Article: John Hynes On USA's Bench For 4 Nation Face-Off

[Thomas Williams]

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[mnfaninnc]

Draisaitl's hit on Barkov. As most of you know, I am a big Leon Draisaitl fan. However, the hit on Barkov was a 5 minute major that was deemed only 2 minutes by the officials. There were 2 problems with the hit.

• Draisaitl is taller than Barkov, but an elbow to the face is elbowing, not roughing.
• Draisaitl's height should play a role here.
• However, the 2nd part is worse and deserved the 5. Draisaitl launches both feet in the air with the hit, clearly illegal making it far more dangerous.
• Principle contact is with Barkov's head 

Now, not having a suspension on this seems more like the SCF than justice.

Cody Franson has been let go from the Iowa Wild. IIRC, McLean was made HC late in the game. Hopefully, now, they can pick up some decent assistants for him, specifically a defensemen coach. He needs one who is respected, likely a player who had a decent NHL career. That's not the only thing they need.

On the finals, my expectation is that if Barkov is out of the lineup, the hard hitting Panthers will take revenge on Oiler skill guys if they get the chance. It might not be Draisaitl, but could be Bouchard in the corner. He already looks scared back there and coughs up pucks. I'd look for dump ins to be in his corner.

I read rumors that Ottawa is looking for goaltending. While this may raise eyebrows, don't get hopes up that Goose is on that list. No, it is Markstrom, Ullmark, and Saros that they are looking at. They do not seem willing to give up #7 for it, but NJ who is also in the goalie market seems to be willing to give up #10. I'm not sure what all Ottawa has planned, but it appears that they are open for business. 

The 4-nations team has Heinzy as an assistant. Sullivan is the HC. While I don't care much about this tournament, I think watching how Heinzy, Sully, and Shooter interact might be important. I am convinced that these 3 are destined to be together to lead a team. All that's missing is Sully. Pittsburgh decided to keep him instead of going after Keefe when he became available. I do believe that Pittsburgh makes the playoffs next season, or Sully is gone, and maybe Dubas too. 

Of course, Shooter is not allowed to tamper with Sully, but, I'm sure there will be time for some "off the record" conversations with him just in case he becomes available. This is a benefit to Shooter running team USA. Relationships matter, and I believe this relationship will eventually yield to Sully being with the Wild organization in some capacity. 

[Up North Guy]

Franson out in Iowa. Coincidently, Grant Potulny stepped down as UNM HC to pursue "professional hockey coaching opportunities. From what I have seen, he did a very good job at UNM, a place very difficult to recruit for. He was a good assistant for the Gophers also. Probably not related but just curious.

[Willy the poor boy]

What do you think of the Wild going with the North Star colors permanently?

I was never a fan of the old colors, but after 20 + years I was finally getting used to them and OK with them. 

They should do a wheat sweater with green trim. That could be pretty cool.

[Willy the poor boy]

3 minutes ago, Willy the poor boy said:

What do you think of the Wild going with the North Star colors permanently?

I was never a fan of the old colors, but after 20 + years I was finally getting used to them and OK with them. 

They should do a wheat sweater with green trim. That could be pretty cool.

Never mind, just a false rumor going around. My bad.

[WheelSnipeCelly]

23 hours ago, Willy the poor boy said:

What do you think of the Wild going with the North Star colors permanently?

I was never a fan of the old colors, but after 20 + years I was finally getting used to them and OK with them. 

They should do a wheat sweater with green trim. That could be pretty cool.

Since the Dallas Stars don't use the old color combos, I think the Green + Yellow definitely stand out compared to the rest of the league's relatively safe colors. I'd be intrigued on if they could still somehow maintain the forest green to merge old + new, similar to this jersey concept (or does that come across as too Green Bay Packers-ish?

I believe the Wild office tried to sell in a wheat sweater 10 or so years ago (and matching helmet) similar to this concept for away games, but the league wouldn't allow it. Wah wah.

[WheelSnipeCelly]

On 6/12/2024 at 10:19 AM, mnfaninnc said:

Draisaitl's hit on Barkov. As most of you know, I am a big Leon Draisaitl fan. However, the hit on Barkov was a 5 minute major that was deemed only 2 minutes by the officials. There were 2 problems with the hit.

• Draisaitl is taller than Barkov, but an elbow to the face is elbowing, not roughing.
• Draisaitl's height should play a role here.
• However, the 2nd part is worse and deserved the 5. Draisaitl launches both feet in the air with the hit, clearly illegal making it far more dangerous.
• Principle contact is with Barkov's head 

Now, not having a suspension on this seems more like the SCF than justice.

Draisaitl has a history with getting away with a lot too. Including the no-call cup check to our very own Kaprizov.

[mnfaninnc]

On 6/13/2024 at 2:41 PM, WheelSnipeCelly said:

Since the Dallas Stars don't use the old color combos, I think the Green + Yellow definitely stand out compared to the rest of the league's relatively safe colors. I'd be intrigued on if they could still somehow maintain the forest green to merge old + new, similar to this jersey concept (or does that come across as too Green Bay Packers-ish?

Let's investigate this a bit more. The main thing is that it isn't so much the colors, but the style of the jersey is just so good. But, what if we used the '80s instead, and instead of the black line we incorporated the forest green? I think it could work.