lynxrattle

Very nice to read about Iowa! I especially liked Tim Army's approach:

1. Speed of play

2. Four lines rolling

3. Blue collar ethics to counter the lack of exceptional skills

Sounds promising both for Iowa and the big team in a few years from now I wish I could see Iowa's games now and then.

Governing is in the details and there sure are a lot of details that point to problems that are not properly out in the open. I fear that IllaZilla night be right. This might take years.

I think that the fanbase would tolerate getting rid of all the dead weight even if it meant that the Wild would be the last team in the NHL next season. It only gets risky after that and we really should be competitive again in a couple of years. With the problems in scouting, developing prospects and getting good value in trades, it feels kind of scary. I'd still.rather see a true rebuild with its risks than getting barely to the playoffs by wasting picks to get leftovers like Pavelski Nelson or Lee etc.

Very promising!

What does that even mean? If this is not a rebuild what is? We've already dumped the age group at the middle. We can't get rid of some and surely we aren't keeping the Browns and the Rasks in the long run. 

And not just drinking but behaving rudely against the staff and the customers at the place he decided was better than his work place

I like the idea of an organisational meeting. That would take a conference of one or two days. Maybe that would in getting the messed up roles fixed. I wonder if they do these kind of get togethers in other teams.

1 hour ago, ClusterChuck said:

I wonder if J. T. Brown thought about next season's salary $687,500 when he goes off and gets drunk before the last game.

Maybe some team will pick it up. Is it just him being stupid and selfish and not caring about the team? Or a product of the overall environment of the locker room?

Whatever, I'd rather see him gone...Even before this event.

Another reason we should find our 4th liners from our prospect pool. They don't get drunk like that or if they do it's better to know about that ASAP.

Fargo defending Suter made me think about the difficulty of Suter's situation. I think it's time for his uncle Gary to have a fatherly conversation with him about getting older and the changes that brings along.

The nicest people carry the darkest shadow - we should trust actions or lack of actions, not what the players are. When I say Foligno is a leader, I actually mean he leads by acting, speaking out for example. When I say Suter is an a..hole I really mean that he's not done those things I expect from a leader, speaking out, calling a player's meeting, playing too much for his capability etc.

2 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

I thought Kahkonen was supposed to be the savior...

Another one bites the dust. There's probably a flaw in his game, that the other teams figured out after the shutouts.

The fact pointed out by @CreaseAndAssist, that we can't even find 3rd and 4th line players from our prospects - that is just horrendous. I feel that is not just a huge failure from the scouts but also from those parts of the organisation that are trying to develop our prospects. Of the tens, hundreds of players that play or have played in Iowa or are Wild draft picks, all those players and we can't find basically anyone that could be developed into a 4th liner?

12 hours ago, EmptyShelf said:

Signing a bunch of Russians or other foreign players s that cannot understand 20, 11, and 9, and only talk among themselves may solve the issue if they can form their own clique (and laugh at declining performance from the CC), and management shuts the door on 20, 11, and 9 thinking they have 'higher level access.'  I am only half kidding - there are other ways to change culture and influence, but management needs to de-emphasize the cancers wherever they can immediately.  The 'jig is up', as they say.....soon expiring contracts will take care of 2-3 of the CC, but not the 1-2 I have the most concerns about.

That would be a novel way of solving the problem It might be close to the reality as it is, as I would imagine the players who are not part of the Country Club Tractor ring, realise what the ring and the organisation is trying to feed them and in consequence has already stopped listening to them.

7 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Yeah,7th lost game in a row. Surprised that they put for that game the same goalie Hammond as they did the day before. Hat trick was nice , but not enough for the win.

Hammond again, and keep losing. Worrying, very worrying. No confidence in Kähkönen, or Kähkönen hurt? Damn, the Finnish reporters covering the NHL should make a detour and interview him to maybe get some inside information on what the problem/problems are.

Good to hear about them being ok and fast initially. Hopefully it's just the inconsistency of developing, young players.

That is very worrying indeed. I have high hopes for Kaapo Kahkonen developing into a very skilled goalie, capable of stealing games even in Cup finals. So far in his career he has been winning goalie, even carrying a team by himself for extended time periods. If he is not capable of getting Iowa into playoffs, it's an ominous sign. Either he's injured, achieved the ceiling of his potential, not trained properly or not happy playing in Iowa. Any of these reasons would be very worrying.

Suter for the Masterton trophy... That is quite questionable. It could be argued that him rushing back before he was fully healed and hogging all the ice time has costed us the playoffs. Just a couple of losses early in the season because of him coming back too early and there we are. Four points back chasing the Avs.

That is a good point about there being 2-3 Russian players in those teams that have succeeded in the transition. Detroit, Tampa, Washington etc.

There's three picks here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Minnesota_Wild_draft_picks

All of them players I can't remember from playing for the Russian National team. If a pick is going to have any tangible chance of making the Wild, he really needs to be a standout in the national team.

The cultural differences between post-Soviet Russia and the US are probably humongous but with time passing and globalisation they are getting smaller. The KHL is a factor pulling the other way though. It's still risky to draft Russians, but if one can solve the riddle of their adjustment the potential rewards are huge.

We should somehow get a good Russian ex-player into the organisation, with the main task of scouting good Russian players and then helping them develop once they are in the NHL. A guy like Datsyuk would be perfect, even a Kasparaitis type perhaps - a former player like that would not be hesitant to show some tough love if need be. Fedorov maybe, but would he be tough enough if need be, and would a guy like that be interested with a good job in the KHL already.

There's the balancing act between the not getting buried in the AHL versus the throwing raw talent to the wolves like they do in the Oilers. The Wild needs to learn patience with the hatchlings.

It's a nice change from yesteryear that the Iowa Wild is competitive. It gives hope that these days of apathy will eventually be over.

Hello,

One more refugee coming from the Wild message forum that was closed down a couple of years ago. I've been following the Wild from the season Granlund came to the Wild (I thought he was going to be a major success story, I think I even compared his chances of making an impact - dare I say it - to Joe Sakic...). I also thought Darcy Kuemper was a headcase who would never get his act together 

A couple of years ago I got ticked off by the ownership of the team and stopped following the team. I just followed the NHL in general. I was wrong. The team is not the owner or even the coaches or the players. The team is the fan base. Owners change, coaches change, players change, but the fans can and should go on for generations.

I have very little time to follow the games right now but I might pop in here now and then if I think I have something worthwhile to banter about.