down to the last game. Be nice if they didn’t have to play balls to the walls the last 5 weeks of the season just to make the playoffs. When and if they get there they are emotionally spent and physically wrung out.

Fiala has been something to watch! If he turns out to be the Wild’s Crosby what ever else Fenton did will be forgotten he will always be known as the GM who brought Fiala to the Wild.

Doesn’t he need to become the Wilds Parise first? Is he hands down, slam dunk the Wilds best player or is he just having a good year, hot streak? I dunno, he is fun to watch but I wanna see him back it up before anointing him.

Don’t get to excited….I’m just playing Devils Advocate here.