GDT: #37 Vegas Golden Knights host Minnesota Wild - Tuesday, Dec 17th 7:00pm PST / Wednesday 4:00pm NZDT

[Ginger Papa]

Jonathan Marchessault - William Karlsson - Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty - Chandler Stephenson - Mark Stone
Valentin Zykov - Paul Stastny - Alex Tuch
William Carrier - Tomas Nosek - Ryan Reaves

Brayden McNabb - Nate Schmidt
Shea Theodore - John Merrill
Deryk Engelland - Nick Holden

Marc-Andre Fleury Starter
Malcolm Subban​

Scratched: None
Injured: Cody Eakin & Cody Glass (Both Upper Body, but really both have Concussions),
Nicolas Hague (Illness)

Jason Zucker -Eric Staal - Mats Zuccarello
Zach Parise - Ryan Donato - Kevin Fiala
Jordan Greenway - Luke Kunin - Ryan Hartman
Marcus Foligno - Victor Rask - Mayhew

Ryan Suter - Matt Dumba
Jonas Brodin - Carson Soucy
Brad Hunt - Brennan Menell

Kaapo Kahkonen Starter

Go Knights Go

(Because I'm Superstitious as you all know)


Also, for anyone who is wondering, I have asked the Hangman if he would like to get back in the saddle for GDT's now that he has returned. His preference is to keep a good thing going, so I'll go as long as the Winning Streak does. I'm proud to be the sidekick in this new Partnership:

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[Ginger Papa]

Quite honestly, folks, I'm struggling to come up with a theme against the Wild. They're like the Little Engine That Could. They work hard, punch way above their weight class and in doing so, have turned their season around against all predictions.

I respect their coach as well, even though he tends to be the target of lots of jokes, but how can you disrespect the man who gave up his apartment to Paul Newman and Roy Hill for the filming of "Slap Shot".

Anyway, I'm just going to move on to mixed Dog & Cat GIF's:

 

[IceNeophyte]

I love me some Hague, but these pairings have been solid.

 

[Super Cake]

Go Knights Go!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mundyc3]

1-0 in the ocean so far. Two more games.

 

[mundyc3]

1-0 in the ocean so far. Two more games.

 

[Ginger Papa]

BTW this is a Home game for Vegas

Thanks for the correction

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[Ginger Papa]

 

[Vegan Knight]

Why did we trade Brad Hunt in order to jump from like pick 160 to 135? Even if he was only a solid 7D. But he's more than that and we wouldn't need Holden or Merrill.

At least his name wasn't Mike, that would be a tragedy.

 

[Ginger Papa]

Why did we trade Brad Hunt in order to jump from like pick 160 to 135? Even if he was only a solid 7D. But he's more than that and we wouldn't need Holden or Merrill.

At least his name wasn't Mike, that would be a tragedy.

And one for Hangman's part of the World:

 

[IceNeophyte]

Why did we trade Brad Hunt in order to jump from like pick 160 to 135? Even if he was only a solid 7D. But he's more than that and we wouldn't need Holden or Merrill.

At least his name wasn't Mike, that would be a tragedy.

As I recall, Hunt wanted an opportunity to show himself and earn play and a new contract. GG was unable or unwilling to give him the ice time, so they traded him for his benefit.

 

[Vegan Knight]

As I recall, Hunt wanted an opportunity to show himself and earn play and a new contract. GG was unable or unwilling to give him the ice time, so they traded him for his benefit.

But we couldn't have signed him for 2 years and 700k? That's all he signed in Minnesota for, it seems like it was a waste.

 

[theslatcher]

But we couldn't have signed him for 2 years and 700k? That's all he signed in Minnesota for, it seems like it was a waste.

He probably hoped to get more from showcasing himself.

 

[IceNeophyte]

Other Pacific games:

Tonight (Monday)
5:30PM EDM@DAL: A Dallas win would help solidify us in 2nd as EDM is one point behind with one game in hand.
Tomorrow (Tuesday)
6PM PIT@CGY: Same thing. Calgary is 1 behind with 1 in hand.
7:30PM ARI@SJS: I just can't bring myself to root for SJS. yotes are 1 ahead with 1 in hand. A win for VGK against a tough Wild team coupled with a Coyotes loss would propel us into first, albeit with Coyotes having a game in hand.
7PM MTL@VAN: I almost hope VAN wins this and we beat them in VAN. They are currently 5 points behind us with 2 in hand.
4PM Ducks @ Flyers: Ducks are still within striking distance, 9 points behind with 3 games in hand. Winning those 3 games would put them 3 points behind.

 

[IceNeophyte]

But we couldn't have signed him for 2 years and 700k? That's all he signed in Minnesota for, it seems like it was a waste.

Why give him even that contract when it was clear he wouldn't be any more than a depth guy here?

 

[Vegan Knight]

Why give him even that contract when it was clear he wouldn't be any more than a depth guy here?

I believe that's the lowest contract you can give, so it would be perfect for a depth defenseman. Technically cheaper than Engelland, way cheaper than Merrill and Holden. We could have kept Haula and gotten better play at 6D if we replace Holden with Hunt. Or at least gotten Roy plus more from the Hurricanes if we didn't need to trade him so badly.

 

[IceNeophyte]

I believe that's the lowest contract you can give, so it would be perfect for a depth defenseman. Technically cheaper than Engelland, way cheaper than Merrill and Holden. We could have kept Haula and gotten better play at 6D if we replace Holden with Hunt. Or at least gotten Roy plus more from the Hurricanes if we didn't need to trade him so badly.

You're working from perfect hindsight. Stone wasn't a thing yet, so there were no cap issues. For some reason, they didn't like what they saw in Hunt's play, and traded him because he asked for it for the reason I cited above.

 

[Vegan Knight]

You're working from perfect hindsight. Stone wasn't a thing yet, so there were no cap issues. For some reason, they didn't like what they saw in Hunt's play, and traded him because he asked for it for the reason I cited above.

I hope the team has learned not to be nice guys, they could have easily told him he was too important and then re-signed him for two years (as I doubt a different team would have given him the extra year if he kept playing intermittently here.) I can reasonably see why they thought Merrill was better, he was for a long stretch of last season. But Holden? Never was.

Though your point about Stone is a good factor I didn't consider. Acquiring him was great for the team but probably very much messed up their future contract and roster building plans. I highly doubt this was their ideal defense but they probably figured get Stone and sort it later.

 

[Nevada Jones]

Go! Go!

 

[LadyStanley]

Will this change?

 

[Ginger Papa]

Will this change?

I'd like to think so. The top 6 are starting to get their confidence again and the Power Play is doing some damage. The acquisition of Chandler has been a nice piece for the Penalty Kill Unit and I echo the other Members sentiments regarding the Defensive Pairings being quite solid.

Finally, we have the Flower showing signs that his game is rounding into form so it's looking to be a good match against a similarly built team - no superstars but hard-working and skilled.

 

[Boris Zubov]

Go! Go!

 

[Nsjohnson]

No Koivu, Zucker, or Spurg.

We think Zuccs is probably banged up too.

This is your chance to beat the Wild hehe

 

[Vegan Knight]

No Koivu, Zucker, or Spurg.

We think Zuccs is probably banged up too.

This is your chance to beat the Wild hehe

Lol. The last domino to fall.

 

[Ginger Papa]

No Koivu, Zucker, or Spurg.

We think Zuccs is probably banged up too.

This is your chance to beat the Wild hehe

Lol. The last domino to fall.