Article: If Vinnie Hinostroza Can Replace Ryan Hartman, Why Do the Wild Have Ryan Hartman?

[Tom Schreier]

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[MrCheatachu]

It was a "Jump to Conclusions" mat. You see, it would be this mat that you would put on the floor... and would have different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO.  Get it?

In the past game, Hinostroza had more goals than:

• Marco Rossi
• Matt Boldy
• Mats Zucarello
• Joel Erickson Ek

Why do we have any of them when Hinostroza scored 50% of the goals last night and those guy scored EXACTLY ZERO.

Checkmate.

[Pewterschmidt]

12 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

would have different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO.  Get it?

"I'm gonna show her my Oh! face"

[Imyourhuckleberry]

18 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

"I'm gonna show her my Oh! face"

[Imyourhuckleberry]

A few more key goals like that and Strohz could become a fan favorite.

The other goal was a better play, both by Trenin and Marat, but game winner to Vinnie!

[SkolWild73]

Lol.  Another article from Tom and he just had to put a link about the many bad veteran contracts that the Wild have.  I believe that is three in a row.

[MrCheatachu]

12 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

The other goal was a better play, both by Trenin and Marat, but game winner to Vinnie!

Indeed, I've been please how K-Nut, T-Bag and O-Grin have looked the past couple games, glad to see they're getting on the score sheet for their efforts.

That said, the GusBus stole those points last night from the canes.  

[Pewterschmidt]

42 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

A few more key goals like that and Strohz could become a fan favorite.

The other goal was a better play, both by Trenin and Marat, but game winner to Vinnie!

Bro is fire brewed.

[Citizen Strife]

Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.

Edited February 7 by Citizen Strife

[mnfaninnc]

I am concerned about both Rossi and Boldy. They've got to get hot. 

Perhaps tomorrow night we can beat NYI and get to 70 pts. Banking 70 by the 4 Nations is probably uncatchable, but, then again, we did witness a total collapse of the Twins this season, and a mini-collapse of the Vikings at the end. 

I wouldn't be surprised if everyone was twitching around March until that ticket is punched!

[mnfaninnc]

5 hours ago, MrCheatachu said:

It was a "Jump to Conclusions" mat. You see, it would be this mat that you would put on the floor... and would have different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO.  Get it?

I'm sure I've heard this before on Seinfeld. Can't remember if George or Kramer was behind it, but it sounds real familiar. 

[mnfaninnc]

I'm not sure what to do about Hartzy. Maybe he just took the year off?

In other news, this came across from NHLRumors.com

Quote

Can see the Tampa Bay Lightning being interested in Sabres Alex Tuch, and they wouldn’t be alone.

I wonder if Buffalo will put him in play?

[Citizen Strife]

36 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I'm sure I've heard this before on Seinfeld. Can't remember if George or Kramer was behind it, but it sounds real familiar. 

It's from Office Space

[Beswell13]

They officially gave him the goal, but Foligno actually scored it. 

[mnfaninnc]

13 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

It's from Office Space

I got the other references from there, but I was certain I'd heard the jumping to conclusions mat from Seinfeld. Who said it in Office Space, since I don't even remember that scene? Of course, I could have had a longterm memory merge which likely happened.

[Citizen Strife]

It was a guy who had a neck halo or brace on halfway through the movie.

[mnfaninnc]

Scott Wheeler's Wild Prospect Report is a must read and, for me, was not hiding behind a paywall. In summary, he is very high on the top 4 prospects we've got: Buium, Yurov, Jiricek, and The Wall. He sees Buium as a star in the making, and the other guys as solid contributors (perhaps not the all stars we seem to expect). I would say this is a conservative review. 

He says he loves Yurov's game, and has seen him several times. I'm assuming that he has seen video, and not actually visited Russia to do these segments. But, he does NOT see Yurov as a top line guy, but a 2nd line guy. I found that to be a little disappointing, forgetting his conservative assessments. 

He also had Spacek and Lambos pretty far down the list (he highlights the top 15 in the organization), and Spacek, in his mind, has leapfrogged Lambos. Was it the points production? I don't know. But, when I watched both live, I would have to agree that Spacek had jumped him. He said that Spacek was getting more TOI by about a minute, but I think that may be due to PP time. Lambos was clearly on the 1st pair when I saw them, and Spacek on the 2nd pair (with Hunt). 

Wheeler also rated Haight above Bankier (who got an honorable mention), and maintained that Haight likely is NOT a top 6 player. Mikey Milne was also ranked and he said he could be plugged in anywhere and hold his own. 

Down on tier 3 was Ogz and MaRat. Both are currently playing with the big club. Let that sink in for a couple of minutes. In tier 3, we've got a 4th line center which he projects as a 3rd liner and we've got OgZ whom he also projects as a 3rd liner. Last season, I thought they both had chemistry with one another. I don't think OgZ as a 4th liner really worked in that experiment earlier this season and it may be that he needs more TOI to be engaged and effective.  

With that in mind, we should expect that when Buium, The Wall, Yurov and Jiricek arrive, they will look better immediately than MaRat and OgZ. I would assume that means that these guys will play with more confidence than the above 2. MaRat seems to be gaining confidence and, at least to me, I see a lot of very subtle passes and offense in him. Unfortunately, some of his teammates do not seem to expect some of these passes, and they are right on target. 

Could a Lauko-MaRat-OgZ line actually be our 3rd line? This group didn't seem so good early in the year, but they also weren't getting the TOI they might need. Does that mean we can put Trenin-Freddy-Foligno on the 4th line? What do we do with Hartman and Johansson? To me, I think Hartman would do better on the 2nd line than Johansson and I haven't even covered Hinostroza. 

I'd also think that Jiricek should get his fulltime callup in March. I would want him acclimated and ready for the playoffs. This would suggest that we have Dermott and Merrill taken off the roster. Dermott is an easy waiver placement as he is definitely the "break glass in case of emergency" player. But Merrill has been playing all year, and he's held up better than I expected. Yet, he cannot hang with the top teams in terms of speed and will likely be scratched come playoff time just as he was 2 years ago when it was evident that Dallas knew how to skate around pylons. Along with being able to keep up, I also think that Jiricek's meanness is far ahead of Merrill's and needed in the playoffs. 

For me, Chisholm is the natural partner for Jiricek and I felt the 2 played well together. But, that was with Brodin on the shelf. I would rather have Brodin and Jiricek play together, and pair Chisholm-Spurgeon together....or maybe Buium-Spurgeon? Could we get away with selling 2 defenders at the TDL, and stick a 3rd on waivers? 

Would we be better off having the kids go on a playoff run with Iowa? Currently, Iowa stands in 6th place in their division, 9 points out of the 5th position. Playoffs are very unlikely for the baby Wild unless a team ahead of them collapses, which is more likely than an N team doing it, mainly because an N team with injuries can raid their A team leaving them pretty empty. We probably did that to Iowa earlier this year. The other issue Iowa has is they lead their division in GA with 159 and it's not even close. They simply can't keep the puck out of their own net. They just had their all star break. If Vaj and The Wall can, somehow, both get hot for the final 29 games, maybe, they can catch Rockford. Chicago, the next team up has a 19 point lead, I think that's out of reach even if there is a collapse. Rockford is the Blackhawks affiliate. 

I think we'd be better served by bringing up Jiricek in March and signing Buium after his season is over. The Frozen Four is April 10-12th. We would have 1 more game left with the Ducks on the 15th assuming Denver got that far. I'd be ok with Jiricek moving up but what happens with Bogosian? Bogosian is also the type of playoff guy you'd like in the lineup. Injuries are the great equalizer, and there may be someone on the mend by that time the way this season has gone. 

Sorry about the long post, Wheeler's article really got me thinking.

Edited February 8 by mnfaninnc

[mnfaninnc]

53 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Of course, I could have had a longterm memory merge which likely happened.

Yep, that's exactly what happened, since I just saw the clip. 

[Citizen Strife]

Since the Wild don't really have any manueverability (barring some awful short sighted trade or something), the Wild have to look to the offseason to make any moves.

Team as is now (when healthy)

Kap/Rossi/Zuccarello

Mojo/Ek/Boldy

Foligno/Gaudreau/Ohgren

Lauko/Khus/Hartman

Shore/Jones/etc. at 13th

 

Middleton/Faber

Brodin/Spurgeon

Chisholm/Bogo

Merrill

 

Gus

Fleury

 

I think the easy subtractions are Johansson and Merrill via releases, which opens up spots for Yurov and either of Buium or Jiricek.  Fleury retires, so Wallstedt is figured out.  My biggest concerns are Bogo, Chisholm, Hartman and Lauko.  Hartman has proven a liability that a buyout has to be on the table.  Lauko has a nagging injury that is decimating what is a solid enough showing as a 4th line guy...but he's not irreplacable.  I think you bite the bullet with those two, and that opens up a Nelson deal if you can, or even just more AHL spots if necessary.  If you want the easiest route, you keep Chisholm on a cheap deal if he takes it, sending Bogo off on his merry way or see if he takes 7th.

 

What we're left with after all that is a drastically different team

Kap ($14-16m extension)/Rossi ($6-7.5m extension)/Zuccarello 

Yurov (2W or 3C to start, not really sure)/Ek/Boldy

Foligno/Nelson/Ohgren

Gaudreau/Khusnutdinov/Trenin

AHL depth at 13th forward (Milne/Bankier/etc.).  I would still veer towards youth rather than going after Nelson, but I'm deadset on Hartman being shown the door.  He, Yurov, and Ek can fight over who is 2W and 3C for all pre-season.

 

Middleton/Faber

Brodin/Spurgeon

Buium/Jiricek

Bogo or Chisholm at 7th.  You can send Buium or Jiricek to Iowa if they struggle, but I think you have to run with them.

 

Gus

Wallstedt

 

Edited February 8 by Citizen Strife

[Patrick]

BG bought high on Foligno, Hartman and paid high, despite the lack of production, on Trenin. It's a disturbing trend. He overpays for players that played like him. A more intelligent GM would recognize the game has changed.  Let's face it, had the Wild not gotten "lucky" with Kaprizov, the Wild would be a bottom 3rd team and we would all want BG fired.  Why does the KK miracle change anything?

[Burnt Toast]

3 hours ago, Patrick said:

the KK miracle

There’s some context that I’ve picked up by listening to podcasts and reading other people’s comments here. 
#A BG doesn’t make decisions without having to answer to the team owner. (Make Playoffs etc.)

#B Building a winning team requires team buy in. So loyalty to Foligno Hartman Zuc Mids in contract extensions. RH netted 30+ goals on a sub $2M contract. Look around the league at $3M MF was underpaid as well. As others have stated BG probably had handshake deals with these guys during the beginning of the buyout process. 
As you can see A leads directly to B, now on to C. 
# C BG absolutely is accountable for the responsibility to resign KK. He’s done it before but that’s old news. OCL has expressed this more or less as a mandate. I don’t know what’s going to happen but I am confident BG has been making moves towards this end. We all have opinions about this stuff one way or another but bottom line is the owner has a big influence on what happens. With that being said I expect the Wild to take a big swing this upcoming offseason. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

21 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

he does NOT see Yurov as a top line guy, but a 2nd line guy. I found that to be a little disappointing, forgetting his conservative assessments. 

He did say he sees him as a 2nd line guy, but I don't know that he will be limited to that. He didn't say middle 6, which he can indicate when he's less excited by what he sees. Yurov's only been playing C for 2 years and in those 2 seasons, he's been one of the top goal differential guys on his team. In a couple more seasons, it's possible he strengthens his game and becomes a top line C.

Then again, maybe the Wild sign or trade for a top line C and Yurov becomes a play driving 2nd line C for a cup contender...

[Citizen Strife]

2024-2025 Numbers Game (56 Games Played)
Record: 33-19-4; (70 pts, 3rd in Central, 5th in Western Conference, T-7th in NHL, 6-4 in L10)

Goals For: 2.88 Per Game (16th in NHL)
Goals Against: 2.80 Per Game (11th in NHL)
PP: 18.9% (24th in NHL)
PK: 71.6% (29th in NHL)

Gustavsson: 21-11-3, 2.63 GAA (T-32nd in Goalies), .915 SV% (T-16th in Goalies)*
Fleury: 11-6-1, 2.57 GAA (T-27th in Goalies), .910 SV% (27th in Goalies)*
*Wallstedt Removed Due to Returning to Iowa*

*Goalie Rankings could be skewed due to differences in games played. For instance, when weighed against goalies with 18 or more starts, Gus is ranked T-19th in GAA and T-8th in SV%. Fleury is T-16th in GAA and 16th in SV%

Boldy: 20G, 28A, 48P (T-44th in NHL), +6
Rossi: 19G, 28A, 47P (T-49th in NHL), +15
Zuccarello: 12G, 24A, 36P (T-107th in NHL), +3
Gaudreau: 11G, 13A, 24P (T-224th in NHL), +1
Ek: 9G, 14A, 23P (T-232nd in NHL), +5

*Kaprizov removed until return from injury*
+/-
Highest: Middleton (+16), Rossi (+15), Foligno/Brodin (+11)
Lowest: Chisholm/Lauko (-4), Ohgren (-5), Hartman (-8)

[mnfaninnc]

Nice comeback win last night. I thought if we got to 70 points by the break we'd be pretty tough to catch for a playoff spot. We've got 26 games left and a pretty commanding lead on Calgary, the 9th place team. 

This was a brutal game for NYI to lose, but, to me, it looked like their team ran out of gas after their defender imploded and netted 2 against himself. Chalk up 2 more Ws against the Eastern Conference for us!

Any improvements will have to happen internally. I would imagine that all callups will be sent down to Iowa for the next 2 weeks and try and gain some positive cap balance. It'll be a nice break for the team and they can go relax with a 2 game winning streak at home. 

[mnfaninnc]

Also, since this article is based on Hinostroza, why is he playing on our #1PP unit? I paid attention to him a lot last night and have to say he looks very comfortable in a Wild uniform. The premise of this article is very real. 

I thought Hinostroza looked better than Shore, Jones, Gaunce and Boyd. I also think he skates better than Hartman, and, to me, looks like maybe a better player. My hope is that Hartman heals up his body in the time off. But, I've liked what I've seen from Hinostroza. 

So, with this guy's salary, why not keep him around? Hartman could be expendable, or maybe, if he and Hinostroza are good friends, Vinnie can talk Hartzy off the ledge as games go on? 

Just for clarification: Did we bring Vinnie in with Lauko on IR, or did we jettison Dermott too so that his cap number would fit in? With our D now healthy again, and Jiricek being a pretty good callup, I'd recommend letting Dermott go.