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  • Charlie Stramel Gets Revenge Over Wisconsin

    Image courtesy of © Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
    Thomas Williams

    By Thomas Williams -

    That must have felt great.

    Minnesota Wild first-round prospect Charlie Stramel has rediscovered his offense after a transfer to Michigan State University this summer and over the weekend, the centerman was able to get revenge over his former school.

     

    In what ended up as a 3-2 overtime win for the Spartans, Stramel scored that goal and added an assist. Those two points now make his total 11 on the season and in just 14 games. They aren't Hobey Baker-earning numbers during his junior season, but it is a crucial progression for the 20-year-old first-round pick.

    After being selected by the Wild 21st overall at the 2023 NHL Draft, Stramel struggled. His appeal was that he was old enough to already have a year of college hockey under his belt at the time of being selected, but his sophomore season at Wisconsin saw him earn just eight points in 34 games. That wouldn't even be impressive for a first-round defenseman in college, let alone a center.

    Because of that, he went east to Michigan State and looks to be on track to have a real stable college career that he can hopefully transfer when he turns pro.

    Stramel is still a project, but the Wild clearly saw something in the center and standing at 6-foot-3 with enough offensive potential to at least be interesting out of college, it looks like he's back on track and the two points over his former school probably feels so good.

    That's Wild

    • The Wild controversially signed depth forward Freddy Gaudreau to a long-term contract. Now with a real solid first quarter of his season, did it make sense in the end? [Hockey Wilderness]
    • The Los Angeles Kings handed the Wild their second loss against them this season. It seems like the Wild have found their nemesis. [Pioneer Press]
    • Yakov Trenin has finally scored. Our nightmare is over. Despite being a defense-first forward, Trenin's lack of goals was concerning. With back-to-back tallies, we are finally getting to see that side of the free agent acquisition. [StarTribune]

    Off the trail...

    • Matvei Michkov is a rockstar. In the dying seconds of Sunday night's game against Utah, Michkov got in a fight with center Barrett Hayton and apparently forcefully tried to get the ref to not blow his whistle. That earned him getting kicked out of the game entirely. But, on his way down the tunnel to the locker rooms, he stopped to sign something for a fan in the crowd. Just absolutely a rockstar move. [Broad Street Hockey]
    • How the Florida Panthers are avoiding the post-championship hangover -- and might just win it again. [ESPN]
    • A spotlight on Nathaniel Brooks, a skill development coach with the Utah Hockey Club. [NHL.com]
    By Thomas Williams  

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    Citizen Strife

    There's some Ek screen/greasy goal potential there.  Probably won't be a powerplay guy with all the skill in there, but all he needs to do is be a big net front problem for some more skill guys.  

    I'm curious what his other skillset is like right now.  There's such a premium on, "Can he score, can he skate," but he's going to be rounding out the team's bottom six at best.  Heck, imagine if Stramel and Kumpulainen end up on the same 3rd or 4th line with someone like Foligno or Trenin?  Just a bunch of brick walls.

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    Pewterschmidt

    Good to hear some good news on Stram-boli.  If this can become a bottom six center for us playing a physical bottom six style that’s a huge plus for this group.  Think Foligno as a center.  Delivering punishment and munching minutes with few goals against. 

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    LittleBallofHate

    Haha, love this. Probably the best career move he could have made to get out of Badgerland. You know Hastings wasn't going to hand reigns over to a kid, so for sure, his progress would have been stunted even more. He has been pretty instrumental on a really solid Spartans team now. Very wise decision-making to move when he needed to.

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    mnfaninnc

    The key to Stramel's game isn't in the points scored, it's in the meanness of his play. Sure, it's nice to have that 2 point night, but how miserable was he to play against for the Badgers? Did he finish his checks with a little extra? Was he a general menace around the goal? These are the things that will get him here, not the points. He wasn't drafted to be a point producer, he was drafted to be an ice punisher, a guy who could skate well and impose his will on an opponent. He is a guy who should be ready for friendly fire at all times because the homeplate area of the rink will be his office. 

    Charlie, work on dominating the corners, winning faceoffs, tipping, screening,  and popping rebounds. That's your game, and it makes everyone else's game a lot easier.

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    LittleBallofHate

    I think faceoffs have been good for him (without actually check the measurables) 😉Otherwise, I'd probably have to be more of a Spartans fan to know. I think he spends enough time in the sin bin for things like "roughing" instead of dinky trips & high-sticking. So, he probably plays that brand. Howard is a decent complement to developing that netfront style. Hopefully, he keeps getting those reps on PP offensive faceoffs 🙂

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    MrCheatachu
    1 hour ago, LittleBallofHate said:

    I think faceoffs have been good for him (without actually check the measurables) 😉Otherwise, I'd probably have to be more of a Spartans fan to know. I think he spends enough time in the sin bin for things like "roughing" instead of dinky trips & high-sticking. So, he probably plays that brand. Howard is a decent complement to developing that netfront style. Hopefully, he keeps getting those reps on PP offensive faceoffs 🙂

    Stra-Dawg is 55% from the dot (134FOW/111FOL) and through 14 games he's taken 3 penalties for 6 minutes.

    His penalties have been for:

    1. Indirect contact to the head

    2. High Sticking

    3. Roughing

    But he's also skating on a 12-2 MSU team, which I've not watched a single minute of, so I'm not super surprised that his point totals have eclipsed what he was able to do at Wisconsin.

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    Mateo3xm
    13 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

    There's some Ek screen/greasy goal potential there.  Probably won't be a powerplay guy with all the skill in there, but all he needs to do is be a big net front problem for some more skill guys.  

    I'm curious what his other skillset is like right now.  There's such a premium on, "Can he score, can he skate," but he's going to be rounding out the team's bottom six at best.  Heck, imagine if Stramel and Kumpulainen end up on the same 3rd or 4th line with someone like Foligno or Trenin?  Just a bunch of brick walls.

    I’ve heard he’s solid on face offs but haven’t checked stats

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