Series Talk: Playoff Qualifier Series: Minnesota Wild vs Vancouver Canucks (VAN wins 3-1)

[Uberdachen]

Forgot about Toffoli..seems like an eternity ago. Nice addition.

Will be an interesting contrast of styles if it comes to pass.

Biggest question to me is which guys have been most consistent with home workouts, which have been playing Animal Crossing with their kids.

August should be fun...

Yeah! Is Parise going to be that shit that murders your face when you shake a tree, or is he going to be that flower-sniffing little yellow air zebra that can't even fetch its own flying weight in bells?

Shit, it's past noon. 'NIP CHECK

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Go team.

 

[Jaykay]

A respectful member of the wild fanbase came to our boards and gave a breakdown on the wild season.

I would like to do the same, just so you guys get a bit of a feel on our team.

Canucks

Lets first talk about the main reason the Canucks are even in an opportunity like this (Even with normal playoff setup).
Jacob Markstrom has been absolutely stupid for the canucks in the past couple years.
Don't let the stats fool you, he has stolen more games for Vancouver in the last two years than any goalie in the league.
When markstrom got hurt, the canucks absolutely collapsed, they are a completely different team without him, he is absolutely one of the best goalies in the league, and a potential Vezina goalie in the near future.

For offense: The canucks have JT miller, petey and newly aquired Toffoli who has fit like a glove alongside both lines.
Petey is extremely creative, highly skilled offensive two way center, while Miller for some reason has been the perfect fit for him, and a perminant stable moving forward.
The 2nd line is a more defensive reliable line, still has firepower, but boeser has not looked quite right all year, wild could absolutely do damage here.

Ferland has been hurt all year, but apparently is 100% healthy, should be a nice boost.
Gaudette is a solid young player, but gets babysat in matchups the most on the canucks.
Virtanen is having a resurgence, coming off back to back impressive seasons.

The fourth line is your typical fourth line, they hit, mostly defensive reliable, nothing crazy to talk about here.

As for the Defense.

Quinn Hughes / Tanev - What needs to be said about Quinn Hughes? top 5 young defender in the game, absolutely dynamic with his skating, completely changed the entire makeup of the canucks back end, he is a special talent.

Tanev is having the best year of his career at his old ass age, and the first healthy season, maybe ever?

Edler / Stecher - Edler is having a pretty standard season, stecher has been fine, but nothing to write about.

Fantenberg / Myers - Myers has been a pretty bad all year, some good games but mostly disapointing.
Fantenberg has been a nice surprise.

Overall: I think the wild has a vastly superior defense over the Canucks, I don't think it's mostly close honestly. The wild could vary easily shut down the canucks top stars, with guys like brodin and suter. Not to mention, Dumba is one of my favorite D-men in the league, future stud.

That being said, Quinn Hughes is a complete game changer, game breaker, he is the key here.

Goaltending is a huge edge for Vancouver, Markstrom has found a completely different level.

Offense - Canucks Edge for sure, but the wild have some really talented forwards who are very reliable.
Fiala especially is coming into his own, a fantastic talent, could be a major factor in the wild beating the Canucks.

What does it come down too?
Honestly, if the wild shut down the Canucks offense with the amazing defense, and dubnyk plays good enough, wild could win.

I still feel the game will go all 5 games.

Thanks for having me.
cheers

I've watched a lot of Hughes the past few years and am looking forward to seeing him in a playoff setting, how's his defense been this year?

 

[thestonedkoala]

Go team.

My dad can beat up your dad.

 

[Hammman]

I've watched a lot of Hughes the past few years and am looking forward to seeing him in a playoff setting, how's his defense been this year?

Surprisingly effective. His skating is obviously his best attribute, and that helps him on the defensive side as well. Positioning is usually good, stick work is great. Not surprisingly, he can get physically overmatched at times, but he's got strategies to deal with it. He's never going to be a top defensive player, but he's not a liability.

 

[BagHead]

Surprisingly effective. His skating is obviously his best attribute, and that helps him on the defensive side as well. Positioning is usually good, stick work is great. Not surprisingly, he can get physically overmatched at times, but he's got strategies to deal with it. He's never going to be a top defensive player, but he's not a liability.

I don't know, this description actually sounds like a young Brodin, defensively. Brodin has grown into his own frame, though, and is more rarely overmatched physically, though still sometimes is. I guess I'm saying that a player who has great skating, great stick work and a good head on his shoulders could be a really great defensive player. I guess we'll see.

Obviously Brodin lacks the natural inclination for offensive play, and prefers to play the completely safe game. A shame, because when he flashes offense it's pretty good! I don't think you have to worry about that with Hughes!

 

[P10p]

I think Minnesota could do to Vancouver, what St. Louis did to us a couple years back.

Just smothering, heavy, and structured hockey.

 

[57special]

The description of Hughes sounds more like early Spurgeon, before he put on a bit of muscle and got experience.

The question to me is if VAN is way faster than MN, or just a little bit, and how much Evason adjusts his matchups to account for that. Brodin, Spurgeon, JEE, Fiala, and to a lesser extent, Greenway, Sturm, Hartman, Foligno and Kunin, can match up to faster players. Parise, Suter, Koivu, Staal, and Rask look slow to me, though some of those guys are so smart that they can make up for some of their lack of pace.
Don't forget than MN's D is pretty fast, which evens things out a bit.
If the Wild take a lot of penalties trying to impede VAN then they will lose the series.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Huh, that makes me wonder. Is Koivu going to come back?

Edit: Oh, he is off the LTIR. Forgot he played a few games before the season shut down.

 

[AKL]

Huh, that makes me wonder. Is Koivu going to come back?

Are you asking if Koivu would come back for the Vancouver play in series?

 

[DANOZ28]

so much for mn having 1 outta 5 chance of being the host city for the wc playoffs , no chance with all the riots going on. you know me i hope we lose to vancouver and get a decent draft pick.

 

[Minnesnota]

so much for mn having 1 outta 5 chance of being the host city for the wc playoffs , no chance with all the riots going on. you know me i hope we lose to vancouver and get a decent draft pick.

praise be

 

[TaLoN]

so much for mn having 1 outta 5 chance of being the host city for the wc playoffs , no chance with all the riots going on. you know me i hope we lose to vancouver and get a decent draft pick.

They're still a long ways away from that, so I don't think this will have an impact in the end.

 

[Webster]

They're still a long ways away from that, so I don't think this will have an impact in the end.

Agreed, the corona situation will be more of a factor. And it's looking better in Minnesota.

 

[Digitalbooya]

so much for mn having 1 outta 5 chance of being the host city for the wc playoffs , no chance with all the riots going on. you know me i hope we lose to vancouver and get a decent draft pick.

Why does it matter where the host city is if fans aren’t in the stands?

 

[57special]

Still brings money into the city, when hotels and restaurants are starving for business, never mind airlines, car rentals, etc.. It won't make up for losing the State fair or anything, but it's better than nothing.

 

[SupremeNachos]

Agreed, the corona situation will be more of a factor. And it's looking better in Minnesota.

That will probably change for the worse after all that's been going on.

 

[a79krgm]

Why does it matter where the host city is if fans aren’t in the stands?

Local media access and coverage. Wild hockey marketing for 2021. Minnesota players comfort and familiarity. Fans or not, it would give the home guys some advantage.

however, no way it coming to Minnesota. We are lucky to have any future sports teams after what just happened.
My bet is on Vancouver and Columbus.

 

[TaLoN]

Local media access and coverage. Wild hockey marketing for 2021. Minnesota players comfort and familiarity. Fans or not, it would give the home guys some advantage.

however, no way it coming to Minnesota. We are lucky to have any future sports teams after what just happened.
My bet is on Vancouver and Columbus.

Does Columbus have the requisite number of rinks in the region available for all the training camps/ practices?

Last timeline I heard was camps starting in about a month with a late july restart. A lot can change between now and then.

 

[a79krgm]

Does Columbus have the requisite number of rinks in the region available for all the training camps/ practices?

I'm not sure what the requisite number of rinks are, but according to the Blue Jackets website they have the following …
Nationwide Arena facility and the OhioHealth Ice Haus next-door. Value City Arena on OSU campus. Various small rinks around the area.

 

[Webster]

Minnesota is the hockey state, right? Twin Cities must be a much better option than Columbus.

 

[P10p]

Iirc there will be at least 2 hub cities no? I thought I heard Bill Daly saying no team will play in their home arena no matter what.

 

[AKL]

Iirc there will be at least 2 hub cities no? I thought I heard Bill Daly saying no team will play in their home arena no matter what.

That is correct

 

[Minnesnota]

Asked if an eventual July training camp would essentially be a tryout for Kahkonen, Alex Stalock and Devan Dubnyk to be the No. 1, Evason said, “I think whoever’s here in our training camp is in the mix. There could be somebody that is absolutely outstanding through our scrimmages or what have you if we get to that point, and then we’ll be like, ‘Geez, maybe we better put him in.’ As far as our goaltending, we’ve talked to (Stalock and Dubnyk), you hear a lot about, ‘He’s my guy, or this is my guy.’ The guy that’s in the net is the guy on that night. It’s no different than our centericemen. That’s our guy. When the puck drops, that’s our guy. So if it’s Al, if it’s Duby, if it’s Kahkonen, it doesn’t matter to us. It doesn’t matter to the team. Whoever is in there that we deem is going to play well for us in whatever position, I’m sure everybody will support him and we will go forward.”

 

[2Pair]

Asked if an eventual July training camp would essentially be a tryout for Kahkonen, Alex Stalock and Devan Dubnyk to be the No. 1, Evason said, “I think whoever’s here in our training camp is in the mix. There could be somebody that is absolutely outstanding through our scrimmages or what have you if we get to that point, and then we’ll be like, ‘Geez, maybe we better put him in.’ As far as our goaltending, we’ve talked to (Stalock and Dubnyk), you hear a lot about, ‘He’s my guy, or this is my guy.’ The guy that’s in the net is the guy on that night. It’s no different than our centericemen. That’s our guy. When the puck drops, that’s our guy. So if it’s Al, if it’s Duby, if it’s Kahkonen, it doesn’t matter to us. It doesn’t matter to the team. Whoever is in there that we deem is going to play well for us in whatever position, I’m sure everybody will support him and we will go forward.”

I'm OK with this plan. So long as Dubnyk is never "the guy"