MN Wild 2017-18 Official Thread

Its to little to late…doobs played one hell of a series for the most part but unfortunately he was one of the few bright spots…if parise and suter play do they win? Tough to tell but I like the odds better with them vs without especially parise and his tenacity to get into the dirty areas…the younger d men did a decent job given there experience minus Murphy…hellybuck I’m not sure what bad could be said about him he is pretty solid as well…not really a tough pill to swallow as it seems as tho it’s just another typical year as a wild fan unfortunately…i still dont see either of these teams getting through Nashville…on the bright side of all this we don’t have to see Chicago win it all

Yup…. you can point to injuries, poor ref calls, bad puck luck and whatever else. But in the end, it’s the same pile of dog poo we’ve had for 6 years now. Getting quite old.

Just when you think they may have it together they fall apart.
Hardly unexpected though.
The team logo says it all,the harder you look at it the harder it is to figure out what your looking at.

Jets goalie stold game 4, Dubs gonna have to steal game 5, we hold serve at home game 6 and then game 7 is a toss up…

Where is Nino, Zucker and Coyle??? Zucker doesn’t even have a shot in the entire series!

basseyes wrote:

Really impressive nhl. How a player is allowed to continue to play after a for check to the face, unbelievable and unacceptable. That should be an immediate expulsion from a game, period, and I don’t give a rat’s a$$ about the logistics of it. What a disgusting league and that was horse crap. Especially when the player had an assist on the first goal minutes later. No other professional sports league would have allowed that player to finish the game after something like that, no matter if the refs on the ice saw it in real time or not.

Similar stuff had happened in the Avalanche/preds series. Subban gave Mackinnon a flying elbow to the back of the head last night and they both went to the box. Ryan Johansen has been huge this series and honestly should have gotten at least a game suspension for his hit on Barrie in game one.

As far as the wild go. It’s starting to look like rebuild time. They are getting old/slow. Parise and Sutter are still under contract for 7 more years. Going to be some lean times I think.

It’s pretty sad that our core prospects we were waiting g on all those years ago have not shown up, accept Granlund, but he’s already proven himself. I don’t see winning twice in Winnipeg.

On a positive note some unexpected prospects seem to be making their mark.

You never know what will happen. Anyone could have won last night, which makes being blown out the first 2 games look so important now.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Jets goalie stold game 4, Dubs gonna have to steal game 5, we hold serve at home game 6 and then game 7 is a toss up…

Where is Nino, Zucker and Coyle??? Zucker doesn’t even have a shot in the entire series!

I kind of expected they would keep a very close eye on Zucker in this series and they are. He can’t get free to do anything and when he does he draws a penalty. Nino on the other hand has been dormant all year and even the play offs can’t get him going. He’s a big tough kid with lots of talent, but he can’t seem to do anything with it. Coyle I am finally giving up on. Brite spots during the year, but has been worthless in this series.

That hit on Stahl was ridiculous. The worst part is no one on the Wild retaliated. Bad enough the refs let it go, but the Wild need to step up on that pricks very next shift!!! Candi-@sses I even saw Foligno had several chances to absolutely lay a guy out and he pulled up on them. Pretty sad really.

But that cross check to stall!!! Awful and may of cost us the game

And meanwhile Alex Tuch and Eric Haula thought they were being banished to the desert.

Bearcat89 wrote:

But that cross check to stall!!! Awful and may of cost us the game

Missed call no doubt, but it didn’t cost us the game. You absolutely can not win a playoff game without putting at least one puck in the net. Had the chances but just couldn’t find the back of the net. This team is just way too inconsistent on offense to make a solid run. I just hope something can change in the not so distant future.

slabz wrote:

Missed call no doubt, but it didn’t cost us the game.

IDK, it certainly would have made a huge difference to have a 5 on 3 PP then a 5 on 4. That happened in game 3 and they got a PP goal, so yeah, I think it did cost us the game.
The refs swallowed their whistles because we were already on the PP. Simple as that, but pathetic.

It would be nice to see the full team in the playoffs before we start chanting “Rebuild”…

Injuries happen, they are part of the game, but losing your two most important pieces is tough to play through…(Parise was our hottest offensive player end of the season)

If the ultimate goal is to win the cup, then there’s only 1 team doesn’t fail every year, so complaining about potentially getting bounced in the 1st round really means nothing when losing in the finals just gets you a worse draft pick slot..

This team needs to take a hard look at a few players (Coyle is the glaring example) to see if they are truly part of the core that makes a run at the cup. We have some good prospects getting valuable experience (Greenway, Ek, Seeler, (Kaprizov playing in the KHL finals) so hopefully their learning curve is short and they become regular contributors right away…

I’m still not throwing in the towel on this series, but we absolutely NEED Dubs to steal game 5 with a shutout, if he can do that, I think we win game 6 at home and then game 7 is a dice roll…

slabz wrote:

Missed call no doubt, but it didn’t cost us the game. You absolutely can not win a playoff game without putting at least one puck in the net. Had the chances but just couldn’t find the back of the net. This team is just way too inconsistent on offense to make a solid run. I just hope something can change in the not so distant future.

I’ve heard that’s also the case during the regular season too.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>slabz wrote:</div>
Missed call no doubt, but it didn’t cost us the game.

IDK, it certainly would have made a huge difference to have a 5 on 3 PP then a 5 on 4. That happened in game 3 and they got a PP goal, so yeah, I think it did cost us the game.
The refs swallowed their whistles because we were already on the PP. Simple as that, but pathetic.

We didn’t score on a 5 on 3. We scored on the 5 on 4.
DT

Watched the whole game. There was absolutely no push back from anyone other than Greenway imo.

Coyle is underwhelming for his size and talent.

MK, gives her the college try but has drastically slowed down.

The speed of the jet’s is faster than ours, combined with size. The wild are to small and to slow for the jet’s.

RS is a good, smart player, but his lack of any fire is a problem. No one in the league fears him on any level. His bone break could be a challenge to come back from.

ZP is a great spark plug of a player and impossible not to like…..except his body seems unable to handle the beating of the league for a full season.

They can’t blow it up.

It’s not lord Fletcher’s fault for the injuries to key players.

Not sure what else Bruce can do?

Dubs played well last night.

There’s no easy answer. But Fletcher is probably the easiest target right now.

I’m not putting too much of the blame on Fletcher, we have a solid pipeline of players in the system (except for a single defensive stud) he can’t control injuries….He put the tools in place to contend for the cup, the players just haven’t met that challenge in the playoffs yet…neither has the Capitals, Sharks, Blues, etc..

I use the Ricky Bobby mentality “You’re either first or last…”

losing in the 1st round of the playoffs is no different than losing in the finals, you’re still a loser… Nobody hangs a banner for reaching the 3rd round…

homerk wrote:

And meanwhile Alex Tuch and Eric Haula thought they were being banished to the desert.

I’ve always been a fan of HOLLLLLAAAAA
It’s to bad he didn’t fit in Minnesota other than when he played top 6 when others were injured…when he did that he showed some good flashes…yeo clearly didn’t like him and never gave him a chance I feel..its only 1 year but I feel as tho he would and could have been a better offensive producer than Coyle…i think they see the size diff and take coyle…but uhh yea that’s not workin out real well…hes not a bad player by any means I mean he is in the nhl he just need to figure it out on how he needs to play the game to excel nd then stick to it…seems like he plays a diff game every time he s on the ice

Greenway I think can and will be a beast once he gets up to speed in the nhl..only a small sample size this year but I could see big things from him
If they could get kap over here somehow some way that would help because he has a true knack to make stuff happen
As far as foligno he started out the season as a ball of fire…i do believe breaking his face against Chicago changed his game from there on out he wasn’t nearly as physical as he has been in the past

Unfortunately it’s a team game and u can’t exactly point fingers…they just got out played by Winnipeg and winni will be a tough team to beat for years to come with the core they have

That no call defiantly cost us the game we were on power play staal hits the ice lays there and skates offkilling prob 45 sec of pp. If the call was made we would have had a min and a half of 5 on 3.

I votevthat nobody can use the words rebuild or blow it up unless you can explain realistically who needs to go and what we get for it.

You want to get rid of aging players? Well I’d be surprised if Cullen plays another season in the NHL. If he does, I’d be glad to see him in a green jersey.

Koivu can go in my opinion but he probably isn’t even worth a 3rd round draft pick.

Suter and Parise aren’t going anywhere. Forget about it.

Coyle? Sure. Better get a second round pick or better.

Nino, I’ll wait him out another year. He’s he’s shown good potential.

Granny. Keep him. I think he makes our team better.

Zucker. Now you are talking about rebuilding. He needs to go if that’s what you want. He’s your ticket for a first round pick.

Dumba. Another popular choice to offload but I think he makes this team better. Remember what happened with Burns? Don’t do it again.

Staal. Old, would make a good late season sell off. Might get a prospect or a 2-3 round pick.

Good luck with your rebuilding.

deertracker wrote:

We didn’t score on a 5 on 3. We scored on the 5 on 4.
DT

Its splitting hairs I guess. The 1st penalty had just expired and we scored on what was left of the second penalty. We were 5 on 3 for well over a minute.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>slabz wrote:</div>
Missed call no doubt, but it didn’t cost us the game.

IDK, it certainly would have made a huge difference to have a 5 on 3 PP then a 5 on 4. That happened in game 3 and they got a PP goal, so yeah, I think it did cost us the game.
The refs swallowed their whistles because we were already on the PP. Simple as that, but pathetic.

There was also a missed hold (and/or tackle) on Ennis in the 1st before the Stahl crosscheck that would have been an additional PP. The “Penalty Light” hook called on Koivu also shortened a PP. Playing the “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda” game anyone of those instances could have played an impact.

The Wild however never mounted a push in the third. Winnipeg was very effective on the backcheck. Anti-climatic finish.

That hooking call on MK was laughable after a non call on a stick to the face.

biggill wrote:

I votevthat nobody can use the words rebuild or blow it up unless you can explain realistically who needs to go and what we get for it.

You want to get rid of aging players? Well I’d be surprised if Cullen plays another season in the NHL. If he does, I’d be glad to see him in a green jersey.

Koivu can go in my opinion but he probably isn’t even worth a 3rd round draft pick.

Suter and Parise aren’t going anywhere. Forget about it.

Coyle? Sure. Better get a second round pick or better.

Nino, I’ll wait him out another year. He’s he’s shown good potential.

Granny. Keep him. I think he makes our team better.

Zucker. Now you are talking about rebuilding. He needs to go if that’s what you want. He’s your ticket for a first round pick.

Dumba. Another popular choice to offload but I think he makes this team better. Remember what happened with Burns? Don’t do it again.

Staal. Old, would make a good late season sell off. Might get a prospect or a 2-3 round pick.

Good luck with your rebuilding.

Yes there is the old reality of having to deal with contracts, opposing GMs, the panning out of prospects, etc.

It seems to me a lot of people like to under value older players. I always look to a case like Cullen. If an older player doesn’t have value why wasn’t Cullen replaced by some up and coming 25 year old 6 years ago? Where are all these budding prospects coming into their prime to bump out an aging player for a 3rd or 4th line spot?

If only it was as easy as FanDual.com…

biggill wrote:

I votevthat nobody can use the words rebuild or blow it up unless you can explain realistically who needs to go and what we get for it.

You want to get rid of aging players? Well I’d be surprised if Cullen plays another season in the NHL. If he does, I’d be glad to see him in a green jersey.

Koivu can go in my opinion but he probably isn’t even worth a 3rd round draft pick.

Suter and Parise aren’t going anywhere. Forget about it.

Coyle? Sure. Better get a second round pick or better.

Nino, I’ll wait him out another year. He’s he’s shown good potential.

Granny. Keep him. I think he makes our team better.

Zucker. Now you are talking about rebuilding. He needs to go if that’s what you want. He’s your ticket for a first round pick.

Dumba. Another popular choice to offload but I think he makes this team better. Remember what happened with Burns? Don’t do it again.

Staal. Old, would make a good late season sell off. Might get a prospect or a 2-3 round pick.

Good luck with your rebuilding.

A team is constantly building, rebuilding, retooling, moving pieces around. Not sure if you want everything to stay the same because of loyalty to RS and ZP, or what?

I’m all for keeping RS and Zach. We all get rebuilding and getting to the playoffs isn’t easy. But the fan base knows the window for the two or three big contracts is shrinking and considering injuries is looking more problematic towards a future run with this line up. Doesn’t mean they aren’t loyal fans or ignorant to how hard it is to build or rebuild a hockey team. It’s a deep rooted frustration in first round flops.

As far as realistically on this team’s future, three to four years tops and RS/ZP will be worthless players, unless a solid team is built around them. MK will finish, lol, his career in a wild sweater and he’s owed that imo. So we will have spent years on the RS/ZP experience, and there’s very little tangible net gain, other than getting to the playoffs and flopping in the first round. Who’s fault is it? Who knows? But the fan base as a whole has grown tired of just getting to the playoffs. Like it or not, that’s the realistic reality of it.

tegg wrote:

If only it was as easy as FanDual.com…

Isn’t that the truth!? If only we could change our rosters for every game.

This is definitely an uphill battle, but one in which we have the potential to overcome, but it isn’t likely considering the key players we have lost already.

Hopefully Staal doesn’t have concussion symptoms, but honestly he didn’t look well after that hit.
Dubnyk has played very well for the most part. 2 softies in game 3, but otherwise I think he has definitely given us the chance to win in every game. Game 2 was a competitive game until our skaters decided not to leave the locker room after the second period.

One thing that’s obvious to me is there is a mentality problem. How else can you explain the lack of production in the playoffs year after year? Nobody wants it bad enough.

Also, Wild desperately need an enforcer on the team to protect the skill guys. It is embarrassing that nobody went after Morrisey last night after he brutally cross checked (our best player) in the head dropping him to the ice in a heap.

Get rid of Coyle I don’t care who you get, if anybody. Find an enforcer and more important a couple guys with a mean streak who want to win and maybe you can win with this core group. Maybe. Otherwise you will get the same pathetic playoff results you have been seeing year after year.

Biggest thing I am disappointed in was nobody stepped up for Staal and no push in the 3rd period – inexcusable.

Can this team beat any team in the division? Yes! Can they beat any central divisional team in a seven game playoff series? NO!
That has been proven over and over again.
But go ahead and tell us how good they are, if they only did this if they only did that.
Nonsense!
and FWIW-
That LOGO on the front of their Jersey is a Kitten

The team as a whole ignored he got hit. I get it’s an old school hockey mentality, but he needed to be targeted after that hit. If that would have happened to almost any other team, there would have been an all out attack on him, especially on home ice. There was nothing. Greenway was the only one who seemed to want to put some stink on that game.

It goes without saying, this team is soft and RS hasn’t showed any grit in situations like that where his presence would have changed that at all.

I don’t want to get rid of RS/ZP/MK, but they gotta figure out something or nothing will change. Team’s fight tooth and nail in the playoffs. The wild skate and try, but there’s absolutely no push back or grit to fight through and win ugly game’s. After the hit, nobody would go to the front of the net. ZP might have tried, but it’s pretty obvious his body can’t take that abuse. And that’s a fact, not anti wild, ignorant, non loyalty to the team. This team needs help and turning a blind eye to that is bizarre, when it’s so glaringly obvious.

Totally agree with basseyes

We have no “muscle” on team. We don’t need a goon, just someone to step up that shows we wont take that crap!

I suspect we’ll hear that Nino was playing hurt for most of the 2nd half of the season and has surgery after the season is over with, he just doesn’t look at all like the player we’ve seen the past few years…

Maybe Zucker’s playoff slump will help with his contract negotiations? (getting a better deal capwise) We can’t let him go, he’s the closest thing we have to a sniper right now until Kaprizov comes over…

Coyle….no idea what to do with him, maybe pay for an offseason shrink to retool his mind…at least his contract isn’t silly so maybe they wait it out another year…I’d hate to get rid of him and then he turns into a legit power forward somewhere else…

Dumba has shown me enough to sign him to a 2 year “Prove it” extension similar to Granlund a few years ago…You just don’t find Offensive Defensemen entering their prime ever becoming available to sign…