Wild Players Getting Busy At Worlds

In other news, Oshawa lost game 2 in spectacular fashion. After getting spanked 8-1 against the London Knights in game one, they followed that up with a 9-1 spanking in game 2. Kumpulainen had no points, but was better in the dot.

Moose Jaw went up 2-0 with their win against Portland. Parker added and apple in the effort. I'm still a little surprised Prince George is not in this final.

At the Worlds, I only really care about 2 players and how they look: The Wall and Spacek. If Spacek can keep pace with some NHLers, that is a good sign. I expect The Wall to be good. 

3 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

At the Worlds, I only really care about 2 players and how they look: The Wall and Spacek. If Spacek can keep pace with some NHLers, that is a good sign. I expect The Wall to be good. 

The Wall may not get any minutes if Gustavsson continues to stop 14 of every 15 shots. Spacek getting 3rd pairing type of minutes in the first 2 games, but I haven't watched any. Gus playing sharp so far is a nice sign though.

Moose Jaw looking like they might win it all is a surprise as well. A 5'11 center, weighing in at 160 lbs, 2nd round pick by Seattle in 2022(#35 overall), Jagger Firkus seems to be a driving force behind it. He scored 2 points per game in the regular season and has added 14 goals w/ 17 assists in 18 playoff games. 1st round picks Brayden Yager and Matthew Savoie also doing plenty of damage at over 1 point per game.

Rossi playing with major FU in his game, took two penalties in the first period of his first game vs Denmark.  He also made a horrible decision that led to a shorty in that same period.  I think he was playing a little amped which I actually don't mind at all but unfortunately backfired on him.

"The Wall's" comments about aiming to make the Wild team this year were pretty straight forward. Gus performing well adds more spice. Re-upping Flower may have been another poor contract decision.

20 minutes ago, Up North Guy said:

"The Wall's" comments about aiming to make the Wild team this year were pretty straight forward. Gus performing well adds more spice. Re-upping Flower may have been another poor contract decision.

Perhaps but the Wall can simmer and prepare for the 1A/1B in 25-26. If Fleury stinks and ends up not playing, you'd be right for sure. If he splits starts with Gus it's probably not horrible. 2.5M down the tubes if he's not playing but 25-26 is when it really matters. 8M for three good goalies is not horrendous. 

1 hour ago, Protec said:

If Fleury stinks and ends up not playing, you'd be right for sure. If he splits starts with Gus it's probably not horrible.

Mr. Cheatachu would probably have to verify, but I think if Fleury comes into camp and doesn't play well and retires, we can get the $2.5m back.

By then good UFAs will have signed so the money wouldn't do a lot of good.

Lindholm, Stephenson, Roslovic, Marchesseault, Debrusk, Guentzal, Reinhart, Tarasenko, Stamkos, or Tofolli, there's forwards available that could be worth paying well to acquire. 

The fact Vancouver got Pius Suter for 1.6M should be an embarrassment to GMBG considering he coulda done that instead of Fred or NoJo. Point is, get smart and sign one or two guys to a value deal. It's been done by other GMs so what the heck is that?

18 hours ago, Protec said:

By then good UFAs will have signed so the money wouldn't do a lot of good.

Lindholm, Stephenson, Roslovic, Marchesseault, Debrusk, Guentzal, Reinhart, Tarasenko, Stamkos, or Tofolli, there's forwards available that could be worth paying well to acquire. 

The fact Vancouver got Pius Suter for 1.6M should be an embarrassment to GMBG considering he coulda done that instead of Fred or NoJo. Point is, get smart and sign one or two guys to a value deal. It's been done by other GMs so what the heck is that?

Yes they will, but you'll have access to trade at the TDL and you might have access to sign some players who are on PT0s in other camps. I'm not sure why Pius Suter wasn't a target, but by then we'd already resigned Gaudreau and Johansson for "cost certainty." 

Now, the issue at hand here is that many of these are Evason loved players. They are not, necessarily, Heinzy loved players. There should be some turnover just based on that, even from the Zuccarellos, Folignos and Hartmans. Was Johansson an Evason player or Shooter? We know Gaudreau was an Evason player. This team now needs to be shaped into a Heinzy team, and Heinzy may be more apt to choose the kids that he can mold.

Oshawa managed to fall into a 3-0 hole as they lost in double OT 7-6 last night. Kumpulainen picked up an apple, but was miserable once again in the dot. 

I believe Moose Jaw is playing tonight.

Canes staved off elimination again. I sure hope they can keep rolling. The toughest win for a team is an elimination game!

Ok, it's the playoffs. Or, this is what ESPN would have you believe in their commercials.

I get that I live around Tobacco road and basketball is king in this area. Mostly it's college, but they push NBA on the market even though the Hornets suck. 

So, I tried to tune into the Canes-NYR last night and in going into the app on tv, I hit the ESPN+ tab. Why would the 1st thing that they show was Canes-NYR and you try to get in and they want a code for live ESPN coverage?

It's the playoffs trying to win the hardest professional trophy in sports. Why wouldn't ESPN also throw their games onto + for more viewership? ABC around here carries very little hockey. It's not like I'm going to go buy regular ESPN for the playoffs! I don't get MAX, Tru, TNT or wherever the other games are, so does this mean I'm just locked out of the playoffs except for watching on demand a couple of days later? This seems like a strange way to market the game, but also a great way to keep the salary cap down.

Looking at the IIHF games played, I grew curious about pre-tourney rankings.

There are 16 teams in the tourney, including Great Britain and Poland. Shocked to see Germany in the top 5. Sweden and the US crushed them.

Looking like Sweden should be top 4. They beat the US 5-2 and that's been their closest game so far. Sweden has excellent defense and goaltending, along with some solid goal scorers.

Pool play through May 21st, then moving to the quarterfinals May 23rd.

Just posted this on a different thread — and soon after realized this was the better article/thread to post it (sorry for double posting)!

All teams have played 3 games for the World Championship, and here's where the 10 Wild players stand so far: 

Skaters:

• Marcus Johansson (SWE): 2G, 3A, +6 (somehow leading the way of all Wild players in points!)
• Mats Zuccarello (NOR): 0G, 4A, +2
• Joel Eriksson Ek (SWE): 1G, 2A, +2
• Matt Boldy (USA): 1G, 2A, +1
• Marco Rossi (AUT): 1G, 2A, +4 (had an amazing last minute equalizer goal in the game against Canada today to erase a 6-1 deficit and force the game into OT)
• Jonas Brodin (SWE): 0G, 1A, +1
• David Spacek (CZE): 0G, 1A, -1 (only player that's a minus on Team Czechia)

Goalies: 

• Filip Gustavsson (SWE): 2W, .933 SV%, 1.50 GAA (one of the wins against team USA)
• Samuel Hlavaj (SLO): 1W, .907 SV%, 3.75 GAA (won the game against team USA)
• Jesper Wallstedt (SWE): Hasn't played a game yet, but could play against Kazakhstan 

Side note, Team USA + Coach Hynes have just 1 win in their 3 games so far. Granted, I think they've played a harder schedule (with Sweden + Slovakia already) and I'm sure they'll be able to climb back up in the standings with their 4 remaining games (especially against France, Kazakhstan, and Poland). But, definitely not a great showing so far.

Another side note: after seeing that the Wild had 10 players in the tournament (granted 2 will play for Iowa next season — Spacek and Hlavaj), I wanted to see what other NHL teams were well represented and how the Wild compared.

So, of the 24 NHL teams out of the playoff picture, there are 96 NHL/AHL players in the tournament — that's an average of 4 players per NHL team (I may be off by a few players as I don't know all of the AHL affiliates). All that being said, the Wild lead the way with their 10 players! Here are the teams that are best represented (more than 5 players):

• Minnesota Wild: 10 Players
• New Jersey Devils: 8 Players
• Seattle Kraken: 7 Players
• Utah: 6 Players
• Pittsburgh Penguins: 6 Players
• Buffalo Sabres: 6 Players

Not too shabby at all! The Wild also are the most represented country-wise playing for 6 different countries (Austria, Czechia, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden, and USA). Utah, Devils and Kraken are each represented by 5 countries.