Let's Go Wild!

Scandella is turning into a helluva defenseman. Take away his goal and he still may have been the best player on the ice last night. I don’t think he lost a puck battle and in fact he beat 2 Jets players along the boards at one point with a couple changes of direction. I think it is time to lessen Suter’s load a little and give some extra shifts to Marco.

Tonight, the bottom 2 lines were also very good. They had good puck possession and spent lots of time in the offensive zone.

Graovac, man he’s a big kid. He didn’t do a lot tonight though. And for being big, he doesn’t hit much or hard. He’s still 21 and looks to be growing into that frame (he fell a couple times too easily for a big guy). I’d really like to see him make it. I like those big Dan Boyle type players.

Great for the Wild to get a win and bounce back from a tough loss.

I hadn’t heard before the Saturday game that both Backs and Darcy were sick, I just was at the game and the announcer says Curry added and Backs taken off and this was after they had in the paper that Backs was starting. So that was a head scratcher at the time.

Kuemper looked pretty solid last night, so let’s hope he’s back on the right track.

In general the Wild looked a little shaky on D in the third. Lots of time in their own Zone and Kuemper was getting peppered pretty good there at about the 11-12 minute mark. Have to admit I wasn’t thinking good thoughts there.

Was it Graovac that almost scored on a backhander last night and sent it just over the net in the second? I had kids in the room causing a rucas and didn’t hear who that was. Quick release on that, wow.

Tough deal with Grandlund. Really a bummer and I heard it’ll be over a month before he’s back. Ouch.

Grouse

Yeah, that was Graovac. Would have been nice if he could have potted it. Apparently he’s been doing well in Iowa. Alex Tuch is another big boy we might see in a few years. The Wild could potentially get some bulk to them in the future….distant future.

I was hugging a pillow in the third too. How bad would it have been losing that one?

Kuemper looked very solid. He has to get consistent some time, so hopefully that time is now.

Scandella is a very underrated player I think. The game I was at I watched him quite a bit, man he has a rocket of a shot.

I missed the game last night. What happened to Granlund?
DT

I liked how Sutter played when he was up. Wish we could find a regular spot for him.
DT

deertracker wrote:

I missed the game last night. What happened to Granlund?
DT

Granny…Broken wrist…

Side note…What the h*ll is going on with Suter? Both goals against last night were his fault and his +- in his last 8 games is off the charts terrible. Simply put he is playing horsecrap hockey since he had the mumps. He needs to get back to his old ways and fast…

Granlund broke his wrist when they played the jets on sat. Had surgery on it and is out a month.
Yes marco is looking very solid. Give him more ice and let suter sit. Hes way more physical and gets up on the play, which in return helps keep the puck in the offensive zone, instead of the guy being a stride too late or too slow.
Kemps looked much better. I felt he gave the team a chance to win. The third period looked like we always do, sitting back and almost couching it up. They need to keep the pressure on and not just backing up when the puck is turned over in the offensive zone. When they force the play we turn the puck back over a lot, and it a lot of time gives us a really good scoring chance.
How about the carter goal. Smart play there not to touch the puck but forced them to make a dumb move and he scored off it. That third line doesn’t see enough ice some games. PP well that still sucks if you ask me. Another 5-3 that we didn’t score on. GOOD teams score on 5-3. They need to move the puck down low more. Get shots to the net and get rebounds and tips. There set plays are not working like they must be in practice. We got a win and I hope we can build off that game. They need to turn the table now.
Wallster ><((((>

Wasn’t the broken wrist the result of a slash?

I dialed in briefly and it was 2-0 Jets, turned back to rasslin at that point. Rasslin might be fake but they go from the git go and don’t have to play catch up all the time.

I think Suter is sick and playing through it. His energy seems way down. Not himself at all. How often is he beaten around the circle and the guy is able to drive the net. That is rare and it has happened several times the last couple of weeks. His physical play behind the net is gone too lately. Something isn’t right and I think he really needs time to get back to 100%, but with the way they have been playing there is no chance you could get him to rest.

roosterrouster wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>deertracker wrote:</div>
I missed the game last night. What happened to Granlund?
DT

Granny…Broken wrist…

Side note…What the h*ll is going on with Suter? Both goals against last night were his fault and his +- in his last 8 games is off the charts terrible. Simply put he is playing horsecrap hockey since he had the mumps. He needs to get back to his old ways and fast…

Dutchboy wrote:

Wasn’t the broken wrist the result of a slash?

No, when Byfuglien interfered with him and caused him to flip.

I agree that I think Suter is still feeling the affects of the mumps.

I watched Slapshot last night and this made me think of you.

Nice..

Kuemper looked good tonight. That is all.

Yes he did.

How many games are left?

47? I just don’t see them going on some streak like winning 8 or 9 out of 10 and that’s what it is going to take.

Tonight the goaltending and defense was there, but no offense. If I was confident Kuemper could play pretty much like he has the last to games the rest of the way, I might be a little more confident.

Right now I see it as the Wild miss the playoffs and Yeo gets fired. Next year they have an epiphany and make a good run. That being said these youngsters really have to make the jump. Zach, Pom and Suter are only going to get older.

As much as we miss Granlund/Brodin, I really think we miss Zucker. And if anything, these is turning out to be Nino’s team. He plays well they win. I think Nino needs more ice time including the #1 PP.

I agree Pug. Sad, but true, a lot of teams in the conference managed to get better this year. I just see the Wild as having at best stayed the same, but at worst slipping backward and with no real direction other than Yeo’s constant committment to figure it out. Somehow.

Yeo needed to get fired last year in January. The playoff run last year was in spite of Yeo, not because of him. Now here we are a year later and he’s still trying to figure out how to move forward because he lacks the experience to know how to move forward.

We need to move up some young new talent and we need to dump some baggage. Sorry, but I can’t see Backstrom or Harding ever being back up to #1 status in the net. They are both taking up roster space. I get the feeling like we also have several bubble players that need to get figured out or moved on, but to do that you need a coach who actually knows how.

Grouse

Nuf said!!!

What young talent do we have to move up? Dumba is no where near ready, and I’m not sure he will ever be the player people think he was going to be. The baby wild are terrible. While we have more depth on the team we ever had, the minors hold very little that are ready. The goalie situation is our #1 issue. The team has no faith in the goalies and confidence is shot. Too bad the option to go for the #1 pick next year is already locked up.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

I agree Pug. Sad, but true, a lot of teams in the conference managed to get better this year. I just see the Wild as having at best stayed the same, but at worst slipping backward and with no real direction other than Yeo’s constant committment to figure it out. Somehow.

Yeo needed to get fired last year in January. The playoff run last year was in spite of Yeo, not because of him. Now here we are a year later and he’s still trying to figure out how to move forward because he lacks the experience to know how to move forward.

We need to move up some young new talent and we need to dump some baggage. Sorry, but I can’t see Backstrom or Harding ever being back up to #1 status in the net. They are both taking up roster space. I get the feeling like we also have several bubble players that need to get figured out or moved on, but to do that you need a coach who actually knows how.

Grouse

You know Vanek might have a few more goals if those guys would open their eyes on the PP. He was sitting in the soft spot the whole time on that second PP.

Sounds like J.P. is in pretty rough shape.

Arrrrrraahhhhh! The Wild have just turned a 2-0 lead into a 2-3 deficit in the third. They are over-passing the puck again. Put the puck on net!!!

Yeo is fully in control of the situation, however. He’s standing behind the bench with a stupid look on his face.

Grouse

Terrible loss that the Wild can’t afford. Just awful to let a game like that get away in OT.

It’s just so frustrating. The Wild are repeating the problems of last season, but almost every other western conf team has improved.

Grouse

Yeo threw multiple tantrums at practice today according to Russo.

It’s just frustrating that the Wild are so boxed in at goaltender. Do they just bring Curry up again as a starter under the guise of “How much worse can he be?” Hardly seems fair and accomplishes nothing that I can see, but then I’d think something has to be tried.

If a trade is in the works, it’s going to involve multiple and significant Wild players in exchange for a netminder and I’m not sure that’s going to make me very happy. I’m just cringing at the thought of what anyone with a decent goaltender is going to be asking for knowing how desperate the Wild are.

Barring that, it’s basically raising the surrender flag on the season and stalling until Harding’s contract expires and frees us some space.

Backstrom has 2 more years on his contract and they can’t send him down. Ug. Wonder if they can buy him out or package him in a trade?

Not good.

Grouse

Well we’d be trading for a backup on 3/4 of the league or a starter on a crappy team. It shouldn’t cost that much. I’m also not sure how much of an improvement it will be.

Just think. If there was no #vanekwatch, we might have been able to grab Ryan Miller. But Fletch also thought after last year our future Kuemper was ready and we were bound to 2 other goalies.

In theory it shouldn’t cost that much, except that the rest of the league and most of the galaxy knows how desperate the Wild are right now. Demand is high, supply is low. Solve for price.

I go back to my suggestion at this time last year. What can we get for a head coach with 3 years of “experience”? Surely that’s worth something?

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Yeo threw multiple tantrums at practice today according to Russo.

The video is on KSTP’s website. Sure was a lot of bleeping in the 2:07 of filming. I think he’s feeling the heat right now.

Hunting4Walleyes wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TheFamousGrouse wrote:</div>
Yeo threw multiple tantrums at practice today according to Russo.

The video is on KSTP’s website. Sure was a lot of bleeping in the 2:07 of filming. I think he’s feeling the heat right now.

If he isn’t he should be. Fletcher also should start to feel it. He had all off season to try and shore up the goaltending. Ownership has spent money every place Fletcher has asked for it. Time for everybody to start producing. FWIW I was and still am in favor of the Vanek move. He will score, he always has in the past.

What options did they have to shore up goaltending? Thomas? Stalock? Brodeur?

I really can’t see any of those being any better at the time.

Who’s the next coach gonna be?

There was much “could have”talk of Ryan Miller today on the radio.

If you believe Nanne he said you’re better off signing a free agent than trading for a goaltender.