Luke Sims Hockey Wilderness Contributor Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 View full article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredJohnson Verified Member Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnfaninnc Verified Member Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Marcus Johansson is 1 year younger, yet made his debut a year earlier and has played about 100 extra games than Gustav Nyquist. Johansson stands at 6'1"203, and Nyquist at 5'11" 180. Both have been injured throughout their career. The Wild were in a cap crunch the next 2 years. Johansson agreed early to the offer, and with no evidence, I believe the same offer was made to both and the 1st one to take it got it. Nyquist knew he was worth more, and bet on himself. I think he took a disappointingly low contract too with Nashville. I think he was looking for something in the $4m range. And, don't discount the production that he's getting while playing with Forsberg and O'Reilly. Neither player is physical, neither player will really bodycheck. Johansson continues to get run over by the opposition, and I'm not sure about Nyquist. I really don't consider Nyquist as one who got away. Would it have been nice to keep him? Yes, we simply couldn't afford him unless he was willing to take a significant discount, like 50% of what he was thinking. Johansson was willing and he got a designation to stay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnfaninnc Verified Member Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Wow, last night's game was really entertaining. 2 teams who like to play heavy going against each other in a battle where the Wild were the more desperate team. I just have to wonder what 5 PP goals did for our overall percentage. We got points and goals from people we needed to get points and goals from. Faber with 3 assists was also nice. Faber has 3-22-25 and +3. He also has 2-8 on the PP which he's only been leading for about 15 games. In comparison, the PP wizard Addison has 1-11-12 and -17. His PP numbers are 0-7. Another interesting comparison is Zach Bogosian who has 1-5-6 and -1. That is 1 less point than Addison has for San Jose, and +13 from where Addison is with the Sharks. People said Bogosian has no offense. I'd say that the numbers suggest that it's Addison whose numbers don't match his hype. Also, looking at Bogosian's pictures, he reminds me a lot of Geico's Caveman character! Typically we have TBL's number, yet they swept us, and Florida usually has ours and we swept them.....weird! I'm also wondering if we will get some stat changes from last night, because it certainly looked like Kaprizov tipped Zuccarello's goal in. So, this was a pride win for the Wild. I think the pivotal game in this road trip comes tomorrow at 3:30pm against Carolina. If they win, I think they will still think they are in the race, and I'd also think that Shooter may be more willing to purchase a Spurgeon replacement. If we lose tomorrow, I would think Shooter would wait and see and play Hunt heavily in the rotation. Honestly, I'd rather see Hunt paired with Middleton and continue with Bogosian and Goligoski as the 3rd pair. At this point, Goligoski needs a big, mean partner. Who says Duhaime can't win a fight? He completely dominated Lockwood (I think that was his name) likely a shift after running Fleury. Speaking of Fleury, to me it look like embellishment on his part and I wonder if that is where he picked up his UBI. Has The Wall been recalled to backup in Carolina? To me, the most surprising thing was not seeing Maroon get in a fight. I'm fairly certain there is some bad blood between he and FL from when he was a member of TBL. I'm surprised an old feud didn't resurface. One thing I really liked was the finishing of checks last night. I think we've got to play that way and it's fun to watch when both teams are doing it. I thought that Ekblad's hit on Johansson was dirty and should be reviewed. I also think that Foligno finishing off Ekman-Larsson behind the goal was in that gray area where it's inconsistently called. Since this is inconsistently called, and Brodin got hurt from that, (I was really wrong on the injury) I'd recommend continuing to do it. I like seeing Rossi playing up with Kaprizov. However, it is becoming more obvious that if he wants that spot, he needs another offseason like he had this year, and he really needs to work on leverage at the faceoff circle. He's got to get far better at that. I think his strength going against checking lines needs to increase, more specifically, 5 lbs. lower body, 10 lbs. upper body. I was also surprised that Mermis drew in instead of Hunt. To me, Mermis had a particularly weak game vs. TBL and Hunt was better. However, I do agree with using the whole 23 players on the roster, especially getting some fresh legs in b2bs. I would just play Hunt more due to his potential and needing game time. I certainly hope he draws back in during the Carolina game. Also, based upon the eye test, I would have to believe that Mermis and Hunt have passed Merrill on the depth chart. It would not be smart to send Merrill down to Iowa at this point, I'd wait a month and see if anyone called looking for defensive depth. While Merrill is below average as a defender, I'd say he is about average for a #6/7 defender. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIWild Verified Member Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 My biggest frustration is that NoJo definitely doesn't have the Wild's supposed identity - whether that's grit or compete or whatever. He obviously exerts a different amount of effort, offensively (out skates most) than defensively (out skates none). Can you think of anyone else on our roster that gets away with that? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willy the poor boy Verified Member Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 6 hours ago, mnfaninnc said: Who says Duhaime can't win a fight? He completely dominated Lockwood (I think that was his name) likely a shift after running Fleury. Speaking of Fleury, to me it look like embellishment on his part and I wonder if that is where he picked up his UBI. Has The Wall been recalled to backup in Carolina? I thought it was embellishment too, but I saw a replay today in slo mo and he took a hard hit to the chops. It wasn't egregious tho the Florida guy tried his best to avoid him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pewterschmidt Verified Member Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 7 hours ago, mnfaninnc said: Speaking of Fleury, to me it look like embellishment on his part and I wonder if that is where he picked up his UBI. I also didn’t see any contact with Fleury on that play. Even though Fleury flopped like a crappie. I get it that’s what goalies do in that situation, but hard to believe that’s where he got injured. Or are you saying he injured himself with his theatrics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pewterschmidt Verified Member Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 7 hours ago, mnfaninnc said: more specifically, 5 lbs. lower body, 10 lbs. upper body. How about 15lbs right in the butt and call it good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pewterschmidt Verified Member Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 6 hours ago, WIWild said: My biggest frustration is that NoJo definitely doesn't have the Wild's supposed identity He’s exactly the player we saw two yrs ago. Major fail giving this noodle NMC protection. He’s known for mailing it in. He needs to always be playing for a contract in order to bring nhl intensity. Bro is treating this season as cardio training for next year (contract year). Easily my least favorite player to watch. New drinking game: every time nojo passes backwards away from opposing net. Can’t make it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredJohnson Verified Member Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 10 hours ago, mnfaninnc said: Yes, we simply couldn't afford him unless he was willing to take a significant discount, like 50% of what he was thinking. What if we offered him a NMC and a NTC?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pewterschmidt Verified Member Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 55 minutes ago, FredJohnson said: What if we offered him a NMC and a NTC?? This kind of outside the box thinking is what the Wild front office needs right now 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnfaninnc Verified Member Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 15 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said: Or are you saying he injured himself with his theatrics? This is quite possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnfaninnc Verified Member Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 15 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said: He’s exactly the player we saw two yrs ago. Major fail giving this noodle NMC protection. He’s known for mailing it in. He needs to always be playing for a contract in order to bring nhl intensity. Bro is treating this season as cardio training for next year (contract year). Easily my least favorite player to watch. New drinking game: every time nojo passes backwards away from opposing net. Can’t make it up You get so frustrated with Johansson, yet you've been able to make up at least 3 drinking games at his expense. I'd say that is an overvalued player adding greatly to your entertainment value! Also, I'd like to point out that he is not that small, 6'1" 203. He shouldn't be getting crushed so often....unless there is a bit of embellishment in his game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pewterschmidt Verified Member Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 15 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said: He shouldn't be getting crushed so often....unless there is a bit of embellishment in his game? Nope, he’s just a noodle no heart, no courage, but he does have a brain. So maybe he’s the Scarecrow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnfaninnc Verified Member Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 That kind of looks like how he flops around after getting drilled! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B1GKappa97 Verified Member Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Yes. He is. Dude was probably our best player in the post-season last year from start to finish. He is missed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.