GDT: 9/27/14 - Winnipeg Jets vs Minnesota Wild - Preseason Home Opener - 7PM CDT/3AM Suomi

[Dampland]

Olofsson looks like he needs AHL time.

Dumba and Folin are separating themselves from the pack fighting for that D spot. One of them is making the team...maybe both?

apparently we were watching different games, because I thought Olofsson was head and shoulders better than Dumba.

To me Dumba really needs 1 if not 2 years in the AHL, learning how to play defense. He is a huge liability when he is on the ice. He looks for big hits at the wrong times, can't defend man on man, and made many poor passes. His one nice play does not excuse his over meh play.

Olofsson was smooth, played great positionaly, and made nice passes. However he does need to bulk up, but then again he is only 19.

I think the best thing for the Wild, is to send Dumba, Olofsson and Folin to the AHL.

After about a month, bring up Folin, and let Bickel, Blum and Ballard take turns riding the pine.

 

[Harvest]

Like I said...

Parise - Koivu - Coyle
Vanek - Granlund - Pominville

Will be our top-6.

That second line cant play D and I dont think Yeo is gonna split Parise-Granlund duo.

 

[Hagged]

That second line cant play D and I dont think Yeo is gonna split Parise-Granlund duo.

Granlund and Pominville are more of a duo than Parise and Granlund. Also Vanek and Pominville should mesh well together.

And I think Granlund's defensive shortcomings are way overstated. He's almost on Koivu's level when it comes to two-way ability. On PK I'd still like to see Parise-Granlund, last season they really made it look easy.

 

[Grover]

Maybe we should stop worrying if one offensive line can't play D at a high caliber level. It might be a good thing to have a pure scoring line. I mean after all, the one thing we need is more scoring.

 

[Minnesota]

Maybe we should stop worrying if one offensive line can't play D at a high caliber level. It might be a good thing to have a pure scoring line. I mean after all, the one thing we need is more scoring.

Bingo.

Why do our forwards need to play defense when we have defensemen?

 

[Sarge58]

Dumba makes mistakes, but he also looks like an offensive game breaker at times. He might really spice up our PP.... not so much our PK.

Didn't notice Olofson. Is he really a better option than Blum? Coyle looked fast and strong. It sure is nice to have him go into the corner and know that he is going to overmatch 90% of the players in the league. Was going to say that he looked better than Nino, then Nino scored.

Scandella and Spurgeon looked clumsy together, oddly enough. I hope Scandella doesn't regress after his VG season last year. I think he is best when he plays aggressively.

I agree about Dumba, say what you will about his faults, but he'll bring people to their feet, and hopefully most of the time it will be to cheer.

Scandy had a particularly rough night.

Although he didn't boldly standout, I thought Brodin quietly showed some added quickness, and strength and looked a bit more aggressive at times.

It's only pre-season but its great to actually talk about real hockey again.

 

[J22*]

apparently we were watching different games, because I thought Olofsson was head and shoulders better than Dumba.

To me Dumba really needs 1 if not 2 years in the AHL, learning how to play defense. He is a huge liability when he is on the ice. He looks for big hits at the wrong times, can't defend man on man, and made many poor passes. His one nice play does not excuse his over meh play.

Olofsson was smooth, played great positionaly, and made nice passes. However he does need to bulk up, but then again he is only 19.

I think the best thing for the Wild, is to send Dumba, Olofsson and Folin to the AHL.

After about a month, bring up Folin, and let Bickel, Blum and Ballard take turns riding the pine.

This can't be a serious comment?

I understand that everyone watches a game with certain biases for or against certain players and that their preconceived hopes for what they want to happen might play into what they actually believe they are seeing happen, but the bolded opinion is ridiculous.

Anybody who watched last nights game and thought that Olofsson was better than Dumba is guilty of atleast 1 of these 3 things.


1. Has an unhealthy love of Olofsson
2. Has an unhealthy hate of Dumba
3. Doesn't have even the slightest understanding of how a hockey game is played.

 

[Dampland]

This can't be a serious comment?

I understand that everyone watches a game with certain biases for or against certain players and that their preconceived hopes for what they want to happen might play into what they actually believe they are seeing happen, but the bolded opinion is ridiculous.

Anybody who watched last nights game and thought that Olofsson was better than Dumba is guilty of atleast 1 of these 3 things.


1. Has an unhealthy love of Olofsson
2. Has an unhealthy hate of Dumba
3. Doesn't have even the slightest understanding of how a hockey game is played.

That is your opinion, But I stand by what I said, and Trust me, I have a great understanding on how hockey is played as a defensemen. You can drool over Dumba's big hits, but try watching the tape with an objective eye, and you will see the flaws in his game. He needs a lot of seasoning.

 

[57special]

Dumba has the chance to be a better, stronger, faster Spurgeon. And he probably will cost 6 Million dollars at that point.

Anyone else notice Brodziak's break in alone(great pass by Rechlisz?). Some things never change...

Still think we need some beef on the fourth line. Not a goon, but someone who takes the body, and won't be overmatched when the going gets rough. Seems like Bulmer is out of the picture now.

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

It's funny because on one hand our fan base complains over a lack of offense, lack of creativity, etc, etc almost religiously, but then when we do get players who actually take some risks to try and make plays and are creative with the puck--which can lead to some glaring mistakes, but as we saw last night also some positives---our fan base tries to mold him into exactly what they say they don't want to see more of.

Is it bad that I'm fine that Dumba will make some mistakes for open ice hits/trying to create plays with the puck and off the rush?

 

[tsmbain]

Bingo.

Why do our forwards need to play defense when we have defensemen?

What good is a line that can score 3 goals a game if that same line is giving up 4 goals a game. Still puts us in line for losing the game!

Vanek needs to be playing with Koivu (better defensive Center than Granlund) and Coyle (better defensive RW than Pominville).

Also Parise-Granlund-Pominville is a great line.

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

What good is a line that can score 3 goals a game if that same line is giving up 4 goals a game. Still puts us in line for losing the game!

Vanek needs to be playing with Koivu (better defensive Center than Granlund) and Coyle (better defensive RW than Pominville).

Also Parise-Granlund-Pominville is a great line.

I don't think Vanek-Granlund-Pominville would be that bad defensively. Granlund is a stud defensively simply because he has as high of a compete level as he does. Pominville and Vanek are veterans who at least know where to be in the defensive zone or at the bare minimum know how to be an asset and get open for the D to transition out of the zone.

I think the lines should really be...

Vanek-Granlund-Pominville
Parise-Koivu-Coyle
Zucker-Haula-Nino
Cooke-Brodziak-______

Suter-Spurgeon
Brodin-Folin
Scandella-Dumba
Ballard

Honestly that should be the lineup. Or something close to that.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Anyone else notice Brodziak's break in alone(great pass by Rechlisz?).

Keranen sprung him.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

It's funny because on one hand our fan base complains over a lack of offense, lack of creativity, etc, etc almost religiously, but then when we do get players who actually take some risks to try and make plays and are creative with the puck--which can lead to some glaring mistakes, but as we saw last night also some positives---our fan base tries to mold him into exactly what they say they don't want to see more of.

Is it bad that I'm fine that Dumba will make some mistakes for open ice hits/trying to create plays with the puck and off the rush?

Nope. I feel the same.

 

[Minnesota]

What good is a line that can score 3 goals a game if that same line is giving up 4 goals a game. Still puts us in line for losing the game!

Vanek needs to be playing with Koivu (better defensive Center than Granlund) and Coyle (better defensive RW than Pominville).

Also Parise-Granlund-Pominville is a great line.

Realistically, that would never happen. You're painting Vanek - Granlund - Pominville as the three blind mice of defensive forwards. They're not defensively inept at all; they're just not Koivu. Granlund's excellent at takeaways and possession (great defensive skills), Pominville was acquired because of his two-way nature and ability to contribute both offensively and defensively, and most of us don't even know Vanek's level of defensive prowess.

 

[J22*]

What good is a line that can score 3 goals a game if that same line is giving up 4 goals a game. Still puts us in line for losing the game!

Vanek needs to be playing with Koivu (better defensive Center than Granlund) and Coyle (better defensive RW than Pominville).

Also Parise-Granlund-Pominville is a great line.

The bolded line can't play a lick of defense either, so to keep those 3 together for defensive purposes would make zero sense. There's no reason why Parise/Vanek shouldn't be interchangeable between Koivu and Granlunds lines.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

The bolded line can't play a lick of defense either, so to keep those 3 together for defensive purposes would make zero sense. There's no reason why Parise/Vanek shouldn't be interchangeable between Koivu and Granlunds lines.

Parise and Granlund are not bad at defending.

 

[Grover]

Why can't we just have a scoring line.... Sigh

You guys seem more worried about our forwards playing D than our forwards playing offense

 

[melinko]

Dumba has the chance to be a better, stronger, faster Spurgeon. And he probably will cost 6 Million dollars at that point.

Anyone else notice Brodziak's break in alone(great pass by Rechlisz?). Some things never change...

Still think we need some beef on the fourth line. Not a goon, but someone who takes the body, and won't be overmatched when the going gets rough. Seems like Bulmer is out of the picture now.

Pretty sure that was Keranen.

 

[BusQuets]

Why don't we give Koivu-Vanek duo a chance? Wasn't Yeo and Russo just saying how good they looked together. Then we have Parise-Grane-Pomi which we know works well.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

Koivu with Vanek and Coyle in tomorrow's game.

 

[Sarge58]

It's funny because on one hand our fan base complains over a lack of offense, lack of creativity, etc, etc almost religiously, but then when we do get players who actually take some risks to try and make plays and are creative with the puck--which can lead to some glaring mistakes, but as we saw last night also some positives---our fan base tries to mold him into exactly what they say they don't want to see more of.

Is it bad that I'm fine that Dumba will make some mistakes for open ice hits/trying to create plays with the puck and off the rush?

If he'd continually go out and make that open ice hit just for the heck of it and everyone except him knew that it would cause an odd man rush then we'd have some problems, but he showed at least last night that he's making smarter decisions of when to make that hit. It's going to be fun watching his game as it continually progresses with time.