Wild 2015-16

Wow didn’t see that coming. Would suck to be an Ave fan.😊

Well, well, well….

That’s why I don’t turn it off early and go to bed. Good night…from Friday.

It was nice to see what the Wild are capable of when on their game, too bad it took 2 crappy periods to figure that out, hope Nino isn’t hurt bad, it certainly looked bad…

I think the excuses of a week off with a few blowout games prior was quite accurate, I think this will be a fun team to watch, Zucker had tons of chances and newguy Graovac looked good!

I really hope Parise is switched to Captain soon, it was pretty obvious last night who the leader of this team is…nice bonehead penalty Koivu!

JoeMX1825 wrote:

I really hope Parise is switched to Captain soon, it was pretty obvious last night who the leader of this team is…nice bonehead penalty Koivu!

There is waaaaay too much emphasis put on that little fabric “C”. It’s quite obvious who the leaders of this team are and that “C” isn’t going to change anything.

It is just so much fun to beat the Avs. Gawd Roy was just so p!ssed off after they blew that lead, it was just terrific. Landeskog was jaw jacking every minute of periods 1-2 and then he got real quiet in the third.

Rusty defense was obviously the issue in the 1-2. Big gaps, wide open seams, players left standing alone, out of position penalties. The good news is there’s no way that kind of Pee Wee hockey play will last, they are obviously better than that.

I see the Koivu doggers are coming out already. One phrase for you guys: Faceoff win percentage. Even more important now with the new faceoff rules.

The good news is that the Wild continue the trend from last year in that they are dangerous for every second of 60 minutes and no lead is safe. That’s a tremendous asset when everyone on the team knows that even with 20 minutes left and down 3, they can still get the W.

Parise could have had 4 had he not hit the pipe with that P1 breakaway. So much for those off season talkers who were saying Paraise was getting “older”. If that was old, give us more of it.

Lots of season left, but I was happy that the good stuff from last year is still with the Wild.

Grouse

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JoeMX1825 wrote:</div>
I really hope Parise is switched to Captain soon, it was pretty obvious last night who the leader of this team is…nice bonehead penalty Koivu!

There is waaaaay too much emphasis put on that little fabric “C”. It’s quite obvious who the leaders of this team are and that “C” isn’t going to change anything.

X2 the C doesnt matter at all for this team. They are both great leaders and the C is pretty much a number. Parise will still lead like he always has.

You’re wrong about the importance of the C, right now it’s sending hints to the players that keeping Koivu happy is more important than rewarding it’s best/hardest working player with the honor…. Players notice that… great win last night

What? These guys aren’t mites, they are professionals. I’d argue that taking the C FROM Koivu might send the wrong message.

mplspug wrote:

What? These guys aren’t mites, they are professionals. I’d argue that taking the C FROM Koivu might send the wrong message.

I agree. And since when is the C awarded based on who’s the “best” player?

The C is for leadership. If Koivu’s goal scoring prowess have declined–and that’s a big IF–that says nothing about his leadership abilities declining.

Besides, we’re now a whopping 1 game into the season. Maybe around game 40 we can revisit writing Koivu’s Captain Obituary?

Grouse

JoeMX1825 wrote:

You’re wrong about the importance of the C, right now it’s sending hints to the players that keeping Koivu happy is more important than rewarding it’s best/hardest working player with the honor…. Players notice that… great win last night

I’m always gonna disagree with this. My conversations with ex nhlers about the C being on Koivu’s jersey has always resulted in the same message. Leaders are leaders regardless of what letter is on their jersey. There is no standard definition for the C. It can symbolize whatever the team wants.

Leaders will be leaders.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

The C is for leadership. If Koivu’s goal scoring prowess have declined–and that’s a big IF–that says nothing about his leadership abilities declining.

This is probably the best point. I am assuming Koivu isn’t the best leader.

The only ones that know best are within that locker room. I guess the point really becomes that we have no place to judge who is captain.

Quick updates per Russo Twitter.

Graovac and Koivu did not practice. Koivu will play tomorrow, Graovac hurt.

Nino practiced. Nino could not return per protocol that a Dr has to clear him. Avs are supposed to supply the Dr and one never showed up to check him out. Per the NHL, 3 were at the game.

Too bad for Graovac. I like his size and his game. He’s a big body and a good fit for the 3rd line and a Brodziak replacement, except probably will get more points.

As for the Nino situation, it will be interesting to see if that blows into something. I doubt it will. It’s probably just a snafu.

wonder what happened to Graovac, I saw him giving high-fives to Dubs/teammates at the end of the game, like everyone he was smiling and looked fine..

Not sure. I didn’t notice anything either. Maybe he woke up with some stiffness.

You Phoenix, if you don’t want to follow daylights savings time, fine. Just start your damn games at 6pm then!

mplspug wrote:

You Phoenix, if you don’t want to follow daylights savings time, fine. Just start your damn games at 6pm then!

Amen, I hate when we have to play the teams from out west. 9/930 start time is ridiculous. Compromise and start one hour earlier.
Wallster ><((((>

Wow, another one they were lucky to win. Those 6 points will come in handy at the end of the year.

When they are on they look really good. But its the other parts of the game that worry me. Doobs is looking pretty average.

They didn’t do themselves any favors by vacationing in Duluth while other teams continued playing preseason games and a 4 game layoff didn’t help last night.

I hope Kemps stands on his head tonight and pitches a shut out. That might kick Doobs in the but and get him going.

Zach is back!

Grouse, time to grouse about Vanek. His game looks a lot better so far.

Dubs is fine. If anything our D zone play has been suspect at best leading to the majority of the goals. That will get shored up and we will start seeing shutouts and 1 goal nights again.

Vanek is looking very good thus far. He made a sweet pass to Fontaine that just failed to connect in the first too. He has such great vision and awareness, just doesn’t have speed. Never did, never will. He isn’t Parise and Parise doesn’t have what Vanek has and when people FINALLY start to realize that these two cannot ever be the same he will get the credit he deserves. Coyle is a beast and if only they could keep him at wing that line would really thrive. Im hopeful that Graovac’s groin isn’t a lingering thing and he is healthy when he comes back, but that is a death sentence for a hockey player’s season usually — a groin injury.

Since when is a stick through the skates not a penalty? You get penalties all the time for unintentional acts, why in the HE double hockey sticks was that not a penalty?

Where are the chants for “Yeo must go…”? As soon as we lose 4 of 5 (which all NHL teams do at some point in time…) they will come back I am sure…RR

roosterrouster wrote:

Where are the chants for “Yeo must go…”? As soon as we lose 4 of 5 (which all NHL teams do at some point in time…) they will come back I am sure…RR

Come on man, your better than that.

You can’t complain about the Yeo Must Goers when there is none going on. Its just as bad.

…but my point Pug is that they will come. They do every year from the fair weather fan(s). I’ll try to sit back this year and in the immortal words of Mike Tice, “Enjoy the season”

Well, the Wild get it done again, but again make it more exciting than it needed to be.

I don’t agree that Dubnyk is looking shaky, I think it’s hard to look solid with a variable defense which is what we’re getting sometimes now. Spurgeon dropping that fly ball right in front of the goal and an AZ player was a classic example. You have to make that play on D, you can’t botch stuff like that and then blame the goalie. Dubnyk’s “problem” is that his D has been handing the other team a free goal during every game played so far. I’m not going to get whipped up over this, it’s one area where I’m confident the Wild will come around soon on.

I’m glad to see you guys finally getting on board with me and giving Vanek–or as I like to call him, last season’s #3 top goal scorer–some love. Just out there doing his thing last night, crisp passes, oh, yes, scoring a goal.

The one I’m really impressed with so far this season is Grandlund. His passing and PP play has been just terrific. The new PP setup with Grandlund turns Paraise into much more of a distraction for the PK’ers.

Coyle is playing better, but we’ll see if by game 10 he’s found the back of the net yet.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Coyle is playing better, but we’ll see if by game 10 he’s found the back of the net yet.

Grouse

You mean again right? Since he has scored twice already.

roosterrouster wrote:

…but my point Pug is that they will come. They do every year from the fair weather fan(s). I’ll try to sit back this year and in the immortal words of Mike Tice, “Enjoy the season”

Mn fans, ugh.

How about dem lynx!

Cheryl Reeve for President! Fun team…RR

The Wild sure are Fun To Watch! Vanek looks like a different player this year, seems to be much faster imo.

Goalie controversy!

Wild are fricken lucky to have 7 points. They better figure it out soon.

What’s the controversy? I think Kuemper played great. If he keeps it up we now have a reliable #2.
DT

It was sarcasm. I am hoping his performance gives Doobs a little push.

Ok. I get confused easily when there isn’t an emo added.
DT