MN Wild 2019-2020 Official Thread

I watched the replay highlights this morning and wow the Coyotes played some of the worst defense i’ve ever seen, it looked like they just flat out gave up several times and that led to goals…I was surprised to see Dubs in the net and as expected he was pretty rusty…

I’m excited to watch the World Junior Tourney over the next two weeks, interested in watching the Wild’s Khovanov for the first time…sure would have been nice to watch our last 2 first overall picks, but sadly they didn’t make their respective teams..

Dubnyk didnt look great, but he did end up with 35 saves. There wasnt much defense played by either team TBH.
Kuemper looks to have a serious injury late in the game. Im sure he’s pissed he was still in there, but the game at that point was 7-5. Groin or knee injury it appeared and he had a history of both when he was here.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Are there even goalies playing in this game???

Well, they weren’t playing very well, that’s for sure. The upside is that I think Doob will return to form after he plays off some of the rust. Just can’t replicate an NHL game in practice.

The good news is that unlike past years where the Wild were just so anemic on offense, we’re back to the point where we have multiple lines that can score and make it tough for the other side to take advantage of parings.

Zuccarello might be the best passer we’ve ever had. It makes Fectard Fenton’s under-valued trade of Grandlund sting a little less. What a pass last night.

After watching last night, oh did we dodge a bullet when Kessel shot down Fenton’s proposed trade of Zucker for Kessel. Yes, Kessel scored, but that would have been just an awful giveaway and Zucker would be haunting the Wild for years after Kessel retires.

Now could the Wild please figure out how to NOT give up 2 goal leads in the third? On the plus side, it makes for exciting hockey all the way to the end… Bruce has probably had 2 years taken off his lifespan just this year with all these late leads given up.

Great to see the Wild pot an empty netter however. That’s been lacking as well, it was feeling like that last playoff series against the Avs where the Wild could not make them pay for pulling the goalie.

Grouse

Another thing worth noting is the fact that in the last couple weeks people arent complaining about Rask. Because he has actually been playing pretty well. Which is a great sign, I still think he isnt on the team next year with that contract, but at least he is playing well and not sitting in the press box (he has had to play because of the injuries).

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Great to see the Wild pot an empty netter however. That’s been lacking as well, it was feeling like that last playoff series against the Avs where the Wild could not make them pay for pulling the goalie.

Grouse

OMG, I have flashbacks to Patrick Roy’s smug face from that playoff series every single game that ends with a pulled goalie. No doubt they’ve learned to try and score on the EN from anywhere rather than just chip it out and play defense.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Another thing worth noting is the fact that in the last couple weeks people arent complaining about Rask. Because he has actually been playing pretty well. Which is a great sign, I still think he isnt on the team next year with that contract, but at least he is playing well and not sitting in the press box (he has had to play because of the injuries).

Wouldn’t it be great if he stayed in the lineup and played well enough for BG to move him this season… I have to image they’d take literally anything in return (aside from an equally bad or even worse contract, if that actually exists). Otherwise I can’t see how he isn’t bought out this summer… They have EE and Sturm as bottom 6 centers for under half the cost with their best years in front of them.

tswoboda wrote:

Wouldn’t it be great if he stayed in the lineup and played well enough for BG to move him this season… I have to image they’d take literally anything in return (aside from an equally bad or even worse contract, if that actually exists). Otherwise I can’t see how he isn’t bought out this summer… They have EE and Sturm as bottom 6 centers for under half the cost with their best years in front of them.

That would certainly be something. He plays well enough, gets some good tape out there and a contending team makes a trade for him at the deadline to add depth. He actually doesnt even look that slow out there right now and he has been winning a few faceoffs which was one of the many knocks on him.

I don’t know if the wild are pretenders at this point, but I will say adversity is good. Coach Cooper warned all last year that the lightning weren’t having to deal with adversity and it bit them in the end. I am glad the lightning had a slow start.

CaptainMusky wrote:

That would certainly be something. He plays well enough, gets some good tape out there and a contending team makes a trade for him at the deadline to add depth. He actually doesnt even look that slow out there right now and he has been winning a few faceoffs which was one of the many knocks on him.

I played this same routine through my head… the problem is what contending team is willing to take on $4M over the next two seasons? Only potential I see is a playoff bubble team short on center depth but with a surplus of cap space… Oops, I think I just described the Wild. Did anyone hire Paul Fenton, yet?

mahtofire14 wrote:

Are there even goalies playing in this game???

Not when Dubnyk is in the line up.

more bad news for the wild, zucker out 6-8 weeks, broken leg. the injury bug has hit this team bad this year. he actually started playing better, scoring on some breakaways of late.

I heard it was only 4-6. Let’s hope its more along those lines.

To think he actually finished the dang game with a broken leg should ease anyone’s concerns over him playing through something. I realize its a non-weight bearing bone, but still.

Nice win in CO tonight. Zuccurelo and Rask with 3rd period goals. Ek had another one reversed on an offsides review in which somebody’s skate was still on the ice during a line change. Personally not a fan of some of these ticky tack reviews but what can you do

There’s no doubt they’ve been playing well the past month or so…and with the veteran injuries the young guns have been towing the line.

Most of these review calls I just don’t get, how could they not feel McKinnon kicked that in? It seemed very obvious…

A nice win for sure. Dubnyk gives up 4 but he wasn’t getting much help in front of the net at times it was a shooting gallery for the Avalanche a few times.

They are definitely a hard working team. I saw a lot of back checking and forced turnovers. And most importantly, no quit.

I sure hope they keep this going and I have no reason to doubt they will. It’s fun to watch a team that may not have elite talent be able to play as well as they do

I LOVE how this team has weathered the adversity of the terrible start and instead of pulling the dressing room apart, EVERYONE who has real inside knowledge has said that it made this team the tightest knit Wild team they’ve ever seen.

That game against the Avalanche was just the Wild plain and simple beating the Avs in every category. The Wild outplayed Colorado in every way including some Grade A choice heavy hits dished out. No more Avalanche manhandling the little ol’ Wild. The Wild are just hell on these teams that are highly dependent on a star line like Colorado and Edmonton because we can match tough D lines against them and limit the damage, where they can’t match us when goals are coming from everybody including Victor Freaking Rask. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I don’t hate Rask anymore because he’s actually developed from the sh!t player he was when we got him.

Dubnyk played brilliantly in that game and again, I know all the Dubnyk haters are going to say, but, but, but he let in 4 goals. Yes and no other goalie in the league would have done any better on 3 deflections and a kicked in goal. He had zero chance on any of those. Dubnyk, since joining the Wild, is in the top 5 of all active goalies in all major stat categories and he made every stop he could have made in that game.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Most of these review calls I just don’t get, how could they not feel McKinnon kicked that in? It seemed very obvious…

Well, this is that old test of did the skate come off the ice or not. I have never understood how a kick becomes not a kick but a deflection as long as you kick the puck in the net without lifting your skate off the ice. But somehow, some way, that’s how the rule got interpreted.

And the Wild get the soul-crushing empty net dagger at the end to polish off the most complete game of the year. Good for the refs not buying the acting job at the end and not getting suckered into giving the Avs a power play.

Really a great game for the Wild.

Grouse

A off game by the Wild last night against the Islanders. They lacked some energy I thought and Dubnyk had a bad game.

I see Torts was at it again

That was classic Torts. Fined $20,000. He’s not wrong though and the result of that extra clock run off screwed them out of a game winning goal because the buzzer went off before the puck went in (about a half second). Add that time back in and its a good goal, no OT and their goalie wouldnt be hurt.
When I first saw the clip I had no idea why he was ranting, but did a bunch of digging to get the whole story. He has every right to be pissed.

In other NHL fine news. You guys see Stalock got fined $2,000 for embellishment from the Jets game? That was pretty pathetic.

Khovanov is playing really well for team Russia in the World Junior tourney and is getting alot of hype by the media covering it…could be another late round Russian gem of a prospect!

And he’s already signed by the Wild

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Khovanov is playing really well for team Russia in the World Junior tourney and is getting alot of hype by the media covering it…could be another late round Russian gem of a prospect!

And he’s already signed by the Wild

Did you read that article in the TheAthletic about him by Scott Wheeler?
Couple money quotes: “He’s a good player, he’s a playmaker, so we’re trying to find him a role to be more of a playmaker for us. He’s kind of like a solid, three-way, Jonny Toews style of hockey player as a guy who can help on defense and be productive on offense in terms of playmaking,” Larionov said.”

“Honestly, I think the kid has it all when it comes to skill set. He’s got soft hands, he’s got vision, he can wire it, and he can skate, too. When it comes to the skills, I think Khovanov has just about everything you need in an NHL player.”

Khovanov also scored the game winner today for Russia. USA got bounced by Finland 1-0. Cole Caufield had 1 goal, a game winner, but that is it in the whole tourney. Not a good one for him at all.

So did anyone ever see any reports from inside the Wild organization laying out what Fletcher’s problem was with drafting Russian players?

It seems like he would only grudgingly draft them when it became obvious that they had fallen to a silly stupid no brainier position. In the meantime he passed on how many other Russian players…

What was his issue?

Grouse

Russians playing in Canadian juniors or Russians playing in Russia?

mplspug wrote:

Russians playing in Canadian juniors or Russians playing in Russia?

Was there a difference to Fletcher?

The only other Russian besides Kaprisov that I can find that Fletcher drafted in his 9-year tenure was Dmitry Sokolov in 2016 and Andrei Svetlakov in 2017. Rounds 7 and 6 respectively.

It just seems that drafting 3 Russians total in 9 years and NONE of them higher than the 5th round begs the question, did Fletcher have some kind of problem with drafting Russian players?

Since Fletcher got fired, in just 2 drafts, the Wild have already equaled that mark with 3 Russians drafted and in Rounds 2, 3, and the lowest was in round 5.

It just seems to me that Fletcher took Russians only very late and only grudgingly.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Since Fletcher got fired, in just 2 drafts, the Wild have already equaled that mark with 3 Russians drafted and in Rounds 2, 3, and the lowest was in round 5.

Is this some kind of compliment toward Fentard?

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Was there a difference to Fletcher?

The only other Russian besides Kaprisov that I can find that Fletcher drafted in his 9-year tenure was Dmitry Sokolov in 2016 and Andrei Svetlakov in 2017. Rounds 7 and 6 respectively.

It just seems that drafting 3 Russians total in 9 years and NONE of them higher than the 5th round begs the question, did Fletcher have some kind of problem with drafting Russian players?

Since Fletcher got fired, in just 2 drafts, the Wild have already equaled that mark with 3 Russians drafted and in Rounds 2, 3, and the lowest was in round 5.

It just seems to me that Fletcher took Russians only very late and only grudgingly.

Grouse

In general most GMs are reluctant to sign Russian players who are signed or will likely sign in the KHL in fear of being able to get them here and into their system early. Such is the case with Kaprisov. The Russian players already playing in North America are MUCH more attractive to be drafted since they have already left their native country and the NHL can pretty much control their destiny while a KHL contract cannot be bought out.

biggill wrote:

Is this some kind of compliment toward Fentard?

Look, when it comes to managing the Wild’s draft, even the Fentard had ample opportunity to look good compared to what had gone before.

Risboro was literally the worst GM in modern NHL history as far as draft sense, and he was followed by a Fletcher who in all objective rankings was at his peak a C- draft player.

In view of the bar being set that low, Fentard actually managed to totally drop the ball on his first pick… But then he made a series of predictable, “obvious choice” selections and as an overall grade in the draft, to be fair I’d have to give him a C grade. Of course, he only lasted 2 drafts, so in typical Wild draft fashion, there was still plenty of downside potential…

Grouse