GDT: G1: Wild @ Preds 7pm CT (NBCSN)

[Dr Jan Itor]

Did you think he played well?

I didn't think he separated himself out negatively from any of the other ones. He and Brodin were on for 2, Suter/Dumba were on for 2. Suter/Dumba got absolutely demolished in the shot metrics, especially Suter.

I think I can probably count on Jason Pierre-Paul's hand the number of Wild players that I would consider to have played well.

 

[Webster]

Staal blames himself...

 

[Digitalbooya]

Likes:
-Zuccarello is relentless on the puck
-Dumba picked up right where he left off

Dislikes:
-young forwards collectively showed little offensively
-Seeler
-Dubnyk let in a softy
-outhustled almost the entire night

One game overreaction:
Byfield+Kaprizov would be pretty sweet. If we fall into the 5-10 range of the draft, Dylan Holloway is absolute stud with tons of speed.

 

[AJ Thelen]

Parise just not caring about following his man on 4-2 still makes me angry.

That prick is supposed to be good playing defence.

Come Bruce. Give me Jason on the left of Staal and Zuccs against Avs.

 

[Lapa]

Dumba looked good last night. Hoping for a healthy season for him

 

[Bazeek]

The defense looked good and Dubnyk looked good enough. Of the forwards I thought Zucker and Fiala stood out, Greenway and Zuccarello were pretty good, and the 4th line generally seemed to do its job. The "1st line" got their **** caved in.

No slight to Koivu, but it's gonna be a rough year if he's our best center.

 

[DANOZ28]

the 3rd smashville goal doobs should have stopped. zucker ; fiala & donato were buzzing around pretty good too bad zucker didn't score on his breakaway. i thought we looked very good in the 2nd period not sure why we let smashville take over the 3rd.

 

[Wabit]

If Staal and Parise are going to play like that, might as well put Zucc with Kunin and Donato; they will at least shoot the puck.

 

[DeagleJenkins]

BB needs to separate the old and young. mix it up have some youth on each line, parise kunin greenway would work fine. zucker staal Zuccarello, donato koivu fiala. good blend and let those lines mesh.

 

[a79krgm]

Parise just not caring about following his man on 4-2 still makes me angry.

That prick is supposed to be good playing defence.

Come Bruce. Give me Jason on the left of Staal and Zuccs against Avs.

I don't think Bruce is happy with Parise or Staal. He's already indicated new lines against the Colorado punks.

 

[a79krgm]

Likes:
-Zuccarello is relentless on the puck
-Dumba picked up right where he left off

Dislikes:
-young forwards collectively showed little offensively
-Seeler
-Dubnyk let in a softy
-outhustled almost the entire night

One game overreaction:
Byfield+Kaprizov would be pretty sweet. If we fall into the 5-10 range of the draft, Dylan Holloway is absolute stud with tons of speed.

I would add a few more

Likes:
-Dubnyk 1st period
-2nd period effort
-JEE line

Dislikes:
-Staal and Parise
-No puck control

 

[DeagleJenkins]

I would add a few more

Likes:
-Dubnyk 1st period
-2nd period effort
-JEE line

Dislikes:
-Staal and Parise
-No puck control

was odd to see the puck bounce of so many of our sticks. they just were not feeling it last night that's for sure.

 

[2Pair]

I would pair Zuccarello with Staal
Greenway with Koivu
Parise with Kunin
Foligno with Eriksson Ek
Take Zucker, Fiala, Donato, and Hartman and move them around the 4 lines until you find a couple that you like.

 

[Wabit]

I would pair Zuccarello with Staal
Greenway with Koivu
Parise with Kunin
Foligno with Eriksson Ek
Take Zucker, Fiala, Donato, and Hartman and move them around the 4 lines until you find a couple that you like.

I don't see any of Donato, Fiala, or Zucker doing well with Foligno/JEE. Zucker would probably be the best option of those 3. I think Greenway or Hartman would be the best options there.

If Staal keeps playing like he did last night, does it really matter who's on his line?

 

[Northerner]

I saw the highlights and that is all I saw, but...it looks like the Mild got a straight @SS whoopin' last night. Ugh.

That was not a good look last night. Not a good way to start season.

 

[grN1g]

Zucker Staal Zucc
Parise Kunin Fiala
Greenway Ek Donato
Foligno Koivu Hartman

Is the answer imo.

 

[57special]

Well, it's a tough place to start a season. I'll bite my tongue till we get a few games(Deja vu, said the same thing last year) in, but I will be less patient than last year. The kids are all a year older, and it's about time they started pulling their weight.

Dubnyk was ok. Let in maybe one softie, but also made a spectacular save on Granny all alone. This loss is not on him. They Wild were outplayed for 70% of the game.

Would've been nice if Kunin's shot had gone in, or Zucker had converted on those two chances.

 

[Webster]

Zucker-Koivu-Zuccarello...try this on the top line.

Koivu has been good, and he wins most of his face offs. Staal was down to 36% last night, that won't work.

An option with more speed in the middle would be Kunin, who had 4 shots on goal last night.

But most important, get Parise off the lizard's back, right now Parise is dead weight.

 

[Wabit]

Zucker Staal Zucc
Parise Kunin Fiala
Greenway Ek Donato
Foligno Koivu Hartman

Is the answer imo.

You're either putting the best center (or 2nd best if Staal decides to show up) on the 4th line, or Foligno/Hartman will be playing way too many minutes.

 

[Wabit]

Zucker-Koivu-Zuccarello...try this on the top line.

Did Zucc mostly with Brassard/Zibby, or did he play with Stepan as his center in NY?

 

[Bazeek]

Yeah, our centers are in worse shape than I thought if this is what Staal's going to look like until late October, or whenever it is that he usually gets up to speed. Going by pre-season and Game 1, Koivu's easily the best of the bunch.

They start this season with a lot of games on the road and against division rivals. I wonder how patient Guerin's going to be if they start digging themselves an early hole.

 

[57special]

I thought Staal got off to a fast start in his first two seasons here? I remember him winning BB's skating test, and getting multiple breakaways. Last night, I just saw him fall down.

He's a guy who doesn't look that impressive even when he has a goal and an assist, but he sure looks old. More so than Mikko. He has played more games, so maybe there just isn't any tread on the tire. He has played 100 m0re games than Suter, 200 more than Koivu, and 230 odd more than Parise. It's not going to get better for those three either, which makes the lack of talent up front even more concerning.

 

[Webster]

Did Zucc mostly with Brassard/Zibby, or did he play with Stepan as his center in NY?

Yeah Brassard had a lot of success with Zuccarello. But he faded away when he was traded to Ottawa for Zibanejad, who became Zuccarello's new center.

 

[Wabit]

Yeah Brassard had a lot of success with Zuccarello. But he faded away when he was traded to Ottawa for Zibanejad, who became Zuccarello's new center.

I was hoping that he had success with Stepan as his center and you were basing the lines off of that.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

Outhustled or just plain slow? It's amazing how the script has been flipped the last 3-4 years. The Wild have gone from being one of the faster, aggressive skating teams to outclassed.