Article: Heidt And Haight Gave Wild Fans Preview Of A Wild Skill Injection

[Tony Abbott]

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[vonlonster67]

Either of these guys may not be at the top of the heap, but Haight showed up in camp last year also. Speed kills and they both have it. I was impressed with their vision also and their skills are only going to get sharper with age. At 19 and 18 years of age their should be plenty of time to earn a spot.

I sat next to Heidt's parents and grandparents at the game on Sunday and they were really nice people. Great family and excited to be in Minnesota. 

[Luke Sims]

Man, I love Hunter Haight. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

The Athletic article I mentioned in the other article was a 2-part Q&A.

Here is the most interesting comment from Dean Evason from the 2nd part.

Quote

There’s got to be times that you’re like, “Man, this is two years in a row that we have had major injuries going into the playoffs.” I mean, you lose Eriksson Ek, maybe your most irreplaceable player. Then you lose Ryan Hartman and have to put Sam Steel at No. 1 center. Kirill Kaprizov played two games heading into the playoffs and was out of sorts. Mats Zuccarello was hurt. Freddy Gaudreau was hurt. Marcus Foligno was hurt. How do you reconcile all that when everybody wants to lump last postseason’s disappointment with all the other early exits?

Well, that is the hard thing, and as you know, I don’t read and I don’t watch and I don’t listen to a lot of this outside stuff because I can’t control any of that. So what you say, or anybody else says … the reality is I don’t have to sit here and go, “Geez, we’re so pissed off that Ek was hurt.” That’s reality. Ek was hurt. Kirill played two hockey games. It’s reality, so for me to compound that by whining or complaining about it, end of the day, we had to get the job done with the group that we had, and we didn’t get it done. Sure, are those factors? Absolutely. But there’s other factors, too, that didn’t allow us to advance past that first round. I get the narrative. We all do. We’re going to work our asses off to get back to that situation.

I'm not sure Wild fans knew how much Foligno was hurt. The last article indicated abdominal, which maybe impacted his shot percentage last season. Core injuries are rough. He was far better the 2 prior years on shooting percentage. Last season, Foligno had a 34-game stretch where he recorded just 1 goal, and had a 2.3% shooting percentage.

In the prior 3 years, Foligno scored at a 21-goal pace(per 80 games) with a shooting percentage around 20%, so hopefully Rossi can help him get back there.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Rossi, Gaudreau, Foligno line in action.

[MNCountryLife]

58 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I'm not sure Wild fans knew how much Foligno was hurt

I figure the cap situation does two things to the Wild.  

1)  It doesn't allow us to have that 1 extra high paid/highly skilled player.

2)  Our depth at positions is not there.

I didn't know Foligno had issues last year.  You could see Kirill was playing injured.  Ek is the catalyst/soul for this team.  Take out our top 2 players and the depth just isn't there to overcome.  

[vonlonster67]

5 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

The Athletic article I mentioned in the other article was a 2-part Q&A.

Here is the most interesting comment from Dean Evason from the 2nd part.

I'm not sure Wild fans knew how much Foligno was hurt. The last article indicated abdominal, which maybe impacted his shot percentage last season. Core injuries are rough. He was far better the 2 prior years on shooting percentage. Last season, Foligno had a 34-game stretch where he recorded just 1 goal, and had a 2.3% shooting percentage.

In the prior 3 years, Foligno scored at a 21-goal pace(per 80 games) with a shooting percentage around 20%, so hopefully Rossi can help him get back there.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Rossi, Gaudreau, Foligno line in action.

So there's your answer to why we signed Jujhar Khaira to a one-year, two-way deal.

[mnfaninnc]

48 minutes ago, vonlonster67 said:

So there's your answer to why we signed Jujhar Khaira to a one-year, two-way deal.

Are you saying we signed Khaira because Foligno is still hurt or because Shooter's not getting caught without somebody to replace Foligno should he need time off?

[mnfaninnc]

21 hours ago, vonlonster67 said:

I sat next to Heidt's parents and grandparents at the game on Sunday and they were really nice people. Great family and excited to be in Minnesota. 

Did you get to talk to them much? Any insight?

[vonlonster67]

Just now, mnfaninnc said:

Are you saying we signed Khaira because Foligno is still hurt or because Shooter's not getting caught without somebody to replace Foligno should he need time off?

Abdominal injuries can persist for a long time and reinjure easy, either.

[mnfaninnc]

Just now, vonlonster67 said:

Abdominal injuries can persist for a long time and reinjure easy, either.

Foligno wasn't the only one, didn't Zuccarello have the same issue, and Gaudreau?

[vonlonster67]

1 minute ago, mnfaninnc said:

Did you get to talk to them much? Any insight?

I didn't want to be that fan and invade their privacy. I gave them their space as I'm sure they didn't expect to be known to any MN fans.  All I said to his Dad was, congratulations and we are very happy to have Riley in Minnesota and enjoyed watching him and Haight with Walker.

His Mom is definitely a Hockey Mom and was really into Riley flying all over the ice and avoiding the Hawks big D. His Grandpa and Grandma and whole family are hockey smart and live around Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. His Dad said they loved Minnesota and hoped to be back soon.

[vonlonster67]

8 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Foligno wasn't the only one, didn't Zuccarello have the same issue, and Gaudreau?

Foligno is da beef! A 6'4 200+ replacement for third and fourth line was signed, not a first line wing or 1C for KK.

[mnfaninnc]

8 minutes ago, vonlonster67 said:

Foligno is da beef! A 6'4 200+ replacement for third and fourth line was signed, not a first line wing or 1C for KK.

Right, but didn't they have the same injury? I would think that someone like Zuccarello might struggle a little more with it, being a little older and considerably smaller. You could make the case that we have guys who can replace Zucci in the minors, and Gaudreau too, we just don't have any monsters.

Incidentally, Khaira plays C, which could sub in for Gaudreau too.

[mnfaninnc]

6 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

It’s reality, so for me to compound that by whining or complaining about it, end of the day, we had to get the job done with the group that we had, and we didn’t get it done. Sure, are those factors? Absolutely. But there’s other factors, too, that didn’t allow us to advance past that first round. I get the narrative. We all do. We’re going to work our asses off to get back to that situation.

I suppose nobody answered with the follow up question of "Creed, you've never won a playoff series in your professional coaching career. How are you going to overcome that?"

I mean, he says he doesn't read or watch. Maybe he should, because like Addison "doin' what he's doin'" ain't getting the job done in the playoffs. It would seem like privately he might say, "If I'd have just had a healthy Ek and Kaprizov this round, we could have won it." No, for 3 straight series, you got outcoached, you didn't make enough adjustments and there was absolutely no use of any of the black aces.

[vonlonster67]

6 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

I figure the cap situation does two things to the Wild.  

1)  It doesn't allow us to have that 1 extra high paid/highly skilled player.

2)  Our depth at positions is not there.

I didn't know Foligno had issues last year.  You could see Kirill was playing injured.  Ek is the catalyst/soul for this team.  Take out our top 2 players and the depth just isn't there to overcome.  

MNCL, all good points, but we sure as hell have some IA prospects to plug and play to get us over the hump. If not now...when!

[MNCountryLife]

17 hours ago, vonlonster67 said:

MNCL, all good points, but we sure as hell have some IA prospects to plug and play to get us over the hump. If not now...when!

Agreed.  We have several players in IA that would be on the NHL roster with other franchises.... and that number is going to grow dramatically over the next 2 years.   

BG seems to put players in where they can be successful and gain confidence to continue their elevation to the next level.  It sure seems like the majority of BG's decisions make MN and IA a tiny bit better.  Small adjustments.  With so many young guys pushing to the NHL level it will be interesting to see what BG does with all these prospects to get us over that hump.

Edited September 20, 2023 by MNCountryLife