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2018-19 Iowa Wild and other Wild Prospects Discussion


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17 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Kaapo Kahkonen named goaltender of the month in AHL for the first time in Iowa Wild history. We are also on a 2nd place in the entire league there!!!!!

Here is a link to read about it:

https://www.iowawild.com/news/detail/kaapo-kahkonen-named-ccmahl-goaltender-of-the-month

 

With the level of goaltending we're getting now from Dubnyk and Stalock I'd be very surprised to see Kahkonen NOT getting a start up with the big boys.

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14 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

With the level of goaltending we're getting now from Dubnyk and Stalock I'd be very surprised to see Kahkonen NOT getting a start up with the big boys.

That means Dubnyk or Stalock has to go on IR. If a position player goes on IR, they will replace him with another position player. They won’t carry three goalies. 

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1 hour ago, IllaZilla said:

That means Dubnyk or Stalock has to go on IR. If a position player goes on IR, they will replace him with another position player. They won’t carry three goalies. 

It wasn't too long ago when Dubnyk was on IR. Stalock got the start that time. Next time, why not Kahkonen if either of them is injured? Stalock has faired well but he's a career backup goalie, we don't have to think about what's good for him or not.

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2 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

It wasn't too long ago when Dubnyk was on IR. Stalock got the start that time. Next time, why not Kahkonen if either of them is injured? Stalock has faired well but he's a career backup goalie, we don't have to think about what's good for him or not.

 

Dubnyk has not been on IR this year. He was sick for one game with whatever crud his kids gave him and scratched. They recalled Kahkonen and reassigned him that same day, so he didn't count against the 23-man roster. Plus there are cap considerations as well. To keep Kahkonen up for more than one day, they are going to have to place someone on IR (which means they have a documented injury and are now out a minimum of seven days).

 

I'm not sure why there is this big rush to get Kahkonen up here. If he's helping Iowa to win, leave him there. Let him help develop a winning culture there. Iowa's sucked for years because the Wild constantly tried to develop prospects at the NHL level rather than letting them mature in the AHL and recalling them when they are ready, leaving Iowa with little to no talent. The last thing the team needs is to recall a potentially good young goaltender and then have his confidence shot to hell because the team is playing like crap in front of him...

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I don't think technicals details are that important we need to hide behind them and say "look, this is stopping us giving Kahkonen a chance". If you are better than the two goalies ahead of you in the pecking order, you deserve a chance. Where there's a will, there's a way. Most likely someone is already playing with an injury. Anyways...

 

I think you and me probably understand the word "rush" and it's implications differently. If Kahkonen plays a game, no big deal. If the team plays lousy defense in front of him, no big deal. He obviously can recognize it by himself and retain himself from any self-flagellation. They wouldn't been throwing him to the wolves and he's 22; a lot of men's games under his belt.

 

Iowa is built to help the mother team and I'm sure they won't collapse without KK for a couple of days. There already have AHL goalies with far worse numbers been given a start this season. Although we won Dubnyk has shown in the last 8 games similar volnurability as in the previous seasons. Very enticing to see we have a legitimate top goalie prospect in our organization, it's been a while! He's a hot hand as we speak. Well, tonight against the Wolves, we'll see what's his latest.

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IMO Illa's analysis is dead on, let him gain pro experience where he is unless there's an actual goalie injury.  Dobbie's slump is nothing to worry about IMO.  Ridiculous to rag on him for the recent Toronto fluke deflection goals.   Blame Seeler if you must have a scapegoat.   Every goalie has bad games occassionally. 

Edited by Fargocase
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Dubnyk has been pretty suspect.  But I agree with the premise to keep Kahkonen in Iowa.  He's playing really well there, and that's great to see...but it doesn't mean he'd thrive playing for the big club.  I'm just happy it appears (knock on wood) we have a viable goaltending prospect.  

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Also I think Fenton wants to season our goalie prospect in the minors anyway, considering that's what they did with Rinne and later on Saros in Nashville. And for the future, it's better for him to play as much as possible rather than having him as a benchwarmer in the big club.

 

Now, in the event that Dubs or Stalock gets injured for a few of games, then it might be a good idea to bring him up to test him in one or two games. But if it's long-term injury either one suffers, then I'd say they should bring up Hammond as backup.

 

The more a goalie plays at that age KK is, the better he becomes.

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For anyone who would like to listen now Iowa Wild game against Chicago Wolves here is a link:

click on 1460 KXNO live radio.

https://www.iheart.com/live/1460-kxno-921/?autoplay=true&pname=15400&campid=header&cid=index.html

 

We are ahead 3:1 during a second period.

 

And here is a link for the stats of this game :

https://theahl.com/stats/game-summary/1018681

 

 

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Unfortunately, it was a not good finish for that game. After 3:0 for the Wild it turned to 3:3 in regulation (Wolves put 3 PP goals out of 6 PP). We went in OT and lost it at the last minute with a final score 4:3 . Chicago out-shot us 30:19.  But at least we have got 1 point.

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9 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Unfortunately, it was a not good finish for that game. After 3:0 for the Wild it turned to 3:3 in regulation (Wolves put 3 PP goals out of 6 PP). We went in OT and lost it at the last minute with a final score 4:3 . Chicago out-shot us 30:19.  But at least we have got 1 point.

 

I don't care, blowing a 3-0 lead is bad no matter how you slice it.  That was a game Iowa has to win.  

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10 hours ago, Alexandron said:

Unfortunately, it was a not good finish for that game. After 3:0 for the Wild it turned to 3:3 in regulation (Wolves put 3 PP goals out of 6 PP). We went in OT and lost it at the last minute with a final score 4:3 . Chicago out-shot us 30:19.  But at least we have got 1 point.

^

This is why Kakhonen needs to stay in Iowa. Granted, he can't do anything about causing the power plays, but if he's as great as everyone seems to think he is, shouldn't he have done better in this game? It's not like the power plays were one after the other, and Chicago's power play clocks in at just over 21%. There was one power play in the second and then two in the third (one right away and then another 12 minutes later).

 

He's getting more experience playing every game in Iowa than he would being the door opener on the Wild bench.

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23 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

^

This is why Kakhonen needs to stay in Iowa. Granted, he can't do anything about causing the power plays, but if he's as great as everyone seems to think he is, shouldn't he have done better in this game? It's not like the power plays were one after the other, and Chicago's power play clocks in at just over 21%. There was one power play in the second and then two in the third (one right away and then another 12 minutes later).

 

He's getting more experience playing every game in Iowa than he would being the door opener on the Wild bench.

 

I agree 100%.  Keeping him there is only helping him develop.  

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8 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

I agree 100%.  Keeping him there is only helping him develop.  

Agree too. Let’s him to develop. It seems Kahkonen has a solid talent to merit our attention. For the 7th time in the last 8 games the Wild headed with him into overtime. We also lead the AHL league in overtime games (total 12 already) because of our goaltending performance helping to head the game most of the time to overtime part. But from the other side that means our production is not the best. We do not have recently lots of high scores against opposite teams, just initially when season started. Sokolov, probably, is playing on the 4th line , because I do not see that they are giving to this rookie a lot of playing time. Yes, he does some tactical/positional mistakes during the game, but I think, they should give him more time to develop better as an offensively minded scorer. And also they should look for the best chemistry among him and other forwards. Despite of playing less time and less games he already has 5 goals and 6 assists, +/- +5 in 15 games. I still have some questions to our defense performance and its developing. Why we should not try to develop among 3 defensive lines at least one the biggest defensive line, based on their height and weight? We have already 3 pretty tall and heavy defensemen – Soucy, Warner, and Falkovsky. Warner(6’4”; 221lb) involved more (played 21 games out of 23), Falkovsky, practically not involved at all and Soucy(6’5”; 208 lb) is playing occasionally(17 games). Regarding Falkovsky, he is not looking as a monster at his 6’7” height; 239 lb. as media presented. I looked on Zdeno Chara anthropological stats – he is even bigger - 6’9”; 250 lb and he is still a Bruin’s captain at his 41 y.o. believe it or not.

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This kind of performance (sh1t show) our goalies Dubnyk and Stalock produced against the Oilers kind of amplifies my point and fear: this season might be done and dusted if we don't have/use other alternatives. Dubnyk obviously is a wreck and yet BB lets him start way too often. He can't handle the minutes, we've seen this in the previous seasons. We can rightfully blame the team for not showing up enough but there were a couple of horrible goals both goalies allowed.

 

While I'm writing this I notice that Kahkonen didn't have a particularly good game either, in fact his worst this season. Maybe Iowa too has been giving him too many starts? And yet, he has by far the best numbers in AHL. Well, a month from now and we'll probably know a lot more.

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On 12/8/2018 at 12:53 AM, Hockey-78 said:

This kind of performance (sh1t show) our goalies Dubnyk and Stalock produced against the Oilers kind of amplifies my point and fear: this season might be done and dusted if we don't have/use other alternatives. Dubnyk obviously is a wreck and yet BB lets him start way too often. He can't handle the minutes, we've seen this in the previous seasons. We can rightfully blame the team for not showing up enough but there were a couple of horrible goals both goalies allowed.

 

While I'm writing this I notice that Kahkonen didn't have a particularly good game either, in fact his worst this season. Maybe Iowa too has been giving him too many starts? And yet, he has by far the best numbers in AHL. Well, a month from now and we'll probably know a lot more.

 

With Hammond injured they probably felt they had to ride Kahkonen more.  Last night they used C.J. Motte, their ECHL call up and they played better and got a big win against Grand Rapids.  Motte has been solid as a call up this year for Iowa.  

 

On another note, Luke Kunin and Dmitry Sokolov have been heating up offensively.  And Gerald Mayhew and Gerry Fitzgerald are both underrated.  Louie Belpedio has had a solid rookie season, even if the offensive production he had in college hasn't translated yet.  

Edited by CreaseAndAssist
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This is nice to see Iowa being left alone to develop into something more than a doormat. Would really be nice to see them turn into the next Grand Rapids Griffins or Milwaukee Admirals...hopefully Fenton brings that Nashville development philosophy to the Wild now.

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54 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

This is nice to see Iowa being left alone to develop into something more than a doormat. Would really be nice to see them turn into the next Grand Rapids Griffins or Milwaukee Admirals...hopefully Fenton brings that Nashville development philosophy to the Wild now.

 

Yes, I'd agree...to see them develop in a winning environment would be great.  Its tough to develop winning habits when your team is a doormat each season.  

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38 minutes ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

Yes, I'd agree...to see them develop in a winning environment would be great.  Its tough to develop winning habits when your team is a doormat each season.  

I'd like to see your thoughts on why Iowa's been less than successful as a farm club for the Wild. You are a lot more in tune with the Iowa Wild than I am.

 

Is it the coaching?

Is it lack of talent?

Does  the parent club have a flawed development philosophy?

Combination of two or more of these?

Something else?

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On 12/9/2018 at 12:31 PM, IllaZilla said:

I'd like to see your thoughts on why Iowa's been less than successful as a farm club for the Wild. You are a lot more in tune with the Iowa Wild than I am.

 

Is it the coaching?

Is it lack of talent?

Does  the parent club have a flawed development philosophy?

Combination of two or more of these?

Something else?

 

Lack of scoring depth was a major reason for the first few seasons.  There wasn't many prospects that had a scoring pedigree, mostly character guys and playmakers than finishers.  Iowa was so bad offensively the for the first 3 seasons, just getting to two goals was an accomplishment.  The 'ringers' the Wild brought there often got hurt (Bartley and Dalpe) or simply didn't contribute as they hoped they would.  At times in the first few years, the injuries in Iowa and Minnesota forced Iowa to use a lot of ECHL'ers to fill out their roster.  I think it also compelled Iowa to soldier on with lower quality prospects just to fill out their roster so they were exposed for that lack of quality.  

   

And if they did have a prospect playing well Minnesota would call them up...like Haula and Zucker.   The team has finally signed some college free agents and a few out of major junior that have really helped the depth.  Fitzgerald, Mayhew, McLain, Kloos and Menell, Mitchell are good examples of that.  

 

"Failed Ringers"

Brett Sutter

Zac Dalpe

Jake Dowell

Pat Cannone

Victor Bartley

Ruslan Fedotenko

Teemu Pulkkinen

Michael Keranen

Maxime Fortunus

 

Failed Prospects

Zack Phillips

Mario Lucia

Christoph Berschy

Raphael Bussieres

Tyler Graovac

Brett Bulmer

Chase Lang

Adam Gilmour

 

Some of it had to do with attitudes as Kurt Kleinendorst, John Torchetti hinted at.  Players unwilling to work, vets coasting at times and poor attitudes.  Lalonde got more out of them, until the goaltending fell apart in March last year causing them to miss the playoffs.  I've heard from people closer to what's going on in Iowa and that at times its been a shitshow environment.  I think Army and Kurvers as well as the group that's there have infused a more demanding / higher expectations.  

 

Cal O'Reilly, Kyle Rau, Matt Bartkowski and Andrew Hammond have been good examples for the younger players so far.   (knock on wood)

 

Edited by CreaseAndAssist
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15 minutes ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

Lack of scoring depth was a major reason for the first few seasons.  There wasn't many prospects that had a scoring pedigree, mostly character guys and playmakers than finishers.  Iowa was so bad offensively the for the first 3 seasons, just getting to two goals was an accomplishment.  The 'ringers' the Wild brought there often got hurt (Bartley and Dalpe) or simply didn't contribute as they hoped they would.  At times in the first few years, the injuries in Iowa and Minnesota forced Iowa to use a lot of ECHL'ers to fill out their roster.  I think it also compelled Iowa to soldier on with lower quality prospects just to fill out their roster so they were exposed for that lack of quality.  

   

And if they did have a prospect playing well Minnesota would call them up...like Haula and Zucker.   The team has finally signed some college free agents and a few out of major junior that have really helped the depth.  Fitzgerald, Mayhew, McLain, Kloos and Menell, Mitchell are good examples of that.  

 

"Failed Ringers"

Brett Sutter

Zac Dalpe

Jake Dowell

Pat Cannone

Victor Bartley

Ruslan Fedotenko

 

Failed Prospects

Zack Phillips

Mario Lucia

Christoph Berschy

Raphael Bussieres

Tyler Graovac

Brett Bulmer

Chase Lang

Adam Gilmour

 

Some of it had to do with attitudes as Kurt Kleinendorst, John Torchetti hinted at.  Players unwilling to work, vets coasting at times and poor attitudes.  Lalonde got more out of them, until the goaltending fell apart in March last year causing them to miss the playoffs.  I've heard from people closer to what's going on in Iowa and that at times its been a shitshow environment.  I think Army and Kurvers as well as the group that's there have infused a more demanding / higher expectations.  

 

Cal O'Reilly, Kyle Rau, Matt Bartkowski and Andrew Hammond have been good examples for the younger players so far.   (knock on wood)

 

 

Thanks.

 

You'd think the Wild would have a better handle on their farm club rather than what you described. It appears they almost treated it like an afterthought rather than a developmental tool for their prospects...

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1 hour ago, IllaZilla said:

 

Thanks.

 

You'd think the Wild would have a better handle on their farm club rather than what you described. It appears they almost treated it like an afterthought rather than a developmental tool for their prospects...

 

I wrote this a few years back...after Kleinendorst shared his views on the state of the team after he was fired...

 

Kleinendorst's 2 cents on the Iowa Wild (2015)

 

Edited by CreaseAndAssist
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2 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

I wrote this a few years back...after Kleinendorst shared his views on the state of the team after he was fired...

 

Kleinendorst's 2 cents on the Iowa Wild (2015)

 

 

Almost sounds like the Wild had a bunch of prima donna's in Iowa...wonder if that was brought on by Fletcher's penchant to start certain players at the NHL level based on where they were drafted rather than have them work their way through the system...

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11 minutes ago, IllaZilla said:

 

Almost sounds like the Wild had a bunch of prima donna's in Iowa...wonder if that was brought on by Fletcher's penchant to start certain players at the NHL level based on where they were drafted rather than have them work their way through the system...

To finish that statement:

 

Or the Finnish influence certain players had as in the case of players like Sean Bergenheim. Here's a guy who obviously was never that good and upon Fletcher acquiring him... Two seconds on the Wild payroll and he's out on Koivu's left wing on his second line (cough cough first line) of Mikko's. The same could be said for a number of players brought here who were friends of either C, A or the other A.

 

It's always galled me the number of snotty little entitled pukes the Wild drafts or acquires as prospects, who if the team put their empty heads together and got 10 players like Stephane Veilleux who know they aren't that good so they bust their ass 10 times harder... That every day of the week hard work, while possessing a strong character and use their sheer will to always give it their all; That coaches like Torchetti would never put to question certain players' work ethics.

 

Players like that get pinned on Fletcher's collar and it's a tribute to how horrible the Wild scouting staff is if they have to turn to players for their input or advice. Which is strongly how all this looks (now more than ever) as we look back.

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On ‎12‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 5:23 AM, IllaZilla said:

That means Dubnyk or Stalock has to go on IR. If a position player goes on IR, they will replace him with another position player. They won’t carry three goalies. 

Maybe we can work out a deal with the Flyers--they are desperate for goaltending--Dubnyk is expendable IMO. This team isn't going anywhere in the playoffs with or without Dubnyk.  We run the table with Stalock and Kappi.😄

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