Minnesota Wild General Discussion - 2022-23

[thestonedkoala]

The Stars have been incredibly healthy so far this year. Their top 17 skaters have missed a combined 9 games. They are 6p ahead of MN, but MN has 3 games in hand.

On the flip side COL can't seem to get healthy. I think they are the best team in the Division, but the injuries have cost them standing points.

I think the Jets drop out. I think DAL falls off some. COL should move up. NSH will just continue to grind out games into OT. STL just doesn't seem to have it this year, and they are pretty banged up. AZ and CHI are tanking. I still don't know where to put MN in the Division. I can see anywhere from 1st to 5th.

I think Minnesota will end up being 2nd with Colorado third and Dallas 1st

 

[ThatGuy22]

Zuccerello's banged up, and not flying to Buffalo.

Full game of Boldy and Kaprizov incoming.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Zuccerello's banged up, and not flying to Buffalo.

Full game of Boldy and Kaprizov incoming.

Are they calling up Walker again? I'd bet that they move Hartman up, not Boldy.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Are they calling up Walker again? I'd bet that they move Hartman up, not Boldy.

Duhaime is back. Joe Smith said it in practice it was Boldy -Kaprizov, and Duhaime taking Boldy's spot with Gaudrau

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Duhaime is back. Joe Smith said it in practice it was Boldy -Kaprizov, and Duhaime taking Boldy's spot with Gaudrau

Ah. Nice.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Duhaime is back. Joe Smith said it in practice it was Boldy -Kaprizov, and Duhaime taking Boldy's spot with Gaudrau

Be interesting to see how Boldy and Kap look

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Be interesting to see how Boldy and Kap look

A lot riding on this for some people around here (not excluding myself).

 

[Jesus comma Brodin]

The Jets just got back half their top-6 forwards and Schmidt. First time since October 17th their top-6 is intact with Ehlers coming back. This is an elite top 6 forward group, I am not writing them off at all.

Perfetti-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Dubois-Ehlers

 

[thestonedkoala]

The Jets just got back half their top-6 forwards and Schmidt. First time since October 17th their top-6 is intact with Ehlers coming back. This is an elite top 6 forward group, I am not writing them off at all.

Perfetti-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Dubois-Ehlers

No one is writing them off but the Central is a dog fight. I just think Minnesota will end up in the top 3

 

[MNRube]

The Jets just got back half their top-6 forwards and Schmidt. First time since October 17th their top-6 is intact with Ehlers coming back. This is an elite top 6 forward group, I am not writing them off at all.

Perfetti-Scheifele-Wheeler
Connor-Dubois-Ehlers

True, but I’m still more worried about Dallas, Colorado & Las Vegas. I don’t think Morrissey is going to continue to be Paul Coffey and their .928 SV% isn’t sustainable IMO

 

[Wabit]

True, but I’m still more worried about Dallas, Colorado & Las Vegas. I don’t think Morrissey is going to continue to be Paul Coffey and their .928 SV% isn’t sustainable IMO

Helle does have a .924 and .922 sv% seasons so .928% is high, but not something completely out of the blue. It just happens that 2 of his worst games of the season have been against MN.

 

[Jesus comma Brodin]

True, but I’m still more worried about Dallas, Colorado & Las Vegas. I don’t think Morrissey is going to continue to be Paul Coffey and their .928 SV% isn’t sustainable IMO

I think it’s fair to be more worried about those three for sure, I do think they’re better than Winnipeg but I’m grouping Winnipeg with them. I know we’ve been playing decent, but I think we end up looking at all 4 of them ahead of us. Scoring depth is immensely better than us, and they’re all getting good goaltending. Hellebuyck is a top 5 tender in the league IMO, so I don’t see anything drastic changing especially since he’s finally getting support, the last few seasons their HDCA/HDSA were off the charts bad, and this year it’s far more toward the top half. Throw in the $7M+ they have in deadline cap to add, they’ve got a chance to put together a nice little season.

I’m sure some regression will happen, and I agree the three teams you mentioned are worrisome, but right now I don’t see much difference with Peg and them.

 

[BuiumSaveUs]

I just haven’t been able to stay interested in this team since the Fiala trade. Maybe it’s because I’m out of the state, but I just don’t find myself being very interested in this team. I don’t buy into the direction of the team at all, and I think management is in over their head.

 

[AKL]

I just haven’t been able to stay interested in this team since the Fiala trade. Maybe it’s because I’m out of the state, but I just don’t find myself being very interested in this team. I don’t buy into the direction of the team at all, and I think management is in over their head.

I'm with you, I get it

 

[Digitalbooya]

I just haven’t been able to stay interested in this team since the Fiala trade. Maybe it’s because I’m out of the state, but I just don’t find myself being very interested in this team. I don’t buy into the direction of the team at all, and I think management is in over their head.

They are in a future thinking mindset, which sucks cause we have Kaprizov here right now. In 2-3 years this team will be opening a massive Cup window with hopefully a lot of prospects starting to make an impact at the NHL level.

Kap-Khusnutdinov-Yurov
Öhgren-Rossi-Boldy
Milne-Eriksson Ek-Walker
Shaw-Dewar-Duhaim

Brodin-Spurgeon
Lambos-Faber
Hunt-Addison
Merrill/Middleton

Wallstedt
Gus

The potential is there for them to be really good.

 

[57special]

I just haven’t been able to stay interested in this team since the Fiala trade. Maybe it’s because I’m out of the state, but I just don’t find myself being very interested in this team. I don’t buy into the direction of the team at all, and I think management is in over their head.

I'm with you, though I am in state. I am getting tired of the "good, but not good enough" state of the team, and their valuing "hard to play against" at the expense of talent.

Fiala was one of the players that got me excited about watching the team. I loved watching he and Boldy work together, and was giddy thinking about what they could be over the next 5-7 years. Instead, i get to watch Greenway and Foligno bumble around, handling pucks like they are grenades, as they fall down trying to skate.

I find myself watching parts of games, and outright missing games altogether. It's worrying, because that's what happened to me with the Twins, also. I just don't care much anymore.

 

[AKL]

Guerin's aiming straight down the middle. Handcuffed by a lack of cap space, so you can't really improve the team much, but won't commit to a rebuild to get actual high end talent.

Not all rebuilds end up with a Cup, but the majority of teams that win the Cup do so by drafting elite players towards the top of the draft. Sometimes multiple times. And I think the Wild have proven by now that this strategy where we aim right down the middle doesn't result in a Cup either so what's the harm in trying. People talk about 10 year rebuilds as if we haven't been doing this whole first round exit dance for 15 years already.

 

[Wabit]

I just haven’t been able to stay interested in this team since the Fiala trade. Maybe it’s because I’m out of the state, but I just don’t find myself being very interested in this team. I don’t buy into the direction of the team at all, and I think management is in over their head.

I'm with you on this. I'll turn games on and I find myself zoning out unless Kap is on the ice. This team when Kap isn't on the ice is just boring and sloppy.

I don't like/trust management either and have no faith in the guy they have running the draft.

 

[AKL]

They are in a future thinking mindset, which sucks cause we have Kaprizov here right now. In 2-3 years this team will be opening a massive Cup window with hopefully a lot of prospects starting to make an impact at the NHL level.

Kap-Khusnutdinov-Yurov
Öhgren-Rossi-Boldy
Milne-Eriksson Ek-Walker
Shaw-Dewar-Duhaim

Brodin-Spurgeon
Lambos-Faber
Hunt-Addison
Merrill/Middleton

Wallstedt
Gus

The potential is there for them to be really good.

This is about as optimistic as you can get, and that's still not a true contender.

 

[Wabit]

Guerin's aiming straight down the middle. Handcuffed by a lack of cap space, so you can't really improve the team much, but won't commit to a rebuild to get actual high end talent.

Not all rebuilds end up with a Cup, but the majority of teams that win the Cup do so by drafting elite players towards the top of the draft. Sometimes multiple times. And I think the Wild have proven by now that this strategy where we aim right down the middle doesn't result in a Cup either so what's the harm in trying. People talk about 10 year rebuilds as if we haven't been doing this whole first round exit dance for 15 years already.

Guerin handcuffed himself. Zucc and Dumba ($12m) are the only cap on the team that aren't of his doing. The buyouts, trades, contracts signed were all his choices.

 

[f7ben]

I just haven’t been able to stay interested in this team since the Fiala trade. Maybe it’s because I’m out of the state, but I just don’t find myself being very interested in this team. I don’t buy into the direction of the team at all, and I think management is in over their head.

100%

I'm with you, though I am in state. I am getting tired of the "good, but not good enough" state of the team, and their valuing "hard to play against" at the expense of talent.

Fiala was one of the players that got me excited about watching the team. I loved watching he and Boldy work together, and was giddy thinking about what they could be over the next 5-7 years. Instead, i get to watch Greenway and Foligno bumble around, handling pucks like they are grenades, as they fall down trying to skate.

I find myself watching parts of games, and outright missing games altogether. It's worrying, because that's what happened to me with the Twins, also. I just don't care much anymore.

Absolutely 100%

I'm with you on this. I'll turn games on and I find myself zoning out unless Kap is on the ice. This team when Kap isn't on the ice is just boring and sloppy.

I don't like/trust management either and have no faith in the guy they have running the draft.

#metoo

 

[Digitalbooya]

This is about as optimistic as you can get, and that's still not a true contender.

Maybe through a pessimistic lens it’s not. That’s just prospects we have and doesn’t include trades or potential signings. When the big buyouts end, here are the free agents of note (right now, could be more/less):
-Mitch Marner
-Mikko Rantanen
-Leon Draisaitl
-Ivan Provorov
-Nikolaj Ehlers
-Andrew Mangiapane
-Pavel Buchnevich
-Travis Konecny
-Sam Bennett

And a whole slew of older vets that will be looking at 1-3 year deals.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Guerin handcuffed himself. Zucc and Dumba ($12m) are the only cap on the team that aren't of his doing. The buyouts, trades, contracts signed were all his choices.

They would have had that $15M in cap either way.

Almost all of the contracts signed by Guerin have been good to fantastic. Kap, Eriksson Ek, Hartman, Gaudreau, Foligno, Brodin, Middleton, Merrill, MAF, etc. The rest are ELCs. The only controversial one is Spurgeon and maybe Brodin.

 

[Webster]

Guys, vote for Zuccarello #NHLAllStarVote, Kaprizov would love to have his buddy there.

I think Zucc has a chance. If you read twitter, not only Wild fans vote for him, but also NYR fans.

www.nhl.com/vote

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Guys, vote for Zuccarello #NHLAllStarVote, Kaprizov would love to have his buddy there.

I think Zucc has a chance. If you read twitter, not only Wild fans vote for him, but also NYR fans.

www.nhl.com/vote

Nah. Would rather give his old bones the days off.

They would have had that $15M in cap either way.

Almost all of the contracts signed by Guerin have been good to fantastic. Kap, Eriksson Ek, Hartman, Gaudreau, Foligno, Brodin, Middleton, Merrill, MAF, etc. The rest are ELCs. The only controversial one is Spurgeon and maybe Brodin.

And Spurgeon was a pre-pandemic signing, so hard to be completely down on that one.