Injury Report: Jared Spurgeon (Groin, out up to 6 weeks)

[57special]

Call me weird, but i think having Spurgeon out has actually been good for the Wild. It's really put our D under the microscope, and challenged their limits. So far, Murphy has passed with flying colors, IMO. Prosser is Mr. #7D. Reilly and Olofsson look the most shaky, yet they might have the most potential.

I don't think the Wild expected Murphy to be any good, so they have a bit of a dilemma on their hands when Spurge comes back.

Would love to see Spurgeon anchor a line with one of the LHD, Brodin stay with Murphy, and Suter and Dumba be a thing.

 

[Wabit]

Call me weird, but i think having Spurgeon out has actually been good for the Wild. It's really put our D under the microscope, and challenged their limits. So far, Murphy has passed with flying colors, IMO. Prosser is Mr. #7D. Reilly and Olofsson look the most shaky, yet they might have the most potential.

I don't think the Wild expected Murphy to be any good, so they have a bit of a dilemma on their hands when Spurge comes back.

Would love to see Spurgeon anchor a line with one of the LHD, Brodin stay with Murphy, and Suter and Dumba be a thing.

Murphy and Reilly only have 2 or 3 games each before then need to go through waivers. Olofsson and Prosser both need to pass through waivers already. I'm not sure any of them would pass through. That could really be the deciding factor of who stays in MN and who gets sent down. It's not like any of them have played badly, but there hasn't been much separation in their play either.

The oddest thing that could happen would be Reilly and Murphy are sent down and Quincey is brought up to sit in the pressbox. It adds ~$250k to the Wild's cap, but keeps their waiver eligibility intact. I just don't see the Wild running without a pressbox d-man for any extended period of time.

 

[Bazeek]

My tentative guess is that Reilly goes down once Spurgeon comes back. He'd avoid waiver eligibility and I don't think more time in the AHL would kill him. I just don't know how you send Murphy down over him when Murphy's been the better player (though I guess he's also had the better partner).

I have no idea what the pairings end up like, though. Boudreau was clearly thinking Suter-Dumba coming out of pre-season, but it didn't happen to start the season so who knows if it continues now. And if it does, does it push Spurgeon down to the 2nd pairing and you end up with a fantastic top-4 and a bottom pairing of Olofsson-Murphy/Prosser? Or do you keep the current top-4, which has been working well, and start Spurgeon on the bottom pairing? Not the worst thing to do with him coming back from injury, but having Jared Spurgeon on your bottom pairing just seems wrong.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Murphy and Reilly only have 2 or 3 games each before then need to go through waivers. Olofsson and Prosser both need to pass through waivers already. I'm not sure any of them would pass through. That could really be the deciding factor of who stays in MN and who gets sent down. It's not like any of them have played badly, but there hasn't been much separation in their play either.

The oddest thing that could happen would be Reilly and Murphy are sent down and Quincey is brought up to sit in the pressbox. It adds ~$250k to the Wild's cap, but keeps their waiver eligibility intact. I just don't see the Wild running without a pressbox d-man for any extended period of time.

From some of Russo's comments, it doesn't sound like BB and Fletcher want Quincey anywhere near the NHL team. They probably don't even want him near the AHL team.

 

[2Pair]

Murphy and Reilly only have 2 or 3 games each before then need to go through waivers. Olofsson and Prosser both need to pass through waivers already. I'm not sure any of them would pass through. That could really be the deciding factor of who stays in MN and who gets sent down. It's not like any of them have played badly, but there hasn't been much separation in their play either.

The oddest thing that could happen would be Reilly and Murphy are sent down and Quincey is brought up to sit in the pressbox. It adds ~$250k to the Wild's cap, but keeps their waiver eligibility intact. I just don't see the Wild running without a pressbox d-man for any extended period of time.

Olofsson has been pretty bad. If he was still exempt, we wouldn't be having this discussion. I'm sure they will just send Reilly down, and see how it goes from there.

 

[57special]

I have a perhaps illogical faith that Olofsson is going to be alright if he stays healthy. Reilly I'm not so sure about. He's the type who plays Defense when he wants to...we've already got one of those in Dumba.

My logic in splitting up Brodin and Spurge (besides the fact I can barely recall them playing together) is that it would allow for three above average pairings, and would allow BB to split TOI more evenly. Suter's TOI is WAY up there again. I also think that playing with Brodin or Spurgeon would be ideal for both Murphy and Olofsson's development.

The Brodin fan in me also wants Mr. MegaContract #limpwrister to have to earn his $$ for a change. Let HIM play with Dumba. At certain times during the past few games I can almost see a "WTF" bubble coming out of his head at some of the things Dumba does.

Again, the unexpected poise and effectiveness of Murphy so far has changed the complexion of the whole D unit. With Prosser's recent acquisition, we now have 4 RHD, instead of 2. Nice problem to have, but it's a problem.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Insinuating that Suter isn't earning his dollars is perplexing to me.

I still can't understand the vitriol directed at one of the 12 best defensemen in the entire league.

 

[2Pair]

I have a perhaps illogical faith that Olofsson is going to be alright if he stays healthy. Reilly I'm not so sure about. He's the type who plays Defense when he wants to...we've already got one of those in Dumba.

My logic in splitting up Brodin and Spurge (besides the fact I can barely recall them playing together) is that it would allow for three above average pairings, and would allow BB to split TOI more evenly. Suter's TOI is WAY up there again. I also think that playing with Brodin or Spurgeon would be ideal for both Murphy and Olofsson's development.

The Brodin fan in me also wants Mr. MegaContract #limpwrister to have to earn his $$ for a change. Let HIM play with Dumba. At certain times during the past few games I can almost see a "WTF" bubble coming out of his head at some of the things Dumba does.

Again, the unexpected poise and effectiveness of Murphy so far has changed the complexion of the whole D unit. With Prosser's recent acquisition, we now have 4 RHD, instead of 2. Nice problem to have, but it's a problem.

Dumba and his speed has also allowed Suter to jump into the offense a little more than he could with Spurgeon.

 

[57special]

There’s a good chance defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who has missed seven games with what’s been described as a groin injury in an unusual spot, practices Wednesday.

"Unusual spot"? Does that mean what I think it means?

 

[2Pair]

Insinuating that Suter isn't earning his dollars is perplexing to me.

I still can't understand the vitriol directed at one of the 12 best defensemen in the entire league.

Best player to ever wear a Wild sweater. My personal favorite is when it's insinuated that Spurgeon plays with Suter just to make things easier on Suter.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Any chance Spurgeon plays tonight?

 

[gphr513]

Any chance Spurgeon plays tonight?

I would guess not. Russo says he will play in the next week, but I'd be surprised to see him tonight.

 

[Uberdachen]

I still can't understand the vitriol directed at one of the 12 best defensemen in the entire league.

I can understand it immediately after watching him dissolve 1:30 of a PP trying the same unproductive pass over and over, but not really any other time.

Well, I guess also if you pulled up to Kwik Trip right after he cleaned out all the healthy snacks for him and his family.

 

[HollaHaula]

I can understand it immediately after watching him dissolve 1:30 of a PP trying the same unproductive pass over and over, but not really any other time.

Well, I guess also if you pulled up to Kwik Trip right after he cleaned out all the healthy snacks for him and his family.

Where do you find these?

 

[Wabit]

The only issue I have with Suter is him slowing everything down on the PP. I said the same thing last year too.

 

[Bazeek]

Good news.

 

[Lapa]

Insinuating that Suter isn't earning his dollars is perplexing to me.

I still can't understand the vitriol directed at one of the 12 best defensemen in the entire league.

Thank you. Exactly this.

 

[Minnesota]

He back.

Lockin' it.