Article: The Wild Are Leaving Las Vegas With A Familiar Feeling

[Tom Schreier]

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[SkolWild73]

I didn’t have a headache this morning, but last night was a tough sleep.  I think it was the comedown of emotion after what I thought was the game winning goal by Hartman.  I almost through my shoulder out jumping of and pumping my fists, then have the goal upheld felt great until I heard review for offside and saw the replay.  My heart sunk and the ot goal was the final kick in the nuts. 
 

As a Minnesota sports fan I have dealt with lots of heartache and because of everything mentioned above, this might rank number one for now. Gary Anderson’s field goal and Favres interception have always been 1a and 1B and will probably return to that spot, especially if we come back and take the series, but the thought we won, still thought we won, happy for overtime then loss emotional roller coaster ranks up there for me.

[Citizen Strife]

Favre's interception is way worse than this.  The fact my mom will bring that up every so often still haunts me.

[mnfaninnc]

I've got to get this off my chest. Rossi supposedly gained a bunch of muscle 2 offseasons ago, yet his measurements were not changed. They said he was in the 190s. Official measurements are as much fiction as reading Tom Clancy novels. However, Rossi is listed as 5'9" 182 and Gaudreau is listed as 6' 184. Which player here would be considered "undersized?" Both would be the correct answer, but Rossi would have the lower center of gravity and actually be harder to move. We hear all the time about Rossi being undersized, but nobody brings up Gaudreau being undersized. Why is that? Neither are any grittier than the other.

Ok, on to the next topic. Thoughts from last night's game which I watched this morning:

1. Zuccarello has to bury that breakaway. He can't fumble it and get nothing off, that should hit twine.
2. Trenin, for as physical as he has been has got to bury one of these chances he's creating. He has earned his contract here in the playoffs, I think, but we thought we were getting a guy with Moose hands, not worse.
3. I thought the referees called a pretty good game...until the offsides was challenged. But ESPN coverage was pretty brutal. We never got a replay of the Hartman delay of game call and the offsides call they kept showing their angle and not so much the NHL offsides camera angle. The ESPN angle confirms the call.
4. As for the offsides, the way it has been explained is a body part over the line makes it onsides. It used to be the feet on the ice had to have one foot outside, but now it's a floating line in the air. If you look carefully at the NHL camera for offsides, the body part of Nyquists back elbow appears to not be in the zone yet. It's a body part and at best it was close enough not to overturn the call on the ice. We will see the ESPN camera angle all day long confirming the offsides, but the NHL camera, IMO, does show a body part not offsides. Perhaps I am interpreting this rule incorrectly, and I'm not sure the coaches get the NHL camera view at the bench. There was no argument that I saw from Heinzy.
5. Goose has to stop the Stone shot. I get he was ill and fighting it, but the VGK player had taken away the top of the crease. Goose gingerly goes as far as he can instead of initiating contact to draw the call. He's got to be better there. Goose has been really good this series, the trouble with this statement is he needs to be great. I will stand by my former comment that he has made nothing complicated. 
6. In game 4, Vegas had switched gears. We had to answer. We couldn't. Our engine is overheated and we don't have much left in the tank. We've got to reach down and muster something that many never thought they had. Around here, a stomach bug is going around. For some reason, this is what I believe Goose had, and I'm pretty sure that Fleury knew it and stayed extra loose. If Thursday is not our last game, we've got to have more from those who can give more. I think our top line can. They gave us 2 last night, we needed 3. 
7. I had said earlier not to wake up the sleeping bears in Stone and Eichel. Eichel is awake, we might as well get very physical with him. I do remember years ago when Vegas "accidentally" took out Ek and Brodin in game 7. We might need to create our own accidents in game 6. I can tell you this, the referees won't be protecting the Wild. Pre-emptive strikes are now allowed in international warfare (as long as we do it).
8. The "here we go again" voice is louder in my head. Obvious point here is that we have no 2nd line. Hopefully this gets fixed in the offseason. Our 2nd and 3rd lines are merely trying to stay even. We need secondary scoring. We also need to be playing with the lead.

[mnfaninnc]

6 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

Favre's interception is way worse than this.  The fact my mom will bring that up every so often still haunts me.

I don't so much fault Anderson's miss. All year long, this team went for it, and then in the closing moments with the ball, they kneeled. That was tough. As for Favre, he can't throw that one, but, it's Favre, he throws those at the worst times. He was pretty beat up when he tried, though.

Mine is the missing penalties on the Drew Pearson touchdown in '75. Not only should we have seen offensive pass interference as it was pretty glaring, but offensive holding was also pretty glaring on the play. I will remain unconvinced that this game wasn't fixed. The beer bottle sent from the stands which clunked a referee in the head was deserved.

[Scalptrash]

Guerin is hoping and praying that Nyquil redeems himself before this is all said and done. There is absolutely zero reason for him to play in game 6, but yet he is. Rewarded for costing the Wild a desperately needed game and probably series. Guerin's job may depend on Nyquil doing something....anything. He will probably not be fired when they get bounced. Only after he is foolish, as always, with cap space money and after the Wild get off to a slow start next season. The Nyquil trade will be one of the cards in hand for Leipold to justify yet another GM firing. The real problem isn't really Guerin or Hynes, Leipold made the ultimate decision to hire them, he just has a completely horrible track record of hiring unqualified, below average people to run his team. This may be by design to keep the Wild in bubble perpetuity, at the direction of Bettman, but who knows?!

[fikifuka]

What ever happens tonight - I'm already in the post-season, the time that matters because this summer will decide if MIN finally will become a SC contender. 

Its already obvious what BGs plan is: The defence is set for the contending period, lets say next 3 years:

G: Gus, Wall, Hlavaj, Mercer.

😧 Brodin, Middleton, Buium (L), Faber, Spurgeon, Jiricek, Bogo (R). 

F: The Rossi-offer (5 for 5 years) is the main message: 'I want you to bring me a 7+ offer sheet we can refuse which means min 3 picks (#1, #2, #3) for us I can use for 2 big trades': 1 established big C worth 80 points/season plus 1 power forward worth 40 goals/season. Should be enough to convince KK zu stay. Giving up on Nyquist, Johanson, Merill, Chisholm, Fleury, Hino, Rossi and maybe Brazeau saves about 10 M salary. Plus 14 from the 2 dudes plus 4 cap-plus makes about additional 25 to 28 M for the 2 mentioned big ones plus ELCs for Yurov, Ohgren, Buium, Jiricek. Assuming KK will need 15 M in 2026 ff (= plus 6) minus 4 for Zucci in 2026 this plan could work. 

So the main plan for F could be, i.e.:

KK EE Boldy

X Y Zucci

Ohgren Hartman Yurov

Fol Gaud Trenin

Plus Brazeau

 

 

[fikifuka]

What ever happens tonight - I'm already in the post-season, the time that matters because this summer will decide if MIN finally will become a SC contender. 

Its already obvious what BGs plan is: The defence is set for the contending period, lets say next 3 years:

G: Gus, Wall, Hlavaj, Mercer.

😧 Brodin, Middleton, Buium (L), Faber, Spurgeon, Jiricek, Bogo (R). 

F: The Rossi-offer (5 for 5 years) is the main message: 'I want you to bring me a 7+ offer sheet we can refuse which means min 3 picks (#1, #2, #3) for us I can use for 2 big trades': 1 established big C worth 80 points/season plus 1 power forward worth 40 goals/season. Should be enough to convince KK zu stay. Giving up on Nyquist, Johanson, Merill, Chisholm, Fleury, Hino, Rossi and maybe Brazeau saves about 10 M salary. Plus 14 from the 2 dudes plus 4 cap-plus makes about additional 25 to 28 M for the 2 mentioned big ones plus ELCs for Yurov, Ohgren, Buium, Jiricek. Assuming KK will need 15 M in 2026 ff (= plus 6) minus 4 for Zucci in 2026 this plan could work. 

So the main plan for F could be, i.e.:

KK EE Boldy

X Y Zucci

Ohgren Hartman Yurov

Fol Gaud Trenin

Plus Brazeau

 

 

[Fezig]

9 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I don't so much fault Anderson's miss. All year long, this team went for it, and then in the closing moments with the ball, they kneeled. That was tough. As for Favre, he can't throw that one, but, it's Favre, he throws those at the worst times. He was pretty beat up when he tried, though.

Mine is the missing penalties on the Drew Pearson touchdown in '75. Not only should we have seen offensive pass interference as it was pretty glaring, but offensive holding was also pretty glaring on the play. I will remain unconvinced that this game wasn't fixed. The beer bottle sent from the stands which clunked a referee in the head was deserved.

After Tuesday nights loss I've resolved "this is it." What I mean by that is I'm in my mid-50's. In regard to sports, I don't have much other than  two world series championships as cherished memories - and that's it. 

I do have a lot of memories that are similar to Gustav being offside. I have about 200 professional sports watching seasons and two rings. 1% of those seasons have ended in victory. If they Wild can't advance again while having a 2-1 season lead my days of watching pro leagues are going to be done. The squeeze just isn't worth the juice anymore.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

11 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

The "here we go again" voice is louder in my head. Obvious point here is that we have no 2nd line. Hopefully this gets fixed in the offseason. Our 2nd and 3rd lines are merely trying to stay even. We need secondary scoring.

Yeah, that is pretty glaring when trying to come up with lines. The Wild played really strong games in 2 and 3. It didn't feel like they simply stole games they didn't deserve. They won by 3 each game and still have more goals scored than Vegas this series, but Vegas has won the close games.

An extra $14M could go a long way towards adding a 2nd line sniper. The future of the defense feels quite strong. They have some solid depth guys for the 3rd and 4th lines. Now they need to add scoring. I'm not giving up on this series yet, but this summer should be really interesting. Hopefully Guerin lands some real difference makers.

 

[mnfaninnc]

3 hours ago, Fezig said:

After Tuesday nights loss I've resolved "this is it." What I mean by that is I'm in my mid-50's. In regard to sports, I don't have much other than  two world series championships as cherished memories - and that's it. 

I do have a lot of memories that are similar to Gustav being offside. I have about 200 professional sports watching seasons and two rings. 1% of those seasons have ended in victory. If they Wild can't advance again while having a 2-1 season lead my days of watching pro leagues are going to be done. The squeeze just isn't worth the juice anymore.

I've tried that, and it's much easier to do when you're out of market. However, it always came back that I really am a fan. But, I think you can temper expectations and instead of being so intense, step back a little bit.

For instance, I'll watch the Vikings when they're on. For years I subscribed to Sunday Ticket just to watch them on Sundays. Directv used to work out deals with their "retention" team, and I'd get useless channels I simply didn't watch. The price tag became too much. I'm excited if they win, but I'm not devastated if they lose anymore. 

I had the Twins for a season too. It was fun to watch baseball, but after that, I just couldn't keep up with a 162 game season. Too much other stuff to do. I can watch on the Condensed game format, and that works, but, somehow, I feel like I'm cheating my grandkids watching in that format. But, they don't really care much about baseball anyway, the game is too slow for them. I did get to take them to the Twins in Atlanta, their 1st major league game, and quite possibly their last. Prices were very expensive, and Stub Hub added a nice 50% fee on the ticket price. It's like they're trying to make regular people stay out of the ballparks. Atlanta has a nice set up, though, fun atmosphere. 

I probably wouldn't be watching all the Wild games except for the Disney+ bundle. With ESPN+ that gets me about 65 games a year. I have to watch the playoffs on delay, 1 day if it was on ESPN, 2 days from TBS/TNT. If it was a blowout loss, I can simply not watch, or find a condensed game. 

This year, my expectations were a WC spot and 1 and done in the playoffs. I thought we'd have some really good internal growth, and I like watching the players get better. For the last 5 seasons, I haven't had the expectation of "this is our year" knowing we would not be able to field such a team. What we could do is field a team of value vets and fill in several ELC players and pay our stars. They'd get to the playoffs with their gas tanks approaching red. 

I do think that Guerin is building a contender, and am looking forward to an 8-10 year window, but that's simply not here yet. We will be highly skilled, but will still need to play with structure and be solid defensively. Boldy and Faber performing well in this series gives and optimistic look into the future. Rossi has been ok, but let's face it, he is ahead of Boldy in goals scored in the playoffs at this point in his career. I would be willing to see what a Trenin-Rossi-Foligno line would look like in game 6, and go with the 11/7 format.

[Up North Guy]

15 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

The beer bottle sent from the stands which clunked a referee in the head was deserved.

It was a whiskey bottle of Old Crow vintage I believe.

[Up North Guy]

5 hours ago, Fezig said:

After Tuesday nights loss I've resolved "this is it." What I mean by that is I'm in my mid-50's. In regard to sports, I don't have much other than  two world series championships as cherished memories - and that's it. 

I do have a lot of memories that are similar to Gustav being offside. I have about 200 professional sports watching seasons and two rings. 1% of those seasons have ended in victory. If they Wild can't advance again while having a 2-1 season lead my days of watching pro leagues are going to be done. The squeeze just isn't worth the juice anymore.

I feel your pain. I am in my mid-70's and have the same results, except I was deployed overseas for both Twins WS wins.

[Scalptrash]

Something that everyone seems to have missed is that Hartman was slashed on the goal that was overturned. There should have been a penalty if the goal was disallowed.

[Enforceror]

17 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I had said earlier not to wake up the sleeping bears in Stone and Eichel. Eichel is awake, we might as well get very physical with him. I do remember years ago when Vegas "accidentally" took out Ek and Brodin in game 7. We might need to create our own accidents in game 6. I can tell you this, the referees won't be protecting the Wild. Pre-emptive strikes are now allowed in international warfare (as long as we do it)

Dorofeyev out for Game 6. Might not be the target we want but it doesn't hurt.

[Burnt Toast]

5 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I do think that Guerin is building a contender,

I’m optimistic. A lot will depend on who comes in from trade/FA and top prospects stepping in/up. I’m also not convinced both Gus Ny and MJ will be let go. I only add that because most of the moves BG has made since the Kevin F trade I hadn’t anticipated. If the Wild go the big fish trade route there’s going to be a lot of assets moving out. The UFA market isn’t that great this year but at least those guys will only cost $. It sure would be nice to see the Wild advance to round 2 this year. A win tonight would be awesome. This is the best Wild team I’ve seen in years. 

[FredJohnson]

3 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

It was a whiskey bottle of Old Crow vintage I believe.

Empty I hope…

[FredJohnson]

2 hours ago, Scalptrash said:

Something that everyone seems to have missed is that Hartman was slashed on the goal that was overturned. There should have been a penalty if the goal was disallowed.

I saw/thought that, too. The ref didn’t call it because the puck went in? (Or just more “F-you” for Hartzy?)