The Opening Night Roster Underwhelms | Daemon Hunt Claimed Off Waivers | Minnesota Wild| Judd’z Budz

The Opening Night Roster Underwhelms | Daemon Hunt Claimed Off Waivers | Minnesota Wild| Judd’z Budz

I mean, might as well just start with Tamon Hunt, which uh is just fun, funny, interesting news. I don’t know what will actually come of it as far as like what’s going to happen internal to the organization, but the amount of people that just have bitched and moaned about the Euroch trade. God, this is fun. Yeah. I mean, they they still, you know, gave up a lot of assets in that trade, but I think, you know, it’s, like I said, I think we talked about last week like the Brock Faber syndrome of like if the players not immediately make an impact that they’re bad. Um, but yeah, I think I was excited to get Damon Hunt back. I liked uh what we saw out of him when he was with the Wild. I thought he deserved to be playing some games there when he wasn’t. I thought when he was in the lineup, he looked good. Like he’s not necessarily like a flashy player, but he does a lot of things well. I think he’s smart. He does, you know, have a little bit of an edge to his game. Um, and there was some interesting quotes from John Hines in the Russo article today about roster cuts. Um, talking about Damon Hunt. Um, and he said that’s another reason why why we have Hunt. You have a left shot D. So maybe if we don’t want Bogo on the left, maybe Hunts on the left and you have him with Jericho check or you have him with Bogo. Um, and then went on to say some other stuff about the forwards. But like the fact that that’s already a consideration I think is exciting to me. like the idea that I would not have to see Zack Begoian in a starting lineup um is very exciting to me. Now that John Merrill’s gone, I have to find somebody else to really hate on. So, Zack Bego and Marcus Johansson, you’re up. Um so, yeah, I’m I’m excited. I hope he gets some looks. Um, I think you look at, you know, is he a I think he can kind of be almost like that Declan Chisum type where if you have gaps that need to be fixed um kind of up and down your defensive lineup, he could be that guy that slides up and down. Um, and because he’d have to clear waiverss again um to get to Iowa, I think, you know, even when he’s maybe not in the lineup, I think he’ll be with the team. So, I think some some good injury insurance and a guy I was really really excited to see them bring back. And also it meant Jack Johnson um released from his PTO as well which was which was great to see. A a euro check hunt pairing is what everyone needs. Would feed families. It really would. Yeah. I thought it was interesting too because I mean especially just given the fact like you said that like Hines’s already talking about different scenarios where we could see the lineup somehow someway. Like my immediate reaction at first was like remember literally a week ago on here we had me I think it was like the article got post or like there was a tweet or an article like five or 10 minutes before we started like Damon Hood looks like he might make the Columbus leg roster at a camp and then it was like okay good because I think the kid’s good enough to be an NHL player like the short or the small sample size we had last year like there is a whole lot of good you know as a young as far as like a young Dman goes Um, and like I just liked his development year after year, uh, since his last dub. Um, but then like also like my immediate reaction was like I know the way things go here, how it’s gone for defenseman here in the last few years like young defenseman there like I started to before I like saw those quotes I started to like almost feel bad for him against like is this just like another going to be another time where he like just finds himself low in the totem pole and just ends up being back in Iowa. That being said, the fact that he has to clear waiverss to go back down, um, and just the fact that Hines has already talked about like different scenarios that they could put him in the lineup makes me feel a lot better about that. But I love the kid. Love the way that he plays. Um, love the skill set. Um, and again, assuming he stays healthy, like I just think there’s an NHL defenseman in there. Um, and I think he can like just fill a different a variety of roles for them. So, good depth player or good depth man, like you said, good injury insurance. Um, and obviously just happy to see him back here because he’s just a [ __ ] beauty. So, um, would love to see him in that opening night lineup. Him and Near Jack together would be [ __ ] awesome. Um, so we’ll see. So, how do we feel about uh opening night roster? What the [ __ ] were those line combos? That was I feel like that was like an October Fool’s joke. Yeah, it’s weird. And John Hines Russo had an article like where Hines gave some quotes and like I think his rationale for why Gurov and Ogarin aren’t on the second line are totally fair and valid. Um Isa and I talked a lot at our show like I don’t think Yurov being on the fourth line or starting in the press box is necessarily a bad thing. Um obviously would like you’d really hope that Ogrren would have a better camp but you know kind of slowed toward the end of it. It was just like putting Felino there. Like I suppose it’s better than Johansson. So I don’t see top six Johansson, but like it just the lines two through four. I just I don’t really know what the identity of each line is. Like your second like is like I I put out a tweet. I was like is Terasenko going to be putting pucks on the tea for Felino or vice versa? Like what’s happening there? Like obviously Ek and Felino have good chemistry but that’s more in a shutdown role. So like now you have two shutdown players and then you have Vladimir Terasenko like what’s what’s going on there? And then your third line like I think Hartman and Johansson as linemates are fine but then like Trenion like I don’t know like that he just hits people like and plays defensive like how is that he doesn’t do that anymore though cuz he he actually slimmed down. So yeah but like I like I just and then like your fourth line like don’t get me wrong like I love Ogrin. I love I was a big fan of Vinnie Henstrosa last year. People know how much I love Nico Sturm. Like it’s all players I like, but I just don’t know how a you know what is a Hinestroa Ogran Sterm line like what is that line supposed to do? Like are they defensive? Are they supposed to score? Like it’s not really going to be a shutdown line. So I don’t know. Like that was just the the hard part for me to wrap my head around as I just like typically you have like your third line you either want to be like a scoring line or a shutdown line. your fourth line, you want to be able to like maybe be a hard forcheing line just to like control possession, not get scored on. And second line is obviously your secondary scoring. And I just don’t feel like those lines have that typical identity. Um, and I feel like this is going to be a team that’s going to have to rely a lot on Baldi, Rossi, and Capri off to score a bunch at five on five and then hope that the power play that looked electric in preeason um carries that over into the regular season. Yeah. I mean, I think realistically, like it’s not like I think it was more for me like this was the exact opposite of what I expected. Like we’re like, “All right, this is the roster and here’s our first look at like the possible line combos night one.” And I was like, “Well, that’s not where I thought you guys were going.” And I mean, I don’t And they’re going to try a bunch of line combination the first few games anyway. I’m sure it was just like a shock to see. But uh ironically, not to trigger you, but I think I would [ __ ] feel more comfortable at least. I think the third line I would feel comfortable like saying what their identity is if you just like literally swapped Johansson to the Felo. Like I mean like Hartman Fel third line like okay I know what they’re going to be doing out there. It’s just three cycle pass. Like it’ll it’ll be like and like that’s the other thing like I thought Hartman and Felino had a I thought they were two of the Wild’s best players in the playoffs last year. like they look great every night like being kind of those agitators that still were a threat to bring a little bit of offense. That’s because that’s the role they were playing where now like with Felino it’s like hey we kind of need you to score like I I don’t know it just it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out but like even if I look at it too I know like again like I know slowed down like the back half of the the training camp. I would still rather just like even just swap those two FO and Ogrren like I mean even then just like let ogen at least like play through it. I don’t know like if he’s here anyways but um I mean it’s just like I’m just against seeing him on that fourth line mostly again PTSD from like past young players like ah just eight minutes a night go ahead try to do stuff I don’t know make impress us and then we’re going to complain when you don’t like Yeah. Yeah. And when you don’t, we will we hate we will hate you. Uh it may trade you. In the final preseason game, they did it just because they wanted to give your off and looks, but they had like a fourth line that was like Sturm, Shredder, and FelinO. And Hid’s like, “Oh, we’re just doing that to get looks.” I’m like, “Now hold on a minute. Wait, that line’s fun as hell.” Like, wait, let them cook. You got three guys that are like what? Probably a com like average height of like 6’4, average weight of like probably like 225. Like you’re telling me you don’t want to throw that like you don’t want to and couldn’t trust throwing that line out there against like a top line. I would I’d feel okay with that. Like you got a center that can win draws. You got Felino who’s one of the best two-way players. Trenion if he looks like playoff Trenion is a complimentary piece. Like I think that line could be fun and would have a very clear identity. Um I hope we see it at some point because I think it’d be sweet but you know do they and then and I think it also gives you like you don’t need to have they wouldn’t even necessarily be your fourth line. you’d have kind of a a third line with like Hartman, Johansson, and whether it’s Ogrren, you’re off, whoever it ends up being, it’s just more of like a scoring third line and then you have this like fourth line which is like, you know, third line two or three, you know, 3B. That’s more of your checking line, shutdown line. So, we’ll see. Maybe when Zukarella comes back, maybe we’ll see something like that put together. But I don’t know. Do we know what his timeline is? Uh, like two months, eight weeks, something like 8 to 10 weeks or something, I think. But I think it was like just like around Christmas time is when he would be expected to come back. Yeah, that was real kick of the dick. Yeah, really bust your balls, you know. Damn. Damn. Well played, brother. Yeah, there’s probably a lizard joke, but we’ll just not. Um Okay. are how do we feel about the third pairing of what’s likely be Gojian and Urachek? Yeah, I think what I liked especially from the Hines quote that I read is it sounds like no matter what the plan is for David Jurichek to be on the third pair. It’s just a whe you know it’s whether it’s Begoian or Hunt. Um but I love that it seems to be your check spot for now. Um, I do wonder if uh, you know, they kind of moved him in and out of power play two during preseason and the way power play one is playing, power play two might not ever see the ice. Um, but if they do, I do wonder if it, you know, are they running maybe too defensive with him and Spurgeon? Um, you know, does he does he play over Spurgeon on that? So, kind of curious to see what he gets and, you know, is he a guy, you know, if he’s not playing power play, is he playing penalty kill? And just seeing his usage, I thought, you know, his presence was kind of up and down. He had some moments where, you know, he stepped up in the play really nice in the offensive zone, made some smart plays, but then at times where he had, you know, some bad turnovers. Um, one that led to the goal, I think, in the Chicago game. Um, but I thought like in most cases, I thought he responded well to those mistakes and like, you know, obviously it’s going to be a learning experience for him. But, you know, I think the fact that they, you know, he seems to be the one player that, you know, booy him aside, I think he’s more of a special case given what his role is with the power play. But, they seem to want to give him reps and and help him learn. And, um, you know, if I if if having to watch Zack Bosian means that David’s not in the press box, then I think I can I can deal with that. We talked about it last week, too. Like I really want them to let your Czech play play his game, make mistakes, learn from the mistakes, and not just be like, “Okay, one mistake benched.” Like one bad game, okay, back down to Iowa or in the press box for 10 in a row. Like that’s the biggest thing for me. Like, so the fact that it sounds like that’s what they’re planning on doing, at least from the quotes, and obviously the fact that he’s still here and not backed down Iowa, it’s a positive. Um, I’m curious to see because like again part of one thing that will help like that actually be a positive for your check I think is like playing with a partner that like maybe we’ll have to protect him a little bit which I don’t think I will feel comfortable with until like Broaddin comes back at that point. Would you potentially like slide Middleton down there? I think the only way that’s what I would do I think. Yeah, you know, and then you run, you know, especially if Spurgeon and Buham look good. Um, then you have, you know, Faber and Broaddin, and then you have Middleton and Jericho. Like that’s, you know, I think something the Wild have lacked is a third pair that you feel good about when they’re on the ice. I’ve talked about a lot on our show is that um a lot of times that third pair is playing sheltered minutes and that they’re getting softer matchups or you know they’re the ones being thrown out for offensive zone faceoffs to play with the Capri offline so they can just spend time in the offensive zone where if all of a sudden that’s a Middleton jerch maybe now that’s you now have three pairs you can maybe roll a little more confidently and you’re not you know playing as much as we make memes about Brock Faber playing 28 minutes a night. I think that’s why we’ve seen him, you know, between what, you know, the four nations and playing tons of minutes with the blue line hurt. You saw his game start to kind of dip in the second half of last year. And I think some of that has to be fatigue. when you’re going out there and you’re playing 20 30 minutes every night against Conor McDavid and Nathan McKinnon and whoever else it is. Um if you can now spread those minutes out between three pairs, I think that really helps your blue line be more on their game night in night out because they’re not exhausted, especially, you know, when you’re playing things like three games in five nights or three games and four nights like they will sometimes. Those are crazy, too. When that third pair was sheltered, they somehow were still out there at the worst possible time. Like in the [ __ ] like in the playoffs and a couple goals against were like look at that Marilyn Bosian on the ice at the same time. That’s [ __ ] insane. Yeah. Um Z Matteo wants to know, is Damon Hunt a penalty killer? Yeah, he can get he can get penalties. Yeah, I mean he’s he again he’s kind of just he can give you a little bit of everything. Not that one elite like skill, but he’s just such a versatile player. Again, also can play like left, can play on the right, but yeah, he can kill penalties. He killed a ton of penalties in Iowa when he was here last year and the year before. Um, you know, it’s I’ve talked about it before the evolution of like WHL Damon Hunt versus AHL Damon Hunt was fascinating. Uh cuz I mean it was just like shinny hockey the WHL and it was so fun. Him and him and my boy Mate Chuck. It was incredible. I’m still sad that Sad that Yeah. sad that that did not happen in the NHL. That would have been maybe like they were like you know they they had like a couple training camp shifts together. They’re like we can’t. So this they’re back to their old tricks again. They’re F1 and F2 on the [ __ ] forch. How how do we get Mate is the question. I we kidnap him. We should have held on to Freddy Gudro just for that purpose. Yeah. Um, but yes, David Hunt can kill penalties, so that’ll be a it’ll be a help. Trying to see if I can find like any data on ice time short-handed, but I don’t think anyone has that data for the AHL. At least not that I can readily find. I could probably I might not be able to get right now, but I think I could probably fight on So, we have Huddle instead again. Cole, I don’t think Hunt played under Hines. I don’t think so. There. Oh, here we go. Well, he played one game with Minnesota last year. I think he had one game in Minnesota last year and I don’t think he was up with Minnesota when Hines got hired. Possibly one game. So he’s got a he’s got a good book on him. Fair. Yeah. So, I think that’s like the one thing I’m watching from the blue line. Like, I’m really curious like there’s like Broaddin is practicing, but he’s not at full practice yet. Um, I didn’t see if they put I think they had to submit like final rosters today. I don’t know if they had to determine whether or not they had to put Broaddin on IR for that or not. Um, but I am curious like when he comes back kind of what they decide to do. Um, I think a lot of it’s depend on what we see, you know, while he’s out. Like if Middleton Faber is struggling or just Puam Spurgeon’s not working, then obviously it’s, you know, you’re probably maybe going back to the well with Middleton and Spurgeon or whatever it ends up being in the end. But um, yeah, I mean, I think like even something like Broaddin and um, Boo could be interesting um, potentially there. Like I think that’s too I think they both Is Bu a left shot? No, he’s a right shot, right? No, he’s left shot. Yeah, it’s like he put two lefties, one on their offside. Probably not. But um we’ll see. Like that’s the one thing I’m watching. And um yeah, these forward lines seem like that’s what it’s last year. Uh short-handed time per game, two and a half minutes. Okay. So he played quite a bit in the good. Yeah. So all right. [Music]

The Wild unveiled the opening night roster, to no ones surprise it wasn’t great. and we revisit the David Jiricek trade as one piece returns back to Minnesota as covered by Spoked Z on “Judd’z Budz” Episode 179

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The Opening Night Roster Underwhelms | Daemon Hunt Claimed Off Waivers | Minnesota Wild| Judd’z Budz

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