Are the Minnesota Wild still a contender, or just a pretender with a big dose of denial?

[CreaseAndAssist]

I would argue the Wild are the least talented team Boudreau has coached in the NHL.  

[CreaseAndAssist]

2 minutes ago, FD19372 said:

 

if Boudreau isn't available...see below

 

Barry Trotz is a good coach IMO, but not sure anyone can make Washington a champion.  

[bbgarnett]

@FD19372  nice choice but I'd give this man a shot once he get's out of Jail.

 

[IllaZilla]

The Wild are pretenders. They're like The Common Man: Best of the Worst and Worst of the Best.

 

Their business model reminds me of the Twins. Put a competitive team on the field, over-hype the prospects, put fancy food in the stands, and dump money into clever marketing campaigns that appeal to the rubes and get them to buy season tickets. Then use the excuse of "We just have to make the Playoffs. Then anything can happen..."

[MNfootie]

Have to agree with the common thread here - the Wild have been a pretender for a few years now. No protection for the skill players (RIP Zach's spine), no repercussions to the vets when they play like crap for weeks on end, and the same boring set plays that every team has to mock in their tape room during Wild prep.

 

With a new GM, I would love to see the team get blown up, get young and fast, and STOP WITH THE NMC's. In my fevered dream list would be stripping Koivu and Suter of the captaincy... but the front office is stuck too deeply in the Clydesdale's jock for that to happen prior to his retirement.

[pilldoc]

10 minutes ago, MNfootie said:

Have to agree with the common thread here - the Wild have been a pretender for a few years now. No protection for the skill players (RIP Zach's spine), no repercussions to the vets when they play like crap for weeks on end, and the same boring set plays that every team has to mock in their tape room during Wild prep.

 

With a new GM, I would love to see the team get blown up, get young and fast, and STOP WITH THE NMC's. In my fevered dream list would be stripping Koivu and Suter of the captaincy... but the front office is stuck too deeply in the Clydesdale's jock for that to happen prior to his retirement.

 

Welcome!  Glad you found our little corner of the internet and our Hockey Community.  Make yourself at home.  See my other posts in the other thread welcoming you and your friends.  Any questions please do not hesitate to ask.  Again Welcome.

 

14 minutes ago, MNfootie said:

STOP WITH THE NMC's

 

LOL ... Us Flyer fans know about those all to well!  Our former GM affectionately known as Homer (Paul Holmgren) handed those things out like candy on Halloween.  Although it was more of a Trick instead of a Treat.  Thank God Hexy (Ron Hextall) seems to be taking a more sensible route and holding off on the NMC /NTC when working out contracts.  Several years ago I believe at one time the Flyers had no less than 8 or 9 players with NMC/NTC stipulations in their contract.  Sheer madness I tell....sheer madness!

[Davey J]

Just joining the party here.  I'll read and respond when I have a bit more time.  I hope all us fans from the Wild's NHL site will re-join here.  I enjoy our discussions...even with those of you I don't always agree with.

[pilldoc]

21 minutes ago, Davey J said:

Just joining the party here.  I'll read and respond when I have a bit more time.  I hope all us fans from the Wild's NHL site will re-join here.  I enjoy our discussions...even with those of you I don't always agree with.

 

Welcome!  See my other posts to your buddies welcoming you all here.  Any ??? just drop one of us PM we will get back to you ASAP.  Again Welcome!

[4Check]

IMO, the Wild have several holes to fill to reach elite status.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              *Collectively,  team speed took a hit this past season.  Not able to sustain forecheck pressure like Vegas, Wpg, Wash and TB.                                                                                                                                                                            *Must come up with a second line center who can match up with the speed and scoring ability of elite team's second units (Brayden Point, Haula etc). 

*Need a big body RHD who can also retrieve pucks and make a good first pass.

*Like Dubnyk, but not certain if he's the guy who can play with the consistency required to win 16 post season games. At least, need to find a young, big athletic netminder to, hopefully soon,  push Dubnyk for the #1 spot.

*Perhaps most of all, the Wild need two elite top 20 goal scoring game changers.    At 33,  can't likely count on Staal for more than a year at best.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            IMO, Fenton needs two lucky things to happen.   A multi player package deal yields one, and KHL contract or not, somehow Kaprizov gets here sooner rather than later. 

 

 

[rottenrefs]

One can't forget when Boudreau first took over, the first half of that season... The Wild were running away with the best record in the league.

 

It was the the 'core leaders' IMO made their proverbial whine call to Feltcher (yes I spelled it wrong on purpose) and all kinds of miserable crap began to repeat itself all over again. Since then the Wild lost some of those pieces and the team as a whole has aged and molded a bit more.

IMO they aren't even pretenders going into next season.

 

[EJ0226]

6 hours ago, Davey J said:

Just joining the party here.  I'll read and respond when I have a bit more time.  I hope all us fans from the Wild's NHL site will re-join here.  I enjoy our discussions...even with those of you I don't always agree with.

Good to see you Davey!!!

 

 

3 hours ago, rottenrefs said:

One can't forget when Boudreau first took over, the first half of that season... The Wild were running away with the best record in the league.

 

It was the the 'core leaders' IMO made their proverbial whine call to Feltcher (yes I spelled it wrong on purpose) and all kinds of miserable crap began to repeat itself all over again. Since then the Wild lost some of those pieces and the team as a whole has aged and molded a bit more.

IMO they aren't even pretenders going into next season.

 

Good to see you Rotty!

 

Back on the Wild boards I pointed out the difference of how when Bruce first got here tell now. His personality has changed and demeanor has completely changed. The fire from the first year is not there anymore. It went from a team thing of we need to play better offense, PP, defense, etc to a monotone voice of this player needs to do this or that player needs to do that. His interviews even changed. You could see the want to coach get sucked out of him.

This team is pretenders and they will continue to be until the Parise/Suter project is over. Parise and Suter are good players but not elite or super stars. They never were. I guess you could argue Suter is a star. They can not carry a team on their shoulders. They don't make other players around them better. But their salaries are a anchor.

I missed you said it but the Wild are best summed up like the Common Man show. The worst of the best and the best of worst.

[Lonkkis]

Doesn't help when the Wild is 6th oldest team in the NHL currently either.

 

https://theathletic.com/210035/2018/01/12/sizing-up-the-nhl-2017-18-nhl-teams-by-age-height-and-weight/

[rottenrefs]

2 hours ago, EJ0226 said:

Good to see you Davey!!!

 

 

Good to see you Rotty!

 

Back on the Wild boards I pointed out the difference of how when Bruce first got here tell now. His personality has changed and demeanor has completely changed. The fire from the first year is not there anymore. It went from a team thing of we need to play better offense, PP, defense, etc to a monotone voice of this player needs to do this or that player needs to do that. His interviews even changed. You could see the want to coach get sucked out of him.

This team is pretenders and they will continue to be until the Parise/Suter project is over. Parise and Suter are good players but not elite or super stars. They never were. I guess you could argue Suter is a star. They can not carry a team on their shoulders. They don't make other players around them better. But their salaries are a anchor.

I missed you said it but the Wild are best summed up like the Common Man show. The worst of the best and the best of worst.

Good to see you too!

 

And yes, Boudreau seemed to get the wind sucked out of him on a game by game basis. Poor guy, I really had hopes. Had hopes with Richards and Yeo too but that was short lived. At Richards departure I put a lot of blame on Leipold, likewise with Yeo, gave Fletcher a lot of 'thumbs down' too but I still hold true to Leipold needing to own a NBA team since he thinks he knows so much about basketball; but being a decent NHL owner at this rate may take a lifetime.

[bbgarnett]

@MNfootie  Hey glad to see a new face and one I don't recognize from the old board.

[MNfootie]

@bbgarnettThanks  for the welcome BB. Long time lurker from the Wild boards, finally taking the new boards as a chance to contribute. 

[hf101]

2 minutes ago, MNfootie said:

@bbgarnettThanks  for the welcome BB. Long time lurker from the Wild boards, finally taking the new boards as a chance to contribute. 

 

 

I'll take that as a compliment.  

[bbgarnett]

@MNfootie Ah OK also see that you like Soccer another good choice. Everyone in my family played soccer growing up so I know the sport well.

[EJ0226]

16 hours ago, Lonkkis said:

Doesn't help when the Wild is 6th oldest team in the NHL currently either.

 

https://theathletic.com/210035/2018/01/12/sizing-up-the-nhl-2017-18-nhl-teams-by-age-height-and-weight/

 

The one category that you don't want to be high in too.

[Confrontational]

For those who haven't listened to Rott at the other site - and several others like EJ, etc - it is so much more complex than one person here - or another potential person there...  Rott calls it: "it's in the water"...

 

There is something about our dynamic as a team that is structurally off - it's as if we have 4 different types of people that make up this team - the owners, I think there are at least three different types of players that formed their own group, and then the coaching staff.

 

I personally don't think Ovie would be successful here if he arrived tomorrow morning. Now, he would get a TON of slack like Mikko & Company - but think about that for a second. No matter who we bring here - they get delegated to horrible lines, they try them a couple times, then change everything up again. Look at Zucker's first couple years - was crazy - and then who do you see in the shootout? Our slugs. On power play? Our slugs. It's maddening. 

 

So, I think this has so much more to do than bringing great players to this team - because I seriously don't think the Wild know how to manage those assets - nor play the right person who's hot - at the right time.

 

I think all these different groups on the team then sit and look at each other as to who is to blame. So, I'm not sure if a better word would be "identity" or what - but it's almost like we're an incredibly emotional team that checks in and out throughout the entire season based on pure emotions - and that is hugely evident in our lack of any response when our guys should be sticking up for each other...  

 

I got into it pretty bad down here when the opposing thug tried to take out one of my guys - and I don't even like the guy on my team who got taken out...!  So, what do I know - I just think this team is missing something a whole lot more than just "players"...

[rottenrefs]

1 hour ago, Confrontational said:

For those who haven't listened to Rott at the other site - and several others like EJ, etc - it is so much more complex than one person here - or another potential person there...  Rott calls it: "it's in the water"...

 

There is something about our dynamic as a team that is structurally off - it's as if we have 4 different types of people that make up this team - the owners, I think there are at least three different types of players that formed their own group, and then the coaching staff.

 

I personally don't think Ovie would be successful here if he arrived tomorrow morning. Now, he would get a TON of slack like Mikko & Company - but think about that for a second. No matter who we bring here - they get delegated to horrible lines, they try them a couple times, then change everything up again. Look at Zucker's first couple years - was crazy - and then who do you see in the shootout? Our slugs. On power play? Our slugs. It's maddening. 

 

So, I think this has so much more to do than bringing great players to this team - because I seriously don't think the Wild know how to manage those assets - nor play the right person who's hot - at the right time.

 

I think all these different groups on the team then sit and look at each other as to who is to blame. So, I'm not sure if a better word would be "identity" or what - but it's almost like we're an incredibly emotional team that checks in and out throughout the entire season based on pure emotions - and that is hugely evident in our lack of any response when our guys should be sticking up for each other...  

 

I got into it pretty bad down here when the opposing thug tried to take out one of my guys - and I don't even like the guy on my team who got taken out...!  So, what do I know - I just think this team is missing something a whole lot more than just "players"...

 

Ha, yeah I'm big on my "What's in the water" themed rants. Most notably are when just about any particular player arrives here they go into some kind of funk of not being themselves. The first game out they're hot as hell and fit in but after that it's a slow trickle to either not belonging or turning into total slugs. It's like a plague hits them and they crumble. While in their own minds they think everything is running smoothly but nothing is further than the truth.

 

One player... There's been only one player who Fletcher got in here and didn't drink the water and that's Eric Staal. How or why he's been immune to the 'what's in the water' routine everyone else has gone through is mesmerizing. Actually I guess looking back, Jared Spurgeon is another one. Considering all the other players Fletcher has acquired that's a pretty bleak track record.

[CreaseAndAssist]

Anyone see the Mikko, Suter and Parise photo?  Notice who looks annoyed and who looks quizzical 

 

[CreaseAndAssist]

4 minutes ago, rottenrefs said:

 

Ha, yeah I'm big on my "What's in the water" themed rants. Most notably are when just about any particular player arrives here they go into some kind of funk of not being themselves. The first game out they're hot as hell and fit in but after that it's a slow trickle to either not belonging or turning into total slugs. It's like a plague hits them and they crumble. While in their own minds they think everything is running smoothly but nothing is further than the truth.

 

One player... There's been only one player who Fletcher got in here and didn't drink the water and that's Eric Staal. How or why he's been immune to the 'what's in the water' routine everyone else has gone through is mesmerizing. Actually I guess looking back, Jared Spurgeon is another one. Considering all the other players Fletcher has acquired that's a pretty bleak track record.

 

Culture...imprinted by #20, #11 & #9

[bbgarnett]

@CreaseAndAssist I'm assuming that photo is from today's press conference for the new GM

[rottenrefs]

Just now, CreaseAndAssist said:

Anyone see the Mikko, Suter and Parise photo?  Notice who looks annoyed and who looks quizzical 

 

 

That's not a bad picture.

Parise and Koivu looked miffed... Probably upset they aren't on the ice killing a PP somewhere.

Suter though, he looks like he's dreaming of using another of his new fangled lawn mowers.

[rottenrefs]

2 minutes ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

Culture...imprinted by #20, #11 & #9

 

Exactly, but they began to flounder in the later years of Lemaire's run.