lynxrattle

Love the B.B. King association! Here's more on the same lines:

Interesting article. I would not compare Kap to the rookie seasons of Alex Ovechkin, Teemu Selanne, Eric Lindros, Joe Nieuwendyk, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and Mario Lemieux. Kap was a lot older as a rookie than those players and he had played on the KHL for years which is not at all comparable to for example Selanne's lack of experience (playing in the Finnish league). Still Selanne was able to win the scoring title as well. I get the reasons Abbott stated though. I think we should move on from Kap. It's been so difficult with him, that giving him the money he would need to sign, could end up in a Parise/Suter situation again. The Wild being held hostage by its stars, ruining the room, and the deal turning pretty sour once the underperforming begins.

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/kirill-kaprizov-has-a-tentative-one-year-deal-in-place-with-cska-moscow/ Eight figure deal, so at least 10 million. I'd say ten million is the max amount the Wild could play for anyone and that anyone would preferably have to be a 1C. I would need to see Kap scoring in the playoffs before I could even begin thinking about such a deal.

I didn't like this either, but the farther along this goes, the more I'm learning to just accept the situation. If Kap's cap space is freed by not having him, the cap space is available for something else. This might also mean the continuation of the Wild's now understandable risk aversion in drafting Russian players. The KHL option is too enticing to them.

Sounds possible to me as well. Fiala on arbitration and Kap with still no deal. First you spend 10 years waiting for first rate skills and then you spend your time worrying about their staying...

The longer this goes on, the more I get nervous about Kaprizov's character. Is it a Me, Myself and I personality hidden back in there? "I'll play ball, but only with my exact terms and in a team molded around me"? The offer made by the Wild is big enough already. The Wild can't give in. Otherwise it could become a Kaprizov country club following the Parise/Suter country club. We should get some really nice picks/prospects for him, if he is a rotten apple.

I agree on the prospects needing to face challenge to keep on developing. If it looks like they are not having difficulties when playing in camp or Iowa, they should be put in the Wild lineup. No development without challenge. But it really should not be this complicated. I guess it's the personnel politics (deals, personalities, hierarchies, etc) that makes it difficult. In the end I do think that if you're good enough, you force the organisation to give you the chance. We just haven't had good enough prospects. We'll see if Judd Brackett is able to change that.

They might be team players, but if they want to be Minnesota Wild team players they need to realise the cap situation.

And the poor child misses her father who's physically not present, and her mother is so totally fed up that she could well be mentally in a world of her own at times at least. A sad song.

It's getting very frustrating waiting for those deals. I haven't even heard anything about Fiala's situation. The worst case scenario would be being forced to start shopping both of them. On the other hand, who knows? Maybe they would bring something more valuable.

So we have Brodin, Dumba, Spurgeon Goligoski and Kulikov. That leaves room for Addison. But what a disaster to lose Menell for nothing! I was also hopeful on Belpedio turning out a good player, so I have to say I'm very disappointed here. Suddenly our defense is looking very bland. And we still don't have contracts with Kap and Fiala. Filip Lindberg went to PIT. Things are looking very Minnesota again.

From the interviews he's given to the Finnish media over the years, I'd say his mental side is the big question now. He has been a total wreck, totally miserable playing for the Sabres with not one playoffs game under his belt, and the lousy stats to deal with. He does have the right idea on how to get himself going again, though: "Philadelphia on minun tyylinen paikka ja pelityyli sopii sinne varmasti. En malta odottaa, että pääsen laittamaan äijää katolleen ja seinän läpi" Something like: "Philadelphia is my kind of place and my style of play will fit there for sure. I can't wait to start putting guys on their roofs and through the wall" [I don't know the English equivalents there, but 'hit 'em so hard that they land on their roofs', is the idea] https://yle.fi/urheilu/3-12033437 It's a high risk trade, Fletcher grasping for straws. (But I would love to see Ristolainen getting his act together, because if he would, he would be a threat we really don't have in the Finnish National Team - come to think of it I would like to see Philadelphia getting its spirit back, and if this trade together with the Atkinson trade turns out the way Fletcher dreams, Philly will start playing closer to their traditional identity).

Atkinson still is an excellent player, a playoffs player, and if there's any locker room problems left after you got rid of Voracek, I'll bet he will confront those players head on. Fletcher totally surprised me with this trade!

Difficult year to draft players. We'll begin waiting these players to mature. It certainly makes it interesting to see team Sweden playing from now on.

I'd keep a little more than one, but definitely the emphasis should be on the kids playing and learning to carry the responsiblity.

Looking good! https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/prospect-interest-jesper-wallstedt-next-henrik-lundqvist/

A goalie as a first round pick? Even traded up to get him. That's intriguing, but I guess they know what they are doing. I liked that Lambos clip. Didn't really see him shooting, but apparently he has a good shot. I liked his ability to keep the offense going. Looked a little bit small in the defensive zone. I agree on the Suter comparison, but on the mental side of things, I'd say Lambos is probably a very good person in the locker room. To go play hockey in the midst of a pandemic in Jyväskylä, and find out it's a small nothing town in the middle of nothing but lakes and trees, no one to talk to, and nothing to do but play hockey, at first in the juniors, and still keep producing a point per game. He even paid for his own flight tickets. There's a good head on his shoulders. Quite a nice looking picture about Lambos's rush defence! I took it from here: https://fi.eprinkside.com/2021/04/07/yhdeksan-huomiota-u20-sm-sarjasta-keratysta-datasta-pidan-hanta-talla-hetkella-selkeasti-aliarvostettuna-pelaajana-julkisessa-keskustelussa

Way back when Fletcher was our GM he always did these boring Sabres - Wild trades, that nearly always had no positive effect on our team (getting Foligno the one exception). This one is a head scratcher. A really risky thing to do. He couldn't get Jones, so he decided anything goes? It's an interesting one, though. I'll be looking at Philly and Ristolainen next season. I've always wondered where that stud junior prospect went and where did this defensive no-clue liability come from? We'll see next season. They'll dump him if he is what we saw while he played in BUF, but a 1st, 2nd and decent d-man for this kind of gamble... Fletcher getting desperate?

The neck makes it a very risky trade. That must affect the price.

"SEA - MIN score 1-0" - time for a fertility clinic

From having a very solid defensive core next season is a bit of a question mark. I'm pretty hopeful Addison, Menell and Belpedio will be able to fulfil our hopes. Addison we've see already, Menell had a huge KHL season and Belpedio had great games playing in the national team as a junior. I also think losing Soucy was nowhere near to losing Tuch. We'll see. Kahkonen might turn out very valuable. Those 2-3 bad games and a bad half season in Iowa scare me, but goalies do mature later, like Alexandron said. Fingers crossed.

It looks like we need to convince Kaprizov about our centers. Otherwise he might only be ready to make a short deal. It's unfortunate and risky, but we might have to take a risk with Eichel. If Kap was more patient, we could wait for Barkov's decision. He would be perfect for Kap. (He even speaks Russian fluently as his family comes from Russia.) I'm not too interested in Hertl or Dvorak.

Won his dad by 4 points

It has to be hard ball. No way a three year deal, nor a mega-deal like McDavid. He hasn't proven he can be a major gamebreaker in the playoffs. Guerin needs to keep going like he has. And definitely no Tarasenko - too risky, he hasn't been himself after his surgery.

I liked the passion in the old forum. You could say pretty much anything without a risk of getting kicked out of the forum.