MN Wild 2019-2020 Official Thread

At 79 she saw some kids playing hockey and decided to lace them up. At 80 she is the captain of her over 50 team which plays and work out several times a week.

mplspug wrote:

At 79 she saw some kids playing hockey and decided to lace them up. At 80 she is the captain of her over 50 team which plays and work out several times a week.

Haha that’s awesome! Some people get bust living while others get busy dying. Granny is obviously of the former.

I need to talk some hockey…. so 2 things about Kaprizov….1 – Why hasn’t he signed with the Wild yet? KHL and everything else is done for the foreseeable future, what could possibly be holding him back from signing? There’s only 1 max level for a 21+ year old rookie contract that he can sign in the NHL, there’s no way around it, no way to negotiate anymore more…so this worries me a little bit…

2- I saw a story floating around last night from a KHL sponsored website that appeared to say he was Minnesota bound (the website was in Russian with no translator button)

so I don’t know what to think…

Lastly, if the season were to be cancelled (all likelihood) what happens with the decision about which Pittsburgh 1st round pick the Wild were supposed to get? If Pittsburgh is allowed to keep this years pick in a stacked draft then that reduces the value the Wild got back from Pittsburgh as they were obviously going to make this years playoffs…I read from Russo that the NHL will make a decision on matters like this on a case by case basis as several other teams are in the same boat with draft pick compensation determined by the team making/not making the Playoffs.

Will draft slots be determined by standings when the season was cancelled? what about teams that played more games than other teams and thus might have a few more points? Will we have another complete league draft lottery that gave the Penguins Crosby after the lockout season?

What a mess!

Well as of right now there are no answers to your questions. The NHL seems to be determined to play some amount of games at least the last I read. Maybe they will do what the MLB is talking about. Choose a centrally located arena and play to empty seats? Who knows at this point everything is fluid.

I’ll add this. Hockey was the last pro sport I cared to even watch anymore. Lost interest in all the others over the years for various reasons. Now I’ve learned the world goes on either way without that even. I really missed it at first now I don’t even think much about anymore.

In a way it removed another frustration from my life!

JoeMX1825 wrote:

1 – Why hasn’t he signed with the Wild yet? KHL and everything else is done for the foreseeable future, what could possibly be holding him back from signing?

Easy there big feller. Deep breaths now… We won’t lose him.

Simple explanation. KHL contracts run through April 30. Obviously, most KHL teams in a normal season release their expiring contract players after that team’s season is over. Things are a little different this year, so without seeking an early release from his contract, Kaprisov can’t sign with the Wild. Yet.

And what’s the hurry? Neither he, nor the Wild are going anywhere anytime soon.

On the draft pick from Pittsburgh, I’m going to guess the Wild get held to the letter of the law on this one. I’m guessing there is no “season discontinued” language in the trade deal, so goodbye draft pick…

I’m sure the owners and the league are having all kinds of fantasies daily about somehow, someway, restarting the season. The latest is this “cleanroom” fantasy where they play in a sanitized arena in the middle of Nowheresville somewhere, blah, blah. NFL is having the same fantasy. It’s not going to happen for a long, long list of totally obvious reasons.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Simple explanation. KHL contracts run through April 30. Obviously, most KHL teams in a normal season release their expiring contract players after that team’s season is over. Things are a little different this year, so without seeking an early release from his contract, Kaprisov can’t sign with the Wild. Yet.

And what’s the hurry? Neither he, nor the Wild are going anywhere anytime soon.

Exactly… I’m sure CSKA is trying their best to keep him over there so I’m not surprised if they hold him through April.

What’s the hurry you ask… The obvious fear of more funny business like what happened 3 years ago. Is it likely? No. But… Russia.

Russo suggesting Kaprizov wants to sign immediately whenever it is possible.

https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-sports/kirill-kaprizov-wants-to-debut-this-summer-if-nhl-restarts-season

I heard that as well. I do not see them finishing the season however.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I heard that as well. I do not see them finishing the season however.

Yeah that’s the real crap part of this. Also wonder if Fiala will be able to pick up where he left off this season. About the worst timing for that kid to have the season stop.

Not necessarily for kaprisov his first year of his contract would have started and burn up a year when let’s be honest they were not a cup contending team. As much as I would like to see him play I would t mind if year 1 of his contract is a full season.

It’s really hard for me to see how a signing of Kaprisov to play in a restarted season is anything but hockey writer “nothing else to write about” fantasy.

First, you have to see a way–any way–that the NHL could resume the season and and then probably come up with some very novel playoff format. The hurdles become higher every day that passes, realistically at the very best case scenario, the players would have been off for 2 months without playing a game or practicing together.

There’s also the question of how late is too late to finish the 19-20 season? Do you start again in August with playoffs ending the week before the start of the 20-21 season?

Also, can anyone really see the NHL coming back AND going into some kind of finish the season format whereby the Wild could somehow have enough games to play such that Kaprisov would ever see any ice time? Realistically, would you bring him in for just 5 games? Very hard for me to see the NHL making the teams play more than even 8 games as a way to finish off the “regular” season.

But I can’t see how any of this is likely to happen.

Grouse

Any regular season games at this point would seem out of the question. The best they could hope for is to start some abbreviated playoff series starting where teams were in the standings when things stopped. Give teams a week to practice and players get their skates under them and some timing. Still will be lots of injuries with that scenario.

Pretty hard to imagine anything getting started in terms of hockey though.

wtf… Columbus Blue Jackets just signed Mikhael Grigorenko to a 1 year deal for $1.2 million!

unless he specifically said he didn’t want to play for the Wild, how do we justify not signing him if this is apparently all he was asking for contract wise? We desperately need a center and it opened the option for him to continue to play with Kaprizov and help him acclimate to the US and NHL…it seemed like a perfect fit no?

and i’ll say it again, why hasn’t Kaprizov signed yet? He was in the exact same position contract & team wise as Grigorenko…

this one is a head scratcher….

It seems like a lot of people don’t want to play for the wild. Sports talk radio hints that it is a parise/suter issue all the time

Lots of speculation and rumors being floated. One is Kaprisov and Ovechkin are Bff’s and Kaprisov has a total man crush on Ovi and is willing to do and listen to anything that will get him in a Capitols jersey playing along side his hero.
Makes sense actually and nothing comes as a surprise anymore. Anyway rumors are all that’s left of hockey now.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

and i’ll say it again, why hasn’t Kaprizov signed yet? He was in the exact same position contract & team wise as Grigorenko…

No, Kaprisov is not in the same position as Grigorenko.

Grigorenko is a UFA and could sign with any team, BUT if you sign him before the 19-20 season closes or is officially declared by the league to be closed, he cannot play in a resumed season.

Kaprisov is an NHL drafted player and the Wild owns his rights forever. Because he is in a league and a country with no transfer agreement, he can only play outside the NHL or for the Wild. Nobody but the Wild can sign him to an NHL

Grigorenko seems to be dogged by rumors that he’s a little difficult or an attitude problem. Every NHL team that has had him seems not to want to resign him regardless of cost, so he goes back to Russia. Hmmm… This time may be different, but I have a feeling there’s a reason why a whole bunch of teams passed on him.

Grouse

Agree with Grouse no real reason to hurry up and sign him quite frankly.

Byfuglien is avaiable

Kaprisov also is currently agentless. I was of the impression that Dan Milstein was his agent, but apparently he wasnt even though Dan was speaking on his behalf, etc.
So, apparently he needs to sign with an agent.

The most shocking thing about this picture is not that joe Thornton shaved his beard. It’s that his physique looks like that and he’s a pro hockey player.

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I bet you wouldn’t say that to him at the face off dot…

Phil Kessel is built more like a professional bowler than a hockey player.

Now that there’s no hockey, here’s a really neat video.

Once upon a time, there was a hockey player named Gretzky. And Gretzky, to Jari Kurri and Kurri scores!

You heard that a LOT in the 1980s. How awesome was Gretzky? Pay attention to how many times the play by play guys mention Gretzky’s points so far in the game.

And Kurri doesn’t get nearly enough credit for being the player that could take advantage of Gretzky’s awesome passing and the tendency of the defensemen to follow Gretzky around the ice.

Grouse

Looks like the wild are in a position to make the playoffs after all. If play resumes, it sounds like 12 teams from each conference will make it in the format.

Surprised Bettman doesn’t let everybody in.

mplspug wrote:

Looks like the wild are in a position to make the playoffs after all.

It sounds like they are going to each play 5 games against divisional opponents prior to the “post season” to determine each team’s playoff seed. The top 4 in each conference would earn a first round bye too. Not sure how I feel about a bye with 3 months off, although the first and possibly second round would each be 3 out of 5 game series, not 4 out of 7.

Kaprisov signed? Will he play?

At this point I don’t even care about a cup champ this year with a giant asterisk. I’d almost prefer they just start next year with this years record. You could subtract the last X games to make games played even. Either that or play 2 seasons next year finishing this years at the start.

Bring on the Canucks

Pretty exciting to hear all that today.