Wild Prospects Who Are In the NCAA Tournament

In other elimination news, Farjestad, the #1 seed in the SHL was swept by Rogle yesterday. Ohgren had 0 points in the series, and the team scored very little. Was it a hot Rogle goalie? I don't know. But, we should wonder if that goalie is available to sign for depth at the position.

I'm looking forward to watching some of the college hockey. I didn't see if any of this was on ESPN+, so I'm hoping I get it. 

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

'm looking forward to watching some of the college hockey. I didn't see if any of this was on ESPN+, so I'm hoping I get it.

Not sure if they will be on ESPN+. They are on ESPN2 and ESPNU.

I got to watch the end of the Gopher's game, and the game winning goal. I've got to say, this team is significantly inferior to last year's team.

But, playoffs abound! In an interesting matchup in the OHL Western Conference, Owen Sound is taking on Saginaw. Perhaps I should frame it differently: Hunter Haight takes on Servac Petrovsky.

Haight had 2 goals in the opener, Petrovsky had an assist as Saginaw takes the 1-0 lead in the series. In the East, Oshawa takes on Barrie, or Kumpulainen takes on Barrie. Oshawa is the #1 seed. 

In the WHL, Prince George takes on the Spokane Chiefs. This will be Heidt's team, and it looks like they are #1 seeds in their conference. Moose Jaw takes on the Brandon Wheat Kings (Kalem Parker) and they are further down in the other conference. 

I'm wondering, now that Farjestad has been knocked out, does Liam Ohgren take a trip across the pond and join us for the rest of the season? This could be a good idea, though, he is 20 from January. I'm not sure if a PTO in Iowa would affect his contract to slide, or if a 9 game tryout with the Wild would allow it to slide. 

I haven't watched the Denver matchup. Clark had 0 noticeable time with the 10 minutes I watched of the Gophers matchup, in fact, I don't even know what number to look for. On to BU. I'm hoping for a big upset!

On 3/28/2024 at 9:25 AM, mnfaninnc said:

Ohgren had 0 points in the series, and the team scored very little. Was it a hot Rogle goalie? I don't know.

Another zero stat line from Ohgren.  And this is in the Elite Swede Men's no-check Aperal spritz league.  If this kid has a neck beard....

#Brackett's1stpickinthatdraft

#Expectationsaremanaged

31 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Servac Petrovsky.

Has the Wild org. cut bait on Petro?

7 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Another zero stat line from Ohgren.  And this is in the Elite Swede Men's no-check Aperal spritz league.  If this kid has a neck beard....

#Brackett's1stpickinthatdraft

#Expectationsaremanaged

Imagine two teams full of Nojo's doing toe picks and stick flips for 60 minutes.  Ends in a 0-0 tie, no penalties, no contact, hugs (not handshakes) at end of game, 30 Jofa helmets.  I'd rather watch soccer.

3 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

30 Jofa helmets.  

What I see in my best dreams as I'm crushing Euro guys into the boards with flying elbows, then scoring on a breakaway slapshot while they roll on the ice whimpering and sniveling.

P.S. I'd be wearing a Pro-Tec bucket with a spider-cage. 

I got a chance to watch the Denver game. Rieger Lorentz is a 3rd line player for Denver. It appears that lines 3 and 4 get about 30 second shifts, lines 1 and 2 get a little longer. There rotation was 1,3,2,4. 

Lorentz played on the top PK unit, didn't play PP. He is #14 if anyone's trying to watch him. From the eye test, he seems to be very structurally sound. The goal that was scored by U-Mass was on his line. At the time, he had the guy at the point, and then collapsed down low. It looked like a teammate lost his guy and Lorentz almost got there to interrupt him. 

Lorentz isn't physical, didn't throw many checks, played with one hand on the stick a lot, poking pucks. Didn't seem to like possession of the puck real well. Now, U-Mass was a team that hits anything. I assume they are big. Denver does not play this way and most players got trucked. Lorentz did not seem to be one of the most. Lorentz had 28 points this season, and Denver had 9 guys with 30+ points. 

I haven't watched any of Denver's games, but they seem to be a fast, finesse team that will beat you with skill. Lorentz doesn't really have that skill, he didn't look like he was skating hard, and he's got hands similar to Foligno. He definitely needs another year there, and my guess is he's an A player at best. Let's just say I was not impressed.

And, WI is one and done. I was interested in watching Charlie Stramel in what would be a playoff game. Suffice it to say, this loss was not his fault!

If this is any indication of how the year went for him, let's put this in perspective: By my count, Stramel had 4 shifts last night. 2 in the 1st period, and 2 in the 2nd period. He got benched the rest of the way. It appears that Hastings plays his 4th line quite sparingly. 

Now, in those 4 shifts, it was pretty evident that Stramel was not doing much. He handled the puck a couple of times, but from what I read from the scouts during his draft year, and what I saw last night, they are 2 completely different players. 

Wisconsin showed some hustle and fast play with a lot of skating, and occasional hitting (even though they weren't that good at it). Stramel showed neither, nor any urgency. He looked....lost out there. This is not a good look from a 1st round pick. I don't know what's wrong with him but he looked broken.

Moving forward, and it could be today, I would say a change of scenery is best for the kid. I wouldn't be opposed to signing him, but where do you play him? His birthday is in October where he'll be 20, so it appears that he can't play in the A (unless you can after your 20th birthday?). I'm not even sure how much contact Guerin can have with him under NCAA rules without disqualifying him. I think the best thing would be for him to transfer to UoM, but I don't even know if he can do that without sitting a year.

But, this much is evident, Guerin has to sit down with the player and try to sift through 2 very disappointing seasons. There was no explosion in Stramel's game, and he needs to get that back. Guerin needs to find out if it's the player that's broken or the person, and, quite frankly, I'm more concerned with the person being broken. Perhaps there is help for that?

The cameras did show the Wisconsin team waiting for the ice to start the 3rd period. Stramel did seem to be engaged and vocal during that time. However, after skating around to warm up on the ice, he was stapled to the bench. Stramel doesn't play on either special teams units either. 

I am not happy to report this as I have been a supporter of Stramel and his size. A lot can happen in a season, but if a player looked like he had lost confidence, this would be the player. What I saw was a player simply going through the motions, and if my untrained eye can pick that up, I'm sure Hastings has picked it up too.

24 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

And, WI is one and done. I was interested in watching Charlie Stramel in what would be a playoff game. Suffice it to say, this loss was not his fault!

If this is any indication of how the year went for him, let's put this in perspective: By my count, Stramel had 4 shifts last night. 2 in the 1st period, and 2 in the 2nd period. He got benched the rest of the way. It appears that Hastings plays his 4th line quite sparingly. 

Now, in those 4 shifts, it was pretty evident that Stramel was not doing much. He handled the puck a couple of times, but from what I read from the scouts during his draft year, and what I saw last night, they are 2 completely different players. 

Wisconsin showed some hustle and fast play with a lot of skating, and occasional hitting (even though they weren't that good at it). Stramel showed neither, nor any urgency. He looked....lost out there. This is not a good look from a 1st round pick. I don't know what's wrong with him but he looked broken.

Moving forward, and it could be today, I would say a change of scenery is best for the kid. I wouldn't be opposed to signing him, but where do you play him? His birthday is in October where he'll be 20, so it appears that he can't play in the A (unless you can after your 20th birthday?). I'm not even sure how much contact Guerin can have with him under NCAA rules without disqualifying him. I think the best thing would be for him to transfer to UoM, but I don't even know if he can do that without sitting a year.

But, this much is evident, Guerin has to sit down with the player and try to sift through 2 very disappointing seasons. There was no explosion in Stramel's game, and he needs to get that back. Guerin needs to find out if it's the player that's broken or the person, and, quite frankly, I'm more concerned with the person being broken. Perhaps there is help for that?

The cameras did show the Wisconsin team waiting for the ice to start the 3rd period. Stramel did seem to be engaged and vocal during that time. However, after skating around to warm up on the ice, he was stapled to the bench. Stramel doesn't play on either special teams units either. 

I am not happy to report this as I have been a supporter of Stramel and his size. A lot can happen in a season, but if a player looked like he had lost confidence, this would be the player. What I saw was a player simply going through the motions, and if my untrained eye can pick that up, I'm sure Hastings has picked it up too.

Probably pretty hard to transfer to UofM. Maybe a transfer to Mankato or St Cloud would work. It sounds like he is going to need a pretty much complete rebuild. I don't know what other options could be open to him, perhaps Europe or now of the other minor leagues floating around.

4 minutes ago, Up North Guy said:

Probably pretty hard to transfer to UofM. Maybe a transfer to Mankato or St Cloud would work. It sounds like he is going to need a pretty much complete rebuild. I don't know what other options could be open to him, perhaps Europe or now of the other minor leagues floating around.

What might be interesting is if we actually had a K connection where we could loan players out into that league. They wouldn't have to be necessarily Russian players. 

I was thinking the UoM probably since it was closer to his home. Maybe MN State would work? Though, I'd rather have Motzko get him for a year.

52 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

And, WI is one and done. I was interested in watching Charlie Stramel in what would be a playoff game. Suffice it to say, this loss was not his fault!

If this is any indication of how the year went for him, let's put this in perspective: By my count, Stramel had 4 shifts last night. 2 in the 1st period, and 2 in the 2nd period. He got benched the rest of the way. It appears that Hastings plays his 4th line quite sparingly. 

Now, in those 4 shifts, it was pretty evident that Stramel was not doing much. He handled the puck a couple of times, but from what I read from the scouts during his draft year, and what I saw last night, they are 2 completely different players. 

Wisconsin showed some hustle and fast play with a lot of skating, and occasional hitting (even though they weren't that good at it). Stramel showed neither, nor any urgency. He looked....lost out there. This is not a good look from a 1st round pick. I don't know what's wrong with him but he looked broken.

Moving forward, and it could be today, I would say a change of scenery is best for the kid. I wouldn't be opposed to signing him, but where do you play him? His birthday is in October where he'll be 20, so it appears that he can't play in the A (unless you can after your 20th birthday?). I'm not even sure how much contact Guerin can have with him under NCAA rules without disqualifying him. I think the best thing would be for him to transfer to UoM, but I don't even know if he can do that without sitting a year.

But, this much is evident, Guerin has to sit down with the player and try to sift through 2 very disappointing seasons. There was no explosion in Stramel's game, and he needs to get that back. Guerin needs to find out if it's the player that's broken or the person, and, quite frankly, I'm more concerned with the person being broken. Perhaps there is help for that?

The cameras did show the Wisconsin team waiting for the ice to start the 3rd period. Stramel did seem to be engaged and vocal during that time. However, after skating around to warm up on the ice, he was stapled to the bench. Stramel doesn't play on either special teams units either. 

I am not happy to report this as I have been a supporter of Stramel and his size. A lot can happen in a season, but if a player looked like he had lost confidence, this would be the player. What I saw was a player simply going through the motions, and if my untrained eye can pick that up, I'm sure Hastings has picked it up too.

Russo/Lapanta say that the transfer portal is going to be stramel path this summer.  Another Brackett 1st round can’t miss prospect looking like the wild org will be getting another big body pylon.  1st round picks should be playing top six on an ncaa team.  Otherwise they shouldn’t have been a 1st round pick

8 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

1st round picks should be playing top six on an ncaa team.  Otherwise they shouldn’t have been a 1st round pick

Yes, they should. No argument here. If they're going to be top players in the N, after their sophomore year they should be ready to jump. 

This is why I wrote that he looks lost and unmotivated. Was it the new coach? Was it having trouble to pick up on the system (there is no system too difficult to hustle in)? Or is it something else, something outside of the rink? This would be the area I would start in. 

Every person takes loss differently, and for an 18 year old, the loss of a parent is extremely hard, especially when one was so involved in a particular activity. This is why I'm thinking it's something in his head that he needs to get through or over. This is also why I'm thinking that a change of scenery may help. If Guerin meets with the kid, I'd be taking my psychologist with me to the meeting, and I'd expect it to be more than a quick check in meeting. 

Stramel can still be an excellent player, but getting him through what he needs to get through will be paramount to seeing that. How much the team can do now for him is a mystery to me with NCAA rules. You'd think that even with the rules, the NCAA would be more worried about the student athlete than their policy. Exceptions to policies under certain circumstances need to be addressed.

Another big game, another "can't get it done." Also, another 3rd period collapse. I think now is the time to think longterm, and quit trying for the playoffs. Don't get me wrong, it is the coach's and player's responsibility to try and win every game they can. But, it is time for the hurt guys to bow out, for those who need surgery to get it done, and for there to be a trial run of the prospects. 

I think we'll still be interested in debuts. Start rolling them out. To me, the baby Wild are done too. Might as well bring some up. 

49 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Another big game, another "can't get it done." Also, another 3rd period collapse. I think now is the time to think longterm, and quit trying for the playoffs. Don't get me wrong, it is the coach's and player's responsibility to try and win every game they can. But, it is time for the hurt guys to bow out, for those who need surgery to get it done, and for there to be a trial run of the prospects. 

I think we'll still be interested in debuts. Start rolling them out. To me, the baby Wild are done too. Might as well bring some up. 

Russo confirms Moose is done for the year and will have the same surgery he had last off season. So it begins.