Fargocase

It was a moot point who was protected. The deal had been made.

And of course an NHL GM is working in real time, without the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. Be easy to make decisions with a clear view of the future.

I don't think the decision was Haula's, it was pretty clear the Wild didn't want to re-sign him. I believe Haula was RFA with arbitration rights and he was going to get decent money, more than the Wild was willing to pay. What it really turned into was Tuch instead of Brodin, Zucker, Nino, or Coyle. In 20/20 hindsight, seeing that Tuch has met his top end potential it was a huge mistake.

Yeah, no doubt Leipold, Suter, Parise, Mikko's fault! They made the minor league team lose! And of course Doobie's fault the flash in the pan goalie was just a flash. Doobie played too many games! If the kid had been promoted to the NHL prematurely like the clueless DoobieHater69 demanded he would have been the next Ken Dryden!

Emotional, irrational, unprovable subjective drivel. YOU make claims about leadership. Not what I hear actual Wild players and Coaches say. I have never heard anyone with team question Parise or Suter's leadership, in fact, the exact opposite.

yeah, without a doubt YOU! who lead the team in goals and points and hustle? Only a total Hater Troll would deny that #11 Zach Pairise was the heart and soul and Leader of the Wild this season. And goals? And hustle? And sacrificing himself for the team. #20 Ryam Suter. The current whipping boy for Hayer Trolls- don't look behind the curtain at all the points and TOI against the other team's top lines. And the funny coincidence that Dumba had career stats and Spurgie was way better paired with him... Damn the facts, stick with emotional Hater Troll emotions.

You've followed this team for a long time. I read this and think you're feeding/patronizing the trolls. I guess I must be naive, but I didn't think you bought into that silly hater group think.

I am sure neither 11 nor 20 care enough to give a rat's azz for a letter on their Jersey. Contrary to all the conspiracy theory haters, you'd be hard pressed to find two guys who are less egomaniac prisma donnas than Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. I've talked to Parise a couple of times. He's the antithesis of an arrogant jock. I've talked to friends of Ryan Suter and his Dad, they are almost caricatures of quiet, shy mild mannered Midwesterners. With "fans" like the current day posters on internet boards, the old school trolls aee obsolete

Roman Voloshenko was the Russian guy I was thinking of. And I thought Suter was far and away the best American player. Drew Stafford and Dan Fritsche were the best US forwards. I was very disappointed in Patrick Sullivan after all the hype about him. Kessel flashed some big time skill but got hurt. I was more impressed by Malkin than Ovechkin, but the Canada team was so great and better than any other team there was no doubt would would be Champions.

They did draft another Russian kid that I saw a the WJC at The Ralph in Grand Forks, the year Canada had the super great team full of easy future HOFers. Don't remember the kid's name but he was on the team with Oveckin and Malkin. IMO after watching the Wild kid it was obvious he was a dud. Also read he had a serious vodka problem...

Thanks a lot for making me feel like a dirty old man! Hell, if ya got it, flaunt it!

Oh yeah? Well I agree 110%! (I'm awarding myself extra credit for particpation!)

Never mind. This is the same guy who thinks EEk is a stud and will be Top 2 Line Center So let's prematurely ejaculate the young goalie to the NHL so he can be another stud like EEk or Sheppard or Colton Gillies.... Am I just having bad luck? I don't waste time reading Hater ranting for a couple weeks then come back and it's still there...

Huh? I thought I watched the Wild win last Tor game?!?! WTF? Did I just dream that?

The only legit prospect in IA is the goalie IMO. And add EEk to the list of guys ruined because they didn't get proper development. Free pass and fast track 'em... Damn the consequences. Throw them in the deep end and if they drown - so be it.

Haven't seen the Ott kid play in the NHL but the Calgary kid didn't fall far from the old man tree. He's already as obnoxious and abrasive as old man Upchuck!

Obviously this proves kakonen sucks. Three bad games in a row? He sucks! Just like Doobie. Carrys the team for six weeks, then has a couple bad games = proof he sucks. Even though if you watched the Tor game, for example, a blind man could see the goals weren't his fault.

I won't share a bed no matter what! Unless it's with the wife, of course .

Yeah, quit posting stuff that's reasoned and rational. You need to develop a nano-second memory and immediately jump to silly, irrational, emotional doomsday conclusions any time anything isn't perfect.

IMO Illa's analysis is dead on, let him gain pro experience where he is unless there's an actual goalie injury. Dobbie's slump is nothing to worry about IMO. Ridiculous to rag on him for the recent Toronto fluke deflection goals. Blame Seeler if you must have a scapegoat. Every goalie has bad games occassionally.

So far they're leaving Kunin there. I don't follow the AHL stats so my guess is he isn't tearing it up on the ice or on the stat sheet.

Excellent video! Thanks KC! And for the article Antti!

I thought I saw a line of Zhamnov-Selanne-Tkachuk at the old Winnipg barn that was pretty good.

Thanks for the link! Your fondness for the fat Russian kid is infectious! One thing I do believe, goal scoring is in large part a gift and apparently this kid has the knack!

Been mentioned a couple of times - they really need to work on zone entry. They stat with Suter slowly skating puck to short of the Red Line then a big drop pass back to a trailer. So there's a huge clusterpuck of guys standing around on the opposing team's Blue Line by the time the puck gets there.. Wild players lose their speed, just standing around. MN puck carrier runs into a wall, no one to pass to, no Wild player moving with any speed... Puck ends up dumped back into MN zone and PUKE, do it again! If you are going to dump the puck in, which you might have to do if the other team keeps lining four guys along the Blue Line, someone, some Wild player, has to be hitting the zone with speed, not standing there, dragging a toe, trying not to be offsides...