Article: A Forgotten Prospect Could Make Noise For the Wild Soon

[Kalisha Turnipseed]

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[M_Nels]

KHL is undoubtedly a great developmental league but with any Russian prospects playing in the KHL there is a cloak of doubt they'll actually come over. All 3 of the prospects currently playing in the KHL are very exciting and hopefully they come over next year but am tempering my expectations a little bit due to the circumstances. 

[Pewterschmidt]

Are there indications that Firstzy wants to come back to North America, or is this just wishful thinking at this point

[Pewterschmidt]

Keep hope alive!!

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Yurov is clearly looking to come over and his 18 points(8 goals and 10 assists, or .69 points per game) in 26 games is even more encouraging.

Firstov is certainly not someone that most people are tracking closely, but if he can improve his game to make an impact with the Wild, after not showing much development throughout college(specific to point production), that could be a nice unexpected bonus to the future of the Wild.

[Up North Guy]

33 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Yurov is clearly looking to come over and his 18 points(8 goals and 10 assists, or .69 points per game) in 26 games is even more encouraging.

Firstov is certainly not someone that most people are tracking closely, but if he can improve his game to make an impact with the Wild, after not showing much development throughout college(specific to point production), that could be a nice unexpected bonus to the future of the Wild.

I am wondering how much playing for UConn hindered his development if at all. I think he would have been better going to BU or BC in the northeast or PSU or OSU in the B1G. They all have experience with Russian born players and play a better brand of hockey.

[Up North Guy]

All of these young guys getting ready is great. First, they have to prove they are ready and some will, some won't. Maybe the hardest though is where are they going to play? You mentioned that Freddy may have to go. How? He has a brand new 5 year contract with a NMC. It will take a couple years to shake some of the old contracts out starting next year. I foresee a lot of roster juggling coming up.

[Citizen Strife]

More potential bullets in the prospect chamber.  I'm all for more people challenging for roster spots by grabbing them and taking them, even if the roster spots seem thin now.

[Velgey]

2 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

He [Gaudreau] has a brand new 5 year contract with a NMC.

It's almost like giving out NMCs and NTCs to players that aren't top level stars is a bad idea.

 

I realize that each NMC and NTC that Guerin agreed to with players represents critical savings against the tight cap ceiling, but those are going to be absolute bears to deal with in the future.

[punch_cut]

4 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

All of these young guys getting ready is great. First, they have to prove they are ready and some will, some won't. Maybe the hardest though is where are they going to play? You mentioned that Freddy may have to go. How? He has a brand new 5 year contract with a NMC. It will take a couple years to shake some of the old contracts out starting next year. I foresee a lot of roster juggling coming up.

He doesn't have a NMC. He has a 15 team NTC. Pretty big difference. 

[mnfaninnc]

5 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

He has a brand new 5 year contract with a NMC.

it is an M-NTC. He can be sent to Iowa. 

[mnfaninnc]

This is the 1st I'm hearing of Firstov being homesick and wanting to develop in the K. I was under the impression that things weren't working out for him in Iowa and he was jettisoned there. If it was a homesick issue, Guerin really did the kid a solid by loaning him to the K.

Speaking of the K, Firstov signed his ELC contract. He was then "loaned" to the K. Russian leagues are different since the NHL doesn't have an agreement with them. Does his ELC just continue to slide to when he comes back? Mr. Chea, would you care to let us know how this works?

[raithis]

9 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Speaking of the K, Firstov signed his ELC contract. He was then "loaned" to the K. Russian leagues are different since the NHL doesn't have an agreement with them. Does his ELC just continue to slide to when he comes back? Mr. Chea, would you care to let us know how this works?

I don't think think the slide comes into play.  He would've had to sign when he was 18-19 and he was older than that.  This means his ELC would run out at the end of next season, but he should still be an RFA.

[MacGyver]

17 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Firstzy

It is my hope that one day fans will stop this practice of shortening hockey players last name and adding a Y at the end. It's just weird. Even when a player already has a short name that ends with a Y fans still have to modify it to some cute pet name. Boldy is Bolds. If is his last name was actually Bolds he would be called Boldsy. 

Don't get me started on JoJo. As a grown man I just can't bring myself to call another grown man JoJo unless he's a clown you hired for your kids birthday party. And then only maybe.  I'm not singling you out Pewterschmidt by any means this has been all of NHL fandom for years.   

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, MacGyver said:

It is my hope that one day fans will stop this practice of shortening hockey players last name and adding a Y at the end. It's just weird. Even when a player already has a short name that ends with a Y fans still have to modify it to some cute pet name. Boldy is Bolds. If is his last name was actually Bolds he would be called Boldsy. 

Don't get me started on JoJo. As a grown man I just can't bring myself to call another grown man JoJo unless he's a clown you hired for your kids birthday party. And then only maybe.  I'm not singling you out Pewterschmidt by any means this has been all of NHL fandom for years.   

Macgruber, understand I’m adding the zy at the end to mock the players/coaches/fans who do this.  Mermzy is the one I’m most proud of

[MacGyver]

^^ In that case sir, carry on! Are you responsible for Kappy to? That one drives me crazy! 

[Pewterschmidt]

13 minutes ago, MacGyver said:

^^ In that case sir, carry on! Are you responsible for Kappy to? That one drives me crazy! 

out of respect to him and his talent, i go with simply: 97

People who say Kappy, are the same crowd that say Minnie.

[mnfaninnc]

5 hours ago, MacGyver said:

Don't get me started on JoJo. As a grown man I just can't bring myself to call another grown man JoJo unless he's a clown you hired for your kids birthday party. And then only maybe.  I'm not singling you out Pewterschmidt by any means this has been all of NHL fandom for years.   

I can't even type that for Johansson. I think Pewter's doing all of this tongue in cheek, making fun of the whole thing.

Maybe to Pewter, Johansson is Josey?

Looks like Pewter beat me to the punch. He's got a much more deadpan sense of humor than he gets credit for!

Edited November 17, 2023 by mnfaninnc

[Pewterschmidt]

1 minute ago, mnfaninnc said:

Maybe to Pewter, Johansson is Josey?

I've been in the Mojo camp from the beginning.

I could be talked into Mojozy though.

[mnfaninnc]

Speaking of Prospects:

1. Heidt continues to lead the prospects with 32 pts in 18 games
2. Haight is 2nd with 20 in 17 games
3. Petrovsky and Kumpulainen are around a pt/gm
4. Yurov and Firstov are now tied with 19 points, Yurov has had a good couple of weeks as has Firstov
5. Beckman is not lighting the world on fire with 4-4-8 in 12 games
6. Dino is heating up with his new team 4-5-9 in 16 games
7. Walker 0-6-6 10 games

The next section is growing pains, the development of our D

1. O'Rourke 1-4-5 12gm +0
2. S. Johansson 3-1-4 12gm -7
3. Lambos 1-3-4 12gm -2
4. Masters 0-2-2 7gm +3
5. Spacek 0-1-1 7gm -1
6. Stramel is still pointless in 5 games. Anyone keep up with WI hockey?

Try to keep in mind that Lambos, Masters, Spacek were all around pt/gm defenders in jr. Jumping to the A certainly has a league upgrade. Ohgren, Milne, Bankier have yet to lace up the skates for a team. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Quote

1. Heidt continues to lead the prospects with 32 pts in 18 games

Heidt and his teammates have had an incredible start to the season offensively. The Prince George Cougars are leading the WHL in wins(14-6) despite their lead goalie allowing 3.13 goals per game and achieving just an .885 save percentage.

They have 5 forwards currently averaging at least 1.5 points per game, including the LA Kings draftee, Koehn Ziemmer, who played a bunch with Heidt last season. Heidt has a very slight lead in points per game average for the team at 1.78.

Great goaltending is hard to come by, but that has to be exciting hockey to watch.

[Up North Guy]

18 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

it is an M-NTC. He can be sent to Iowa. 

Sorry, I should have double checked. That said, do you really believe that they would send Freddy to Iowa?

[raithis]

16 minutes ago, Up North Guy said:

Sorry, I should have double checked. That said, do you really believe that they would send Freddy to Iowa?

Not if Evason has anything to say about it.  I like Gaudreau, but he shouldn't be playing any higher than 4th line, and honestly I think unless Lettieri starts playing worse, I'd leave him in over Fred.  And if he's going to be a consistent scratch, why keep him in the NHL?  I think he gets through to Iowa and he could do more to help that team than he could do here.  If Lettieri does worse, then okay, but right now I don't see a reason to go with Gaudreau over Lettieri.

[Up North Guy]

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Ohgren, Milne, Bankier have yet to lace up the skates for a team. 

Looks like Ohgren will start play next week per the Athletic.

[Up North Guy]

23 minutes ago, raithis said:

Not if Evason has anything to say about it.  I like Gaudreau, but he shouldn't be playing any higher than 4th line, and honestly I think unless Lettieri starts playing worse, I'd leave him in over Fred.  And if he's going to be a consistent scratch, why keep him in the NHL?  I think he gets through to Iowa and he could do more to help that team than he could do here.  If Lettieri does worse, then okay, but right now I don't see a reason to go with Gaudreau over Lettieri.

Truly I believe there would be a lot of blowback if Freddy would be sent down this year. No way BG does that after giving him a five year contract.