CreaseAndAssist

Just now, bbgarnett said:

@CreaseAndAssist  yeah, it'd be fun to go the scrimmage(s) at least for me to see Cates and Menell who are from my neck of the woods.

Cates had a pretty good season in Waterloo.  It will be interesting to see if he is noticeable at camp.  This isn't exactly a star studded group.  

9 minutes ago, bbgarnett said:

 

Great Write up as per usual.

Thanks!  I hope its insightful...

Wild Prospect Camp, player thoughts, etc

I wrote up a summary of the upcoming Prospect Development Camp, including player thoughts.  Enjoy!  

2 hours ago, Lonkkis said:

 

What? No smoke signals? I'm disappointed!

The telegraph works in all weather...smoke signals, not so much.  

What is this 'internet' you speak of?  The telegraph works well enough for me...

47 minutes ago, sweetshot said:

I'll have to be a little clearer indicating sarcasm...

Fair enough, as I thought you were being serious.

3 minutes ago, sweetshot said:

The second assist numbers are that high because Suter can see what's going to happen 2 plays ahead of anyone else. He makes the pass that sets things in motion. He's a little like Gretzky that way...

  No, its called getting prime minutes both 5-on-5 on most important offensive zone draws and power play time.  Gretzky, really?  

4 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

 

To me, by calling up Kunin instead of say, Sam Anas, what kind of message does that send to guys that are busting their hump in Iowa and were leading that team? That only #1 picks are worthy of a call up? 

 

And if Kunin was uninspired to lead in Iowa, what does that say about his character? Isn't that why the Wild drafted him, because he was a "leader"? Mikko Mk II?

 

To me if they called up Kunin because he felt he should have been with the big club, they've got another Thomas Vanek on their hands...like when Vanek was playing like crap and then told Yeo for him to play better he needed more ice time on the top two lines rather than being demoted to the third and fourth lines...

Again, I agree with you 100%.  Anas signed on for another two seasons, but still...that had to hurt on some levels when you see the guy who isn't doing half of what you are gets the call up just because of where he was picked in the draft.  

On 6/18/2018 at 7:38 PM, IllaZilla said:

 

You bring up an interesting point. Fletcher was working without a contract, and for him to get another contract it was imperative the team not only make the Playoffs, they needed to get past the first round. I’m pretty sure he messed his drawers when both Coyle and Niederreitter went down. Having a healthy Coyle and Niederreitter was probably essential to having the team get home ice advantage. When they went down, that shot at home ice probably also went down the drain. So then he grasps at straws and calls up his latest draft pick Kunin hoping he hits a home run? Desperate times call for desperate measures...

Also, the fact that maybe they recognized Kunin seemed to be uninspired to lead the way in Iowa...prompted them to try to stoke his confidence by calling him up to the big team where he thought he belonged.  IMO, and I think you agree...players should earn that call up.  

33 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

 

The problem is that even though all the coaches in Iowa want a winning culture, the parent club gives them no support when they are constantly pulling "prospects" up to the big club for stupid reasons such as "giving them a taste" of the NHL.

 

And I still can't figure out how Kunin "deserved" a call up, but Anas didn't...

I agree with you 100% on that one.  Hell even Kloos deserved another call up before Kunin did.  I also agree that Anas was more than deserving.  Kunin was pretty blah by what I could tell listening to the games.  Kloos and Anas, even Mayhew sounded like they were all over the ice.  

Do you think a lot of this is about a GM trying to save face on the guys he drafted so he calls them up hoping they'll make him look like a genius than really wanting to know if they're playing so well they deserve the promotion?  

On 6/16/2018 at 5:41 AM, IllaZilla said:

 

Why do you think that is? Too much shuffling back and forth with the parent club? Not enough experience?  Players just worn down from doing too much? Overrated players?

 

You would think the Wild would want to invest in their farm system and get it to a point where there is a winning culture in Iowa that could transfer to Minnesota when players are called up when they are fully developed. But I've always had the impression that the Wild are kind of like helicopter parents that don't trust their farm system to develop players, so they rush them to the parent club so they can "develop" them leaving the farm club with a patchwork of players that have trouble building chemistry which leads to a losing culture...

The brutal answer is they began a really brutal part of their schedule.  It was very divisional heavy and against the clubs which really were battling hard for the post-season.  The offense kind of dried up, the goaltending started to struggle...and they had a horrible tendency to throw away games / points in the 3rd period.  Even Lalonde kind of mentioned in his interview how the month of March was a collective implosion in just about every area of the team.  I think Iowa losing Seeler to the big club also hurt quite a bit.  

I think they want a winning culture in Iowa.  Even Kurt Kleinendorst talked about that before he got the axe, as did Torchetti.  But last year they didn't have many prospects developing there...hopefully that starts to change now.  

46 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

I’ve noticed this disturbing trend with Wild prospects...5’9”, 5’10”, 5’9”, 5’8”, 5’11”...

That isn't as big of an issue as it used to be, the team loaded up on smaller, skilled players because we didn't really have any prospects that were ready to go.   They had their best season with that group of smallish forwards.  Kloos, Anas, Rau and O'Reilly were not too bad.  Unfortunately the wheels fell off in March in just about everyway possible.  Goaltending, defense (partly due to call ups), and scoring all tanked and Iowa came up short again.  The real problem is our guys that are 6'2", 6'3", 6'4" play on the perimeter like they're 5'5" and 5'6".  

Nashville is laying low after making some more deals; most notably the trade for Kyle Turris.  Yet even though they gave up a lot to get him; they still have Eeli Tolvanen on the way.  Dante Fabbro and David Farrance look very serviceable.  The Predators are still in great shape, prospect-wise.  Tyler Moy is a darkhorse.  The truth is, the Predators draft and develop very well and its pretty rare when they completely strike out in any draft year.  

I'd still guess it shuts down for good tomorrow.  Honestly, why would they make a post like that for a temporary shutdown?  

Its just a matter of time for Boeser.  Either him or Bo Horvat.  

I posted a tweet out about the forums.  I also made sure I tagged DJRicky (Wild fans know who I'm talking about) who is a Canucks fan and maybe they'll migrate this way.  Or maybe they won't.   

50 minutes ago, Confrontational said:

^^ Interesting...  Thinking about it - there was ZERO moderation over there - so essentially it consumed zero time from their standpoint - yet needed to be shut down...

Yea, what a difficult time it must've been for Kevin logging in maybe once every 6 months 

4 hours ago, Antti_Laxative said:

Ha! That sneaky Kevin turned the lights off 2 days earlier than announced on Wild Message Boards

 

And here I was crafting a eulogy in hopes of making the final post. 

One thing I've learned, Kevin...he may have gotten healthier...but his ego has gotten a lot BIGGER.  

Derek Lalonde talks about Iowa's 2017-18 Season

For a wild.com piece this is surprisingly honest.  Having followed Iowa as closely as I did (listening to most of their games online) he's 100% right about the late game collapses in that critical stretch just being painful.  The team kept finding ways to fritter away points and wins.  It was awful.  

I don't really disagree with any of what Iowa HC Derek Lalonde had to say...

55 minutes ago, Villette/Lavaux said:

Some of the NHL jerseys I have:

 

Minnesota North Stars - Green (1991)
Minnesota North Stars - Green (1986)
Minnesota North Stars - White (1991) - #23 Brian Bellows with Stanley Cup patch
Minnesota North Stars - Black (1993)
Minnesota North Stars - White (1993)
Minnesota Wild - Green (2014) - #24 Derek Boogaard
Winnipeg Jets - Blue (1985) - #10 Dale Hawerchuk
Hartford Whalers - Green (1985) - #11 Kevin Dineen
New Jersey Devils - Red (2000) - #4 Scott Stevens
Phoenix Coyotes - Black (1996)

Nice!

29 minutes ago, McMahon 6 said:

 

B-b-b-b-but... look at all the assists Suter gets. Are you and Rotty off your rockers, or just blind haters? Dontcha know that you should be worshiping the silk on his jock strap?

If memory serves me correctly, 42% of his points were 2nd assists.  I posted it on Twitter and I had a bunch of people falling over themselves to tell me how great Suter is and how dare I criticize a player that was tied for 12th in the league in even strength scoring...shame on me!?!?  

2 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

Hopefully #9 will be gone in two years. If his production declines the way it did last season, the Wild are going to have another Jason Pominville on their hands...

I'm not sure why #11 is so concerned about ice time. He's never on the ice anymore. Always some injury holding him out for a week here or a month there...

Suter is at least putting up numbers, however it may be to the detriment of the team. Especially on the power play. Why is he constantly allowed to play the point and then flip that limp wrist shot at the net?

 

Because Suter holds the zone so well...teams give him tons of space because they want him to shoot the puck.  It is so laughable that this team continues to use him in that capacity when the book is so known that he's going to take that unscreened wrist shot from the point.  The sad part is no one is willing to stand in front of the goalie to either deflect it or take away the goalies vision.  They wouldn't want to 'steal' a goal from Suter.  

19 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

 

Holy Jerseys @CreaseAndAssist !!!  That is some impressive collection of jerseys.  I'm ashamed that I only own 2 jerseys ... A Norfolk Admirals (old AHL days ) and a Flyers # 88 Lindros with the C.

 

I own a Disney World hockey jersey but I don't think it counts.  

 

 

 

However I love your idea for a thread.  How about starting a thread in the General Hockey section for all to enjoy!

 

Norfolk Admirals is a nice sweater.  I have a Dropkick Murphy's Hockey sweater and a few high school teams I didn't put on there.  I'll add them...

15 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

 

Holy Jerseys @CreaseAndAssist !!!  That is some impressive collection of jerseys.  I'm ashamed that I only own 2 jerseys ... A Norfolk Admirals (old AHL days ) and a Flyers # 88 Lindros with the C.

 

I own a Disney World hockey jersey but I don't think it counts.  

 

 

 

However I love your idea for a thread.  How about starting a thread in the General Hockey section for all to enjoy!

 

Its your site...do as you please.  

41 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

 

That's because every offensive player they draft HAS to be a two-way player...

And they don't want guys that will cut into the amount of time with the puck for #9, #11 and #20.