Minnesota Wild General Discussion IV

[DANOZ28]

with prosser do we have any open roster spots currently available to add greenway next spring?

 

[Saga of the Elk]

with prosser do we have any open roster spots currently available to add greenway next spring?

They're at the 50 contract limit right now. Fletch will have to make a trade out (e.g. Quincey to someone for future considerations) if they want to add another.

But you don't add a college player with questionable skating and hockey sense to a roster that's looking to contend in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Hopefully you're adding Parise, maybe Kunin, and everyone else is healthy.

 

[ThatGuy22]

with prosser do we have any open roster spots currently available to add greenway next spring?

Not at the moment, but that could easily change between now and then.

At some point an AHL team will need a body, and Fletcher will trade them one for basically nothing or we'll do a two for one deal.

 

[ThatGuy22]

They're at the 50 contract limit right now. Fletch will have to make a trade out (e.g. Quincey to someone for future considerations) if they want to add another.

But you don't add a college player with questionable skating and hockey sense to a roster that's looking to contend in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Hopefully you're adding Parise, maybe Kunin, and everyone else is healthy.

Since when does he have questionable skating. Almost every scouting report i've ever read on him has praised his skating for such a big guy.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

Since when does he have questionable skating. Almost every scouting report i've ever read on him has praised his skating for such a big guy.

When scouts say a player skates well "for a big man," they're often damning with faint praise. His size is definitely an asset but if he can't move his feet well enough at the NHL level to make plays, then he's a zero as a prospect. It's a huge risk factor. Remains to be seen what he looks like against NHLers or even AHLers.

And just to elaborate a little, at this stage in his career I just expected a bit more explosion from him. He's learning a new position but the point production is pretty flat. Talented team, uneven competition, why is this? I think part of it can be attributed to being an average skater who lacks agility. It's a concern to me.

 

[Wabit]

They're at the 50 contract limit right now. Fletch will have to make a trade out (e.g. Quincey to someone for future considerations) if they want to add another.

But you don't add a college player with questionable skating and hockey sense to a roster that's looking to contend in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Hopefully you're adding Parise, maybe Kunin, and everyone else is healthy.

On the flip side, to get him to sign after the college season, they could use burning a year off his ELC as an incentive. Pending the 50 contract limit of course.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

Russo just told a story on KFAN that him and Lapanta and a bunch of the media types were out to eat in CA the other day and Dany Heatley bought their entire table fireball shots

 

[District 5]

And his quote was "Drink up Russo!"

 

[Soldier13Fox]

#50in07!!

 

[BagHead]

So, I didn't get to watch last game, but I noticed Cullen was out with JEE when he scored his goal (I watched the highlights) and it gave me a 3rd line idea of JEE - Cullen - Mitchell.

I don't know if they tried this last night or not, but I thought it would be an interesting line, based on what types of players Cullen has played his best hockey with in the past. It gives Cullen the speedy wingers he craves, puts JEE and Mitchell into positions they can thrive in as rookies, and makes the Wild have 3 actually useful lines. Of course, it would mean a 4th line of Ennis/Foligno - Winnik - Stewart. That's not exactly a dominant puck-possession line.

Would you guys give that a shot if you were the coach?

 

[SomethingGeneric]

I'll do anything to try and get a competent third line out there while we wait for the return of Zp (a never ending wait I might add). They actually looked pretty decent last night and Cullen graded out as one of the top players for the Wild last night so I say go ahead and see how it works. Mitchell has been a pleasant surprise so far and maybe cullen and Ek can have a connection. I'd rather go with them then putting Ek with the likes of Foligno, Stewart, or Winnik even though that doesn't mean much.

 

[dBoon]

Russo just told a story on KFAN that him and Lapanta and a bunch of the media types were out to eat in CA the other day and Dany Heatley bought their entire table fireball shots

Good old Heater!

 

[Al Lagoon]

Looking over the stats for the season so far. A few points of interest:

• Ek is 3rd on the team with hits, after Foligno and Dumba.

• Ek also is awful in the dot, winning just 32% of his draws. Coyle leads at 55.9.

• Koivu in on pace for 40 points, and a healthy minus. Glad the Wild didn't reward him with an extension after last season(not that I don't want to keep him around).

• With Quincey gone, team lead in penalty minutes is 20, shared by Koivu, Staal and Stewart. Hmm.

• Brodin leads the Wild in both +/- (11), and blocked shots (63). The offense may never catch up to the rest of his game, but an elite defensive defenseman is good to have.

•Chris Stewart is still 4th on the team on goals with 7, and has had a couple massive shoot-out contributions to boot.

•Jason Zucker's 4 game winning goals are a career-high, having twice had 3 in a season.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

Psst...Koivu signed a two year extension this offseason

 

[MNNumbers]

Any word on Dubnyk?

 

[Wabit]

Looking over the stats for the season so far. A few points of interest:

• Ek is 3rd on the team with hits, after Foligno and Dumba.

• Ek also is awful in the dot, winning just 32% of his draws. Coyle leads at 55.9.

• Koivu in on pace for 40 points, and a healthy minus. Glad the Wild didn't reward him with an extension after last season(not that I don't want to keep him around).

• With Quincey gone, team lead in penalty minutes is 20, shared by Koivu, Staal and Stewart. Hmm.

• Brodin leads the Wild in both +/- (11), and blocked shots (63). The offense may never catch up to the rest of his game, but an elite defensive defenseman is good to have.

•Chris Stewart is still 4th on the team on goals with 7, and has had a couple massive shoot-out contributions to boot.

•Jason Zucker's 4 game winning goals are a career-high, having twice had 3 in a season.

I'll add one. Ennis, Foligno, Mitchell, Murphy, and Stewie all have more PP goals than Coyle, Dumba, Koivu (3rd in ToI), and Suter (1st in ToI).

 

[Saga of the Elk]

I'll add one. Ennis, Foligno, Mitchell, Murphy, and Stewie all have more PP goals than Coyle, Dumba, Koivu (3rd in ToI), and Suter (1st in ToI).

Matt Dumba is dead last on the team (19th of 19) in goals for per 60 on the power play (other than the guys who have zeros in that category, or did not qualify). He has to get it going.

 

[Lapa]

Granlund's shootout goal in the last game was his first shootout goal in the NHL (1/5).

Kinda surprising

 

[W75]

Granlund's shootout goal in the last game was his first shootout goal in the NHL (1/5).

Kinda surprising

Yeah. He used to be a beast before the.. ummm.. WJC shootout disaster?

 

[Lapa]

Yeah. He used to be a beast before the.. ummm.. WJC shootout disaster?

I'm evil for posting this, I know

 

[W75]

You are a bad person. That never happened.

E: No, it's important to understand, Granny's just a human being, only named Finnish Baby Jesus. He doesn't have to carry the World on his shoulders. Just a half of Finland

 

[Lapa]

You are a bad person. That never happened.

E: No, it's important to understand, Granny's just a human being, only named Finnish Baby Jesus. He doesn't have to carry the World on his shoulders. Just a half of Finland

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

I think the key for the Wild going forward seems to be if they can develop a capable 3rd line. Parise coming back, if/when he does, will help that immensely. Say what you will about his contract and his currently ability compared to what he once was, however, Parise can definitely still put the puck in the net and be a force in and around the net-front area if you can get the puck to those areas at a high-enough frequency. I think Parise coming back will open up a lot of things for this team. Even last year, playing injured, he still racked up tons of shots and I think is again crucial going forward.

Adding him to the lineup gives you a lot more flexibility to either roll something like (Parise-Eriksson Ek-Coyle) or (Parise-Cullen-Ek) or even Parise-Cullen/Ek-Nino or throw Mitchell in there somewhere. I think it will be important to pair Parise with someone who can create possession and start a cycle in order to force pucks to the front of the net for rebounds and tips to Parise. I think you could do that.

I also think Mitchel flashes enough to be sort of like a Fontaine type player that can do enough to keep plays going even with skill players. So, I think Parise coming back will do a lot because then you can do a lot of things with Nino/Coyle/Zucker/Granlund/Koivu/Coyle/Parise/Ek/Cullen/Mitchell and those 10 guys in order to have a pretty competent top 9.


Further, I think that top line allows you to go Mitchell/Cullen/Stewart or Foligno or Ennis on the 4th line which looks a lot better as well.

In the end, this begs the question what were the Wild expecting to get out of the Pominville trade. Pominville is definitely overpaid, but his ability to provide 2 way play and competent depth scoring was great and it seems like Ennis is a player with a skill-player styled game that's not good enough to play that game and Foligno is a dumb a dozen 4th line player.


Until Parise returns (and Spurgeon), you hope the Wild can continue to scratch and claw for wins. I personally think as much speed as we can inject into the lineup as possible is what we should be doing. I think Mitchell/Cullen/Ek should be the 3rd line you roll with and hope that they can play with speed through the neutral zone and score off of some rushes.

I think Mitchell is going to be an important depth guy to develop that can play C or W on either the 3rd or 4th line and make the right plays that lead to winning hockey from depth. Ideally, he's a 4th liner, but I think he's a sneaky player you can keep around that can chip in 30-35 points and winning smart hockey as well as play up on top lines for stretches during injury because he makes smart plays. Those are the little things that make the Wild the team they were in the regular season last year versus this year.


Now going forward as we all know, for our forwards, the development of Ek/Kunin/Greenway/Kaprizov/etc is going to be the difference of whether this team develops or not offensively. Koivu/Parise will be this teams 3rd line and the young guys are going to need to be able to carry this team.

 

[57special]

a player who score 30-35 pts. is a 3rd liner. I like Mitchell so far, but don't see him as a guy who can effect the game. When Fontaine was at his best he could provide a bit of offense. Losing Haula and Parise, let alone Tuch, has hurt the Wild's scoring and possession skills depth big time.

Kunin will be back and effective at some time, I think. I'd rather not rush him and have him find his offense down in the AHL before we bring him up, though.

 

[MoeTheHobo]

Thank you, Satan