2014-2015 General Wild Discussion Thread II (MOD WARNING POST #645)

[El Nino22]

I mean as disappoint as Granlund has been he still is on pace for around 40 points or matching last years production. That's while he has been playing poorly. If this injury from the last game is a short term one (knock on wood) and Granlund can get going in the second half of the season I could see him getting somewhere in the 50 point range. Obviously that isn't elite but it's still just his second full season in the league. Granlund could very well still become a point per game guy especially if he learns to shoot more.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

Falk got sent down.

 

[Sarge58]

I ignored the negative feeling I had for this season even after the unreal timing when Harding got injured (gilloolied ) right before training camp which altered the leverage in favor of Darcy during contract negotiations. It was a sign of some whacky, and improbable events that was to come so far this year. Injuries you expect, but whats been happening to this team this year is beyond a case of a string of bad luck.

I say ride out the goalie situation and hope for the other shoe to drop for a few long strings of winning streaks and if not that maybe we get very good Center via draft or trade, and go from there.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

 

[123TripleDoge]

How are we going to fix goaltending this offseason.

They were supposed to do that the last 3 if not the last 5 years.

We will be officially done with Harding, and will have a bit more flexibility and options to address it this offseason. Obviously it's still tough, but we'll have a better idea of kuemper and who is attainable

 

[melinko]

I hope Keranen gets a chance up with the Wild this year.
He seems to be playing well and could be a NHL player but hes in a position where he could get cold feet and head back to Europe if he feels like the door is closing on his NHL dream.
I know I would want to make sure I maximize my career earnings in his position.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Bad Luck Minnesota: Goes on a tear, misses the playoff and gets the 14th overall pick.

 

[Jarick]

Problem for Keranen is that the wingers are playing really well this year. It's the centers who are disappointing.

 

[DANOZ28]

Bad Luck Minnesota: Goes on a tear, misses the playoff and gets the 14th overall pick.

thats probably the most likely scenario (yikes) even after this season hards drops off roster we're still stuck with backs for one more year and some are convinced if we waive kuemper we'll lose him so next years goaltending could still be a problem. please backs retire! (now)

 

[P10p]

Looking for Koivu to have a great game tonight. He tried to force a pass that got turned over and lead to a goal last game. He seems like the type of player that would be sitting there just stewing on it and getting ready for next game.

 

[Jarick]

Put together my Pythagorean expected points for the season. I project the Wild to finish with 86.2 points. They would miss the playoffs at 10th in the West and draft 13th overall.

 

[Al Lagoon]

Bad Luck Minnesota: Goes on a tear, misses the playoff and gets the 14th overall pick.

Was just looking at the new odds for the draft lottery: the Wild are currently in 11th position, with a 3% chance of winning the 1st overall pick. Dropping to 8th place doubles it to a 6% chance of winning. That would be very lucky, but stranger things have been known to happen.

 

[Nharris31]

Lol.

 

[El Nino22]

This is still an 82 game season right?

 

[Jarick]

This is still an 82 game season right?

Yep, and the first 30+ games of the season do still count towards that 82.

 

[Jesus comma Brodin]

This is still an 82 game season right?

 

[tomgilbertfan]

In the first eight games, Kuemper was 6-2 with a 1.62 goals-against average, .930 save percentage and three shutouts. In the past 15, he is 5-8 with a 3.35 goals-against average and .885 save percentage.

In the past 18 games, the Wild's goaltending has taken a turn for the worse.

In the past nine games, the Wild has allowed 29 shots per game, in the nine before that 29.1. So almost exact.

However, in the past nine games, the Wild's goals against is 4.11 and save percentage is .858 for a 2-4-3 record. In the nine games before that, the Wild's goals against was 2.22 with a .923 save percentage and 6-2-1 record.

From Russo's blog.

 

[42]

In the first eight games, Kuemper was 6-2 with a 1.62 goals-against average, .930 save percentage and three shutouts. In the past 15, he is 5-8 with a 3.35 goals-against average and .885 save percentage.

In the past 18 games, the Wild's goaltending has taken a turn for the worse.

In the past nine games, the Wild has allowed 29 shots per game, in the nine before that 29.1. So almost exact.

However, in the past nine games, the Wild's goals against is 4.11 and save percentage is .858 for a 2-4-3 record. In the nine games before that, the Wild's goals against was 2.22 with a .923 save percentage and 6-2-1 record.

Interesting stats. It would seem that goaltending alone is responsible for the bad SV%, however we don't have an insight into the quality of those shots. Were they a lot more odd-man rushes? A lot more open shots from the slot? It'd be interesting to see if there are stats that can tell us more about this.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

Russo is a writing machine. I wonder how many other beat writers put up blogs like that in addition to their normal gamers and notes. It's amazing.

 

[Minnesota]

Close enough. Closed.