Last night was really crazy in the NHL. It seems that all teams that had something to play for, lost.
I agree with you MNice, they could win the cup or get blown out in 4 games. The good news is that at least they’re getting the losing streak off their back in the reg season. Then they should lose in the second round.
The could win the cup, but history says otherwise. I am not buying the cool-aide this year.
On the up side, my negativity usually leads to good things.
I watched parts of the Nashville game last night. They seemed to be toying with them or my channel flipping was timed for it coincidentally. That between the legs goal by Forsberg was pretty sweet. Then I saw plenty of fancy passing and stick work, but things you don’t normally try.
Last night against the Sharks was frustrating, but that happens when your shots don’t go and the other team’s do. Don’t forget, the first goal was a blatant closed hand puck hold that makes me wonder what is the point of reply if they can’t see that? #NHLCONTROLCENTERISUSELESS. Yes, yes, I get that that doesn’t negate the small matter of the Wild, ummm, failing to actually score even a single goal…
But that comes on top of the absolutely terrible showing against the Jets. Man, if there were a wind blowing from the northwest, we’d still be smelling that stink for at least 5 more days.
Ultimately, the big winner last night were the Colorado players who obviously want to hit the golf course sooner rather than later.
Tough to know what the answer is here. After watching some other games last night from non-contending teams, the point must be understood that while the Wild aren’t great, they’re not bad either. If you want to get some perspective that makes you glad you’re a Wild fan, just watch some other hockey. It could be better, but it sure as hell could be way, way worse. Ask anybody in Buffalo or Edmonton or Calgary or Phoenix or… if they’d like to have a record like the Wild have.
Who knows which Wild team will show up for the payoffs. Inconsistency is maddening enough when it’s just one player, but a whole team…
Grouse
I agree with those who said they will either get swept or go on a winning streak in the playoffs…they are so hot/cold this season…
I’m going with a 4 game sweep games 3 and 4 will be lost on home ice after blowing a multi goal lead and the game tying goal coming with less that 10 sec. Only to lose 1-2 min in overtime.
At least my standards aren’t to strong and they can’t disappoint right?
The life of a Minnesota sports fan
Parise will likely miss the 1st round, Haula is iffy as well….
Parise should have been shutdown awhile ago, it was obvious he was playing hurt. I’m all for gutting out an effort, but not when you’re signed for another 7-8 years with a no trade clause…protect your investment Wild!
To have any chance, the Wild need to steal game 1. I don’t see how this team gets out of a funk if their losing ways are affirmed from game one. And even if they win game 1, I don’t like their chances. Obviously we’d have to see multiple players resurrect their games.
I have to think if the Wild were to pull it out this would be one of the biggest 1vs8 upsets in the history of this playoff system…RR
No Parise and no Haula? We are doomed. no way are we beating Dallas in a 1-0 game. 
Doesn’t look good for the Wild, unfortunately. We really put ourselves behind the 8 Ball by hanging on to Yeo a year too long and then backing into the playoffs again, thus having to face a #1.
The Wild have to steal a game in Dallas, which won’t be easy considering who won’t be on the ice. The timing really, really stinks but there’s nothing that can be done.
Unfortunately, the Wild are going to be playing a predictable d-centered game now, but without the speedster Haula who can really make teams pay and Parise who can create a goal out of nothing, it’s going to be really hard to score enough to even win a D battle.
Time for Coyle and Zucker to step up bigtime. Both are going to have to play way above average if we have any hope of keeping this thing close and living to see a game 5.
Grouse
Maybe the more interesting topic than the playoffs is what happens with Torch. Quite honestly I like the guy, but IMO he has done nothing to lock up the job. Not that I am blaming him. But I don’t think win 6 lose 5 is confidence inspiring. At this point I don’t know what kind of coach it is going to take to fix the culture of this club. To his credit he has gotten more out of Haula, Nino and even Poms, but to what end?
It’s…Not…The…Coaches. The players on this team have proven year after year what they are and that is average and average only. I am a Wild fan to the end but until we change some things on the roster a new coach will do nothing. The brass in downtown St Paul granted some of you your wish and nothing has changed. Need to face reality…RR
I wouldn’t necessarily say the team is average. We certainly lack a Kane, Tarasenko, Benn, Stamkos, Perry, etc, but I think we are deeper than most teams. I think the overall talent is right up there. In that respect I’d call the team underachieving…and bipolar. I can’t think of another team even close to the number of best and worst records for given stretches of time in the last 3-4 years. Its almost as if when 1 guy is on, the whole team is on. When someone is snakebit, the whole team is snakebit.
I think this team needs a COMPLETELY new philosophy up & down…get ride of every aspect of the Fletcher/Yeo/Torch era…
I used to be a big supporter of Fletcher, but his mistakes now far outweigh his successes and we need a new way of thinking when it comes to building this team…plus we still have 2-3 years to fully get out of the cap hole he got us in (and i’m ok with the Suter/Parise contracts)
I think this team needs a COMPLETELY new philosophy up & down…get ride of every aspect of the Fletcher/Yeo/Torch era…
I used to be a big supporter of Fletcher, but his mistakes now far outweigh his successes and we need a new way of thinking when it comes to building this team…
I agree. IMO the Wild have crashed into a wall that represents the limits of the GM and coaches as far as how to build and run a team. Fletcher wasn’t bad and he certainly represents a significant improvement over Reisborough, but we’ve come as far as we can come under his system of buying in talent to win now.
It’s not that the Wild are average. Average teams don’t make the playoffs 4 years running. I hear a lot of guys talking about how the Wild need to “get a pure goal scorer”. Well, that’s all great, but every team in the league wants to get one or two or five of them. You win with a team, not with a player. Take a look at Edmonton and see a great example of that. 3 first overallers who were all supposed to be that pure goal scorer and still not in the playoffs. McDavid is good, but he’s one player on the ice for 1 shift in 4 and his team keeps losing.
I’m not convinced Torchetti is the guy and it’s time for Fletcher to go. New GM needs to be the one to pick the new HC. Both need to focus on how to get the Wild functioning as a team and to fix this wildly inconsistent play.
Grouse
I think Fletch has been good overall. Dumping Fletch will not change whatever or whoever in the locker room is the problem. At this point I would almost just like to see if Fletch could move a bunch of pieces. No one would be off limits.
Wild have started the playoffs in the 8th spot the last 4 years. Keep in mind 8 of 14 teams make the playoffs in the Western Conference so over 1/2 the teams are in. By my math they are below average. Fletch needs to start over (unless you think 8th of 14 teams is OK and above average. LOL…)
At this point I would almost just like to see if Fletch could move a bunch of pieces. No one would be off limits.
But then what? Fletch moves pieces and then selects more pieces that would inevitably similar to the pieces we moved?
Bottom line is that I think GM’s, like coaches, have a style. If that style is what the team needs, then it works great. If it’s not, they cannot change it, so you just get more of the same. If we want a different direction, then we need a different GM.
I’d like to see some bold moves as well, but there’s always a downside risk and we would really need to be able to do these trades without selling off yet more draft choices. We NEED those R1 and R2 picks or there’s going to be some long seasons in 3-4+ years. Man, a lot of these draft picks are a long, long way off from actual NHL ice time. It was great to watch Tuch in the Frozen 4. Wonder when we’ll get to see him in the NHL?
Grouse
Games like that make me miss Cooke and Chris Stewart. When your 3 top players are out you need to take them off their game by being in their face and physical.
Notice how Roussel stopped his antics once they were up 2-0.
Finish your damn checks, it’s the playoffs.
And to put more gas on the fire, the NFL wants the packers to have the first regular season win the the ugly new stadium.
I think Russo is pretty spot on with this video.
After all we have been through I think it is a race to the bottom now. If I’d have known we’d be at this point today, I would have said pass on Suter and Parise 4 years ago. Even though the Wild have had a couple fun playoff series. Now we are stuck with them. The core of this team is (I hate to repeat myself) a bunch of head cases. And it isn’t just a few guys either otherwise we wouldn’t see the slumps we have seen. If it were possible I would dump all the veterans on the team except Dubnyk.
I feel like starting next year we are going start being that bubble team that finishes a few points back of a playoff spot, but high enough not to get a top 5 pick. Good times.
It’s bad enough being the wildcard team against the #1. It’d be really bad missing just Parise. Missing 3 top forwards–I mean really–what can you expect? Honestly, 4-0 against a team with the amount of talent the Stars have?
There’s just nothing left in the tank. Best case scenario is to try to steal a game 2-1 or something like that.
The big picture view is like Pug says. The bitter irony of the NHL’s draft structure now is that to get a top 5 pick, you really, really, really have to suck. And the teams that suck for multiple years, stack the advantages because if you can pull an Edmonton or a Chicago and suck for multiple years when the draft is loaded…
The Parise/Suter deal doesn’t bug me and to be honest I think Suter especially gets a lot of criticism from people who don’t understand the game and haven’t even bothered to look at his stats. If you’re going to say get rid of Suter, then man up and say who you’re going to get to replace his numbers with. And I’m not talking a fictional trade/acquisition that will never happen, give me a deal that is actually doable with a RFA or FA or a trade that’s somewhere near reality based.
Bottom line is when you look at top players in the league, if you want ’em, you have to draft ’em. You’re not going to get in-their-prime guys like Ovetchkin on a trade deal.
Overall, I agree with Pug’s assessment. With the up/coming strength in the West, we’re looking at several years of “just missed it” unless we clean house and thus commit to a bottom third finish for 3-4 years as a rebuilding strategy. It would be painful to see, but looking at the drafts from the last 10 years, a case can be made for saying that in the current NHL, this is how it HAS to be done in the modern era.
Grouse
I think Russo is pretty spot on with this video.
After all we have been through I think it is a race to the bottom now. If I’d have known we’d be at this point today, I would have said pass on Suter and Parise 4 years ago. Even though the Wild have had a couple fun playoff series. Now we are stuck with them. The core of this team is (I hate to repeat myself) a bunch of head cases. And it isn’t just a few guys either otherwise we wouldn’t see the slumps we have seen. If it were possible I would dump all the veterans on the team except Dubnyk.
I feel like starting next year we are going start being that bubble team that finishes a few points back of a playoff spot, but high enough not to get a top 5 pick. Good times.
Looking forward to a win tomorrow. Well done. 
I could only listen to it on the radio and simply felt like we shouldn’t be in the playoffs. With so many key pieces out, I’d be surprised if they score 2 goals this series.
I think you’re right though. Unfortunately they have some really excellent pieces to compete in the playoffs but they’re missing one or two franchise goal scorers. Those are the big pieces that are only acquired in huge trades or the draft. They need a stud.
Who cares about the wild….
They are not even the 3rd most popular team in town. 
JK
On a serious note that game was brutal to watch last night.
I think that Russo is probably one of the best writers in the business. The best I have read for sure. He pulls no punches, and tells it like it is. What a brutally honest report. I sure wouldn’t want to be in Fletchers position. The saddest part is that Leopold is by far and away the best owner in this market and truly wants to win and spends to the cap and the wild still stink. I believe that there will be a wholesale change in management as soon as the season is done, so next week.
If you’re going to say get rid of Suter, then man up and say who you’re going to get to replace his numbers with. And I’m not talking a fictional trade/acquisition that will never happen, give me a deal that is actually doable with a RFA or FA or a trade that’s somewhere near reality based.
Easy. No one. My point was considering where we are today, what’s the point of having these guys on the team. I was just as pumped that 4th of July as anyone else was. These guys were supposed to anchor the prospects coming up and make us better. Admittedly, the remark was made with 20/20 hindsight.
Like Russo said, these guys just don’t listen. They won’t be winning any games with skill. These guys need to dump, chase and check. Torch has preached it since day one. Get into Dallas’s head a little just like Roussel was doing.
Dumba looked horrible last night.
A deal getting rid of Suter or Parise could be done. Just look at Toronto and what they were able to pull off for Phaneuf. It will likely have to be a bunch of expiring contracts coming back our way, but it certainly could be done. Would their be interest? Possibly. Their contracts are not all that huge in retrospect. The term is just long. The thing with the contracts though is even though the hit the cap the same amount each year, they are actually front loaded so the last several years are more palatable to a buyout.
This is why the Dubnyk deal is great and some people get wrapped around the dollar figure, but in reality if he doesn’t pan out after 2 years we can dispose of him without an enormous cap hit.
What really bugged me was with like a minute left we had a player who tried pushing their player around at the Bench. Stohl maybe? Either way it was too little too late imo. Why not do that in the second.
DT
That being said, there is close to 0% chance the Wild would even entertain any offer for either player. It was the greatest FA coup for the Wild. Being a part of that along with them being extremely marketable and with local ties, its not going to happen. And I don’t think it should either even if it were a reality.
Have you guys watched any other series? Philly/Wash & Detroit/Tampa, those are some serious playoff games. That is how it is supposed to be, intense.
Looking at last nights game and how they tanked the last 5 games of the year, it almost makes you wonder if they were hoping to miss the playoffs. That’s how bad it is.
I am so sick of Minnesota sports teams signing these long contracts with above average skill players and hometown kids. Joe Mauer was the first mistake, look how far back it has set the twins. You finally get pohlad to spend a lot of money on someone and look what happens, they suck.
Looking at the Ryan suter & Zach parise deal is not looking so good now. The amount of money you invest over a 10 year period is way to long. I wouldn’t even consider these guys elite level players anymore. Who know’s how Parise will recover after this back issue.
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