MN Wild 2019-2020 Official Thread

Cool to see Greenway step up for a teammate at the right time like that, but he was lucky to get out of there with his face intact! He probably needs a new helmet with all the heavy fists Nurse landed. With his size he’s going to be forced into that role a few times each season… especially if he keeps playing with Kunin and Ek who seem to drive opponents absolutely bonkers.

It’s really refreshing to see this group of 22 year olds find their role on the team. Will they ever be stars who can carry the load? Probably not, but it sure seems like these 3 are more than willing to play a heavy physical game that will translate well to (touch wood) playoff hockey.

Greenway needs to spend some time watching tape of Willie Plett and Al Secord going a few rounds and pick up some tips!

Recap of the last 3 games.

First off, for those who were ready to trade Dubnyk and go with a Staylock/Kappo combo, we need Kappo to stop giving up 4+ goals per game.

I was at the Edmonton game, and Kappo was AWFUL. Where are you guys who are always on Dubnyk about letting in “soft” goals? Kappo let in 3 soft goals that game, you guys should have been having kittens and calling for him to be sent down to minor leagues in Equador.

BTW, for a prime example of how going all in on offense fails miserably, just look the Wild vs Connor McDefenseless and his band of merry/defensively-challenged men.

The Wild freaking victimized McDefenseless. He was -1 for the game, which is especially appalling considering he had a goal and an assist. Do the math on that one. So 2 personal points and he ends up at a -1! Hmmmm. That’s not good there, Connor. A laughable result. Should have used one of those #1 picks on a goaltender or some D.

The Wild just needed better goaltending against Chicago. Our offense is clicking, but we just can’t Edmonton it and try to win every game by scoring 5 goals or more. We need some stops.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Recap of the last 3 games.

First off, for those who were ready to trade Dubnyk and go with a Staylock/Kappo combo, we need Kappo to stop giving up 4+ goals per game.

I was at the Edmonton game, and Kappo was AWFUL. Where are you guys who are always on Dubnyk about letting in “soft” goals? Kappo let in 3 soft goals that game, you guys should have been having kittens and calling for him to be sent down to minor leagues in Equador.

BTW, for a prime example of how going all in on offense fails miserably, just look the Wild vs Connor McDefenseless and his band of merry/defensively-challenged men.

The Wild freaking victimized McDefenseless. He was -1 for the game, which is especially appalling considering he had a goal and an assist. Do the math on that one. So 2 personal points and he ends up at a -1! Hmmmm. That’s not good there, Connor. A laughable result. Should have used one of those #1 picks on a goaltender or some D.

The Wild just needed better goaltending against Chicago. Our offense is clicking, but we just can’t Edmonton it and try to win every game by scoring 5 goals or more. We need some stops.

Grouse

ummm, Kaapo has been pretty dang good…The goals against the Oilers involved 3 complete defensive breakdowns resulting in top of the crease goals (Klefbom, McDavid and Neal) a fanned on point blank shot by Draisital, and a unreal top corner tipped shot by Haas…hardly much to blame Kappo on…The Blackhawks goals involved a crazy quick wrap around by Kane that just went over the line and 3 deflected shots Kaapo had no chance on…

McDefensless in 0 +/- sofar this season while leading the league in scoring…Name another elite scorer who plays great defense?

What the heck do the Wild do when Dubs comes back? of the 15 goals Kaapo’s let in, at the very least 5 of those we deflections he had no chance on…How can you send him back down to Iowa and say you’re giving your team the best chance to win?

another thing to talk about is just how good Brodin and Soucy have been lately…being over +10 on this team as a full time player is saying something…

on the other end Dumba was dropped to the 3rd pair recently…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

another thing to talk about is just how good Brodin and Soucy have been lately…being over +10 on this team as a full time player is saying something…

on the other end Dumba was dropped to the 3rd pair recently…

Soucy and Brodin are absolute studs right now. I cannot believe how well they are both playing. Brodin it isnt that surprising because he is a veteran and quietly just is always steady out there, but Soucy!? Where did that come from?

People, like myself, dont get wound up about Kahkonen letting in 4 goals for 2 reasons: 1) VERY few of them are weak goals 2) He’s a rookie.
Goalies take time and the fact that he has won 3 games for us is pretty dang good in his first ever call up.
As cruel as it would be considering his wife’s health, the Wild should trade Dubnyk. I’d be fine riding out this season with the other two.
At least with those two you dont have a clear #1 that expects to see the ice 80 plus percent of the time.

I dont care to put much stock in all the special analytics, but I believe it was MoneyPuck put out the playoff odds for each round and odds for Cup Champion late last week.
The Wild, yes, the Wild have the 4th best odds to win the Stanley Cup. Its a funny thing they have done for the last several years and last year on Feb 8th they had the Blues with the highest odds to win the Stanley Cup. At that point they hadnt even fully made their comeback yet after they dug an enormous hole.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

ummm, Kaapo has been pretty dang good…The goals against the Oilers involved 3 complete defensive breakdowns resulting in top of the crease goals (Klefbom, McDavid and Neal) a fanned on point blank shot by Draisital, and a unreal top corner tipped shot by Haas…hardly much to blame Kappo on…The Blackhawks goals involved a crazy quick wrap around by Kane that just went over the line and 3 deflected shots Kaapo had no chance on…

Sorry, but Kaapo did not lock the post on that wrap and he was beat cleanly on a non screened shot against Edmonton. No way you can have a team give up double digits in goals over 2 starts and say the goalie played pretty dang good.

McDefenseless is tied for the points lead. Pastrnak and Eichel both have more goals AND have +12 and +14 ratings respectively. You don’t need to sell out to score goals.

In fact of the top 10 goal scores in the league now, only 3 have worse +/- ratings than McDefenseless and one of those other 3 is Draisaitl.

Grouse

It’s finally here… Grouse’s annual listing of the guys with more goals than McDavid. My favorite Festivus tradition!

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

McDavid is no Ovechkin. Or Kucherov, or Point, or Rantenen, or Skinner, or Pasternak… He’s not even in the top 20 in goals and he’s currently got 1 more than Parise. Exciting to watch? Yes. Best player in NHL? Not even close currently.

Grouse

Well, it looks like you guys got your answer. Kaapo Sent back to Iowa. Now I just hope the Wild can keep the momentum going & Dubs can get back to his solid playing ways. Seeing Kahkonen play does possibly open up a trade with Dubnyk. I think his value will depend on how he preforms from here on out. I hope Duby comes back & plays lights out personally.

IceNEyes1986 wrote:

Well, it looks like you guys got your answer. Kaapo Sent back to Iowa. Now I just hope the Wild can keep the momentum going & Dubs can get back to his solid playing ways. Seeing Kahkonen play does possibly open up a trade with Dubnyk. I think his value will depend on how he preforms from here on out. I hope Duby comes back & plays lights out personally.

Well we will at least get to see if the goalie situation was the reason the team played with more confidence. This stretch will also prove whether Dubnyk stays or goes. Should be interesting.

I am going on record as saying I hate West “coast” games. Sure glad we are no longer in the Pacific. No wonder I watch more Wild games the last several years. That is just too damn late.

Not surprised that Kahkonen was sent back and glad to see Dubnyk making the roadtrip, but he most likely wont get a start in the near future because he has been out so much.

I know there hasnt been much in the way of specifics on what exactly is wrong with Dubnyk’s wife, but it sounds like they are extremely lucky that Devan came back when he did because she was in dire straights. Man, I cannot imagine what the worst outcome of that could have been, but home alone with 3 young kids? Woof. Sounds like she has a good support system now to help her out enough to let Devan rejoin the team, but certainly doesnt sound like she is out of the woods or they have any real definitive answers.

You heard it here first
Worst to first baby!

Or maybe you heard it in St.Louie first
You heard it here Second then

tswoboda wrote:

It’s finally here… Grouse’s annual listing of the guys with more goals than McDavid.

Despite everyone else moving on, some Minnesota fans are still addicted to the idea of the mythical Showhorse Savior. Ohhhh, ahhhhh, look at McDavid. If only… That “pure goal scorer” (whatever that is) that makes everything all better. The mythical Showhorse Savior will come and score 90 goals and have 200 points and most importantly lead the league in style points and all our woes would ago away as we trample teams all the way to glory.

I get it. I understand why they have the fantasy. A lot of casual fans have a lot of pent up frustration that MN has never had “the guy”. You know, “the guy” who has his name on the back of 90% of the team merch sold. We didn’t get the Vegas “team in a box” expansion, we’ve never had a string of R1 top 5 picks, etc. Yep, a lot of pent up frustration and for some reason McDavid seems to fit this ideal of “the guy”.

Just pointing out the truth, there are a lot of players who do a lot more for a hockey team than McDavid does for his. Edmonton’s record (or lack thereof) in the McDavid era more than proves this to be fact. Having “the guy” is meaningless in today’s league unless you have the other pieces and under today’s salary cap restrictions, having “the guy” can be a mixed blessing with big contracts limiting cap space and preventing the filling of other needs like, cough, cough, defense.

In other news, Kappo sent down for more seasoning. Don’t get me wrong, I think we have something there and he had 2 good starts, but the last 2 games were just not showing what the Wild are going to need from a rotation goalie yet. The positive thing here is that Bruce and Bill get that and are not forcing the issue when we have options.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
ummm, Kaapo has been pretty dang good…The goals against the Oilers involved 3 complete defensive breakdowns resulting in top of the crease goals (Klefbom, McDavid and Neal) a fanned on point blank shot by Draisital, and a unreal top corner tipped shot by Haas…hardly much to blame Kappo on…The Blackhawks goals involved a crazy quick wrap around by Kane that just went over the line and 3 deflected shots Kaapo had no chance on…

Sorry, but Kaapo did not lock the post on that wrap and he was beat cleanly on a non screened shot against Edmonton. No way you can have a team give up double digits in goals over 2 starts and say the goalie played pretty dang good.

McDefenseless is tied for the points lead. Pastrnak and Eichel both have more goals AND have +12 and +14 ratings respectively. You don’t need to sell out to score goals.

In fact of the top 10 goal scores in the league now, only 3 have worse +/- ratings than McDefenseless and one of those other 3 is Draisaitl.

Grouse

Goalies are over rated all it takes is a good goalie to get hot.
High scoring forwards are in top demand throughout the NHL.

See Taylor Hall trade.

That kid running the coyotes is all over the place.

Is it me or has Hunt looked really bad the last couple games?

mahtofire14 wrote:

Is it me or has Hunt looked really bad the last couple games?

Hunt hasn’t been good, but Dumba has been awful in all aspects of his game. He may be playing hurt for the last month. The new guy they brought up I forget his name #61 isn’t ready to play in the NHL. We need Spurg back.

Dumba has been playing like he did 3 years ago when I wanted to dump him. Sheesh is he fighting it right now.

When is NHL Player safety going to do something about those cross checks to the lower back in front of the net? Im so sick of watching it regardless of who is playing and its almost never called. Staal gets chopped in the back and then brought to the ice and chopped some more.

This is going to be a tough stretch now with the injuries piling up. Zucker week to week, Spurgeon nearing a return, but Koivu is going to be out a while.

CaptainMusky wrote:

When is NHL Player safety going to do something about those cross checks to the lower back in front of the net?

You have to break your stick to get called now apparently. Someone broke their stick on greenways back and finally got called for it.

biggill wrote:

You have to break your stick to get called now apparently. Someone broke their stick on greenways back and finally got called for it.

Yeah, its just dumb. There was a player who hardly even hit a guy in front of the net the other night, think it was the Flyers game, not even a two-hander and he got a penalty. It was funny as heck watching him complain about it since nothing is ever called and this one certainly shouldnt have, but one can hope the remove that from the game. No wonder Parise had lower back problems.

CaptainMusky wrote:

When is NHL Player safety going to do something about those cross checks to the lower back in front of the net? Im so sick of watching it regardless of who is playing and its almost never called.

It’s usually called just as soon as teams like the Wild do it to a brand name player on a division leading team.

But last night was typical NHL refereeing. You won’t see it called in the Wilds favor unless the stick breaks. Talk about a double standard Staal was getting crosschecked in the back while he was laying on the ice and no call.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
When is NHL Player safety going to do something about those cross checks to the lower back in front of the net? Im so sick of watching it regardless of who is playing and its almost never called.

It’s usually called just as soon as teams like the Wild do it to a brand name player on a division leading team.

But last night was typical NHL refereeing. You won’t see it called in the Wilds favor unless the stick breaks. Talk about a double standard Staal was getting crosschecked in the back while he was laying on the ice and no call.

Grouse

Usually it starts in the playoffs though. None of the rules seem to be called in the postseason.

Part of the reason the wild have been so limp in the post season is they can’t handle the toughness of the playoff grind, or stand up for themselves or their team mates. When Staal took the stick to the face was the day it really became apparent how listless this club is. Utterly no push back even kind of. Just tucked their tale like a defeated, whipped dog.

basseyes wrote:

Utterly no push back even kind of. Just tucked their tale like a defeated, whipped dog.

The problem is you can’t go out there and retaliate in a close game or you risk handing Vegas at least a PP. Not good in a close game, you could easily give away the game winner.

The problem is with the sucky-ass refs that STILL refuse to call this penalty. It reminds me of the rampant glove slashing that used to go one a couple of years back, where slashing wasn’t slashing as long as you hacked the guy in the hands. Then Crosby got his thumb broke and suddenly it’s getting called every time. What a shock.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

The problem is with the sucky-ass refs that STILL refuse to call this penalty. It reminds me of the rampant glove slashing that used to go one a couple of years back, where slashing wasn’t slashing as long as you hacked the guy in the hands. Then Crosby got his thumb broke and suddenly it’s getting called every time. What a shock.

Grouse

Doesn’t fit the narrative, but Crosby was the one who did the hacking… He crushed Marc Methot’s finger. That play used to happen 50 times a game but when Crosby did it, it was national news with people calling for his suspension.

It’s great the clutching, grabbing, and hacking is slowly going away. I’m sure the cross checks will follow suit, but the exception is still that anything goes in front of the net. There’s no rule that says the front of the net is any different but for whatever reason it’s open season on any forward that goes anywhere near the crease whether or not the puck close.

tswoboda wrote:

Doesn’t fit the narrative, but Crosby was the one who did the hacking… He crushed Marc Methot’s finger. That play used to happen 50 times a game but when Crosby did it, it was national news with people calling for his suspension.

Okay that’s probably correct. I remembered Crosby was somehow involved in it but I thought it was actually his finger that got broken.

any way that seems to be what it takes. A big brand player from a Big Brand team has to get the league’s attention somehow.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Okay that’s probably correct. I remembered Crosby was somehow involved in it but I thought it was actually his finger that got broken.

Grouse

I think Methot lost part of that finger from Crosby’s slash.

Are there even goalies playing in this game???

What is going On? Wow!
DT

Kuemper never should have chirped the first time he played us this year. Wild have owned him ever since. He has great numbers against all other teams, but the Wild.
What an outburst and with some key players missing. Good to see the scoring throughout the lineup.
Donato is kinda warming up a bit with that snipe shot and Hunt had an incredible goal.