Article: This Is Daemon Hunt's NHL Try-Out Year

[Mikki Tuohy]

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[bisopher]

During fellow prospect Jesper Wallstedt’s NHL debut, Hunt played the most ice time with 16:41 that night in Dallas.

 

I don't mean this as a criticism of Hunt, but the fact that the Wild were in position to give a rookie who should have been their #7 or #8 D that much ice time in Wallstedt's debut could partially explain the seven goals he gave up...

[Citizen Strife]

The main thing should be that he's at most #8 until Merrill gets tossed aside.  I didn't find anything wrong with Hunt, but I didn't find anything super special either.  He was basically like Mermis: he won't kill you, but won't really get you much more than minutes.

I hope that changes as time goes on.  He's going to be one of the first callups or injury replacements.  He has to take that ball and run with it.  The Wild might not get as lucky as they did getting Bogo and Chisholm for nothing.

[Fezig]

Merrill should not be listed in front of anyone. Except maybe the locker room towel guy. I heard he has no backward skating ability.

[Will D. Ness]

Hunt should have taken every minute that Merrill was on the ice last year.  

This is one of two really questionable coaching decisions from last year.  The other is playing Nojo in the top 6.

Hopefully Heinz moves on from his attempts to get blood from turnips and gives guys like Hunt, Ohgren and Heidt the opportunities instead.

[Sam]

3 hours ago, Fezig said:

Merrill should not be listed in front of anyone. Except maybe the locker room towel guy. I heard he has no backward skating ability.

Why would the towel guy need to skate backwards? Jk but in all seriousness I don’t understand how Merrill is on the roster when we have better options in In Iowa.

[mnfaninnc]

Because Merrill was resigned to a 3 year 1-way deal. That deal didn't age very well, and 2 seasons ago it was discovered Merrill couldn't even keep up with the Dallas forwards to even play. Of course we found that same thing out with Goligoski. 

This season, I think there is a little more pressure from OCL on Guerin to get back to the playoffs. I think he will be far more interested in demoting guys who are not as good. People here keep talking about "Billy's Boys" but the bottom line is simple, Guerin likes his job more than anyone else. 

You can make the argument that injuries took us out and there just wasn't enough cap space to bring up our best prospects, and that's true, but he likely only gets 1 mulligan before the seat heaters are turned on full blast. OCL may not be captain moneybags, but he sure does value an invitation to the dance more than burying a couple of guys in the A. 

As for Daemon Hunt, I expect a strong, strong camp from him. He is the type of defender that is one of Heinzy's guys. Hunt didn't look out of place, but to put him in the Faber class is blasphemy. He was a rookie and played like a rookie. It wasn't all bad, but there were some moves he hadn't seen before at a speed he hadn't calculated before. He needs experience in the N to get that ironed out. 

Was he big enough? Everyone expects this from me. I thought he did a good job physically. He didn't run anyone over, but I also didn't see him really get outmuscled. I thought it was his reactionary skating, specifically backwards that needed some help. When he got leaning 1 way, he was very slow to get his momentum back the other way. Andy Ness can help with that. Of course, a few extra pounds of muscle wouldn't hurt, but I thought he was pretty solid. I think if you look at him vs. Lambos, to me, it seems like Lambos has a little more room to grow. I would like to see Hunt bulldoze a couple of guys, though.