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EJ0226

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Everything posted by EJ0226

  1. Umm... welcome to Minnesota sports. Minnesota sports= glutton for punishment. Sorry but I disagree on the effort. They have shown so many more times then any other team of no effort at all. When they actually try they can be really good but even their own players have called out other teammates lack of heart and effort. I do talk about positive stuff but let's be honest here. The team is a complete mess. And instead of recognizing their issues they keep trying to put a band aide on a bone coming through the skin. It's frustrating. I want nothing more then for them to win but I will not paint a rosy picture as not to crush some fans beliefs that this is a cup ready team. Hell Russo just said yesterday that basically the coach doesn't get to make personal decisions and the final say is by the GM. Bruce wants to use Seeler and Fenton is telling him to bad, use Bitetto. That's insane and shows what's wrong with this franchise. The coaches are the lowest on the chit falling down list. Players are above them, followed by the GM and then owner. Now factor in that the GM apparently wants to be coach too and the owner also wants to be GM. It's a mess and I feel bad for our coaches. Funny how in the old board people were talking that coaches and their decisions are getting overridden by players and GM. Kind of hard not to start believing that with what Russo said. But in the end, complaining on this board helps get off some of that frustration. It won't impact much. The only way to impact anything is not buying tickets, merchandise, stop watching the games, etc. It will nail CL right where he can understand, the pocketbook. I really hope the Wild can clean up a lot for next year. I just want to move on to the future. The present/core is done. It's time for a fresh start. A fresh mind frame. A new direction.
  2. On a side note anybody else enjoying the fun the Canes and their fans are having with the celebrations after? I like it. It shows the players having fun and getting the fans amp'ed up. I know the Don Cherry's of the world hate it but in the mean time are busy wearing suits that scream look at me.
  3. Yup, just like other teams but guess what? Those other teams show heart, grit and determination to keep winning and some of those teams are going to go to the playoffs. The Wild are severely lacking that and as usually use those said examples as excuses and continue to run the same way year after year with the same results.
  4. I know, I know, our owner is a complete moron. I mean his hockey IQ is probably somewhere between 1 and 10. He shouldn't have been allowed to purchase even a t-shirt with anything hockey on it. But it's hard not to have even the slightest of hope that somewhere in CL's 5 brain cells that one would fire and see this and try to get the team to move the right way. Pipe dream, I know but still I have to have even the slightest hope. But I am waiting to here Suter is recovering still, we lost Koivu, we lost Dumba, Parise got hurt, Rask hasn't found his game yet, nobody stepped up, etc.
  5. Don't forget Ozzy. No human alive should have been ever able to live through what he has done. It makes Nikki Sixx look tame and that is one hell of accomplishment! I can't believe it's fatigue at this point. No way all these players all of a sudden are fatigued all at once. I think it's more of the mentality of this team is so fragile that one bad thing shatters it and they give up. I think all of them now realize the team is not as good as the media and everybody thought. I think a bunch of them thought everything would fall in place for them without them needing to try. Now with the lack of talent and depth that even when they try it doesn't go their way. I hate to say it but I think the team was overachieving for quite some time and now they are being exposed. Also, Dubnyk now has played more games then any other Goalie. He also had some very awful goals. Good to drive him into the ground so even if you do make the playoffs he has gone to that point that it's going to tire him even if he says it doesn't.
  6. @TropicalFruitGirl26 thanks for the updates! Honestly, I believe and called it at the beginning of the season the Wild don't make the playoffs. I still believe this. And honestly I think the team was done back when Parise and Suter did the whole Oates ordeal. Like it or hate it they went out together and with no one else to do their own thing. They didn't include anybody else even though there is at least 2 to 3 other guys out there with them on the ice for a power play. They completely disregarded their coach and even showed complete disrespect to the coach by having Oates sit in on a team practice. Those two showed not only to the other players but their coaches too that they are above everybody else and can do what they want with no consequences. That should have been able to void their contracts. But you know that left a toxic environment in the locker room. I mean how would you feel if you had two coworkers working on a group project with you and they went behind their bosses back to "get help" on it and then come back with that help in front of your boss then end up watching the boss get fired and no consequences to the guys who completely said screw your rules that everybody else has to follow. Yes they are pros but this is also their jobs and money. Knowing it would end for you if you did the same thing is not a good feeling and makes you go why do I care about a company that allows a select few to do whatever they want well everybody else would get in serious trouble if they even thought about doing the same thing. I think the Wild miss the playoffs by 6 points from the last WC spot. Maybe they will finally move on from catering and babying the big 3 and put them in their place. Let the younger guys develop together with top minutes. Put them in key situations to allow them to learn. How will they improve if they don't get to ride those situations? Parise, Koivu and Suter have shown at this point they don't make a impact on it and they are all close to hanging it up. It's time to move on from them.
  7. After seeing how the Coyotes have been doing I decided to see the goalie differences. Of course their starter goalie is our old back up goalie, Kuemper. Here is the stats: Kuemper GP GS W L OT SA GA GAA S SV% SO MIN 44 44 23 16 5 1361 109 2.51 1252 .920 3 2603 Dubnyk GP GS W L OT SA GA GAA S SV% SO MIN 58 57 27 23 6 1617 144 2.60 1473 .911 2 3323 Looking at this it does draw up some questions. My biggest two is did the Wild give up on Kuemper to fast and he never got a chance to get enough games to really show what he could do? After all he only had two seasons where he had over 25 games played with the Wild. The second question is why do the Wild continue to run Dubnyk into the ground? When has this ever worked for the Wild? Kuemper is looking better on a very arguably worse team compared to the Wild and he isn't being ran into the ground. I only bring this up as I believe the Wild and Coyotes are going to be fighting it out for that last WC spot. What does everybody think of the stats of a goalie we let go and the continue of how we play our Goalie?
  8. Don't be sorry. Fantastic write up! Don't get me wrong, I love the Wild and having Pro Hockey back in Minnesota but... best way to describe it is that there is something missing that will never be 100% like before. Maybe that is why I am able to look at the Wild more from a third person view instead of a fan with blinders one. I love them but also know this team and the situation they are in are no way near being serious on a Cup run. And I want some bigger picture into what they are doing instead of what Fenton is doing. But I miss the Stars sweaters. Man they were perfect. Beautiful colors and a strong yet simple design and logo. Dallas should have had to rename their team something completely different as it's just salt in the wound.
  9. Thanks @CreaseAndAssist! Fantastic write up even way back then. I forgot about the Gund deal that pretty much stripped the Stars of any talent. The team was screwed from there on and never had a chance. But like it was pointed out, it was never 100% Norms fault. The team had been terrible for some time. Poor drafting, lack of actually high end talent and just a faulty product on the ice takes a toll on any fan base. Norm still sucks though. He was hot to trot about relocating. I do recall when the team was bad the prices did increase. At least I swear to god I am not imagining this. This whole ordeal created a weird issue with the fanbase of the Wild now. Some of us, like me, will always be a North Star fan first and the Wild feel like some weird "second string" team. Don't get me wrong, I am so happy we have pro hockey here but I also feel like I don't owe this team anything and have no problem nitpicking the glaring issues. They are our team but they aren't, if you know what I mean. We also have fans that were here and aware of the North Stars before the Wild. They worry about losing another team and will defend everything and paint a rosy picture no matter the situation. Both fan base are neither right or wrong. We all enjoy hockey. Hell a lot of us love it! I know the sting of the North Stars suck because we lived through such a bad teams forever and when they finally showed signs of improving were moved. What is crazy is if you look at how the Stars were, a stagnant team with bad drafting, no high end talent and directionless, that would describe the Wild and Gophers right now. Sort of feels like we are seeing a very similar path right this second.
  10. Another reason CL should never be involved with any contracts or decisions. Didn't look forward to the future or the fact CBA was starting to show signs of not liking the contract they have.
  11. I think the Wild are probably in the worst spot to be in for a pro sport team. Big time contracts, some that you can't move, with no results. You got 14 players with contracts expiring in the next two seasons and some (Greenway, Spurgeon, Granlund) are key guys that will command more money. I am in favor of a full rebuild with Fletcher gone. But it depends what Fentons real game plan is too. The other factor is that the Wild really can't do this for another 6 years when Parise and Suter are gone. But let's look at it realistically here. Struggling players don't recover with the Wild. They get traded elsewhere and figure it out and look good. The Wild don't have issues trading struggling players even if they showed promise. We seen it with Haula, Tuch never had a shot to prove his worth, Nino, etc. So here is how I look at it. Staal- If the Wild are going to try to make the Playoffs then they almost will for sure keep him. To trade him for another player to make a playoff push really doesn't make sense. You won't get a player the same caliber as him at that price. I doubt any team would trade much away considering Staals, age, contract left and his production this year. To trade for the future I don't see any team giving up much more then maybe a 3rd or 4th round pick. Coyle- Interesting as I have no idea what the market is for him. My guess is if you trade for a player you are going to get a solid 3rd/4th liner guy. Nothing flashy but serviceable. I don't think you get much with a $4.2 million contract next year and his poor production this year. Draft wise probably a 3rd rounder for trade. Zucker- Boy..... Maybe if Vegas fans and Vegas will bite big time like Minnesota Wild and fans bite on having a hometown boy on the squad we could snag a nice player or two or a good draft pick. Otherwise I think teams will worry not only about his really down production but even how he doesn't pass the eye test. I don't see other teams offering a fair value for him be it a player or draft pick. Granlund- For the last 3 seasons Granlund has been in the top 3 scoring for us. He is 1 point behind Parise in points at this point for number one spot. By far our most consistent scorer. Teams would love to have a asset like him. I think we could get a good pick up or two for players or draft picks. Spurgeon- Lets no kid ourselves, by far our best defensemen player we have. He's not the scoring machine but he will block pucks with his body and stand up for others even well being on the smaller end in the NHL. He seems to either improve who he is paired with or at least is able to cover their mistakes. He can score too. I can see a bunch of teams that would love him on their ice. I think he could fetch a good player maybe two or a good high draft pick. Greenway- I think a few teams would be interested in a young guy with signs of talent. Him being so young and no proven yet I can't forsee teams offering much for him. A very end of the draft or AHL lifer only. We could trade others but I can't see many teams really looking at them. Nothing of valuable trade at least. And even if we could get Parise and Suter to waive their NTC no team is crazy enough to take their contracts on unless Snow becomes a GM somewhere else again. The Wild really are stuck. To trade Spurgeon and Granlund would be pretty much saying the season is lost but we would also lose key corner stone pieces. I am glad I am not in Fentons shoes. It's damn if you do, damn if you don't. I honestly don't think there is a turn right path. I think a rebuild move is probably a better off move but more painful now then in the long run. My guess is we either see Staal or Coyle trade, nothing major and ride with the rest. I just can't see any trades for players for other guys cause we will probably lose way more value then we gain.
  12. Thank you on agreeing with my prediction. I don't see any reason either to think the team is going to turn it around. And you are right, Parise is on pace to have his best season with us and around his 4th best season ever and everybody else has completely disappeared. What a waste of a for once healthy Parise. Not going to argue if the contracts suck or not but my point on it is if NFL teams basically never have NTC & NMC even on their stars the NHL really shouldn't either. It basically sucks that teams are being forced into those in order to land guys that they think are the building blocks for the franchise and these players, once signed, don't have to do anything or worry about losing the money and being let go. It's extremely frustrating to watch so many players on our team underperform and then contract year comes up and do fantastic and then after signing with us again just disappear. Zucker is for sure the shining example this year. I really do believe if players had the breath of you can be let go at any time and lose your pay day that we would see different attitudes and see 100% play all the time. It appears a lot of our guys are not self motivated and more money motivated. Once they get that money so many of them disappear completely. I don't envy Fenton at all. I don't envy any coach for the Wild with this group. It's a mess and there is a bunch of guys you really can't do much with until their contracts are up. You really can't do a full rebuild due to this. But with these guys contracts it's not like you can go out and get a elite player or two that will make a impact. I still think the Wild are in the worst spot. Good enough to ever get a good draft pick that will be a impact but no where good enough to advance out of the first round of the playoffs.
  13. A lot of people have been saying it for years but the Wild created a safe haven atmosphere for players and the contracts prove this. I do wish the NHL would either get rid of the NTC/NMC or be like the NFL where basically nobody has it as the they wouldn't get the bonuses if they did have one of those on their contract. So you want a NTC/NMC on your contract, ok then you get a hell of a lot less money. It would change so much for the Wild. Could you imagine that they could have dumped Koivu, Suter and Parise after seeing they were not going to work and move on instead of having to sit through 6 more seasons of it with at least 2 of the guys? The NHL owners need to get firm and only agree to something like this and no more permanent locked down contracts that you can't do anything about. A few bad signings can ruin a franchise and drive fans away. People I know that have been huge Wild fans since the start of the franchise, even some being huge Star fans with season tickets before they left, are starting to not buy Wild merchandise and tickets. They are sick of the broken record. My fear is losing another NHL team as I doubt MN would get another but throwing money on a broken item isn't smart either. Like it or hate it but the contracts were awful for a ton of players for years now. Making the playoffs year after year to only be punished in the first round no matter what is not a sign of a good franchise and roster. It hurts the franchise more then anything else. People in the franchise keep thinking maybe just one more signing will change the broken record instead of looking at the whole roster and see pieces don't fit together. They might be nice pieces by themselves but they don't fit together. So you end up like the Wild. Have zero shot of drafting good, decent players. But you got contracts eating up a lot of money that aren't doing the team any good. What do you do? I still think the Wild end the season with a 19-25-3 record.
  14. It's a horrible snowball effect from CF. Bad drafting and no player development. Now add the sprinkles of trading draft picks for rentals that literally disappear out of the NHL after their contract is up with the Wild. Top it off with the cherry that is bad contracts for subpar players that get NTC/NMC and you get yourself one hell of a chit sundae. The age thing does bother me though. Being one of the oldest team with basically 1 or maybe 2 prospects waiting is a death sentence most of the time. It sucks and is depressing. I think once their contracts are over, Parise and Suter will go down as one of the worst contracts/pickups for all of Minnesota sports team. They literally turned the team from a non playoff team to first round cannon fodder. They literally put the team in the spot to never achieve a good draft pick but no where good enough to be nothing but a first round punching bag for other teams. It trapped the team when they were already having trouble developing players anyways. I was never as excited about their signings when it first happened as I though the contracts were trash. It was basically put all your eggs in one basket for 13 years and hope two guys that never showed that they could be game changers and carry teams to become game changers and carry the team. I will admit that I hated on Yeo. Yes he wasn't a great coach but there is something completely wrong when a HC can have a freak out during practice and not even one player paid any attention to it. He breaks his stick and not even one player looks over at it. I also hate the whole Suter and Parise hiring Oates for PP help. First off, there is 2 to 3 other guys on the PP unit depending on the situation. So either this means that these two are complete @sshats and don't care about their teammates or just stupid and don't understand that there is other guys out there too. Then to bring him to a practice is complete disrespect to the coach and shows their true colors. I wouldn't want guys like that on my team at all. That can be very cancerous.
  15. With what we are seeing I don't think the Wild do better then 19-25-3. We have no goal scorers. We don't have a game changer. Our defense, even guys that you can usually count on, look very suspect. Dubnyk is being the typical Dubnyk we know. I don't know if Stalock could carry the team the vast majority of the 46 games left. Even somebody like me who hasn't been a Dumba fan seen what a incredible season he was having and the impact it was having. I said it at the beginning of the season and I still stand by it, the Wild don't make the playoffs this year and it's very possible that they might not make it again until Parise, Suter and Koivu are gone. I believe that not because of them but because the team is a mess and needs a rebuild to fit the new GM. That usually doesn't happen overnight and takes a few seasons. I still love the team but I am not going to wear homer blinders and ignore the issues. I do believe this team overachieved and now it's coming back down to reality. I still stand by that even the great Scotty Bowman could not get much more out of these guys.
  16. I wasn't talking about a surprise story. I mean Fletcher made the Wild a consistent playoff team so we never got good draft picks but the team was no where good enough to make a serious run much less get out of the 1st round. Chuck had the Wild have 2 series wins in 6 playoff appearances. The last 3 playoffs the Wild got enough wins combined to win a series. Fletcher relies on over the hill vets that are a shell of their selves to run the team. What's worst is he gives them big contracts with NMC/NTC. Fletcher drafting history is terrible too. With him and his staffing he struggled to develop any talent from the draft picks. He has no problem throwing away draft picks for rentals that literally disappear out of the NHL as soon as their contract is up with the Wild. The Suter/Parise contracts don't end until the end of the 24-25 season and might go down as one of the worst contracts of all time. Suter can be argued he was in the top 5 for defensemen but Parise was never a top tier player. He hit top 20 2 or 3 times in his career but otherwise struggles to make even in the top 50. That money could have been spent elsewhere to make the Wild better. My point is that Fletcher was cheered when it was announced he was finally fired. He was a big improvement from Dumpster Doug before but that's like saying going from a skateboard to a bike is a big improvement well everybody else is driving a car. You are still behind. Fans got sick of his bad decisions and panic moves. He literally made the franchise stuck. Not good enough to make a playoff push beyond the 2nd round but not bad enough to draft a possible franchise changer either.
  17. From a Wild fan I feel bad for you Flyer fans unless you happen to have a kink for getting players that had names but are in the very late twilight of their careers and just a shell of their former selves. O and also fans of overpaying for these players with NTC/NMC on these because that is what is going to happen. CF will get the team just good enough to never be able to get a top pick but no where good enough to make a serious playoff run.
  18. True but that was a trade by a guy who would have traded the # 1 pick for a mystery bag guaranteed to contain either, cat chit, dog chit or goose chit. I think we are going to see teams be more picky about trades for rentals. Especially older rentals. I think we will see more teams be more conservative on trades for rentals and worry more about their future. Still just my opinion but I don't think we would get as much back as what Staal would provide. Now last year if we traded him well he still had some time left on the contract and was proving hot I bet we would have gotten a nice haul even though I would have been sad to see him go.
  19. Lmfao, I was just thinking this when I seen the race to 105 and thought that could possibly not be enough. I remember back when the elites were 100 pts and the sneak in the backdoor teams were in the 80s. If somebody would have told me that in 2000s that points in the 80s would not even be worth a WC spot but mid 90s would be worth a WC spot, back in the day I would have laughed and called you foolish. As far as some people saying if the Wild are going to miss the playoffs and about trading I don't think Eric Staal will net much in return. He's on his last year and a UFA at the end of this season. He is 34/35 and probably not going to play to much longer. Only thing I could foresee is a disappearing rental player or a very late draft pick for him as teams know they can always try to sweep him up in the offseason. If anything Fenton will probably need to think more about cap room and want to move bigger contracts to open up the future for his decisions. But this would be only if CL has backed off the minor tweaks bullchit he spouted earlier and give the keys to Fenton to run it.
  20. I wasn't the biggest fan of Granlund but I have come to really like him. And it's so true that him, Spurgeon and Dumba are pretty much the only players willing to bring the puck in the zone without dumping. Two of your smallest guys are willing to risk being hit while big body guys like Koivu do everything to avoid a opposite player looking at them. Dump and Chase on PP should be rewarded with a huge cut into your TOI.
  21. With this current roster it's hard to pinpoint a complete fix. I guess the first would be to have more players carry the puck in instead of dump and chase and fight for it around the boards for a good 20 seconds plus. To much wasted time. Another is I would spread the players out more. Nothing drives me more nuts then seeing the puck carry have about a 5 foot radius of his linemates around him. First you bunch up and have little room for the carrier to move. Second you have pretty much all the defenders right next to the puck carrier. It's like the Wild want the shot to come from the blue line only. Another thing I would do switch up the players on the ice. Koivu wouldn't be out there anymore. A faceoff win means jack if the puck is dumped in anyways and Koivu refuses to use his big frame to cause chaos in front of the net. I would look for the guys that are thirsty to score and want to play 100% and are willing to do the dirty work. There is lots of little things too but I think the above stuff is truly needed in order to improve it.
  22. Wild won't need to do anything to tank. They are doing a fantastic job of it now! And in all honesty they really should be getting ready to go rebuild in a year or two. That way Fletchers NMC/NTC contracts will be gone and then a team can be built from the ground up. In 6 more years we will see Zucker, Dumba and other guys on the wrong side of their career anyways so we will have to be focusing on rebuilding.
  23. Awesome! Excited to find both of your write ups easily again!!!
  24. Sorry folks, internet freaked out and it tripled posted. I can't seem to find a way to delte so could a mod delete 2 of the duplicate posts?
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