2017-2018 Minnesota Wild General Discussion III

[Dr Jan Itor]

So, with Coyle back and the two rookies in the AHL, what is optimal lineup... Coyle on the wing and stack the top 6 or Coyle at #3C and try to balance things out?

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

So, with Coyle back and the two rookies in the AHL, what is optimal lineup... Coyle on the wing and stack the top 6 or Coyle at #3C and try to balance things out?

Might be a good idea to try and get production out of Stewart again, put him with Koivu/Granlund or Nino/Staal (depending on who Zucker plays with). That would mean Coyle to #3C, flanked by (probably) Ennis and Foligno; and a Winnik/Cullen/Mitchell 4th line.

 

[Nharris31]

So, with Coyle back and the two rookies in the AHL, what is optimal lineup... Coyle on the wing and stack the top 6 or Coyle at #3C and try to balance things out?

Well ironically I think the guys that went to the AHL would be good line mates for him and would also benefit them. But Wild hockey so

 

[2Pair]

Might be a good idea to try and get production out of Stewart again, put him with Koivu/Granlund or Nino/Staal (depending on who Zucker plays with). That would mean Coyle to #3C, flanked by (probably) Ennis and Foligno; and a Winnik/Cullen/Mitchell 4th line.

I would rather Coyle play with Staal and Nino and give the Wild 2 actual lines. If you want to have him center the 3rd line in an effort to spread things out, then you have to give him one of Granlund, Zucker, or Nino. Otherwise you're just wasting Coyle's minutes.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I would rather Coyle play with Staal and Nino and give the Wild 2 actual lines. If you want to have him center the 3rd line in an effort to spread things out, then you have to give him one of Granlund, Zucker, or Nino. Otherwise you're just wasting Coyle's minutes.

That's a good point.

Filling in the blanks, we'd have to go something like:

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

I don't absolutely, unequivocally hate it.

 

[2Pair]

That's a good point.

Filling in the blanks, we'd have to go something like:

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

I don't absolutely, unequivocally hate it.

I would probably flip Ennis and Foligno, then move Stewart to the 4th line, give one of the rookies a few games with Zucker and Coyle, if he doesn't produce, call up the other rookie. If neither can be a solid 3rd liner when playing with Zucker and Coyle, you're probably in trouble.

 

[Wild11MN]

Russo just wrote an article on the Wild's OT failures.

 

[Wabit]

The Wild aren't built to play 3v3. They just don't have the upper end talent. I wouldn't surprised if BB just said screw it and went with a 1 FWD, 2 d-men setup, just so we could lose in a SO.

 

[BagHead]

Wow. With a record like that, who's beneath us?

I just figured out that looking up "goals by period" allows you to figure out OT records on NHL.com. Some teams that are also low:
Team Record Win%
Nashville 7-21 0.250 (still slightly better than us)
Carolina 13-22 0.371
Winnipeg 7-14 0.333


For the life of me, I can't find who it is that's worse than us. Going through, team by team, these were the only other teams that had what I would call "dismal" records in OT. What I did find about the teams that are good in OT (Calgary, Edmonton, New Jersey, Montreal, as a few examples) is that a lot of them are speedy teams, and a lot of those speedy teams are also not great teams in the standings, confirming that 3v3 is exactly the gimmick we already knew it was. That said, it is better than a shootout, IMO. I also noticed that some of the teams that are good at it have upper-end talent, but a lot of them don't. I don't think "star players" has much to do with 3v3 OT success, by the numbers. Las Angeles is a bit of an interesting one, in that they're not particularly speedy, but win anyway. I'm wondering how much of that we can attribute to Quick, who is a notably athletic and nimble goalie, which seems like a better style fit for 3v3 than a strictly positional style. I'd love to see someone write an article about that.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Could Vegas be 0-1 or something?

 

[Wabit]

Could Vegas be 0-1 or something?

I was thinking the same thing, or they weren't included on the list because of the sample size. It's pretty hard to lose over 3/4 of the time.

I'd guess most teams are in the .400-.600 range, just because of the law of averages and parity in the NHL. But on the bright-side when you're last at something, you can't get any worse.

LA surprises me after the OT game last year. Granny walked through them like they were sleeping.

 

[BagHead]

Could Vegas be 0-1 or something?

Vegas is 3-0, if I recall correctly. They're definitely undefeated in OT, according to NHL.com

 

[kfan22]

Russo seems to think Prosser may be back soon, sounds like he will hit waivers Friday

 

[Taylor26]

Glad too see Ek and Kunin in the Ahl both guys need to work their games I knew this would happen once Coyle came back . Kunin is 19 an Ek is 20 so more minuets for both will only help. They both haven't been too out of place( defensively) for rookies yet they are not scoring to much.

 

[Bazeek]

Russo seems to think Prosser may be back soon, sounds like he will hit waivers Friday

I don't think it'd be an improvement in terms of player quality, but picking up Prosser and getting rid of Quincey makes some sense. It seems silly that the main point of even having Quincey is to have a vet to rotate in and out of the bottom pairing with the two young LD... but he's a lefty too, so both Olofsson and Reilly end up having to play on the right?

Plus Prosser makes like half as much. Is Kyle Quincey at $1.25 million something you can give away for a 7th round pick?

 

[Wabit]

Picking up Prosser wouldn't really be an improvement in any area. It would give another RHS d-man, but it would put the Wild at 50 contracts.

Some team might want Quincey, I dunno.

 

[Bazeek]

Picking up Prosser wouldn't really be an improvement in any area. It would give another RHS d-man, but it would put the Wild at 50 contracts.

Some team might want Quincey, I dunno.

Getting rid of Quincey would be a prerequisite in my mind.

 

[BigT2002]

Prosser is not going to fix this team in any way, shape or form. They are not playing great in the offensive zone and their transition game is horrid. Defense and goaltending are the only glimmer of hope outside of players not named Nino or Jason.

 

[Nharris31]

Prosser is not going to fix this team in any way, shape or form. They are not playing great in the offensive zone and their transition game is horrid. Defense and goaltending are the only glimmer of hope outside of players not named Nino or Jason.

Granlund? Remember when everyone was saying they need to take the next step?

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

We have flaws but we're 8-1-1 in the last 10. Let's just see where it goes.

 

[Wild11MN]

We have flaws but we're 8-1-1 in the last 10. Let's just see where it goes.

Huh, didn't realize it was that good of a run. Nice.

Edit: Wait, no we're not. We're 6-3-1.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Huh, didn't realize it was that good of a run. Nice.

Edit: Wait, no we're not. We're 6-3-1.

Oh. Oops. Then it's 6-1-1 in the last 8 or something.

 

[maxxum11]

Oh. Oops. Then it's 6-1-1 in the last 8 or something.

Yeah it's 6-1-1 in the last 8 so at least we have been winning games lately, but I'm still a bit worried right now because we have been outshot in most if not all of those 8 games. For example last night Colorado had lots of great chances to finish the game. Let's just hope that our goalies (and defense?) stay "fine" and that our offense finally starts to work.

 

[2Pair]

Yeah it's 6-1-1 in the last 8 so at least we have been winning games lately, but I'm still a bit worried right now because we have been outshot in most if not all of those 8 games. For example last night Colorado had lots of great chances to finish the game. Let's just hope that our goalies (and defense?) stay "fine" and that our offense finally starts to work.

They've been outshot mainly because the book on Dubnyk right now is to throw anything and everything at him and he will give you 2 freebies a game. Combine that with the fact that Boudreau's system is designed to give up more total shots in exchange for fewer quality shots, and I don't see any reason to be worried about shot totals.

 

[57special]

Put me down as someone who doesn't want Prosser back, was mystified by not bringing back Folin, yet signing Quincey. Quincey has been OK as a #6, and I like his physicality, but if he is making the young guys play the opposite side then That's not ideal. Brodin made it look easy when he came into the league, but Reilly and Olofsson have enough on their plate.

We might have been winning, but a lot of mistakes have been made. We are by no means a finely tuned machine. Having Coyle will help, for sure. Having a functioning Parise back would be even better. Some of our defensive problems have come about because our new forward acquisitions can't hold on to the puck to save their lives.

Reilly has to be smarter, and learn from guys like Spurgeon, not guys like Dumba. Spurgeon provides good offense from the defensive position, but he seldom gets caught out of position defensively. I thought Reilly looked somewhat solid early on, but now he's starting to look like a forward who has been forced to play Defence. Neither he nor Olofsson have really been solid, though neither is a lost cause.