Gamethread: Wild at Penguins (6:00 p.m.)

Leave it to Kap to bring it home.  Rough game, but they battled and won.

KK97. BALLGAME. SUCK IT PENS. 

Love how they cut it off for commercials while MAF does his lap. Stay classy regional sports networks funded by gambling. 

I 💓 KK97.

I THINK WE HAVE A TEAM BOYS 

40 minutes ago, Protec said:

Rats, I missed the Faber fight. How was that???

Faber whos been on the ice for a minute or so gets tangled up with Sid  and has to fight a guy fresh off the bench whos probably sat there  whos had maybe had 7 or 8 shifts up until that point  .

1 hour ago, Citizen Strife said:

Reminder that Zuccarello took a PAYCUT...god what a start.

Lies. Geurin only overpays over the hill vets. 

45 minutes ago, Protec said:

Rats, I missed the Faber fight. How was that???

Faber got a pretty good uppercut in at one point.

Held his own pretty well for what I think is his first NHL fight. Stayed on his skates at the least but he ran out of juice quick. 

22 minutes ago, UK_Soldier said:

Love how they cut it off for commercials while MAF does his lap. Stay classy regional sports networks funded by gambling. 

 

lmfao poor Brock. You can see the disappointment in his eyes that Sidney Crosby played him so dirty in this game. XD 

He had your jersey as a kid, Sid!! Go easy on him! 

Edited October 30 by B1GKappa97

2 hours ago, Beast said:

Well so much for being a top 5 team in the league.  Back to back losses to bad teams on big losing streaks should put that to bed for a while.

This aged well.

That’s three games in a row of 3 points for Kap. Pretty good I’d say.

Imagine what this team could do with a number 1 center, another top 6 winger and top 4 RHD.  Team has it but need to figure out how to get those pieces.  But do not break up Freddie, Foligno and Trenin.  That line belongs.  Hartman to 4th line or traded. Ohgren still not ready. 

Wild on 7th. Mikko talking about Ek warms my cold almost dead heart. 

3 minutes ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Imagine what this team could do with a number 1 center, another top 6 winger and top 4 RHD.  Team has it but need to figure out how to get those pieces.  But do not break up Freddie, Foligno and Trenin.  That line belongs.  Hartman to 4th line or traded. Ohgren still not ready. 

If they're going to play like this, I don't know that they need a number 1 C. Those are prohibitively expensive. Let's see what Yurov can do first. 

They already have a top-4 RHD in Spurgeon, but if they need some depth there could be some possibile options at the TDL that shouldn't be too expensive.

I do think a 4th line of Lauko-Khusnutdinov-Hartman could be pretty epic... 

Edited October 30 by B1GKappa97

24 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

If they're going to play like this, I don't know that they need a number 1 C. Those are prohibitively expensive. Let's see what Yurov can do first. 

They already have a top-4 RHD in Spurgeon, but if they need some depth there could be some possibile options at the TDL that shouldn't be too expensive.

I do think a 4th line of Lauko-Khusnutdinov-Hartman could be pretty epic... 

Sorry but Rossi is not a 1c and was absent again tonight and spurgeons time has passed and we need to find a way to move on from that contract and find a replacement.  Then I think we could have something. Yurov looks good but we still need a top 6 winger guarantee 

1 hour ago, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Imagine what this team could do with a number 1 center, another top 6 winger and top 4 RHD.  Team has it but need to figure out how to get those pieces.  But do not break up Freddie, Foligno and Trenin.  That line belongs.  Hartman to 4th line or traded. Ohgren still not ready. 

Johansson gifted 3 points by Boldy and JEE is on pace for roughly another 30 points. I'd say keep playing Ohgren line 4 and put Hartman with Boldy and JEE.

6 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Johansson gifted 3 points by Boldy and JEE is on pace for roughly another 30 points. I'd say keep playing Ohgren line 4 and put Hartman with Boldy and JEE.

C'mon. He wasn't gifted those points. The guy is playing hard, like we were begging him to do last year. Obviously its just because its a contract year for him again, but the effort is there. 

He earned those points too. If he gets injured though, yeah, Hartman up there makes a lot of sense. 

8 hours ago, UK_Soldier said:

Wild on 7th. Mikko talking about Ek warms my cold almost dead heart. 

You should see a doctor about that.

10 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

I do think a 4th line of Lauko-Khusnutdinov-Hartman could be pretty epic... 

I agree 100%, the Trenin-Freddy-Foglino line is really starting to develop great chemistry and have looked like a great checking line. 

Ohgren although he plays hard is not ready for NHL time even on the 4th line. 

3 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

C'mon. He wasn't gifted those points. The guy is playing hard, like we were begging him to do last year. Obviously its just because its a contract year for him again, but the effort is there. 

He earned those points too. If he gets injured though, yeah, Hartman up there makes a lot of sense. 

MoJo's assists were fairly simple drop passes anyone else on the team could execute. JEE and Boldy each played more impactful roles on both those goals, though the drop pass to JEE was solid. The other one was just cycling around a power play and the goal was completely created by Boldy and JEE.

I'll give him more credit for the goal, but Gaudreau and Foligno both have just as many points and more goals now playing 3rd and 4th line all season--any extra minutes they have over Johansson has been spent on the PK.

Ohgren is playing hard too. If he played with Boldy and Eriksson Ek for 15 minutes each night for 8 games, I imagine Ohgren would be around 3+ points as well.

Ohgren has more blocked shots and delivered more hits along with more takeaways in just over half the time MoJo has played. Johansson doesn't truly deserve 15 minutes per night with 2 of the top 5 forwards on the team, but cannot play 3rd or 4th line, which is why I'd consider moving Hartman up to line 1(once fully healthy), going to the BEER line, and giving Johansson a nice view from the press box.

If Ohgren is with the NHL team, he needs shifts to develp his game. Johansson will not be on the team next year, so I'd favor developing Ohgren for the future over having giving Johansson those shifts.

I don't expect Hynes to do this, but consideration is warranted. Ohgren doesn't have a point yet this season, but he's only 1 point behind Johansson in the last 10 games each has played and he doesn't get time with Boldy and JEE.

4 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

C'mon. He wasn't gifted those points. The guy is playing hard, like we were begging him to do last year. Obviously its just because its a contract year for him again, but the effort is there. 

He earned those points too. If he gets injured though, yeah, Hartman up there makes a lot of sense. 

I am very disappointed to see anyone coming around on NoJo. Indeed sad times we live in. 😎

I think the story of the game is Fred's timely goals. Dagger to his old team. Kaprizov and the Norwegian Hobbit are awesome. MAF is not toast. Sure he can make mistakes and have bad games but he's not bad. It would be another deal altogether if he was bad. He can get wins in the NHL and look pretty good. Of the three scored on Fleury, two were deflections. Just one shot beat him clean and it was a difficult read. I still think he's pretty good and the team has confidence in him. 

Edited October 30 by Protec

NoJo has stepped it up, but even a fully engaged NoJo isn't going to cut it.  I like the idea of putting Hartman up there.

2 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

MoJo's assists were fairly simple drop passes anyone else on the team could execute. JEE and Boldy each played more impactful roles on both those goals, though the drop pass to JEE was solid. The other one was just cycling around a power play and the goal was completely created by Boldy and JEE.

I'll give him more credit for the goal, but Gaudreau and Foligno both have just as many points and more goals now playing 3rd and 4th line all season--any extra minutes they have over Johansson has been spent on the PK.

Ohgren is playing hard too. If he played with Boldy and Eriksson Ek for 15 minutes each night for 8 games, I imagine Ohgren would be around 3+ points as well.

Ohgren has more blocked shots and delivered more hits along with more takeaways in just over half the time MoJo has played. Johansson doesn't truly deserve 15 minutes per night with 2 of the top 5 forwards on the team, but cannot play 3rd or 4th line, which is why I'd consider moving Hartman up to line 1(once fully healthy), going to the BEER line, and giving Johansson a nice view from the press box.

If Ohgren is with the NHL team, he needs shifts to develp his game. Johansson will not be on the team next year, so I'd favor developing Ohgren for the future over having giving Johansson those shifts.

I don't expect Hynes to do this, but consideration is warranted. Ohgren doesn't have a point yet this season, but he's only 1 point behind Johansson in the last 10 games each has played and he doesn't get time with Boldy and JEE.

I like your thoughts on this. However, it is mandatory that the Wild build some cap equity. If they waive NoJo and send him down (or gone) they gain some. Otherwise they have to send Ohgren down.