Wild

Colorado at home and a lost

I give up, I give up. 14 games in there is no excuse other than they just ain’t that good.

With me lifting the curse they will probably run 6 dominating games off in a row.

I agree, I am no great hockey mind and never played the game but it seems to me they just do not have enough good players. Granlund keeps getting pushed off the puck and the other team skates around the offensive zone with no one hitting them. Mike Yeo is going to start feeling the heat, the saying goes you cannot fire the team.

I think the next player that should be called on to take a gaander at the game from the press box should be Heatley. Seemed to me he got caught standing around a lot in the defensive zone last night and has become a liability there. For the little bit of chemistry that 1st line has vs. him being a liability in the defensive zone and not back checking I would much rather have Coyle on the 1st line than him. Too bad for Coyle it’s a numbers game because he deserves to be on the team.

They have a bunch of good players, however they don’t have much for stars. Maybe it’s the system, maybe not. Parise everyone considers a star, Suter also, but that’s about it for stars. Last week somebody said Koivu is a top 20 player in the league. I didn’t say anything then but I don’t think he is a top 50 player. Good player yes, star? Not hardly. But, again they only scored 3 goals. Another participation point for a team that doesn’t deserve one.

I disagree on Heatley. Yes, he is slow, but many games, despite his lack of speed, we will back check and break up plays.

There are a lot of guys who look like they are standing around. Wingers usually are standing around in the defensive zone because they have to play the defensemen on the point. It probably more glaring with Heater because he doesn’t have a quick step.

The biggest issue I have with last nights game was Konopka. Had he not taken a boneheaded penalty, things may have been different. You don’t send a message when it is 1-1. You also probably don’t need to send a message to Greg Zannon who is hardly a dirty player. Konopka has very poor timing and judgement. I loved this guy at the start and was excited this summer to see what he would bring. So far it has been staged fights and bad penalties.

Another thing that sucked about the game last night was the reffing. IT sucks how inconsistent it is game in and game out. One sure call is when a player trips a goalie, inadvertently or not and they completely missed or let that one go when Backs was clipped by the forechecker behind the play.

Was Backstrom clipped or did he turn his back into the guy? It was as much a penalty as the hand pass in the faceoff a couple of games ago.

Quote:

---

Was Backstrom clipped or did he turn his back into the guy? It was as much a penalty as the hand pass in the faceoff a couple of games ago.

---

Refs usually don’t make the distinction. You have to make every effort to avoid contact.

The hand pass rule isn’t much different than the high stick rule. Their is no distinction between if it is incidental or negligence. A hand pass occurs any time you touch the puck with your glove (even the back side) and a teammate is the first to touch it.

I’ll admit on the Backstrom trip I might think otherwise if I saw it again. I saw the replay either on my way to let the dogs out or as I watched through the window, so I wasn’t watching it that closely.

Since you lifted the curse now I am going to have to watch the next game to see if there is an impotent. I mean improvement. I do not think it can get any worse

I still think that Yeo’s gotta go.

Yeo being somewhat of an enforcer in his career, I can see why we have so many of these guys.

Also, whats with all of these diciplinary measures? Bouchard, Heatly, Setogouchi, Granlund, Coyle. Does he not have control of this team? Are they not buying in?

Quote:

---

I still think that Yeo’s gotta go.

Yeo being somewhat of an enforcer in his career, I can see why we have so many of these guys.

Also, whats with all of these diciplinary measures? Bouchard, Heatly, Setogouchi, Granlund, Coyle. Does he not have control of this team? Are they not buying in?

---

Yeo was an enforcer or pest? I am not being sarcastic, I have no idea.

Scratching guys and moving them around is a motivational tool that all coaches use. Setoguchi, Granlund and Heatley have all responded. Coyle was a victim of circumstance. Someone had to be moved and he doesn’t have to pass through waivers. That being said, I think it was a mistake moving him back to Houston. He was very affective at drawing penalties and he is going to be a good power forward in this league. I can see them trading Bouchard at some point to start making room.

Do any of you follow Michael Russo? Russo’s Rants He’s obviously much more in tune with the Wild and NHL and less subjective than me. I recommend reading his blog if you follow the team.

I don’t always read his stuff, but I hear him on the radio about once a week or so. He’s really good. He’ll always admit when he’s wrong and seems to have a lot if inside knowledge. He just can’t talk about everything he knows or suspects to maintain a level of respect from the Wild. I’d doubt if he’d bash the coach at this point.

I’ve just never seen so many high level players disciplined in a short period. He may have gotten results from some of them, but he’s still not getting results from the team as a whole.

To be honest, I really think the team is playing pretty well. They are out shooting their opponents in most games, but they have nobody in front causing trouble. I hate that style of hockey, but it may be the only thing that will get this team rolling.

Come on pug, whoever said you were subjective?

I don’t think Russo filters himself much to try and stay in good standing. I am sure if he really wanted to bash someone though, he would minimize it, but he is pretty straight forward.

If you look at this team they don’t have much more than mediocre talent after Parise and Koivu. Heatley is slow and very much over rated and wouldn’t have a goal this season if his line mates didn’t put it where he can’t miss it. Coyle should have stayed with the big club and Granlund should be down. Granlund is over matched and looks confused when on the ice, Coyle has size and looks like more talent to handle the big leagues in my eyes. Suter was brought in to run the power play and up until now hasn’t shown he can do that on a regular basis, maybe he misses Shea Weber more than people know.

What? No Wild posts?

Oh crap. I am jinxing them again.

Watching these youngsters makes me feel like even if this year is a failure, things will only get better. Man that Zucker can fly. Mark my words he is going to be a 30-40 goal scorer at least.

I was very impressed mplspug you lifted the curse,it took till the 2nd period to completely come off but wow, looked like a different team than I have been watching. I know Detroit is not Detroit of old but still pretty good, not off the bus yet. Just did not want to take a chance on you cursing them again.

Almost turned the channel after the first. Glad I didn’t. Good win for the Wild. Thanks pug for lifting the curse. Go Wild.

I am predicting Edmonton 4 Wild 2 on Thursday.

you don’t think it was a coincidence that I turned on the Gophers when they were up 20 something to 6 or 8 and they fell apart after that, do you?

That a boy pug. No curse.