Article: The Wild Would Have Dominated An In-Season Tournament

[Chris Schad]

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[Protec]

This sounds like the kind of article that is written before a beloved player leaves his dud-team to join the Wild before the playoffs. 😁

https://www.nhl.com/news/brock-nelson-quietly-one-of-best-united-states-born-players-in-nhl

 

[mnfaninnc]

Would the NHL ever go to in season tournaments? I could see positioning on the schedule with the 4 teams who finished in X place in their divisions last season. I'm not sure you can get anything else out of it, the schedule is balanced. 

Would the Wild have won it? I tend to think they'd have won something like it if that's how they did the tournament, but if it is an all out tourney, with many teams involved, I don't think so. And I don't think the NHL would go to that format. 

Plus, don't copy what the NBA does, they suck!

[Citizen Strife]

I know he wouldn't have been the prime option, but holy fuck, Kakko got nothing in return.  A 3rd pair D, 3rd Round, 6th Round.  New York just wanted to get rid of him at all costs.  

[Citizen Strife]

2024-2025 Numbers Game (32 Games Played)
Record: 20-8-4; (44 pts, 2nd in Central, 2nd in Western Conference, T-3rd in NHL, 6-4 in L10)

Goals For: 3.06 Per Game (14th in NHL)
Goals Against: 2.63 Per Game (T-5th in NHL)
PP: 19.8% (19th in NHL)
PK: 70.1% (30th in NHL)

Gustavsson: 14-5-3, 2.24 GAA (11th in Goalies), .922 SV% (11th in Goalies)*
Fleury: 5-0-1, 2.88 GAA (T-42nd in Goalies), .898 SV% (T-46th in Goalies)*
Wallstedt: 0-1-0, 3.12 GAA (61st in Goalies), .889 SV% (T-56th in Goalies)*
*Goalie Rankings could be skewed due to differences in games played. For instance, when weighed against goalies with 11 or more starts, Gus is ranked 3rd in GAA and 3rd in SV%

Kaprizov: 22G, 26A, 48P (2nd in NHL), +23 (1st in NHL)
Boldy: 13G, 17A, 30P (T-38th in NHL), +5
Rossi: 12G, 14A, 26P (T-58th in NHL), +11
Zuccarello: 6G, 11A, 17P (T-161st in NHL), +7
Faber: 3G, 14A, 17P (T-161st in NHL), +12
+/-
Highest: Kaprizov (+18/1st in NHL), Middleton (+22/2nd in NHL), Faber (+12)
Lowest: Merril (-4), Hartman (-5), Lauko (-6)

[Pewterschmidt]

54 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

2024-2025 Numbers Game (32 Games Played)
Record: 20-8-4; (44 pts, 2nd in Central, 2nd in Western Conference, T-3rd in NHL, 6-4 in L10)

Goals For: 3.06 Per Game (14th in NHL)
Goals Against: 2.63 Per Game (T-5th in NHL)
PP: 19.8% (19th in NHL)
PK: 70.1% (30th in NHL)

Gustavsson: 14-5-3, 2.24 GAA (11th in Goalies), .922 SV% (11th in Goalies)*
Fleury: 5-0-1, 2.88 GAA (T-42nd in Goalies), .898 SV% (T-46th in Goalies)*
Wallstedt: 0-1-0, 3.12 GAA (61st in Goalies), .889 SV% (T-56th in Goalies)*
*Goalie Rankings could be skewed due to differences in games played. For instance, when weighed against goalies with 11 or more starts, Gus is ranked 3rd in GAA and 3rd in SV%

Kaprizov: 22G, 26A, 48P (2nd in NHL), +23 (1st in NHL)
Boldy: 13G, 17A, 30P (T-38th in NHL), +5
Rossi: 12G, 14A, 26P (T-58th in NHL), +11
Zuccarello: 6G, 11A, 17P (T-161st in NHL), +7
Faber: 3G, 14A, 17P (T-161st in NHL), +12
+/-
Highest: Kaprizov (+18/1st in NHL), Middleton (+22/2nd in NHL), Faber (+12)
Lowest: Merril (-4), Hartman (-5), Lauko (-6)

Lots of numbers

 is there a strength of schedule ranking metric thru 32 games?

[Pewterschmidt]

Just now, Pewterschmidt said:

Lots of numbers

 is there a strength of schedule ranking metric thru 32 games?

I will credit Hynze for getting the most possible out of this group of players.  And 97 gets much of the credit for his MVP performance thru 32 games

[Citizen Strife]

All I could find is the remaining strength of schedule, and the Wild are at 14th...so mushy middle either way.

[mnfaninnc]

14 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

I know he wouldn't have been the prime option, but holy fuck, Kakko got nothing in return.  A 3rd pair D, 3rd Round, 6th Round.  New York just wanted to get rid of him at all costs. 

Apparently he was scratched and thought it was unfair. He criticized the coach and organization for it. It wasn't scorched earth, but NYR may have felt that way. The national boards say it was a "get him out of here now" trade. 

How about Carrier headed to Montreal? As I remember it, he's been a pain in our butt for awhile in Nashville, it's good to see him head out of the conference. 

[mnfaninnc]

I got blacked out again last night since the game was on TNT. 6-1 loss. Was there anything to see there? Looked like Fleury got beat often and we weren't too competitive. Who has thoughts?

[Willy the poor boy]

5 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I got blacked out again last night since the game was on TNT. 6-1 loss. Was there anything to see there? Looked like Fleury got beat often and we weren't too competitive. Who has thoughts?

What were they thinking? Fleury's to old for those 9:30 CST start times...It's past his bedtime by the 2'nd pariod...

[Dis-allowed display name]

9 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I got blacked out again last night since the game was on TNT. 6-1 loss. Was there anything to see there? Looked like Fleury got beat often and we weren't too competitive. Who has thoughts?

I fell asleep during the game, but it occurs to me there is a book on Fluery to go over his blocker side shoulder.  His view was obstructed on a couple shots but I saw two goals on shots from the blue line before I dozed off.

 

The one thing that really stood out to me last night was the huge difference in scheme.  When the Wild touched the puck in their own defensive zone, the panthers swarmed.  They broke up outlet passes, stole or intercepted the puck over and over and extended possessions in the Wild zone against tired defenders legs.  Multiple players attack.   When the Wild were in the offensive zone and the opponent got a stick on the puck, the Wild player nearest would poke at it but every other skater exited the zone to defend as fast as they could.  You see skates and bodies in the picture turn up ice immediately where the other team tries aggressively to extend the zone time.  I like their approach much better than ours.  It made us look so passive, and they had lots of extended play in the offensive zone we just did not have the willingness to fight for.

Edited December 19, 2024 by Dis-allowed display name