Confrontational

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Age 35 - thank you Nate (played 360 games in the NHL over 11 seasons (2009-19, 2021)) recording 49 points with Wild and Blues. 

Nate was a gritty average player - and I remember many times him being called in last second to fill in for someone injured. 

https://www.markerzone.com/news/index.php?no=78727&s=8

Interesting writeup on Fiala getting benched:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/wild-winger-kevin-fiala-shows-035200410.html 

Definitely one of the better games I've watched all season...  Some ass puckering with the onslaught during the final 30 seconds - wow...  

Since the 10-minute highlight video above mentioned nothing about the penalty on Kirill:

2 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

I swear the Wild's power play would still be ranked in the low 20's even if they had Gretzky, Crosby, and Ovechkin on it... 

Their PP has been an issue for what - like 15 years...?  Trying to recall the last time they went on the power play and consistently made the other team pay...  But, I seem to have hundreds of fond memories of 9, 11 and 20 out there consuming most of the PP1 time...

Lets hope the new kids on the block rip it up tonight - no doubt this could be a huge night for them to change things up and add that spark...

Sure seem to be a lot more injuries than normal years...  Every week it seems like more and more key players from many teams are getting hurt - is there something that tracks this...? Curious if it's the just teams I pay more attention to or not...  

Yea, hearing "it's -9" about 4,233 times by announcers was a bit annoying, but I suppose that was part of the lure by viewers...  Embarrassing game - especially considering two of our goals were fluke shots...

^ Agree, it's not like other teams were beating the door down to get him...  

Alec Baldwin has killed more people than Omicron - so there's that...

41 minutes ago, Alexandron said:

According to Russo."With Jared Spurgeon injured after reaggravating his recent lower body injury, #mnwild recall Kevin Czuczman to serve as 7th D. Jordie Benn draws back in."

And other news - Greenway just left practice early today.

 

Just found this as well:

Head coach Dean Evason ruled out Spurgeon for Saturday's game against the Panthers, but it's unclear how much additional time the defenseman could miss. Jordie Benn figures to enter the lineup to replace Spurgeon. The 32-year-old had an assist in Thursday's contest, giving him 11 points in 21 games this year.

Watched the game last night - was a little surprised at their play on home ice...  Fiala, man-o-man - no doubt he's a very good player - but sure seems to miss with his shots on goal a lot...

News said Spurg left in the 3rd - not sure the issue...  

Yea, heard Hurricanes postponed game for a week - no doubt it's going to be brutal on them to play catch-up...  But, what can you do I guess... Strange - they're all vaccinated too - which brings up an entirely different question on if anything is effective...  From their coach: "Everyone did what they had to do. We got vaccinated. We did our part. We're masking up. So you know, I don't know what else there is to do. The good news is they're not getting sick."

Regarding the Olympics - they have until Jan 11th to make a decision - the player make that decision - and a few have already backed out. Evidently the protocol by China is that if you're positive you'll be force quantined - 21 days to 5 weeks! - and you have to do two positive tests to get out 24hrs apart...  So, many are thinking that should that happen - it impacts their NHL schedule...  My bet is nobody in the NHL goes with those kind of rules you have to worry about - not to mention away from your family if test positive, etc...  

https://new.in-24.com/News/381354.html 

^^ My bet is he, and many others, are glad that MN finally has an exciting player that's hopefully capable of changing everything about the team up - for the better...  It's not like all the others - where they're established and then go to MN to be mediocre - so Krill is a bit different in that aspect - more of an unknown - with upside - and hopefully not a lot of downside. My guess is he's playing hurt - I've watched a few games and he seems a little more hesitant than last season - so thought he's probably favoring something...  

I'm not on the Krill fan bus - nor on the Jack bus in Vegas - I think both of these guys created a bit of toxicity with the fans in their commitment to their teams that have some people skeptical - and rightfully so...

1 hour ago, lynxrattle said:

Now this game should give us some indication on where we are. My feeling is that the Wild really is getting a lot better, but that we're still at a stage where we keep winning games against the weaker teams, come back from goal deficits pretty regularly, but can't yet really dominate games against the stronger teams, even in a good day.

 

I expect an OT win 4-3. OT goal by Fiala.

I think Vegas has like 5 of their top 10 guys out - not a great way to start the season. I watch their games and I'm like "who the heck is that number?!?" - but should still be a good game...  Good luck guys...

Was supposed to be at this game - no dice...  Should be an entertaining one...  

Yotes, one win - yikes...

Good lord - when do we get some of our big boys back...?  Stone I heard was practicing a week or so ago - I've heard zero on Max...  We need these lines to start firing again - they've looked very different from last year - and rightfully so getting all the injuries in first games...  But, find myself missing a game and not caring - just to see that they lost...   

Strange season indeed to start out - but, someone like Vegas, has half of their top 10 players injured - not a good way to start...  Colorado and Chicago - whoa...  Which I guess made it fun to watch a couple Wild games (never thought I'd say that - or at least I haven't for 10 years)...  Was surprised that they announced Dumba had way more shots on net than Kirill - crazy...  Read an article where the GM stated he thought Kirill was trying to be the solution for everything - and he needed to simplify his game...  Good start for the team though...

^^ For whatever reason - I've never had much faith in him as a goaltender...

On 10/2/2021 at 2:35 PM, Lonkkis said:

 

One or two superstars won't cut it, just ask Edmonton.

Would you have ranked them about the same without Kirill...?  

Zero fan of Dallas - but will be interesting to see how Suter fits in there and how he does...  Suppose with the heat now turned up on Dumba for getting the A and plugging some holes on D - makes me wonder if his blunders will have more light on them and if he feels he needs to play more aggressive to stand out...  I think Ekk will turn out to be a stud - and hopefully goaltending can be solid...  

Wonder what Guerin would think of him picking up a superstar and everyone putting the team in the middle of the pack still...?  

I dunno...  With all the crap he did - and then to see the video above of him smiling - just something makes me now view him as a complete pain in the a$$. I'd rather have three Fiala's than one Kirill (assuming Fiala would have signed for lower $ for longer term)...

Essentially next year is the year to do it then - because after that things get very dicey with the dead money for #9 & #20...  And I think if we thought the past several years were a clusterfvck with Kirill - I have a feeling we've seen nothing yet when we have to start dealing with him in years 3 thru 5 of his contract and all the chaos that will come with it...

Although he got his boatload of money - I think there's a lot of people like me who now have some distain for the guy...  

^^ I'm sure some marketing agency got paid a million bucks to come up with that design...

“The player is doing what he feels is right,” Guerin said via NHL.com. “You need to respect that, and I do. I respect Kirill and I don’t think he’s doing anything abnormal right now. It’s just a matter of, ‘When do we get the deal done?'”

“I held out twice, and neither time did it work out well for me,” he said. “We’ve had players who have missed training camp, and they start slow. They’re behind. I know from experience it’s not good.”

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/kirill-kaprizov-extension-talks-quiet-141910570.html