Icechipper

Chances he pursues the Wild's Eric Staal or Charlie Coyle?

I'm from Up North too, and was able to attend far more games (WHA and NHL) old Winnipeg Arena, always thrilling at their speedy wingers (once sat on an end rail seat and was able to get a high-five from the Golden Jet himself, Bobby Hull, back to receive an honour from the club) than I'd at the old Met Center where the North Stars long shined.

Welcome. As you can see by post counts, we Wild fans/analysts are kind of a big deal on this board. Philadelphia fans also bring it, but some these other NHL team threads could up their game. Maybe a few cheap shots will bring them around.....

I assume Numerals will be on the shoulders/probably an Outdoor Series patch on the sweater's chest?

Bet he and his buddies ride their bikes and celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese...will he be giving up his paper route now that he has that contract?

Question: Though Seeler has a "one-way," cannot he be passed through waivers to Iowa w/out risking his being taken by another team? Ole's injury might be short term benefit as I doubt Prosser, Pateryn, Murphy and Bartkowski would all slide to Iowa w/out one being claimed by another squad. Reason Seeler could slide is his entry-level deal. Correct me if I'm off base there. Brousseau sounds like he likes Seeler and Bartkowski. Like the coach I was surprised at how strong a skater Bartow ski is. Pateryn might be the lead-foot in that logjam.

Feel bad for Olofsson. (Another shoulder injury). Makes you wonder if he's just prone to shoulder injuries or unlucky. He's a slender lad. I actually liked his game, especially his ability to carry the puck safely out of his zone or make the first pass. Seeler will likely get that bottom-pairing left side slot, although hopefully he earns it. Otherwise I'd rather see Seeler as a top-two minute muncher in Iowa.

Caught third period at sports bar. Monday night football on most screens but one tuned to Jets broadcast. Lines were changed quite a bit but generally I saw: Ek-Greenway-Coyle Kloos-Rau-Anas Foligno-Hendricks-Brown Lodnia-Fehr-Nino Defense: Ole-Pateryn Bartkowski-Delpedio Seeler-Murphy Greenway line was strong. Hendricks had lone goal. Kloos played well. Brown did nothing for me. Lodnia looked fast. Ole Patyrn worked well together. Bartkowski had solid breakout passes. Seeler and Lemiuex fought to a draw. Murphy nice hands and escape moves. Ham solid in net.

I thought they were looking at this: METRO: NYR, NYI, NJD, WashDC, Philly, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Carolina ATLANTIC: Tampa, Florida, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Buffalo, Nashville CENTRAL: Minnesota, Dallas, Colorado, Detroit, St. Louis, Winnipeg, Chicago, Vegas PACIFIC: Seattle, Vancouver, Arizona, LA, Anaheim, Calgary, San Jose, Vancouver Biggest changes: Swapping Nashville and Detroit to get Red Wings back in the old "Norris Division," and with football foes Minnesota and Chicago; and moving Vegas to CENTRAL so all of us in the upper plains can escape winter for a weekend of gambling and hockey in Vegas, baby! Cheap flights, too.....

Did coach really come out and say he's going to play Mikko on the third line? Or is this a case of the interview subject, Boudreau, responding to a reporter's leading question, like, "Can we expect to see Mikko on the 3rd line this year?" I missed the context here somewhere.......

Berry is more relaxed on the bench, more likely to laugh at a bonehead move than give the player the Hakstol "Eyes of Ice" stare. Hakstol also tends to use sign language, especially when communicating with officials during Gopher games.

Wow. Looks like most of the old gang's here. Wild Message expatriates, that is. Of course the Wild will essentially be rolling out the same roster as last year. Only the names have been changed. And hopefully everybody is rested and ready, especially Suter (who I believe had a titanium pipe welded to his ankle), Parise (who successfully underwent a sternum transplant, if I heard that right), and Coyle and Nino (who took spin classes and hot yoga,) according to unsubstantiated mutterings from unnamed sources on a reliable Russian fake news site. At any rate, Fenton was wise to round up more of our favorite "college boys," i.e Matt Read (Meet the Beavers!) JT Brown (Go Dogs!), Matt Hendricks "Huskies Rock" and Greg Pateryn "Wolverines!" I suspect that Fenton suspects President Trump might slap a tariff on Canadian and European imports. Russians will be handled under an agreement worked out between Trump and Vladimir "the Russian Rocket" Putin. We digress. Back to coaching. For the Wild, at the helm, with new assistants, is our man Bruce "Tomato" Boudreau. There's an SB Nation report ranking the NHL's bench bosses that puts him in a class with Peter Laviolette (Preds), Barry Trotz (Caps, now Isles) and Gerard Gallant (Vegas) as above-average coaches in the league. "Elite" status was awarded to Joel Quenville (Hawks) Jon Cooper (Bolts), Steve Sullivan (Pens) and Mike Babcock (Leafs). Mike Yeo of the Blues achieved, you guessed it, "average" status. Among college coaches, Jim Montgomery (Denver to Dallas) and David Quinn (BU to Madison Square Garden) received passes heading into freshman seasons, while UND's Dave Hakstol (entering year four) gets a "below-average" ranking. Hakstol also takes a beating this month from a numbers-obsessed critique that seems to chastise the Flyers bench boss for having the nerve to bench guys who aren't playing his style or up to their abilities.

Zucker and Granlund are the only recent examples of Wild forward draft picks having what can be considered "breakout" years. We can root for Joel "Threenames" Erickson-Ek, Jordan "Buckets" Greenway and Luke "Cantmiss" Kunin all we like, but there's no evidence they'll be any more memorable than James "Bigfoot" Sheppard, Colton "Realdeal" Gillies, Casey "Surf" Wellman, Tyler "Battery" Graovac, Patrick "Sonnyboy" O'Sullivan or Benoit "Realsmooth" Pouliot. Alex "Nicetouch" Tuch looks truly like the proverbial "one that got away." As for Sokolov, Lodnia, Shaw, McBain et al, they're nothing but fuzzy-faced teenagers. (See Minnesota Twins; Byron Buxton), nothing but hype. If Fenton is looking for home-grown goal-scoring, he might call the Senators and ask about Marion "Glassgroin" Gaborik.

You can't stop the Icechipper........you can only hope to contain him....but you don't have to worry about him backchecking, because that's just not going to happen......