Fargocase Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 The question is, from the list of fringe UFA's the Wild signed last year, who is going to put up better numbers than Cullen did last year? Standard Stat Line - 79 Gm, 11 G, 11 A, 22 Pts, -1, Avg TOI 11:54 I was going to call Matt Read a homeboy, but aren't they all? JT Brown E Fehr Matt Read Matt Hendricks How about sophomore EEK or rookies Greenway or Kunin? I'd point out a couple things - BB jerked Cullen around mercilessly game after game after game - who were AHL duds dressing for the game? Cullen will Center them and/or the least offensively talented guy on the team. Different plugger linemates game after game after game. Always out there with different non-skill guys. Mid year maybe? Cullen had a big minus. Then for a few games later in the season played on a line with Coyle and stared getting a little more ice time. By the end of the year he had climbed back to almost Even, a -1. Other thing is TOI - 11:54 min avg. Not a lot. What say you? Which Wild 4th Liner will replace Cullen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllaZilla Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 11 hours ago, Fargocase said: The question is, from the list of fringe UFA's the Wild signed last year, who is going to put up better numbers than Cullen did last year? Standard Stat Line - 79 Gm, 11 G, 11 A, 22 Pts, -1, Avg TOI 11:54 I was going to call Matt Read a homeboy, but aren't they all? JT Brown E Fehr Matt Read Matt Hendricks How about sophomore EEK or rookies Greenway or Kunin? I'd point out a couple things - BB jerked Cullen around mercilessly game after game after game - who were AHL duds dressing for the game? Cullen will Center them and/or the least offensively talented guy on the team. Different plugger linemates game after game after game. Always out there with different non-skill guys. Mid year maybe? Cullen had a big minus. Then for a few games later in the season played on a line with Coyle and stared getting a little more ice time. By the end of the year he had climbed back to almost Even, a -1. Other thing is TOI - 11:54 min avg. Not a lot. What say you? Which Wild 4th Liner will replace Cullen? I don't think any of them are going to replace Cullen's numbers exactly or even come close. You're probably going to see Cullen's numbers distributed in the other three lines by Greenway, Coyle, Niederreitter, etc. My feeling is that the Wild aren't going so much for scoring on that fourth line now, but to make life difficult for the opposing team to play against them. Hendricks hits. Brown hits. Put Foligno on the fourth line. He hits (or is supposed to anyway). Fenton's vision for the Wild may be to turn them into Smashville North. So he's starting by turning that fourth line into a physical one. Whether or not it works is the $64,000 question. Physical players seem to lose their edge once they come here for whatever reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fargocase Posted September 1, 2018 Author Share Posted September 1, 2018 The wrong JT is a runt. He's a mosquito out there. Zero physical presence. Hendricks is 100 years old and slow. I don't remember him as being physical, either. Coyle and Nino are $4 mil a year 2nd/3rd Line Forwards getting decent minutes with quality linemates. Cullen was 4th Line Center. Definitely both of them need much better production if the team is going to be decent but I don't see how that helps the 4th Line. The way I see it, it's a team imperative that either Kunin or Greenway have to step up and grab the 3rd Line LW spot because the garbage UFA's Fenton signed don't even belong in the NHL as 4th Liners. Also, IMO it's clear that BB has the wrong Foligno firmly planted on the 4th Line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fargocase Posted September 1, 2018 Author Share Posted September 1, 2018 Hendricks averaged 2 Hits a game last year, so he was willing to bump guys... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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