2015-2016 Minnesota Wild Discussion IV

[Nino Noderreiter]

I'd suggest this majority of this board take a few week break from the Wild so you can get some distance and not let the past 5 weeks affect your view of players and this team as much as some posters are. The lack of any rational thought in here is astounding.

Our window is open for a long time. None of our D sans Suter are even in their primes yet. No one in the league has as many top 4 and better guys under 26 than the Wild. Brodin, Scandella, and Spurgeon are all legit first pairing guys. And then you have Dumba, Rielly, Folin, and Oloffson who are all young and talented. With that D core alone, we'll compete for the playoffs as long as we have an average goalie. Once you get in the playoffs anything can happen, but the NHL playoffs at the same time is one of the most grueling and hardest playoffs to win--even the best teams (Blues, Sharks, etc.) who dominate every year in the regular season can't even figure it out as much as the Wild have lately in the playoffs. All bets are off once you reach the playoffs.

This team has made it the the 2nd round of the playoffs this last two years and the playoffs the last 3 years. How many teams have won a playoff game both of the last two years? Answer, not many. And the Wild had a top 5 record in the league before this 5 week slump. Yeah, it sucks they slumped, but it happens.


Did I see some posters saying they believe the Wild are built as a 4 on 4 team? That's the worst take I've heard in years on this board. This team has built it's identity on working hard, outskating teams, and basically dominating possession and all the advanced stat numbers 5 on 5 when they are playing well. It's 4 on 4, 3 on 3, and special teams situations where they have been inconsistent and that's what's kept the Wild from going from playoff level to playoff contender level.

I don't want to hear anyone say that 5 weeks and 20 games is enough of a sample size to throw out the last 200 games before that.

Also cool it with the Vanek hate. You guys are making him a scapegoat. Vanek is not the problem. And also for some of you posters out there, we pay Vanek to create goals and put up points. Stop going to every player and saying he sucks because he doesn't do this and throw out all of the stuff they do do. Half the team gets hated on for making the safe play every time and not being creative enough. Yet, then posters here turn around and hate on Vanek for going for the creative, high scoring chance plays. Stop scapegoating Vanek.

Look...we have one of the best D groups in the league. Granlund, Zucker, Nino, and Coyle are all at worst 2nd line capable. Parise and Koivu are legit 1st liners. Vanek scorers more per/60 then anyone on the team...he's also like it or not a top 6 caliber forward still. and Guys like Haula and Fontaine play solid team hockey and can score more then you would think. Everything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong...and the team is still missing a dynamic 1 on 1 player...but so are a lot of teams. The Wild have the talent, but they've lacked the execution and faced some extremely horrible luck in OTs as well in general lately.

If the Wild go .500 in OT games...we're looking at about the 7th seed right now even with the fact that the Wild have struggled so much. And that's with games in hand as well that make things look even worse than they are. 3 on 3 is as much of a gimmick and as much of a toss up as shootouts are and about as far from the Wild's strength as humanely possible. 3 on 3's also don't happen in the playoffs and they are no indicator of who is the better team or who would win a game that actually counted. Without the gimmick for the fans, the Wild are one of the best teams in the West who slumped in the middle of the season and would be looking to finish the season strong and go into the playoffs with some momentum. Now, that's not the reality, but that doesn't make it any less true. Really sucks to see a good coach in Yeo go because of the perfect calamity of factors.

I have a lot of other thoughts as well, but I really encourage people to step back and view the team more objectively instead of letting your emotions and your frustrations from the past month completely change your opinions of players over a larger body of work.

If you heard the Fletcher interview with PA after every question you can basically hear Fletcher sigh and blow shake his head with the questions that were asked to him about the team because it was all based on reactions to the last 5 weeks instead of objective analysis...pretty much how I feel scrolling through these boards.

 

[Jarick]

Am I the only one who wants to see the Wild in the playoffs this year?

 

[tomgilbertfan]

If Yeo was still our coach I'd be on the Tankwagon, but now that we've got a new coach if the team continues to do poorly enough to tank then we've got a lot more problems than we can fix in one off-season and that's not exactly something I want to deal with right now.

 

[StealthClobber]

Am I the only one who wants to see the Wild in the playoffs this year?

No. As a matter of fact our chances went up quite a bit for the first time in a while last night. I believe at our lowest point last year, we were down to around 5% chance to make it? That was in January? It's mid February now and we're in the 40% range.

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

Am I the only one who wants to see the Wild in the playoffs this year?

Jarick, our numbers are few...which I think is crazy!

 

[gphr513]

Jarick, our numbers are few...which I think is crazy!

I don't think that's true at all. I think the vast majority want to see them in the playoffs.

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

I don't think that's true at all. I think the vast majority want to see them in the playoffs.

I think a lot of people have given up on a lot of players and want things to be shaken up when that would likely be a sideways or backwards move because of the recent slump. Maybe it's a vocal minority, which is actually probably true.

 

[BusQuets]

Am I the only one who wants to see the Wild in the playoffs this year?

No. It's just the same few posters every year spouting their tank thing.

 

[57special]

Am I the only one who wants to see the Wild in the playoffs this year?

Nope. Don't wanna be the Timberwolves, thanks.

 

[BigT2002]

I would disagree with you on the Rangers they make it more because of Lundqvist. Not because they have Nash and Mcdonagh.

I'll give you that. But that year they went was a big jolt from players like St. Louis and even Stepan got into the action a little bit.

The wild are not going to get a top 3 pick If they tank.

How do you figure? Edmonton shouldn't have gotten the #1 last year but they did. Lottery is just that, a lottery. I don't believe the conspiracy theorist at all that it is rigged like the NBA's is.

I'd suggest this majority of this board take a few week break from the Wild so you can get some distance and not let the past 5 weeks affect your view of players and this team as much as some posters are. The lack of any rational thought in here is astounding.

I don't need 5 weeks, I have the past 3 years which equals 97 games among them to base my opinion on this team. It isn't just this year.

Our window is open for a long time. None of our D sans Suter are even in their primes yet. No one in the league has as many top 4 and better guys under 26 than the Wild. Brodin, Scandella, and Spurgeon are all legit first pairing guys. And then you have Dumba, Rielly, Folin, and Oloffson who are all young and talented. With that D core alone, we'll compete for the playoffs as long as we have an average goalie. Once you get in the playoffs anything can happen, but the NHL playoffs at the same time is one of the most grueling and hardest playoffs to win--even the best teams (Blues, Sharks, etc.) who dominate every year in the regular season can't even figure it out as much as the Wild have lately in the playoffs. All bets are off once you reach the playoffs.

You have brought up how the window is open for a long time. Where are the forwards in all of this? What about goaltending? Considering there is nothing in Iowa right now to make the jump? Dubnyk is what? 33 years old? We've been down this road before with goaltenders above 30 who start having issues mid contract. Backstrom, Fernandez, Harding...

And most people know why the Sharks and Blues end up failing in the playoffs. It revolves around coaching and the fact they play hard and fast during the regular season. Hence they are burnt out by the time they are playing every other day and have barely any time to recover. Yet another reason the Wild cannot go far in the playoffs when they spend the last 25 games of the season like its Game 7 of the playoffs. Do you think teams like Chicago and LA care about the regular season? Watch how they play come Mid March. I can promise you it will not be lights out like it was at the start of the season. They will ease back and let their players rest and get ready for the playoffs. Something the Wild have never been able to do. And something teams like Washington, San Jose or St. Louis continue to forget about.

This team has made it the the 2nd round of the playoffs this last two years and the playoffs the last 3 years. How many teams have won a playoff game both of the last two years? Answer, not many. And the Wild had a top 5 record in the league before this 5 week slump. Yeah, it sucks they slumped, but it happens.

Getting to the 2nd round once again brings you what as a fan? Bragging rights to fans in those other fan bases? I'm honestly at a loss why this continues to be an argument for the teams successes. By the logic that they are a better team year in and year out then why has it taken risky trades and defensive shell schemes in the 2nd half of the seasons to get them into the playoffs as a Wild Card team as opposed to a #2 or #3 seed respectively? Why have they not made it a Game 7 at the very least when they have to play the Blackhawks? 2nd round should mean nothing but making you more hungry as a player and as a fan that they can get over that hump.

I don't want to hear anyone say that 5 weeks and 20 games is enough of a sample size to throw out the last 200 games before that.

They are 113-77-30. If they lose 6 more games they will already be at their record from last year for the amount of losses. If they lose 2 more OT's they will tie the same amount they had from last year.

Also cool it with the Vanek hate. You guys are making him a scapegoat. Vanek is not the problem. And also for some of you posters out there, we pay Vanek to create goals and put up points. Stop going to every player and saying he sucks because he doesn't do this and throw out all of the stuff they do do. Half the team gets hated on for making the safe play every time and not being creative enough. Yet, then posters here turn around and hate on Vanek for going for the creative, high scoring chance plays. Stop scapegoating Vanek.

Vanek has widely been known in many other fanbases as a cancer in the locker room. And it was even warned by many Sabres and Isles fans before he signed here about those issues. I won't make him a scapegoat, but don't forget the drama and other issues that he still brings to the table. He is outspoken (which is good IMO as a fan) but there was no denying he hated playing under Yeo. Same as Zidlicky, Powe, Mitchell and Kobasew.

Look...we have one of the best D groups in the league. Granlund, Zucker, Nino, and Coyle are all at worst 2nd line capable. Parise and Koivu are legit 1st liners. Vanek scorers more per/60 then anyone on the team...he's also like it or not a top 6 caliber forward still. and Guys like Haula and Fontaine play solid team hockey and can score more then you would think. Everything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong...and the team is still missing a dynamic 1 on 1 player...but so are a lot of teams. The Wild have the talent, but they've lacked the execution and faced some extremely horrible luck in OTs as well in general lately.

You are overvaluing talent like crazy. Where do you see Granlund, Zucker, Nino and Coyle as being at worst 2nd line players? Outside of Coyle none of them have done anything this year to warrant that type of assessment.

If the Wild go .500 in OT games...we're looking at about the 7th seed right now even with the fact that the Wild have struggled so much. And that's with games in hand as well that make things look even worse than they are. 3 on 3 is as much of a gimmick and as much of a toss up as shootouts are and about as far from the Wild's strength as humanely possible. 3 on 3's also don't happen in the playoffs and they are no indicator of who is the better team or who would win a game that actually counted. Without the gimmick for the fans, the Wild are one of the best teams in the West who slumped in the middle of the season and would be looking to finish the season strong and go into the playoffs with some momentum. Now, that's not the reality, but that doesn't make it any less true. Really sucks to see a good coach in Yeo go because of the perfect calamity of factors.

Well gimmick or not, it is here to stay and it is getting rave reviews from the "experts" as getting rid of something everyone hated even worse, shootouts. You barely ever see them now. Which should be considered a good thing for the Wild because the goaltending has shown to be absolutely terrible at it.

I have a lot of other thoughts as well, but I really encourage people to step back and view the team more objectively instead of letting your emotions and your frustrations from the past month completely change your opinions of players over a larger body of work. I'll come back and enjoy this board when rational thought prevails again instead of emotional, reactive, irrational junk.

Fair enough. But I think you need to do the same as well. I respect your voice just as much as everyone else on here, but you come off as a Silver Linings type of person as opposed to actually taking a realistic approach to what this team is actually capable of doing and what that means for the future of this team as whole. Do you want to be competitive for years on out or do you want to be like Dallas and win it once and never even sniff it again? You can't have both. It took Chicago a solid 5 years of crappy and terrible teams to formulate what has been considered as the most recent dynasty in the NHL. They also are a team that hasn't been strongarmed by veterans to take on massive salaries for players who had already showed signs of regression from previous teams.

And if we are talking outside this month, you are going to have a very hard time arguing and winning against those on here who really had a bad taste in their mouth with this team and its history under Fletcher/Yeo's regime of trading depth, youth and prospects for band aid fixes...which is exactly what Dougie R used to do.

If you heard the Fletcher interview with PA after every question you can basically hear Fletcher sigh and blow shake his head with the questions that were asked to him about the team because it was all based on reactions to the last 5 weeks instead of objective analysis...pretty much how I feel scrolling through these boards.

No it is not. And if you think those questions are based on the last 5 weeks I don't know what team you've been watching the last 5 years...but it isn't the same one I've been watching. He is under the microscope because he has now fired two head coaches he hand-picked. His prospects are doing absolutely squat that he has drafted short of Haula and the argument for Brodin can be made. He's squandered the draft picks for aging veterans who do nothing on the team. And frankly, it is time he got that microscope treatment. And because this post isn't long enough here is the post from Jarick in the Fletcher thread:

Glad to see some are coming around on Fletcher. Aside from Parise and Suter, he's done little to even be considered a mediocre GM.

Drafting is a mess. His first round picks underperform their expectations:

Granlund was supposed to be a top line center and is a fringe 2nd/3rd line guy.
Phillips was supposed to be a dynamic scoring winger and never played a game.
Brodin was supposed to be a top pairing D and can't even get a 2nd assist.
Dumba does look good, but so did Brodin last year and Granlund before he came over.

He's maybe 1/4 on picking good players in the first.

Look at his 2nd and 3rd round picks:

Bulmer can barely hang in the AHL.
Larsson is barely in the NHL and not for the Wild.
Zucker has looked good at time but has regressed.
Lucia is five years away from his draft and has made no progress in college.
Bussieres can't even crack the AHL.
Draeger hasn't been mentioned in years.
Olofsson does look promising, but hasn't shown anything yet.
Gabriel another guy who can barely hang in the AHL.

I'll give him maybe 2/8 on those picks.

Hitting on 3 of 12 players over five years is not how you rebuild a team.

Look at his trade history:

Leddy & Johnsson for Barker is the worst trade in team history.
Pouliot for Latendresse didn't improve the team. Lats is out of the league while Pouliot is playing well in Edmonton.
2nd for Belanger was good value.
Havlat for Heatley didn't improve the team. Both players are out of the league.
Schultz for Gilbert who was bought out the following year.
Burns & 2nd for Coyle, Setoguchi & 1st...gave up a perennial all star for a 2nd/3rd liner.
3rd for Darroll Powe...yeah.
Sheppard for 3rd...at least undid the last trade.
Zidlicky for 2nd and the future captain of Iowa...okay but Zid was a hell of a D under Lemaire.
Clutterbuck & 2nd for Nino looked good, but Nino has been a non factor on his OT goal.
Setoguchi for 2nd was good, reclaiming at least some value.
1st 2nd & two prospects for Pominville who had one good year with the club but people wish they could buy him out now.
2nd round pick for Chuck Kobasew.
2nd round pick for Chris Stewart.
3rd round pick for Sean Bergenheim.
Two 2nd round picks for Matt Moulson.
3rd for Dubnyk was a good trade, although he's been mediocre at best this year and outplayed by Kuemper.

Generous but I'll give him 5/17 on those moves.


Free Agency...

Havlat was a terrible fit and had to be traded for a guy who was also terrible but we couldn't buy him out so we couldn't make any moves.
Zanon had one good year but he turned pretty sour in the locker room and had to be moved.
Koivu contract was a huge overpayment but they had no other options so neutral on this one.
Cullen was a good fit for the team.
Nystrom was a terrible fit who bounced back as soon as he was off the team.
Spurgeon was a brilliant signing.
Brodziak extension was a big overpayment and he arguably had one good year on that deal.
Harding extension wasn't his fault, but obviously didn't work out.
Parise and Suter were a huge coup for the team. Still the high point of Fletcher's tenure but he's been living off that rep for four years now.
Ballard wasn't a great signing.
Cooke was a terrible signing and had to be bought out.
Vanek has been a terrible fit on this team and is a buyout candidate.
Backstrom signing was terrible from day one and the team wishes they could have bought him out twice.
Pominville again had one good year and people wish they could buy him out.
Dubnyk contract looks decent for now but he's not overperforming the fairly low salary he settled for.

I'll give maybe 5/16 on his major moves there.

Head coaches. Richards fired after two years. Yeo fired in his fifth year. Neither of them seemed to pull much out of the players but at least Yeo had a defensive system in place (although not much else).

Hard to look at that performance and think he's not the #1 reason this team has struggled to make the playoffs almost every year and looks like a complete mess on the ice when they were supposed to compete for a Cup.

Am I the only one who wants to see the Wild in the playoffs this year?

100% want to see them in the playoffs this year.

 

[Generic User]

Am I the only one who wants to see the Wild in the playoffs this year?

Nope.

 

[Spurgeon]

You should want your team to make the playoffs every year. Lot can happen in the playoffs. Maybe Torchetti is the kick in the ass this team needed, as much as a Yeo homer I've been.

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

I'll give you that. But that year they went was a big jolt from players like St. Louis and even Stepan got into the action a little bit.



How do you figure? Edmonton shouldn't have gotten the #1 last year but they did. Lottery is just that, a lottery. I don't believe the conspiracy theorist at all that it is rigged like the NBA's is.



I don't need 5 weeks, I have the past 3 years which equals 97 games among them to base my opinion on this team. It isn't just this year.



You have brought up how the window is open for a long time. Where are the forwards in all of this? What about goaltending? Considering there is nothing in Iowa right now to make the jump? Dubnyk is what? 33 years old? We've been down this road before with goaltenders above 30 who start having issues mid contract. Backstrom, Fernandez, Harding...

And most people know why the Sharks and Blues end up failing in the playoffs. It revolves around coaching and the fact they play hard and fast during the regular season. Hence they are burnt out by the time they are playing every other day and have barely any time to recover. Yet another reason the Wild cannot go far in the playoffs when they spend the last 25 games of the season like its Game 7 of the playoffs. Do you think teams like Chicago and LA care about the regular season? Watch how they play come Mid March. I can promise you it will not be lights out like it was at the start of the season. They will ease back and let their players rest and get ready for the playoffs. Something the Wild have never been able to do. And something teams like Washington, San Jose or St. Louis continue to forget about.



Getting to the 2nd round once again brings you what as a fan? Bragging rights to fans in those other fan bases? I'm honestly at a loss why this continues to be an argument for the teams successes. By the logic that they are a better team year in and year out then why has it taken risky trades and defensive shell schemes in the 2nd half of the seasons to get them into the playoffs as a Wild Card team as opposed to a #2 or #3 seed respectively? Why have they not made it a Game 7 at the very least when they have to play the Blackhawks? 2nd round should mean nothing but making you more hungry as a player and as a fan that they can get over that hump.




They are 113-77-30. If they lose 6 more games they will already be at their record from last year for the amount of losses. If they lose 2 more OT's they will tie the same amount they had from last year.



Vanek has widely been known in many other fanbases as a cancer in the locker room. And it was even warned by many Sabres and Isles fans before he signed here about those issues. I won't make him a scapegoat, but don't forget the drama and other issues that he still brings to the table. He is outspoken (which is good IMO as a fan) but there was no denying he hated playing under Yeo. Same as Zidlicky, Powe, Mitchell and Kobasew.



You are overvaluing talent like crazy. Where do you see Granlund, Zucker, Nino and Coyle as being at worst 2nd line players? Outside of Coyle none of them have done anything this year to warrant that type of assessment.



Well gimmick or not, it is here to stay and it is getting rave reviews from the "experts" as getting rid of something everyone hated even worse, shootouts. You barely ever see them now. Which should be considered a good thing for the Wild because the goaltending has shown to be absolutely terrible at it.



Fair enough. But I think you need to do the same as well. I respect your voice just as much as everyone else on here, but you come off as a Silver Linings type of person as opposed to actually taking a realistic approach to what this team is actually capable of doing and what that means for the future of this team as whole. Do you want to be competitive for years on out or do you want to be like Dallas and win it once and never even sniff it again? You can't have both. It took Chicago a solid 5 years of crappy and terrible teams to formulate what has been considered as the most recent dynasty in the NHL. They also are a team that hasn't been strongarmed by veterans to take on massive salaries for players who had already showed signs of regression from previous teams.

And if we are talking outside this month, you are going to have a very hard time arguing and winning against those on here who really had a bad taste in their mouth with this team and its history under Fletcher/Yeo's regime of trading depth, youth and prospects for band aid fixes...which is exactly what Dougie R used to do.



No it is not. And if you think those questions are based on the last 5 weeks I don't know what team you've been watching the last 5 years...but it isn't the same one I've been watching. He is under the microscope because he has now fired two head coaches he hand-picked. His prospects are doing absolutely squat that he has drafted short of Haula and the argument for Brodin can be made. He's squandered the draft picks for aging veterans who do nothing on the team. And frankly, it is time he got that microscope treatment. And because this post isn't long enough here is the post from Jarick in the Fletcher thread:




100% want to see them in the playoffs this year.

The point was even with average forwards and a decent goalie...with our D core we make the playoffs most years. And yes Granlund is a solid 2nd line center. Zucker generates enough chances that, yes I would say Zucker is a 2nd line player. And Coyle can play 2nd or 3rd line...both center or wing...and be the 3rd guy on a 1st line.

Granlund is a 55-60 point center based on his play from the past 2 seasons and give him 1st line power play minutes instead of the no PP/2nd line minutes he had over those 2 seasons. And that's with good defensive ability as well. You do realize you complemented Coyle, who has as many points as Granlund does this season. Granlund is not a goal scorer, but he is a really good playmaker. And his point totals this year are disappointing to me as he's gotten PP time, but a lot of that has to do with the inconsistencdy of his linemates, namely Pominville, and our lack of success on the PP--which maybe has to do with Granlund, but his passing ability seems to suggest that if you surround him with scorers...he will find them. So to me, yes Granlund...over a larger sample size than this year has been a very solid 2nd line center in the conversation for a low end 1st line center as his potential and seemingly his projection if he keeps getting better.

Nino also has struggled to score but with his skills and what I've seen from Nino the last 2 years aka putting up better numbers than Coyle, who you again you complemented and say you're excited for his future, is putting up this year. So to me, yes Nino is a guy who could score 25-30 goals from the 3rd line...which seems to suggest to me that if you wanted him to Nino can play the 2nd line. Which seems to me that Nino at <25, without any improvement is a 2nd liner as well over a bigger sample size than the last 20 games when everyone has struggled to score.


Koivu for his career is 15th in the league in points per game among centers over the same period and does that while providing elite defense and is elite in the faceoff circle. He may not be an elite #1 C anymore, but he's still a very good #1 center because he gets his solid production while also limiting other scoring lines to only solid production when they play us as well. That's Koivu's value.

And Parise is a borderline elite 1st line goal scorer.


Vanek is our best point producer. I've seen no players ever say anything bad about Vanek on the Wild, I'm not going to gossip about Vanek 5 years ago on other teams...people grow and mature. I've only heard fans cry and moan about Vanek because they don't like his playstyle. Vanek is a top 6 scorer and another player who can single handedly also carry a 3rd line and be one of the highest point producers on your team with linemates of Haula and Fontaine needed.


These are facts. I don't think it's a unrealistic approach that I take. I just don't let the waves and ebbs and flows of a season really change my opinion and then I reevaluate if needed. Guys will run hot and cold and a lot of people I see ride those highs and lows and are silver lining people when their are hot streaks and are glass half empty when their are lows. And my mention of at worst, means when all of those players are playing at a their solid level...they are right now capable of playing on the 2nd line. They are also young, and should continue to keep developing, to some degree, I don't claim to know that degree, but to me even if the kids don't progress much when they learn more nuances of the NHL and become veterans...yes they are at minimum 2nd liners. I do however think all of these guys still have development left in them...which seems to suggest they could be even more.

Our D core. Suter, Brodin, Scandella, Spurgeon, Dumba, Folin, Rielly, Oloffson, Prosser...I think pretty objectively is one of the better, younger, talented, most controllable, and best skating D groups in the league. Despite how each of them may or may not be playing at this individual moment. It would take more than 1 sideways season of development for me to throw in the towel on this kids who have all over the past 2-3 years definitely shown improvement. Development in the moment isn't linearly forward and up...it's bumpy and up and down...and although I do think the Wild still need to find their Ovechkin or McDavid...as Fletcher said the last time they drafted in the top 5 was 2005. Before that Gaborik. We haven't really been in position, in 1 of the top 2 or 3 picks, to really guarentee us one of those guys, I do think however that the guys we have drafted are pretty good players who will continue to get better and will likely be better than the players we trade them for.

I think with our D and those players...when you don't go through a slump from hell like this...objectively yes is one of the better teams in the West.

And I think knee jerk reactions and breaking up what the team has been building for for 4 or 5 years at minimum would be very not smart. At best it would likely be a sideways move and it would likely be a move that gets back for our young guys at this stage, bottom dollar. It wouldn't be selling high. At the best it would be a sideways move and most likely it would be a backwards move and a move to try and get younger and draft picks which makes no sense because those picks would probably be years away.



**Also in regards to Jarick's post, he's wrong as well...those guys were never "supposed" to be that...at best if they maximize their potential they would be that. While most likely they would be pretty much what they are which is on a level of projection that's probably a notch what optimistically you would have hoped for, at least in Granlund's case. And pretty much on the projection level you would have hoped for for most of the D, Zucker, Coyle, and Nino.

And again their is still plenty of projection left to go. I know people are unhappy our players aren't immediately what they might become, but people have to be patient.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

 

[W75]

If I wanted to talk about playoffs, I would like to see them there.

 

[TaLoN]

Am I the only one who wants to see the Wild in the playoffs this year?

Definitely not alone. That's why if you go to the gdt, we were all thrilled with the win!

 

[hirawl]

Am I the only one who wants to see the Wild in the playoffs this year?

Absolutely not. I despise the tank talk. Losing teaches you to lose.

Playoffs is what it is all about. Anything can happen once you get in.

 

[BigT2002]

And again their is still plenty of projection left to go. I know people are unhappy our players aren't immediately what they might become, but people have to be patient.

Not ignoring the rest of what your wrote, but for all our eyes

I've been patient and I think a majority of the folks even on this board have been patient with this team. Where the impatience comes into play though is the fact this team has been a shell of what it was "supposed to be" indoctrinating as a winning franchise within the Division when they won it, what, 8 years ago? To this day it is the lone banner that hangs in the rafters. In fact, since Fletcher has been GM this team has even smelled the fact of winning a division, let alone making a serious bid for later stages of the playoffs. Frankly, I do put the blame on him about that because he knee jerked like crazy and played Russian Roulette to get players like Stewart, Bergenheim and Moulson at the deadline to fill the gaps he thought the team had. None of those players did squat for this team. Especially come playoff time. Hell I think Berg was even a healthy scratch in a couple of those games.

Patience does wear thin. Eventually you need to pull the kid away from the light socket with the penny in their hand so they quit shocking themselves. The issue is, and will continue to be, this team sucks at drafting anyways. So what does a lottery pick, or just Top 10 in general, actually give this team? Unless it is a McJesus caliber player...I don't foresee it working out to the advantage of this team.

Koivu - drafted
Scandella - drafted
Dumba - drafted
Granlund - drafted
Brodin - drafted
Kemps - drafted
Haula - drafted
Zucker - drafted

Suter - FA
Parise - FA
Nino - Trade
Spurgeon - waiver pickup
Dubnyk - trade
Coyle - trade
Porter - waiver pickup
Carter - FA
Stoll - waiver pickup
Vanek - FA
Poms - trade

Look at that and tell me who the "core" of this team is surrounded around. It sure as hell isn't the players who are in-house picks. In fact, the only two that haven't had trades circles around their heads have been Koivu (umoveable anyway) and Scandella.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Am I the only one who wants to see the Wild in the playoffs this year?

No, but if they keep winning and don't change anything with scouting and the front office, that is a huge issue.

Losing doesn't necessarily mean the team keeps losing. But this team needs a massive culture shift. Both in the front office and on the team. We keep seeing that every year. A big change, everything goes back to normal. And then the next season, rinse, repeat. We need a huge shift in the culture and mentality of this team.

 

[hirawl]

Not ignoring the rest of what your wrote, but for all our eyes

I've been patient and I think a majority of the folks even on this board have been patient with this team. Where the impatience comes into play though is the fact this team has been a shell of what it was "supposed to be" indoctrinating as a winning franchise within the Division when they won it, what, 8 years ago? To this day it is the lone banner that hangs in the rafters. In fact, since Fletcher has been GM this team has even smelled the fact of winning a division, let alone making a serious bid for later stages of the playoffs. Frankly, I do put the blame on him about that because he knee jerked like crazy and played Russian Roulette to get players like Stewart, Bergenheim and Moulson at the deadline to fill the gaps he thought the team had. None of those players did squat for this team. Especially come playoff time. Hell I think Berg was even a healthy scratch in a couple of those games.

Patience does wear thin. Eventually you need to pull the kid away from the light socket with the penny in their hand so they quit shocking themselves. The issue is, and will continue to be, this team sucks at drafting anyways. So what does a lottery pick, or just Top 10 in general, actually give this team? Unless it is a McJesus caliber player...I don't foresee it working out to the advantage of this team.

Koivu - drafted
Scandella - drafted
Dumba - drafted
Granlund - drafted
Brodin - drafted
Kemps - drafted
Haula - drafted
Zucker - drafted

Suter - FA
Parise - FA
Nino - Trade
Spurgeon - waiver pickup
Dubnyk - trade
Coyle - trade
Porter - waiver pickup
Carter - FA
Stoll - waiver pickup
Vanek - FA
Poms - trade

Look at that and tell me who the "core" of this team is surrounded around. It sure as hell isn't the players who are in-house picks. In fact, the only two that haven't had trades circles around their heads have been Koivu (umoveable anyway) and Scandella.

That's good drafting to be honest. If there is a problem I'd say it's more with developing.

 

[elnewby]

This team isn't that far away IMO. Swing Brodin for a #1 Center and maybe another hockey trade and I think this team would be much better off than they are now. Our lineup is really solid, it just needs some tweaking. I'm going to wait to see what Torch does with these guys before calling for major changes.

 

[DANOZ28]

would i like to see wild playoff hockey? sure. do i believe this team will get better without adding some high end talent through good draft picks? no. can we get lucky & trade for the missing pieces , well look at CF's track record and you tell me.

 

[TwiztedHeat]

Of course we want to make the playoffs. Playoff hockey is my favorite thing every year (outside of family things) and it's not even close, so yes I want to be in the playoffs. It's just that we don't want to middle around the basement and then go on a run late. It would not benefit this team or its future to do this. We want a decisive move made one way or the other. If we trade for a C at the deadline we know we're going for it and that's exciting.

 

[nickschultzfan]

Wild are both close and far from going to the Finals. As people pointed out, a great blueline will get you into the playoffs and even out of the 1st round.

However, it's fair to say this team is missing 1 or 2 game breakers and has some dead weight (Vanek, Pominville) that doesn't fit the build of this team.

It's really a question of whether Brodin/Dumba, Keumper, Tuch/Ek/other prospects, Vanek, Pominville, and possibly a guy like Granlund get your those 1 or 2 game breakers. I think the answer could be "no".

However, it should be enough to get say RNH and Drouin. And maybe that's enough.

 

[viennasabre]

For f***s sake...the Vanek hate and scapegoating here is ridiculous....dead weight, buy-out candidate, yada yada...
He leads this group of offensive wizards in P/60 in 5 vs 5 situations AND in 5 vs 4 situations.
That is playing good chunks of time playing with Haula, Fontaine, Stoll and the like...
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