Team USA only had to beat Team CCCP in a Best of 1 as part of the Medal Round (and back it up against the Finns 2 days later).
Or the 1991 North Stars.
Considering this is the first time the entire team has been healthy since November 11th I would think you are correct.
Oh how I would love to
because buium's offensive upside as compared to faber is larger? he made a rookie mistake but there's also no debating he is more dynamic with the puck rushing and on zone entries. This is also part of why I really wish they'd given him game 82 rather than throw him into game 1 where it already is much tighter checking/high contested and that added to adjusting to the game speed differential.
Exactly. The kid made some glaring mistakes during the game and to have him out there at the end of the game was asinine. Don't get it
Vegas is a wagon. Wild have a ways to go yet to be true Cup contenders. See what kind of summer Guerin has as far as making any significant changes now that those 2 horrible contracts are off the books
No debating? Brock Faber is clearly the most dynamic, offensive defenseman we have. He’s proven it over the past year +. He’s also been in the system, been on the ice IN THE NHL with those players, on power plays, on 6-on-5s. He wouldn’t have turned the puck over on a careless, weak pass with a minute remaining. No chance. He also inherently knows where to be and where others will be and overall what the strategy is. Buium has studied the playbook.
I agree. It makes zero sense to me they sat him in game 82.
100%. Not his fault. He’s young. He’s new. He’s talented. But Jesus coach, choose your spots!!!
he has 12 power play points all year, despite playing as much PP as he did all year. He's a good puck mover but is hyper conservative (same thing we saw while he played with the Gophs and is why he wasn't the PP QB there either).
yeah i would've rather we missed the playoffs this year. pain is all these older guys who are doing minimal contributing up front (Zuccy, Foligno, Hartman, Gaudreau) will be another year older, as will Brodin and Spurgeon. Hopefully we see BG be able to make some moves but they'll have quite a bit of space, though the cost per player is going to go up due to the salary cap going up. very interesting offseason coming up
We are projected to have just shy of $21M in cap space and there are 18 other teams projected to have more. We'll need to spend a chunk on re-signing KK.
KK resigning won't go on the books until the next year when the cap will go up another 8-10 mil, but yes definitely will. i agree with you there's not going to be as much money to splash on improving the roster as people think unless they're able to move some of these vet contracts. maybe they throw a bag at Knies as an offer sheet or something given the leafs have marner and tavares as UFAs. then there are guys like Boeser, Rantanen (pass), and Verhaeghe as well but there will be some intense bidding wars for their services i'd imagine. Brock Nelson is a nice player, but again doesn't put you over the top and you know how we love to pay aging stars too much money because they're local
they line matched the eichel line (mostly) and the karlsson line against them (and is why they all finished -1). scary part for the wild is that the KK line dominated but we got smoked with every other unit out there (the Hertl-Dorofeyev-Saad line led 19-6 in Corsi, 6-3 in shots, 7-0 in scoring chances, and a 94.5% expected goal share compared to their matched line). the KK line had 9 scoring chances for (2 against), the rest of the lineup had 12 and gave up 20 and offered up an xG of 0.54 (the Rossi line had 0) against and xGA of 1.57. The KK line had 0.55 xG vs .24 xGA. They will get swept if this is how the rest of the series goes as you can't have 3 lines getting outchanced that bad while hoping the KK line keeps up a 2-1 advantage against Vegas' usual top line
Do you even watch the games?Nope. You don't play for next year in the playoffs. Ever.
I have no idea whether this is right or not. But he has ZERO NHL experience leading into the game.
LOL!! What was he supposed to say? "I can't believe they had him out there. He doesn't have any NHL experience and Brock has been our #1 guy with a bullet all season. I'm very confused." Good lord.
Disagree. They were both big mistakes. I think there's a chance he sits game 2, btw.
This is generally true and especially true outside of Faber and Middleton. I agree that the game plan had to include D being more aggressive in neutral zone forward, with forwards responsible for covering up and being very alert for that.
every single one. if you think faber is an offensively aggressive dman, it's because you watch the Wild (3v3 Faber is different as the responsibilities change). Faber is 61st in scoring (77th in PP/game) for dmen with one guy with more PPP below him (Vlasic who gets the joy of getting PP time because he plays for the Blackhawks who suck). He isn't looking to spring rushes/carry the puck consistently. he is meant to be the rock of the D core and does an amazing job of it (and is why you have to be pumped for the D of the future for the wild that we have Faber and got Buium to drop this far). That pair is going to be possibly the premier pair in the league for the next 10 years. Faber is going to be out there to make the first smart safe play and be in the right spot. It's also why he and Slavin (who's his comp and sits within 2 points of Brock despite playing no PP time) shut the door on everyone in the 4 nations.
Nope. You don't play for next year in the playoffs. Ever.
I have no idea whether this is right or not. But he has ZERO NHL experience leading into the game.
LOL!! What was he supposed to say? "I can't believe they had him out there. He doesn't have any NHL experience and Brock has been our #1 guy with a bullet all season. I'm very confused." Good lord.
Disagree. They were both big mistakes. I think there's a chance he sits game 2, btw.
