CreaseAndAssist

1 minute ago, Jimtown guy said:

Tough for me to set a date since I’m still coaching the game. Year 40 coming up and after the last 6 years with peewee A I’m going back to bantam A this coming season. Mid to late March or early April would only work for me. Definitely keep it in mind. Thanks 

That's a lot of time in the rinks to be sure.  Where at?  I am busy with tennis at that time (early April); but I am sure there are others who probably would be willing to get together if you wanted to.  Meet up at the game or Reid's or wherever...and just have a blast.  @Jimtown guy 

On 5/5/2023 at 7:50 AM, Tomdog said:

The fans not leaving is my theory on why the dedicated hockey markets don’t win the cup. 
Non hockey markets need to build power house teams or play in an empty arena. 
Minnesota, Toronto, Winnipeg, Montreal, Edmonton all will fill their arena’s enough to be viable with a mediocre team. 
Tampa, Florida, Dallas, Carolina, etc. not so much. 
 

I think BG is trying to build a team that will be a powerhouse not a one and done cup winner. 

I was listening to a Beyond the Pod short with Brandon Mileski & Pat Michelletti and if you listened to Pat he didn't think the fanbase would tolerate being bad; that they wouldn't show up if the team wasn't competitive.  I agree with you, I don't think the fans would abandon the team because they would understand what they're trying to do.  But they've always opted for this 'middle way' and it accomplishes nothing of significance.  At some point they need to face facts and realize they have to be bad if they truly want to be a contender in the future, otherwise all they can do is keep pretending they're close when they're really not anywhere near that.  

Episode #14: Minnesota Wild Graduation

Theresa and I recorded this one last week.  We talk a little about the Stanley Cup finals (mostly about the Vegas pre-game stuff) and start taking a sneak peak at the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and take listener questions too.   

Episode #13: Denial Gone Wild

Theresa, Kalisha and I recorded this one almost a month ago.  Sorry for not posting it here then.  But its more about the team's reaction to another one & done and other post-season thoughts.  You can probably guess what we thought of Guerin's comments were about this team having a successful season were.  

On 5/9/2023 at 5:54 PM, Jimtown guy said:

Just want to say I always enjoy chatting with you guys especially during games. Had some interesting conversations that didn’t involve hockey. What I’d really like is if someday we could meet up for a day or evening so we could put a face to the poster. I know a long shot but if possible I think it would be fun. I know a couple of us are in their 60’s so aside from hockey in common we have that in common too. Anyhoo have yourselves a great safe summer, I am

off to my cabin for a couple days. Cheers 

@Jimtown guy not sure if you were on the old Wild.com message boards or not but some of us used to get together over there too over the years.  We had fans come in from Nebraska (seriously, we knew a Wild season ticket holder who lived in Nebraska), North Dakota and other places far away from St. Paul and plenty of people who lived in an around the cities.  It was always a great time when we got together, because no matter the rest of your differences you enjoy watching Wild hockey (at least on some level).   

If you want to make it happen, toss out a date...obviously giving people some lead time and maybe people can make it happen.    

11 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

Even if there were some big hulking types available, the Wild would still go for the finesse type of defenseman. They’d rather have a defenseman who can wave his stick around and “take away passing lanes” than a defenseman who will knock someone’s block off if they cross the blue line. 

Maxim Strbak fits that role.  I am hoping the Wild use one of their 2nd round picks on him.  Michigan State recruit.  Tom Willander is another one to watch for if we decided to take a defenseman in the 1st round.  @IllaZilla would you want to be on our podcast next week for our 'Mock' Draft show?  

On 6/10/2023 at 10:17 AM, IllaZilla said:

Spurgeon is not going anywhere. He has a full NMC. That whole defense needs to be rebuilt. It scares no one. It’s too small and too passive. The only defensemen I would keep would be Brodin, Faber, and maybe Middleton. The rest are junk. 
 

The Wild are stuck in a cycle of mediocrity of their own doing. They refuse to rebuild, being more concerned with making the playoffs. So they constantly sign over-the-hill UFA’s to fill gaps rather than allowing prospects to fill the roles. This strategy leads them to making the playoffs and then consistently getting bounced in the first round because all they have is decent but not great talent. Which leads them to a low first round draft pick. Which will probably net them a decent player. Wash, rinse, repeat. 
 

There is no tweaking or rebuilding on the fly that is going to get this team out of the rut they are in. They need a high first round draft pick to get that #1 center they’ve needed since they’ve been in existence (Mikko Koivu was NOT a #1 center despite the team claiming he was). And the only way to do that is either tank for a season or two (which they refuse to do) or trade away high end talent for a high first round draft pick, which probably only Boldy or Kaprizov would get them. So now they have a #1 center, but no one for him to pass to. Brilliant. 

I agree with every word of this.  Would love to have you on the podcast if you're willing.  

On 6/9/2023 at 8:45 PM, TallyTigerShark said:

So, watching the playoffs this season has just confirmed for me something I’ve felt for a few years now. Yes, we are more than razor thin at center, but I think we have just as big, if not a bigger problem, at defense. We are too small, and overall not tough enough, along our D-corp. Every year we seem to get exposed back there during the playoffs. This won’t be popular, but I really wish this team would move Jared Spurgeon. I love him, on and off the ice. He seems to be a great guy, but his career playoff stats are so totally opposite what he does in the regular season that it’s staggering. And the sample size is large enough in my opinion, that it isn’t an anomaly. He’s so poor in the playoff environment that he’s a third pair defensemen at best come playoff time. I think it boils down to the fact that physically, he can’t function as well in the playoff meat grinder. At least that’s how I see it.

 

He’s 34 years old so he’ll be 36 by the time we clear cap hell. He’s certainly not going to be a better player 3 years from now. We could do a lot with almost $7.6M off our books if he would waive the no-move clause. I don’t care if we “lose the trade” and don’t get a great return, the goal should be to clear cap space. We could sign a defenseman with more size. We could also possibly sign a center to lengthen our depth there and hopefully improve our face offs at the same time.
 

I just think this team needs to toughen up a little, and I don’t mean at forward by signing Reaves. We need some nasty at defense. Not dirty, but some nasty and some size.

 

Just my thoughts tonight as I sit here waiting for next season.

We've said much the same thing on our podcasts.  Our defense corps, both with the big club and prospect pool are mostly 6'0"-ish puck mover types.  Unfortunately there is not a lot of big, physical defenseman available in this draft.  

I think the Carolina players' reaction is something we wish we'd see from our team.  Instead its just a 1,000 yard stare, something like mild disappointment, a few empty cliches about needing to be better and onto the next season to do it all over again.  Same with management and the coaching staff who have done this a few times already...same schitt, different day.  

If Marco Rossi thinks any NHL team will be that incompetent to just part the seas for him the way Team Hungary did he's mistaken.  IMO...kind of a meh goal against a meh World Championship qualifier.  

Having watched the Wild farm team for years, you might have a few that are ready to graduate.  

Adam Beckman finally showed some of the scoring touch we saw from his major junior days.  Damien Giroux might be workable as a temporary replacement for Mason Shaw as he's a decent penalty killer and hustles on every shift.  Another guy that I think may surprise is Mikey Milne, the kid was one of Iowa's best skaters and he always seemed to make good things happen in the offensive zone with his speed and hustle.  

Rossi...he has to show tangible improvement in his strength and speed / quickness if he's going to be viable in the NHL.  I think they're to that point with Rossi.  Addison..meh, I think he's trade bait regardless.  They have more defenseman in the system and while he's the one offensive defenseman of the group I think they like the more complete game of Daemon Hunt than Addison's game.  

Hunt was the most impressive this season of the young defenseman for Iowa.  Ryan O'Rourke and SIMON Johansson were the others that performed well but I didn't think they were as strong as Hunt was.  Their best offensive defenseman in Iowa was AHL vet Joe Hicketts.  

Iowa will get an influx of major junior players like Kyle Masters, Caeden Bankier, Carson Lambos, David Spacek, perhaps Pavel Novak or Hunter Haight to join guys like Milne if they stay in Iowa.  Wallstedt will be back as Iowa's #1 goaltender.  

Vegas road was easier because GM's panicked and gave them extra assets not to take certain players.  They didn't make that mistake with Seattle.  But give Seattle credit, they stayed calm...played a team game and made some savvy free agent pickups in Year 2.  

As far as the playoffs go from a coverage standpoint it incredible the huge improvement TNT / TBS is over ESPN.  Studio and play by play its no contest.  TNT / TBS' broadcasters are vastly superior.  The only ESPN broadcasting asset they have, Ray Ferraro is doomed to have a rancid play-by-play person to work with.  Buccigross or WIschusen are HORRIBLE.  Buccigross may love hockey...but his erratic play by play call sounds like the annoying guy who 'oohs' and 'aahhs' with every shot no matter how bad the miss may be.  

If the goal is Stanley Cup or bust...then we've been an epic failure.  We've only been to the conference finals once in its existence and that was 20 years ago.  

This team still hasn't shown an ability to draft or develop centers and like @IllaZilla its never just run with the kids and been willing to be bad in order to draft those franchise changers and instead tried some middle of the road approach which accomplishes nothing.  You're too good to get the franchise changers and you're not nearly good enough to win it all.  

Its purgatory until they realize that most teams paid the price (i.e. by being bad) in order to be good.  Sure it isn't guaranteed but doing what this organization has done the last 20 years has insured it to be in above average mediocrity even if you can call it that.  

For the regular season was a success crowd, why?  A lot of teams were tanking to try to get Bedard or Fantilii, it was easier to even be above average because clubs were trying to stay near the bottom.  Still they had a chance to advance to the 2nd round, but the pis%ed away like they do most of their opportunities and then wonder why when you look over and see other teams doing all of the little things the Wild are unwilling to do (crash the net, kill penalties, grind for ugly goals, star players leading the way like star players).  

On 5/5/2023 at 7:50 AM, Tomdog said:

The fans not leaving is my theory on why the dedicated hockey markets don’t win the cup. 
Non hockey markets need to build power house teams or play in an empty arena. 
Minnesota, Toronto, Winnipeg, Montreal, Edmonton all will fill their arena’s enough to be viable with a mediocre team. 
Tampa, Florida, Dallas, Carolina, etc. not so much. 
 

I think BG is trying to build a team that will be a powerhouse not a one and done cup winner. 

(shrugs)  I think its a GM desperately trying to convince his superstar to stick around by floating hopes and dreams...pretty soon this organization is going to have to show that player it actually has some real talent coming to this club instead of just 'projections' of it.  

On 5/1/2023 at 7:41 AM, IllaZilla said:

It's possible that Guerin could pull off a trade like that (bunch of good players for a great one), but that also brings cap ramifications. Great players get paid. Does a great player and a bunch of rookies/journeymen (to fill in for the bunch of good players traded) make sense cap-wise vs. just a bunch of good players? And is the production going to be better or worse, since teams can now focus solely on the great player, and who knows what you'll get from the rookies/journeymen?

 

I don't see that happening (the Chicago Blow-Up). They've had numerous chances to do this and have steadfastly refused to utter the "R-word". They'll "tweak" and "adjust" but won't "R-Word". They are too worried that if they commit to the "R-Word" fans will leave in droves.

 

Who knows. Maybe they learned their lesson on giving the keys to the kingdom to a player(s) with the Wonder Twins contracts (but maybe not, because they gave Zucarello that ridiculous contract). But one thing is for certain. What they've been doing since Leipold took over is not working. They are stuck in a cycle of mediocrity of their own doing. 

 

 

No question.  The 'not a rebuild' has just doomed it to endless mediocrity.  I don't think fans will leave in droves if they have a rebuild, but sadly...there is that segment of sheeple that lap up every word they say.  So if Guerin says it was a success they believe it; hook, line and sinker.  

Just watching any of those clubs that stretched their series to a game 7, there was way more hustle, want to, urgency.  But Bill Guerin stood at the podium and tried to call this season a success.  And sadly, I've seen a lot of fans buy that sentiment; hook, line and sinker.  

I think McLean is the Power Play guy, and Woods is the PK guy.  So if they somehow avoid termination you may want to ask them for their lottery numbers because they'd be damn lucky.  

7 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Agree, it is a time to fire him. 5 years already he is working for this team. Great coach can transform good players into the great one.

Really?!  So with the right coach Matt Boldy becomes Connor McDavid?  C'mon, get real.  You rarely get those generational players unless you're bad enough to draft them.  

Episode #12: One & Done (Again)

@MNSOTAand I discuss the Wild's latest playoff failure against the Dallas Stars.  We talk about the team's steps moving forwards and answer a bunch of listener questions too.  Check it out!  

(shrugs)  But Russo said he's safe.  It seems like everyone else seems to think he shouldn't be.  They said Bill Guerin spent a really long time just sort of staring down at the ice after the game was over.  My guess is the exit interviews will determine whether we see an exit of Dean Evason.  My guess is most of the other coaches not named Freddy Chabot are probably as good as gone though.  

There are always plenty of Minnesota angles for the playoffs.  With so many players / connections there is a lot of ways people can go into it.  I haven't hitched to any bandwagon yet.  Like many, I have a NHL Playoffs Bracket but it doesn't mean I really care one way or the other how it all works out.  Its just for fun.  

I watched the Lighting / Leafs series finale yesterday, it just makes it painfully obvious how far away the Wild are from being a contender with the lack of speed, skill and effort we had in our last few games against Dallas.  Other teams in the playoffs seem to understand the urgency of the playoffs and the Wild just...don't.  

Anyone want to add to this story now?  

1 hour ago, Tomdog said:

If Army and company lost their jobs because Rossi didn’t develop, Evason might want to start warming up his resume. 
They had a far more failures than 1 undersized young forward not making the big club. 
Evason’s failure to produce any real improvements in the PP and PK should have him fired. 

I agree, and that's why I think the axe will fall.  If Iowa's coaching staff is getting the axe for two playoff failures and the failure to launch of one prospect...then Evason better start packing for what's happened with the big club.  

Army gave Rossi every chance to develop and succeed.  He didn't seize the opportunity.  Even the big club management said as much.  I am not sure how that can be on Army for him not stepping up.  That's a personal mentality.  

24 minutes ago, wildstars95 said:

enough is enough for phuck sakes ..not just for me but the people of minnesota and the parsecs of fans worlds wide .i'm getting old 1 stinking stanley cup ain't much to ask for ..just 1 

(sigh)  How long do you think you'll live?  Because I'm doubtful it will happen in my lifetime.  

A buddy of mine named Tom posted this on Twitter.  

Since Oct 2004:

#mnwild: 26-52 (.333)

#skol: 4-8 (.333)

#WolvesBack: 4-12 (.250)

#mntwins: 0-18 (.000)

Total: 34-90 (.274) The absolute picture perfect example of irrelevance.

13 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

Might he time to trade Kaprizov now for a few pieces you guys need now.

 

Why wait?

(shrugs)  Kaprizov's no movement clause kicks in after next season; so IMO that's your point of no return because if you don't think he'll re-sign then you probably think about selling out.  Although the fanbase would probably revolt if they did considering how long its waited to have a superstar.  

I agree with @IllaZillathat we've shuffled plenty of chairs on the Titanic that is this organization already; players, coaches, management to no avail.  Its something embedded in the psyche of this team that it isn't willing to fully commit to win in the post-season.  Watch any other series, and you will see guys putting their bodies on the line to block shots, win battles near the crease etc and the Wild never seem to fully commit to that.  Toss in a rancid PK and you get bounced easily in the 1st round year after year.  I don't think dealing Kaprizov will fix that.