Wild ride- year in review

[yave1964]

PRESEASON OUTLOOK A lot of people thought they would contend for second place behind the Avalanche. I cant lie, I thought they were more smoke and mirrors and didnt have enough centers to compete. I was wrong.

 

FINAL RECORD 53-22-7 113 Points 2d in the Central. Lost in six games to the Blues in opening round

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR Lets see.... opened with a four game winning streak...After another four gamer in early November they were at 9-3-0 An eight game streak in December pushed them to 19-6-1 that eight game streak might be it, they beat a bunch of very good teams including Tampa, Toronto and Edmonton by a combined 37-18. Or maybe a stretch where they won nine of ten from January through early February.  Or the trade for MAF. Or the seven gamer in March when Talbot/Flower alternated wins. Or the 8-0-1 stretch as the season wound down. 113 points, wow what a season. The entire year was the high point of the year. Simply an outstanding regular season.

 

LOW POINT OF THE YEAR Not all was perfect, they had a sluggish spell February 16th through March 13th with an ugly loss to Nashville they lost ten out of fourteen, Kahkonen was playing more than they liked as Talbot was slowing and of the ten losses Kahkonen lost six of them. A few days later he was a Shark and Fleury was sharing the Wild net. Of course the worst was the loss to the Blues after being up two games to one losing the next three in a row.

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Talbot went 32-12-4 and in his time with the Wild Flower went 9-2 with a 2.74 goals against. Kaprizov was even better this year than last. Fiala had a career year. Zuccarello scored over a point a game. Ryan Hartman scored a career high 34 goals. Eriksson Ek scored 26 goals and Foligno hit everything that moved and scored a career high 23. Boldy after a mid season callup scored at nearly a point a game rate. Gaudreau had 44 points. Greenway turned into a tough mother on the fourth line. Spurgeon led the defense by committee in scoring. Goligoski had 30 points and QB'd the second power play nicely. The defense was bend but not break all year. nine seperate players were plus twenty or more. 

 

WHAT WENT WRONG Victor Rask sucks. Period. Full stop. Bjugstad is simply a shell of the promising young player he once was. Mid season tinkering worked meh at best, Jost didnt show much, Middleton wasnt an improvement over what they had. Deslauriers was a poor fit. Dumba seems to have atrophied, once thought to be a future top pairing guy he is nothing like that player anymore.

 

FREE AGENTS AND DRAFT PICKS Picks are intact for the top rounds which is good. Free agents are Bjugstad and Deslauriers who wont be back and wont be missed same with Jordie Benn. A tough decision has to be made on Fleury whether to bring him back. Fiala is a RFA and they would like to get him under contract long term.

 

TOP PROSPECTS For this i only list players who will be helping next year so Wallstedt wont be discussed. Rossi is still a top prospect and might crack the lineup in the middle six as soon as next year. A little guy with big talent. Adam Beckman could crack the lineup as a third line winger who might bump up a line with a bit of luck. Calen Addison is a puck mover on the back end but is undersized and gets kicked off the puck too easily. They have some okay playrs like Dewar and Duhalme who are trying to stick but are so so prospects. They are decently deep in the prospect pool which is a compliment when you look at what they have already graduated to the NHL in the last several years.

 

STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR This one does not bode well... the Wild are the first team in NHL history whose top ten scorers for the season all set career highs in scoring. Things usually find their level so it is not unreasonable to expect at least half of them to score less next year. The Wilds top ten scorers all set career highs. That is great in the short term, worrisome going forward.

 

OFFSEASON OUTLOOK Wallstedt is a brilliant goalie prospect but a couple of years away and Fleury wants to keep playing for a couple of years so it seems a natural fit. Fiala deserves to be paid and they hope it is long term. Honestly, I still say they need a top line center and are built a bit wierd, from the outside in, great wingers, average centers and defense, a center and a puck mover on the back end would really improve their chances. Love where they are now and think they are trending in the right direction but a lot of players coming off career years is a bit of a concern.

 

 

[ClusterChuck]

How about the "Comeback Kids Stat" 
While it was amazing especially early season with how many times the Wild somehow ground out wins left and right when trailing.
Great fun but that mentality of "We have confidence we can comeback any given night" doesn't bode well for the PO's.

[Alexandron]

3 hours ago, yave1964 said:

PRESEASON OUTLOOK A lot of people thought they would contend for second place behind the Avalanche. I cant lie, I thought they were more smoke and mirrors and didnt have enough centers to compete. I was wrong.

 

FINAL RECORD 53-22-7 113 Points 2d in the Central. Lost in six games to the Blues in opening round

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR Lets see.... opened with a four game winning streak...After another four gamer in early November they were at 9-3-0 An eight game streak in December pushed them to 19-6-1 that eight game streak might be it, they beat a bunch of very good teams including Tampa, Toronto and Edmonton by a combined 37-18. Or maybe a stretch where they won nine of ten from January through early February.  Or the trade for MAF. Or the seven gamer in March when Talbot/Flower alternated wins. Or the 8-0-1 stretch as the season wound down. 113 points, wow what a season. The entire year was the high point of the year. Simply an outstanding regular season.

 

LOW POINT OF THE YEAR Not all was perfect, they had a sluggish spell February 16th through March 13th with an ugly loss to Nashville they lost ten out of fourteen, Kahkonen was playing more than they liked as Talbot was slowing and of the ten losses Kahkonen lost six of them. A few days later he was a Shark and Fleury was sharing the Wild net. Of course the worst was the loss to the Blues after being up two games to one losing the next three in a row.

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Talbot went 32-12-4 and in his time with the Wild Flower went 9-2 with a 2.74 goals against. Kaprizov was even better this year than last. Fiala had a career year. Zuccarello scored over a point a game. Ryan Hartman scored a career high 34 goals. Eriksson Ek scored 26 goals and Foligno hit everything that moved and scored a career high 23. Boldy after a mid season callup scored at nearly a point a game rate. Gaudreau had 44 points. Greenway turned into a tough mother on the fourth line. Spurgeon led the defense by committee in scoring. Goligoski had 30 points and QB'd the second power play nicely. The defense was bend but not break all year. nine seperate players were plus twenty or more. 

 

WHAT WENT WRONG Victor Rask sucks. Period. Full stop. Bjugstad is simply a shell of the promising young player he once was. Mid season tinkering worked meh at best, Jost didnt show much, Middleton wasnt an improvement over what they had. Deslauriers was a poor fit. Dumba seems to have atrophied, once thought to be a future top pairing guy he is nothing like that player anymore.

 

FREE AGENTS AND DRAFT PICKS Picks are intact for the top rounds which is good. Free agents are Bjugstad and Deslauriers who wont be back and wont be missed same with Jordie Benn. A tough decision has to be made on Fleury whether to bring him back. Fiala is a RFA and they would like to get him under contract long term.

 

TOP PROSPECTS For this i only list players who will be helping next year so Wallstedt wont be discussed. Rossi is still a top prospect and might crack the lineup in the middle six as soon as next year. A little guy with big talent. Adam Beckman could crack the lineup as a third line winger who might bump up a line with a bit of luck. Calen Addison is a puck mover on the back end but is undersized and gets kicked off the puck too easily. They have some okay playrs like Dewar and Duhalme who are trying to stick but are so so prospects. They are decently deep in the prospect pool which is a compliment when you look at what they have already graduated to the NHL in the last several years.

 

STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR This one does not bode well... the Wild are the first team in NHL history whose top ten scorers for the season all set career highs in scoring. Things usually find their level so it is not unreasonable to expect at least half of them to score less next year. The Wilds top ten scorers all set career highs. That is great in the short term, worrisome going forward.

 

OFFSEASON OUTLOOK Wallstedt is a brilliant goalie prospect but a couple of years away and Fleury wants to keep playing for a couple of years so it seems a natural fit. Fiala deserves to be paid and they hope it is long term. Honestly, I still say they need a top line center and are built a bit wierd, from the outside in, great wingers, average centers and defense, a center and a puck mover on the back end would really improve their chances. Love where they are now and think they are trending in the right direction but a lot of players coming off career years is a bit of a concern.

 

 

According to our GM interview, sadly but it seems Fiala is not going to be a part of the team next season. Too expensive for the club.

[yave1964]

32 minutes ago, Alexandron said:

According to our GM interview, sadly but it seems Fiala is not going to be a part of the team next season. Too expensive for the club.

That would be absurd unless he is dealt for a 1c or 1d. Anything less is a sellout.

[Otter]

Fiala says....

 

[Confrontational]

14 hours ago, ClusterChuck said:

While it was amazing especially early season with how many times the Wild somehow ground out wins left and right when trailing.

 

Adding to that - the number of games that went to OT as well...  

[Math]

And Fiala was kindly thrown under the bus by GM Guerin when speaking about the bashing of Dumba. With some reason because Fiala vanished in the playoffs, but Guerin really seem to dislike Fiala.

[CreaseAndAssist]

What went wrong was Victor Rask?  I will admit the guy wasn't the answer but he had zero effect on how this Wild season played out.  Nick Bjugstad meh...mostly inconsequential.  Deslauriers got hurt thanks to fights he was a part of late in the season.  He also wasn't a reason we lost or failed to get beyond the 1st round.  

 

It was once again...a lack of scoring and less than ok goaltending.  Also, the Wild don't play with enough urgency and want to consistently to be successful in the post-season.  

 

Saying Dumba atrophied is probably a good way to put it.  He's never been the same since the fight against Matt Tkachuk; and while he should be our right-shot answer on our power play his inability to put it on goal more than once in a blue moon makes it problematic.  I think most Wild fans kind of are at a 'we've seen enough' point with him although Guerin seems to feel the criticism against him is unfair.  The analytics crowd point out Dumba was our best defenseman in the playoffs; but to what end?  

 

As Kaprizov and Fiala heated up, our secondary scoring kind of dried up.  Hartman, Eriksson Ek and Foligno who had gotten off to fast starts kind of plateaued.  Still, every player listed here had their career-best year.  With the exception of Kaprizov and maybe Eriksson Ek...it seems unlikely #38 and #17 will reach those totals again.  Fiala is pretty much a certainty to be traded unless other money is moved.  Its not impossible, but its improbable.  

 

Boldy is the only other player where I feel we'll see considerably more production compared to this year's numbers.  Everyone else will probably be hard pressed to be more productive offensively than they did this year.