Player Discussion Erik Haula

[Lapa]

Michael Russo ‏@Russostrib 19 min

Mike Rupp leading the team for personal reasons; Erik Haula recalled. This has been in the works all days. More later #mnwild

Michael Russo ‏@Russostrib 5 min

Rupp will be away from #mnwild for a few days. Haula was in town for Thanksgiving. Equipment had to be shipped up. (1/2)

Michael Russo ‏@Russostrib 5 min

Yeo will let us know in a half hour if Erik Haula will make his NHL debut. #mnwild obviously needs a 2nd line center, so we'll see

Thought this deserved its own thread. Very interesting to see how Haula does.

He will wear #56.

Also:

http://instagram.com/p/hT8Bxdt0f8/#

Click to read more...

 

[Joona]

Tonight's the night.

 

[grN1g]

excited to see him play if he does tonight. i love the fact that his stats indicate he just gets better year after year.

 

[PariseSuterKoivu]

I hope he puts the biscuit in the basket.

 

[Victorious Secret]

teeheehee

 

[McCombo]

Played with him when we were little kids and were pretty much best friends. Have to watch the game !

 

[AJ Thelen]

Excited to see him play!

Should have chosen a better number than 56..

 

[tomgilbertfan]

Excited to see him play!

Should have chosen a better number than 56..

IIRC most of the youngsters just get the numbers assigned to them in training camp when called up.

 

[AJ Thelen]

IIRC most of the youngsters just get the numbers assigned to them in training camp when called up.

Thats right.. I should have thought of that..

 

[Mancini79]

Good luck to Haula! Go Wild!!

 

[W75]

Haula looked good, surprisingly good.

 

[Avder]

Best thing about the game tonight in my opinion.

 

[Sheet]

Avs fan coming in peace.. I think you guys have something with this kid. He looked extremely good tonight for his first game.

 

[Loffer]

Haula is a solid "good in everything" kind of player.

 

[Opado]

Haula is a solid "good in everything" kind of player.

Imo he is "typical" finnish nhl player with some size, not much but some.

 

[Vashanesh]

Hell of a first game. If he can keep this up, I think it spells the end of Brodziak, which a lot of folks have been predicting.

I think he'll be a great 3rd line center. Some offensive skill -- but not consistent top-6, especially with Granlund, Coyle and Koivu all potentially top-6 centers -- and a solid two-way game.

 

[tyratoku]

Hell of a first game. If he can keep this up, I think it spells the end of Brodziak, which a lot of folks have been predicting.

I think he'll be a great 3rd line center. Some offensive skill -- but not consistent top-6, especially with Granlund, Coyle and Koivu all potentially top-6 centers -- and a solid two-way game.

I agree with this.

As much as I love Brodziak's defensive capabilities, I am extremely tired of seeing him one on one with the goalie multiple times a season only to come up empty every single time. Or one on one with a defender and he loses the puck.

He's a great defensive player but a third liner now has to have much more offensive capabilities. A few years ago he looked like he was developing some, but recently it's just been nothing. Extremely frustrating.

Haula? I really enjoyed his game today. He was all over the place, in a good way, and looked like he could be a very responsible offensive guy when he develops more. I did not see much of him defensive-wise, but I saw that Yeo played him on the PK at one point(if not more?) so good for him.

Hope to see him stick for the duration of Granlund's absence.

 

[State of Hockey]

I know it's just one game, but Haula showed more than most of our prospects have. Coyle and Granlund aren't centers. Haula is.

 

[Jarick]

He looked pretty dang good.

 

[Billy Mays Here*]

Not quite as dynamic with the puck as Granlund, but he's got pretty good passing skills in his own right and gets a little physical too. I like it.

 

[NHL1674]

He was pretty sharp during preseason. Very noticeable. For starters, he's got some wheels. It's good to see him stand out and not be intimidated during his debut tonight.

 

[Generic User]

Big poppa pump is ya hookup! Haula if ya hear me!

 

[cgf]

Avs fan coming in peace.. I think you guys have something with this kid. He looked extremely good tonight for his first game.

Just wanted to second this. The avs have a tendency to give guys their first NHL goals, and given how good he looked with nino today I'm expecting the kid to pot one in the second game.

Y'all really do have a sweet young core up front to go with parise and koivu.

 

[tikkanen5rings*]

He'll be another Niklas Hagman.
Good catch for a 7th rounder.

 

[Lapa]

When Grandelholm returns, I wouldn't mind seeing..

Parise - Koivu - Coyle
Nino - Grandelholm - Pominville
Heatley - Haula - Fontaine
Cooke - Brodziak - Mitchell

That is if Haula keeps it up. That would give us 3 scoring lines and one solid shutdown line.