Player Discussion Joel Eriksson Ek: The 2nd Act

Wabit

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May 23, 2016
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Although I like Coyle a lot better than most, he's got 17 points this year. As enamored as everyone is with Greenway, he's got 11 points this year and doesn't look like he knows what he's doing on the ice. Nino has been terrible this year and has 18 points. 17-18 points puts you between 178th-211th in scoring in the NHL. 11 points puts you tied at 325th. Some would argue the quality of these players.

Change the filter to just FWDs: 18p is 149th (tied), 17p is 161st (tied), and 11p is 247th (tied); that's two 2nd line FWDs and a 3rd line FWD as far as points. JEE's 4p is 377th (tied); which is a 12/13 FWD.

I'll cut him some slack for the early season failure of him as a wing and Greenway as a center. The whole line looked like garbage, and that's on the coaching staff. Greenway is a rookie and has improved as the season has gone along both on ice and on the scoresheet.

JEE looks like he's regressed since the Playoffs last year (I liked how he was playing against the Jets). He looks like a Foligno (who I am a fan of as a 4th liner) but with worse hands way too often. He could stick around as a 4C now, but he should/needs to be more than that.

I don't know if it's just a confidence/frustration thing or he just isn't processing the NHL game fast enough. Sending him to Iowa was the right call where he will: get more ice time, it's a little slower, let him relax a little, and he can be the best player on the ice most nights.
 
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2Pair

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Although I like Coyle a lot better than most, he's got 17 points this year. As enamored as everyone is with Greenway, he's got 11 points this year and doesn't look like he knows what he's doing on the ice. Nino has been terrible this year and has 18 points. 17-18 points puts you between 178th-211th in scoring in the NHL. 11 points puts you tied at 325th. Some would argue the quality of these players.
and yet, all of those guys have been miles better than Ek in every facet of the game. Some would argue that being stuck with a terrible center, is in direct correlation with those poor numbers.
 
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DeagleJenkins

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and yet, all of those guys have been miles better than Ek in every facet of the game. Some would argue that being stuck with a terrible center, is in direct correlation with those poor numbers.

miles better is an exaggeration. Zucker has looked just as bad as Ek. Nino has been ok, slightly better but still bad. Coyle finally locked in at C looks solid but lets not say he had quality wings to carry him through his funk. Coyle at wing is also just as bad as nino and zucker.
 

2Pair

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miles better is an exaggeration. Zucker has looked just as bad as Ek. Nino has been ok, slightly better but still bad. Coyle finally locked in at C looks solid but lets not say he had quality wings to carry him through his funk. Coyle at wing is also just as bad as nino and zucker.
4 f***ing points. Alex Stalock has 2 points
 

chchelseII

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and yet, all of those guys have been miles better than Ek in every facet of the game. Some would argue that being stuck with a terrible center, is in direct correlation with those poor numbers.
It certainly could be the case that Ek was holding them back, and now we'll find out. Coyle certainly has looked better recently, but that could be the move to center. He's also playing with Parise which would help anyone as he seems to be the only guy that can score consistently this year.
I still think he can be a good NHL player. The player who was one of the best in his age group at the WJC's. Maybe he was mismanaged and thrown into the NHL prematurely. He is only 18 days older than Greenway. Imagine how Greenway would look if he was playing in the NHL 2 years ago.
It seems as if he's being put in a position to succeed in Iowa (watch his goal from yesterday, he's playing right D, on a face off in the left face off circle in the offensive zone with seconds left). to me that means either Army is doing everything possible to get him opportunities to score and increase his confidence, or he thinks he's the best player on the team to take that shot. Either way, it's encouraging.
 

2Pair

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It certainly could be the case that Ek was holding them back, and now we'll find out. Coyle certainly has looked better recently, but that could be the move to center. He's also playing with Parise which would help anyone as he seems to be the only guy that can score consistently this year.
I still think he can be a good NHL player. The player who was one of the best in his age group at the WJC's. Maybe he was mismanaged and thrown into the NHL prematurely. He is only 18 days older than Greenway. Imagine how Greenway would look if he was playing in the NHL 2 years ago.
It seems as if he's being put in a position to succeed in Iowa (watch his goal from yesterday, he's playing right D, on a face off in the left face off circle in the offensive zone with seconds left). to me that means either Army is doing everything possible to get him opportunities to score and increase his confidence, or he thinks he's the best player on the team to take that shot. Either way, it's encouraging.
If you watch his goal from yesterday, it was during a 5x3. That means that Ek was going to be the shooter from the right circle. Hopefully he can build some confidence.
 

DeagleJenkins

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4 ****ing points. Alex Stalock has 2 points

not saying his point total is good by any means but to say he was given wingers to boost his stats is laughable when you consider who he has had. coyle didnt do shit until he got parise on his line and shifted to center. zucker and nino are dog shit this year. zucker away from granny has been shit.
 

2Pair

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not saying his point total is good by any means but to say he was given wingers to boost his stats is laughable when you consider who he has had. coyle didnt do **** until he got parise on his line and shifted to center. zucker and nino are dog **** this year. zucker away from granny has been ****.
Let me make this as simple as it can possibly get. When you are the worst player on the team, you are the last player that gets to complain about linemates. Did it ever occur to you that Coyle "didn't do **** until he got Parise on his line and shifted to center" is because before that he was stuck with a terrible Eriksson Ek? Zucker and Nino might be "dog ****" this year, but what does it say about Ek when those "dog ****" players have 5 times the points that Ek does?
 

DeagleJenkins

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Let me make this as simple as it can possibly get. When you are the worst player on the team, you are the last player that gets to complain about linemates. Did it ever occur to you that Coyle "didn't do **** until he got Parise on his line and shifted to center" is because before that he was stuck with a terrible Eriksson Ek? Zucker and Nino might be "dog ****" this year, but what does it say about Ek when those "dog ****" players have 5 times the points that Ek does?

no it occurred to me, as it did in the playoffs vs dallas, that coyle was better suited at C than RW hence why the move helped him by forcing him to go down the middle of the ice. as for nino and zucker having 5 times his points i already stated im not defending his points, stating his wings sure as hell have not been great. ek to iowa was a long time coming that nobody disagreed with. i defended the kid plenty but his poor play never went away but im not gonna just stand by and say ya nino and zucker were great wings when if you take this outside of an Ek conversation those 2 are being bashed for sucking. Zuckers points are mostly from secondary assists probably as he cant put the puck in the net from the same positions as Ek and for whatever reason Nino has regressed plenty which makes both of them playing like dog shit and leads to ek being less than dog shit. still not gonna allow dog shit wings to be considered as him playing with capable wingers. as your statement goes, maybe ek could of produced with parise instead of coyle/zucker/nino as parise is a capable winger. we will never know.
 
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Dr Jan Itor

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no it occurred to me, as it did in the playoffs vs dallas, that coyle was better suited at C than RW hence why the move helped him by forcing him to go down the middle of the ice. as for nino and zucker having 5 times his points i already stated im not defending his points, stating his wings sure as hell have not been great. ek to iowa was a long time coming that nobody disagreed with. i defended the kid plenty but his poor play never went away but im not gonna just stand by and say ya nino and zucker were great wings when if you take this outside of an Ek conversation those 2 are being bashed for sucking. Zuckers points are mostly from secondary assists probably as he cant put the puck in the net from the same positions as Ek and for whatever reason Nino has regressed plenty which makes both of them playing like dog **** and leads to ek being less than dog ****. still not gonna allow dog **** wings to be considered as him playing with capable wingers. as your statement goes, maybe ek could of produced with parise instead of coyle/zucker/nino as parise is a capable winger. we will never know.

Of his 20 points:

10 are goals
7 are primary assists
3 are secondary assists

Oops.
 

Nsjohnson

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Leave him down there for the rest of the season. He has no trade value unless there is a team with a similar player who needs new scenery.

Worst case, he puts up good numbers down in the AHL and hammers out a better game all while increasing his trade value. Best case, he does that, and is able to bring it up here and contribute and we keep him.
 

Wild11MN

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So... thoughts now? By all accounts he's playing much better, and he has 3 goals in the past five games.
 

AKL

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I’d be content if he could keep up that pace for a full season
 

Nsjohnson

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We see this a lot in the NHL. Depth young guys that are buried in the depth chart on teams get either traded, or a few cogs get hurt, they move up the depth chart a lot and have some serious time to play and they play a lot better after not putting up points. Also, the whole sent down to the minors and brought back and put into a spot where the team needs you, and you know you need to perform situation can work out well too.

I do NOT think it's a coincidence that Kunin and JEE are playing well right now. Koivu is hurt, Nino is traded, Rask and Aberg are hurt...hey kids, you are now IT, go play.

7 points in his last 11 games, 4 in his last 5. I cherry picked a bit. but JEE is not only putting some points up, he IS playing well. He IS shutting guys down, he was a -1 last night and it's been a bunch of games since his last -, which isn't always his fault of course. He's playing 14-15 minutes a night recently. He is hitting guys, he can skate well, and I keep saying on The Athletic that if the guy CAN organize that Toolbox of his, he can be a 25g-30a kind of player. He can! But he has to be consistent. He isn't an idiot, but he needs to take that next step, which of late hopefully is an indication that he is.

I am not asking him to be a 1C. But if he can round out his offensive game, he has the defensive skills, skating, and physical play to be a great 2C. We all as Wild fans should hope he can do that, even though it's been easy to rag on him.


Kunin, same thing. I was less worried about him. His style of play as a winger is that of a 2-3rd line tenacious as hell winger who can shoot the puck. He is a 20g-25a kind of guy. I'm talking if he lives up to his possible ceiling, like JEE.

We need these guys to do this, for the future. If we get a 2C and a energizer bunny winger locked, it's a good thing for the future puzzle of our squad.
 

Nsjohnson

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I remember the first like five games watching JEE he scored a goal or two, had a few good assists. He looked really good, and then he was sent to Sweden. He's done well in the Euro stuff and international stuff, if I read it right.

He has 18p in 18gp in the AHL. 8g and 10a. That's decent-more than decent and very center like stats. I still prefer him to be there in the AHL, but we have to have him right now, with the injuries.
 

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