GDT: Wild @ Devils | The most boring game ever | Mar. 17, 2016 | 6:00pm CT | FS-N

[flyfysher]

If I'm Torch, I bench some guys... some "important" guys to send a big, fat message. Time to go after the vets. All they care about is getting paid and summer vacation.

Congrats to the Avs on your incoming playoff birth./QUOTE]

As much as I'm a die hard Avs fan, I wouldn't assume the Avs will beat out the Wild for a playoff spot. A lot can, and undoubtedly will, happen.

 

[W75]

Players' post game comments are starting to sound eerily familiar.. "I don't have an explanation.." (Parise/StarTribune). Need to be better as a team, wrong to accuse individuals blah blah blah..

I'm starting to believe they must know. I understand they won't share it publicly. But if they aren't going to be honest with themselves, inside the team, solving it, creating real solutions, you know in front of the mirror.. I think it would be at least fair to admit they don't care anymore. So that we fans could stop caring too.

 

[Sharppi]

Well, maybe it really is time to clean the house. Everything looks horrible.

 

[Lapa]

We let in seven goals versus the Devils?

Wow.

 

[TaLoN]

We let in seven goals versus the Devils?

Wow.

Our defense is the worst it's ever been. That and we have goalies that allow soft goals on top of it. We completely suck from the blueline on back.

 

[Bruce Granville]

Our defense is the worst it's ever been. That and we have goalies that allow soft goals on top of it. We completely suck from the blueline on back.

Cannot be true. We have Suter, the best defensive D-man there ever was in the game.

 

[AJ Thelen]

Our defense is the worst it's ever been. That and we have goalies that allow soft goals on top of it. We completely suck from the blueline on back.

Agreed. Our blueline is weak and our goalietandem is mediocre at best.
Dubnyk and his contract is a tragedy.

 

[Puhis]

Eh. We'll bounce back.

 

[Fremitus Borealis]

I'm not gonna freak out over one game, but Dubnyk was pretty much horrible, which seemed to psych Kuemper out. And when both your goalies have an off night, this can happen. I mean a couple of the Devils' goals were just straight up good plays, but if you take away the freebies the goalies let in, the Wild might've won that game 4-3.

 

[AJ Thelen]

Dubnyk biggest problem is that he is the least atlethic goalie in the league. He is a decent shotstopper, but he is nowhere near being a elite tendy. When the gear gets smaller he will even struggle keeping his % over .900.

 

[57special]

So how do you explain last year?

 

[Generic User]

So how do you explain last year?

Contract year? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[BigT2002]

So how do you explain last year?

The tl;dr version: The team was more defensive

The longer version:

The team was in an offensive mindset when they started play last season with DK in net. Then the wheels fell off because he couldn't stop a beach ball from getting behind him. The team downward spiraled hard. Then they got Dubs and the transition started to happen where the team pretty much realized they couldn't put faith in winning games 1-0 or 2-1 anymore because they had just seen every goalie in the system fail. So they played hardcore defense and made damn sure teams didn't get good shots on net.

Tie in Burke working with Dubnyk in Arizona and helping him on where he was deficient certainly seemed to help as well. Something I'm still inclined is the reason he has been rather lackluster this year is look who the Wild's goalie coach is. He's old and I don't think he is helping either goalie out with what they are doing wrong. Soon as teams find a weakness they will exploit it. Once its been exploited other teams know it is there. If it is never corrected, you have a problem on your hands where they expect them to recognize it and fix it. Then you get what DK did last year and overcorrect it to the point its still a weakness and now another weakness has reared its ugly head because your movement opened up another hole.

 

[57special]

Dumba had a bad game also. We all love his aggressiveness and production offensively, but his defensive play on a couple of goals was poor. Scandella was also poor, continuing on a trend for him. The team expects him to be a defensive stopper, and he hasn't been recently. Actually, just about every Dman has looked lost out there. Brodin, and to a lesser extent, Spurgeon, have looked the best to me out there. I don't get why Prosser gets so much play. He's just not up to it.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

Well...the (kinda) funny thing was they played an incredible defensive game against Ottawa only two days before this game. They obviously crumbled at the end and it's almost like an indicator of the entire season how they let adversity completely ruin their fragile minds. I don't know if I've ever seen a team that is so fragile mentally...as a collective too. Nobody stands up and says I've got this one, guys. At least it doesn't feel like it.

 

[57special]

But it's not like we've been playing world beaters. MTLhas half their team missing. OTT is a bubble team. NJ...EDM?

 

[roon]

So how do you explain last year?

When is the coaching staff going to realize that Brodin is just better than Scandella. Scandella needs to be our 3rd pairing LD. Really sick of seeing Brodin mis-used and his development hurt because someone on the coaching staff has a hard on for Scandella.

 

[57special]

When is the coaching staff going to realize that Brodin is just better than Scandella. Scandella needs to be our 3rd pairing LD. Really sick of seeing Brodin mis-used and his development hurt because someone on the coaching staff has a hard on for Scandella.

There is a common thread between Brodin's ( earlier in the year) sub par play and Scandella's later sub par play. Their D partner, Dumba. He doesn't make anyone look good in the defensive end, let alone pick them up when they make a mistake, like any good D partner.

I think Scandella might also get tired of being one of the few guys who plays physically on the team. We are having these mediocre teams just walk in to the slot area on us more or less untouched. What happens when we play a team like LA, STL, or ANA? There gets a point where you feel you are the only guy sacrificing the body, and you give up.


Remember the game recently where Dumba got in the fight? After that, Coyle went nutz for a couple of shifts and ran into EVERYONE on the other team, absolutely rocking them. That is SO rare on this team. I understand that it is a long season and that you can't play all out for 82 games, but the Wild are so easy and unthreatening to play against now. It used to be we'd terrorize then with speed and the forecheck...how is Poms, Vanek, Stoll, and Schroeder gonna do that? For all the crap that Zucker gets, I see a guy that consistently gets in there early to negate icings. Nino seems to have woken up and found his game....just in time for Coyle to fall asleep.

I would love to see a Coyle Haula Nino line out there, or maybe Granlund in place of Haula. This team desperately needs Granlund to be a legit top 6 player....I've not been a fan, but he has been playing better. He could be one of those guys who is maturing late...sort of the anti- Mackinnon.

 

[W75]

We'll need a new GDT soonish.