2018-19 Iowa Wild and other Wild Prospects Discussion

[pilldoc]

With the draft only 4 weeks away and FA to start at the beginning of July,  I figured now was a good time to start a thread involving the Iowa Wild and other Wild prospects both old and new.

 

All discussion regarding the Wild prospects should be contained in this thread.

 

thanks

[pilldoc]

Here is an initial list I found for discussion.  You certainly know your prospects better than I do.

2017-18 Minnesota Top Ten Prospects

1. Kirill Kaprizov, LW/RW – CSKA Moskva (KHL)

Ht/Wt: 5-10/192
Age: 20
Drafted: 135th overall in the fifth round of the 2015 draft by Minnesota

The Wild rolled the dice on their fifth-round pick swinging for the fences with Kaprizov. He is still under contract in the KHL for another two years, but there is no doubting his elite offensive ability. Kaprizov has a proven track record of production playing in the KHL and internationally for Russia. Kaprizov would have a tremendous impact should he come to North America, giving the Wild a significant offensive boost, but that looks to be a few more years away at this time.

 

2. Joel Eriksson-Ek, C – Iowa Wild (AHL)

Ht/Wt: 6-2/197
Age: 20
Drafted: 20th overall in the first round of the 2015 draft by Minnesota

After spending some time in the NHL last year as a 19-year-old, and having a terrific World Junior performance, all signs pointed to Eriksson-Ek having an impact in his rookie season in the NHL. He started the year and has played in 45 games with Minnesota, but has just one goal and eight points in that time. He has been assigned back to the AHL to regain some confidence and momentum in Iowa. Eriksson-Ek remains the heir apparent to Mikko Koivu as one of the Wilds top two centers as they play a similar game. He has size, skill, smarts and plays a reliable two-way game

 

3. Luke Kunin, C – Iowa Wild (AHL)

Ht/Wt: 6-0/192
Age: 20
Drafted: 15th overall in the first round of the 2015 draft by Minnesota

Kunin had two successful years in NCAA and broke the point per game pace in his sophomore year. In addition, he was named Captain of Team USA leading them to Gold at the World Junior and finished last year as a pro, playing in 12 regular season games posting five goals and eight points. Kunin played his way into his NHL debut this year, posting two goals and four points in his first 17 games. Now back in the AHL, he continues to develop and gain pro experience. He has a bright future with the Wild and will be one of the players they expect to play a prominent role.

 

4. Jordan Greenway, LW – Boston U. (NCAA)

Ht/Wt: 6-6/226
Age: 20
Drafted: 50th overall in the second round of the 2015 draft by Minnesota

In his junior year with the Terriers, Greenway continues to pile up points and penalty minutes. Greenway has a World Junior Gold Medal with USA, and was a member of the USA World Championship roster as well. Another feather in his cap is his inclusion to the USA Olympic roster coming up in South Korea. Greenway is a hulking power forward that has plenty of skill and can skate. He has NHL impact potential written all over and is a likely candidate to begin his pro career after the current school season ends.

 

5. Louis Belpedio, D – Miami U. (NCAA)

Ht/Wt: 5-11/193
Age: 21
Drafted: 80th overall in the third round of the 2014 draft by Minnesota

Belpedio is in his senior and final year of NCAA hockey and has quietly assembled a very solid resume. Serving as Captain for the past three years, won a Gold Medal with USA at the U-18 in 2014, won a NCHC Championship in 2015 and a World Junior Bronze with USA in 2016. As a senior he is expectedly producing a career year and is a point per game offensive production. He has always been an offensive producer. His defensive game has seen marked improvement as seen in his plus/minus, which has been a double-digit negative the past two seasons but is back in the plus column now. Belpedio has the option to wait until August and become restricted free agent this summer, so expect the Wild to push hard to sign him immediately at the conclusion of this season.

[pilldoc]

Part 2

 

6. Dmitri Sokolov, W/C – Barrie Colts (OHL)

Ht/Wt: 5-11/220
Age: 19
Drafted: 196th overall in the seventh round of the 2016 draft by Minnesota

Another roll of the dice on a Russian player. Sokolov has tremendous offensive upside and is a dangerous goal scorer with a deadly quick, hard, and accurate shot. Despite having already come to North America, the red flags on his file was his conditioning, consistency, and compete. Common concerns among 17-year-olds, Sokolov is now 19, earned a spot on the Russian World Junior roster and has found scary good chemistry on his new team in Barrie with fellow countryman Andrei Svechnikov. Prior to the trade Sokolov wore a letter in Sudbury as an Alternate Captain showing he has made gains in his attitude towards his team and career. The Wild took a gamble on Sokolov as he nearly passed through the draft unselected, and it looks like it is going to pay major dividends.

 

7. Justin Kloos, C – Iowa Wild (AHL)

Ht/Wt: 5-9/179
Age: 24
Drafted: Signed as a free agent by Minnesota in 2017
Signed as a free agent after four years in the NCAA at the University of Minnesota.

In the final two years, he served as Captain and posted over a point per game offense. In his rookie year as a pro, Kloos has carried his offensive production over in the AHL as the team’s rookie leading scorer and the sixth overall in the AHL. Kloos even earned his first call-up to the NHL and made his debut but was held pointless. It remains to be seen if he can take the next step and produce in the NHL, but as a free agent the Wild are playing with house money, and at the very least have a quality AHL player.

 

8. Sam Anas, RW/C – Iowa Wild (AHL)

Ht/Wt: 5-8/163
Age: 24
Drafted: Signed as a free agent in 2016

Another college free agent, now in his second year as a pro, Anas had a good rookie season posting 28 points. He has already eclipsed that point total by nine points in 26 fewer games this year and is leading the team in scoring with 16 goals. This is a contract year for Anas, and he is playing his way into another two-way NHL contract at this pace. Anas is very undersized and needs to continue to produce at perhaps an even higher pace to be considered for an NHL call-up.

 

9. Ivan Lodnia, RW – Erie Otters (OHL)

Ht/Wt: 5-10/182
Age: 18
Drafted: 85th overall in the third round of the 2017 draft by Minnesota

Lodnia was the Wilds first pick in the 2017 draft, which didn’t occur until the third round. Lodnia is hot off a Championship season in Erie that culminated in a Memorial Cup appearance. Lodnia is a powerful skater and strong player in his peer group with a good, hard shot. Lodnia has taken on a bigger role in Erie this year as many of the Otters star players have graduated and his production has improved as a result. The California native will have one more year of junior eligibility remaining before he turns pro.

 

10. Mason Shaw, C – Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)

Ht/Wt: 5-9/180
Age: 18
Drafted: 97th overall in the fourth round of the 2017 draft by Minnesota

Shaw suffered a knee injury at his first NHL Prospect Tournament and has yet to play a game this season. Expected to miss 4-6 months, he is due to make his return before the end of March, and it will be a challenge for him to overcome having missed almost an entire key development season. Shaw is an undersized and speedy player that had a breakout 94 point season in his third season in the WHL as a late born prospect. Making the transition to pro next year may be a challenge, and it would not surprise if he is returned for an Over Age season after having missed most of this year.

[Alexandron]

4 hours ago, pilldoc said:

Part 2

 

6. Dmitri Sokolov, W/C – Barrie Colts (OHL)

Ht/Wt: 5-11/220
Age: 19
Drafted: 196th overall in the seventh round of the 2016 draft by Minnesota

Another roll of the dice on a Russian player. Sokolov has tremendous offensive upside and is a dangerous goal scorer with a deadly quick, hard, and accurate shot. Despite having already come to North America, the red flags on his file was his conditioning, consistency, and compete. Common concerns among 17-year-olds, Sokolov is now 19, earned a spot on the Russian World Junior roster and has found scary good chemistry on his new team in Barrie with fellow countryman Andrei Svechnikov. Prior to the trade Sokolov wore a letter in Sudbury as an Alternate Captain showing he has made gains in his attitude towards his team and career. The Wild took a gamble on Sokolov as he nearly passed through the draft unselected, and it looks like it is going to pay major dividends.

 

7. Justin Kloos, C – Iowa Wild (AHL)

Ht/Wt: 5-9/179
Age: 24
Drafted: Signed as a free agent by Minnesota in 2017
Signed as a free agent after four years in the NCAA at the University of Minnesota.

In the final two years, he served as Captain and posted over a point per game offense. In his rookie year as a pro, Kloos has carried his offensive production over in the AHL as the team’s rookie leading scorer and the sixth overall in the AHL. Kloos even earned his first call-up to the NHL and made his debut but was held pointless. It remains to be seen if he can take the next step and produce in the NHL, but as a free agent the Wild are playing with house money, and at the very least have a quality AHL player.

 

8. Sam Anas, RW/C – Iowa Wild (AHL)

Ht/Wt: 5-8/163
Age: 24
Drafted: Signed as a free agent in 2016

Another college free agent, now in his second year as a pro, Anas had a good rookie season posting 28 points. He has already eclipsed that point total by nine points in 26 fewer games this year and is leading the team in scoring with 16 goals. This is a contract year for Anas, and he is playing his way into another two-way NHL contract at this pace. Anas is very undersized and needs to continue to produce at perhaps an even higher pace to be considered for an NHL call-up.

 

9. Ivan Lodnia, RW – Erie Otters (OHL)

Ht/Wt: 5-10/182
Age: 18
Drafted: 85th overall in the third round of the 2017 draft by Minnesota

Lodnia was the Wilds first pick in the 2017 draft, which didn’t occur until the third round. Lodnia is hot off a Championship season in Erie that culminated in a Memorial Cup appearance. Lodnia is a powerful skater and strong player in his peer group with a good, hard shot. Lodnia has taken on a bigger role in Erie this year as many of the Otters star players have graduated and his production has improved as a result. The California native will have one more year of junior eligibility remaining before he turns pro.

 

10. Mason Shaw, C – Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)

Ht/Wt: 5-9/180
Age: 18
Drafted: 97th overall in the fourth round of the 2017 draft by Minnesota

Shaw suffered a knee injury at his first NHL Prospect Tournament and has yet to play a game this season. Expected to miss 4-6 months, he is due to make his return before the end of March, and it will be a challenge for him to overcome having missed almost an entire key development season. Shaw is an undersized and speedy player that had a breakout 94 point season in his third season in the WHL as a late born prospect. Making the transition to pro next year may be a challenge, and it would not surprise if he is returned for an Over Age season after having missed most of this year.

 

I will add a promising good size defenseman Carson Soucy to that list:

https://www.iowawild.com/players/detail/soucy

 

a defenseman Nick Seeler, capable to block lots of shots, who was a surprising discovery for me at playoffs (in 5 playoff games had 2 points;+1 and in 22 games of the regular season this year had 4 points;+10).

 

a promising goalie prospect Kahkonen:

https://www.nhl.com/wild/news/kahkonen-signs-051618/c-298629632

 

 

and a wish/dream to have in our team  mentioned by you Andrei Svechnikov. Besides of the extreme talent in scoring and a well pair with Dmitry Sokolov, that player it seems never forgive any hits towards him and could be a real promising leader for the Wild team. We have a lack of those type of players in our team, which makes the Wild team kind of too soft/mild.

 

 

[CreaseAndAssist]

Kaprizov, yes...our best prospect on paper and probably in terms of talent as of right now.  However, we will for sure not see him for at least two more season if not longer.  

 

As for Iowa, which I followed closely all season long...

 

Sam Anas had a great season.  He was especially impressive in the middle portion of the season but he kind of tailed off in the end as did most of the team.  Same could be said for Justin Kloos.  Both were a big part of Iowa's offense last season; which was more well rounded than previous seasons.  Cal O'Reilly had a lot to do with that IMO, and he's not a prospect but he was the team's leader on and off the ice.   Kyle Rau was the only player who was scoring consistently the last 10-15 games, he was another welcome boost of offense.  Gerry Mayhew had some great moments, not sure I'd call him a prospect but he was clutch at times for Iowa.  Gerald Fitzgerald, a late-season college signee from Bemidji State played pretty well; was more productive offensively than I was expecting.  On the blueline, Derek Grant had a good season offensively as did Zach Palmquist who had a decent 2nd half.  Brennan Mennel had a good rookie season, but his +/- was a bit icky...but he provided a fair amount offense for a player making the jump from major junior.  Carson Soucy was solid, if unspectacular.  I thought he did better than I expected when he got a call up to play in the playoffs.  Still needs more work in Iowa IMO.  I'd be interested to see what Louie Belpedio could do on this team; he is a natural power play quarterback and a good leader.  Niklas Svedberg started out good, but then had a pretty ugly middle of the season.  He seemed to get irritated and was prone to giving up the backbreaking goals late in games; Iowa threw so many games away in the 3rd period which is why they failed to make the playoffs.  Steve Michalek seemed to struggle to stay healthy but he was mostly good.  C.J. Motte was good as an emergency call up goalie for Iowa.  

 

This was easily the best season in Iowa Wild history, but it still came up short and that is valuable development time lost that I think the organization is sick and tired of losing out on.  

[CreaseAndAssist]

A few other thoughts...Luke Kunin.  Meh.  Not really thrilled about him at all.  He was sent down to Iowa to be a go-to player for them and he never really dominated.  I know some other Wild bloggers felt it was a shame to have Kunin in Iowa, but IMO he wasn't doing enough to be worthy of a call up.  Toss in the blown out knee, and I think you can safely add the letters "BU' to the word  B U _ _ no one wants to say.    Greenway probably will never play in Iowa, even though he'd probably benefit playing in a bigger role down there.  It will be interesting to see if Fenton mandates he demonstrate he can dominate there before he gets a roster spot here; which is what the Predators would do.  Austin Watson played for years in Milwaukee being a go-to guy before getting his chance to be a Bottom-6 forward where he provides grit and offense for the Predators' 4th line.  

 

Lodnia had a good start to the season, scoring at a little bit better than a point-per-game pace before tailing off completely in the 2nd half.  Erie wasn't that great of a team but I was a bit troubled that he was more of a set up guy than a goal scorer for the Otters.  Dmitry Sokolov had kind of a sluggish start but picked it up to have his most productive OHL season yet.  Especially after he was traded from Sudbury to Barrie his totals really took off.  He was a regular on the score sheet and he lit the lamp a lot.  I watched him play at the WJC's for Russia and he kind of reminded me of Teemu Pulkkinen, a one-dimensional scorer that doesn't do much else.  His skating is a bit of an issue for me and while I think he could be an effective sniper in the AHL I am not sure if he has enough to make him an NHL player.  

 

As for Mason Shaw I was really kind of surprised we signed him.  He blew his knee out and didn't play a single game for Medicine Hat and just one game for Iowa where he was played pretty sparingly.  He is a waterbug-like player who did well at prospect camp and was doing well at Traverse City before he got hurt.  Tough to know what he'll be like now that he's had more of the summer to recover and add strength.  

Edited May 26, 2018 by CreaseAndAssist

[pilldoc]

1 hour ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

A few other thoughts...Luke Kunin.  Meh.  Not really thrilled about him at all.  He was sent down to Iowa to be a go-to player for them and he never really dominated.  I know some other Wild bloggers felt it was a shame to have Kunin in Iowa, but IMO he wasn't doing enough to be worthy of a call up.  Toss in the blown out knee, and I think you can safely add the letters "BU' to the word  B U _ _ no one wants to say

 

Interesting .... I love reading about other players, from your perspective.  Sorry the kid blew out his knee.  I remember reading up on him during the year he was drafted when we did our Mock Draft.   A lot of scouts had high praise on him.  Hopefully he recovers.  I wouldn't put the B word on him just yet.  Give him a chance to rehabilitate that knee.  

[CreaseAndAssist]

31 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

 

Interesting .... I love reading about other players, from your perspective.  Sorry the kid blew out his knee.  I remember reading up on him during the year he was drafted when we did our Mock Draft.   A lot of scouts had high praise on him.  Hopefully he recovers.  I wouldn't put the B word on him just yet.  Give him a chance to rehabilitate that knee.  

 

I'd be more optimistic if he was an exceptional skater but he's not.  He's not slow but he doesn't fly people either.  A knee injury like his won't help him be a better skater.  I wasn't sold on him when we drafted him.  When he was captain for Team USA at the WJC's he was a role player.  I thought he was pretty blah in the call ups he had.  

[IllaZilla]

21 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

A few other thoughts...Luke Kunin.  Meh.  Not really thrilled about him at all.  He was sent down to Iowa to be a go-to player for them and he never really dominated.  I know some other Wild bloggers felt it was a shame to have Kunin in Iowa, but IMO he wasn't doing enough to be worthy of a call up.  Toss in the blown out knee, and I think you can safely add the letters "BU' to the word  B U _ _ no one wants to say.    Greenway probably will never play in Iowa, even though he'd probably benefit playing in a bigger role down there.  It will be interesting to see if Fenton mandates he demonstrate he can dominate there before he gets a roster spot here; which is what the Predators would do.  Austin Watson played for years in Milwaukee being a go-to guy before getting his chance to be a Bottom-6 forward where he provides grit and offense for the Predators' 4th line.  

 

Lodnia had a good start to the season, scoring at a little bit better than a point-per-game pace before tailing off completely in the 2nd half.  Erie wasn't that great of a team but I was a bit troubled that he was more of a set up guy than a goal scorer for the Otters.  Dmitry Sokolov had kind of a sluggish start but picked it up to have his most productive OHL season yet.  Especially after he was traded from Sudbury to Barrie his totals really took off.  He was a regular on the score sheet and he lit the lamp a lot.  I watched him play at the WJC's for Russia and he kind of reminded me of Teemu Pulkkinen, a one-dimensional scorer that doesn't do much else.  His skating is a bit of an issue for me and while I think he could be an effective sniper in the AHL I am not sure if he has enough to make him an NHL player.  

 

As for Mason Shaw I was really kind of surprised we signed him.  He blew his knee out and didn't play a single game for Medicine Hat and just one game for Iowa where he was played pretty sparingly.  He is a waterbug-like player who did well at prospect camp and was doing well at Traverse City before he got hurt.  Tough to know what he'll be like now that he's had more of the summer to recover and add strength.  

 

One thing I certainly hope Fenton changes is the Wild's practice of giving prospects roster spots before they earn it. Just to give them incentive...I really hope they send Greenway to Iowa and let him develop at his own pace. Show he can dominate at the AHL level and then call him up.

 

And I agree with you on Kunin. I thought they should have gone with Kieffer Bellows. But they were looking for Mikko's replacement, so yay...

 

How much of Sokolov's production hinged on the fact that he was partnered with this years potential #1 overall pick Andrei Svechnikov? Are we looking at the Zach Phillips/Charlie Coyle dynamic at St. Johns, where one had great numbers because of the other player?

[CreaseAndAssist]

I agree with you on making them earn their spot by their play in the minors but you and I and others have been arguing that FOR YEARS.  I would think Fenton would want to implement that, but you have to wonder if ownership would let him do it that way.  Or are they too impatient, afterall...they want 'tweaks' not changes...and that would be a change in their development philosophy I'd think.  

 

Bellows is certainly a finisher...but this team seems to shun shoot-first players.  

Edited May 28, 2018 by CreaseAndAssist

[IllaZilla]

13 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

I agree with you on making them earn their spot by their play in the minors but you and I and others have been arguing that FOR YEARS.  I would think Fenton would want to implement that, but you have to wonder if ownership would let him do it that way.  Or are they too impatient, afterall...they want 'tweaks' not changes...and that would be a change in their development philosophy I'd think.  

 

Bellows is certainly a finisher...but this team seems to shun shoot-first players.  

 

That's because every offensive player they draft HAS to be a two-way player...

[CreaseAndAssist]

41 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

 

That's because every offensive player they draft HAS to be a two-way player...

 

And they don't want guys that will cut into the amount of time with the puck for #9, #11 and #20.  

[IllaZilla]

12 minutes ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

And they don't want guys that will cut into the amount of time with the puck for #9, #11 and #20.  

Hopefully #9 will be gone in two years. If his production declines the way it did last season, the Wild are going to have another Jason Pominville on their hands...

I'm not sure why #11 is so concerned about ice time. He's never on the ice anymore. Always some injury holding him out for a week here or a month there...

Suter is at least putting up numbers, however it may be to the detriment of the team. Especially on the power play. Why is he constantly allowed to play the point and then flip that limp wrist shot at the net?

 

[rottenrefs]

24 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

Hopefully #9 will be gone in two years. If his production declines the way it did last season, the Wild are going to have another Jason Pominville on their hands...

I'm not sure why #11 is so concerned about ice time. He's never on the ice anymore. Always some injury holding him out for a week here or a month there...

Suter is at least putting up numbers, however it may be to the detriment of the team. Especially on the power play. Why is he constantly allowed to play the point and then flip that limp wrist shot at the net?

 

Because it took him three years to learn how to get in front of the puck when it's passed to him instead of reaching out with his stick and it bounces over it out of the zone three times a game? That's a major accomplishment don'tcha know?

[IllaZilla]

26 minutes ago, rottenrefs said:

Because it took him three years to learn how to get in front of the puck when it's passed to him instead of reaching out with his stick and it bounces over it out of the zone three times a game? That's a major accomplishment don'tcha know?

 

Yah, cripes! You betcha!

[CreaseAndAssist]

2 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

Hopefully #9 will be gone in two years. If his production declines the way it did last season, the Wild are going to have another Jason Pominville on their hands...

I'm not sure why #11 is so concerned about ice time. He's never on the ice anymore. Always some injury holding him out for a week here or a month there...

Suter is at least putting up numbers, however it may be to the detriment of the team. Especially on the power play. Why is he constantly allowed to play the point and then flip that limp wrist shot at the net?

 

 

Because Suter holds the zone so well...teams give him tons of space because they want him to shoot the puck.  It is so laughable that this team continues to use him in that capacity when the book is so known that he's going to take that unscreened wrist shot from the point.  The sad part is no one is willing to stand in front of the goalie to either deflect it or take away the goalies vision.  They wouldn't want to 'steal' a goal from Suter.  

[McMahon 6]

2 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

The sad part is no one is willing to stand in front of the goalie to either deflect it or take away the goalies vision.  They wouldn't want to 'steal' a goal from Suter.  

 

B-b-b-b-but... look at all the assists Suter gets. Are you and Rotty off your rockers, or just blind haters? Dontcha know that you should be worshiping the silk on his jock strap?

[CreaseAndAssist]

29 minutes ago, McMahon 6 said:

 

B-b-b-b-but... look at all the assists Suter gets. Are you and Rotty off your rockers, or just blind haters? Dontcha know that you should be worshiping the silk on his jock strap?

 

If memory serves me correctly, 42% of his points were 2nd assists.  I posted it on Twitter and I had a bunch of people falling over themselves to tell me how great Suter is and how dare I criticize a player that was tied for 12th in the league in even strength scoring...shame on me!?!?  

[CreaseAndAssist]

Derek Lalonde talks about Iowa's 2017-18 Season

 

For a wild.com piece this is surprisingly honest.  Having followed Iowa as closely as I did (listening to most of their games online) he's 100% right about the late game collapses in that critical stretch just being painful.  The team kept finding ways to fritter away points and wins.  It was awful.  

 

I don't really disagree with any of what Iowa HC Derek Lalonde had to say...

[IllaZilla]

I’ve noticed this disturbing trend with Wild prospects...5’9”, 5’10”, 5’9”, 5’8”, 5’11”...

[CreaseAndAssist]

46 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

I’ve noticed this disturbing trend with Wild prospects...5’9”, 5’10”, 5’9”, 5’8”, 5’11”...

 

That isn't as big of an issue as it used to be, the team loaded up on smaller, skilled players because we didn't really have any prospects that were ready to go.   They had their best season with that group of smallish forwards.  Kloos, Anas, Rau and O'Reilly were not too bad.  Unfortunately the wheels fell off in March in just about everyway possible.  Goaltending, defense (partly due to call ups), and scoring all tanked and Iowa came up short again.  The real problem is our guys that are 6'2", 6'3", 6'4" play on the perimeter like they're 5'5" and 5'6".  

[IllaZilla]

On 6/13/2018 at 6:17 AM, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

That isn't as big of an issue as it used to be, the team loaded up on smaller, skilled players because we didn't really have any prospects that were ready to go.   They had their best season with that group of smallish forwards.  Kloos, Anas, Rau and O'Reilly were not too bad.  Unfortunately the wheels fell off in March in just about everyway possible.  Goaltending, defense (partly due to call ups), and scoring all tanked and Iowa came up short again.  The real problem is our guys that are 6'2", 6'3", 6'4" play on the perimeter like they're 5'5" and 5'6".  

 

Why do you think that is? Too much shuffling back and forth with the parent club? Not enough experience?  Players just worn down from doing too much? Overrated players?

 

You would think the Wild would want to invest in their farm system and get it to a point where there is a winning culture in Iowa that could transfer to Minnesota when players are called up when they are fully developed. But I've always had the impression that the Wild are kind of like helicopter parents that don't trust their farm system to develop players, so they rush them to the parent club so they can "develop" them leaving the farm club with a patchwork of players that have trouble building chemistry which leads to a losing culture...

[CreaseAndAssist]

On 6/16/2018 at 5:41 AM, IllaZilla said:

 

Why do you think that is? Too much shuffling back and forth with the parent club? Not enough experience?  Players just worn down from doing too much? Overrated players?

 

You would think the Wild would want to invest in their farm system and get it to a point where there is a winning culture in Iowa that could transfer to Minnesota when players are called up when they are fully developed. But I've always had the impression that the Wild are kind of like helicopter parents that don't trust their farm system to develop players, so they rush them to the parent club so they can "develop" them leaving the farm club with a patchwork of players that have trouble building chemistry which leads to a losing culture...

 

The brutal answer is they began a really brutal part of their schedule.  It was very divisional heavy and against the clubs which really were battling hard for the post-season.  The offense kind of dried up, the goaltending started to struggle...and they had a horrible tendency to throw away games / points in the 3rd period.  Even Lalonde kind of mentioned in his interview how the month of March was a collective implosion in just about every area of the team.  I think Iowa losing Seeler to the big club also hurt quite a bit.  

 

I think they want a winning culture in Iowa.  Even Kurt Kleinendorst talked about that before he got the axe, as did Torchetti.  But last year they didn't have many prospects developing there...hopefully that starts to change now.  

[IllaZilla]

On 6/17/2018 at 12:25 PM, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

The brutal answer is they began a really brutal part of their schedule.  It was very divisional heavy and against the clubs which really were battling hard for the post-season.  The offense kind of dried up, the goaltending started to struggle...and they had a horrible tendency to throw away games / points in the 3rd period.  Even Lalonde kind of mentioned in his interview how the month of March was a collective implosion in just about every area of the team.  I think Iowa losing Seeler to the big club also hurt quite a bit.  

 

I think they want a winning culture in Iowa.  Even Kurt Kleinendorst talked about that before he got the axe, as did Torchetti.  But last year they didn't have many prospects developing there...hopefully that starts to change now.  

 

The problem is that even though all the coaches in Iowa want a winning culture, the parent club gives them no support when they are constantly pulling "prospects" up to the big club for stupid reasons such as "giving them a taste" of the NHL.

 

And I still can't figure out how Kunin "deserved" a call up, but Anas didn't...

Edited June 18, 2018 by IllaZilla

[CreaseAndAssist]

33 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

 

The problem is that even though all the coaches in Iowa want a winning culture, the parent club gives them no support when they are constantly pulling "prospects" up to the big club for stupid reasons such as "giving them a taste" of the NHL.

 

And I still can't figure out how Kunin "deserved" a call up, but Anas didn't...

 

I agree with you 100% on that one.  Hell even Kloos deserved another call up before Kunin did.  I also agree that Anas was more than deserving.  Kunin was pretty blah by what I could tell listening to the games.  Kloos and Anas, even Mayhew sounded like they were all over the ice.  

 

Do you think a lot of this is about a GM trying to save face on the guys he drafted so he calls them up hoping they'll make him look like a genius than really wanting to know if they're playing so well they deserve the promotion?