Ripjiggen wrote:

Love the rose colored glasses on Zeevs game so far.

of course you do..

mojogunter wrote:

They are performing way better than I ever thought they would at this point. Buium is no where near NHL ready. At least Merril can play some defense, not good defense, but some defense. Buium is a turnover machine and a liability almost every shift. Get him out of there and let him develop next year. I think the Wild had dreams of a Faber x2

He’s played 3 playoff games and 2 practices in the NHL sofar…I haven’t seen a Buium bad play that has directly led to a goal, its been more Bogo and other players not doing their jobs and then Zeev is stuck in front of the net for 3 goals against…Like any 19 year old he played his first few games nervous and tentative, I thought he looked alot better in game 3, but still making some mistakes like all rookies do…There will ALWAYS be a bit of Riverboat Gambler to Zeev’s game, just like you see with offensive players like Boldy & Kirill, you live with the mistakes because the great plays vastly outnumber them… and there’s a reason Merrill has been a fringe 3rd pair defenseman his entire career…

IF Hynes and Staff didn’t think he was more effective than Merrill, they would have swapped him out by now… Who knows, maybe that happens for game 4 and they sit Zeev so Merrill can keep the rust off his game just incase he’s needed in the future as an injury replacement, Hynes has hinted to this before. Hynes definitely has his finger on the teams pulse and will make the right call, we’ll find out tomorrow morning…

we knew this was coming for Wallstedt this season, obviously next year is a huge one for him…I really hope he gets a legit shot to be the backup next season so we can see what he looks like away from the biblically bad Iowa Wild defense…he’s also had an insanely unlucky injury list this season, hopefully he gets his body right before training camp…

https://x.com/ByronMBader/status/1915796217273217207

TSN’s Mike Johnson is my favorite hockey analyst, here he’s giving Kirill his flowers

https://x.com/i/status/1915621013942870178

AK Guy wrote:

In his postgame interview Cassidy pointed out the “blown” icing call, but he was also quick to say you move on from it.

He’s just covering for his Defenseman who’ve all been turnover machines all series and likely starting to inner-monologue “WTF is he doing” about each other on the bench…The first 10 minutes of game 4 will be everything, Wild need to figure out how to break the game 4 loss streak…

tswoboda wrote:

Some good clips here of Buium

That’s a good & accurate take, I noticed Zeev try a couple of the jump cuts and power turn moves at the blueline he routinely did in college and got away with get blown up by Vegas this series and its quite obvious he needs to get heavier and stronger as he’s getting pushed around alot, but the point the writer made around elite players quickly learning how to adapt their game to the situation is spot on…

The in-zone defense clip (the very last portion of it) is the play that drove me nuts last night and I figured might have been Zeev’s last shift of the game if Hynes gave him the hook…it’s mostly just unfamiliarity playing with Bogo, but he has to get back to the net front faster… that’s likely just an old college habit he could always get away with, not in the NHL…

His first few games have looked like he’s testing the NHL to see what he can/can’t get away with, the nice thing is that I really haven’t seen him make the same mistake twice..live & learn and he’s absolutely gotten better with each passing game…

CaptainMusky wrote:

Boldy and KK97 just are not allowing anyone to stop them. Has that second KK goal been changed to be Hartman’s? I dont think KK even touched it and was off a defender. I think KK even pointed at Hartman like that was your goal when it happened and not the traditional nice pass or whatever you see.

I thought it went off Kirill’s stomach area? Hartman stealing a peek at the scoreboard clock before throwing it on net was pretty cool…

Jackson is exactly what the Vikings needed, a day 1 starting left guard who can play Tackle just as well if needed/O’Neal or Darrisaw gets hurt…

These are never sexy picks, but absolutely necessary to give your RB holes and keep your QB upright…

Game 4 has been our Achilles heel the past X playoff series… Saturday’s game is HUGE

Great all around win, Huge bounce back game for Rossi! His first 2 NHL Playoff points!

Nyquist has to come out though for game 4, he’s done

Stupid play by Kirill, then not enough gas to backcheck to the net…

It would be nice if it stays a 4-1 game so Bogo and Buium can take a regular shift rotation and take some minutes from the top4

Loving that Shaduer Sanders might not go in the 1st round, even if the ESPN telecast is trying to will it to happen…

Hard Water Fan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Hard Water Fan wrote:</div>
My observation from 4 nations is that Faber is an elite player. Boldy is not.

I no longer stand by my comment on Boldy from February

love it!

Vikings O-Line stacked now… I’m sure JJ loves the pick..

Dan wrote:

Boldy just scored Joe get back to the Wild thread ya hear me!

lol, constantly switching channels back and forth, looks like the Vikes are picking at #24 they must really line him..

Hynes messing with all of the lines tonight..

Haha! Go Vikes!

Jesus we can’t have our 4th line out with Bogo and Buium… thats like the 3rd time this game…

Vikings will have their pick of surething starters if they stay at #24

Damn there’s been some big hits in this game sofar!!

Nyquist has already had 3-4 bad plays this game… gotta pull him next game, he has nothing left…

GusBus blew a tire on that one… wtf

Marco!

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I have a feeling Zeev produces his 1st NHL point tonight…

I called that one…Thankfully he got saved by the Vegas too many man call after he turned it over at the blueline…

Wow, Hagel just destroyed Barkov and he’s hurt… Florida thought it was cheap, Hagel got 5 minute major but not kicked out?

Ice Cap wrote:

It could be he just don’t want to be here any longer. Seems he’s been the Wild’s poster boy for trade bait for so long he probably has reached the just trade me already level. From his pov he’s done everything asked of him from this team. Yet all he hears is they are not happy with him and he’s on the trade block. Young centers who post 60 in a season just aren’t that plentiful. He’s playing hurt right now is my guess.

The criticism is warranted as his defense has been brutal at times, especially lately, but most young players have issues with their game they need to improve on…

In terms of the trade rumors, we’ve gone over this a ton, he was really the only player without trade restrictions that has value so naturally his name always comes up….

Lets see what his icetime looks like tonight…

Sure glad the Bears didn’t get Jeanty…

tswoboda wrote:

Legit 2C’s don’t get caved in the playoffs

do they score 60 points in the regular season? He’s proved he can be successful in this league, now he needs to figure out how to elevate his game in the playoffs, pretty common issue for young players in their first playoffs…

He’s obviously face smacked into a confidence wall right now, no arguing about that… it makes him turning down 5×5 look bad right now..

AnotherFisherman wrote:

5×5 seems a little steep to me!

not for a 23 yr old legit 2C that just put up 60 points with an ever rising cap… if they dont end up trading him perhaps the Rossi camp comes back and accepts it… just kinda feels like the writing is on the wall that they trade him for another center this summer…

Ripjiggen wrote:

And now he is playing 10 minutes a night.

yeah, he should probably quit hockey…