MN Wild 2018-19 Official Thread

Dutchboy wrote:

OK, so who are their core players? Who do they have that can dominate a series?

EXACTLY

They needed to shake up the core because they were never going to win with that group. Not to mention it was the most boring brand of hockey I think I’ve ever watched. Slow, stagnant, no shots, no creativity, no passion. I saw a stat a few weeks ago that the Wild have the most 2-1’s without a shot in the league. And it’s not even close.

I’m not sure about the Granlund trade yet but I’ve heard Fiala is a guy that could turn into a big time player. I’m just glad we have finally realized this team needed a big change.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I’m reserving any more criticism on him until after Free Agency and the Draft to see what his full vision looks like.

I would like to say that as far as the draft goes, Fenton can only improve over last year’s performance. Taking a D man in R1????? And then taking 5 centers/wings in R2 onward? Still trying to figure out what he was thinking given all his subsequent moves with the team have involved trying to improve the offense.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
I’m reserving any more criticism on him until after Free Agency and the Draft to see what his full vision looks like.

I would like to say that as far as the draft goes, Fenton can only improve over last year’s performance. Taking a D man in R1????? And then taking 5 centers/wings in R2 onward? Still trying to figure out what he was thinking given all his subsequent moves with the team have involved trying to improve the offense.

Grouse

I absolutely agree on the 1st round pick last year, it looks like an absolute bust and he needs to be held more accountable for it. I’ve repeatedly asked Russo to comment on it and never get an answer…

Wow, Fenton actually mentioned Kaprizov as part of the young “new” core that will carry this team in the future, first time I can ever remember anybody mentioning his name on a telecast…

Wow!
DT

I’ll tell you what… the youth movement has given the Wild a shot of energy. Donato looks great. Ek, Greenway, and Kunin are contributing and getting better each night. I thought Fiala had a good first game. Great win at Winnipeg tonight.

Yeah what a fun win. Spurgeon sprawling out to block any passes at the end was awesome. I know they’ve won 4 in a row but I thinks this was Duby’s best performance out of the 4.

Dan wrote:

Yeah what a fun win. Spurgeon sprawling out to block any passes at the end was awesome. I know they’ve won 4 in a row but I thinks this was Duby’s best performance out of the 4.

He would certainly like that first one back, but the second one he really didn’t have much chance. He did come up big when it mattered.

I noticed a considerable increase in speed last night and Fiala is noticeably more intent on holding onto the puck versus just dumping it in behind the D. This is exactly what the advanced stats have said about him and glad to see it in his debut.

What a feed by Donato to Zucker and he actually finished!

Nice shot by Brad Hunt

lindyrig79 wrote:

I’ll tell you what… the youth movement has given the Wild a shot of energy. Donato looks great. Ek, Greenway, and Kunin are contributing and getting better each night. I thought Fiala had a good first game. Great win at Winnipeg tonight.

It sure is a good sign of things to come, I am liking what I see so far.
Zuckers game was there all night from the puck drop, I am curious as to what Fenton was offered at the deadline. He came out and proved they made the right call in keeping him.
Not so sure about Aberg on one 2nd period shift, he was tossed aside like a rag doll.
The effort on each shift was there, it was a good back and forth competitive game for all three periods.

That was a fun game to watch and damn did Zucker get close to having another quick goal to start the game.

I’ve been a big hater on Ek for almost his whole short Wild career but glad to see him show some fight and poke that goal through. Also, you can definitely see that Fiala has some speed and some great puck handling skill.

That was one of the most fun games I’ve seen in a long time. No idea whether the trades were good or bad, but you can’t look at them in a vacuum right now. Maybe in 3 years, but regardless of the balance in talent traded it sure seems to have lit a fire under the guys here and opened up opportunities for a lot of guys that were getting 3rd/4th line run, which is a factor too imo.

I think Coyle and Nino stunted Eks development because he rarely got to play a top 6 role. In fact you can throw Koivu, Granlund and Zucker in there too. Now guys like Greenway, Ek, Donato, Kunin have a legit chance of developing.

mplspug wrote:

I think Coyle and Nino stunted Eks development because he rarely got to play a top 6 role. In fact you can throw Koivu, Granlund and Zucker in there too. Now guys like Greenway, Ek, Donato, Kunin have a legit chance of developing.

Agreed 100%. Those guys since they have been with us so long had been cemented in the lineup, on special teams situations right/wrong/otherwise. Now with the departure of some guys the young ones are getting a legit chance. Ek has been great on the PK since he has been given a chance.
It only helps these guys grow with ice time in all situations.

Wow, the Wild sure do have the Jets’ number. 4 games. 4 wins. One more for the season sweep. Think the Wild are in the Jet’s head a little?

Granted it helps that crosschecking in front of the goal is now suddenly a penalty in the NHL where for some reason the Jets got to do it all they wanted last year.

I’m also glad that Ek is developing, but this is a good reminder that young players take time. Remember the guys who were cracking Pierre Marc Granlund jokes back in his first and second year with the Wild and wanted him gone? And you guys who wanted Dumba gone after his first and second season? Drafting in the second half of R1 as the Wild have done isn’t’ going to give us many league ready players.

Game highlights for me:

Hunt. What a sniper shot!

Donato. There can be no doubt that he has some skills and losing Granlund as a play maker hurts less with Donato.

The whole wild team is back in Never Say Die mode. Nobody was slacking or giving up. This was a Wild attribute that Wild had in years past, lost, and now are showing again. Need a goal to tie it in the 3rd? Stand by. Don’t want to play for the tie? Keep at it and ram one home, then. It just has to drive the Jets crazy, they had to be thinking they finally put the skate on the other foot and they had the Wild right where they wanted them with a late lead and a late power play.

Game 5 of this series is going to be awesome. The Wild may have a nice little payback chance to knock the Jets down a level in the playoffs and deny them an easier matchup for R1. The Jets and Preds are 1 point apart and I can’t see either team opening up a big lead on the other.

Grouse

Sunday night will be fun when the Predators and Grandlund show up!

With the exception of maybe the Coyotes, is there another team that has had fewer offensive stars than the MN wild? I was just thinking about this today and I looked it up. In the entire ~20 year history of our team we have had ONE player put up more than a point per game over the course of an entire season, Gaborik in 2007-2008.

That is the only season by a Wild player of more than 80 points. There are only 4 seasons of 70 or more points!

Is it just because apart from maybe our first couple years we’ve never really been a total bottom feeder team and so we haven’t had top draft picks? Timing of when we do have top draft picks? Coaching philosophy? Development abilities?

I mean seriously, look at the ‘best’ offensive season by MN wild players:

http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20002001&seasonTo=20172018&gameType=2&playerPlayedFor=team.30&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=points,goals,assists

woof.

philtickelson wrote:

Is it just because apart from maybe our first couple years we’ve never really been a total bottom feeder team and so we haven’t had top draft picks? Timing of when we do have top draft picks? Coaching philosophy? Development abilities?

We have never had very high draft picks. Plus we were too good early which meant we were drafting lower. Heck, we made the Conference Finals in what the 3rd season? Our drafting early on was terrible. Look at some of those early names under Risebrough sheesh.

philtickelson wrote:

With the exception of maybe the Coyotes, is there another team that has had fewer offensive stars than the MN wild? I was just thinking about this today and I looked it up. In the entire ~20 year history of our team, we have had ONE player put up more than a point per game over the course of an entire season, Gaborik in 2007-2008.

You’re exactly right and as I’ve pointed out earlier in this thread, the Wild have tremendously overachieved given how badly they got screwed in their initial expansion draft AND the absolutely TERRIBLE performance of their GM Riseboro who objectively speaking is the worst GM in modern history as far as draft picks. We also struggled for years with a newbie coach that never should have been behind the bench.

I would love to know if there is any team that has had so many front office effups and still managed to appear in 6 straight playoffs?

I know that nothing matters unless you’ve won the cup, blah, blah, blah, all that TMSF BS, but setting aside that cr@p, the Wild as a team have managed to be very successful given what they had to work with.

If the Wild want to experience even more success and go fruther, to me the #1 issue the ownership needs to fix is to stop making front office effups. But I’m not convinced that they haven’t made yet ANOTHER screwup in hiring rookie GM Fenton…

Grouse

I get to watch Chahlee Coyle tonight.

mplspug wrote:

I get to watch Chahlee Coyle tonight.

Please describe the thrill to us in detail.

Grouse

Typical Coyle.

mplspug wrote:

Typical Coyle.

Yep. He has been the same Coyle we always saw.

Not that was anything wrong with that.

mplspug wrote:

Typical Coyle.

In 3 games with Boston he has a grand total of 2 shots on net and a -1, Boston fans must be feeling like they got “Rasked”

JoeMX1825 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mplspug wrote:</div>
Typical Coyle.

In 3 games with Boston he has a grand total of 2 shots on net and a -1, Boston fans must be feeling like they got “Rasked”

That Fenton fella is making some shrewd moves.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>philtickelson wrote:</div>
Is it just because apart from maybe our first couple years we’ve never really been a total bottom feeder team and so we haven’t had top draft picks? Timing of when we do have top draft picks? Coaching philosophy? Development abilities?

We have never had very high draft picks. Plus we were too good early which meant we were drafting lower. Heck, we made the Conference Finals in what the 3rd season? Our drafting early on was terrible. Look at some of those early names under Risebrough sheesh.

I always thought the early Risebrough years were the better draft years: Gaborik, Schultz, Koivu and Burns. After that the bottom fell out. Best pick over a six year period may have been Clutterbuck.

The other thing was Lemaire used that trap system that didn’t lead to a lot of scoring. Sitting thru some of the 2000s games you knew when the opponent scored 2 goals the game was over.

Another W for the Wild

To those who could see the rut that the Wild were stuck in.
To all who recognized the changes that were needed.
To Wild who have driven the new attitude that is clearly seen in the Games.
To 60 minutes of competition through out the game.
To Fenton- Boudreaux- Leopold

It’s a good day to be a Wild Hockey fan.

Yeah good game, lots of hustle at the end for the guys to stay ahead.

Such a weird position to be in right now as a fan. If I had to bet I would say they won’t win the Stanley Cup, and this is likely not Fenton’s final product that will take the ice next fall. So we have this incomplete/to-be-determined team on one hand, and on the other that same team is on a hot streak with some real good play and wins…..I’d dare say this is almost win/win as a fan right now.