Wild Come Up Big, Win Over Avalanche

Ohgren played better.  Not only did he stay structured but he was more aggressive.  I like his play better than Nojo....and he got a nice apple.  Jiricek had his best performance so far.  He had fewer D mistakes and jumped in on offense well.  Faber was up to speed and dang does he make a difference when his game is on.  This D core will only get better over the next year.

That was a fun game, not high flying but that is not where this team thrives. Seeing Avs players getting so frustrated was wonderful to see, I believe it was Rant flopping at the end from Midds face washing him, comical. Blackwood made some outstanding saves keeping this game much closer than it could have been. Ohgie with 2 apples and a plus 3, nice bounce back game, nothing overly flashy but a good solid game, seems confidence might be growing which is big for young guys, believing they belong. Jiricek I believe is getting more confident too, defense didn't look to bad to me, until his skating improves hopefully he maintains great positioning and getting his big body in the way. That one time clapper, my lord is that heavy, I think I heard them say it clocked over 91 mph and missed just high. Him activating and dropping down into the slot, making nice moves and great passes leading to a goal as well as having one of his own robbed on a great save during the PP. Getting goals from the blue line and Trenin always nice, hopefully that continues when Kap returns to take pressure off of him to do it all himself. That was the biggest missing aspect to start the year, lack of secondary scoring. Great to see them play structured, and not over committing leading to top tier scoring chances for the Avs so they can rough somebody up a little extra. 

2 hours ago, IllicitFive said:

Jiricek I believe is getting more confident too, defense didn't look to bad to me, until his skating improves hopefully he maintains great positioning and getting his big body in the way.

The future of Jiricek with Buium and Faber is looking really bright!

Setting up Trenin for that goal was just a phenomenal play by Jiricek, and the type of stuff Buium does as well. The PP could jump to another level with those 2 quarterbacking it and Faber isn't terrible at that either.

Lambos should be able to fill a role in a year or 2. If Yurov steps up with strong play early on, this team could be ready to overtake some of the teams that have been above them in the playoffs for a few years now.

2 hours ago, IllicitFive said:

Jiricek I believe is getting more confident too, defense didn't look to bad to me, until his skating improves hopefully he maintains great positioning and getting his big body in the way. That one time clapper, my lord is that heavy, I think I heard them say it clocked over 91 mph and missed just high. Him activating and dropping down into the slot, making nice moves and great passes leading to a goal as well as having one of his own robbed on a great save during the PP.

He has another couple games like that I wouldn't be surprised if he'll stay once Spurge comes back. I know Bogo is RHD also but I wonder if they make him the 7th or have him play off-hand with Jiri on the right. Watching the highlights of that assist is something neither Merrill or Bogo can offer even on their best days.

Pretty snazzy dangles by a d-man that Jiricek has. It probably made MacKinnon jealous. I have good feelings about him. 

3 minutes ago, Sam said:

Pretty snazzy dangles by a d-man that Jiricek has. It probably made MacKinnon jealous. I have good feelings about him. 

If he can do that while being defensively responsible as well, that will be a great trade. I just don't want to see that if it leaves the team in a bad position going the other way. I know a lot has to do with forwards getting back but could be very exciting as Huck pointed out, him and Zeev bringing two lines that can do that. Exciting 

On 1/21/2025 at 12:08 PM, IllicitFive said:

If he can do that while being defensively responsible as well, that will be a great trade.

Here's the difference I see between Jiricek with us and CBJ: CBJ forwards were either slow or not willing to cover for a pinching Jiricek, who, picks almost every chance to pinch (something he will need to work on), while Wild forwards have this built into their system. 

3 coaches for CBJ didn't have that covered. I'm sort of surprised that Deano didn't with his positionless hockey system. The cut Jiricek made with his dangle was elite and I doubt we have a player who can make that move. 

Mateo in a different thread was preaching patience when it came to Ohgren. Jiricek needs the same things. We will see mistakes from him, specifically defensively as his gaps are inconsistent, but defensively his biggest asset is canceling his guy out hard. Honestly, he's the only one on our defensive corps that does this. Dumba used to until he became a shell of himself. 

Now, probably the most important thing that happened is that Jiricek chose to do this against Colorado, his first opportunity in the top 4 AND against a better paper team than us. I predicted he would be ready about March to take a full-time spot. This game may have moved that timeline up a bit and may have made Merrill expendable at the deadline. Pairing Jiricek with Chisholm really seemed to work!

3 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

This game may have moved that timeline up a bit and may have made Merrill expendable at the deadline. Pairing Jiricek with Chisholm really seemed to work!

Merrill isn't going to move the needle for anyone unless he's a filler for a pick coming back or something. If I were a betting man I would say Chizzy is likely to be on the move before the TDL.

10 minutes ago, M_Nels said:

Merrill isn't going to move the needle for anyone unless he's a filler for a pick coming back or something. If I were a betting man I would say Chizzy is likely to be on the move before the TDL.

This might be true. I was thinking that a team that was thinner in defensive depth might take on Merrill just for that, insurance, 8th D. I don't think Chizzy is yet, mainly because we have not debuted Lambos. If Chizzy goes, Lambos has to be ready. Right now, Chizzy is too good of a value not to be here. Merrill simply can't play against the fast teams, like a Dallas or Winnipeg. 

27 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Mateo in a different thread was preaching patience when it came to Ohgren. Jiricek needs the same things. We will see mistakes from him, specifically defensively as his gaps are inconsistent, but defensively his biggest asset is canceling his guy out hard.

He had a good game and everyone is excited right now but we need to temper expectations and/or remain even keel as he progresses. As you point out, he is going to make mistakes. He is going to have bad games and we need to not immediately dump on him when it happens. Sometimes we as fans are so fickle...recency bias has us praising a player after a good game then condemning them after a bad game with "trade him for X" or whatever else gets thrown around. 

4 hours ago, Enforceror said:

He had a good game and everyone is excited right now but we need to temper expectations and/or remain even keel as he progresses. As you point out, he is going to make mistakes. He is going to have bad games and we need to not immediately dump on him when it happens. Sometimes we as fans are so fickle...recency bias has us praising a player after a good game then condemning them after a bad game with "trade him for X" or whatever else gets thrown around. 

Very well said