GDT: 12/5/14 | Minnesota vs Anaheim (FSN+) | 7 CST, 3 AM EET

[57special]

Brodie was on the ice for almost 29 minutes.

Poms over 18.

Brodziak over 15.

Nino 12 1/2 mins.

 

[J22*]

Brodie was on the ice for almost 29 minutes.

Poms over 18.

Brodziak over 15.

Nino 12 1/2 mins.

Nino was brutal tonight, no problem with him getting low minutes. The only Problem is that Brodziak was even worse.

Haula needs to get on track real soon or Fletcher needs to go get a center.

 

[Paul Bunyan]

Scandella and Spurgeon -3. Not their best game. I know it isn't always a telling stat, but Scandella was right near the goalscorer on several goals.

I noticed this at the game, I couldn't tell from the other replays if he just didn't cover the back door, or the Kuemperpedic mattress was letting in soft ones.

All I know is, I'm done going to see this team play the Ducks. 0-3-1 now. Blech.

I will say though, that's one of the better "losses" I've been to with the comeback, it's nice to see that grit, but I can't help thinking "what if Suter was playing.....".

Vanek signing is turning out to be quite big mistake.

He's playing on the slowest line they have with Nino and Brodz, it's a complete waste of space. This team is built on speed. You can't have slow, medium-slow, and medium-slow with a burst on the same line.

Nino has that extra burst, but he's not fast.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

Brodin was sexy tonight.

 

[MNjens]

Been so disappointed with Pommer lately. He seems to have a the in ability to do anything right.
Vanek was also driving me nuts tonight. After 25 games or so i'm comfortable saying the Vanek signing was a waste. Had a bad feeling about him since watching him in the playoffs last year with Montreal. No compete level unless he has the puck on his stick which usually turns into a turnover.

Moving forward i would elevate Nino to granny and Parise's line. Put pommer with brodz and vanek. Zucker is getting more ice time. I would like to see what Nino can do with more as well even though he struggled tonight.

 

[plock]

Been so disappointed with Pommer lately. He seems to have a the in ability to do anything right.
Vanek was also driving me nuts tonight. After 25 games or so i'm comfortable saying the Vanek signing was a waste. Had a bad feeling about him since watching him in the playoffs last year with Montreal. No compete level unless he has the puck on his stick which usually turns into a turnover.

Moving forward i would elevate Nino to granny and Parise's line. Put pommer with brodz and vanek. Zucker is getting more ice time. I would like to see what Nino can do with more as well even though he struggled tonight.

His 14 assists say he is involved in 20% of all goals scored for the Wild.You want Vanek to score you have to put him with guys who can set him up to score; Zucker (3 assists), Nino (3 assists),and Brodziak/Haula (2/0 assists) probably are not the guys to do that.

 

[Gaps]

Bäckström has played well enough lately to have earned to start on Tuesday, but you can't use him too much because 1) he will break something and 2) feeling as if he's lost the starting job could make Kuemper even worse because let's face it, he does have issues with mental endurance

His 14 assists say he is involved in 20% of all goals scored for the Wild.You want Vanek to score you have to put him with guys who can set him up to score; Zucker (3 assists), Nino (3 assists),and Brodziak/Haula (2/0 assists) probably are not the guys to do that.

Vanek's played with just about all of the Wild's top 9 forwards. So far he's had chemistry with 1 (Pommer) and I wouldn't be opposed to reuniting them. Granlund might fit with them, that wasn't really given enough time when Parise was out, but Yeo is hung-up on the Parise-Granlund-Pomner line which hasn't showed great chemistry lately.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

Yeah I kinda want to see Poms and Vanek together.
Maybe

Zucker-Koivu-Parise
Vanek-Granlund-Pominville

 

[plock]

Bäckström has played well enough lately to have earned to start on Tuesday, but you can't use him too much because 1) he will break something and 2) feeling as if he's lost the starting job could make Kuemper even worse because let's face it, he does have issues with mental endurance

If Kuemper can't handle the stress of being an NHL goalie he should not be playing in the NHL.

 

[Gaps]

If Kuemper can't handle the stress of being an NHL goalie he should not be playing in the NHL.

I agree, but what can you do in a situation like this? We can't send him to Iowa anymore (and Harding isn't ready to play an NHL game anyway). His game seems to dip every time there is a change or a potential change in the goalie hierarchy. So far he's been able to recover eventually, but if we want to make the playoffs, he needs to be tougher.

 

[plock]

I agree, but what can you do in a situation like this? We can't send him to Iowa anymore (and Harding isn't ready to play an NHL game anyway). His game seems to dip every time there is a change or a potential change in the goalie hierarchy. So far he's been able to recover eventually, but if we want to make the playoffs, he needs to be tougher.

He needs to sit on the bench a bit and when Harding is healthy it becomes an all out competition as to who stays out of the press box.

 

[Blizzard6411]

His 14 assists say he is involved in 20% of all goals scored for the Wild.You want Vanek to score you have to put him with guys who can set him up to score; Zucker (3 assists), Nino (3 assists),and Brodziak/Haula (2/0 assists) probably are not the guys to do that.

I feel like Vanek has been his most dangerous of late and should be moved to a line with players who can find him.
Brodz is brutal and Nino isnt a player who feeds, he gets fed.

 

[Avder]

One of the goals was right on the ice under the pads. Bottom line with Kuemper is that he isn't reliable, not that he has one particular weakness. Scary thing is that he seems to be regressing, not improving.

Oh, and Bryz isn't available.

Otherwise, I thought that the Wild were pretty good tonight. I thought that the call on Parise at the end was ridiculous, especially after the cross checks and slashes they were allowing after the whistle by the Ducks w/o a call.

I wasn't crazy about Granlund being on the point for the PP, but he was a lot better than Pominville.

Bryz is practicing with the Ducks, he isn't signed to anything yet. So if we somehow decided to throw the dice with trying to send Kuemper down (which we won't...if he's moved it will be in a trade but his value is crap right now so that's not happening either) we could call him up and have him on the next flight.

That's unless somethings changed in the last couple of hours.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Pominville is.

No he isn't, he has a NMC in his contract.

Coyle isn't movable because of his huge contract.

We could look at moving Granlund and Dumba.

 

[Gaps]

No he isn't, he has a NMC in his contract.

Coyle isn't movable because of his huge contract.

We could look at moving Granlund and Dumba.

Pominville has a modified NTC. He's the the most tradeable veteran with a large contract on this team.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Pominville has a modified NTC. He's the the most tradeable veteran with a large contract on this team.

We aren't going to trade Pominville - 1) the modified NTC would be problematic. He likes it here (if he didn't, he wouldn't have signed an extension). 2) This would be another huge signal that Fletcher has no idea how to value players and make trades. 3) Pominville is the least of the problem for the Wild.

 

[Gaps]

We aren't going to trade Pominville - 1) the modified NTC would be problematic. He likes it here (if he didn't, he wouldn't have signed an extension). 2) This would be another huge signal that Fletcher has no idea how to value players and make trades. 3) Pominville is the least of the problem for the Wild.

I'm not interested in trading Pominville, but if you need to shed a veteran contract at some point due to cap issues, it'll probably be Pommer who goes because the others have full NMCs and aren't obligated to agree to any trade whatsoever. Pominville's previous modified NTC had him providing an 8-team no-trade list, which left 21 teams where he could be traded. He may have elected to stick with the same clause, but that is of course purely speculative. But a clause like that is hardly problematic.

 

[thestonedkoala]

I'm not interested in trading Pominville, but if you need to shed a veteran contract at some point due to cap issues, it'll probably be Pommer who goes because the others have full NMCs and aren't obligated to agree to any trade whatsoever. Pominville's previous modified NTC had him providing an 8-team no-trade list, which left 21 teams where he could be traded. He may have elected to stick with the same clause, but that is of course purely speculative. But a clause like that is hardly problematic.

But I'm told that Minnesota doesn't have cap issues. Minnesota actually doesn't have cap issues. I'd be more interested in moving Dumba or Gralund at this point.

 

[plock]

But I'm told that Minnesota doesn't have cap issues. Minnesota actually doesn't have cap issues. I'd be more interested in moving Dumba or Gralund at this point.

Nobody is going to give up much more than picks for Dumba and Granlund is one of our top 2 centers trading either makes little sense.

 

[TZM]

Pommer and Coyle have been pretty bad. Centers have been subpar offensively, too. Both kinda feed off eachother.

 

[Harvest]

But I'm told that Minnesota doesn't have cap issues. Minnesota actually doesn't have cap issues. I'd be more interested in moving Dumba or Gralund at this point.

What you think we could get for Dumba or Granlund, that it would make sense to move those two?

 

[Ladde]

We shouldn´t be trading our younger players. They will make up the core of this team for a long time while the top earning vets we have won´t be here in 3-5 years. (Expect for Parise and Suter)

 

[Avder]

But I'm told that Minnesota doesn't have cap issues. Minnesota actually doesn't have cap issues. I'd be more interested in moving Dumba or Gralund at this point.

I just really do not understand your logic here. Why would you trade either your #2 Center or budding young defenseman when we need the center right now, and we could have a real gem in a year or two with Dumba getting some seasoning?

 

[Nharris31]

Giving up on 20 something's is the not the answer.

 

[DeuceMN]

Interesting how the PP looked like it had a fire lit under it. Guys played with a purpose on it which was nice to see.

And the people complaining about the fans that booed, well, the booers are what pissed off our guys, so something beneficial did come from it. Maybe they needed their feelings hurt a little.

And Keumper needs to sit. He's been just plain awful and does not deserve starting at least for a few games.

Koivu was good. Brodin was great. Our PPG line just looks like **** against big physical teams again. Yeo should consider changing up that line against teams like the Blues and Ducks. And Folin actually looked pretty good; he plays a decent game.

Coyle is still not putting it together very well and just does not really seem to add much to his line. Zucker adds a ton and he and Koivu have been playing well, then there is Coyle. I would swap Vanek with Coyle and try that now that the old dogs seem to be waking up. Nino and Coyle also looked good together earlier.