Let's Go Wild!

PB2 wrote:

yes I did watch the wild absolutely destroy them in six out of seven games

“Absolutely Destroy” really???? This tells me all I need to know about your hockey IQ….go back to your Twolves mock drafts…lol

The one thing that scares me is I believe the Blackhawks only got one goal by your goalie in the last to games we played against the Wild. The Wild won them and if I remember right one of the games it seem like the Wild had 6 or 7 guys out on the ice at a time, they were all over the puck and goal.

Good luck!! GO BLACKHAWKS

I get that Cooke is good on the kill and somewhat physical. But I like the speed and hussle that guys like Haula and Schroeder can bring. Is there something else I am missing? Heck even give me Bergenheim.

sticker wrote:

That’s one thing I haven’t liked about this Wild team. The don’t check near as much as they should. I realize it’s a team built for speed, but you have to knock guys off the puck sometimes, and they don’t do it near enough! Guys like Kane will skate all over you if you don’t knock them off the puck.

I think some of that is a lot easier said than done. Something tells me if teams could consistenly knock the Kanes of the NHL off the puck they already would. Or… those Kanes wouldn’t be in the NHL.

Haula’s work ethic is crap. He has all year to play the way they want him to, and for some reason he won’t. I think because he can no longer be sent down without clearing waivers he is content to sit in the press box and collect his check. He will be gone next year. I like Schroeder’s game, but Cooke brings playoff experience. I think that may be why Cooke played against the Blues. The hawks are a team that Schroeder will match up a little better. Maybe he gets a shot in the next series.

out_fishing wrote:

I get that Cooke is good on the kill and somewhat physical. But I like the speed and hussle that guys like Haula and Schroeder can bring. Is there something else I am missing? Heck even give me Bergenheim.

Man, I don’t even want to respond to all this nonsense. You’d think they just missed the playoffs rather than just knocking off one of the best teams in the playoffs.

It sounds to me like the wild are a great team but seem to be doing everything wrong, somehow.

Anyway, it is quite obvious that goaltending will be the key. It’s the piece of the puzzle we didn’t have last year and we are proven to be the best team in the league with Doobs.

When is goaltending not the most important factor in the playoffs?

Thanks Matt. I wasn’t looking forward to making a big reply, you said it. Lots of negativity for moving on and not played a game yet. I guess it’s in the Minnesota genes. Low expectations.

mojogunter wrote:

Haula’s work ethic is crap. He has all year to play the way they want him to, and for some reason he won’t. I think because he can no longer be sent down without clearing waivers he is content to sit in the press box and collect his check.

Not to step on toes but I could buy an argument you have a young player that needs to learn what it takes to compete in the most elite professional league. It may turn out he can or can’t which time will tell. I can’t buy the argument as soon as a player gets an opportunity they phone it in for the money. The player who’s prone to that gets weeded out long before they ever get a sniff of the NHL (or other professional league). Keep in mind, you’re likely talking about a few thousand individuals who are the absolutely most skilled and driven in the entire world who are competing for those positions. You’re still going to have a bell curve however within that group. Everyone can’t be a top 6 forward. Some guys may only rise to a roll or replacement player which is still pretty elite company.

Do people honestly think players that get that opportunity want to slack when they’re there so they can get bumped off???

On a side note. Anyone see how poorly Peka Rinne played at the end of the last game? Boy he choked. I didn’t see much of the series, but he was why I picked them to beat the Hawks.

I see the refs trying to help the Wings now. A goal waved off on a horrible call.

I’d really like to see the lightning make it to the finals. Early in the year they were my pick from the east. But I picked the Rangers based on trends I go by. I liked the fact they were in the finals last year.

If Zetterberg could have got that one timer to the near post they’d still be playing.

What ever happened to johnathan drouin?

Look at Haula’s game last year in the playoff push, and in the playoffs. It was so much better than his game has been this year. I haven’t heard that he has had any long term injury. Granted the team is deeper this year, but his game should fit perfectly into the Yeo system. Because Yeo has said he hasn’t been happy with his game, I would think that would drive him to play better. It seems that he cracked the lineup due to injuries on the team, and as the team has gotten healthy Haula has been a healthy scratch for the last month. I would agree with your assessment, that maybe as a young player he needs more playing time to figure it out, if it weren’t for his play last year that was so much better. He did play at a higher level, and just isn’t the same player this year. Zucker is a perfect example of a player that needed time in the minors to figure his game out, and he has done exactly that. I wish Haula would have done the same. He is a restricted free agent this summer. I would think they will sign him if they can’t trade him.

tegg wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mojogunter wrote:</div>
Haula’s work ethic is crap. He has all year to play the way they want him to, and for some reason he won’t. I think because he can no longer be sent down without clearing waivers he is content to sit in the press box and collect his check.

Not to step on toes but I could buy an argument you have a young player that needs to learn what it takes to compete in the most elite professional league. It may turn out he can or can’t which time will tell. I can’t buy the argument as soon as a player gets an opportunity they phone it in for the money. The player who’s prone to that gets weeded out long before they ever get a sniff of the NHL (or other professional league). Keep in mind, you’re likely talking about a few thousand individuals who are the absolutely most skilled and driven in the entire world who are competing for those positions. You’re still going to have a bell curve however within that group. Everyone can’t be a top 6 forward. Some guys may only rise to a roll or replacement player which is still pretty elite company.

Do people honestly think players that get that opportunity want to slack when they’re there so they can get bumped off???

Haula had a heck of a run in the playoffs last year scoring while shadowing the opponents top players. He had a average regular season.

If the Wild get behind in this series, chances are Yeo is going to throw him in there hoping he can replicate last year.

I assume the Wild will resign him. We need to keep some depth at center, especially with Brodz and Carter up for unrestricted free agency.

He’s never going to be a top 6 forward, but he still has time to be a serviceable 3rd or 4th line center. I think he’ll be fine after this off season.

It’s amazing how quickly a player’s stock can rise and fall in the NHL. Writing off Haula? Go back and look at what people were saying about Grandlund during his rookie and early in his second year. Too small, no physical presence, won’t survive the check/grind NHL game, needs too much open ice/can’t control the puck in a crowd of big men… etc, etc.

I think when the dust settles after the season things will look differently. The Wild won’t be keeping everyone who’s currently on the bus, so the situation will change and my guess is Haula will have his chance next year to prove he can be part of the program.

It’s going to be a great series. I think there might be a little discounting of the Wild’s series win over the Blues. Chicago’s a good team that seems this year to struggle to play that way at times against other quality teams. During the regular season, Chicago went 2 W – 3 L vs St. Louis with a +2 goal differential, so the Blues are hardly a vastly inferior team to the Blackhawks.

The Wild were 2 W – 3 L against the Hawks and again the Hawks are only +2 in the goal differential for those 5 games. Hardly a dominating performance by the Blackhawks.

I still think this comes down to a 1 game series.

Grouse

…and both wins were with doobie, no? Although Kane missed at least one of those games.

Here we go Wild fans! Time to fire up the espresso machine and put on the Wild Sweater over your jammies for a little late-night playoff action!

It’s been interesting to read the national media view on this series. It really is a toss up as far as the view of who wins this. Lots and lots of talk out there about the intangibles being the tangible factor. Momentum, attitude, durability, etc.

To me, the #1 question out there is goaltending and for once it’s not the Wild’s goaltending, it’s Crawford. He’s called into question in almost every in-depth that I’ve read on this series. They all seem to say the same thing, Dubnyk is fine, the question is which Crawford shows up for the series?

If the Wild can beat Crawford early and get him scrambling, then they have a very good chance tonight and in the series in general.

Coming out hard and taking a win from the Hawks in G1 would be huge. Let’s go Wild!

Grouse

for once it would be nice to see the Wild on the good side of a blowout…that would be awesome to set the tone tonight with a huge win…get in Crawford’s head..

Wild win in 5 games.

Doobs plays marginal tonight and gets a loss. Comes back to sweep the next 4 games.

Oooo, that was quick

You called it Gill. He never misses with his glove but there was a few tonight. I thought we were going to have it for awhile.
DT

biggill wrote:

4 games.

Reply

^^ I agree 100%, wild will win the series either way!

I don’t know why that prediction spewed it but it did. I still think the wild will control the series.

Can’t fault doobs for the first 3 although you NEED him to stop at least one of those. The d was horrible in the first. I can say that everyone had a major breakdown. It just shows how different st Louis and Chicago really are.

I think they’re on track now and it’s going to be fun ride from here on out.

Everyone is predicting a long series because the teams seem so equal. It never goes that way.

Let’s go wild!

For now!!

GO HAWKS!!!

gary d wrote:

For now!!

GO HAWKS!!!

Interesting. I sense a little lack of confidence. Even up 1-0. Is that how the majority feel in chi town? What are the sports talkers saying over there?

It’s funny, here the sports talkers are also calling for the wild to win in 5 or 6 even down 0-1.

Melrose called the Hawks, so we will win The series.

They better play better the rest of the way or thy are going to be down 2-0. Very sloppy And slow.

I don’t think it was sloppy. Both teams seem tentative. That figures considering the volatile game 1.

I think we’ll see some scoring in the second. I think both teams are still going to try and play defensively though.

Passing onto the opponents stick is sloppy. They look like crap tonight except some moments where the first line looks decent.

And how about doobie making a great save after one of 2 Suter brain farts only to have it deflect in off the knotb of his stick. By the way both brain farts led to goals.

Thank God the lightning are up 2-0