GDT: 10/23/2014 - Arizona @ Minnesota - 7PM CST - 3AM Suomi - FS-N, FS-WI

[Jarick]

I'm on board now with swapping Parise and Vanek. Vanek and Koivu have nothing together. Love Granlund's game, that line was fantastic tonight. Brodin looks amazing. Suter looks so much like Lidstrom in the D zone. Good 5v5 but that PP is awful.

Anyone notice AZ's PP is the exact same thing? Play along the half wall and try to set up the cross-ice pass that never works? They have been bottom 5-10 in the league for the last five years.

 

[Minnesota]

We won!

 

[gphr513]

We won!

 

[WILDTATE10]

We won!

Pretty hard to tell after reading that last page

 

[57special]

I actually liked a lot of things that the Wild did. AZ ( and Tippett) is just a bugger of a team to play against. Vanek does look a little lost, but I'm cutting him some slack as he's new. Koivu looks like Brodziak circa 2010-11. Dumba made some mistakes, but he also had some good defensive plays. His skating stride when he jumps into the play is very exciting, and I think he can make things happen on the offensive end. He still stumbles a bit at times, but he looks stronger than when he first came up a couple of years ago ( duh). I don't seem him getting abused in the corners now. He is a potential game breaker.
Parise looked great, Spurge even better. Prosser is ok as a 6/7 Dman. I prefer him to Ballard.
Don't want to mention Kuemper or I'll jinx him.
I'm liking Zucker a LOT. His speed helps him get in on the forecheck, and he is fearless. Don't notice Fontaine much... I'll have to assume that he does things that Yeo likes that I don't notice on the tube. Haula looks OK, but he and Nino aren't quite clicking yet. I do like both of their effort levels. I think the offense will come.

 

[TaLoN]

Pretty hard to tell after reading that last page

It wasn't a dominating win like it should have been, nothing to get excited over since it's only game 5 and didn't play our game completely, but we'll take it.

 

[youvegotit]

Thought Koivu looked much better this game and worked well with Coyle. Although Vanek doesn't seem to be on the same page or planet as those two.

Didn't like Fontaine and Haula together. Although I really liked Ninos game.

Spurgeon, Scadella, Brodin and Suter liked great. Meh on Dumba, wasn't happy with Prossers game.

Kuemper looked solid again. Please stay healthy.

 

[youvegotit]

I like Dumba with Folin better than Prosser or Ballard... Folin is just a better all around D-man than both, and also has offensive instincts of his own so he seems to read the play the same as Dumba offensively and thus knows when Dumba's going to go for it more.

I also agree from what I've seen (small sample size so far)

 

[NHL1674]

I'm still not worried about Vanek yet. What does concern me is how long it'll take before Yeo gets the courage to move him to the top line with Pom and Granny. Normally I hate seeing Parise and Koivu together, but I'd like to see if he and Pom can get a spark. He's completely snakebitten right now. I'm thinking once that monkey gets off his back, he'll settle in.

You can really see many of the guys being out of sync from the screwed up schedule this month.

 

[youvegotit]

If it was up to me I'd try something like:

Parise - Granlund - Pominville
Nino - Koivu - Coyle
Cooke - Brodziak - Vanek
Zucker - Carter - Fontaine/Haula

Make Vanek earn the top six.

 

[TaLoN]

Why the hell did you remove Haula from center and put Brodziak on the 3rd line?

 

[Wisent42]

Suffering Sabres fan here. Is there room on your bandwagon?

I've kind of decided to start following Minnesota more closely. Partly because you've got two of my favourite Sabres on your team, but also because it's a team with a lot of interesting talent. And partly because my team is unwatchable. I watch them anyway, but it's nice to watch real hockey in between.

I'm a little surprised that Pominville and Vanek aren't playing together. They always showed great chemistry playing together in Buffalo. I'm also surprised to see Pominville playing the point on the powerplay. I hated that in Buffalo. Pominville is a great player, but I don't think he is a great fit for that position. That another coach thinks he should play the point either mean that I don't know what I'm talking about, or there are atleast two stupid coaches in the league. Both is possible.

And boy do I miss Pominville! I didn't appreciate him enough as a Sabre.

 

[TaLoN]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Lapa]

Suffering Sabres fan here. Is there room on your bandwagon?

I've kind of decided to start following Minnesota more closely. Partly because you've got two of my favourite Sabres on your team, but also because it's a team with a lot of interesting talent. And partly because my team is unwatchable. I watch them anyway, but it's nice to watch real hockey in between.

I'm a little surprised that Pominville and Vanek aren't playing together. They always showed great chemistry playing together in Buffalo. I'm also surprised to see Pominville playing the point on the powerplay. I hated that in Buffalo. Pominville is a great player, but I don't think he is a great fit for that position. That another coach thinks he should play the point either mean that I don't know what I'm talking about, or there are atleast two stupid coaches in the league. Both is possible.

And boy do I miss Pominville! I didn't appreciate him enough as a Sabre.

The more the merrier!

 

[Gaps]

I'm still not worried about Vanek yet. What does concern me is how long it'll take before Yeo gets the courage to move him to the top line with Pom and Granny. Normally I hate seeing Parise and Koivu together, but I'd like to see if he and Pom can get a spark. He's completely snakebitten right now. I'm thinking once that monkey gets off his back, he'll settle in.

You can really see many of the guys being out of sync from the screwed up schedule this month.

Same here. Someone I talked to had the over/under at 10 games. I would prefer today. People may not have liked what Koivu and Parise's game looked like, but the fact is that they produced at a very acceptable rate. What's going on now is so much worse than that. Vanek might as well be from Mars. It makes a hell of a lot of sense to see if he can regain his former chemistry with Pominville.

Not only is the Wild's schedule this year odd compared to other teams, the previous 2 seasons have been condensed because of the lockout and the Olympics, meaning that the change is even bigger than it would be if last season had been a normal one.

 

[Sharppi]

Suffering Sabres fan here. Is there room on your bandwagon?

I've kind of decided to start following Minnesota more closely. Partly because you've got two of my favourite Sabres on your team, but also because it's a team with a lot of interesting talent. And partly because my team is unwatchable. I watch them anyway, but it's nice to watch real hockey in between.

I'm a little surprised that Pominville and Vanek aren't playing together. They always showed great chemistry playing together in Buffalo. I'm also surprised to see Pominville playing the point on the powerplay. I hated that in Buffalo. Pominville is a great player, but I don't think he is a great fit for that position. That another coach thinks he should play the point either mean that I don't know what I'm talking about, or there are atleast two stupid coaches in the league. Both is possible.

And boy do I miss Pominville! I didn't appreciate him enough as a Sabre.

Welcome aboard. The times are good now and the team is usuall...ofte...sometim...randomly entertaining to watch. Just a forewarning, Wild tends to play up or down to their opponent which can lead to some real zzzzzzsleepers against teams like Canes or Panthers.

But hey, pleasure to have you with us, enjoy the ride and be frustrated about our PP with us. #yeolo

 

[youvegotit]

Why the hell did you remove Haula from center and put Brodziak on the 3rd line?

Because Haula has been hot garbage at center this year. 36.5% in the dot, zero points. As good as he looked at the end of last year he looks equally as bad this year. Not to say he won't improve, but for whatever reason he doesn't look good and sure as hell hasn't earned third line minutes especially at center.

 

[TaLoN]

He's still better than both Brodziak and Carter by far.

 

[TZM]

Haula's fine. He's always a threat with his speed and I think teams have become aware of it. He's pressuring the opponent and not giving them time and space. I think he's been playing solid two-way game and allowing Nino and X to contribute offensively.

E: Not saying he couldn't be better the team looks very solid so it's hard to pick on anyone.

 

[57special]

Haula's fine. He's always a threat with his speed and I think teams have become aware of it. He's pressuring the opponent and not giving them time and space. I think he's been playing solid two-way game and allowing Nino and X to contribute offensively.

E: Not saying he couldn't be better the team looks very solid so it's hard to pick on anyone.

Haula has been OK. He's set up Nino all alone twice in front of the net, but Nino has whiffed both times.

Welcome Sabres fan, I agree 1 Billion percent on the Poms/point issue. He has no shot from back there, makes obvious ( prone to be intercepted) passes, and is vulnerable when the puck is turned over to the opposing PK'ers.

 

[urho]

Thought Koivu looked much better this game and worked well with Coyle. Although Vanek doesn't seem to be on the same page or planet as those two.

Vanek isn't on the same page because he plays horribly as of now. It seems like every time he gets the puck he stops right there, makes a couple of stickhandling moves and tries to force an impossible pass to someone around the net. His passing % was 4 last game.

He's ruining that line right now so he has to be moved. Wouldn't like to see him ruin the 1st lines game as well.

 

[Eye Floater]

Vanek isn't on the same page because he plays horribly as of now. It seems like every time he gets the puck he stops right there, makes a couple of stickhandling moves and tries to force an impossible pass to someone around the net. His passing % was 4 last game.

He's ruining that line right now so he has to be moved. Wouldn't like to see him ruin the 1st lines game as well.

I agree. A lot of Wild fans want to say that Koivu is holding Vanek back, but it is most definitely the other way around. Koivu has looked significantly better than Vanek thus far this year.

Vanek has been a turnover machine, and he looks frustrated and a bit lost. Koivu looks like the same Koivu we've known for a long time now, and there's nothing wrong with that.

 

[Gaps]

Vanek isn't on the same page because he plays horribly as of now. It seems like every time he gets the puck he stops right there, makes a couple of stickhandling moves and tries to force an impossible pass to someone around the net. His passing % was 4 last game.

He's ruining that line right now so he has to be moved. Wouldn't like to see him ruin the 1st lines game as well.

I agree, but in Vanek's defense I think he would play better if he was used in a more suitable role. He's being asked to play in a role that's not his thing at all. That's not on Vanek himself, but on Yeo. Vanek's 30 and won't develop a different skill set. If you sign a player like him, use him the way he should be used.

Nobody wants him to ruin anybody else's game, but we're paying him 6.5 mil and this isn't the last year of his contract, so everything should be tried in order to get him to do what he was brought here to do (=produce). Throwing him on the 4th line or making him a healthy scratch isn't going to solve that and shouldn't be done while there are still other options left.

 

[this providence]

Put me in the camp of not liking Haula's game. He's really struggling right now. At this point his speed is his only redeeming quality and it's bailing him out of some mistakes. He needs to pick it up and soon.

All in all, a good efficient win. Kuemper was solid in net by playing a quiet game and gets himself another shutout. The way this team is playing, the goaltenders basically need to make one to two bigger stops, minimize bad goals, and the offense should be able to take it from there.

Jared Spurgeon is so good right now, BTW. Seeing the game exceptionally well. He might be one of the top defenders in the league...

 

[nickschultzfan]

Nope, the benefits of Parise-Granlund takes priority over the negatives of Vanek-Koivu. So, Vanek is should stay on Koivu's line for another 5 games. It's not Koivu, who is getting better.

Like posters said, it's Vanek not skating and fumbling the puck. It's like he picked up the Heatley curse. If Vanek starts skating, he'll find his plays are easier to make, the ice opens up, and the offense will come.

I kind of wonder if Vanek has played on bad teams for so long that he's just picked up terrible habits.