**** 2023-24 MINNESOTA WILD GENERAL SEASON THREAD ****

[Alexandron]

4 hours ago, Tomdog said:

That probably explains the lack of shooting for the last month.

At Least I thought he was shooting less.

Good point. Maybe that cost us less wins especially during the crucial games for the last month of the season.

[Alexandron]

On 4/19/2024 at 7:28 AM, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

The 13th Overall pick has a pretty ugly history if you've ever looked at it.  

Why? Because this is the "lucky" number? 

[CreaseAndAssist]

22 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Why? Because this is the "lucky" number? 

 

I don't think there is a why beyond simply looking at the results of it.  It's not all bad, but there are still quite a few busts if you look at the last 25 years of the players made with that selection (13th Overall) in the draft.

 

2023 - Zach Benson (BUF)

2022 - Frank Nazar (CHI)

2021 - Matt Coronato (CGY)

2020 - Seth Jarvis (CAR)

2019 - Spencer Knight (FLA)

2018 - Ty Dellandrea (DAL)

2017 - Nick Suzuki (VGK)

2016 - Jake Bean (CAR)

2015 - Jakub Zboril (BOS)

2014 - Jakub Vrana (WSH)

2013 - Josh Morrissey (WPG)

2012 - Radek Faksa (DAL)

2011 - Sven Baertschi (CGY)

2010 - Brandon Gormley (ARZ) 

2009 - Zack Kassian (BUF)

2008 - Colten Teubert (LOS)

2007 - Lars Eller (STL)

2006 - Jiri Tlusty (TOR)

2005 - Marek Zagrapan (BUF)

2004 - Drew Stafford (BUF)

2003 - Dustin Brown (LOS)

2002 - Alexander Semin (WSH)

2001 - Ales Hemsky (EDM)

2000 - Ron Hainsey (MON)

1999 - Jani Rita (EDM)

1998 - Michael Heinrich (EDM)

[Tomdog]

On 10/9/2023 at 8:41 PM, Tomdog said:

That's 240 goals, hope that's enough. 

Evidently not enough. 

I was off by 11. They ended up scoring 251 for the season.

[Alexandron]

On 10/10/2023 at 11:30 AM, IllaZilla said:

240 goals...that's less than 3 goals per game. Gustavsson and Fleury better be on their game this season...

Unfortunately, they were not. Probably, if we would repeat the season 2021-2022 by placing at least 310 goals, then that amount would be enough to make playoffs.

[Alexandron]

Filip Gustavsson

2022-2023 season;

39 played games;

GAA 2.1; SV% 0.931; 22-9-7;

2023-2024 season;

45 played games;

GAA 3.06; SV% 0.899; 19-18-4;

Huge difference in 2 seasons.

 

Marc-Andre Fleury

2022-2023 season

46 played games;

GAA 2.85; SV% 0.908; 24-16-4;

2023-2024 season;

40 played games;

GAA 2.98; SV% 0.895; 17-15-5.

Not huge , but still a drop in 2 seasons.

 

[CreaseAndAssist]

On 4/21/2024 at 7:49 PM, Alexandron said:

Filip Gustavsson

2022-2023 season;

39 played games;

GAA 2.1; SV% 0.931; 22-9-7;

2023-2024 season;

45 played games;

GAA 3.06; SV% 0.899; 19-18-4;

Huge difference in 2 seasons.

 

Marc-Andre Fleury

2022-2023 season

46 played games;

GAA 2.85; SV% 0.908; 24-16-4;

2023-2024 season;

40 played games;

GAA 2.98; SV% 0.895; 17-15-5.

Not huge , but still a drop in 2 seasons.

 

 

Yet we are keeping one or possibly both of them for next season.  The 2024-25 Minnesota Wild: Locking into Mediocrity!  

[IllaZilla]

43 minutes ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

Yet we are keeping one or possibly both of them for next season.  The 2024-25 Minnesota Wild: Locking into Mediocrity!  

I don't have a problem with keeping Flower for one more year and mentoring Wallstedt. I'd rather have him mentoring Wallstedt than the Chubby Hubby.

 

And truly, the only thing that matters is that the team stays healthy. The Wild have so little depth that one injury will throw them into a tailspin.

 

Fleury made some comment about how hungry the team was and how they want to get back to the Playoffs next season. They didn't look too hungry to me. As a matter of fact, they looked all fat and happy this season, especially during that final game against Seattle. A lot of comments in the pressers this season about "too many passengers", but then let's give everyone NMC's. We keep hearing about how great a farm system the Wild has, but instead of giving the young players chances, let's lock up all the graybeards for the next three seasons. 

 

There was a pretty good article in The Athletic about how it's going to be put up or shut up time for the Wild to retain Kaprizov's services next season. He seemed generally unhappy after this season. And next season is going to be more of the same if the Wild can't stay healthy and certain players under perform again. Because next season, Kaprizov's NMC kicks in and if the Wild can't right the ship, Kaprizov can walk after the 2025-26 season. But they will still have Foligno, Hartman, and Gadreau to carry the team...

[Tomdog]

Going into 26-27 with Foligno, Hartman, and Gadreau carrying the team will mean the Wild will be in tank mode whether they know it or not.

I honestly don't know how the Wild can play their youth if they deserve it without straight out releasing the dead weight. 

If you don't have cap space to healthy scratch a player so a young guy can play and you can't trade them because of a ntc, how do you make cap space?

Does it come down to straight out releasing the dead weight?

[Alexandron]

Jets were eliminated during the 1st round just in 5 games. Wow. I was thinking they will do better. They developed so many problems and injuries for our team especially in the last 2 seasons, but they didn't show enough physicality and production against Avalanche in playoffs this season.

In general, I am thinking that the playoffs teams who are capable persistently to pass at least 2 rounds for few seasons in a row have the highest chance to reach Stanley Cup finals. It seems those teams build better playoffs chemistry and mentality, which is completely different of the regular season chemistry and mentality.  The playoffs teams who are not capable to pass even 1st round for few seasons in a row have the lowest chance to reach Stanley Cup finals. Those teams should have a dramatic, but not a superficial/cosmetic improvement which is more dependable of GM and Coaching staff.

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

14 minutes ago, Alexandron said:

Jets were eliminated during the 1st round just in 5 games. Wow. I was thinking they will do better. They developed so many problems and injuries for our team especially in the last 2 seasons, but they didn't show enough physicality and production against Avalanche in playoffs this season.

In general, I am thinking that the playoffs teams who are capable persistently to pass at least 2 rounds for few seasons in a row have the highest chance to reach Stanley Cup finals. It seems those teams build better playoffs chemistry and mentality, which is completely different of the regular season chemistry and mentality.  The playoffs teams who are not capable to pass even 1st round for few seasons in a row have the lowest chance to reach Stanley Cup finals. Those teams should have a dramatic, but not a superficial/cosmetic improvement which is more dependable of GM and Coaching staff.

 

 

I thought the Jets' heavy game would do better than they did as well.
Heck, I even had them winning in 7, though the fact that Colorado was the favorite was not lost on me.
But losing in 5? Probably shouldn't have been that way, but it is what it is.

As for the comparison as to the problems the Jets caused for the Wild that they couldn't duplicate against the Avalanche...
That should NOT surprise you at all as the Wild don't pack nearly the equal amount of gear as a team like the Avalanche, so Winnipeg's results will definitely not be the same!