Line Combos: 2017-2018 Line Combos

ThatGuy22

Registered User
Oct 11, 2011
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With the Cullen signing, the roster is set. Figured it's time for line combo's.

I heavily suspect they start Coyle up the middle instead of JEE. Top 3 LW's are probably interchangable but i'd like a long term look at Nino with the Fins (it's criminal that Nino's spent like 150 minutes with Koivu over their tenure's here).

Protect JEE a bit with the vets in Parise and Staal.

Nino-Koivu-Granlund
Parise-Staal-JEE
Zucker-Coyle-Ennis
Foligino-Cullen-Stewart
 

Dr Jan Itor

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Dec 10, 2009
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MinneSNOWta
Zucker - Koivu - Granlund
Nino - Staal - Ennis
Parise - Eriksson Ek - Coyle
Foligno - Cullen - Stewart

Coyle jumps up a line if Ennis falters, Cullen jumps up if Eriksson Ek falters.
 

Wabit

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May 23, 2016
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Parise/Staal/Granny-best play-maker with the best goal scorers on the team.
JEE/Koivu/Zucker-Koivu line has same role as last season.
Foligno/Coyle/Nino-heavy forechecking line, all situation, first line on the ice after a PK.
Ennis/Cullen/Stewie- energy line.

Suter/Dumba
Brodin/Spurgeon
Olofsson/Quincy

Dub

PK:
Koivu/Granny
Staal/Parise
Cullen/Zucker

Suter/Spurgeon
???/Brodin

PP:
Nino/Staal/Coyle
Granny/Koivu/Parise
Suter/Dumba
Brodin/Spurgeon
 

ThatGuy22

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Oct 11, 2011
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4,178
Parise/Staal/Granny-best play-maker with the best goal scorers on the team.
JEE/Koivu/Zucker-Koivu line has same role as last season.
Foligno/Coyle/Nino-heavy forechecking line, all situation, first line on the ice after a PK.
Ennis/Cullen/Stewie- energy line.

Suter/Dumba
Brodin/Spurgeon
Olofsson/Quincy

Dub

PK:
Koivu/Granny
Staal/Parise
Cullen/Zucker

Suter/Spurgeon
???/Brodin

PP:
Nino/Staal/Coyle
Granny/Koivu/Parise
Suter/Dumba
Brodin/Spurgeon

Koivu and Granlund formed the core of the most effective forward line in the league last year, ditto with Suter and Spurgeon on the D side.

Odd to break them up until they show they dont have it
 

Wabit

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May 23, 2016
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Koivu and Granlund formed the core of the most effective forward line in the league last year, ditto with Suter and Spurgeon on the D side.

Odd to break them up until they show they dont have it

I think Zucker was the catalyst for the line more than Granlund. JEE gives the Koivu a bigger body that won't get pushed around as much as Granny did. Zucker gives the speed for a counterattack/breakout. Plus JEE is supposedly the heir-apparent to Koivu, best to learn from playing with him.

Dumba played his best hockey while paired with Suter, and Brodin/Dumba hasn't ever really clicked. Swapping the RD's balances out the top-4 a little better.

I do think the 1st ~10 games will be an extended training camp with lines being juggled to find the best fits for Coyle (center or wing), JEE, Ennis, Foligino, and maybe Kunin.
 

Al Lagoon

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Feb 22, 2012
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Any way you slice it, that is a 4-deep NHL forward roster, with quality up and down. Boudreau will finally have the 4 lines he's been dreaming of, in spite of losing out on the expansion draft.

Force to be reckoned with will the Wild be.
 

ThatGuy22

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Oct 11, 2011
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I think Zucker was the catalyst for the line more than Granlund. JEE gives the Koivu a bigger body that won't get pushed around as much as Granny did. Zucker gives the speed for a counterattack/breakout. Plus JEE is supposedly the heir-apparent to Koivu, best to learn from playing with him.

Dumba played his best hockey while paired with Suter, and Brodin/Dumba hasn't ever really clicked. Swapping the RD's balances out the top-4 a little better.

I do think the 1st ~10 games will be an extended training camp with lines being juggled to find the best fits for Coyle (center or wing), JEE, Ennis, Foligino, and maybe Kunin.

Fair enough on most of the opinions.

But the bolded I keep seeing people say, and there is zero evidence for it. My eye test didn't see anything special when Dumba was with Suter and by any statistical measure Suter was Dumba's worst partner. He had much better stats when paired with Scandella and Brodin.

dumbama94
 

SomethingGeneric

Registered User
Sep 25, 2014
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Zucker - Koivu - Granlund
Parise - Staal - Nino
Ennis - Coyle - Ek
Foligno - Cullen - Stewart

Suter - Spurge
Brodin - Dumba
Olof - Quincy

Dubs
Stalock
 

Wabit

Registered User
May 23, 2016
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Look back at the individual games Oct 22nd-Nov 12th. It's when Spurgeon was injured and Dumba got moved up to Suter's line. Dumba was a solid defender for that time period. Then he got paired with Reilly after than and everything went to poo for his game.

Brodin/Dumba pairing always looks out of sync to me. The Wild had a good 3rd pair that could eat some minutes last season, this year they have an unknown 3rd pair. The team could end up going the Nashville route and have each of their top-4 play 23+ mins a night.
 

AKL

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Zucker-Koivu-Granlund
Nino-Staal-Coyle
Parise-Ek-Ennis
Foligno-Cullen-Stewart

Has to be it at least to start the season. I would like to see Nino and Granlund together at some point though.
 

Spurgeon

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Nov 25, 2014
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MinneSNOWta
Zucker-Koivu-Granlund
Nino-Staal-Coyle
Parise-Ek-Ennis
Foligno-Cullen-Stewart

Has to be it at least to start the season. I would like to see Nino and Granlund together at some point though.

This is exactly how I have it too. I think Ennis would benefit with a speedy forechecking beast like Parise and a defensively sound player in EK.
 

Sharppi

4 more years of Dub.
Jul 15, 2011
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Ah, random.org time.

Suter - Granlund - Eriksson-Ek
Dumba - Zucker - Ennis
Nino - Olofsson - Koivu
Coyle - Spurgeon - Parise

Quincey - Stalock
Foligno - Cullen
Staal - Brodin

Stewart
Dubnyk

Who knew that Stewart's gonna be our #1 goalie?!
 

TommieNation

Registered User
Feb 9, 2015
378
46
Minneapolis, MN
Zucker-Koivu-Granlund
Nino-Staal-Coyle
Parise-Ek-Ennis
Foligno-Cullen-Stewart

Has to be it at least to start the season. I would like to see Nino and Granlund together at some point though.

This is exactly how I have it too. I think Ennis would benefit with a speedy forechecking beast like Parise and a defensively sound player in EK.

This is the line up that I want too. I have a feeling Parise will be with Staal though. Having Nino with Ennis wouldn't be that bad either
 

ThatGuy22

Registered User
Oct 11, 2011
10,511
4,178
Ennis and Ek are likely the weakest links. i suspect they try keep them on different lines personally.
 

Puhis

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Jul 4, 2011
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Jaervenpaeae
Zucker - Koivu - Granlund
Nino - Staal - Ennis
Parise - Eriksson Ek - Coyle
Foligno - Cullen - Stewart

Coyle jumps up a line if Ennis falters, Cullen jumps up if Eriksson Ek falters.

Was about to post this, but it was already there.

No reason to break up the Sugar Finns. Nino - Staal - Ennis could work very well, and as you said, pop Coyle up a line if it doesn't.

Prof. Oak could really benefit from playing in a line with two guys who don't exactly lack in work ethic. Parise still got the effort and potential to score 20G with 3rd line minutes (realistically). Coyle is a beast, and primed for that breakout. Both are good defensively, too, meaning this has all the potential to be an elite shutdown line that can score. Yes, hockey is not played on paper. I know.

That 4th line is basically rest of the guys. Cullen used to play on an island, but that might not be a bad thing in this case. His experience and ability to score those clutch goals could combine well with the young, budding PWF in Foligno as well as Stewart's... Stewie-ness. It's not an ideal line by any means, but for a 4th line it looks damn good.

I'm curious about who will surprise in the training camp. What if Kunin's lights out? Will he receive a roster spot, and if so, who will he replace? How about guys like Kyle Rau, Cal O'Reilly and Landon Ferraro? They should all compete for those 4th line spots as well. The preliminary roster looks set, but anything can still happen before the puck drops for real, with points on the line.

At least our depth looks good. And that's never a bad thing. It's a long season, injuries will happen and so will an inevitable "disease you thought society already got rid of" -epidemic. My money's on scurvy. Eat those vitamins, kids.

The D will most likely stay similar in terms of our top-4:

Suter - Spurgeon
Brodin - Dumba

3rd pairing is still open, and we will most likely see a lot of shuffling around there. My money's on Olofsson - Reilly with Quincey as the 7th man. But Murphy has solid potential and could turn things around - if he does, look out. Soucy is the potential dark horse there.

Dubnyk will obviously continue as the #1 guy. Stalock is my bet for #2, but it wouldn't be the first time Wild has turned a goalie's career around, so Svedberg might surprise. He's getting up there with age though (27).
 

Jesus comma Brodin

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Feb 22, 2013
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Zucker-Koivu-Granlund
Nino-Staal-Coyle
Parise-Ek-Ennis
Foligno-Cullen-Stewart

Has to be it at least to start the season. I would like to see Nino and Granlund together at some point though.

This is exactly how I have it too. I think Ennis would benefit with a speedy forechecking beast like Parise and a defensively sound player in EK.

This is the line up that I want too. I have a feeling Parise will be with Staal though. Having Nino with Ennis wouldn't be that bad either

Yep :handclap:
 

nickschultzfan

Registered User
Jan 7, 2009
11,558
908
Suter-Dumba
Brodin-Spurgeon

We have invested a lot in Dumba. Time to take the training wheels off and put him with Suter.

I also cannot stand the old-school putting your best two defenders, Suter and Spurgeon, together. Opposing teams dont likewise stack their 3 best forwards on the same line, so are you countering a system that doesnt exist anymore. And I dont think Suter and Spurgeon actually make each other much better. Then get some positives, but also some drawbacks.
 

Dr Jan Itor

Registered User
Dec 10, 2009
44,926
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MinneSNOWta
Suter-Dumba
Brodin-Spurgeon

We have invested a lot in Dumba. Time to take the training wheels off and put him with Suter.

I also cannot stand the old-school putting your best two defenders, Suter and Spurgeon, together. Opposing teams dont likewise stack their 3 best forwards on the same line, so are you countering a system that doesnt exist anymore. And I dont think Suter and Spurgeon actually make each other much better. Then get some positives, but also some drawbacks.

I wouldn't hate it.
 

nickschultzfan

Registered User
Jan 7, 2009
11,558
908
Oh good Lord look at all the left handed shots...
I normally don't care about this kind of thing, but it's pretty bad now. Pominville, Folin, Prosser, and Tuch are now gone. Losing Brodziak a while back hurt us here too.

Similarly, I cringed when I read THN Yearbook where it notes that our blueline removed all grit by shipping out Scandella, Folin, and Prosser. I normally would dismiss that old-school logic, but in the Wild's case, it is completely valid.
 

Saga of the Elk

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May 31, 2008
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I normally don't care about this kind of thing, but it's pretty bad now. Pominville, Folin, Prosser, and Tuch are now gone. Losing Brodziak a while back hurt us here too.

Similarly, I cringed when I read THN Yearbook where it notes that our blueline removed all grit by shipping out Scandella, Folin, and Prosser. I normally would dismiss that old-school logic, but in the Wild's case, it is completely valid.

Key shopping item for the trade deadline might well be a crease clearer. Dumba can hit though. Probably gives Soucy, Seeler or Warner a chance to get some NHL games this season, or sees Reilly (or someone) shipped out for a more physical player with less puck moving ability.
 

Minnesota

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Ah, random.org time.

Suter - Granlund - Eriksson-Ek
Dumba - Zucker - Ennis
Nino - Olofsson - Koivu
Coyle - Spurgeon - Parise

Quincey - Stalock
Foligno - Cullen
Staal - Brodin

Stewart
Dubnyk

Who knew that Stewart's gonna be our #1 goalie?!

You just reminded me Kyle Quincey will play for the Wild next season and I got sad.
 

DANOZ28

Registered User
May 22, 2012
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nearest bar MN
i hope we have a backup plan if ennis is worse than pommer. peter, i agree / think if we're not gonna play reilly we should trade him.
 

Wabit

Registered User
May 23, 2016
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If Olofsson performs well and stays healthy this year, I think Reilly is gone at the TDL or in the offseason. Reilly is waivers exempt, so he valuable to the team in that respect.
 

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