Sure, I guess.

Teams have targeted all their defense towards Kaprizov, so pairing him with another dangerous attacker like Fiala could make them split their attention. It could be a welcome change for Kirill, who badly needs a goal to keep him from getting frustrated.

Exactly my thought. Neither Kaprizov nor Fiala seem to have a ton of space right now, so putting them together should theoretically open up a little more ice. I’d welcome some sort of shakeup to try and provide a spark.

Thing is, I don't necessarily think that Kaprizov is flat or that it's necessarily his lack of goal scoring that's the problem here.

He hasn't looked right or been the same since he went into the boards courtesy of Morrissey in our game against the Jets. He's been moving slow and gingerly ever since then. He just hasn't looked okay since then. I think he's nursing a injury, and currently playing through it.

I'm not convinced moving him off the top line will make a difference right now.

As for Fiala, he looked his best last night when he was out there on a extended shift with Foligno and Hartman. The three of them together probably had the best offensive pressure and puck possession 5v5 for nearly a 2 minute timepan, last night. Maybe during this entire young season yet. Outside of the powerplay that is.

I would consider putting those three on a line together.

That might work, too. I don't know why, but Foligno seems to have chemistry with every single Wild player. He could legit play defense and not look out of place. I just hope Kaprizov is going through a regular slump and not an injury...

Yeah I guess regardless of the actual cause - injury, mental, out of shape, whatever - the point is that he has been bad and something needs to change.

If it’s an injury, then the change should be to pull him from the lineup and let him rest/rehab. If it’s mental, then a line shakeup is an easy low risk change. I’m just not sure what keeping him on the 1st line accomplishes, since he’s clearly playing well below expectations. IMO that’s just punting the problem.

Zucc is about the only FWD I wouldn't put with JEE/Foligno. He is the completely wrong skillset for those 2. He's a small, pass first, not great on the forecheck player. I'd have Zucc with either of Fiala or Kaprizov to make the most out of his abilities. Put Kaprizov with Foligno/JEE if anything. Foligno does seem to get the best out of whoever his linemates are.

If you're going to run Fiala/Kaprizov I'd want Sturm as their center and heavy o-zone starts. Sturm is the only one winning FOs for MN and I think he has more o-zone ability than Gaudreau.

I'm liking Gaudreau as a 4C. He has the ability to get the puck in the transition/d-zone game, but lacks skills to do much in the o-zone.

It really doesn't matter what line you put Kaprizov on. He's going to draw the other team's top defensive players. I don't know if he's injured or not. He looks like a guy that's gripping the stick too tight and in his own head more than anything. He's playing cute and passing instead of shooting when he has good opportunities. He could also just be in the sophomore slump that many players experience.

Zucc and Ek have demonstrated enough chemistry for me to feel fine keeping them together even in the absence of Kap or Fiala. Yes you could argue that’s because of Kap, but that’s not what I’ve observed. He does have a different skill set than those two, but that’s a nonissue for me. I don’t think they’d be elite by any stretch of the imagination, but i think it would be functional enough and obviously the main purpose is to pair Fiala with Kap.

Sturm between Kap/Fiala is a fine swap by me. He is a better forechecker and I wasn’t especially keen on Freddy being the pivot there anyhow. Freddy works fine in the 4C slot in this hypothetical shuffle.

His play has looked worse than what I would chalk up to gripping the stick too tight or a soph slump, but I would love to be proven wrong and have him get it going.

Outside of the breakaway goal on a line change Zucc and JEE haven't really done much of anything together 5v5. Plus JEE can only score when he's at the net front. Foligno is a forecheck and cycle player, not a shooter. Greenway worked in that spot because he's a forecheck, win puck battles, cycle player too; and he has the ability to drag 2 opponents around on his back.

Basically you could put anyone with Foligno/JEE and have a decent line, but it'll be basically the same regardless of who is the 3rd FWD (unless it's a top end goal scorer). Zucc's skillset is wasted there compared to what he could be doing with other skill players. It's the same as when MN had Vanak and then told him to not play his game at all, a total waste of a skilled player.

I agree to an extent. As you said, there’s nothing particularly special about Zucc being there vs. anyone else, and so by that logic, the gains of using him there really arent worth the cost of not using him elsewhere. But the entire point of this was to explore a lineup that has Fiala paired with Kaprizov. Unless you plan on running Zucc at center, this layout requires him playing without either of them.

I get that your larger point is to not play Fiala and Kap together, which i can appreciate, but IMO the gains of playing Kap and Fiala potentially outweigh the loss of Zucc playing elsewhere and thus it’s worth exploring.

I don't care one way or another having Kap/Fiala on the same line. I'd try Zucc/center/Fiala and Kap/JEE/Foligno first though.

Any way you cut it one of Fiala, Kap, or Zucc is going to be stuck without another skill FWD to play with. Of those 3 I think Zucc would be the least successful of them in trying to carry the scoring on his own line. It's like Granny, Nino, and Zucker in years past. Granny needed to play with skill more than the other two, it's why Nino or Zucker would be on the 3rd line when the lineup was healthy.

Well Zucc and Pitlick tested positive for COVID. Now is the time to try Kap/Fiala together. I have no faith in the coaching staff to do that though.

Neither do I. My hunch is that they’re going to plug Rask in. Then they’ll keep Moose-Hartman-Greenway, Fiala-Gaudreau- Bjugs, and finally Rau Sturm Duhaime.

That’s my best guess as to what they’ll actually roll, but it’ll be interesting to see what it turns out to be and if they adjust in game

I'm not sure. SEA is a deep team, but not a strong top end team.

Greenway/JEE/Foligno
Fiala/Rask/Kap (I don't want Rask there either, but it's MN and they can't have nice things)
Duhaime/Sturm/Bjugstad
Dewar/Freddy G/Hartman

If they run what you just listed, I’d be pretty happy. I just don’t see them pairing Kap and Fiala. I hope I’m wrong. That lineup right there actually looks pretty decent from a matchup standpoint.


Edit - turns out I am wrong lol. They’re playing them together

I saw Russo's practice lines tweet right after I posted this.

#mnwild lines without Zuccarello and PitlickKaprizov-Eriksson Ek-FialaGreenway-Hartman-FolignoDuhaime-Sturm-GaudreauDewar-Rask-Bjugstad Kyle Rau not in line rushes, so it appears as if Connor Dewar will make his NHL debut.

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 28, 2021

The 3rd line seems odd, I'd rather have Bjugstad or Dewar and have Freddy G on the 4th line to give them some semblance of d-zone ability.

I'm happy Dewar is getting into the lineup. He might fall on his face, but it's better giving him the NHL experience than sitting him in the pressbox.

Yeah I was surprised by that 3rd/4th layout as well. I’m very curious to see if Seattle tries to get a matchup against our top line, and if so, who they send out against them.