2022 MN WILD/NHL THREAD

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>KP wrote:</div>
Last night was not a great game but you cant hit the panic button after 1 game.

The problem is that now the Wild’s record against Nashville and St Louis combined is 0-4. All of those losses are in regulation too, and they really haven’t even been close. Nashville has outscored Minnesota 17-6 in 3 games.

Nothing earth-shattering is going to change with either of these teams before the playoffs unless someone gets injured. Nashville has found a recipe for success against Minnesota this season, that is for sure.

I disagree, the games have been closer than the score indicates and Powerplay goals have been key and that’s an area that can be improved in the next month, the Wild also addressed alot of the size concerns at the deadline, so they won’t get pushed around as much as they did early on this season (we’ll always have core guys like Spurgeon/Zucarello who get exposed physically at times though)

as mentioned before, last night was the Wild’s 3rd road game in 4 nights, that’s tough in a normal year, but especially tough with this years condensed schedule…

I felt alot better about playing bigger teams in the future AFTER last nights game….

ONE game – relax.
They will figure it out.
If they can’t, shouldn’t be there.
Still fun as hell to watch and they WERE in it ( 3rd game in 4 nites is spot on) without penalties ( some of which I found questionable but not DUMBA – he was LATE to that hit- shoulda been called) Also, You can’t drag a guy across the blue line, holding onto his arm for literally 10 seconds and not get called – happens alot but seems we always end up on the short end (( just a WILD fan I guess))
That first cross-check – really!?

If there’s a legitimate concern with this team going into playoffs it’s special teams. Worst PK of any current playoff team and the Kings and Capitals(?!?!) are the only current playoff teams worse on the PP. The Lightning have been really good on special teams in the last two post seasons

Umy wrote:

ONE game – relax.

Its not just one game though. As I previously stated, its now 3 games against this team and the total combined score is 17-6. Its a pattern, not an isolated one game coincidence.

Last night was primarily issues on the PK, I will admit that. Nashville has to be salivating at the possibility of playing Minnesota in the first round right now.

Wild 5-1-2 against VGK last season
Leafs 7-2-1 against Montreal last season
Panthers 5-2-1 against Tampa last season

I could go on, but none of it matters anyway because they aren’t even going to see Nashville in the playoffs!

Last night’s game doesnt concern me because they held the balance of play but were screwed by stupid penalties and Dumba’s tops the list. Now he is likely out a while. The PK was atrocious last night. Special teams had been trending upward of late, but last night was a real clunker.

tswoboda wrote:

If there’s a legitimate concern with this team going into playoffs it’s special teams. Worst PK of any current playoff team and the Kings and Capitals(?!?!) are the only current playoff teams worse on the PP. The Lightning have been really good on special teams in the last two post seasons

This 100%….in the playoffs 5-5 goals are hard to come by, it’s all about the Special Teams…What’s frustrating is that we have the skillset to be very successful on the powerplay, we just don’t appear to have a set idea of what we want to do on it… that and losing a majority of powerplay faceoffs reduces our 2 minute powerplay to about 75 seconds after all of the retrivals and zone entry attempts…

The lack of powerplay improvement has been the biggest dissapointment for me with Evason, he’s stubborn in his ways and won’t try drastic changes (he’ll usually only tinker with changing 1 guy) to fix something that’s obviously not working as well as it should…I’d like to see Boldy brought back to the first PP unit when he gets healthy and remove Gaudreau for Jost on PP2 unit….Maybe try 4 forwards 1 Defenseman and add Fiala to PP1…at least try it!

So far the Wild have lost 5 games against Eastern Conference teams this year and 16 against the Western Conference teams. 13 games left on the schedule and all but 1 game is against Western Conference teams. Going to need some confidence builders these last games. We need to beat the Blues at least one of the two remaining and beat the Preds the last game remaining with them. Be nice to win one of the two against the Flames and Colorado to end the season

Now if we can just get past that pesky Western conference in the playoffs we should be a lock!

Been waiting for Russo to report something on Dumba but nothing so far.

Ice Cap wrote:

Been waiting for Russo to report something on Dumba but nothing so far.

My guess is that it’s a separated shoulder and then it all falls on the 1,2,3 grade of the injury, likely a 2-4 week injury if grade 1…worst case would be broken collar bone…

I’m going with collar bone just because of how he cradled the arm immediately after impact.

To me, the PK is actually more disappointing than the PP. Both have had glimmers of hope but average out to being pretty terrible for a good team.

tswoboda wrote:

To me, the PK is actually more disappointing than the PP. Both have had glimmers of hope but average out to being pretty terrible for a good team.

Do you remember what Boudreau used to say about special teams? It was something like total the two % together and it should be over x% to be considered good. I cannot remember what that number was. Something like 110 or so I believe.

I don’t remember what Bruce said (he said a lot of stuff) but logic tells me anything over 100 means special teams are an asset and anything under 100 would be a liability. I’m sure Wild are well under 100 this season. 110 sounds elite.

tswoboda wrote:

I don’t remember what Bruce said (he said a lot of stuff) but logic tells me anything over 100 means special teams are an asset and anything under 100 would be a liability. I’m sure Wild are well under 100 this season. 110 sounds elite.

I just looked up the stats league-wide and you’re right, the top 2 teams are over 110. The Wild are at 96.7. 75.7 PK that is horrendous.

rewatching the game highlights from last night, The Wild hit 2 solid crossbars and missed on 3 breakaways…Ryan Johnason’s high slot tip shot and Duchesne’s snapshot goals were all world, nothing Fleury could have done about it…The Predators powerplay success is all about quick passes, they were ping-ponging it all over the zone and got defenders out of position for goals.

Yeah don’t care about regular season record against this team or that team.
I doubt they care either.

It’s not the regular season in the playoffs.

Wild were 4-2 against Vegas last year.
Don’t think I need to remind everyone what happend come playoffs.

Won against Vancouver the previous season in regular season.

Apparently my opinion in this thread is not a popular one. I am only trying to point out something that has been reflected in the results of the games played against a possible, yes possible, first round opponent. I don’t watch and analyze every single minute of every single period of every single game. I don’t even have the espn app. The only stat I can use here is that they are 0-3 against Nashville and 0-1 against St Louis. Does it mean anything come playoff time? Perhaps. Maybe not. But it’s the only data available against those two teams so that’s what I’m going to use. I really have no skin in the game with any single NHL team here, I just like watching hockey, and the Wild are the team I’m forced to watch most often living here.

I wanted to look up Kaprizov’s stats so I googled him. As you guys have probably seen, whenever you search for something on google there will likely be a series of frequently asked questions that you can click to reveal an answer. I found it funny that the very first one that popped up was “Is Kirill Kaprizov for real?” LOL

The Wild of recent do not match up well with Nashville for some reason. After last night’s loss they have lost 10 of the last 11 meetings. I bet the record is similar against the Blues.

CaptainMusky wrote:

I found it funny that the very first one that popped up was “Is Kirill Kaprizov for real?” LOL

well??? is he????

so it begins… The kid is magic, of course local companies want to cash in

Kaprizov Great Clips Commercial:
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/bb3n/great-clips-flow-needs-an-assist-featuring-kirill-kaprizov

gim wrote:

Apparently my opinion in this thread is not a popular one.

Oh I can definitely relate to that. But how would we ever get to 200 pages if we all agreed on everything?!?!

Honestly though I’m sorry if you feel I’m being abrasive or arrogant, I certainly don’t mean it that way. We just have differing opinions and I try to keep the playful banter going – that tone can be hard to convey and comprehend through text. Remember we’re just a bunch of dudes talking hockey on a fishing forum, the great hockey minds of IDO. I try not to take the interwebs too seriously.

And for the record I fully understand there’s a non-zero mathematical probability the Wild could face the Preds 1st round. I just really don’t think it’s going to happen and it’s more fun if I say there’s no chance and then get fed a dish of crow when I’m wrong. There was never going to be any money involved in the friendly wager I offered earlier.

tswoboda wrote:

Honestly though I’m sorry if you feel I’m being abrasive or arrogant, I certainly don’t mean it that way. We just have differing opinions and I try to keep the playful banter going – that tone can be hard to convey and comprehend through text. Remember we’re just a bunch of dudes talking hockey on a fishing forum, the great hockey minds of IDO. I try not to take the interwebs too seriously.

Sometimes I feel like you put me on blast too! LOL No worries man, I usually just go order a t-shirt somewhere then I forget it ever happened.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

well??? is he????

If I havent seen him in person then I do not know. They say sasquatches are real, but I have never seen one of them either so I am skeptical. At least I can “see” Kaprizov on tv.

Kind of strange, after posting a shutout in his teams last weekend series of the regualr season, Jesper Wallstedt hasn’t played a game yet in their playoffs? Lulea is up 3-1 in the opening series…

Anybody know why not?

Its really hard to find anything on the players in that league. Id like to find some people on twitter to follow that report on them, but I have yet to find any.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I felt alot better about playing bigger teams in the future AFTER last nights game

I agree with this. Even though the score was lopsided, giving up 4 power play goals is something that can be worked on.

This is not the Wild team of previous years. These guys have a strong will to fight and play until the end. More talent too, but I am impressed with the attitude.

lindyrig79 wrote:

This is not the Wild team of previous years. These guys have a strong will to fight and play until the end. More talent too, but I am impressed with the attitude.

I think they need to do a little more playing hockey than fighting but it was hard to avoid last night. But it was clear that was Nashville’s MO and it got the Wild completely off their game.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>lindyrig79 wrote:</div>
This is not the Wild team of previous years. These guys have a strong will to fight and play until the end. More talent too, but I am impressed with the attitude.

I think they need to do a little more playing hockey than fighting but it was hard to avoid last night. But it was clear that was Nashville’s MO and it got the Wild completely off their game.

I hear ya. I just think it’s more about the mentality. Got to eliminate the penalties, but I have no problems with the fights particularly with the big boys.

Think Addison finally gets his shot now that size isn’t quite as important on the blue line for us, or will we have to sit through more of Jordie Benn?

Merrill