The Wild Have Silenced Early-Season Narratives This Year

What a great game to watch.  So glad I have ESPN+  Wish Walker could be called up to replace Johannson but GMBG didn't leave an extra 50 K in the tank.  😞  

Mojo plays inspired hockey for 20 games last year, manages to stay on the ice and doesn’t drop his stick every single shift.  Lot’s of bending at waist but also find chemistry with Bold’s.
 

 Signs Juicy contract and doesn’t make it thru game one.  That’s the mojo I remember

15 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Mojo plays inspired hockey for 20 games last year, manages to stay on the ice and doesn’t drop his stick every single shift.  Lot’s of bending at waist but also find chemistry with Bold’s.
 

 Signs Juicy contract and doesn’t make it thru game one.  That’s the mojo I remember

Right? How does he not sustain an elbow to the back of the head like that? That's just bad luck getting hit dirty, not much he can do about that. Not like his running into a post or losing an edge into the boards.

1 minute ago, IllicitFive said:

Right? How does he not sustain an elbow to the back of the head like that? That's just bad luck getting hit dirty, not much he can do about that. Not like his running into a post or losing an edge into the boards.

It’s just mojo doing mojo things

Just now, Pewterschmidt said:

It’s just mojo doing mojo things

If that was Boldy would you say the same thing? Just Boldy doing Boldy things? I doubt it, not fair to hold a standard like that to a dirty check

Let's not get too excited here.  Wild were dominated from the opening faceoff to the final whistle and luckily escaped with a win along with already have injury troubles and no money to even call guys up.  Take a wait and see approach before declaring 'victory' as compared to last years start.  

2 minutes ago, Outskated said:

Let's not get too excited here.  Wild were dominated from the opening faceoff to the final whistle and luckily escaped with a win along with already have injury troubles and no money to even call guys up.  Take a wait and see approach before declaring 'victory' as compared to last years start.  

I also thought it was a little early for a victory lap.  
 

serious question: how did Foligno look?   I’ll assume there were no WWE antics.   How was his ice hockey game.  How was his physical game?

mojo leap frogs Foligno as my least favorite contact now that he’s already not contributing, but I want to update my calibrations for foligno

15 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

I also thought it was a little early for a victory lap.  
 

serious question: how did Foligno look?   I’ll assume there were no WWE antics.   How was his ice hockey game.  How was his physical game?

mojo leap frogs Foligno as my least favorite contact now that he’s already not contributing, but I want to update my calibrations for foligno

Foligno looked 'meh' both play and physical wise and also took a stupid penalty towards the end of the game on Tkachuk.  Even though he dived, it was totally unnecessary.  In 1-2 years, he will be the most expensive 4th line player in the NHL.  With his antics from last year, he is not going to get any breaks from the officials going forward.  His offseason should have consisted of handwritten letters to the officials apologizing for his antics from last years playoffs.  Doubt that happened.  

Not sure why everyone is ripping on MOJO? He was a full participant in practice yesterday according to Evason. 

Not sure the power play has proven anything yet.

That goal by JEE seemed like a lucky bounce to his stick, and a really nice individual effort by him. It did not seem like a power play perfectly executed, but there's certainly hope for more success.

2 hours ago, Outskated said:

Let's not get too excited here.  Wild were dominated from the opening faceoff to the final whistle and luckily escaped with a win along with already have injury troubles and no money to even call guys up.

 Exactly. Record is Gus-1, Wild-0.

1 hour ago, Paul Bunyan is Real said:

Not sure why everyone is ripping on MOJO? He was a full participant in practice yesterday according to Evason. 

Per Russo he's in tonight vs leafs. Looks like Pewter should be happy. 

2 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

I also thought it was a little early for a victory lap.  

mojo leap frogs Foligno as my least favorite contact now that he’s already not contributing, but I want to update my calibrations for foligno

Kinda contradicting statements here. Agreed on the early victory lap, I mean there’s only 81+ games to go. You say it’s early for a victory lap but then you put Mojo down for not contributing yet. His contract actually isn’t terrible, don’t have qualms with his like I do Moose’s or Zucc’s. 
 

Per Russo Mojo is in and Bus is in net. 

1 hour ago, IllicitFive said:

Per Russo he's in tonight vs leafs. Looks like Pewter should be happy. 

New drinking game drink every time mojo picks up his stick

5 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Mojo plays inspired hockey for 20 games last year, manages to stay on the ice and doesn’t drop his stick every single shift.  Lot’s of bending at waist but also find chemistry with Bold’s.
 

 Signs Juicy contract and doesn’t make it thru game one.  That’s the mojo I remember

I don't think 2yrs @ $2M per year is that juicy of a contract .

4 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Not sure the power play has proven anything yet.

That goal by JEE seemed like a lucky bounce to his stick, and a really nice individual effort by him. It did not seem like a power play perfectly executed, but there's certainly hope for more success.

The two big issues I saw w the power play. First, Hartman lost almost every offensive zone draw. So they repeatedly had to go back and retrieve the puck. Second, every team in the league knows they want to enter the O-zone w speed. Thus, they stack all 4 players at the blue line. They need to counter w dump and forecheck. They have the extra man.

Anyway, it's still just one game. Hopefully the offense looks better in Toronto tonight.

2 hours ago, Paul Bunyan is Real said:

I don't think 2yrs @ $2M per year is that juicy of a contract .

Good point.  And I can’t disagree. I just love to hate mojo.  

23 hours ago, Paul Bunyan is Real said:

Not sure why everyone is ripping on MOJO? He was a full participant in practice yesterday according to Evason. 

Signing MOJO was foolish when they are cap strapped. They have Walker in the A that could have played for less than half the price, he's younger, and has more potential. That money (along with Foligno's crap contract) could have gone towards anything better. 

16 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

I just love to hate mojo.

I think it was a mistake playing Johansson banged up against Toronto. He plays soft and makes mistakes when he's at 100%, so anything less could be costly, and it was. The Wild have forwards they could have brought with that have shown some NHL ability. No idea why they have Mermis with.

Given Boldy(shoulder) and Gaudreau(concussion protocol) leaving the Toronto game, they'll likely need to fly at least 1 forward to Montreal, but it might be both of Lettieri and Khaira.

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I think it was a mistake playing Johansson banged up against Toronto. He plays soft and makes mistakes when he's at 100%, so anything less could be costly, and it was. The Wild have forwards they could have brought with that have shown some NHL ability. No idea why they have Mermis with.

Given Boldy(shoulder) and Gaudreau(concussion protocol) leaving the Toronto game, they'll likely need to fly at least 1 forward to Montreal, but it might be both of Lettieri and Khaira.

Not quite sure where the cap would allow that. They could send Mermis back and call up Lettieri or Khaira but not both.

12 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

Not quite sure where the cap would allow that. They could send Mermis back and call up Lettieri or Khaira but not both.

That makes sense. Although I read that Spurgeon isn't even skating yet, so maybe it could have made sense to place him on LTIR for his upper body injury. The Wild could exceed the cap then. Hopefully none of them are serious injuries.

On 10/14/2023 at 11:03 AM, Outskated said:

Foligno looked 'meh' both play and physical wise and also took a stupid penalty towards the end of the game on Tkachuk.  Even though he dived, it was totally unnecessary.  In 1-2 years, he will be the most expensive 4th line player in the NHL.  With his antics from last year, he is not going to get any breaks from the officials going forward.  His offseason should have consisted of handwritten letters to the officials apologizing for his antics from last years playoffs.  Doubt that happened.  

This is not how any of this works. Foligno, once again, did nothing to incur a penalty, yet in a 2-0 game one was awarded to FL because Tkachuk took a dive. We have constantly been whistled for penalties, yet, when they happen against us, officials look the other way. 

This has been going on long before Foligno started to get on the officials hard. Apologizing will do nothing to change this. Embarrassing officials and having a total meltdown will. Look at the franchises that have done that and have a reputation that they could meltdown at any time. They get preferential treatment because no official wants their games reviewed completely by the league, nor do they want to fill out the extra paperwork required from a meltdown. 

In Toronto, there were some non-calls in a game that was still competitive. Goligoski barked at the officials who didn't just miss his holding call, but one up the ice on the same shift. He was immediately ushered to the box for language. You want to get the NHL's attention, Toronto is the perfect location to do it on a heavily broadcast game. 

No, we don't need to apologize. We need action, likely led by Crazy Eyes Maroon. It also needed participation from just about every heavy member of the team. When referees lose control of a game, the NHL wants to know why and will go back and look. Referees referee games differently when a particular team could completely lose it. Our reputation currently is that we will bark about it and do nothing. Our team's composure is still kept and we are not willing to create a scene. This reputation needs to change. It only will when the players do what needs to be done!

On 10/14/2023 at 11:53 AM, Imyourhuckleberry said:

That goal by JEE seemed like a lucky bounce to his stick, and a really nice individual effort by him. It did not seem like a power play perfectly executed, but there's certainly hope for more success.

That goal was a highly skilled play on Ek's part. He knocked the puck down out of the air and to his left so he could stuff it by BOB. Ek's got some sneaky, in tight skill that most people never give him credit for.

On 10/15/2023 at 11:25 AM, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I think it was a mistake playing Johansson banged up against Toronto. He plays soft and makes mistakes when he's at 100%, so anything less could be costly, and it was. The Wild have forwards they could have brought with that have shown some NHL ability. No idea why they have Mermis with.

Given Boldy(shoulder) and Gaudreau(concussion protocol) leaving the Toronto game, they'll likely need to fly at least 1 forward to Montreal, but it might be both of Lettieri and Khaira.

Don't they have to play short 1 game before they can call people up under an emergency? 

Is there any other information on how Boldy and Gaudreau are doing? I thought Gaudreau went back to the dark room and cleared, did symptoms arise?

And, while we're at it, yes, Johansson plays soft, but we've got to call out Boldy on soft plays too. At least he'll battle on the boards, but his soft passes at the wrong time need to be cleaned up badly. He said after the play in the playoffs that led to the empty net goal that he needed to play stronger. It looks like he didn't learn showing all the power several times of a 5' putt. 

11 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

That makes sense. Although I read that Spurgeon isn't even skating yet, so maybe it could have made sense to place him on LTIR for his upper body injury. The Wild could exceed the cap then. Hopefully none of them are serious injuries.

This would be the best way to bring up some youth. We could surely fit in 3 contracts or more for some banged up IR guys.