CreaseAndAssist

Even the Athletic says #mnwild fans have nothing to look forward to with prospects under the age of 23 since Kaprizov is for sure in the KHL two more seasons.  Check it out.  

Check out where the Wild rank folks (if you have an Athletic subscription)

12 hours ago, Icechipper said:

Caught third period at sports bar. Monday night football on most screens but one tuned to Jets broadcast. Lines were changed quite a bit but generally I saw:

 Ek-Greenway-Coyle

Kloos-Rau-Anas

Foligno-Hendricks-Brown

Lodnia-Fehr-Nino

Defense: Ole-Pateryn

Bartkowski-Delpedio

Seeler-Murphy

Greenway line was strong. Hendricks had lone goal. Kloos played well. Brown did nothing for me. Lodnia looked fast.

Ole Patyrn worked well together. Bartkowski had solid breakout passes. Seeler and Lemiuex fought to a draw. Murphy nice hands and escape moves. Ham solid in net.

 

 

Hammond had a pretty good game.  Greenway, Eriksson Ek and Coyle protected the puck ok, but they stayed to the perimeter which kind of defeats the purpose of having a bunch of big bodied forwards on one line.  The Lodnia-Niederreiter line looked lost most of the time.  Hendricks was ok.  Pateryn looked slow and perhaps even troubling...not strong enough to keep people from working their way into the tough areas of the ice.  Look at Marko Dano's goal...the player worked to the front of the net and Patyern couldn't stop him.  He lacked the quickness to stay with him.  It reminded me a lot of Kyle Quincey.  Bartkowski was ok though.  Seeler looked like a punching bag in his 'fight' with Claude Lemieux's kid.  Best line was Rau, Anas and Kloos by far.  Fast and clearly good chemistry after playing last season together in Iowa.  

19 hours ago, Starofthenorth said:

Interesting that sokolov is not included on the mn wild pre-season roster. 

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/RussoHockey/status/1041439803932401670

Meh, they have a ton of guys to play in pre-season.  I wouldn't read into it much.  If he's not there for two or three pre-season games then yea...it might be a message being sent.  Otherwise, I wouldn't make a big deal about it.  

On 9/15/2018 at 9:02 AM, IllaZilla said:

 

I don't think Fenton was a move to stop signing veterans. I think it was the natural progression after the team fired Yeo when the team was in danger of missing the Playoffs. Yeo was Fletcher's guy, and he failed. So Fletcher brings in Boudreau, the team scores 100+ points in the season, but once again stumbles in the Playoffs, losing to Yeo's Blues. The following season Fletcher is now on the hot seat. It's his team, his new coach. Boudreau did his job again, getting the team to 100+ points. But once again, the Wild fail in the Playoffs. Granted Fletcher had no control over Niederreitter's, Coyle's or Suter's injuries.  But that's irrelevant. The team didn't progress, fans were unhappy, so Fletcher had to go.

 

I think the Wild are caught in a vicious cycle. In order to hand the team over to the younger players, they need to give them more ice time and responsibilities. And that means there is going to be mistakes and a learning curve. But that may lead more losses and not making the Playoffs. Which the owner insists on. So they keep playing the veterans to make the Playoffs. Which cuts into the ice time and development of the younger players. The younger players don't develop, the veterans get worse, and your left with a mediocre team that makes the Playoffs, but bows out right away. Wash, rinse, repeat...

 

 

Bingo...

On 9/15/2018 at 8:34 AM, Davey J said:

Sokolov...

He has good offensive skills.  I'm excited to see how he performs in the pre-season.  

22 hours ago, hunter wieser said:

but they are saying on wild.com that Staal may be signing a new contract sometime around mid October, so Staal could be the captain for the Wild instead of god damm Koivu. Koivu is like a (pos). he played like **** last season if you do not recall that.

Really?  You needed to remind me that Koivu's game slid quite a bit, including his faceoffs?  Wow, never knew that...thanks for sharing.  

With the average age climbing with this team can they really keep another guy his age around?  Is that smart?  While I've enjoyed Staal's play with the club, the team already made its bed with Finnish Care Bear stare instead.  I absolutely hated it when it happened and I hate it more each day.  But if he's here another 2 years can you really sign Staal to a 3-year or 4-year deal?  You could, but then what other younger player are we going to lose?  Granlund?!  

As it is right now.  

Parise 34 yrs old (signed until he's 41)

Koivu 35 yrs old (signed until he's 37)

Suter 33 yrs old (signed until he's 40)

Dubnyk 32 yrs old (signed until he's 35)

Staal is 33...if you give him a 4 or a 5 year deal which is probably what he'll be seeking then you have a player until his late 30's.  That's a pretty sizable chunk that will be in the grayhair category of their NHL careers.  

1 hour ago, Alexandron said:

4Check, Here is nice link regarding a multiple for years Columbus Blue Jacket's success at the Traverse City Tournament. Hope, some day we will repeat our 2010 year success there. I am still thinking that the Wild's 3rd place was valuable this year and may be that is just a beginning of our future success for the big Wild club:

 

https://www.nhl.com/bluejackets/news/traverse-city-championship/c-300062336

 

  

I heard on XM this morning on my way to work that the Columbus club that won the tournament was mostly free agents and invitees.  They didn't expect to do so well.  The Wild nearly threw away the game against Chicago in the 3rd period.  It reminded me a lot of the 2nd game where they were just holding on for dear life against the NY Rangers.  I was only able to see the 3rd period and then Mitch McLain's goal via a highlight someone posted on Twitter.  

The good...Lodnia, Sokolov, Khovanov, Kahkonen, Belpedio, Shaw, Menell all played pretty well.  And of course Greenway playing well enough they didn't even want him playing in this 3rd place game.  

A better showing than I expected.  

5 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

 

I do not think it would be Staal. He has one year left on his team-friendly deal. Some other GM will throw crazy money at him this summer, and the Wild will not have the cap space to compete. Or if the team becomes sellers at the trade deadline, he could potentially be moved for picks/prospects.

I agree with this, unfortunately we decided to tie our money into Finnish Care Bear Stare instead....

21 hours ago, 4Check said:

Interesting additional possibility suggested by Custance's article in the Athletic.   His former coach David Quinn said his best position in the NHL likely would be center.    Looking forward to the future, I'm not sure any of them are #1 centers, but between JEE, Greenway, Kunin and Coyle, you'd think it would be easy enough to fill the 2C & 3C positions.  Hopefully Greenway surprises and ends up as a #1C.  Doubt JEE is a future #1 and am virtually certain Coyle and Kunin are not.

Interesting point on how he felt it forced Greenway to be more assertive and less lazy while playing center than on the wing where he mentioned he could be soft on some of his board battles.  He felt the center spot forced him to use his skating / mobility more.  Wonder if Boston guy Fenton will take Quinn's comments to heart or if the organization has already sold him that Greenway is a wing prospect only.  

19 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Good news!!! - Wild won an extremely tough today's game against Dallas in a shootout  with a score of 5:4, shots were 28:43 in regulation.  Menell, Khovanov, Fitzgerald and Haugen put 4 goals for our team in regulation. Haugen did it in a last minute  when we played 6 on 5 without our goaltender in the net. It was a very exciting overtime period but scoreless. Kahkonen despite of losing 4 goals in regulation did a tremendous job as in regulation(also was able to take nicely a penalty shot) , as well as had a solid play in overtime and in a shootout(he did not lose any goals in OT and SO). He was the best player of the team, according to the commentators opinion as well as mine. I liked him a lot. Both Russians Sokolov and Khovanov did a perfect job for us in a shootout after putting goals to the opposing net and gave us a valuable win. Greenway was a healthy scratch just to give to other players a chance to play, but had a pretty nice play in a previous 2 games. Shaw was playing in that line instead of Greenway together with Lodnia and Fitzgerald. Sokolov and Khovanov were playing with Knudsen. Defenseman Belpedio was noticeable too who played with Menell that game. Overall team showed a character, played all 60 minutes and personally for me, it was an almost like a playoffs style game. 

Sounds like the Sokolov / Khovanov / Knutson line had a pretty good day.  Fitzgerald has probably won a spot in Iowa with how well he's played at Prospect Camp and the tournament thus far.  Menell and Belpedio should stand out given their age and experience; Menell especially and he gave them a big goal.  

Unfortunately for this group; they gave up the regulation lead which cost them a chance to play for the championship.  

Greenway is done for the tourney, team has said its seen enough and doesn't want to risk him getting hurt (ala Shaw from last season).  Sounds like Shaw's line wasn't too bad either.  

Good result against another decent team in Dallas IMO.    

4 hours ago, 4Check said:

Interesting discussion on Koivu.   IMO, who Koivu was and who he is now is significant.   If the Wild have any chance of advancing in the playoffs, they better hope JEE is ready to be at very least 2B center, and if not,  BB should move Coyle to center.   Koivu had an awful lot of playing time, particularly on the PP to end up with only 45 points. 

What I like about Koivu....is his defensive compete level.    What I like less.   The NTC and Russo's intimation of Koivu's need to be recognized as the #1 center.    Both, IMO...... are failures in management leadership.   

I agree.  Eriksson Ek better be ready for the #2 center role sooner than later because this team needs to start transitioning away from the Finnish Care Bear stare.  I think there is potential for Eriksson Ek to do it, but they need him to play in such a way to compel the organization to keep him in that #2 spot because you know Koivu will probably throw a fit behind the scenes.  IMO, this is a test of how much of a team player Mikko really is; because I think he needs to recognize he's not that player anymore.  

Wild Fans Speak 2018-19 Edition: Part 3 of 3

The last part features some projections about this upcoming season in regards to where it will finish.  How do these 5 Wild fans and one non-Wild fan see the season shaking out?  Enjoy.  

As far as the Mikko Koivu / Oliver Stone theory?  Nope, not nearly as convoluted but has this team gone out of its way not to offend him or make him upset?  You bet it has.  Even Russo has said as much.  He noted that Mikko's line is always penciled in as the top line in the locker room even though most night's its not really the top line; but they make it that way to avoid getting him upset.  

There are plenty of examples how this team has danced around his ego.  I think the No Movement Clause was another glaring example of this.  Do I think Mikko has the control over this team the way Suter and Parise do?  Nope.  Those guys have the owner wrapped around their little finger.  Mikko is more like finding ways to placate the resident drama queen.   

23 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Did anyone on our board watched today's game? So far was not too good after 2 periods against Rangers 1:3. First 30 minutes was a complete domination, a complete puck control for Rangers with a score of 3:0. We had lots of positional mistakes as well as not able to manage the puck well. Commentators said that our team looked tired, had lack of energy after the yesterday game. Finally in a last 10 minutes of the second period we were able to score from a power play. Sokolov put kind of nice tricky for the goaltender goal from the assist of Mason Shaw. Sokolov-Kovanov-Shaw line was noticeable as well as Greenway-Lodnia-Fitzgerald in a last 10 minutes of the second period and through the entire third period. Both lines had lots of playing time and built a solid chemistry, which I liked it. Greenway was able to put a nice goal too from the assist of Fitzgerald during the 3^rd period. We had few chances , especially when playing during PP  5 vs 3, but did not finished. Baribeau was today in the net and missed 3 goals. The 4^th goal against us was an empty netter. Final score for our team was 2:4 with same 26 shots for each team. Next game is on Monday at 2:30 p.m. vs Dallas.

I watched Saturday's game.  The Wild prospects looked slow and disorganized for the first half of the game.  Lots of needless giveaways, which only made their struggles worse.  No one seemed to want to take a shot.  Then in the 2nd half of the 2nd the Greenway, Lodnia, Fitzgerald line started asserting itself.  Greenway got it started with a wrap around chance.  Then the Sokolov line got going, as he buried a goal on a power play.  The Wild really swarmed in the 3rd period with Sokolov's line leading the way.  Greenway would go top shelf late but they'd give up an empty netter to lose 4-2.  

Sokolov and Greenway stood out the most to me.  Baribeau looked kind of frantic in the crease.  The Wild kids passed up a lot of potential shots on the 5-on-3 in search of the perfect shot.  I was hoping Belpedio would assert himself offensively more than he did.  We play Dallas tomorrow.  

11 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Did anyone watched just ended a Wild game against Detroit Red Wings at Traverse City Tournament? The Wild won it with a score  4:2. It was a pretty nice and a speedy game. Our defense and a goalie looked pretty good too. Kahkonen stopped 28 shots; Sokolov had a power play goal; Lodnia had a goal; Fitzgerald had a goal and assist; Greenway had 2 assists and a few chances to put a puck; Damien Jiroux put an empty netter from a second attempt  to nail a winner goal; as well as Khovanov, Belpedio and Shaw had nice chances to put goals too. Tomorrow is a game against of New York Rangers at 5:30 p.m. Central time. It is simple to watch - go to the main Wild page and look for a live watch Traverse City Tournament when our team is playing. Rangers lost today with a score of 5:7 against Dallas, and probably will play tomorrow exclusively motivated against us.

@MNSOTA tried to watch it (I was coaching football) but it didn't work for whatever reason.  Sounds like Greenway was a man among boys out there with two helpers and lots of good work with the puck down low.  Kahkonen had 28 saves and it sounded like he played well.  Greenway, Lodnia and Fitzgerald were our best line.  

10 hours ago, Icechipper said:

Did coach really come out and say he's going to play Mikko on the third line? Or is this a case of the interview subject, Boudreau, responding to a reporter's leading question, like, "Can we expect to see Mikko on the 3rd line this year?" I missed the context here somewhere.......

It was something that was hinted at by Russo, but until I see it and they stay with it...until then I will doubt it.

Wild Fans Speak 2018-19 Edition, Part 2 of 3

The same panel chimes in on the team's personnel decisions / possibilities going into this season.  Check it out!  

8 hours ago, rottenrefs said:

The poll surveyed fan confidence in their respective teams front office. From that I believe fans could have taken their opinions in a few different directions.

 

I think it's rather telling Wild fans honed in on their disappointment with how the front office deals with players as opposed to the results the players are making. What seems to be most noticeable are poor contract clauses along with repeated buyouts. It's formed a cloud that's more frustrating than whether or not they consistently make the playoffs.

 

While Wild fans know making the playoffs isn't necessarily an easy feat, they do know measuring our players against other teams once they get there has been consistently futile. Overall nothing has really been done to eliminate that fact.

 

The topper is continually letting players dictate what the team does. Organizationally this team is fragile.

Zero disagreements in this analysis...nailed it.  

Wild Announce Traverse City tournament roster & schedule

I give my thoughts on the tournament and the players as well as what to expect.  If we get 4th or better I'll be surprised.  

11 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

No real surprises there for me, except for most everyone agreeing that the 26th ranking of the Wild's front office was about right. That means there are only five teams that are worse than the Wild.

 

Tough crowd...

Although I think most agreed that it was less of a reflection of Paul Fenton (and what he's done so far) and mostly about Chuck Fletcher.  No matter what, Fletcher and the decisions this team had committed itself to before his termination will continue to be an anchor for this squad.  IMO, that was another reason why re-signing Koivu and giving him a NMC drove me nuts.  It was an opportunity to at least unleash one of the immovable contracts.  Instead we re-attached the anchor and threw it back in the water.  

Wild Fans Speak 2018-19, Part 1 of 3

Its that time of year where I gave a few Wild fans a survey and they shared their views as to how they view this club going into the 2018-19 season.  Beyond surveying 5 Wild fans, I also surveyed one non-Wild fan in @DJ Ricky.  @IllaZilla is in this as well.  Check it out...

I agree, the Traverse City tournament would be fun to go to.  Although I'd love to see NHL Network bring some cameras there and televise it.  IMO, they could've easily done the same with Da Beauty League too.  But the Traverse City thing has a pretty good tradition.  

Khovanov...meh.  Still not sold on his skating ability, Hepatitis battle be damned.  It is a shame Simon Johansson isn't there, I think he has good potential.  Shaw IMO has to prove himself all over again.  Sokolov should be our most dangerous scoring threat.  Lodnia...hmm, he really tailed off in the latter half of the season last year with Erie.  

1 hour ago, Davey J said:

 

I like Ek a lot!  I don't know if he will become a legit #1 center, but I think a good 2nd liner is very probable.  I agree with you about Kunin...although I do think he is a "can't miss" NHLer...but I think the Wild will be lucky if he develops into anything more than a 3rd line wing.  I have never seen one elite skillset from him.  He can do all things OK, but nothing great.

Kunin isn't exceptionally fast even though he's of average height.  IMO, that's pretty bad.  I'd be more bullish on his future if he was a better skater and I felt he had more versatility.  I am not sure if he has the wheels to be a player like Haula was in a Bottom 9 role while waiting for more of an opportunity.  IMO, his skillset is more akin to a Top 6 player and he'll be waiting a long time before a spot opens up there.  But more fundamentally than that, Kunin didn't really dominate in Iowa.  I think he should lead the way there before he gets a chance to play for the Minnesota Wild.  Just my 2 cents...

On 8/22/2018 at 6:48 AM, pilldoc said:

I would officially like to welcome back @JR Ewing who has decided join us again this year!

 

Glad to have you back my friend.

Daily league, but its still weekly head to head matchups right?  Otherwise, it'd be mega complicated to have a different fantasy team to go against each day I would think.  I'm in if its still week to week head to head...otherwise, nah.  

Boeser is a bit different.  I don't care that he's from Burnsville.  While he has a pretty interesting (and tragic) personal story on his road to being an NHL'er, I don't really care about that too much.  The kid can score...that's why I felt he'd really be a help to the team.  That's all that matters to me.  

Eriksson Ek gives me more hope than Kunin for all of the hype they keep saturating us with.  I felt Eriksson Ek actually looked pretty reasonable in his first full NHL season.  Far more physical than I expected and you could see that he has real skill and good instincts.  I liked what I saw.  But Kunin...seemed like a lot of hype to me.  Kind of like Casey Wellman 2.0.  

12 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

 

That’s hilarious considering they drafted Erickson-Ek over Boeser.

18 hours ago, bbgarnett said:

Agreed these Town Halls are just a feel-good session for fans who blindly follow the team. I forget if it was a question asked or how it was brought up but they were talking to Fenton I think and a player was brought up and Lapanta or someone said that he's one of us. He said that we've always got to have one of those guys or some dumb thing and I just shook my head because that's how a lot of fans are. I mean they always want us to take the hometown guy regardless it seems and if we don't they get upset even if he's no good they don't care they just see he's from Minnesota or something so that's all that matters.

That may have been when they made a big deal about Hendricks and J.T. Brown being Minnesotans.  Or the guy that just had to mention Nate Prosser.  I think they went out of their way to remind everyone about Kurvers too as if anyone didn't know.  I agree, I  everytime I hear such crap out of this organization.  Pure cheese...