Line Combos: Line predictions next 2 seasons

[DeagleJenkins]

Kunin better than Zuccarello?

Evason told Russo he hopes Bjugstad works out as a 2nd line center.

They may also try Zuccarello on the left with Fiala, and Johansson in the middle as the top line.

But I don't think Guerin is done trading, he'll probably also pick up a UFA goalie.

as we stand here and now? id say yes.

 

[fentonsbrainchild]

Kunin better than Zuccarello?

Evason told Russo he hopes Bjugstad works out as a 2nd line center.

They may also try Zuccarello on the left with Fiala, and Johansson in the middle as the top line.

But I don't think Guerin is done trading, he'll probably also pick up a UFA goalie.

Kunin is better than Zucc but Zucc should play above him because he’s useless outside of the top 6

 

[thestonedkoala]

Kunin is better than Zucc but Zucc should play above him because he’s useless outside of the top 6

Who says the 3rd line has to be a checking line though?

Because if it was, I'd have Eriksson-Ek - Kunin on that line as they are better defensively.

Parise - Johansson - Fiala
Kaprizov - Rask - Zuccarello
Greenway - Eriksson-Ek - Kunin
Foligno - Sturm - Hartman

Issue is the Wild have way too many guys that can't play bottom 6 roles and are fairly useless outside the top 6, but they are also pretty bad in the top 6; Donato, Rask, Zuccarello, Johansson, Bjugstad (if he's healthy)

 

[AJ Thelen]

Next season is going to be a bumpy ride.

 

[ctmagic]

Zuccarello - Granlund - Fiala
Kaprizov - Johansson - Kovalchuk
Greenway - Eriksson-Ek - Kunin
Foligno - Sturm - Hartman

Lord Stanley here we come.

 

[57special]

So, penalize Kunin for being useful, and reward Zuccarello for being useless? Screw it, let's just re-hire Mike Yeo.

 

[Wild11MN]

So, penalize Kunin for being useful, and reward Zuccarello for being useless? Screw it, let's just re-hire Mike Yeo.

He made the Blues so bad that they eventually won the cup. Maybe it's worth a shot.

 

[Webster]

Zuccarello - Granlund - Fiala
Kaprizov - Johansson - Kovalchuk
Greenway - Eriksson-Ek - Kunin
Foligno - Sturm - Hartman

Lord Stanley here we come.

 

[Spurgeon]

I don't even know how to build a current roster when we've got 3 extra NHL skaters, so I'll just build 5 lines.

Zuccarello - Johansson - Fiala

Kaprizov - Ek - Kunin

Parise - Bjugstad - Greenway

Foligno - Sturm - Hartman

Donato - Rask - Mayhew

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

If we go into the season with this shit center situation and don't use as an opportunity to see if there is anything more that Eriksson Ek can be, it'll be a tremendous waste and annoy me very much.

Greenway/Donato - Johansson - Fiala
Kaprizov - JEE - Zuccarello
Parise/Donato/Greenway - Bjugstad - Kunin
Foligno - Rask/Sturm - Hartman

 

[AKL]

Donato-Eriksson Ek-Fiala
Kaprizov-Johansson-Kunin
Parise-Bjugstad-Hartman
Foligno-Sturm-Greenway
Zuccarello

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

If we go into the season with this shit center situation and don't use as an opportunity to see if there is anything more that Eriksson Ek can be, it'll be a tremendous waste and annoy me very much.

Greenway/Donato - Johansson - Fiala
Kaprizov - JEE - Zuccarello
Parise/Donato/Greenway - Bjugstad - Kunin
Foligno - Rask/Sturm - Hartman

Or...

Johansson - Eriksson Ek - Fiala
Kaprizov - Kunin - Zuccarello
Greenway - Sturm - Bjugstad
Foligno - Rask - Hartman

 

[2Pair]

I don't even know how to build a current roster when we've got 3 extra NHL skaters, so I'll just build 5 lines.

Zuccarello - Johansson - Fiala

Kaprizov - Ek - Kunin

Parise - Bjugstad - Greenway

Foligno - Sturm - Hartman

Donato - Rask - Mayhew

Kaprizov is on his way back to Russia by Christmas.


If Guerin really doesn't find an actual center before the start of the season-
Kaprizov - Johansson - Fiala
Zuccarello - Ek - Donato/Bjugstad
Greenway - Bjugstad/Sturm - Kunin
Foligno/Parise - Sturm/Rask - Hartman

 

[fentonsbrainchild]

Or...

Johansson - Eriksson Ek - Fiala
Kaprizov - Kunin - Zuccarello
Greenway - Sturm - Bjugstad
Foligno - Rask - Hartman

We are going to be really bad.

 

[AKL]

Poor Fiala

 

[DeagleJenkins]

its a good thing everyone is so down on the lineup, almost as if going into the year for once they cant let us down.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Over/under when Johansson is moved to wing?

 

[thestonedkoala]

We are going to be really bad.

I mean looking at the roster, we have:

Overpaid, aging vets that are declining in Parise and Zuccarello, wingers that haven't cut it at centers, being moved back to center in Johansson, Donato and Kunin. Underachieving young players in JEE, Greenway, Kunin. Meh 4th liners in Hartman, Rask. And like two good players in Fiala and Foligno given the roles they are on.

What could go wrong?

 

[nstarjim]

Tank! that's my prediction. I'll see myself out now

 

[2Pair]

I mean looking at the roster, we have:

Overpaid, aging vets that are declining in Parise and Zuccarello, wingers that haven't cut it at centers, being moved back to center in Johansson, Donato and Kunin. Underachieving young players in JEE, Greenway, Kunin. Meh 4th liners in Hartman, Rask. And like two good players in Fiala and Foligno given the roles they are on.

What could go wrong?

Don't know what team you're watching? Calling the seasons that Greenway, EK, Kunin just had as underachieving is embarrassing. Donato and Kunin aren't being moved to center, and Hartman is an excellent 4th liner.

The team needs to find a quality center and Goalie. They won't be anything more than average until they do, but pretending that the rest of the roster is garbage, is a terrible take.

 

[Beastieboi]

I don't see how we can be worse than last year as is. We had league worst goaltending so that either is the same or gets better. "Can't get worse". Defense should be the same if not better with all the recovery time for Suter and Dumba. At forward Staal, Gally, and Koivu as they are now are a much worse group than Kaprizov, Bjustad, and MoJo, imo of course...

I agree, I know i said earlier that Guerin will embrace the suck but I am optimistic that the wild will be a better team than they were this season. I think if Dumba is kept he would outperform this season in a big way. I think Kaprizov is going to definitely add more offence to the group, donato, greenway and kunin will improve, not by much though.

Hopefully the coaching staff have seen that the minutes Parise was given although he produced, a younger more talented winger will put those minutes to better use next season.

With goaltending Dubnyk has lost the trust of coaching staff and Kahkonen will hopefully be given the reigns. Fingers crossed he can step up to the occasion.

The powerplay has to be better with Fiala and Kaprizov and the right shot of Bjugstad.

 

[57special]

Well, what's reasonable to assume about next year's team?

Brodin- stays the same
Suter- gets worse
Spurgeon- Stays the same
Dumba- improves?
Soucy- stays the same
6th + 7th Dman- the same

Fiala- stays the same
KK- on pace for 40-50 pt. season?
JEE- improves
Kunin- improves
Greenway- improves
Parise- declines
Zuccarello- the same
Foligno - same
Hartman- same
Rask- same
Sturm- improves
Johansson- 35 pts.
Bjugstad- 40 pts/injured
Donato- improves?

Stalock- declines
Doobs- stays the same
KK- ???

So the D should be about the same assuming we re-sign Soucy, and Dumba's improvement offsets Suter's decline.

Goalies are a big question mark. Stalock had his best year ever last year, and is ready for a regression. The hope is that KK can be a starter that is decent, i.e. .910 %. Maybe we go with three goalies? Overall, hope for slight improvement.

Forwards...well it will be a weird, rushed year, so expecting anything more than avg. second line #'s from Kaprizov is unreasonable, especially since we don't have any top 6 C's. Fiala might score 70 pts....who does he play with who can play offense? The Center position is a terrible weakness, and I suspect we are going to find out really soon just how much that will affect us as a team. We can only hope that JEE and Sturm play out of their mind. Expecting anything out of Bjugstad, Johansson, and Rask is optimistic.
Hoping that one of Kunin or Greenway takes a big step and scores 50+ pts. I see us treading water at forward compared to last year when we had Zucker and Staal. At best, a slight improvement.

I can also see things going completely south. Bjugstad being injured, Doobs too, Kahkonen being the goalie version of Mayhew, Soucy not being re-signed, Fiala getting pissed that he has no one to play with and pulling a Stefon Diggs.

 

[Beastieboi]

Well, what's reasonable to assume about next year's team?

Brodin- stays the same
Suter- gets worse
Spurgeon- Stays the same
Dumba- improves?
Soucy- stays the same
6th + 7th Dman- the same

Fiala- stays the same
KK- on pace for 40-50 pt. season?
JEE- improves
Kunin- improves
Greenway- improves
Parise- declines
Zuccarello- the same
Foligno - same
Hartman- same
Rask- same
Sturm- improves
Johansson- 35 pts.
Bjugstad- 40 pts/injured
Donato- improves?

Stalock- declines
Doobs- stays the same
KK- ???

So the D should be about the same assuming we re-sign Soucy, and Dumba's improvement offsets Suter's decline.

Goalies are a big question mark. Stalock had his best year ever last year, and is ready for a regression. The hope is that KK can be a starter that is decent, i.e. .910 %. Maybe we go with three goalies? Overall, hope for slight improvement.

Forwards...well it will be a weird, rushed year, so expecting anything more than avg. second line #'s from Kaprizov is unreasonable, especially since we don't have any top 6 C's. Fiala might score 70 pts....who does he play with who can play offense? The Center position is a terrible weakness, and I suspect we are going to find out really soon just how much that will affect us as a team. We can only hope that JEE and Sturm play out of their mind. Expecting anything out of Bjugstad, Johansson, and Rask is optimistic.
Hoping that one of Kunin or Greenway takes a big step and scores 50+ pts. I see us treading water at forward compared to last year when we had Zucker and Staal. At best, a slight improvement.

I can also see things going completely south. Bjugstad being injured, Doobs too, Kahkonen being the goalie version of Mayhew, Soucy not being re-signed, Fiala getting pissed that he has no one to play with and pulling a Stefon Diggs.

A lot of ifs would have to happen thats for sure.

IF Soucy signs and plays alongside Pateryn IF he's healthy that would certaintly bring a lot of stability to the third pair.

IF Dumba has completely gotten over his injury and starts putting more power and accuracy into those shots it could pay off.

IF Kaprizov transitions to the NHL perfectly and lives up to expectations it would be huge.

And IF Kahkonen can be an effective starter
I think the wild would be better they wont sniff a cup but I think they'll be better and with this year's pick and next year's who knows maybe it works out better.

The centre issue is a problem though and I do hope dumba is traded.

The big IF with that though is can Guerin pull off that trade?

 

[DeagleJenkins]

A lot of ifs would have to happen thats for sure.

IF Soucy signs and plays alongside Pateryn IF he's healthy that would certaintly bring a lot of stability to the third pair.

IF Dumba has completely gotten over his injury and starts putting more power and accuracy into those shots it could pay off.

IF Kaprizov transitions to the NHL perfectly and lives up to expectations it would be huge.

And IF Kahkonen can be an effective starter
I think the wild would be better they wont sniff a cup but I think they'll be better and with this year's pick and next year's who knows maybe it works out better.

The centre issue is a problem though and I do hope dumba is traded.

The big IF with that though is can Guerin pull off that trade?

he can pull of a dumba trade, as speculated before though its not gonna be for someone we really want sadly. i dont think there will be a big enough name that we want for dumba but i do feel we find an upgrade.

 

[57special]

But if Dumba is traded for a legit C, our D will suffer, and we will still have Bjugstad, Rask, Sturm, and Johansson hanging around. I have some slight hope for Sturm.