CreaseAndAssist Posted August 14, 2022 Share Posted August 14, 2022 On 8/9/2022 at 1:55 PM, Alexandron said: Minnesota Wild@mnwild Aug 4 Familiar faces around the weight room this morning. Nice that they are already in practice. I mean the team is paying them millions of dollars. Good to see they decided to train in the offseason as they should. But this is a given as a professional athlete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted August 15, 2022 Share Posted August 15, 2022 11 hours ago, FireDillabaugh said: Very true. Would certainly rather see this instead of seeing more commercial breaks and longer commercial breaks during broadcasts. Couldn't care less if the sweaters are billboards. That doesn't affect gameplay, game momentum, or make games more boring when attending live games because there are constantly these long timeouts that don't belong in this sport. The same with the ideas of using technology to show multiple rotating special effect board advertisements(as well as advertisements on the ice surface) to the television audiences. Anything like these ideas that keep the amount of commercial breaks low and the duration of those breaks short is fine with me. But there's the grind, you know they will do both. They will turn the players into skating billboards and still find a way to squeeze a commercial with a split screen view during a stoppage in play because we wouldn't want to miss out on another 10 second "Eat Fresh" Subway commercial. I heard the Tria ad will be on the sweaters sold this season. So they will be turning fans into these walking billboards too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted August 18, 2022 Share Posted August 18, 2022 $100 million per team just because a business put one patch on a uniform? I doubt it. I could see it if we were talking about the NFL or maybe even MLB but not the NHL. The money tree simply isn't that big. I think that's very optimistic appraisal from a magazine (which I'm a subscriber for) that hasn't received my last 3 issues for. Just because there is an opportunity to monetize it, doesn't mean they should have to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 Last year I was able to attend to the Worst seats in the House with Michael Russo and Antony LaPanta (Minnesota Wild Podcast)which was in Shoreview at Kowalski's Market on August 31st. I did not find a schedule for this year, but I have heard that it is going to happened on August 30th. at the same place (in front of the store). I am planning to attend there again if I will be done with my work earlier. Kind of a nice show with lots of talk and questions. https://talknorth.com/2021/08/31/the-grill-master-gets-beat/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 Here is an article from The Athletic regarding predictions for NHL 2022-2023 season including some predictions for the Wild team: https://theathletic.com/3440852/2022/07/25/nhl-picks-2023-stanley-cup-awards/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 Here is an interesting article regarding the role of Matt Boldy for this 2022-2023 season: https://zonecoverage.com/2022/wild/matt-boldy-will-stabilize-minnesotas-fiala-less-offense/ I am still thinking that for this season besides of line #3 production after missing Fiala's offense, the crucial overall team's production will depends also on a production of the line#4. Who could be the main contributor for that line? Do we have one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 Another article just came up about 3 Wild storylines.... : https://thehockeywriters.com/wild-storylines-to-follow-2022-23/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllaZilla Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 On 8/22/2022 at 8:15 AM, Alexandron said: Here is an interesting article regarding the role of Matt Boldy for this 2022-2023 season: https://zonecoverage.com/2022/wild/matt-boldy-will-stabilize-minnesotas-fiala-less-offense/ I am still thinking that for this season besides of line #3 production after missing Fiala's offense, the crucial overall team's production will depends also on a production of the line#4. Who could be the main contributor for that line? Do we have one? I think the author of that article is looking at Boldy through rose colored glasses. Expecting Boldy to get 100 points this season is a bit optimistic in my opinion. What the author failed to address was the fact that a good chunk of the Wild offense had career years in scoring. Hartman, Ericksson-Ek, Foligno, Zuccarello, Spurgeon and Kulikov all had career years. So not only do the Wild players have to maintain the level of scoring they had last season, they have to account for Fiala's missing 30 goals. They are going to need guys like Greenway, Yost, Dumba, etc. to step up and score more than their usual 10-20 points. And Guerin better hope MAF has some gas left in the tank. Because scoring less goals while allowing more goals is a sure fire ticket to an early April tee time... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted August 28, 2022 Share Posted August 28, 2022 On 8/26/2022 at 1:39 PM, IllaZilla said: I think the author of that article is looking at Boldy through rose colored glasses. Expecting Boldy to get 100 points this season is a bit optimistic in my opinion. What the author failed to address was the fact that a good chunk of the Wild offense had career years in scoring. Hartman, Ericksson-Ek, Foligno, Zuccarello, Spurgeon and Kulikov all had career years. So not only do the Wild players have to maintain the level of scoring they had last season, they have to account for Fiala's missing 30 goals. They are going to need guys like Greenway, Yost, Dumba, etc. to step up and score more than their usual 10-20 points. And Guerin better hope MAF has some gas left in the tank. Because scoring less goals while allowing more goals is a sure fire ticket to an early April tee time... I agree. Even if the rest of the Central all seemed to weaken a bit, you have to be in denial to say this #mnwild team is as good as it was a season ago. Boldy is still seen as a player who has below average speed, that might not be as big of a hindrance when he has a fast, scoring winger to work with. He won't have that now, and I think time and space are going to be a lot harder to come by no matter who ends up on his line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallyTigerShark Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 (edited) The Wild have signed free agent center Sam Steel. Had 6 goals and 20 points with the Ducks last year. Cost is $825K for a one year deal. Anaheim didn’t make a qualifying offer to him. In 4 seasons with the Ducks covering 197 games he’s scored 24 goals with 41 assists. Decent depth move IMHO. Edited August 30, 2022 by TallyTigerShark 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 22 minutes ago, TallyTigerShark said: The Wild have signed free agent center Sam Steel. Had 6 goals and 20 points with the Ducks last year. Cost is $825K for a one year deal. Anaheim didn’t make a qualifying offer to him. In 4 seasons with the Ducks covering 197 games he’s scored 24 goals with 41 assists. Decent depth move IMHO. I agree. It seems this pretty young player has some potential to produce for line 3 or 4 at start for the Wild. I just looked through stats of his ( round 1 draft; #30 overall) career. Not bad at all. Sam also has a decent size too. Among his records he had 131 points (50 goals; 81 assists; +/- +49) in 66 played games at WHL in 2016-2017 season; gold medals at WJC20 and Hlinka Gretzky Cup. Maybe his talent will bloom for our team as Fiala's 3 years ago. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimtown guy Posted August 31, 2022 Author Share Posted August 31, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallyTigerShark Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 I liked Kulikov but this was probably necessary and it’s time to see what Addison can do playing regularly at this level. This team is going to have to start playing the young talent at it’s disposal. Might as well start now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimtown guy Posted August 31, 2022 Author Share Posted August 31, 2022 13 minutes ago, TallyTigerShark said: I liked Kulikov but this was probably necessary and it’s time to see what Addison can do playing regularly at this level. This team is going to have to start playing the young talent at it’s disposal. Might as well start now. I liked him too. Played with grit but he is 32 and the Wild have some good D in the pipeline. Wish him all the best with the Ducks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllaZilla Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 This was a salary dump by the Wild and got the Ducks a buffer over the cap floor. Right now the Wild have $5M in cap space and are going to need it over the next couple of seasons when they get hit with $12M, $14M, and $14M in dead cap space thanks to the Wonder Twins Buyout. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 Losing Kulikov doesn't bother me. Now it looks like Addison may actually get a decent look other than a few call ups. Between Addison and Faber as well as the others the team is in good shape in this area. Might as well stay cheap while we can. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 (edited) On 8/30/2022 at 2:07 PM, TallyTigerShark said: The Wild have signed free agent center Sam Steel. Had 6 goals and 20 points with the Ducks last year. Cost is $825K for a one year deal. Anaheim didn’t make a qualifying offer to him. In 4 seasons with the Ducks covering 197 games he’s scored 24 goals with 41 assists. Decent depth move IMHO. I like this pick up. Could turn out to be a sneaky good one....or at the very least, a case where the Wild's patience with the player would pay off (they are in a position to BE patient anyways), where the Ducks apparently gave up on their former 1st rounder. Not sure what happened to Steel in Anaheim....I've watched some of his games and he looked like a typical youngster on NHL ice learning his way, while showing some flashes of brilliance. Decent face off skills that could possibly be improved still. Some work on his defensive game, but then again, the ENTIRE Anaheim Ducks team while he was there was pretty putrid defensively so not sure what he could have really learned at the NHL level from that group. Minnesota is usually defensively sound, maybe some good habits can rub off on him with them, and he is a natural center, but can also play the wing, and I am hoping the Wild give him a good long look in a top six role as he never looked suited for a bottom six role to me, which Anaheim often played him at....made easier to play him there also due to his inability to progress beyond what he showed in his first year in limited duty. Maybe this is who Sam Steel is: A bust. And the Ducks were absolutely correct in letting him walk. But at just 24, I think the Wild could do worse than give him another shot in the NHL under a situation where he will be around other guys around his age all working a bit better as a unit than the ones in Anaheim did. Looking forward to see what he can provide for the Wild and vice versa. Edited September 4, 2022 by TropicalFruitGirl26 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 Or it could be another Pontus Aberg or Alex Galchenyuk. I think its less likely it will be a sneaky good move as much as it probably will be we realize why he never took off with the Ducks. But still, the risk is super low and its likely his last chance to stick with an NHL club. If he wasn't a 1st round pick, most teams probably wouldn't take a second look at him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 30 minutes ago, CreaseAndAssist said: Or it could be another Pontus Aberg or Alex Galchenyuk. I think its less likely it will be a sneaky good move as much as it probably will be we realize why he never took off with the Ducks. But still, the risk is super low and its likely his last chance to stick with an NHL club. If he wasn't a 1st round pick, most teams probably wouldn't take a second look at him. Absolutely could turn into a "nothing" move. But, at this point, certainly worth a shot for Minnesota with nothing to lose by doing so. I've been fortunate enough over the years to see the Lightning turn "nothing moves" into something here and there, so I would like, for once, that can work in Minnesota's favor as well. I realize lots of other things behind the scenes go on before a team gives a player another 'shot' to maximize the chances of it being a good move, so it isn't a complete "luck" thing, so hoping the Wild did some due diligence and can have a reasonable expectation that giving Steel another go could work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icechipper Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 (edited) Steel is from Alberta. Put up 131 points for Regina Pats 2016-17. Point a game guy in AHL. A Wild wild card. Not very big at 5-11, 185. Went 30th overall in draft. Wore No. 23 in Anaheim Edited September 5, 2022 by Icechipper 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimtown guy Posted September 9, 2022 Author Share Posted September 9, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted September 9, 2022 Share Posted September 9, 2022 26 minutes ago, Jimtown guy said: Not bad. The Wild are right up there with the 'media leaders' with regards to how much national exposure they will get this season. I guess the general US markets aren't giving a crap at all about the Canadiens? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icechipper Posted September 9, 2022 Share Posted September 9, 2022 When NBC had contract the TV league was composed of: Pittsburgh N.Y. Rangers Chicago Detroit Boston Philadelphia St. Louis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Math Posted September 9, 2022 Share Posted September 9, 2022 Montréal: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimtown guy Posted September 11, 2022 Author Share Posted September 11, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.