Article: Wilderness Walk: Is Kirill Kaprizov Back?

[Thomas Williams]

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[Protec]

For Kaprizov 2nd best on the team is a slump. 

There are fewer bad teams in the NHL this year and MN has had a poor start. If the Wild's team game develops with some chemistry again. Then we're talk'n. 

No mention of Fleury last night??? 

[MNCountryLife]

Fleury is back!!!  Wow... what a performance by the Flower.  MVP last night.  Then the Duhaime interview calling Fleury 50 years old was hilarious.   One of the best games of the season to watch.

[MrCheatachu]

The smile on Kaprizov's face after the first goal and then being able to use his edge work to put himself in position for the GWG made this game a lot of fun to watch.

Who knows what he's been working through, but this game is the first in a while that it feels like watching the old Kaprizov, and against a stout team like the bruins.

[kapislife]

Has the team been doing more practices every day under Hynes? I know evason got knocked about that

[mnfaninnc]

I think Kaprizov's game started coming together in Pittsburgh (I was blocked from the Vancouver game, it might have happened there). He seemed to finally find that gear he's been missing.

But, I don't think he's fully healed. The best information we would get is it's LBI. From the eye test, to me, it looks like he's got and issue in the left hip area. When Stanley sat on him, it looked like he got stretched out on both sides and was caught awkwardly on the ice. In watching his skating, or trouble skating, I keep focusing on that left hip, upper leg area. His balance has looked off, his 10/2 is way off. His acceleration has been off, and the top gear has sputtered. But that's just the skating. His shot also looks way off, as if he's having to compensate for something. His puck handling also has been soft and he's not soft. His skating posture had changed some probably interfering with the puck handling. 

But these last 2 games, he seems far stronger. As most of you already know, I truly believe that results lag, so that is why he may have been back but not scored. 

I really hope he is healing up and not just willing it right now. Just like with Rossi, the mind is the last to heal so maybe he just wasn't willing to go all out for awhile?

[mnfaninnc]

Last night's game featured a nice stolen victory from a tough Bruins team. Of course, the Bruin way is not based upon speed, but based on brutality. They truly do finish their checks and their fans love it.

A couple of observations I had:

1. Dewar got ragdolled and why he abliged I have no idea. This I do know, we pride ourselves on being able to play heavy and we got a very good lesson in heavy play last night. Our heavy players, I thought, played a little soft....except for Crazy Eyes, who, in Looney Tunes fashion, pulled the lever and had fire come up in both eyes. 
2. Maroon coming to Johansson's defense was much needed. I'm glad he realizes his role. However, what disappointed me was no response to Ladduk picking on Dewar. This was not about going after Ladduk, this was about going after a much more important piece of the Boston puzzle. For those who play chess, you don't trade a bishop for a pawn, you trade for another main piece, like a bishop/knight/or rook. Ladduk is neither of those.
3. This may be the most important part of the night, even more important than the win: Johansson scores getting the monkey off his back, Kaprizov scores twice, Hartman scores in back to back games. All 3 of those players really needed this. 
4. Fleury was feelin' it! It's like he took that 2nd goal personally. Do I really need to add more?
5. Boldy, I thought had a terrible game. In fact, something I've noticed and don't particularly like is he has a tendency to play soft. He does not use his frame to deliver punishment which is sometimes necessary to open up space for himself. Instead he's almost exclusively a finesse player. To me, this is a direct impact of not strengthening and getting skating lessons this summer. I believe in cross-training, and think golf is a great cross-train, but I think he got out of balance. My hope is that next offseason, he puts in the hockey work. He needs a little more bull in his game, and he should be looking, specifically, at Guerin's game.
6. We won this game, but Goligoski has got to go. He directly cost us one more goal and it was his penalty that tied the game late. He is hurting the team. He should have retired. Shooter should have had "the talk" with him before the season. Evason should have told him it's over. 
7. That said, Hunt had a rookie game learning experience. I can live with his mistakes, he'll have growing pains. I cannot live with the same types of mistakes by 35+year old vets.
8. Bogosian showed why he is more important than Addison playing a truly physical game on the blue line, something Addison never could do. He also matched the physicality of Boston with some hard checks. I really think he wanted to drop the mitts, but knew what our defense looked like.
9. I completely question Hynes' decision to play Goligoski in B2Bs. I especially question the trust he puts in him, only to be let down time after time. But, could you imagine a blueline with 3 rookies on it? Mermis has been good, but 3 rookies might scare a coach half to death.
10. The 3rd period looked like it played really fast. Yet, both teams are not really that fast. I'm not sure what happened, but the eye test said both teams found extra gears. Boy, if we can get through this stretch without Spurgeon and Brodin, just treading water, that would be a win for us. 

I think if I were Guerin, I'd still want to debut Lambos somehow. I think he could give us an extra spark. Perhaps trading him and Mermis might help? At any rate, even if he sits, getting him up now to practice before Christmas might be a good plan? Why I don't think this happens is because O'Hearn is missing and he did that sort of thing. I'd hate to lose a guy because we did something incorrectly!

[Pewterschmidt]

10 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

He does not use his frame to deliver punishment which is sometimes necessary to open up space for himself.

this is like critiquing Pastarnak for not being physical enough.  Players with these offensive tools are bringing enough every night if they bring the offense.  We can quibble whether or not Boldy brings enough offense but I have no issue with him not playing a rough neck game too.

[mnfaninnc]

And now my look at the Prospects:

1. Riley Heidt continues to impress: 63 points in 31 games
2. Hunter Haight has 38 in 30
3. Petrovsky/Kumpulainen still cruising as ppg players
4. Yurov and Firstov look like they were on break
5. Beckman is concerning at 5-9-14 in 25 games, he's got to pick it up
6. Rieger Lorentz is improving, 6-6-12 in 18 games. He's surpassed last year's point total already
7. Other concern is Sammy Walker at 4-7-11 in 23 games
8. Carson Lambos 1-6-7 in 24 games, -7
9. S. Johansson, O'Rourke, Spacek, Masters are learning (best I can put it)
10. Peart struggling too 1-3-4 in 16
11. Bankier scored twice and has played 4 games, good sign!
12. Still no Milne and Hentges, Swaney appears to be hurt too
13. The Wall went through a tough stretch, must patch up a couple of cracks, his sv% is down to .931, still stellar
14. Hunter Jones, to me, looks like a bust. This is why I like 5th round goalies

[mnfaninnc]

2 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

this is like critiquing Pastarnak for not being physical enough.  Players with these offensive tools are bringing enough every night if they bring the offense.  We can quibble whether or not Boldy brings enough offense but I have no issue with him not playing a rough neck game too.

You would be right if Pasta was playing a finesse game. He wasn't and it was clear he outplayed Boldy both physically and on the score sheet. Perhaps the best way I can describe it is that Pasta played with far more purpose than Boldy did. It wasn't just about finishing checks, his skating was more like a fire engine, while Boldy's was more like the fire chief's SUV. 

Also, did anyone catch the shot Pasta had against the Rangers? It looked very similar to the hit on Brodin, to me, and equally got NO review from the DoPS. If I were to draw a conclusion from this, it would be Duhaime, Foligno, Maroon: Apparently it doesn't matter if you see a player's numbers anymore on the boards, follow through with your big hits.

[Will D. Ness]

Kap's shot hopefully is back... the rest of his game is not there yet.  I do think he is getting close and maybe we need to put Rossi with KK97 to get there.

[MrCheatachu]

51 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I think if I were Guerin, I'd still want to debut Lambos somehow. I think he could give us an extra spark. Perhaps trading him and Mermis might help? At any rate, even if he sits, getting him up now to practice before Christmas might be a good plan? Why I don't think this happens is because O'Hearn is missing and he did that sort of thing. I'd hate to lose a guy because we did something incorrectly!

Maybe Lambos isnt being called up because:

38 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

And now my look at the Prospects:

1. Carson Lambos 1-6-7 in 24 games, -7

Also, NHL rosters are frozen from 20-Dec through 28-Dec.

Sidenote: congrats to Hunt/Letieri/Mermis for being on the roster prior to freeze, collect your 8 days of big-boy pay!

[Willy the poor boy]

9 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

Maybe Lambos isnt being called up because:

Also, NHL rosters are frozen from 20-Dec through 28-Dec.

Sidenote: congrats to Hunt/Letieri/Mermis for being on the roster prior to freeze, collect your 8 days of big-boy pay!

Anyone know if Letteri returned to the game last night? I didn't notice him, but it looked pretty bad.

[Will D. Ness]

22 minutes ago, Willy the poor boy said:

Anyone know if Letteri returned to the game last night? I didn't notice him, but it looked pretty bad.

Post game I think they said he was ok.

[Backwoodsbob]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

• We won this game, but Goligoski has got to go. He directly cost us one more goal and it was his penalty that tied the game late. He is hurting the team. He should have retired. Shooter should have had "the talk" with him before the season. Evason should have told him it's over. 
• That said, Hunt had a rookie game learning experience. I can live with his mistakes, he'll have growing pains. I cannot live with the same types of mistakes by 35+year old vets.

I agree 101%. This dinosaur is fine as a 1 game fill-in but to have him skate in B2B? He is so slow and how they can skate right around him. I also notice how a lot of his passes seem to put team mates in precarious situation. So far he has played well enough but this season will catch up to his age as it did last year.

A little off subject here but Middleton looked quite hesitant in OT last night. Yes there is less room for error but he needs to run with it vs not trying to make mistakes which usually happens when trying not to make mistakes.

LGW!

[Disco Strangler]

24 minutes ago, Backwoodsbob said:

I agree 101%. This dinosaur is fine as a 1 game fill-in but to have him skate in B2B? He is so slow and how they can skate right around him. I also notice how a lot of his passes seem to put team mates in precarious situation. So far he has played well enough but this season will catch up to his age as it did last year.

A little off subject here but Middleton looked quite hesitant in OT last night. Yes there is less room for error but he needs to run with it vs not trying to make mistakes which usually happens when trying not to make mistakes.

LGW!

I don't think he should be out there in those situations. You need guys that are comfortable with the stick on the puck and I don't think that's his game.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Disco Strangler

[FredJohnson]

Is Kirill Kaprizov Back?
Please be so. He still looks a tad slower than before the injury late last year. But I hope he's getting better based on the last few games.

[raithis]

2 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

this is like critiquing Pastarnak for not being physical enough.  Players with these offensive tools are bringing enough every night if they bring the offense.  We can quibble whether or not Boldy brings enough offense but I have no issue with him not playing a rough neck game too.

I don't think he has to play a roughneck game so much as use his frame and skill to work his way into the slot more.  The Middleton goal against Pittsburgh is a good example.  He has the ability to work his way into the slot but he tends to play more at a distance and sticks closer to the boards. 

I'd like to see him make a few more power moves towards the goal to break down the defense.  If it closes up, be ready to pass it.  That's why Middleton got such a good look.  The defense focused so much on the quick, aggressive move by Boldy that it left the left side of the net open.

He could work that in more.  Look for those openings and attack them sometimes.  Be a little less predictable and make the defense think twice about what you might do.  

[AKwildkraken]

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

You would be right if Pasta was playing a finesse game. He wasn't and it was clear he outplayed Boldy both physically and on the score sheet. Perhaps the best way I can describe it is that Pasta played with far more purpose than Boldy did. It wasn't just about finishing checks, his skating was more like a fire engine, while Boldy's was more like the fire chief's SUV. 

Also, did anyone catch the shot Pasta had against the Rangers? It looked very similar to the hit on Brodin, to me, and equally got NO review from the DoPS. If I were to draw a conclusion from this, it would be Duhaime, Foligno, Maroon: Apparently it doesn't matter if you see a player's numbers anymore on the boards, follow through with your big hits.

Maroon got McAvoy pretty good last night.  I thought it was more egregious than Goligoski's high stick that got called.

[mnfaninnc]

3 hours ago, MrCheatachu said:

Maybe Lambos isnt being called up because:

That was exactly what I was thinking when I saw the prospect report. However, I'd still like to have him up practicing and playing through this season. My logic is that getting the debut will help show just how far away you are from your dream. 

I'm not sure what the problem is, but I'd have to believe that a motivator might be battling these monsters and knowing, hey, I need more strength!

I believe Rossi had that same epiphany at the end of last season!

I'd also like to mention Daemon Hunt in this conversation. He got abused a couple of times last night, but I can take that as long as he learns from it. The last time he was up here, he went back down and played his ass off. We saw point production we've never seen from him. I think it might accelerate Lambos' development, but that's just a gut feeling.

[mnfaninnc]

2 hours ago, Disco Strangler said:

I don't think he should be out there in those situations. You need guys that are comfortable with the stick on the puck and I don't think that's his game.

Who then? We can't have Faber out there for a full 5 minutes! Spurgeon and Brodin are missing, next guy up! Or, would you rather have Goligoski give it a whirl?

Let's face it Disco, right now, Midsy is our #2 D.

[mnfaninnc]

46 minutes ago, AKwildkraken said:

Maroon got McAvoy pretty good last night.  I thought it was more egregious than Goligoski's high stick that got called.

Looking at full speed, I didn't think it was a high stick. Looking at the replay, I didn't think Coyle got hit with a stick high, I thought it was Goligoski's hand. 

Trouble is, when you're in my doghouse, every little thing gets noticed.

[Disco Strangler]

1 minute ago, mnfaninnc said:

Who then? We can't have Faber out there for a full 5 minutes! Spurgeon and Brodin are missing, next guy up! Or, would you rather have Goligoski give it a whirl?

Let's face it Disco, right now, Midsy is our #2 D.

I definitely would rather have Golly out there. You could make the case that Midzy is now a scorer lol, but ya, I'd rather have Golly out there or Bogosian even. You don't necessarily have to have one d man out there anyway. There are forwards that can play a defensive style also. 3 on 3 is a crap shoot, put a defensively responsible forward out there with a couple scorers.

[Will D. Ness]

17 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I'd also like to mention Daemon Hunt in this conversation. He got abused a couple of times last night, but I can take that as long as he learns from it. The last time he was up here, he went back down and played his ass off. We saw point production we've never seen from him. I think it might accelerate Lambos' development, but that's just a gut feeling.

I would rather have Hunt getting outplayed due to inexperience than Goligoski getting outplayed due to lack of speed.  Hunt will learn.  Goligoski will get frustrated and take dumb penalties.  

I thought Hunt had a few good moments last night but also some bad ones... like the goal ending the 1st.  

[Will D. Ness]

12 minutes ago, Disco Strangler said:

I definitely would rather have Golly out there. You could make the case that Midzy is now a scorer lol, but ya, I'd rather have Golly out there or Bogosian even. You don't necessarily have to have one d man out there anyway. There are forwards that can play a defensive style also. 3 on 3 is a crap shoot, put a defensively responsible forward out there with a couple scorers.

Freddy maybe but he was horrible last night.