Wild Embarrass Maple Leafs In Toronto

Shout out to Hynzy for healthy scratching Chiz and T-biz.  Both players needed a wake up call and it also put rest of team on notice that sleep walking thru middle of season ain’t what a hynzy coached club does.  I’m beginning to love me some Hynzy.  His pressers are solid.  Bro lives for this shit and it shows.  Give him a couple full grown top sixers and let’s see what he can do.  Good hire by Guerin. 

Boldy hits that 1-timer when it was 2-0 that game then it's really an ass kicking. Granted he was off balance but those seem to be his achilles heel for some reason, he's gotten better but gotta bury those.

The Wild played with a determination that they are going to need the rest of the way. I'm sure much of that determination came from the fact they will have no Kaprizov the next month or more. Not to take away from the Wild but I thought the Leafs did not play well at all particularly Matthews. 

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Wild Embarrass Maple Leafs In Toronto

That seems a bit strong. 4th line tallied a nice goal. PP got lucky on a redirect from the Toronto player beating the goalie. Added an empty netter late.

Maple Leafs caught some iron on shots that nearly went in, but only snuck one past Gus that went inside the goal mouth. Toronto had 9 more shot attempts, but goaltending and defense were solid for the Wild.

Nice defensive game from the Wild, and great job staying out of the box to mostly remove the Toronto power play from the equation. The Wild did end up killing off the 1 penalty assessed to them.

The Athletic has gotten down to #11 ranked prospect pool without mentioning the Wild. The teams not mentioned so far include(top 10 order unknown):

37 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

The Athletic has gotten down to #11 ranked prospect pool without mentioning the Wild. The teams not mentioned so far include(top 10 order unknown):

Booo! Fire the whole scouting department!

I also thought it was a gutsy performance. It reminded me of how the Wild shut down the Avs offense a couple of weeks ago. MaRat had a real nice goal cruising through the paint in a "look what I got" moment. 

In other news, I thought this quote was important from Armstrong of St. Louis:

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St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong on looking to make some changes: “It’s not like I don’t talk to other managers. It has to fit for everybody. There’s a lot of situations where I hang the phone up and say ‘That sounds really good for him. I’m not sure what’s in it for me.’ …

Part of it, maybe I overvalue some of our guys. That’s part of what Alex (Steen) and I are going through right now with Monty is where are we at? Who’s been here the longest? Are we correct in our assessment of where they’re at?”

It's taken off NHLRumors.com. 

When we start talking trades, it seems like many comments do not take into consideration that 1st paragraph. Many end with "throw in X." GMs don't work that way in real life, they just do in video games. 

There are 32 NHL GMs in this league. I'm certain that none of them think they are some patsy just waiting to give away the farm because someone threw in an extra 3rd, or sweetened with Peart. Things have to make sense for the other guy, and cost savings are 1 way for this to happen (see Hall to Carolina). 

In evaluating Alex Tuch, what would make sense for Buffalo? Here's another thought, Tuch is from Syracuse, NY, Buffalo may be his team. I think we have a reasonable shot at getting the cap right on this, but what exactly would make Buffalo want to do this? Like Kaprizov, Tuch can start negotiating his next contract July 1st. 

Honestly, I don't see anything that would entice me, if I'm Kevyn Adams, to part with Tuch. It's hard enough to convince good players to come to Buffalo, and when you get someone like Tuch who the Sabres are his team, it's hard to trade a guy like that. From our point of view, he adds everything we need at a reasonable price. From Buffalo's point of view, he looks to be locked in the glass casing with a sign that says "not for sale." Their prospect pool is rated #11 by Wheeler, and it looks like they've got a lot of good prospects. 

I can think of a couple of scenarios where Adams parts with Tuch. 1) Shooter has pictures of Adams and threatens to make them public. 2) Tuch is sick of losing and wants out. 3) McDavid wants to move to Buffalo (this could also be Matthews). 4) The Sabres franchise is about to fold and Shooter just happens to be in the right place at the right time to receive rights to the player. 5) P-Sizzle's imagination has something else.

So, while all this seems really unlikely, my conclusion in looking at Buffalo is that they should be a lot better than they are performing. Did Adams make a poor hire in Lindy Ruff? If I'm looking at the organization, this is probably where I start my investigation. Could Ruff be kicked upstairs to help Adams? I think this might be the best solution. This team is too good to be in last place in the East. 

Also worth noting: I believe that Heinzy has been doing a really good job, but I also believe with no supporting evidence that Mike Sullivan is Shooter's guy. Pittsburgh is in last place of the Metropolitan Division at 50 points. 

In Sully's favor is Crosby's endorsement. Would Pittsburgh consider trading Crosby? Well, that would likely mean a coaching change in Pittsburgh. 

Can the Wild use a 3 headed monster in Guerin, Sullivan, and Hynes to lead the Wild? This is where I think this is going. I don't know how they mix it up, but I think all 3 can and will work together. 

Also for a reference point, Sullivan signed a contract extension in Aug. 2022 that didn't take effect until this season. I'm not sure what happens to that contract if he's fired and how free he is to move to another franchise. 

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

Also worth noting: I believe that Heinzy has been doing a really good job

He seems to be getting wins.  But I have yet to see him solve our PK problem.  Until that happens I don't see us getting out of the first round.  I will also not proclaim him as doing a really good job until he solves the PK.  I would list him as adequate right now. 

What I don't know:   We have had a bad PK through 2 coaches now.  Is the GM sticking his nose in on the PK and making it worse?  That is always possible...

13 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

We have had a bad PK through 2 coaches now.  Is the GM sticking his nose in on the PK and making it worse?  That is always possible...

4 if you count Darby and now Capauno (I'm pretty sure those are the 2assts tasked with PK). I know it ultimately falls on the head coach but it's baffling with 2 different assts. and no matter the mix of personnel on ice, strategy (aggressive/passive) and solid(ish) goaltending it's the same shit especially since they're so stingy 5v5.

Faceoff wins are huge and we don't have a rock in the circle that can win >50%. Doesn't help Brodin being out either because Bogo & Merrill aren't stellar killers. Just so backbreaking when the 1st or 2nd shot goes in or you give up a goal with <10secs left.

If Shooter stuck his nose in at anytime I would think it would've been when they changed to the more aggressive kill full-time instead of the condensed diamond with waving sticks seemingly in a game.

The Athletic updated the #10 prospect pool and it is the Seattle Kraken, headlined by the dynamic Berkly Catton(#8 overall 2024 NHL Entry Draft).

He had 54 goals and 116 points in 68 regular season games his draft year. He might be smaller than Riley Heidt, but delivers a better all-around game.