Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Timberwolves Awards | The 301 Show EP 29
From the land of 10,000 lakes and just as many heartaches, welcome to the 301 show. We’re here to celebrate, commiserate, and maybe, just maybe, see a Minnesota team win it all. Whether you’re dreaming of a Viking Super Bowl, reliving the glory days of the Twins, or still recovering from the Timberwolves roller coaster, we’ve got you covered. This is the 301 show where the north remembers and the passion never fades. All right. Yes. Welcome in to the 301 show episode 29. Don’t forget to like and subscribe um to the channel. Uh really helps me out a lot to to keep making these these podcasts. Um, but uh we’ve got a big week. The Lyns and the Timberwolves continue to dominate the links in the WNBA regular season. The Wolves in the summer league. The Twins had a pretty good tail end of the uh first half before the All-Star game and then the All-Star game did happen with with the home run derby. Um the uh Wild um continue their their off seasonason and not doing much. But we do have those surveys, the um results of the 2024 25 awards for both the Wild and the Wolves and then the um there is a rant I have for one of the teams here um coming up this episode. So stick around for that and more. All right, welcome into the Nordic Report here. Again, not a ton a ton to talk about with with the Vikings. They just started uh official training camp here. We should get some preseason games in less than a month here in a couple weeks. Um July 31st is actually the Hall of Fame game. the Vikings do not play in that one, but that is the official kickoff to the uh 2025 season. Um so yeah, shortly we’ll have at least some games and again it’s it’s games that don’t really matter other than seeing who the bubble players to make the roster are. Um but the results don’t matter at the end of the day. Um but if we um we do have a little bit of news here. Um ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler had uh put out a wide receiver poll um ranking the top 10 uh rank uh rating the top 10 um wide receivers in the NFL. U and this was his little write up beforehand, too. Um he um sat down with the league’s insiders, coaches, uh uh ESPN surveyed league executives, coaches, and scouts to help us rank the top 10 players at 11 different positions from quarterback to cornerback and all the positions in between. Um the uh reminder of the rankings process here. Voters gave them their top 10 players at a position. They then compiled the results and ranked the candidates based off of the number of top 10 votes they got um and composited uh uh they had the average of a dozen interviews. Um and and yeah, with they said with research and film study from ESPN NFL analyst Matt Bowen, um se more than 70 voters submitted a ballot with at least one position on it. In many cases, all positions, additional voting and follow-up calls with those whose surveys help helped us break any ties. So, um we can go over any other lists here um with the rankings um at the other positional group, but the big one was the wide receivers um that I saw. And um they had Jamar Chase ranked at number one and Justin Jefferson ranked at number two. And again, I want to preface this by saying I am just a dude with a microphone. They are Lee executives. They pro no not probably they do know better on this stuff than I do. But I I can still give what I think. I I can still give my takes. I can give my thoughts on the rankings. Um but I do want to say that that again these guys are league executives. If I knew football as well as they did, I would not be working by myself on on a microphone here. Um uh the but they did have Jamar Chase at number one and they had Justin Jefferson ranked number two um of the wide receivers. Now uh number two isn’t a terrible ranking at all um by any means. He is the second best they they say he is the second best receiver in the league right now. Um but if we’re talking um who is the top 10 uh wide receivers based on just this past year then yeah Jamar Chase had a better year last year than Justin Jefferson did. Jamar Chase had won the Triple Crown. He was the first receiver to win the Triple Crown since Cooper Cup. I think it was 2021. It was the first year with Matt Stafford um as the quarterback for the Rams. Um, and if we’re talking just based off of last year, absolutely Jamar Chase had a better season than than Justin Jefferson. But the way they set this up was these are the top 10 wide receivers right now. And and the way I look at that with the top 10 receiver uh uh any position player um right now is that they should um obviously take the this past season into account the most. That should be the number like the the season that gets taken into account the most. Um and then uh but they should take the last four years into account too. Like they should take the or three years. How it should be more than just this past season if we’re talking about the best at a position right now. That is why Patrick Mahomes is still, in my opinion, the best quarterback in the league because he did have a down year this past year, but we can’t ignore how good he played the in years previous. Uh but and if we do that too, we still have to rank the the this past season the heaviest because if you go back four years, five years, Aaron Rogers has two MVPs in there in there. But I don’t think anyone would say he’s, you know, a top five quarterback in the league right now, top 10 quarterback even. Um so you do have to rank the the this past season the heaviest, but also balance that out with the the the years previous, too. Um, and if you look at their if you look at their careers, Justin Jefferson and and Jamar Chase, uh, Jamar Chase has, uh, 62 games played. He has 395 receptions. He’s got 500 or 5,425 p uh, receiving yards and 46 touchdowns. In in 77 games in his career, Justin Jefferson has 100 more receptions at 495. He’s got over 2,000 more receiving yards at 7,432. And he’s got six less touchdowns at 40. Now, if you go receptions per game, because Jefferson has played 15 more games than than Jamar Chase has. So, if you go all of those per game, Jamar Chase has 6.37 receptions per game. He’s got 87.5 yards per game and got 0.74 touchdowns per game. Justin Jefferson, on the other hand, is 6.43 receptions per game for 96 and a half yards per game and half a touchdown per game, too. Now the the the touchdown the touchdowns don’t mean as much to me as the the other two combined and and it’s because they’re they’re you know how many how how many other weapons do the do the Vikings have versus the Bengals. Yes, they’ve got T. Higgins. I think you can make the argument that T. Higgins is a better wide receiver too than um Jordan Madison is. I I I honestly think you can make that argument. But Justin Jefferson also has better running game. He’s got TJ Hawinson taking targets away from they’ve got he’s got other things taking targets away from him, but he’s still putting up better numbers than than Jamar Chase is. And and don’t get me wrong, in my opinion, these two guys are the top two receivers in the league right now. like this is very very ticky tacky between one and two. Uh but I just think that Justin Jefferson deserves to be number one because in the last you know since after his rookie year we have said who is the best receiver in the game Cooper Cup or Justin Jefferson and then it was who was the best receiver in the game Tyreek Hill or Justin Jefferson and who’s the best receiver in the game CD Lamb or Justin Jefferson? Who’s the best receiver in the game Jamar Chase or Justin Jefferson? Justin Jefferson has been a part of all of these conversations year in and year out and I think he deserves to be number one because of that. So that is my surprise rant for today. Um maybe we’ll have more rants later on. This is the first segment I’m I’m filming on this. Well, um, but Jamar, personally, Justin Jefferson, I think, deserves to be in that number one wide receiver spot amongst all NFL wide receivers. Uh, let’s move on to predictions. The streak continues. None coming off the board today for the Nordic report. That total percentage stays at 36%. Um, and yeah, the streak will continue at least one more week here as we’ve got three coming on the board and they are more seasonl long predictions. I said that JJ McCarthy this season will finish top two in pass yards from quarterbacks in his draft class. So, I think Jaden Daniels could very well get that number one spot. But I think JJ McCarthy is set up in the best opportunity. Um I think he’s going to it’s either going to be him off the record. Um him or or Jaden Daniels as the number as the top two guys. Um but if he finishes in the top two with anyone else, this one is correct. Um Justin Jefferson will finish with more receiving yards than Jamar Chase this upcoming year. That again hinges on Jefferson being healthy or them missing like I guess the same amount of games. Um and then in the inaugural offensive lineman award season, one of the Vikings offensive linemen will be a nominee for the award. They might not win it and if they do win it, this still counts because they were at least a nominee. So the Vikings offensive lineman will be a nominee for the inaugural offensive lineman award. All right, moving on to Target Field Talkers here. The Twins finished the first half of the season with a 49 or 47 and 49 uh record. They are second in the AL Central. They are sixth in the wild card. So, they got to jump two or three teams to get up to a playoff spot in the wild card race. I think again that is more likely to do than defeating or overcoming the I think they’re 12 or 13 games back in the in the central that the wild card race seems a lot more doable than the AL Central race at this point. Um the Tigers are just playing so well. They’re the number one record in the MLB. They uh I believe three two starters for sure. Jav Bayz and and Riley Green in the All-Star game. Um I think they had three. I think I can’t remember where else they had um a starter or well Tariq Scooel was starting on the on the mound for the AL. Um as for hitting rankings, they are 22nd at batting average at 240. On base percentage is tied for 21st at 309. Slugging percentage is tied for 16th. So, right in the middle of the pack at 397. On base plus slugging is 19th at 706. Runs scored is 402 at 20th. Home runs is 112. That is tied for 11th. Uh walks, they are 27th in walks. So, they they got to have somewhat of a better eye here at the plate with with the walks. They have 273 u uh uh free passes to first base. Strikeouts, they are 14th at 792, which again right towards the middle of the pack. That is 14th fewest in the uh MLB. Stolen bases, they are tied for 25th at 48. Um, again, this team just just see the last couple weeks here um of of episodes um where they just they just don’t run that well. So, um they’ve got a couple guys that can, but the the team as a whole just doesn’t run super super well. Um as for the pitching and fielding rankings, uh team RA is down this week to 407, which is 19th. The whip is tied for 12th at 1.25 which is about the same as it was last week. Um strikeouts are 811 at 14th. Walks number one 249. The least amount of walks in the MLB. That is again the one thing the the pitching side seems to be doing very well this year is is limiting the free passes for opposing hitters. Um, and yeah, they just they’re doing really well on that. Obviously, this is they are ranked number one in the MLB. Uh, as for the fielding on errors, they are tied for 13th with 46th. Um, fielding percentage is right in the middle of the pack. Tied for 15th. That is 986. they have worked that fielding percentage back from the dead at this point as they were um like way near the bottom of the pack towards the beginning of the season. Um as for uh this past week, they had a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. They won game one of that series 2 to1. That was the skins versus Ryan matchup. Um there were 40,000 people in attendance. That was the highest attended game of the season at Target Field at least. Um so they Yeah, people want to see a a pitching matchup. Now ended up being a little bit of a dud because they both got pulled relatively early, but it was still a fantastic game. The Twins won two to one. That was came off of a believe a Trevor Lernick two-run homer was the only two-run scored. That was right after the Pirates had taken the lead one to nothing, too. Um, so they win that one two to one. Um, the next day on Saturday, it was Byron Buckton bobblehead night and Byron Buckston hit for the cycle. Uh, they win 12 to four. Buckton after three innings had a single, a triple, and then a double. So he had three of the four hits necessary for um the cycle after the third inning. And then he came up in the fifth where he got another single. He was four for four with two singles, a double and a triple. Came up in the seventh inning and was able to hit a solo shot to make it 11 to four or 11 to three at the time. Um and then he and Willie Castro went back to back. Willie Castro came up and one or two pitches later hit a a solo home run for himself. That was also the first um home team cycle in target field history. They um I did see somewhere that the last cycle uh done by a twin in Minnesota uh was Michael Kaday in 2009 and the one before that was Jason Kubel one month earlier. So they had two in a row and now it has been you know a decade and a half since since that’s happened by a twin in Minnesota. So, um, very nice to see Buxton, um, going off at the continuing to go off at the plate here, um, and finish up the the first half of the season on on a high note. Um, they do lose game three of the series, but they took two of three against the Pirates. The Pirates are awful this year outside of Skins and maybe Brian Reynolds. They are just an awful team. You know, I did the uh Target Field does those um things where they put stats up on or like fun facts up on the the the jumbotron for the um both home and opposing players and and opposing players are just either insane stats or they’re they’re funny ones. Um but uh Andrew McCutchen was uh played for the Pirates. So, he was he was up there on on the jumbotron. Um, and they his stat was more insane than the Joe Mau only striking out once in high school. It was even more insane than that. Uh, Andrew McCutchen senior year of high school. uh I forget where he where he grew up and where he played high school, but his senior year of high school, his batting average, not his on base percentage or his slugging percentage or his OPS, his batting average, which again of those of those four slashline stats, should be the lowest because it’s it’s the hardest to get hits. His his batting average was a 709 his senior year of high school across an entire season. That is insane. That’s absolutely insane. Um, no wonder he he made it to the mob and and carved out a very nice career for himself. Um, well over 10 years and he he he is, you know, I don’t want to say wasted away in in Pittsburgh, but that’s almost what he was. They they wasted a bunch of talent there in in Pittsburgh. It’s a shame that they couldn’t put more uh put together more um runs in in a better team. But um yeah, Andrew McCarten, I just thought I’d share that with you. It was something I saw. I was at that Buckton cycle game this weekend. Um and I thought I’ I’d share that um one with uh everyone. So, uh moving on to the All-Star game here. Um they um the NL ended up winning in a uh swing off in the All-Star game. Um they that the swingoff home run derby replaced extra innings in the All-Star game. And and um as as more of something fun to do instead of it going, you know, 17 innings, 15 I think it went 15 innings back in 2008. Um, but yeah, the the NL ended up winning. That was only the second time in the past, I think they said 14 years that the NL has won it. So, um, again, congrats to the the NL for finally getting on the board here. Um, as for the two uh, Twins Allstars, uh, Joe Ryan pitched an inning. He did pitch a one, two, three inning. Um, and he had two strikeouts. Um, as for Buckton, he went one for two, did score a run in the ninth inning that that helped the AL tie it up. The AL was down six to nothing and they were able to tie it back up six to six. So again, if you didn’t watch it, you missed actually a pretty good game there. Um, as for the look look ahead here at the next week, uh, they have a three-game series in Colorado and then a three-game series in LA against the Dodgers. And again, Colorado again, they should be winning at least two out of three, if not sweeping the Rockies. They’re they’re like, I don’t think the Twins are a great team, but every team is better than the Rockies at at this point in the year. Um, so they should be winning that series, two out of the three games in that series. But then again, I said that about the Miami series a few weeks back and they lost that one. Um, so they um the Yeah, then then we’ll see how that game goes against the Dodgers. Uh but um the uh couple of quotes here from the two allstars at the um at the All-Star weekend. Um they are Excuse me. Sorry. I’m getting this. Gota get something here figured out. Um, okay. Sorry, I was looking at something else here. Um, but two quotes from the Allstars, Byron Buckton and Joe Ryan. Both of them said kind of opposite things. So, Buckton was asked about potent these two guys are are the two brought up the most in in um trade talks. Um, so he Bon was asked about that at the All-Star game. He said he this was a direct quote from from Buxon. He said, “I got a no trade clause. I’m a Minnesota Twin for the rest of my life. That’s the best feeling in the world knowing when I walk into the clubhouse every day, it’s going to say twins. I love Minnesota. That’s my home. I don’t want to play anywhere else. The team, the people, the city, they made me who I am and made me part of it here.” uh made me a part of it here. Um so yeah, that’s doesn’t sound like Buucksen is going to be willing to move his his no trade cl or get rid of his no trade clause to go anywhere. So you can throw that um out of that option out of the window because he would need to approve a trade to to to begin with. Um and on the other side, Joe Ryan um said again basically the exact opposite. He said, “The trade stuff, it’s fun for me. July is awesome. I think everybody in the clubhouse gets excited seeing where guys are going to go around the league. You know, you don’t know.” And I think that’s exciting. Being someone that could get traded, it would be exciting. I mean, I do love Minnesota and I love where I’m at. So, it would be sad. Definitely hard to go. At the end of the day, it’s never up to me. So that again basically sounds like he wants to be traded but but doesn’t want to you know piss off his his teammates and his current team. Um and uh uh halfway through that quote it it sounded like he he realized that the first half of that quote sounds like it’s his his true feelings. He sounds like he doesn’t actually want to be here in Minnesota anymore. Um, and I do think Joe Ryan, you would get the most value from a Joe Ryan um, at this point and and you would get an absolute hall. Uh, so I think that he is a serious name to look at for um the, uh, uh, trade deadline, a trade deadline move. Um, so yeah, those are two completely different mentalities. It seems like Joe Ryan kind of wants out but isn’t going to request a trade. And then Bucksson is the exact opposite and he wants to stay and has the power to stay because he has that no trade clause. So, moving on to predictions here. We had a bunch come off the board. Uh, one of these um was marked incorrectly here on the screen. I did mark it correct in the um on the on the spreadsheet I have. and know that the total percentage down at the bottom is correct, but the other two numbers might not be. So, um I said that the first two ISBOs will own the Twins. They seem to have a minority stake in the White Socks. So, again, we’ll revisit that if that does come true, but for now, we’re marking that as wrong. I said three Twins will play in the All-Star game. It was two. Um this is the one Twins lose both series before the fourth. I marked that as wrong. I don’t know why, but that was correct. Um, and if I’m looking at the over at the spreadsheet here, it is 11 correct out of 42 predictions for uh 26% correct. So, the total predictions and the total percentage are correct down there at the bottom bottom. I just forgot to update the total correct. And then I mark that one with an X instead of a check mark. So, for the people just listening, again, it makes no difference for you. Uh, but the people that are watching, um, just know that that is is the case. Um, and I said Kayn Co Pepper will hit get a hit in the futures game. That was incorrect. He went 0 for one. Said by Byron Bucks homers in the All-Star game. That was incorrect. Uh, Joe Ryan does pitch in the All-Star game. That was correct. Uh, Paul Skins pitches seven plus innings versus the Twins. That was incorrect. He got pulled after five. Um, Twins win the Skins versus Ryan matchup. That one was correct. So that brings it up to 11 correct predictions. Um and again, Buckton, I’ll mention it here because I forgot to mention it earlier. Bxton did participate in the home run derby. Um and he did made it out of the first round. That was the um round where was everybody going up against each other. Um and he he was one of the top four had the one of the top four most home runs in in that round. So he was able to make it out but then he ended up losing uh in the second round. And I obviously can’t imagine how tired those guys big dumper Cal Raleigh greatest nickname in in baseball right now is the big dumper. Um but he ended up ended up winning it all. I don’t know if Bucksen would have had enough to to beat him in the finals if he had made it there over Junior Camaro. So, um, congrats to Bucks for making it out of the the the first round. Anyways, um, but yeah, uh, we’ll go to the three predictions coming on the board. Um, the Twins drop at least two out of out of three versus the Dodgers or Red Sox and they will get swept by the other. So, of those, they’ve got six games coming up here against the Dodgers, obviously, next week in in LA. Uh, and then the Red Sox at home the following week. Uh, between those six games, they will lose I’m basically saying they will lose at least five of those six games um against those two. uh of the the the players on the the 26-man roster right now, Joe Ryan will be the only one traded or there are none traded this year at the deadline. So, I’m not saying future ones, but Joe Ryan will be the only MLB player traded at this year’s deadline, if there are any at all. Um, and then Buckton will hit 35 plus home runs this year. I think is at 21 right now. So need 14 in the second half of this season. All right, moving on now to the Wolves Den. Got a couple of storylines here as well as the awards for the 2025 uh 202425 uh NBA season. But let’s start with the Lyns who are again just absolutely killing it on the uh on the court here for um the WNBA. They are um 20 and four on the season. They are first in the conference, first in the entire WNBA and a couple games clear of second place. Um, as for the points four per game, they are 84.9 points4 per game, which is second in the WNBA. Um, the uh field goal percentage, they are number one at 45.9%. Three-point field goal percentage, they are 34.7%, that is tied for second. Free throw percentage, they are tied for third at 80.5%. Uh rebounds per game, they’re 33.7, which is ninth. Blocks per game. They are number one at 5.3. And again, I’ve been harping on this the entire time I’ve been following the links. Um turnovers per turnover differential per game. They are minus 2.2 uh which is 11th in the WNBA. But I will say on the if there’s any silver lining here, they are turning the ball over too much. But they are still 20 and four. So, fantastic. Um, obviously not the turnover differential, but if they can if they clean that up, these guys, they’re going to go on an absolute terror. Um, even more than they already have been. Um, so they they again, if they can just that is the one thing they need to clean up in all of these these stats. So, um, as for the, um, points against per game, they’re number one at 75.3 points, uh, against per game. Field goals, uh, percent against is, um, third at 41.5%. 3-point field goal percentage against is second, that is 30.1%. Rebounds against per game is eighth, that’s 34.7. blocks against per game is 2.5, which is first in the WNBA. Um, they went uh uh two- one in the past week. They beat the Chicago Sky and the Phoenix Mercury and then lost their first game against the Chicago Sky in Chicago. They had back-to-back games against the Sky in Chicago and they lost that one 8781. They won the next one 9178 and then one in Phoenix or one against Phoenix at the Target Center 79-66. Um they’ve got some time off here for the WNBA All-Star game which is on Saturday at 7:30 July 19th. Um and then the first game out of the break they play at home against the Chicago Sky which continues a um pretty decently long uh home stand. I think it’s like four or five games at home in a row. That’s that game is at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 22nd. Um, so again, the uh Links again continue to just dominate the WNBA and they are looking more and more like title favorites at this time. Knock on wood. Uh, but they are looking more and more like title favorites every game that they play cuz the games they’re losing are are close games. like they’re still pretty close games and then they’re winning um games in some games in in blowouts. So, uh moving over to the Timberwolves, they got some summer league storylines, which if you don’t know, the summer league is a league that happens in the summer. Um and they’ve got some of the younger guys that are are recent draft bake draft picks like Yan Baron. Um their their center is absolutely dominating on the defensive side. He looks like Rudy Gobear 2. Project Rudy Gobear 2.0. Um, and uh, TJ Shannon Jr. is playing absolutely amazing. Um, which that is Terrence Shannon Jr., but he wants to go by TJ. So TJ Shannon is is playing great in in the um summer league so far and and he’s basically forcing um Chris Finch to play him this upcoming season, which again, you want to have coaches have to make those types of decisions when guys are playing too well um in in the league and and they’re they’re playing. Um those are the tough decisions that coaches want too. They don’t want to have a tough decision between two guys because both guys aren’t are playing poorly. They want to have a tough decision because both guys are playing well. Um but they are 4-0. The the team as a whole is 4-0. They um are have 92.5 points uh points per game, points four per game. Um they have 83 even points against per game. They’re uh that’s a differential of 9 and a half points. Um and their last game they were playing the Suns summer league team and they were down 32 to6 10 minutes into the game. They won the third quarter 25 to7 and then they won the fourth quarter 32 to 26. Uh Rob Dillingham was the big um the big cheese that game. He um ended up with 23 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. So he played absolutely fantastically uh in that game and yeah they end up they ended up winning that game by a I think six points. Um it was like 89 to 83 or something like that. Um so yeah they ended up winning that game when went down big early. Um, as for uh last week, last week’s episode, I went over the my standings predictions from the beginning of the year, and I I put some uh Google Form surveys and and polls in the description about who the community thinks should be the um award winners for each award. Um, and I’m just using the same awards that the NBA has. and just applying them to only the Timberwolves. So that those that’s basically how I how I did that. So um first one we will start at the bottom here. We’ll we’ll we’ll work our way to the MVP award um for the the Timberwolves. Um the teammate of the year award. Um I had predicted and I will go over my predictions from the beginning of the year too. So, um, this one again, I made this I I recorded this episode and then the next day the big trade went down. So, this one I said teammate of the year award I said was going to be Cat. Um, again, did not know he was not going to be on the team this year. So, um, I’m giving myself a little bit of grace. Still got it wrong, but giving myself a little bit of grace on that one. Um the poll by 80 80% of the poll said that Ant um is going to w the teammate of the year award. Um as for the the sportsman NBA sportsmanship award, I predicted that it was going to be Rudy Gobear. The poll said it was uh Nas Reed and Mike Connley both tied at 40%. Um clutch player of the year. I predicted Ant. Ant got 60% of the vote and won it. Uh, the hustle award. I predicted Mike Connley and Mike Connley won 40% of the vote and ended up winning this the hustle award. Uh, most improved player. I predicted Nquila Alexander Walker and there was a tie here for the win. It was Nikquila Alexander Walker at 40% and Dante Dvanchenzo at 40%. As for defensive player of the year, I went off the board with this one. The the the clear choice. Um, I think going on the going into the season because he had just won the NBA defensive player of the year award was Rudy Gobear. And the defensive player of the year award this year goes to Jaden McDaniels. That’s who I predicted and that is who won it with 80% of the of the vote. Um, rookie as for rookie of the year. I predicted Rob Dillingham and Rob Dillingham won it uh 60%. I do think TJ Shannon um that one was only TJ Shannon and Rob Dillingham were really the only two options on that one. Um but Rob Dillingham did get 60% of the vote. Um sixman of the year. So I just again I’m not there’s only one sixman on the on the the Timberwolves. So I just I called it the six man of the year but it was really the bench player of the year. I predicted Nas Reed and Nas Reed got 80% of the of the vote. Um, so Nas Reed does win uh six man of the year. Um, as for the MVP award, I had predicted that Anthony Edwards would win MVP, and this one was the biggest blowout, getting 100% of the vote, Anthony Edwards. Um, very clearly he was the MVP of of this team this year. So, um, I was able, that was probably the easiest one to predict on the year. As for actual predictions here, I got one wrong. Only one came off the board. I said that the Lynx will beat the Sky in Chicago both games. They did not. They lost the first one. So, this was wrong immediately. Um, but that brings my total down to 26% correct. 16 of 61. Um, so, um, yeah, then three predictions going on the board. First prediction, the cat. There’s some rumors of him getting traded with the Knicks. I think some Knicks fans want him to be traded, but my um, prediction is that he will stay with the Knicks until at least he plays or the Knicks play in target center. might be hurt. So, I’m not going to say that he plays, but the Knicks will the the game the Knicks play at the Target Center. Cat will be on the team for that one. Um, and the Wolves will win that game. So, Cat stays with the Knicks until the Knicks play at target at least until the Knicks play at Target Center and the Wolves beat the Knicks at the target center. Um, Wolves win 50 plus games in 2025 26 and then Ant puts up 50 points at least twice in 2526 which he did that once in 20 in 2425 and he had a game where he put up 492. So I think he’s going to do it twice in 2526. All right, moving on to ringside rundown. the final team segment of the day. Uh I want to start with with the Frost here. So two two things happened. Um uh one of their assistant coaches did get the head coaching job at St. Cloud State. Um Mir Mera Yalesco uh Yalosco Yalosu. Um excuse me. I I definitely butchered that last name, but um Yep. So, they have an assistant coach opening. Um, and then Abby Hustler signed a two-year deal, one of the rookies that they had drafted. Um, so those are the two, I guess, big things coming out of the the Frost. There’s not a ton a ton to talk about um with with them. Um, as for the Wild, a couple things happened. Uh the first was the uh season schedule came out for the 202526 schedule uh released. Um and they had um the the couple of games here I want to go over. There’s there’s a couple um yeah, a couple of big big games and key parts of the schedule. Um, so I’ll go over them in chronological order too of when when they happen in the calendar year. Um, so season opener, they start on the road in St. Louis on October 9th at 700 p.m. Um, so yeah, starting starting in St. Louis and remember the the one of the first games last year in October or November also took place in St. Louis and that is where um the Gus Bus started his chase for greatness to try to track down Alex Ovetkin and he ended up scoring in that game um against the Blues. Um their home opener happens two days later against the Columbus Balloon Jack Blue Jackets again. They played the Blue Jackets in the home opener last year in Dean Everson. That is October 11th at 7:00 p.m. The first playoff rematch against the Vegas Golden Knights is at 5:00 p.m. at home on November 16th. That is a Sunday. Um that is the Sunday I believe before Thanksgiving or around that time. Maybe it’s two Sundays before Thanksgiving. Um, actually it is two Sundays before Thanksgiving because then the Black Friday game, they got a game on Black Friday, which is November 28th at 2:30 at home against the Colorado Avalanche. So, so a couple of big um just kind of day, you know, what what day it is um games that they’re playing. They also have a New Year’s Eve game. This one will take place in San Jose. Um, so not at home on December 31st, obviously New Year’s Eve at 300 p.m. Central time. Um, all of these times that I’m saying are the central time um or the central time zone versions of of the times. So um then they also uh from February 5th to February 25th they have no games. That is the Olympic break. They’re actually letting the um athletes go play in the Olympics this year. The the hockey players play in the Olympics this year, but no games uh in those two weeks. Um they um yeah, they are off for the Olympic break. Um final game of the season of the regular season um against the Anaheim Ducks at home 700 p.m. April 14th. So, those are some of the bigger games this year. Um, as for the awards from this past season, again, did the did the same thing as the um uh did the same thing as as the Timberwolves. I just took all the NHL awards and put it um put them on uh specifically just for the Wild and had a poll for the ones that deserve to be voted for. There’s a couple that we’ll start actually start with those. There’s two where it was an objective number and they weren’t um ones that were voted on. So those two were the Art Ross trophy for the highest point getter. I predicted Carell Capri off. It would have been Carell Capri off if he did not get hurt, but it ended up being Matt Baldy. Um, the other one was the Maurice Rashard, Maurice Rocket Rashard trophy for the top goalcorer. That was the exact same thing. I predicted Carroll Capri off. It would have been Carell Capri off had he not gotten hurt, but it ended up being Matt Baldi. That one was by like a goal or two. like Capri off was still um very close behind Matt Baldy on on that one. Um but we will um start with the the other ones. Um the Bill Masterton Award, which is the persever perseverance to the game of hockey. At the beginning of the year, I predicted Jared Spurgeon. Um and with 77.8% of the vote, Mark Andre Flurry won that one. um the Lady Bang memorial trophy for the sportsmanship award with I predicted Jonas Broaddin would win that one and with 66.7% of the vote Mar uh Marcus Johansson won it. I predicted Jonas Broaddin. Marcus Johansson won with twothirds of the vote. Uh the Frank J. Selki Trophy for the best defensive forward. I predicted Joel Ericson. This one was pretty close. It was a two- horse race between Joel Ericen and Marcus Felino, Joel Eriken won with 55.6%. Um, as for the James Norris Memorial Trophy for the top defenseman, again, this one was also pretty easy. Um, I predicted Brock Faber and Brock Faber ended up winning it. Um, as for the Vzna Trophy, this is for the top goalie in the league. Again, I predicted this one. I thought Philip Gustoson could have been moved this year. So, I I went off the board with this one and predicted Jper Walstat. Um I think if Philip Gustoson had been moved, um Jper Walstat would have gotten a lot of starts and he very well could have won this one. But very clearly I agree with the poll here. It was 77.8% Philip Gustoson deserves to win this award. Uh the Calder Memorial Trophy, there were two only really two uh options for this one. Um it was either Jper Wal set for like the four games he played or Liam Ogrren for like the 20 games he played. Um Calder Memorial Trophy, that’s rookie of the year. I predicted Jper Walset. I thought if he was going to win the Vestna Trophy, he was easily going to win the Calder Memorial Trophy. Um, but Liam Ogrren won with 66.7% which I do agree with just by playing uh 20 games this year. There was no, this one wasn’t like the the Wolves where it was an actual debate between um TSJ or Rob Dillingham. Uh, as for the K Smi trophy, I predicted my official prediction on this one was no one because I thought they were going to miss the playoffs. I said if they did it would be Mark Andre Flurry. I again I went off the board on that one. Um with 44% of the vote. Matt Baldy ended up winning this one. Just barely edging out Corell Capri off. But it is okay because we have the Heart Memorial Trophy which is the regular season MVP. I predicted Carell Capri off and with 55.6% of the vote Carell Caprioff won this award. Um, so congratulations to Carrill for winning the 301 show um, Heart Memorial Trophy in 2025. Um, as for my actual predictions, um, going on uh, going on the we’ll start with the ones going on the board here. Um, I had C that queued up reverse. Um, but three going on the board here. Um, well, I I’ll just tell you here, we had no predictions coming off the board. it’s still sitting at 30%. U but as for the ones coming on the board here, uh Brock Faber within the next three years, so the 26 the uh 26 awards, the 27 awards or the 28 awards. Brock Faber will be a Norris Trophy nominee for the NHL’s top defenseman in the next three years. Um he could win it, but he will for sure at least be a nominee um for that award. Um then the Frost will have a season stat leader in at least one of the next one of these next five categories that being goals, assists, points, save percentage or goals against average. Um and then Carrill Capri off will play 80 plus regular season games in 2025 26. All right, on to the final segment here today, the power rankings segment. And we’ve got a good one here today. This was suggested in the comments by Timmy Neutron. Um, do want to give him a shout out. U, and again, if you guys want to request a a power rankings topic, um, be more than more than willing I’m more than willing to rank them. Um, leave them down below in the comment section. but he suggested that we do um the top 10 venues uh sporting venues here in Minnesota and they can be professional, college or high school level. So any any venue here in in Minnesota. I do have one honorable mention just by the sheer size of it. I do think it should get mentioned, but I don’t think it should be in the top 10, but that is the Shawan super rink in or the the the Blaine super sports complex in in Blaine where they’ve got 10 ranks, they’ve got 10 soccer fields, it seems like they’ve got 10 basketball courts. And so that is my honorable mention for um this uh list. Um, so going on first one on uh on the list here, number 10, Maruchi Arena. Um, I think it’s technically 3M Arena at Maruchi or something like that, but it’ll Maruchi is number 10 on my list, the Gophers uh, men’s hockey arena. Um, looks like again like a mini NHL arena just without the upper level. And speaking of which, another mini NHL arena without an upper level. I personally just like this one a little bit better. We’re going to Amsoil Arena in Duluth. Um, both of those rinks are great. Um, it’s it’s kind of a coin flip between between the nice how nice each of them are. I just personally am putting Amsoil Arena above uh Maruchi. Um, as for number eight, again, this one might seem low. This one is probably the one that’s going to get the most uh blowback, most controversy on on this list. Number eight, I have the Target Center. I just think it needs to be ren like completely renovated or they need a new stadium altogether. It’s just getting too old at this point. So, I think the whatever uh uh arena, stadium, court that the Lynx, Timberwolves are playing on uh their next one whenever they build a new stadium. I think that could very well be in in top three to five on this list. But right now, I have it at number eight. Number seven, the highest the only um non-ol um pro um stadium venue on this list. Number seven is Braar Arena in Edina. Absolutely historic arena with how many legends have come out of of Edina. Um I had to put it on here for the history alone. Um, and then it’s got seating, you know, on three of the four sides, too. So, I do think it is a fantastic. They also have a media setup, um, there. So, absolutely fantastic arena. Um, deserves to be number seven on this list. Um, number six, we go to St. Paul. And no, it’s not the one you think of first. We’re going to CHS Field here in um, St. Paul here, the St. Saints stadium. Again, couldn’t put it any higher um on this list because it was um a minor league stadium, but again, I think it deserves to be mentioned on this list and and yeah, um yeah, makes it in at number six. So, um, as we get the, uh, top five up here, um, but the just again because of its its size and the fact that it’s a minor league stadium, it just to me it can’t be higher than any of the ones ahead of it. U, number five here, it’s the one you are probably going to be, oh, wait, I forgot that that’s actually a sports venue. Uh but number five on this list um is Canterbury Park. Um the horse racing track down in Shakape just down the road from Valley Fair. I could have put Valley Fair. I thought about putting Valley Fair on there because they hosted Hockey Day, Minnesota this past season, but didn’t put it them on there. Did put Canteen Park on there. I think with all that entire setup with they they’ve got a casino and they’ve got um the horse racing. I think it’s a beautiful track there in in Chakabe. Um number four, we’re going back to the grid iron. We’re going back to the Twin Cities. Minneapolis, Huntington Bank Stadium here at number four. Um again, used to be TCF Bank Stadium. It’s the Gophers Stadium. Um holds 50,000 people. I think it’s a very nice stadium, but again, can’t put it above the three ahead of ahead of it right now. Number three, and I wrote this one, I’m I’ll call it this one specifically because I just don’t want to um call it what it is actually being named. But number three is the X, the X, XL Energy Center, now Grand Casino Arena. But it’s it’s the X. Um, it does need to be, I think, just updated just a little bit, but I love the log cabin feel of it. Love the glass wall um on the on the one side with the big XL Energy Center sign. Um, it’s it’s fant all I I will say all of these are fantastic arenas, arenas, and stadiums and venues. I I I love all of these. It’s just I’ve got to rank them. And the X comes in at number three on my list. When I reveal number number two, you will know what number one is probably because there are two obvious ones that haven’t been named just yet. So number two, outdoor stadium. I’m going Target Field. Um absolutely love Target Field. Beautiful view of of downtown um out in right field. I think this very well could have maybe competed for the number one spot a little bit more if that apartment building didn’t get put in in left field. I think that ruined the view a little bit, but it is still a absolutely beautiful stadium. And number one should be obvious. There’s only one one massive stadium here that that hasn’t been mentioned. It’s the Or No, I’m just kidding. It’s US Bank Stadium. Um, I again the most could argue that it’s the number one stadium in the NFL, too. I think it’s to me it’s either US Bank Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta with the Falcons, or Sofi Stadium in LA with the Rams or the Chargers. So, those are my rankings. US Bank Stadium, Target Field, the X, Huntington Bank Stadium, Canterbury Park are the top 10. All right. Again, thank you for watching episode 29 of the 301 show. Um, please like and subscribe. Um, like the video, subscribe to the channel. Really helps me out. Um, comment down below too. That helps a lot as well. Um, and and let me know where you were you agree or disagree with me um on on anything I said today. Um, and and if you like the the surveys like that, the polls for some of these awards, maybe we’ll get we’ll get some going for the the second half of of the season for the Twins or the the links or if you like that. Again, let me know. But again, thank you for tuning in to this one. Episode 29, episode 30 should be coming out next week. We’ll see you then. Peace.
On this episode of The 301 Show, we break down Byron Buxton’s historic cycle at Target Field, the Twins’ place in the playoff race, and what Joe Ryan and Buxton had to say about trade rumors. We also dive into the Timberwolves’ undefeated Summer League run, the Lynx’s league-best record heading into the All-Star break, and awards across Minnesota sports. Plus, we look at the Wild’s 2025-26 schedule highlights, the latest on the Minnesota Frost, and where Justin Jefferson landed in ESPN’s wide receiver rankings.
0:00 Intro
1:49 Nordic Report
12:12 Target Field Talkers
29:49 Wolves Den
41:14 Rinkside Rundown
50:44 Power Rankings
58:32 Outro
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