MN Wild 2019-2020 Official Thread

I’m just glad Zucker was able to come back. That looked pretty bad when he left the ice.

Ice Cap wrote:

Roenick was really dissing the Wild during pre game in particular the Spurgeon deal calling him a small second tier defenseman. I like JR but he has some sort of ax to grind with the Wild.

Is he wrong? What have the Wild ever done?

I agree with JoeMax from what I saw watching parts of the game. It is just one game though. I liked the play from most of the young guys, but they can’t carry a team.

I didn’t think the game was terrible, but not great either. I guess my expectations weren’t too high for opening the season up in Nashville. They are going to be one of the best in the league again this year & one of the hardest places to play. I mean, did you hear that crowd!? Wish we had that here.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Our older players really showed their age tonight and looked sooooo slow and always behind the play (I thought Suter looked fine though)

When Parise is losing every puck battle you know we’re in trouble…Zuccarello played terrible tonight too…The young guys showed flashes here and there but no consistency…

Unreal save by Dubs on Granny!

I agree with all of this. Way too many turnovers from lazy hockey. Zucker had many chances to bury the puck and Rinne stoned him every time. I think this game could have went ether way until only 1 team showed up for the 3rd period.. Couple more division games coming up & they will put into perspective where the Wild are at this year for me.

Bruce was having a fit on the bench last night and rightly so because the passing and puck management was just awful and against a team that you obviously can’t get away with that kind of play for long. I have a feeling the team is going to hear about it again in practice…

Rusty play from everyone except Doobs who looked solid and really was the only reason they were in this game at the start of the third.

Really some good games last night. IMO the NHL has done better at producing parity than any other sport in the modern era. Up and down the divisions there are strong teams and even after the season, nobody is going to have an easy conference path in the playoffs.

Grouse

I find some positives from the game, but definitely Staal and Parise were terrible. Dubnyk looked great, he had no chance on 1 of the goals, 1 was an empty netter, and one of the others shouldnt have been a goal at all because it was kicked.
Anyways, the young guys actually played pretty well overall. Zucker was flying around. Fiala didnt look too bad, but the PP certainly needs work.
They better figure out something for Parise and Staal because they are facing a faster team coming up.
I watched bits and pieces of a lot of games last night and there was a lot of sloppy slow play all over.
Its early.

You can really tell the older players are holding this team back right now…that’s not to say that the younger players are really doing much of anything, but lost puck battles, bad breakouts and defensive lapses all seem to hover around the older players being a step behind the play, hopefully they fix it soon or we’ll be in trouble…

I can’t say I watched a ton of Zuccarello play the past few years, but if he’s this slow now, what will he look like in years 3,4 & 5 of his contract? He looks like a JV player who’s been given a chance to play on the Varsity and sticks out like a sore thumb…He’s had a few decent passes, but that doesn’t make up for all his lapses so far…

BUT, it’s only two games, long season to fix things….

in positive news, Dubs & Dumba have looked really good so far and Kaprizov continues to lead the KHL in scoring, 18 points in 14 games including 10 goals…

lindyrig79 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Keith wrote:</div>
Roenick was really dissing the Wild during pre game in particular the Spurgeon deal calling him a small second tier defenseman. I like JR but he has some sort of ax to grind with the Wild.

Is he wrong? What have the Wild ever done?

He’s wrong about Spurgeon and he knows it. Small yes, but a second tier defensman he’s not. He’s a premier defenseman in this league and a lot of teams out there would love to have him. He has a offensive upside to go with it.
I’m not going to argue the uncompetitive status of the team currently but Spurgeon is not part of the problem. Roenick knows better.

Ice Cap wrote:

He’s wrong about Spurgeon and he knows it. Small yes, but a second tier defensman he’s not. He’s a premier defenseman in this league and a lot of teams out there would love to have him. He has a offensive upside to go with it.
I’m not going to argue the uncompetitive status of the team currently but Spurgeon is not part of the problem. Roenick knows better.

He also went on to say that Dubnyk was a great goal tender. I forget the wording of his statement, but he was either drunk or just lost for something to say because he couldnt have been more wrong on two statements.

Wait for it… wait for it…

CaptainMusky wrote:

He also went on to say that Dubnyk was a great goal tender. I forget the wording of his statement, but he was either drunk or just lost for something to say because he couldnt have been more wrong on two statements.

There it is. I knew the Doobs bashing would arrive sooner than later.

biggill wrote:

Wait for it… wait for it…

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
He also went on to say that Dubnyk was a great goal tender. I forget the wording of his statement, but he was either drunk or just lost for something to say because he couldnt have been more wrong on two statements.

There it is. I knew the Doobs bashing would arrive sooner than later.

Im not bashing Duby at all. Would you say he is a great goal tender? I dont think he is. He has certainly been a workhorse for us. I consider him a little better than average. He has played great IMO so far this season, which I mentioned in an earlier post, but he wears down every year since he logs so much ice time. That needs to be cut down, but we really have no one pushing him. I dont consider Stalock a solid #2.

His numbers suggest he’s a really good goalie, but he just fades in the big games/playoffs… He’s also prone to the lazy goal from time to time…His numbers also benefit a bit from our teams overall defensive focus…I think this is the reason for his early career troubles and why we got him so cheap…

biggill wrote:

There it is. I knew the Doobs bashing would arrive sooner than later.

Don’t worry. There will be plenty of bashing to go around this season.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

His numbers suggest he’s a really good goalie, but he just fades in the big games/playoffs… He’s also prone to the lazy goal from time to time…His numbers also benefit a bit from our teams overall defensive focus…I think this is the reason for his early career troubles and why we got him so cheap…

This is exactly why I dont think he is a great goalie. He is above average, but I wouldnt put him in the Top 5. Top 10 most likely, but as you say he is aided greatly by our strong D group.

I also rate Dubnyk slightly better than average but not among the elite in the league. He never matched the play he put forth the last half of the season we picked him up at least not as consistently. Another contract that was given out that was too many years and too much money. I think Roenik said something to the effect that Dubnyk was the busiest goal tender in the league because of our lack of defense and if we win any games it’s because Dubnyk keeps us in the game. Then he continued on to kiss Suter’s skates as one of the best defensemen in the league.

I guess it’s early in the year for commentators just like it is for players. Shake the rust off and get the cobwebs out of the the belfry there JR!

I’d call him top 10 as well. I do think he’s deserving of his all-star appearances. His playoff performance has certainly been below average but that doesn’t mean he’s to blame. This team has been inferior, injured and out coached in the playoffs over the past decade.

Fact is we have a very good goalie at a fair price and is the least of their problems. The only other option is to overspend on a goalie other teams don’t want. Goalies are the biggest crap shoot in trades and free agency.

biggill wrote:

I’d call him top 10 as well. I do think he’s deserving of his all-star appearances. His playoff performance has certainly been below average but that doesn’t mean he’s to blame. This team has been inferior, injured and out coached in the playoffs over the past decade.

Fact is we have a very good goalie at a fair price and is the least of their problems. The only other option is to overspend on a goalie other teams don’t want. Goalies are the biggest crap shoot in trades and free agency.

I agree with all of this except I would say in order to win the cup or at least go far in the playoffs, you need your goalie to steal a few games, Dubs has NEVER done that, the Wild have been the victim of other teams goalies doing this all the time…

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I agree with all of this except I would say in order to win the cup or at least go far in the playoffs, you need your goalie to steal a few games, Dubs have NEVER done that, the Wild have been the victim of other teams goalies do this all the time…

Agreed x1000.

Agree 1,000,000x

If you look through past seasons threads I’ve said that a lot. A goalie needs to steal at least 1-2 games per playoff series and probably 5 games during the regular season.

With that said, I do believe he stole a couple games against the Avs but crapped the bed against blues. That was a series that we should’ve won. The other two playoff series were indifferent because we were simply outmatched. Even if you steal a game or two you lose the series 4-2.

My point is that we can b!ich and complain we don’t have the second coming of Martin Brodeur or Patrick Roy, but is the grass really greener on the other side?

And if you want to say his numbers are inflated by a good defense, wouldn’t that also be true for the goalies on cup contending teams?

biggill wrote:

Agree 1,000,000x

If you look through past seasons threads I’ve said that a lot. A goalie needs to steal at least 1-2 games per playoff series and probably 5 games during the regular season.

With that said, I do believe he stole a couple games against the Avs but crapped the bed against blues. That was a series that we should’ve won. The other two playoff series were indifferent because we were simply outmatched. Even if you steal a game or two you lose the series 4-2.

My point is that we can b!ich and complain we don’t have the second coming of Martin Brodeur or Patrick Roy, but is the grass really greener on the other side?

Certainly could be worse goalies on the Wild that is for sure.

biggill wrote:

And if you want to say his numbers are inflated by a good defense, wouldn’t that also be true for the goalies on cup contending teams?

Yes-On a good playoff team I think Dubnyk would do well.
Much like any Goaltender who has benefited from the players in front of him.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Certainly could be worse goalies on the Wild that is for sure.

That reminds me, I was gonna ask.

Opinions as to who is/was best Wild goalie of all time?

It’s been almost 20 seasons now.

biggill wrote:

That reminds me, I was gonna ask.

Opinions as to who is/was best Wild goalie of all time?

It’s been almost 20 seasons now.

There certainly has been a lot of them! LOL
When he was in his prime I think Backstrom. Unfortunately for him, there wasnt much of a team around him and by the time Suter and Parise got here he was past his best days. Dubnyk is approaching his career numbers I think though regarding wins (I think he is within 30 or so wins).
Fernandez was pretty good, but on teams that were so shut down that perhaps inflated his numbers? How many games would the Wild win back then 2-1? LOL
By the end of his time here I am sure Dubnyk will have all the team records. I just hope we see the Dubynk of his first season with us.
So, I would say Backstrom #1, Dubnyk #2.

ROLLY OF COURSE

Hands down the Bryz!

It’s Dubnyk. Then there are several times for second.

Sad how the whole Harding thing went down.

After looking it up at the Hockey DB site I remembered Jose Theodore played for us one season.

With a defense as good as ours, do we really even need a goalie?

philtickelson wrote:

ROLLY OF COURSE

I cannot believe I forgot about Rolly the Goalie.
Bryz, what a riot that guy was, he certainly had his moments, but his comments were pure gold. I still search for videos of interviews with him from time to time. They are hilarious.

mplspug wrote:

Sad how the whole Harding thing went down.

Didnt Backstrom have some injury early in the season, we were forced to play Harding and he was absolutely lights out leading the league until almost Christmas and then the whole MS thing happened? You are right, that was sure sad how that all happened. I wonder how he is doing.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Didnt Backstrom have some injury early in the season, we were forced to play Harding and he was absolutely lights out leading the league until almost Christmas and then the whole MS thing happened? You are right, that was sure sad how that all happened. I wonder how he is doing.

Then, after all that, he got well enough to play but broke his foot kicking the boards after in camp.