Oliver Moore is slipping a bit out of his projected draft range.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
Hey Gopher Rubes! Watching the NHL Draft tonight with a few picks to go before #21 for the Wild. Could they go with a center and our own Oliver Moore? ?
Freakin' Black Hawks sniped him. How about Gabe Perrault?
I pre draft wish list was:
1st: Moore
2nd: Brindley
2nd: Stramel (which the Wild got at 21)
I can't believe Guerin couldn't move up a couple of spots and get Moore? Ron Francis looked pissed that Chicago took Moore right before them
Pure speculation on my part but I wonder if the Wild preferred a bigger center given organizational needs. Size over skill is an error many GM's make but fortunately Stramel has skill as well, despite a modest freshman season.
I like hearing Eiserman's chance of coming in is not 0.. could be fun!
'29, '40, '74, '76, '79, '02, & '03
GPL's Resident Cabin Enthusiast & Cadets Hockey Fan
@youngeagle not questioning you, but curious where you saw this. I missed it….
@youngeagle not questioning you, but curious where you saw this. I missed it….
Per the GPL podcast. Trust me I have no sources. I always listen to it a day late and Vegoe said the chance is low but not 0. Fun thing to hear on Thursday morning.
'29, '40, '74, '76, '79, '02, & '03
GPL's Resident Cabin Enthusiast & Cadets Hockey Fan
@youngeagle not questioning you, but curious where you saw this. I missed it….
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Also faceoffs aren’t that important to begin with. You don’t wanna lose one cleanly in your own zone with two minutes left on a PK when it’s a one goal game but outside of that they don’t really affect game outcomes all that much. (I suppose this could change if a team lost every aingle faceoff cleanly but it never really breaks down that way either)Huglen was third in faceoffs behind Cooley and Nelson.
That doesn't really negate his point.
Doesn’t it? 3rd out of 4 on the team in faceoffs isn’t “too important of a role” to move him to wing. I can’t say this for certain without checking Moore’s stats with the NTDP but I’m willing to bet Moore is at least as good, if not better, at faceoffs as Huglen. For the record I’m pro keeping Huglen at center I just think the “he’s 3rd out of 4 on the team in faceoffs so he’s too valuable to move to wing” argument isn’t a great one.
I’m fine with keeping Huglen at center but he’s probably not gonna be on the fourth line and Moore and Cooley should probably be centering lines 1-2, in which case that only leaves Nelson’s center spot. And you probably don’t need to break that line up or move him to wing so… yeah. Huglen at wing probably makes the most sense.
Ten seconds after the OT faceoff I thought to myself winning that sucker would have been splendid.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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Also faceoffs aren’t that important to begin with. You don’t wanna lose one cleanly in your own zone with two minutes left on a PK when it’s a one goal game but outside of that they don’t really affect game outcomes all that much. (I suppose this could change if a team lost every aingle faceoff cleanly but it never really breaks down that way either)Huglen was third in faceoffs behind Cooley and Nelson.
That doesn't really negate his point.
Doesn’t it? 3rd out of 4 on the team in faceoffs isn’t “too important of a role” to move him to wing. I can’t say this for certain without checking Moore’s stats with the NTDP but I’m willing to bet Moore is at least as good, if not better, at faceoffs as Huglen. For the record I’m pro keeping Huglen at center I just think the “he’s 3rd out of 4 on the team in faceoffs so he’s too valuable to move to wing” argument isn’t a great one.
I’m fine with keeping Huglen at center but he’s probably not gonna be on the fourth line and Moore and Cooley should probably be centering lines 1-2, in which case that only leaves Nelson’s center spot. And you probably don’t need to break that line up or move him to wing so… yeah. Huglen at wing probably makes the most sense.
Faceoffs aren't that important? Huh..
Ten seconds after the OT faceoff I'm thought to myself winning that sucker would have been splendid.
Couldn't agree more. Faceoffs are so key. Not wasting energy trying to get the puck back is always a good thing.
'29, '40, '74, '76, '79, '02, & '03
GPL's Resident Cabin Enthusiast & Cadets Hockey Fan
Faceoffs are key, it’s just Huglen wasn’t all that good at em last year. He was fine but he wasn’t so good that moving him to wing is out of the question.
So to summarize this years draft:
Moore to the Blackhawks in the 1st, Hendrickson to the Bruins in the 4th, Mittelstadt to the Canadiens in the 7th and Clark to the Wild in the 7th.
Also faceoffs aren’t that important to begin with. You don’t wanna lose one cleanly in your own zone with two minutes left on a PK when it’s a one goal game but outside of that they don’t really affect game outcomes all that much. (I suppose this could change if a team lost every aingle faceoff cleanly but it never really breaks down that way either)Huglen was third in faceoffs behind Cooley and Nelson.
That doesn't really negate his point.
Doesn’t it? 3rd out of 4 on the team in faceoffs isn’t “too important of a role” to move him to wing. I can’t say this for certain without checking Moore’s stats with the NTDP but I’m willing to bet Moore is at least as good, if not better, at faceoffs as Huglen. For the record I’m pro keeping Huglen at center I just think the “he’s 3rd out of 4 on the team in faceoffs so he’s too valuable to move to wing” argument isn’t a great one.
I’m fine with keeping Huglen at center but he’s probably not gonna be on the fourth line and Moore and Cooley should probably be centering lines 1-2, in which case that only leaves Nelson’s center spot. And you probably don’t need to break that line up or move him to wing so… yeah. Huglen at wing probably makes the most sense.
Faceoffs aren't that important? Huh..
Yeah as in people have used the scientific process to statistically conclude this. And outside of a few extreme situations it’s also fairly intuitive.
Ten seconds after the OT faceoff I'm thought to myself winning that sucker would have been splendid.
Couldn't agree more. Faceoffs are so key. Not wasting energy trying to get the puck back is always a good thing.
They're just a puck battle. Often they’re not even won cleanly or happen in the neutral zone etc. There’s far more puck battles in any game of hockey and ideally you just keep possession and avoid those as much as possible to begin with.
The other thing is that centers at this level aren’t losing 90% of them. The point being that Huglen being a good faceoff guy isn’t really as big a deal in the grand scheme of things as blocking Moore from the center spot theoretically would be. I doubt Moore is horrible at taking faceoffs and there’s far more important skills that are key to being a good center.
Sadly there’s a lot of things that went wrong there ?♂️ ?Ten seconds after the OT faceoff I thought to myself winning that sucker would have been splendid.
Quinnipiac won a lot of faceoffs in our zone. Not only did they win the faceoffs, they won them cleanly and, like the OT, they had all kinds of set plays off those faceoff wins that put tremendous pressure on our D. That is why everyone incorrectly claims Bob went into a shell. The team didn't. Quinnipiac was just a solid, experienced team that when they went down 2-0 had nothing to lose. Losing those offensive zone face offs killed the Gophers.
No doubt. The Gophers chased the puck around for 2 periods straight. Faceoffs were a total killer.
Q is a solid team but throwing the puck around aimlessly and constant icings can’t really be blamed on faceoffs. I do agree they lost some key faceoffs in that game and they had an impact but so did a lot of other things like playing more passively and not playing anything like they did all year for half the game.Sadly there’s a lot of things that went wrong there ?♂️ ?Ten seconds after the OT faceoff I thought to myself winning that sucker would have been splendid.
Quinnipiac won a lot of faceoffs in our zone. Not only did they win the faceoffs, they won them cleanly and, like the OT, they had all kinds of set plays off those faceoff wins that put tremendous pressure on our D. That is why everyone incorrectly claims Bob went into a shell. The team didn't. Quinnipiac was just a solid, experienced team that when they went down 2-0 had nothing to lose. Losing those offensive zone face offs killed the Gophers.
Also this conversation started in the context of how much it truly matters when figuring out who should move to wing with Moore coming in. Not one game where the team was uncharacteristically terrible.
Q is a solid team but throwing the puck around aimlessly and constant icings can’t really be blamed on faceoffs. I do agree they lost some key faceoffs in that game and they had an impact but so did a lot of other things like playing more passively and not playing anything like they did all year for half the game.Sadly there’s a lot of things that went wrong there ?♂️ ?Ten seconds after the OT faceoff I thought to myself winning that sucker would have been splendid.
Quinnipiac won a lot of faceoffs in our zone. Not only did they win the faceoffs, they won them cleanly and, like the OT, they had all kinds of set plays off those faceoff wins that put tremendous pressure on our D. That is why everyone incorrectly claims Bob went into a shell. The team didn't. Quinnipiac was just a solid, experienced team that when they went down 2-0 had nothing to lose. Losing those offensive zone face offs killed the Gophers.
Correct.
I don't think Bob necessarily changed anything, but while Q is a good squad they are not so good they should have been able to completely dominate the Gophers for nearly 2 periods. Something changed on the Minnesota side. Maybe the kids started playing tighter and not to lose. Did Bob recognize it and call out to them?
Motzko did say something about changing things up re neutral zone halfway through and that coincides with the half of the game where the team generated zero offensive pressure. People can determine for themselves whether they think those two things were related or not.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24131129/gallery_image.JPG "Hey_Sioux_Suck")
Luke Mittelstadt to Montreal in Round 7.
I'm not a "hockey guy" in the sense that I don't have sources in NHL Draft rooms nor am I a scout or coach of any sort. But, how does Mittelstadt fall to the 7th round? Top defenseman in the USHL two years ago, proven to be a solid and positively developing defenseman on a top tier NCAA team, shines bright on national TV, WJC player. Why so late?
Q is a solid team but throwing the puck around aimlessly and constant icings can’t really be blamed on faceoffs. I do agree they lost some key faceoffs in that game and they had an impact but so did a lot of other things like playing more passively and not playing anything like they did all year for half the game.Sadly there’s a lot of things that went wrong there ?♂️ ?Ten seconds after the OT faceoff I thought to myself winning that sucker would have been splendid.
Quinnipiac won a lot of faceoffs in our zone. Not only did they win the faceoffs, they won them cleanly and, like the OT, they had all kinds of set plays off those faceoff wins that put tremendous pressure on our D. That is why everyone incorrectly claims Bob went into a shell. The team didn't. Quinnipiac was just a solid, experienced team that when they went down 2-0 had nothing to lose. Losing those offensive zone face offs killed the Gophers.
Also this conversation started in the context of how much it truly matters when figuring out who should move to wing with Moore coming in. Not one game where the team was uncharacteristically terrible.
IMO the icings and throwing the puck around were directly correlated to losing draws. We spent all our time defending because we never possessed the puck. So you're out there defending for an entire shift, finally get the puck back, and have to gas to turn it the other way. Just trying to flip it out and get a change.
We won like 1 draw the entire 3rd period. It directly led to the Cooley/Snuggy 2 on 1. Let's say we win 5 draws with how Q was pressing, we probably get another odd man rush and can seal the game. Faceoffs matter. You don't need to win greater than 50% necessarily, but winning more than 1 does matter.
YOu are wrong. Whatever minor changes they made the constant icings were done because they had to get the puck out of the defensive zone and had no other way. That was NOT the gameplan.Q is a solid team but throwing the puck around aimlessly and constant icings can’t really be blamed on faceoffs. I do agree they lost some key faceoffs in that game and they had an impact but so did a lot of other things like playing more passively and not playing anything like they did all year for half the game.Sadly there’s a lot of things that went wrong there ?♂️ ?Ten seconds after the OT faceoff I thought to myself winning that sucker would have been splendid.
Quinnipiac won a lot of faceoffs in our zone. Not only did they win the faceoffs, they won them cleanly and, like the OT, they had all kinds of set plays off those faceoff wins that put tremendous pressure on our D. That is why everyone incorrectly claims Bob went into a shell. The team didn't. Quinnipiac was just a solid, experienced team that when they went down 2-0 had nothing to lose. Losing those offensive zone face offs killed the Gophers.
Also this conversation started in the context of how much it truly matters when figuring out who should move to wing with Moore coming in. Not one game where the team was uncharacteristically terrible.
Quinnipiac would put pressure on the Gophers, we would be FORCED to ice the puck, the Bobcats would win the face off cleanly, run a set play off the faceoff that got a good shot on goal with the Q players crashing the net. Close wasn't as sharp on the rebounds and they put constant pressure on the team. I was there sitting on the blue line in our zone, and you could see how Quinnipiac played these faceoffs. If I was to criticize Bob, not countering these "plays" is where I would start.
I would also add that the ice conditions impacted the Gophers all game long. Again, I was literally sitting along the blue line and on the D-D passes the puck would sometimes jump several inches off the ice. The player the pass was intended for often had bad timing because of this and this really impacted some of the "gaffes" and poorly timed passes we had.
It is obviously his size. He is only 5-11 and 174 lbs, and while an average skater that isn't good enough for his size to be drafted high in the NHL draft.Luke Mittelstadt to Montreal in Round 7.
I'm not a "hockey guy" in the sense that I don't have sources in NHL Draft rooms nor am I a scout or coach of any sort. But, how does Mittelstadt fall to the 7th round? Top defenseman in the USHL two years ago, proven to be a solid and positively developing defenseman on a top tier NCAA team, shines bright on national TV, WJC player. Why so late?
But his 21 points, 5-16-21, as a freshman defenseman in the B10 was pretty impressive. Jackson LaCombe as a freshman had a stat line of 3-10-13. Brock Faber 1-11-12. Mike Reilly 3-11-14.
Part of that was the overall offensive excellence of the 22-23 team, but it is still impressive.
Motzko did say something about changing things up re neutral zone halfway through and that coincides with the half of the game where the team generated zero offensive pressure. People can determine for themselves whether they think those two things were related or not.
Bob’s certainly aware of the “defensive shell” narrative. He brought it up himself on the Pull Tabs sports podcast interview.
Mentioned they were 22-0 with a lead after 2 periods. He then followed up rhetorically with “do you think I changed anything?”. Think we can finally put this to bed.
But even when we won the faceoffs most of the time all we did is toss it out to the neutral zone and Q would bring it right back in.Sadly there’s a lot of things that went wrong there ?♂️ ?Ten seconds after the OT faceoff I thought to myself winning that sucker would have been splendid.
Quinnipiac won a lot of faceoffs in our zone. Not only did they win the faceoffs, they won them cleanly and, like the OT, they had all kinds of set plays off those faceoff wins that put tremendous pressure on our D. That is why everyone incorrectly claims Bob went into a shell. The team didn't. Quinnipiac was just a solid, experienced team that when they went down 2-0 had nothing to lose. Losing those offensive zone face offs killed the Gophers.
Motzko did say something about changing things up re neutral zone halfway through and that coincides with the half of the game where the team generated zero offensive pressure. People can determine for themselves whether they think those two things were related or not.
Bob’s certainly aware of the “defensive shell” narrative. He brought it up himself on the Pull Tabs sports podcast interview.
Mentioned they were 22-0 with a lead after 2 periods. He then followed up rhetorically with “do you think I changed anything?”. Think we can finally put this to bed.
Far from a Motzko hater, but he changed his neutral zone play in the second period. He literally said it after the game. Its my opinion that playing more passive in the neutral zone can affect the way kids play.
Yeah this was already “put to bed” after he said this but people keep trying to change the narrative ?Motzko did say something about changing things up re neutral zone halfway through and that coincides with the half of the game where the team generated zero offensive pressure. People can determine for themselves whether they think those two things were related or not.
Bob’s certainly aware of the “defensive shell” narrative. He brought it up himself on the Pull Tabs sports podcast interview.
Mentioned they were 22-0 with a lead after 2 periods. He then followed up rhetorically with “do you think I changed anything?”. Think we can finally put this to bed.
Far from a Motzko hater, but he changed his neutral zone play in the second period. He literally said it after the game. Its my opinion that playing more passive in the neutral zone can affect the way kids play.
I like hearing Eiserman's chance of coming in is not 0.. could be fun!
Sounding less likely…
https://twitter.com/futuregophers/status/1674814629246033920?s=46&t=F_zjpnEyltgJig58JzzS7w
Anyone have a TLDR version of Jess Myers’ interview with Bob?
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rink-live/id1482640334?i=1000618911235
Bob notes Moore’s speed being off the charts. Says he would be crazy not to try Moore on the wing with cooley and snuggerud, but he also needs to talk to Oliver and the Blackhawks organization to see if they want him playing center. Talks about the crushing loss in Tampa. Definitely a good listen.
Perhaps I can be directed to the best place to put information like the following . . . .
I was out working on my Blogger Blog when Google offered an intro to Bard ( their Generative AI app [ attentive readers may remember my mention of the use of the IBM Quantum Computer to statistically analyze and rank all Men's NCAA D1 Ice Hockey players from the 2022-2023 season ] ).
So, not having anything else to do this morning ( except get two more hours of sleep and have breakfast ), I decided instead to give The Bard a whirl . . . .
Here are the first results generated in less than 5 seconds ( a previous whirl had asked for the total number of players on the Men's NCAA D1 Ice Hockey teams [ which returned the number 600 { in about 1 second; and with 60 teams that supposedly means that D1 Hockey . com is just looking at the "top ten" from each of the 60 teams } ] ).
Google does say that Bard may return some strange data ( like Matt Boldy [ for the Minnesota Wild { previously the Boston College Eagles } not to mention a whole series of other bad data reports { which I won't go into here; except to say that multiple attempts to get correct values returned even stranger values; will have to wait for the IBM Quantum Computer results for comparison } ] ) . . . : 
GO GOPHERS!
Not knowing what to do, they do what they know . . .
Knowing what to do, they sometime don't do it . . .
The 26th year of the Gopher Men's Hockey Profile got to be too much for this ol' codger to handle . . . what with all of the possible activity on the transfer portal . . . . So, I'm closing it down at the 25th year . . .
I see other teams are starting to announce the hiring of their 3rd assistant. Any rumblings out there about the Gophers? I would guess P Mart would be the choice if he wants it.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
I see other teams are starting to announce the hiring of their 3rd assistant. Any rumblings out there about the Gophers? I would guess P Mart would be the choice if he wants it.
From what I’ve read/heard, teams are largely using the 3rd coach as an all time recruiter, someone who can go watch juniors/high school on a Saturday night while Bob and co. are playing a game. Case in point Penn State hiring Andrew Sturtz today (class of 2017, always killed the Gophers it felt like). Paul Martin is my first choice as well, but there may be some other fun options out there as the “recruiter” role is typically filled by a younger guy.
I’ll throw out a few names having absolutely no idea if they’re interested or even qualified for the position: Tyler Nanne, Justin Kloos, Jack Ramsey, Steve Johnson, Taylor Matson. Nate Schmidt is the very first name that came to mind but he’s stuck making millions of dollars playing in the NHL. Poor guy. He seems like the PERFECT guy for the job.
Wouldn’t a paid goalie coach make sense?
Wouldn’t a paid goalie coach make sense?
It would, but since it is a full time position that coach would have to do more than just coach the goalies. There have been a few that have done that, thinking of Goehring at the Whioux being an example. I believe the current Gopher goalie coach is involved in another business, so being just part time worked for him and I believe he didn't want to go full time. I wonder if there are ways to circumvent the rules by having the goalies go to private coaches off site that the players pay ( via dinkeytown athletics ) or if that is a violation of NCAA rules. I know @vegoe talked about this subject in one of the podcasts last year. It will be interesting on how Bob handles this and how he thinks the 3rd assistant best serves the team.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
The Badgers had a goalie coach for many years and they dominated the position.
Bill Howard was a good goalie coach, I went to his camps as a kid.
Idk if the gophers need a goalie coach mostly because of the limit on number of coaches but if they got NHL level goalies to come here that’d be cool.
It will be interesting to see if many teams use that extra coach for goalies. Tough to find a 36 year volunteer at the level of Howard.
Cooley opens up the idea that he might not return to MN and might still sign with Arizona this summer.
Some of the quotes in this just don't really jive... but it definately sounds like a kid who is not a fan of school and just wants to play hockey.
I read it as him commenting when he will be back on campus, it may not be as early as some others are back on campus. I think it is wishful thinking on the writer's part to stretch it to he is considering not coming back and signing. If he did sign and bolt to the NHL he would easily usurp the position of most hated early signee of a gopher hockey player.
I am the official Iowa Hawkeye football fan of GPL!
I read it as him commenting when he will be back on campus, it may not be as early as some others are back on campus. I think it is wishful thinking on the writer's part to stretch it to he is considering not coming back and signing. If he did sign and bolt to the NHL he would easily usurp the position of most hated early signee of a gopher hockey player.
Biggest loss sure but no way he surpasses Laffer or Okposo. In fact I wouldn't hold any ire toward him whatsoever if he at least announced it in the summer.
@slap-shot Agreed. I give Laffer a pass as he had to take that shot or it wouldn't have been there after the season. Okposo was just a dick move