Line Combos: 2017-18 Line Combos

[Lapa]

Now that we've more or less signed the guys we need, what kind of lineups do you guys expect?

Without Winnik:

Zucker - Koivu - Granlund
Niederreiter - Staal - Parise
Foligno - JEE - Coyle
Ennis - Cullen - Stewart

Suter - Dumba
Brodin - Spurgeon
Olofsson - Quincey

Dubnyk
Stalock

With Winnik:

Zucker - Koivu - Granlund
Niederreiter - Staal - Parise
Foligno - JEE - Coyle
Winnik - Cullen - Stewart

Click to read more...

 

[keppel146]

Wouldn't mind seeing ennis on that 3rd line

 

[TaLoN]

Right now Ennis is skating in Parise's spot.

Zucker - Koivu - Granlund
Nino - Staal - Ennis
Foligno - JEE - Coyle
Winnik - Cullen - Stewart

 

[Maurice of Orange]

For a Minnesota lineup to start the season I'd go with:

Minnesota Wild 2017-18 Line-Up

Line 1 LW Zucker C Koivu RW Granlund
Line 2 LW Parise C Staal RW Niederreiter
Line 3 LW Coyle C Eriksson EK RW Foligno
Line 4 LW Stewart C Cullen RW Ennis

1st D-Pair LD Suter RD Dumba
2nd D-Pair LD Brodin RD Spurgeon
3rd D-Pair LD Olofsson RD Quincey

Goalie's:
Starter: Dubnyk
Backup: Svedberg

Scratched List
7th RD Murphy
14th C Gabriel
13th LW Winnik ~ (PTO) < sign to 1yr. deal
-----------------------
LW Malone ~ (PTO) < release from try out.

 

[P10p]

For a Minnesota lineup to start the season I'd go with:

Minnesota Wild 2017-18 Line-Up

Line 1 LW Parise C Koivu RW Granlund
Line 2 LW Zucker C Staal RW Niederreiter
Line 3 LW Coyle C Eriksson EK RW Foligno
Line 4 LW Stewart C Cullen RW Ennis

1st D-Pair LD Suter RD Dumba
2nd D-Pair LD Brodin RD Spurgeon
3rd D-Pair LD Olofsson RD Quincey

Goalie's:
Starter: Dubnyk
Backup: Svedberg

Scratched List
7th RD Murphy
14th C Gabriel
13th LW Winnik ~ (PTO) < sign to 1yr. deal
-----------------------
LW Malone ~ (PTO)

Stalock has looked so solid imo he gets the backup position. And no way they break up Zucker Koivu Granlund to start

 

[TaLoN]

For a Minnesota lineup to start the season I'd go with:

Minnesota Wild 2017-18 Line-Up

Line 1 LW Parise C Koivu RW Granlund
Line 2 LW Zucker C Staal RW Niederreiter
Line 3 LW Coyle C Eriksson EK RW Foligno
Line 4 LW Stewart C Cullen RW Ennis

1st D-Pair LD Suter RD Dumba
2nd D-Pair LD Brodin RD Spurgeon
3rd D-Pair LD Olofsson RD Quincey

Goalie's:
Starter: Dubnyk
Backup: Svedberg

Scratched List
7th RD Murphy
14th C Gabriel
13th LW Winnik ~ (PTO) < sign to 1yr. deal
-----------------------
LW Malone ~ (PTO)

Stalock has looked so solid imo he gets the backup position. And no way they break up Zucker Koivu Granlund to start

Don't even bother listing Malone, he wants an AHL only deal so he can be Olympic eligible. He has no desire for an NHL contract which would make him Olympic INELIGIBLE.

 

[W75]

Zucker - K - Grøinkügel
Niederreiter - Staal - Coyle
Foligno - Ek - Parise
Ennis - Cullen - Stewye/Winnik

 

[Goose312]

I'm hoping Bruce gives that Foligno - Coyle - Nino line another look. That line had some serious grind you into the ground until your lungs collapse potential.

 

[BusQuets]

I'm starting to think that the management still tries to make Coyle a center.
Line-up:

Parise - Staal - Ennis
Zucker - Koivu - Granlund
Nino - Coyle - EK
Foligno - Cullen - Stewart/Winnik/somebody

Suter - Dumba
Brodin - Spurgeon
Olofsson/Rielly - Murphy/Quincey

 

[Maurice of Orange]

Stalock has looked so solid imo he gets the backup position. And no way they break up Zucker Koivu Granlund to start

I don't follow the Wild all that much so I wasn't sure which goalie would be the backup (Svedberg or Stalock). I wouldn't have thought Svedberg would have came back to North America to play in the AHL but I could be wrong.

Also I didn't even know Zucker Koivu Granlund was the top chemistry line in Minnesota, so I'll update the roster I have accordingly and move Parise to 2LW with Staal and Niederreiter.

I think a 3rd line of LW Coyle C Eriksson EK and RW Niederreiter might look good on paper and would help Eriksson EK having Coyle and Niederreiter on his wing. Only problem is it leaves a hole at 2RW that I wouldn't think Foligno, Ennis or Swewart could makeup for.

 

[TaLoN]

I'm starting to think that the management still tries to make Coyle a center.
Line-up:

Parise - Staal - Ennis
Zucker - Koivu - Granlund
Nino - Coyle - EK
Foligno - Cullen - Stewart/Winnik/somebody

Suter - Dumba
Brodin - Spurgeon
Olofsson/Rielly - Murphy/Quincey

Bruce already said Ek is going to get a chance to play center first, he'd prefer if Ek could start out there, Coyle would only play center if Ek proves unready for it.

Thus he's getting time there now early in preseason. I don't think they want Coyle there long term anymore though.

 

[57special]

I'll be very interested to see how long Suter/Dumba sticks. Suter/Spurgeon was just about perfect.

I actually liked Olofsson/Brodin last year in the limited time i saw them.

Brodin/Spurgeon could be amazing, but it's almost like too much of a good thing.

Having Winnik as a 12/13th forward would be great. Pretty excited about him as a low priced option for the bottom six.

 

[Eb]

Fantasy talk:

Before injury, Granlund was playing #1RW? Was he getting #1PP time too?

 

[ThatGuy22]

Fantasy talk:

Before injury, Granlund was playing #1RW? Was he getting #1PP time too?

We don't really have a clear 1st/2nd line. But he plays relatively exclusively with Koivu in top 6 minutes, and get's lots of PP time.

 

[ThatGuy22]

With our forward crunch having Parise and Granlund banged up, it sure seems like we should send Reilly down and call up Kunin. Given he out played Ek during camp, and the reason he was sent down was lack of top 9 spots. Sure would be preferable to have him playing 4 games than Foligno next to Staal and Coyle (like practice lines) or Stewart on the third line(even given his production thus far).

Just seems really silly to be running 7D when we've got a waiver exempt D and a waiver exempt forward we can switch, even if Reilly provides marginally better play than Olloffson at this moment. He's still playing third pair. A quality forward in the top 9 is much more important. It would make the cap space extremely tight for a few days, as Kunin makes 200k more than Reilly, but seems to me it would be worth it.

 

[ThatGuy22]

So, Fletcher is in quite the pickle at the moment. Be really interesting to see how this gets finessed so we have something approaching a lineup Saturday. I think it's a foregone conclusion Reilly gets sent down and replaced by a forward now.

I wonder if he'd consider waiving a couple vets unlikely to be claimed for Saturday in order to get a complete lineup. He could waive Quincy and Ennis(replaced by Murphy and Mitchell) for instance would buy us the 650k to get Cannone up here. Heck, and if Ennis or Quincy is claimed, even better.

We could than run
Zucker-Staal-Stewart
Kunin-Koivu-JEE
Winnik-Cullen-Mitchell
Cannone

Suter-Spurgeon
Brodin-Dumba
Olofsson-murphy

Dubnyk
Stalock

By my(capfriendly) count, that would be 74,953,591. Leaving us with 46k in cap space. If Foligno or Parise can go, even better and we're still short a forward which opens up the emergency recall option for our next game.

The other obvious option is LTIR for Parise(or Coyle/Nino), but who knows if they're going to be out long enough to make that viable.

 

[nickschultzfan]

I'm guessing Nino may be LTIR. High ankle sprains can be 4-6 weeks.

 

[ThatGuy22]

I'm guessing Nino may be LTIR. High ankle sprains can be 4-6 weeks.

I just want them to waive Ennis in case some GM gets drunk and accidentally claims him.

 

[nt3005]

If foligno has broken facial bones, how long do we see him being out? Just a little while, or is it more of a until it fully heals injury?

 

[Wabit]

If foligno has broken facial bones, how long do we see him being out? Just a little while, or is it more of a until it fully heals injury?

Depends on what it is. Put a birdcage on and he can play before it is fully healed is an option. The last injury I recall like that was Kaleta a few years ago, he missed a few games, but was back and playing with a birdcage.

It's not just the cap the Wild are dealing with to be short handed it's the 23 man roster. Parise, Granny, Foligno, Nino, and Coyle would be 5 roster players not playing, but not on IR. That leaves a 18 spots on the 23 man roster, two of those are goalies so 16 skaters slots possible.

 

[StateofCelly]

Kunin was just recalled, and Reilly sent down. I am at work so can't access the link to it.. but this will certainly make things interesting. Even with him we have 9 forwards.

 

[ThatGuy22]

If foligno has broken facial bones, how long do we see him being out? Just a little while, or is it more of a until it fully heals injury?

Probably depends on what bone. Orbital? He'll be out a long time and be on LTIR soon. Jaw? They'll wire it up and he'll be back with a cage in a week.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Kunin was just recalled, and Reilly sent down. I am at work so can't access the link to it.. but this will certainly make things interesting. Even with him we have 9 forwards.

I'd suspect Fletcher is just deciding which of Parise, Granlund,Nino, Coyle or Foligno has the longest recovery time and is going to end up on LTIR. Any of them open enough room to bring up 3 forwards.

 

[57special]

Anyone else get the feeling that Parise is on a "career death watch"?

 

[nt3005]

Anyone else get the feeling that Parise is on a "career death watch"?

Yep, I predicted he will play around 20 games this year at most, but dont see his career lasting much longer after this season.