GDT: G3: Wild @ Habs 6pm CT (BSN)

[Dr Jan Itor]

We beat Montreal. Montreal beat Chicago. Chicago beat Toronto. Toronto beat us.

Closed the loop.

 

[Parax]

Faber with 3 minutes more TOI than any other D -----> happy

Rossi with 4 minutes fewer TOI than Foligno --------> sad

Lines were a crap shoot all night and the game pretty comfortably in hand early in the 2nd. I'll worry about it when it happens with 12 forwards.

 

[57special]

Foligno must have zero credibility with the refs.

 

[Webster]

Evason is among the stars tonight imo, excellent distribution of ice time with a man short. He also stays calm with the officials, like he promised.

 

[Al Lagoon]

Heh. Remember a few years back when their fans thought they were going to win the cup?

That was funny.

Probably older than you, but the Montreal Canadiens are the f*&^%*n Montreal Canadiens. Greatest franchise in NHL history.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Didn’t get to watch. How did Rossi do?

 

[57special]

Didn’t get to watch. How did Rossi do?

Just like he did in the first two games.Solid. decently strong and fast.

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

Didn’t get to watch. How did Rossi do?

He was good, I thought this one might have been his best yet, which is how I have felt after each of his games since the pre-season. Great sign, though MTL was coughing up the puck all night long to his line, so can't expect that to always happen.

I know some people don't want to hear it, but Foligno has been pretty good with him and is playing much more like the healthy and threatening version from two years ago. They are finding each other in the O zone and playing to each others strengths pretty well. Another great sign if he can work with different play styles like that.

 

[OTB]

Didn’t get to watch. How did Rossi do?

I was at the game yesterday and he was arguably one of the best Wild forward.

Pros:
- Good Speed
- Good hands
- Great Vision
- Can set the pace
- Knows where to place himself
- Involve
- Solid defensively

Cons:
- Meh shot
- Little bit predictive in both is shot and pass
- Not a finisher
- Doesnt use is leg enough when hitting players
- Below average strenght

Overall he was very noticeable but was not able to finish on multiple occasion. From what I saw his shot is not hard enough that to score he'll need to release quicker and change his angle.

I'm not a Wild fan but I can tell you that I liked what I saw from him. I can see a bit of Jesper Bratt in him but he is still far away being on his level. But if I were Rossi I would build my game like Bratt to be more successful.

 

[MK9]

Probably older than you, but the Montreal Canadiens are the f*&^%*n Montreal Canadiens. Greatest franchise in NHL history.

There is a phrase, 'What have you done for me lately?'

They've been virtually irrelevant for 30 years.

I love the Red Wings. They were my team when the Stars left. They were a great team. They've been hot garbage since 2009. I'm not going to run around touting past accomplishments trying to pass off excuses for the last 14-15 years.

The Habs are bottom of the barrel and currently a caricature of an NHL team right now.

 

[P10p]

There is a phrase, 'What have you done for me lately?'

They've been virtually irrelevant for 30 years.

I love the Red Wings. They were my team when the Stars left. They were a great team. They've been hot garbage since 2009. I'm not going to run around touting past accomplishments trying to pass off excuses for the last 14-15 years.

The Habs are bottom of the barrel and currently a caricature of an NHL team right now.

They did just make the cup finals but I do get your point.

 

[BagHead]

He was good, I thought this one might have been his best yet, which is how I have felt after each of his games since the pre-season. Great sign, though MTL was coughing up the puck all night long to his line, so can't expect that to always happen.

I know some people don't want to hear it, but Foligno has been pretty good with him and is playing much more like the healthy and threatening version from two years ago. They are finding each other in the O zone and playing to each others strengths pretty well. Another great sign if he can work with different play styles like that.

Yeah, I agree. I think Rossi would put up more points with more skilled linemates, but Rossi and Foligno are both doing well with what they've got. Rossi is going to earn an elevation at some point this year if he keeps playing like he has been. It'll be interesting to see what that does to the chemistry of the lines.

 

[MK9]

They did just make the cup finals but I do get your point.

Yeah, but that was pretty obviously a mirage. Most of the rest of the league knew they were playing well out of their depth. They were exposed for what they were in the finals.

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

He was good, I thought this one might have been his best yet, which is how I have felt after each of his games since the pre-season. Great sign, though MTL was coughing up the puck all night long to his line, so can't expect that to always happen.

I know some people don't want to hear it, but Foligno has been pretty good with him and is playing much more like the healthy and threatening version from two years ago. They are finding each other in the O zone and playing to each others strengths pretty well. Another great sign if he can work with different play styles like that.

Yeah, I agree with this on Foligno FWIW. Foligno has been ripping shots (hit 2 posts?) and even been creative in tight and playing physically. If you had someone else other than Gaudreau on that line I think you could get a bit more offensive juice (for example if they still had Nyquist). I do like that they can have Gaudreau and Rossi take FOs depending on the side of the ice.

Rossi is impressive because he's playing a skilled game, but a lot of it's coming through moving his feet and physicality. He's continually winning puck battles, generating turnovers, retrieving pucks from dirty areas, and then making skilled plays to get pucks to high-danger areas.

One of the best plays Rossi made was a turnover he generated with a quick headman pass to the weakside and then hustling to move his feet to physically drive to the far post splitting two defenders who both put the body on him. The pass didn't complete, but these are all of the things you want to see.

There's a lot of quick-strike ability to Rossi's game whether it's finding soft spots on the weakside in the offensive zone and ripping a shot to a quick stick and turnover and a feathery pass to the far post.

You can look at my post history and see me criticizing Rossi heavily. I just call it like I see it an dI see a different player and I see this as substance. This isn't about points or not having points (like he did last season). This is about playing an impactful two-way NHL game as a center and doing things that build trust.

Edit - I saw other posts commenting on the lack of physicality. What I mean by physicality is the ability to move his feet and work hard enough along with the strength to take a couple of extra steps in puck battles to get his hip and shoulder on the front side of players rather than stopping and reaching around with his stick. I also mean the ability to shield off players with his back and not get knocked over after retrieving pucks and doing that and I also mean a willingness to go to those areas (front of the net and corners) and take physicality to occupy that space.

I don't mean that Rossi is blowing people up or that he's never getting knocked down in front of the net or anything like that.

 

[57special]

There is a phrase, 'What have you done for me lately?'

They've been virtually irrelevant for 30 years.

I love the Red Wings. They were my team when the Stars left. They were a great team. They've been hot garbage since 2009. I'm not going to run around touting past accomplishments trying to pass off excuses for the last 14-15 years.

The Habs are bottom of the barrel and currently a caricature of an NHL team right now.

They were in the Cup finals 3 years ago, something the Wild have never done in their existence.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

They were in the Cup finals 3 years ago, something the Wild have never done in their existence.

*Covid

 

[Sota Popinski]

They were in the Cup finals 3 years ago, something the Wild have never done in their existence.

Ok, but they got there due to a unicorn playoff and regular season format, not because they were actually any good. They were the worst team that made the playoffs.

 

[Whitesnake]

Not sure if you guys saw this....gift from Foligno to Fleury during a live interview at the end of the game in french.

 

[BagHead]

*Covid

Ok, but they got there due to a unicorn playoff and regular season format, not because they were actually any good. They were the worst team that made the playoffs.

Can someone explain to me how advancing that year was easier than other years, and why the better teams failed to do so? I would genuinely like to hear an explanation that sells me on it, but nobody's ever given me an adequate explanation before. One that applies more to the Canadiens and Lightning than the rest of the teams, which it must do since it did not apply enough to any other teams for them to be successful, though the same season and rules applied to all teams.

 

[57special]

Foligno is an elite locker room guy. Top 10 in the league, easily.

 

[MK9]

They were in the Cup finals 3 years ago, something the Wild have never done in their existence.

My reply to a similar comment is 2 posts up.

I think their cup run was essentially fools gold. Think it was more or less luck in a weird year.

 

[57special]

That game could've been even more lopsided. We hit a lot of posts. At least 4 or 5, on shots that beat the goalie cleanly.

 

[TaLoN]

Can someone explain to me how advancing that year was easier than other years, and why the better teams failed to do so? I would genuinely like to hear an explanation that sells me on it, but nobody's ever given me an adequate explanation before. One that applies more to the Canadiens and Lightning than the rest of the teams, which it must do since it did not apply enough to any other teams for them to be successful, though the same season and rules applied to all teams.

The division they played in, was BY FAR the worst in the entire league. In normal division layout they would've been eliminated months before the playoffs. They didn't play their first real playoff caliber team until the conference finals. Vegas themselves were also not great that year either, but again... the division layout of the playoffs gave them a pretty easy ride too.

 

[north21]

Nice to hear Rossi is looking good, would be nice to give him one offensive weapon to work with but progress is progress.

 

[BagHead]

The division they played in, was BY FAR the worst in the entire league. In normal division layout they would've been eliminated months before the playoffs. They didn't play their first real playoff caliber team until the conference finals. Vegas themselves were also not great that year either, but again... the division layout of the playoffs gave them a pretty easy ride too.

I get why people say that, and I don't even think they're necessarily wrong, but I think the truth has a little more nuance than that. The Golden Knights beat the Avalanche, who were most certainly a good team. The Canadiens went on to beat both them and the Leafs, who were also a good team, though always a bit hapless in the playoffs.

I was being a little bit of a devil's advocate in that last post, as I made it sound like I think the Canadiens were a good team that year. They weren't, I'm fully aware of that, they just had a hot goalie and got some puck luck. That's sort of my point, though. Covid, as an excuse, doesn't hold weight because the way those playoffs played out wasn't an aberration, it was the norm. It happens every couple of years that a Cinderella team goes far in the playoffs.

People say the best team won most years, but I think that's almost never true. The playoffs are short enough that usually a skilled team (but not necessarily the best team) that has a couple key players get hot ends up winning, and unskilled teams who have a goalie get hot can go far. So why bother with the asterisk? The result was no different than any other year.