MN Wild 2017-18 Official Thread

I see the wild still play trap hockey.

The wild could use some Russians.

mplspug wrote:

I see the wild still play trap hockey.

The wild could use some Russians.

And some Canadians

Why does the refund keep saying penalty on Tampa valley? Or have I heard that wrong 3 times?

I was rooting for a shut out at least in regulation, for the wild. I’ve not seen too many teams play as well defensively against the bolts.

However the wild offense was absent. They needed to convert a pp or 2.

Glad I missed it. 0-3 loss to the Lightning. Another BORING game by the Wild.

OK, a couple of games to recap.

The TB game was actually a pretty good game and the 3-0 score doesn’t reflect how the Wild played because 2 were empty netters. Actually a pretty good game by the Wild, they held the Lightning scoreless through 50 minutes of hockey.

Texass Team Rustlers–errr, I mean “Dallas Stars”. A pretty complete game by the Wild, with no glaring faults other than again taking too many penalties. All I can say is there must be some major attitude problems and DBs on this Grand Theft Franchise. To have all that talent, Benn, Saguin, Spezza, Radulov, and still just be dragin’ it in at Wildcard level is pretty strange. Granted Hitchcock has them playing better than the Suckdom that was last year, but still.

Nashville. I wonder if all the Doucheville fans were booing at their TVs every time Suter handled the puck last night? It’s been 6 years, D-bags. Take the Eagles’ advice and Get Over It.

The Wild totally outplayed the Preads last night and the score, fortunately, reflected that. Grandlund was on FIRE and he played even better than his hat trick tally showed.

Dumba also had an excellent game and showed all his strengths. Good D and dangerous below the blue line, Nashville couldn’t handle him at all. He was free wheeling the whole game and was a hair away from having 2 goals insted of the one. Great complete game.

The only dark spot was Coyle. What is it going to take for him to find the twine? Another game of swings and missess and woulda/shoulda/coulda play by Coyle. The Wild need to get him to play just a little better so his worthless hide has some value and then deal his buttski out of here. Time’s up.

Now the Wild have to avoid the back to back game letdown. Bruce clearly threw down the gauntlet, the Wild needed to get up for this big divisional series and get some ground back.

Grouse

I actually liked coyles game last night. He was in the dirty areas and carried the puck well. Actually looked like a power forward for once.

mplspug wrote:

Actually looked like a power forward for once

He looks like a power forward about once every 5 games, but with one important exception–Coyle never scores any freaking goals like a power forward! Don’t get me wrong, nobody can have near misses like Coyle. He had 3 last night. If there was a “just missed” stat, he’d lead the league.

Look, I get that everyone knows that the Wild are “too small”. Right, OK. So the man crush that so many have on Coyle is down to the fact that he’s a “big body”.

Well, by comparison, Grandlund’s a freaking peanut and he scored a freaking hat trick last night! Ship Coyle’s butt outta here. Time has come for Coyle to come up with the goods and time is freaking up. Deal his useless buttski for a pick or a prospect.

Grouse

Gave ’em a good game for 2 periods.

They are primed now for a big push this second half. I don’t foresee a slump this year. I expect a strong second half.

When are Nino and Parise expected back?

mplspug wrote:

When are Nino and Parise expected back?

Praise played a conditioning game with Iowa Wild last week. Reports said that he obviously needed it. And more. The good news is that as the game progressed he got more aggressive and was clearly more confident in the injury fix holding up.

So called reliable sources said 2 to 3 weeks, but that was last week.

Nino rumored to return this week.

Grouse

Parise in Tuesday.

mplspug wrote:

Parise in Tuesday.

From the reports of Parise’s play with Iowa, I can’t help but think this is too soon. We’ll see. Seems a big gamble to me.

Grouse

They’ll probably ease him in and manage his minutes. I have a feeling it Parise’s decision.

A couple good games against Dallas and Nashville, before getting shutout against Nashville in the back-to-back game. Let’s hope they can build some momentum here.

And I agree about Coyle. Has all the attributes, but can’t finish.

Some games Coyle is unstoppable while the majority of them he is just a fixture on the ice. I wonder what is going to happen roster-wise now that Parise is coming back. I have a feeling there will be a trade or something in the works.
I would like to see them move either Olofsson or Reilly along with a forward to get an upgrade at D.

I was out of the state since the 23rd so I didn’t see any of the games and it was painful. I was hoping to catch the Dallas game since we were in Houston, but my cousin cut the cord so he had no local sports channels. I was having withdrawals.
I watched it on my phone last year, but I wasn’t going to do that again since I had to use mobile data and that would have crushed my limit.

Nice to see Jordan Greenway make the Olympic squad….hopefully he doesn’t have anybody whispering in his ear to stay at BU and go the Vessey route and become a URFA…with the caps on entry level money what’s really the advantage of that anymore? A year or two closer to full URFA status?

CaptainMusky wrote:

Some games Coyle is unstoppable…

Honestly, I must have missed all those unstoppable games. I don’t believe he’s had more than 1 goal per game in his NHL career and this season he has 2 goals in 23 games. Time to hit the “dump” button. He ought to at least be worth a prospect or a decent R2 pick to some team that’s looking to fill a 4th line utility role.

Yeah, it’s a bummer when you’re out of town as there’s no low bandwidth options for watching games. Gotta have wi-fi or just listen on Iheartradio, which doesn’t seem to use a lot of data.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Honestly, I must have missed all those unstoppable games. I don’t believe he’s had more than 1 goal per game in his NHL career and this season he has 2 goals in 23 games. Time to hit the “dump” button. He ought to at least be worth a prospect or a decent R2 pick to some team that’s looking to fill a 4th line utility role.

True he may not have put up a ton of points, but the first few games this year, even last year, he looked amazing out there. Could be his conditioning and being farther ahead of other guys, but he was really strong on the puck, forced people off the puck and was visible on every shift. Now, not so much. He has the tools, but it doesn’t help to be floating around on the lineup every night. Hopefully we can start to see some stability in the lineup now with Parise coming back, but I am not too confident.
I think the best would could hope for out of Coyle is 25 to 30 goals a year. He is nowhere near that pace this year, but he is capable of it.
If they were to trade him I would be disappointed he is still young and far from the biggest issue on this team.
I want Stewart gone. Honestly the guy is pointless out there. He is terrible with puck possession and doesn’t play defense which is something a player on the 3rd and 4th line should excel at. He is a liability out there.

Good game last night to beat the Panthers 5-1. Also glad to see Foligno drop the gloves – while some don’t like fighting I think it builds team chemistry when done appropriately. The Wild could use some grit and I like it.

Of course, Parise coming back and not looking scared of contact was also a good sign.

Important stretch coming up I believe. A bunch of winnable games and a nice home stretch. Time to make some points……

For all the Coyle haters out there, he scored last night…

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tswoboda wrote:

For all the Coyle haters out there, he scored last night…

I’ve seen goalies score empty net goals too.

biggill wrote:

I’ve seen goalies score empty net goals too.

Exactly the reason why I posted a picture of Staal wide open when Coyle let his 100 footer go for the ENG. Staal was 1 goal short of his first hatty in a wild sweater, and he didn’t look too pleased when the puck hit the back of the net.

Pretty ironic goal, classic Chucky.

Staal was asked about the opportunity for a hat trick and though he said it would have been nice, he was very professional and said he hasn’t scored in a while and maybe that is what he needs to get going. We are better when he is going.
These personal accomplishments in team sports are for the birds. I guess I would look at it the other way, I guy could get his hat trick or pass the puck to someone who hasn’t scored in 30 games. Which means more?
If memory serves Staal actually passed to Granlund earlier this year for him to get a goal on an empty net when he was struggling.

CaptainMusky wrote:

If memory serves Staal actually passed to Granlund earlier this year for him to get a goal on an empty net when he was struggling.

Yeah Staal chipped it up to Granlund like a week ago for the 3rd goal of his hat trick. Literally the exact same play, EXACT!

I totally agree the individual stats and achievements mean nothing, but it’s kind of an unwritten rule that given the chance you get your guy with 2 goals the puck for a chance at the empty netter. Every teammate and every fan wants to see someone on their team get a hatty.

Most of all it was just a perfect goal to fuel the Coyle “fan club” flame.

I find it odd that three goals is celebrated as a special achievement, yet 4 goals are not.

I aslo think empty net Hattie’s are kind of cheap.

A few games back Kucherov was way behind the defense and way ahead of a puck Namestikov flipped toward the net. Kuch waited as long as he could, but when the puck started going wide he slid it in.

After he looked apologetic towards Namestikov.

Oh sorry, you guys saw that. Lol

Well, now that we’ve all celebrated Coyle finally finding his butt with both hands… It’s one thing to pot the empty netter when you’re up 3-2. You take that shot. But to have Staal on the ice in front of him with a 4-1 lead and a chance for a hat trick, and NOT attempt the pass… Well, that won’t get you nominated for Mr. Popularity, there Chuckmeister.

The Wild had a solid night. I thought Olafson looked better than he had in previous stints, let’s see if he stays consistent.

Parise looked better than I expected and had a nice chip deflection in the first. I didn’t look up the TOI, but it seemed to me they were short shifting him in the third almost from the get go so a ways to go, but good to have him back.

Staal. What a find! I can’t believe we got him off waivers.

I hope I don’t regret saying this, but the Wild just looks to me to be playing better, more consistent hockey. Get Nino back and keep playing D. Touch wood, we may have the penalty minutes given up per game on the downward trend. It’s not great, but the boys are playing pretty well and there are teams with a LOT more on-paper talent that are playing a lot worse than the Wild.

If I was an Edmonton fan I’d be pissed. To be loaded with talent like that and still be playing that poorly…

Oh, and don’t look now guys, but our ol’ freinds the Colorado Douchalanche suddenly put out the dumpster fire that was thier hockey game and are now 1 game behind us.

Grouse

Russo just tweeted that Fletcher is flying back from Moskow after meeting with Kaprizov and our other KHL Russian prospect….said the meeting went well… at least they’ve finally met…

I think Chuck is getting nervous!