105 Point Pace

[ClusterChuck]

After enjoying a good 7 gm away trip and especially the B to B's over the weekend where everything clicked, I thought I'd get back to the Pace topic. The last 2 games our game was shut down and somehow we won 1.

Watching the Caps finish off nice 1 timers while we bumbled them made me think back of who we've beat to get this nice record and Pace.

WINS:

Chicago

Arizona

Dallas

Tampa Bay

LA (twice)

Colorado

Edmonton

St. Louis (twice)

Anaheim

Now take the current standings with the idea of 'pace' in mind. Only 3 of those teams would be in the PO's. TB is solid while Dallas and Colorado would be the WC's.....That's it. Many of these teams usually are better but are having issues for whatever reasons.

 

Our Losses are VGK, Colorado, Carolina, Nashville, Vancouver , SJ, Washington.

Wash, Nash and even Carolina handled us pretty easily.

Basically we've been beating teams that have issues... Great. The problem is we haven't faced that many solid teams yet and when we have the results aren't pretty for the most part. (The Tampa Bay game was good tho)

 

Not trying to be negative at all, Just feeling like our current standings/Points is a bit of a Trojan Horse.

How we clean up our game when it comes to the more dominate teams will determine if we can keep this Pace going.

 

[TonyOday]

Kind of surprised TSN has us ranked so high:

 

https://www.tsn.ca/the-7-eleven-power-rankings-nashville-road-warriors-still-no-1-1.1208483

[IllaZilla]

Wild record over the last ten seasons...

 

	OCT	OCT	NOV	NOV	DEC	DEC	JAN	JAN	FEB	FEB	MAR	MAR	APR	APR
	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L
2018-19	7	5	4	2
2017-18	4	6	8	7	8	6	7	5	9	4	7	8	2	2
2016-17	6	3	5	8	12	2	10	3	8	4	4	12	4	1
2015-16	7	4	4	7	9	5	3	10	5	9	10	5	0	4
2014-15	6	3	7	7	4	8	5	8	11	3	11	3	2	4
2013-14	6	7	9	6	5	9	9	5	4	1	6	9	4	2	Olympics in Feb
2012-13	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	3	6	6	11	4	5	9	Lockout Year
2011-12	4	6	11	4	6	9	3	7	4	9	5	10	2	2
2010-11	4	6	7	6	6	8	8	4	8	6	4	10	2	3
2009-10	5	9	5	6	10	6	7	7	3	3	7	9	1	4	Olympics in Feb
2008-09	6	3	8	5	4	10	7	6	5	7	6	10	4	1
Totals	55	52	68	58	64	63	63	58	63	52	71	80	26	32
Average	5.0	4.7	6.2	5.3	6.4	6.3	6.3	5.8	6.3	5.2	7.1	8.0	2.6	3.2

[TonyOday]

The pace is increasing. Team looks good. Love when this team sticks up for itself. 

[Fargocase]

On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 9:48 AM, ClusterChuck said:

 

 

Our Losses are VGK, Colorado, Carolina, Nashville, Vancouver , SJ, Washington.

Wash, Nash and even Carolina handled us pretty easily.

 

Not trying to be negative at all, Just feeling like our current standings/Points is a bit of a Trojan Horse.

How we clean up our game when it comes to the more dominate teams will determine if we can keep this Pace going.

 

 

I agree the Caps did handle the Wild relatively easily.    BTW - who are the defending Stanley Cup champs?  Totally disagree about the other two games you mention.   The Wild hung tough and played a very solid game on the road against Nashville.  In fact, I think that game was the turning point for this season.  Even though the team lost, it showed that it was in fact a very solid team.  I think that was the game that Walz said post game the team would be fine if it kept playing like that.  IMO not at all a bad loss, in fact the opposite.  The Carolina game was a total joke, the Refs destroyed the game.  The Wild never had a chance, constantly killing penalties...

 

Personally, I think this has been a fantastic season and am enjoying it immensely!   IMO Nashville is clearly the best team in the West and WPG is a very good team, the Wild is just a slight notch below.  

 

I just need to ignore the home grown hater trolls on this site.    I don't lump you in with them, or several other posters here who are also still cynical, but I choose to enjoy victories and not dwell on the negative.  That doesn't mean I won't criticize and whine and complain at times, but overall, IMO this is one of the best Wild rosters we've ever had, and I'm going to enjoy the run!

[ClusterChuck]

49 minutes ago, Fargocase said:

 

 

Personally, I think this has been a fantastic season and am enjoying it immensely!   IMO Nashville is clearly the best team in the West and WPG is a very good team, the Wild is just a slight notch below.  

 

I just need to ignore the home grown hater trolls on this site.    I don't lump you in with them, or several other posters here who are also still cynical, but I choose to enjoy victories and not dwell on the negative.  That doesn't mean I won't criticize and whine and complain at times, but overall, IMO this is one of the best Wild rosters we've ever had, and I'm going to enjoy the run!

Back when I posted this I was 'cautiously optimistic'. Given a really good record at the time I was just looking back at the games. I felt other than Wash that the other teams mentioned seemed to shut down our game, Ok not easily but that's what I saw. Maybe I was keeping my enthusiasm in check. 

I'm back to feeling like we can win most games instead of hoping. All teams have dud games and we're no different but that doesn't bother me as much now knowing we have the ability to bounce back.

That Vid of Randy Quaid in Major League II I posted was about being able to criticize when appropriate and not be the homer with rose glasses, And it cracks me up.  

I'm enjoying the ride too. It's rather fun to look at the standings and even with our ups and downs, We're still 2nd in the Conf. Says a lot.

[Fargocase]

I've started a thread about NHL Standings at American Thanksgiving and how closely that corresponds to end of year final standings.  I don't remember seeing that article in THN or one of the other sites this year but I've been pretty busy this year.  IMO it's pretty clear the Wild's performance this year isn't a fluke.  As usual, the team didn't get the respect it deserved in prediction articles.  Nothing new there 

[Hockey-78]

The loss against the Coyotes... oh man.

[IllaZilla]

On average the Wild go roughly 6-5 in November. They are 7-5 right now. Right on track.

 

Yes, it was a bad loss to the Coyotes. But Nashville lost to the Coyotes about two weeks ago as well.

 

I'm not really concerned with how this team does in the regular season. They should easily make the Playoffs, worst case as a Wild Card (unless Parise suffers another major injury and/or Suter's foot falls off...). I'm more interested in seeing what they do in the Playoffs: usual House of Cards or actually make a run...

[rottenrefs]

3 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

The loss against the Coyotes... oh man.

The proverbial: "That was the worst Wild game ever." And with each new year of Wild hockey they find a way to make the previous years' worse game... Even worse.

[Fargocase]

BTW, for the first two periods I really appreciate MNSOTA and KC for chatting about those old time players.   Great memories...    BLAST TO THE PAST!!  Thank you!

 

But I can't do game threads because I can't post and watch at the same time.  I almost always watch the game on DVR.  I give the game  a head start, then usually catch up to live play in the 3rd period.

[Hockey-78]

6 hours ago, rottenrefs said:

The proverbial: "That was the worst Wild game ever." And with each new year of Wild hockey they find a way to make the previous years' worse game... Even worse.

Yeah. Though some say this is the best Wild roster in years. Pretty tough to argument that after this. There were so many passengers in that game.

[ClusterChuck]

15 hours ago, rottenrefs said:

The proverbial: "That was the worst Wild game ever." And with each new year of Wild hockey they find a way to make the previous years' worse game... Even worse.

I don't think the AZ game will be the worst or actually so far isn't.

Sure on paper the 4 goals in the 3rd say so. Not handling a quick succession of events which caused a major momentum shift Imo is to blame.

Not an excuse but seen that before.

Some say the Buffalo game was the worst, Yet we faced them while they were either starting or on the brink of their win streak.

I'd put the Chicago game ahead of these.

[Fargocase]

9 minutes ago, ClusterChuck said:

 

Some say the Buffalo game was the worst, Yet we faced them while they were either starting or on the brink of their win streak.

I'd put the Chicago game ahead of these.

 

I was so disgusted after the Buff game I expected another poor game against Chi and that's what happened, so even though it was very disappointing, I was prepared to be disappointed, so I wasn't as disappointed.   The Buff loss really freaked me out... 

 

After a little time, though, I'm not so disgusted by the Buffalo loss.  This isn't the Buff team of the last decade.  With Eichel maturing into a superstar and Skinner rejuvenated they really are a decent team this year.  Best thing they did was get rid of O'Reilly.  He's a hugely over-rated, me-first primma donna IMO.

 

I think you could see the AZ debacle coming, even when it was 3-1.   After totally dominating play for two periods, they just started standing around.  And Doobie finally had a really bad game...  every goalie does occasionally, chit happens...

[Fargocase]

9 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

Yeah. Though some say this is the best Wild roster in years. Pretty tough to argument that after this. There were so many passengers in that game.

 

Yeah, no doubt.  One bad period proves they suck.   The fact that they have the 3rd best record in the Conference 30% into the season is irrelevant.

[sweetshot]

43 minutes ago, Fargocase said:

 

Yeah, no doubt.  One bad period proves they suck.   The fact that they have the 3rd best record in the Conference 30% into the season is irrelevant.

Use the color Green, remember?

[Hockey-78]

1 hour ago, Fargocase said:

 

Yeah, no doubt.  One bad period proves they suck.   The fact that they have the 3rd best record in the Conference 30% into the season is irrelevant.

The fact is we lost to a team with much less talent while being comfortably in the lead - at home.

[ClusterChuck]

Now just 1 month later, The 105 points seems to be a wee bit out of reach.

Quick estimate says we have to go about 32-11-4 

Possible, But with the current play even BB's 100 pt streak is in danger.

Watcha gonna do Fenton?

[sweetshot]

49 minutes ago, ClusterChuck said:

Now just 1 month later, The 105 points seems to be a wee bit out of reach.

Quick estimate says we have to go about 32-11-4 

Possible, But with the current play even BB's 100 pt streak is in danger.

Watcha gonna do Fenton?

Yes, just a wee bit, even with Dumba healthy.  I think you're right about the 100 point streak as well, especially now that Dumba will be out most likely for the rest of the season.

 

Unless the core steps it up a notch or two, they'll probably end up going closer to 22-21-4 the rest of the way. I hope I'm wrong.

 

It will be interesting to see what Fenton does, if anything.

[EJ0226]

21 hours ago, sweetshot said:

Yes, just a wee bit, even with Dumba healthy.  I think you're right about the 100 point streak as well, especially now that Dumba will be out most likely for the rest of the season.

 

Unless the core steps it up a notch or two, they'll probably end up going closer to 22-21-4 the rest of the way. I hope I'm wrong.

 

It will be interesting to see what Fenton does, if anything.

With what we are seeing I don't think the Wild do better then 19-25-3. We have no goal scorers. We don't have a game changer. Our defense, even guys that you can usually count on, look very suspect. Dubnyk is being the typical Dubnyk we know. I don't know if Stalock could carry the team the vast majority of the 46 games left. Even somebody like me who hasn't been a Dumba fan seen what a incredible season he was having and the impact it was having.

I said it at the beginning of the season and I still stand by it, the Wild don't make the playoffs this year and it's very possible that they might not make it again until Parise, Suter and Koivu are gone. I believe that not because of them but because the team is a mess and needs a rebuild to fit the new GM. That usually doesn't happen overnight and takes a few seasons. I still love the team but I am not going to wear homer blinders and ignore the issues. I do believe this team overachieved and now it's coming back down to reality. I still stand by that even the great Scotty Bowman could not get much more out of these guys.

[ClusterChuck]

10 minutes ago, EJ0226 said:

With what we are seeing I don't think the Wild do better then 19-25-3. We have no goal scorers. We don't have a game changer. Our defense, even guys that you can usually count on, look very suspect. Dubnyk is being the typical Dubnyk we know. I don't know if Stalock could carry the team the vast majority of the 46 games left. Even somebody like me who hasn't been a Dumba fan seen what a incredible season he was having and the impact it was having.

I said it at the beginning of the season and I still stand by it, the Wild don't make the playoffs this year and it's very possible that they might not make it again until Parise, Suter and Koivu are gone. I believe that not because of them but because the team is a mess and needs a rebuild to fit the new GM. That usually doesn't happen overnight and takes a few seasons. I still love the team but I am not going to wear homer blinders and ignore the issues. I do believe this team overachieved and now it's coming back down to reality. I still stand by that even the great Scotty Bowman could not get much more out of these guys.

Agreed !

Of the 3 you mentioned, Parise is fine for now.., Give Suter less time and park Koivu as the 3LC and work with the rest. But with the current same ingredients to the team, Boudreau keeps trying to mix up a new dinner and it keeps coming up goulash.

 

[sweetshot]

7 minutes ago, EJ0226 said:

With what we are seeing I don't think the Wild do better then 19-25-3. We have no goal scorers. We don't have a game changer. Our defense, even guys that you can usually count on, look very suspect. Dubnyk is being the typical Dubnyk we know. I don't know if Stalock could carry the team the vast majority of the 46 games left. Even somebody like me who hasn't been a Dumba fan seen what a incredible season he was having and the impact it was having.

I said it at the beginning of the season and I still stand by it, the Wild don't make the playoffs this year and it's very possible that they might not make it again until Parise, Suter and Koivu are gone. I believe that not because of them but because the team is a mess and needs a rebuild to fit the new GM. That usually doesn't happen overnight and takes a few seasons. I still love the team but I am not going to wear homer blinders and ignore the issues. I do believe this team overachieved and now it's coming back down to reality. I still stand by that even the great Scotty Bowman could not get much more out of these guys.

You're right, we may be in for a long drought. If not now, for sure in a couple of years. Most of the core will be over 30 or approaching 30, and there's not many prospects in the pipeline to replace them.

Is it too late to tank for a shot at Hughes?

[EJ0226]

1 hour ago, sweetshot said:

You're right, we may be in for a long drought. If not now, for sure in a couple of years. Most of the core will be over 30 or approaching 30, and there's not many prospects in the pipeline to replace them.

Is it too late to tank for a shot at Hughes?

It's a horrible snowball effect from CF. Bad drafting and no player development. Now add the sprinkles of trading draft picks for rentals that literally disappear out of the NHL after their contract is up with the Wild. Top it off with the cherry that is bad contracts for subpar players that get NTC/NMC and you get yourself one hell of a chit sundae.

The age thing does bother me though. Being one of the oldest team with basically 1 or maybe 2 prospects waiting is a death sentence most of the time. It sucks and is depressing. I think once their contracts are over, Parise and Suter will go down as one of the worst contracts/pickups for all of Minnesota sports team. They literally turned the team from a non playoff team to first round cannon fodder. They literally put the team in the spot to never achieve a good draft pick but no where good enough to be nothing but a first round punching bag for other teams. It trapped the team when they were already having trouble developing players anyways. I was never as excited about their signings when it first happened as I though the contracts were trash. It was basically put all your eggs in one basket for 13 years and hope two guys that never showed that they could be game changers and carry teams to become game changers and carry the team.

 

I will admit that I hated on Yeo. Yes he wasn't a great coach but there is something completely wrong when a HC can have a freak out during practice and not even one player paid any attention to it. He breaks his stick and not even one player looks over at it. I also hate the whole Suter and Parise hiring Oates for PP help. First off, there is 2 to 3 other guys on the PP unit depending on the situation. So either this means that these two are complete @sshats and don't care about their teammates or just stupid and don't understand that there is other guys out there too. Then to bring him to a practice is complete disrespect to the coach and shows their true colors. I wouldn't want guys like that on my team at all. That can be very cancerous.

 

[ClusterChuck]

On 12/28/2018 at 11:10 AM, EJ0226 said:

 

 

I will admit that I hated on Yeo. Yes he wasn't a great coach but there is something completely wrong when a HC can have a freak out during practice and not even one player paid any attention to it. He breaks his stick and not even one player looks over at it. I also hate the whole Suter and Parise hiring Oates for PP help. First off, there is 2 to 3 other guys on the PP unit depending on the situation. So either this means that these two are complete @sshats and don't care about their teammates or just stupid and don't understand that there is other guys out there too. Then to bring him to a practice is complete disrespect to the coach and shows their true colors. I wouldn't want guys like that on my team at all. That can be very cancerous.

 

It would've been interesting to see if Oates did the freak out and see how the players reacted. A respected player who's been there.

In general it has to be tough for younger coaches to tell players their age and older what they should be doing.

With all their fancy contacts with clauses and lengths secure, They don't really have to worry about their jobs and just have to sit through some coaches tirade.

[EJ0226]

21 hours ago, ClusterChuck said:

It would've been interesting to see if Oates did the freak out and see how the players reacted. A respected player who's been there.

In general it has to be tough for younger coaches to tell players their age and older what they should be doing.

With all their fancy contacts with clauses and lengths secure, They don't really have to worry about their jobs and just have to sit through some coaches tirade.

A lot of people have been saying it for years but the Wild created a safe haven atmosphere for players and the contracts prove this. I do wish the NHL would either get rid of the NTC/NMC or be like the NFL where basically nobody has it as the they wouldn't get the bonuses if they did have one of those on their contract.  So you want a NTC/NMC on your contract, ok then you get a hell of a lot less money. It would change so much for the Wild. Could you imagine that they could have dumped Koivu, Suter and Parise after seeing they were not going to work and move on instead of having to sit through 6 more seasons of it with at least 2 of the guys?

The NHL owners need to get firm and only agree to something like this and no more permanent locked down contracts that you can't do anything about. A few bad signings can ruin a franchise and drive fans away. People I know that have been huge Wild fans since the start of the franchise, even some being huge Star fans with season tickets before they left, are starting to not buy Wild merchandise and tickets. They are sick of the broken record. My fear is losing another NHL team as I doubt MN would get another but throwing money on a broken item isn't smart either. Like it or hate it but the contracts were awful for a ton of players for years now. Making the playoffs year after year to only be punished in the first round no matter what is not a sign of a good franchise and roster. It hurts the franchise more then anything else. People in the franchise keep thinking maybe just one more signing will change the broken record instead of looking at the whole roster and see pieces don't fit together. They might be nice pieces by themselves but they don't fit together. So you end up like the Wild. Have zero shot of drafting good, decent players. But you got contracts eating up a lot of money that aren't doing the team any good. What do you do?

 

 I still think the Wild end the season with a 19-25-3 record.