Wild 2015-16

You gonna be ok mike? I’ve never seen so many negative hockey posts in a row from you.

More startling, the Wild are now 11th in the West.

Torchetti expected to be named interim coach. Good luck with all that. The baby Wild has underachieved more so than Wild.

I predict 500 record the rest of the way.

I hope they lose every game and move to New Orleans. I’m sick of sticking up for this team. Suter is absolutely a cancer in this team. I don’t have to be in the locker room to pick up on it. If Phaneauf can get out of Toronto there has to be someone we can dump suter on.

biggill wrote:

You gonna be ok mike? I’ve never seen so many negative hockey posts in a row from you.

We all have our breaking point lol

It’s more just knowing this season is shot and the future is very much in question.

Let me manage your expectations.

Don’t judge the Wild on the next 2-3 games, unless they are still not getting it done. It’s what happens after the first handful of games when guys are playing with guilt, rejuvenation, fear, whatever.

If they don’t respond at all the first handful games, we’ll probably be getting high draft picks for many years.

If they can get a top 3 draft pick this year, that player can make an immediate difference for this team next year, not a franchise savior, but immediately a top line player.

This franchise can’t really reset for another few years until Pomminville and Koivu’s bad contracts come off the books.

Wonder what his unemployment check will like like?

Doesn’t that max out at something like $500 a week?

In MN it’s $600+. In Florida its $250. Just learned that one. Federal program where states makes their own rules.

“It’s disappointing and upsetting to hear the news about Mike,” goalie Devan Dubnyk said. “As a group of players, we need to take full responsibility for the situation that we are in. Mike is a great coach that cared about our team and about the entire organization. It’s sad that he needs to take a fall for something that is obviously the result of us as a group not performing.

“He will be missed by many of us in the organization.”

Today’s qoutes from practice should be interesting. We may find out those who believed in Yeo and those who will use them as an excuse for their own issues.

If you watch Parise’s post game, he seems to be biting his tongue. He certainly isn’t giving a vote of confidence to the coach and/or GM.

The Wild brass should give Torchetti full reign to do what he wants in the name of evaluating EVERY player on this team for the rest of the season, no pressure to play the Vanek’s/Pomminville’s on this team because of their paycheck… We need to figure out who must stay and who must go…then start trimming the fat at the trade deadline and off season…

I’m nervous Torch will be pressured by the vets to do what they want in order to get their endorsement for the full time coach position.

Play the young guys! If we continue to lose games we’ll get rewarded with a stud draft pick that can help turn this franchise around…

Its tough, if not impossible, to move players that are still under contract at the end of this year. The only exception would be players who are playing above their past performance and seemingly ascending in production.

We are basically stuck with what we got. Unless you wanted to move our younger RFAs, but that would be bad.

I don’t see torch really doing much in the way of changes.

Torch’s head coach resume in the NHL is an 500 interim coach twice.

It’s all on the players shoulders now, careful what you wish for.

Finally, finally, finally Fletcher does what should have been done 100 games ago and his the “eject” button.

Torchetti is a stopgap and that’s fine. The Wild needed to eliminate Yeo so they can start to more on. Obviously, they have more issues than just Yeo, but this is a move in the right direction.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

The Wild brass should give Torchetti full reign to do what he wants in the name of evaluating EVERY player on this team for the rest of the season, no pressure to play the Vanek’s/Pomminville’s on this team because of their paycheck… We need to figure out who must stay and who must go…then start trimming the fat at the trade deadline and off season…

Totally agree with the first part, the Wild do need to put players under the microscope. Trimming the fat may not be that easy, keep in mind for every seller in the NHL there has to be a buyer.

IMO the new coach needs to get inside the heads of some of these playes and figure out why the Wild have this consistent problem with regressing players or players not developing. IMO there has to be an improvement in this area or nothing will ever change.

We also need a coach with actual experience. Yeo was a one trick pony, his only solution to every problem was to shuffle lines.

System fixes seemed to be beyond him. The power play for example.

Holy freaking cow. WTF was Yeo’s issue where he would NOT play Haula and Fontaine on the power play? How much WORSE could it be? That was a trick question, it couldn’t get any worse! What could you possibly have to lose by putting out a Haula, Fontaine, and hell maybe throw in Riley as long as he’s here? Talk about motivation on multiple fronts.

Hopefully this turns over a new leaf for the Wild. I don’t expect this to be the end of anything, but hopefully this will be looked back at as the first step in a right direction.

Grouse

Look at the contracts Toronto has unloaded in the last year, anybody can be moved, you just might not get equal value in return…

I don’t think management has given up on this season. The owners money is made ONLY through home play-off games. The new coach will need to step on the gas and get them in the play-offs no matter what it takes. A complete collapse now may well spell the end for Fletcher as well.

It’s funny how a couple years ago people were predicting a Stanley Cup run and today they are talking about tanking for a draft pick. Funny how life changes isn’t it?

Dutchboy wrote:

I don’t think management has given up on this season. The owners money is made ONLY through home play-off games. The new coach will need to step on the gas and get them in the play-offs no matter what it takes. A complete collapse now may well spell the end for Fletcher as well.

It’s funny how a couple years ago people were predicting a Stanley Cup run and today they are talking about tanking for a draft pick. Funny how life changes isn’t it?

I totally agree. Unfortunately the chances of them tanking and the chances of them making a cup run are about equal. They WILL be playing for a playoff spot the remainder of this season.

Any season ticket holders on here care to chime in with their thoughts? Those are the folks propping up this franchise right now financially. Will you re-up next year?

The rest of us are bystanders/fans blowin’ hot air.

This is three years in a row with the same scenario…

rvvrrat wrote:

Any season ticket holders on here care to chime in with their thoughts? Those are the folks propping up this franchise right now financially. Will you re-up next year?

The rest of us are bystanders/fans blowin’ hot air.

Yes, I’ll re-up. I’m a hockey fan, not a bandwagon fan.

To me, I’m paying to see hockey because I like to watch hockey. I’m not such a homer that I’m going to stop going if the chance of seeing a win goes down. I was at the Caps vs Wild game last week and it’s fun just to see a player like Ovechkin and Backstrom, even if there is a tinge of “what if” attached.

I watch hockey all the time, even if it’s not a Minnesota team. Heck I like hockey so much that I’ll even watch the Gophers on TV. If I can find them on at 5:30 PM on a Wednesday…

Grouse

One thing about hockey fans, they always believe things will be different next year. You also hate to give up them season tickets if things do change.

rvvrrat wrote:

The rest of us are bystanders/fans blowin’ hot air.

Excuse me? I’ve been a fan since 2000 and have probably watched between 93-96% of every minute of every game.

I’ve read quite a few comments online and people don’t want to stop with Yeo. They want Fletch gone now.

I have 0 problems with Parise and Suters signings and contracts. They should be contributing to the end of those contracts.

Vanek, I don’t know. I think he’s only got another year left on the contract?

Pominville, probably a mistake to sign him long term, although I doubt many were complaining at the time.

Backstrom has probably kept us from making a deal this year and makes it harder on a coach having him take up an active roster spot. What the heck could Fletch do, our goalie situation has been a mess the previous 2 seasons.

Get Suter off the PP. We need energy there, not someone who plays as deliberate as him. He’s still the #1 defenseman, but his strength is the D zone and breakouts.

Nino, Coyle and Zucker should and will be 20+ goal scorers. When that happens, we should be in good shape. Why they aren’t, besides coyle, doing it this year is anyone’s guess.

Should be an interesting rest of the year.

Excuse me? I’ve been a fan since 2000 and have probably watched between 93-96% of every minute of every game. )

Good for you as a fan!

Unfortunately the NHL cannot rely solely on TV revenue to survive like the NFL and to a lesser degree MLB. An NHL franchise needs butts in seats or they die.

As Grouse can attest it ain’t cheap.

Revenue is tied mostly to seats sold. Although without a commissioner what can you expect? Only thing worse then no commissioner would be a basketball guy running your league like Big10 hockey has.

So pug, how many hours on the road from Florida to watch the home games ? Guessing you could catch more road games with less hours… so now real fans who’s opinions matter, have season tickets ? Any team would fold in 3 days without TV and fan gear/merchandise bought by fans other than season ticket holders… period.

rvvrrat wrote:

Good for you as a fan!

Unfortunately the NHL cannot rely solely on TV revenue to survive like the NFL and to a lesser degree MLB. An NHL franchise needs butts in seats or they die.

As Grouse can attest it ain’t cheap.

Yeah, I know how much season tickets are too, I don’t need to ask grouse.

So what are you getting at? Are you wondering when the season ticket holders stop supporting them and put pressure on ownership?

A complete reboot is not needed for this team, but the next 1 1/2 seasons will be tough until some of these terrible contracts come off the books. I would use the rest of this season as an evaluation of what this team honestly has/needs moving forward. Hope for a top 3 draft pick and move any undesirable assets we can at the trade deadline.

I know someone with season tickets as an investment for a few years. They go to about 6-8 games a year and re-sell the rest for a little profit. Still has no problem selling. I’m sure he’ll do it again

After reading the player reaction and comments, there was more than one player who was happy to see him gone and probably intentionally not plying up to their potential. I think Yeo may have given the veterans way too much playing time in an attempt to get them to play his way, and in the end it backfired. Vanek is fun to watch in the offensive zone, but I wish they had never signed him. Someone needs to solve the mystery on Granlund and get him scoring.

Btw, I am not a season ticket holder but I’ve paid to go to more games in the last few years than I did in any of the previous years combined.

I think there are more true fans that watch games from home than those that hold season tickets. I’ve gone to enough games to see the crowd there and many of the suits that show up could really care less about what happens in the ice let alone know enough about the nuances to say what they are doing well or poorly. My beers aren’t $9 and I don’t have to worry about lines at the bathroom.
I watch every single game. Regardless of how painful they have been. I took in the flyers ‘s rangers game yesterday. 2 fights in the first minute. Retribution for Simmonds cheap shot. It was entertaining.
Regarding contracts. Backstrom killed us this year. Pominville is going to kill us for several more years. At least granlund is cheap. Vanek is done after next year. There are tradeable assets here but the question is will it be worth it and at what risk. Kuemper could get some demand.