I think people expect more of Granlund points wise whether it’s goals or assists, and probably rightly so. But these last 4 playoff years he consistently buys into playing hard. He’s not physical every night during g the season, but for a little guy he does play a decent physical game.
put him on a line with quality finishers and you’ll see his points take off… look who he’s been playing with over the years…/puke
I’m not ready to give up on Granny at all and you’re right, he’s been one of our best playoff players over the past 3-4 seasons…
The difference for Granlund right now is he is playing wing. This is something that has helped Coyle too IMO. When Granlund played in the Olympics a few years back he was on fire and then came back to have a hot finish to the year. Guess where he played? WING.
A center has a ton of responsibility especially in the D Zone and because of that it often takes away from their offense side of the game. Having Granlund at wing allows him to just focus on his forecheck more.
He does obviously play better in the playoffs or when the games really count. I just wish he could finish more. I do generally like the guy, but I just don’t see him being a good solution at center for us long term. We don’t have many options either so that makes it hard.
OK, now finally THAT was the Wild playing a freaking hockey game. It didn’t start well, but that was the Wild team of 2 and 3 years ago, that just would NOT go away.
I tuned in late because of Kid activities and the Wild were down 2-0 and I was thinking what the… But I could see just from their play that this was going to be worth watching. One thing about a 2-0 lead in the first is that there’s no way Dallas was just going to be able to coast it in.
There was a lot to like last night and none of it was rocket science or involved having that much bemoaned “pure goal scorer” (whatever that is) that the Wild are always missing according to some…
1. Finishing checks.
2. Finishing checks.
3. Crashing the net.
4. Causing chaos and blocking sightlines in front of the net.
Where was the Dallas team that was defensively suspect? They were at the X last night. Dallas goes totally off their game when they get hit and they are constantly leaning toward the blue line trying to jump a rush on gaining possession. They were constantly getting caught high in the zone last night as the wild put pucks on the net and got in front for deflections.
The Wild have to keep this up. Finish, finish, finish, and get in front of that net.
On Granlund. I don’t get the issues some guys seem to have with Granlund. Here’s a guy that’s making Finland’s national and olympic squad, but he’s totally useless?
The Finn olympic coach last time said Granlund was there because he’s a tenacious battler who wins puck fights and is very difficult to push off the puck once he gets it. In a country that’s cranking out that many hockey players at all levels, if Granlund really was as bad as you guys make him out to be, why is he making the national team in a country that surely must have better options?
About the +/- statistic. It’s bullsh!t. Let’s move on. Look at the variance in any top player’s +/- statistic over time. Ovechkin and Crosby are great examples, but pick almost any player and look at their career stats and the +/- on the same player is all over the map, so what can this possibly reliably be an indicator of?
Grouse
The three most important things from last nights game.
1. effort
2. effort
3. effort
They cannot win on talent alone, they have to skate hard, go after pucks, play defense and cover teammates. The stars first goal was us unable to get the puck out of the zone,because of all the “whiffs” on simple puck handling.
All effort!!
Lets hope they keep it up
I don’t think I ever said that +/- was the end all stat. However I do believe it does is indicate a style of play and is an indicator of effectiveness on the ice.
Granlund in my opinion is a completely different player in the playoffs. This past season he seemed to be the easiest to seperate from the puck. Such a passive aggressive player during the regular season and an animal during the playoffs.
The best thing to come out of Yeo’s departure is Erik Haula.
Whatever was going on there, it’s hard to miss the fact that Haula was a different player 8 hours after the side door of the Excel Energy Center hit Yeo in the @ss.
I know a dozen or so games doesn’t make a season, but honestly it’s hard to see the Haula that’s on the ice now, backsliding into the guy we were seeing at the beginning of the year who was getting benched. Also, he’s a great example for the Wild players to look at and say that this team CAN get it done without Parise.
In other news, has anyone else enjoyed watching the Caps put a beat down on the Flyers? 6-1 total humiliation last night with typical Flyer’s fans reaction of pelting the ice with an ill-conceived promo item. As one Caps fan put it, “You know the layers of crud at the bottom of the ocean? You’ve got a layer of fish gunk, a layer of whale sh!t, then under that you’ve got Flyers fans.”
My prediction remains the same. Nobody’s going to stop the Caps this year.
Grouse
What are the odds that Ken Hitchcock is the next wild head coach?
I would bet he gets a good look if the Blues implode again. He won’t survive again this year if that happens.
At this point there really isn’t anyone out there who I know is available that I would want. Julien would have been one but he is staying in Boston.
I wouldn’t be opposed to Torch getting the job mainly because I firmly believe the problems are in the locker room vs strategy. Some guys have thrived under Torch.
I had written this team off multiple times. Before the series, during game 5 when they lost the lead twice. But they have showed something we knew was in there all year but it doesn’t seem to show during the regular season.
This team is battle tested. True they cannot get past the hawks but they have played many playoff games and guys like Benn have only played 6 coming in to this series.
I still think the stars are going to take the series but the wild are surely making them work for it.
I didn’t think much of the TV commentators at the beginning of the series when they said the Stars were defensively suspect, but now I see what they are talking about. The Stars clearly went offensively all in trying to finish off the Wild in Game 5 and in the process totally broke down on defense. Dallas has some really good individual players, but they are counting too much on building big and easily defended leads or playing for the tie so they can use their top 6 for an easy OT win in 3-3.
In clear desperation to finish the Wild off, the Stars were leaning and the Wild happen to be just the club that you don’t want to get caught leaning on. Grandlund, Haula, Fountaine, Zucker, Coyle, they all made the Stars pay for getting to deep to transition.
The Team Rustlers are going to be in desperation mode today, they do NOT want this to become a 1 game series against the Wild without the circus act 3 on 3 OT to bail them out. If the Wild can play solid D and make Dallas pay for trying to play only offense, they can make force the decider.
Re the Blues/Blackhawks, if Hitchcock gets fired for losing the Wild should pounce. Can there be any doubt that the Wild would benefit greatly from an HC with Hitch’s vast experience?
As another thought: Hitchcock as the Wild’s new GM. Change at that office is in the wind.
Grouse
I think Hitchcock has a 1 yr contract so technically he wouldn’t be fired.
Didn’t you hear what Leo said? He said that Fletcher will be GM next year.
You guys shouldn’t talk about the Wild without Pug. I’m sure Michelle will let him come on here and play in a few days. 
You guys shouldn’t talk about the Wild without Pug. I’m sure Michelle will let him come on here and play in a few days.
lol
Kiss of death is to have the “his job is safe” statement coming from the boss. Ask Yeo how that went.
I willing to bet that the wild will never go anywhere with dubes In the net? He will always let soft goals in, seldom looks like he’s really In the game….
I have absolutely nothing good to say about this game. This is no way to play an elimination game. They should be ashamed of this pathetic effort.
Doobs is at the top of the list. 
I don’t think that Dubs is to blame for any of their losses in the playoffs so far…
I pretty exciting way to end the season if you have to end it. Damn if Zucker had just buried the empty better.
At least they showed up for one period. I just don’t understand why this team does this. Fitting end I guess. Looking forward to a coach that’ll straighten them out.
I know a hockey player never plays for a coach but he’ll need to convince them to play hard all the time.
there’s always next year…. 
Btw, that puck was in. It wasn’t flush to the ice the whole time like the video shows. I hope someon can find a shot showing that pick in the net.
Why isn’t that overhead camera high speed?
What was the final score?
5-4
Twins are still playing in the 15th. (if anybody cares )
Well, that was a fantastic game to attend. For about 1/3 of the time.
Very tough to pin the loss on anyone except the poor refereeing. The dive that Dallas #4 took in the first that started the scoring was just pathetic. Just awful to let that kind of embellishment go, it was pure melodrama.
Seeing Dallas in person, their defense is even weaker and more suspect than I’d thought. The Team Rustlers are going nowhere in R2 if they have to rely on scoring 5 goals to make up for suspect defense. They are very poor in board battles in the D end, and very weak in goal. The best defense is a good offense, but Dallas’ offense isn’t good enough to win in Round 2 unless they find a way to play D.
The Wild did the best they could under difficult conditions with key players missing. The re-emergence of Haula and Pomminville were bright spots.
Grouse
Btw, that puck was in. It wasn’t flush to the ice the whole time like the video shows. I hope someon can find a shot showing that pick in the net.
Why isn’t that overhead camera high speed?
You think the NHL just has money coming out of their bettmans to throw away on high cost stuff like that? 
They decided to go with it. At least they could do it right.
During the regular season lets ask the refs to review their own calls and be the ones responsible for reversing their own call.
I have absolutely nothing good to say about this game. This is no way to play an elimination game. They should be ashamed of this pathetic effort.
Doobs is at the top of the list.
Yep! Dubes played very poorly IMHO.
SMH
IMG_20160425_094500.jpg
Maybe the NHL just wanted Dallas to win, has anybody thought of that? Better ratings?? 
The above picture is the first I’ve seen to actually appear the puck was over the line. the views on NBC showed clearly the puck not quite all the way over.
As always, the fans are more upset than the players, they have some nice downtime for a bit.
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