GDT: 01/09/14 - Minnesota Wild @ Phoenix Coyotes - 8pm CST - FS-North, FS-Arizona

[kfan22]

Zucker is fine according to Russo

Michael Russo ‏@Russostrib 3m
Zucker is walking on knee, has a cut, says he's fine and is mostly ecstatic for Fontaine #mnwild

 

[tyratoku]

Zucker is walking on knee, has a cut, says he's fine and is mostly ecstatic for Fontaine #mnwild

yaaay

 

[57special]

I think Haula belongs. He's young, and a very smart player. Play him 15 minutes per rather than 5 and it solves a lot of problems. Not thrilled about the names mentioned down in the AHL. Bulmer would have been perfect.


Very excited to see another more or less mistake free game by Stoner. A little thing that isn't so little. Blum was OK, too, I think?

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

Yeah, was way too early to speculate on Zucker. If anything was broken he would've been down on the ice forever. Probably going to have a bad bruise though.

 

[Blizzard6411]

Bulmer probably. IDK who else TBH

Bulmer is injured. Phillips and coyle goes back to wing.

 

[NHL1674]

Michael Russo ‏@Russostrib 2m

Zucker is walking on knee, has a cut, says he's fine and is mostly ecstatic for Fontaine #mnwild

 

[57special]

Also, call me crazy, but I actually think Parise and Koivu play well together.

Me too. Just play them a little less, so they aren't pooped for the playoffs. Maybe stop playing them on the PK?

 

[TaLoN]

Also, call me crazy, but I actually think Parise and Koivu play well together.

They CAN play well together, but I think they get too much into a grinder mentality when playing together which is the problem.

 

[llamapalooza]

You can't do that without moving either one of the stars down to 2 or 3. Which I got my head reamed for doing.

I like the idea of a 1A and 1B. I don't think of it as demoting one of them--think of it as giving more of the team the chance to benefit from playing with a star. Koivu and Parise are both the kind of player who make their linemates better, and if they're together then only one player actually gets that advantage. Going 1A and 1B instead of 1 and 2 also gives Koivu and Parise each more time against weaker opponents, and therefore more scoring chances.

The only risks I see are:
(A) We'd have to break up Nino-Granny-Pommer
(B) Are Nino, Granlund, and (whoever else gets promoted...Zucker?) ready to play against the kind of opponent that Koivu faces every night?

 

[BigT2002]

Sorry, disagree here. Mikko is still better than Granlund on ES. We need Koivu's two-way play and playmaking. Granlund is a better PP player though (maybe the best on the team), so in PP time he should have more icetime than Kaptain.

The issue is people are going to get caught up in line number as opposed to what the role of the line should be. By everyone's logic, the top line should be the scoring line. Pure adrenaline scoring. Right now, that is Granlund's line. We are 24th in the league for ES goals right now (1). So while Koivu is the better overall player, we are not doing that great with him on ES. If we are using Koivu's two-way play, you need it when he can exploit it then. So either you take him off of the top line defensive responsibility of keeping Toews, Backes, Kopitar, Duchene off the scoresheet or you use him to exploit the lesser ones who can make look like kids. You can't have it both ways because then he's playing 25 minutes a game and who knows what that is doing to his game. He isn't ironlung Suter. At this point Koivu is better suited for 2nd line scoring and being out there against top line players as opposed to trying to do both.

1. http://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/stats/team-even-strength-goal-percentage/2013/

 

[Alexandrov]

Michael Russo ‏@Russostrib 2m

Zucker is walking on knee, has a cut, says he's fine and is mostly ecstatic for Fontaine #mnwild

I was sure that was going to be one of those "and he never had the same explosive speed again" type of injuries

 

[Loopy0ne]

100% percent agree! Sad to see that shot go off his knee, Zucker needs to be around!

This is now the happiest I have been about a Wild performance in....... maybe all year. Just great IMO

 

[Northland Wild Man]

Happy to hear Zucker is ok.

 

[TaLoN]

For goodness sakes, SPLIT Koivu and Parise!

Parise - Granlund - Nino/Pommers
Nino/Heatley - Koivu - Pommers/Fontaine
Mitchell/Fontaine - Coyle - Cooke
Veilleux - Brodziak - Haula/Heatley

Since Zucker seems to be ok...

Parise - Granlund - Nino
Zucker/Healtey - Koivu - Pommers
Fontaine/Heatley - Coyle - Cooke
Veilleux/Haula - Brodziak - Mitchell

 

[57special]

Brodziak's line is clearly the best offensive force this team has.

 

[MuckOG]

If Backy is gonna sport the beard, he needs to clean up the throat and neck area.

 

[Blizzard6411]

I'm semi-serious, I actually think stacking the talent when Koivu/Parise are playing hurts us.

I think Yeo had no choice but to stop over coaching the team and to just throw them over the boards and say "**** it, go play to your instincts". May be the best thing that could have happened.

 

[Loopy0ne]

I was sure that was going to be one of those "and he never had the same explosive speed again" type of injuries

Same, hasn't he had knee injuries before? Worst kind besides the KO

 

[Lapa]

The issue is people are going to get caught up in line number as opposed to what the role of the line should be. By everyone's logic, the top line should be the scoring line. Pure adrenaline scoring. Right now, that is Granlund's line. We are 24th in the league for ES goals right now (1). So while Koivu is the better overall player, we are not doing that great with him on ES. If we are using Koivu's two-way play, you need it when he can exploit it then. So either you take him off of the top line defensive responsibility of keeping Toews, Backes, Kopitar, Duchene off the scoresheet or you use him to exploit the lesser ones who can make look like kids. You can't have it both ways because then he's playing 25 minutes a game and who knows what that is doing to his game. He isn't ironlung Suter. At this point Koivu is better suited for 2nd line scoring and being out there against top line players as opposed to trying to do both.

1. http://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/stats/team-even-strength-goal-percentage/2013/

My main point was that Koivu should have more icetime on ES than Granny.

Anyway, good post. Makes sense.

 

[TaLoN]

I like the idea of a 1A and 1B. I don't think of it as demoting one of them--think of it as giving more of the team the chance to benefit from playing with a star. Koivu and Parise are both the kind of player who make their linemates better, and if they're together then only one player actually gets that advantage. Going 1A and 1B instead of 1 and 2 also gives Koivu and Parise each more time against weaker opponents, and therefore more scoring chances.

The only risks I see are:
(A) We'd have to break up Nino-Granny-Pommer
(B) Are Nino, Granlund, and (whoever else gets promoted...Zucker?) ready to play against the kind of opponent that Koivu faces every night?

They've already been broken up for the most part. Zucker - Granlund - Nino has been a ES line more often of late. Granlund and Pommer usually only see late game shifts and PP together right now.

 

[BigT2002]

Me too. Just play them a little less, so they aren't pooped for the playoffs. Maybe stop playing them on the PK?

They are the best 2-way forwards on the team. You need those guys out there when Chicago and St. Louis are rolling their top PP lines out there. Kids are playing great defense, but those two are on a whole other level for hockey IQ.

They CAN play well together, but I think they get too much into a grinder mentality when playing together which is the problem.

They play the same kind of game, which is the problem. They both like to do dirty work behind the net. If anything breaking them up could throw other teams for a loop to readjust. During the game, put them back together when we are lulling them asleep.

I like the idea of a 1A and 1B. I don't think of it as demoting one of them--think of it as giving more of the team the chance to benefit from playing with a star. Koivu and Parise are both the kind of player who make their linemates better, and if they're together then only one player actually gets that advantage. Going 1A and 1B instead of 1 and 2 also gives Koivu and Parise each more time against weaker opponents, and therefore more scoring chances.

The only risks I see are:
(A) We'd have to break up Nino-Granny-Pommer
(B) Are Nino, Granlund, and (whoever else gets promoted...Zucker?) ready to play against the kind of opponent that Koivu faces every night?

(A) You cannot break up that line. It is the most consistent line we have right now though. Hence why someone is going to a line that no one wants to see that kind of money sitting on, or a letter wearing player. Doesn't matter what justification you use, it just doesn't work.

(B) That is the thing, your scoring line shouldn't be out there against the players that PKC are out there for. We should be getting the mismatch so much with the depth we could have at 3 lines. The top line should be playing against 2nd or 3rd liners, not 1st line scorers. Your best players never get the chance to go down and score with fresh legs because they are spending 30-60 seconds in their own zone trying to get the puck out of there so the opposing team doesn't score.

 

[Avder]

I think Yeo had no choice but to stop over coaching the team and to just throw them over the boards and say "**** it, go play to your instincts". May be the best thing that could have happened.

If that is indeed what happened, best thing that ever could have happened to this team.

 

[TaLoN]

My main point was that Koivu should have more icetime on ES than Granny.

Anyway, good post. Makes sense.

The ES difference between the two should be marginal at best though. There is never much of a discrepency for the most part between ice time for the top 2 lines. It's special teams that makes the ice time difference. The reason Granlund was getting 16mins to Mikko's 19-20 was because Mikko was getting so many more PP minutes due to being on the top unit and on every second of the 5 on 3's.

Switch that up and Granlund would be getting the 19-20 mins instead.

Let Mikko even out his minutes by taking back a larger role on the PK as he used to before he became the team's top line center.

 

[BigT2002]

My main point was that Koivu should have more icetime on ES than Granny.

Anyway, good post. Makes sense.

I agree that Koivu should have more ice time. But not over 20 minutes. We have 4 lines and depth. Yeo can utilize them better if he's this big of advocate of adjusting the lines before and even during the game now.

They've already been broken up for the most part. Zucker - Granlund - Nino has been a ES line more often of late. Granlund and Pommer usually only see late game shifts and PP together right now.

And if that is the case, I'm 100% content with it. Even doing so with Parise and Koivu. Start them on the top line and as the game progresses, split them up to increase scoring depth across all 4 lines and make the team make on-the-fly adjustments. It is what Bowman and JQ have done in the past to effectively score. We honestly have great resources, just needs to be harnessed a little better. I think Yeo is maybe starting to do this a little bit more.

 

[BigT2002]

The ES difference between the two should be marginal at best though. There is never much of a discrepency for the most part between ice time for the top 2 lines. It's special teams that makes the ice time difference. The reason Granlund was getting 16mins to Mikko's 19-20 was because Mikko was getting so many more PP minutes due to being on the top unit and on every second of the 5 on 3's.

Switch that up and Granlund would be getting the 19-20 mins instead.

Let Mikko even out his minutes by taking back a larger role on the PK as he used to before he became the team's top line center.

100% agree.

Granlund
Haula/Koivu for PP (split it between)

Koivu
Brodziak for the PK

Koivu can still get some solid time on the PP, but Granlund has the better vision and has better positioning on the PP as of late. And he has started to show he'll crash the net.