Hockey-78

Poor Parise. So hard to admit they just couldn't get it done. Heck, if you're a player with talent you'll improvise and play like your instincts tell you to. The man has such a low hockey IQ... BB is absolutely right. Do they really need to practise 4 on 3 a lot like it's the key thing stopping them from winning more? Too bad BB didn't suggest they need to practise scoring 5 hole a lot more...

Anyone of our group of four? No, do share... One explanation for Dumba's lack of hustle in his own end is that he has fire in his pants to go on offense. If there's a turnover he wants to join the rush. So he's saving his energy for that. Suter saves his energy to have a good time after the game.

Fair enough. Still I think that goal wasn't on KK. Horrible D coverage, both Kunin and Ek entering the zone before Rakell, Silfverberg was on Dumba yet Dumba$$ just stood there and watched, swung his head and boom! Trade him while he still has some value, he'll never learn how to play the D, his 7th season already.

Yeah, IMO Soucy's been excellent the whole season. His stats back up the eye-test, too. The faster they give more minutes to Soucy and Hunt, the better for the Wild. And Donato has certainly improved lately. Most definitely the more inexperienced players are carrying the Wild at the moment.

Obviously.

As of late KK has been the better goalie of these three.

So the homer commentator said but if you can come by his comment and have a look at it again, watch the Wild players. That's how you play D? That's just careless and lazy. Well, those were the first SO attempts he's faced, I wouldn't generalize too much at this point. KK kind of reminds me of Backstrom - their style of play is similar and he wasn't excellent either in the SOs in the early part of his career.

You might want to watch the Canes play, I have. A very exciting group and fun to watch. Again they scored 6 goals, this time against the Oilers, and couple of those goals were highlight material. Their speed and way to execute offensive plays... That's what you get when you draft high-end talent and not just sign has-beens in the offseason. The Canes have a monstrous top line. When was the last time the Wild drafted a forward who could pull off anything spectacular in the offensive end?

Maybe that. But mostly to see has he in him to pass Dubnyk and Stalock in the pecking order and how soon. Another promising game, in the 3 games he's played he's been better than Stalock. The stats back up the eye-test. I cannot see how BB can rationalize NOT to give KK more starts. KK might be the future of the Wild, those two veterans simply are not.

Like I said, playing devil's advocate so I wasn't 100% behind that question. I just thought it was funny I could dig up so many arguments against Spurgie in only a minute or so.

The only right thing to do.

Thanks rotten, it was getting all too positive around here!

Well... - He was out already against the Bolts, yet the Wild won. - He's at -6, the worst +/- rating in his career. - He played every game last season when the Wild were eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in 6 years. It was also the first time he's ever played every game in a season. So um... I'm going to play devil's advocate here and ask does the Wild really need him back?

Speaking of which: now that Brind'amour removed Nino from Aho's line, he's back to his old self. A defensive liability who can't score to save his life. On pace for 8 goals and -16 rating... ouch. Seems like it was good for the Wild to get rid of him.

I don't know Miles how you do that. They were outshot yet again. How can you expect them to win constantly when they are being outshot and outplayed so often? That winning streak was more or less a fluke thanks to unusually efficient scoring and bad goaltending by the opposing goalies. I guess many had hopes that this streak was a turnaround. This is the true Wild, a contender. But the qualities of this team don't change over night. The way guys like Aho and TT played and schooled the Wild defense... that's modern hockey. Speed, hockey sense and desire to win. The Wild has many qualities but those three I mentioned...*facepalm*