GDT: Wild @ Knits - 9PM CST

[Roman Maroni]

Sounds like I missed a potential headache in the morning.

 

[Roman Maroni]

Roman's got no time for this. He's out in his hangar, tightening some bolts on his tractor.

View attachment 850815

Definately not me, I don't wear bibs...
In other words, there should be a moon bright enough to light up the Dakotas and Western Minnesota!

 

[Sweetnut]

Sounds like I missed a potential headache in the morning.

You have your chance tomorrow, buddy. Don't be late this time. If we're lucky, we get to see Freddy!
Don't miss out!

 

[thestonedkoala]

Does anyone feel like next year is going to be worse than this year? Blown out by both Colorado and Las Vegas. Like there feels like too many pieces are missing still from Minnesota for them to keep up with the big dogs in the West.

 

[Wasted Talent]

Does anyone feel like next year is going to be worse than this year? Blown out by both Colorado and Las Vegas. Like there feels like too many pieces are missing still from Minnesota for them to keep up with the big dogs in the West.

I don't know if it will be worse, but it's unlikely to be any better unless Gustavsson (or Fleury) figure their shit out.

 

[Wabit]

Does anyone feel like next year is going to be worse than this year? Blown out by both Colorado and Las Vegas. Like there feels like too many pieces are missing still from Minnesota for them to keep up with the big dogs in the West.

It'll be basically the same team next year. There is some cap to use, but it'll be gone after 1 or 2 players are signed. So many players have some kind of NTC it'll make it difficult to remake the roster via trades.

 

[63firebird]

It'll be basically the same team next year. There is some cap to use, but it'll be gone after 1 or 2 players are signed. So many players have some kind of NTC it'll make it difficult to remake the roster via trades.

Freddy,Foligno,Marjo.....all have NMC? Middleton, Merrill,Bogo looking so slow.Letteri,Beckman,Shaw,Luccini AHLers. Fleury and Gus looking really weak..
I suppose the only thing to cheer for is Marat,Ohlgren to develop.

 

[Wabit]

Freddy,Foligno,Marjo.....all have NMC? Middleton, Merrill,Bogo looking so slow.Letteri,Beckman,Shaw,Luccini AHLers. Fleury and Gus looking really weak..
I suppose the only thing to cheer for is Marat,Ohlgren to develop.

Foligno-full NMC
MarJo- full NTC
Freddy G- 15 team NTC. Lets be real, with his contract he's untradeable

Spurgeon, Brodin, Kap, Zucc, and Hartman also all have some kind of trade protections.

 

[keppel146]

Ohgren look like he belonged or could use heavy seasoning? I didn’t see any of the game.

 

[thestonedkoala]

I don't know if it will be worse, but it's unlikely to be any better unless Gustavsson (or Fleury) figure their shit out.

I mean rumor is Fleury is coming back. The team is older. Questions about Yurov. And there doesn't seem to be any solutions in the minors.

 

[f7ben]

Even if everything breaks 100% in the wilds favor next year the team isn’t remotely close to being anything other than a bubble team that would get absolutely wrecked in the post season. Guerin is 100% incompetent. Somehow getting younger and faster and purging the country club ended up being the oldest slowest laziest country club in the league and the worst offenders have trade protection for god knows what reason.

 

[57special]

It'll be basically the same team next year. There is some cap to use, but it'll be gone after 1 or 2 players are signed. So many players have some kind of NTC it'll make it difficult to remake the roster via trades.

Agreed. I would hope that Rossi and Marat will be better. Hard to imagine Faber being better. Boldy might improve a bit. Yurov coming over and being a middle sixer would be nice, as would Hunt coming into the lineup and making the bottom pairing stronger.

OTOH, Foligno, Zucc, MarJo, Merrill, Spurgeon, Gaudreau, are getting older, not better, and will probably decline.

JEE, Kap, Brodin, Middleton will probably stay the same.

The 4th line is awful. No speed, toughness, or physicality. No scoring, which is normal for a 4th line, but they don't bring anything else to the table. It's a sure thing that BG will sign a guy who can fight to play on that line next year. With Foligno out and Duhaime traded, the only guys who can fight are Hartman(not great at it, and not the best use of his talent), Middleton(vg at it, but you don't want to lose your top 4 Dman for 5 min).

No idea about the goalies. Gus has been uber disappointing.

With another 15 M we could sign a really good top 6 forward and a good 2/3 D, but that won't happen till 25-26. so... things are kind of grim next year in terms of competitiveness. Only thing we have to look forward to are seeing young players break into the lineup, but with the signings that BG has made, even that has been curtailed.

Does anyone feel like next year is going to be worse than this year? Blown out by both Colorado and Las Vegas. Like there feels like too many pieces are missing still from Minnesota for them to keep up with the big dogs in the West.

End of the year with no chance for a playoff spot. I don't take those game too seriously.

Ohgren look like he belonged or could use heavy seasoning? I didn’t see any of the game.

That's one way to put it. He looked really bad defending on one goal. It's way to early to tell anything at this point.

 

[Minnesota]

We need Yurov next season to have any shot at being competitive.

 

[Wabit]

Agreed. I would hope that Rossi and Marat will be better. Hard to imagine Faber being better. Boldy might improve a bit. Yurov coming over and being a middle sixer would be nice, as would Hunt coming into the lineup and making the bottom pairing stronger.

OTOH, Foligno, Zucc, MarJo, Merrill, Spurgeon, Gaudreau, are getting older, not better, and will probably decline.

JEE, Kap, Brodin, Middleton will probably stay the same.

The 4th line is awful. No speed, toughness, or physicality. No scoring, which is normal for a 4th line, but they don't bring anything else to the table. It's a sure thing that BG will sign a guy who can fight to play on that line next year. With Foligno out and Duhaime traded, the only guys who can fight are Hartman(not great at it, and not the best use of his talent), Middleton(vg at it, but you don't want to lose your top 4 Dman for 5 min).

No idea about the goalies. Gus has been uber disappointing.

With another 15 M we could sign a really good top 6 forward and a good 2/3 D, but that won't happen till 25-26. so... things are kind of grim next year in terms of competitiveness. Only thing we have to look forward to are seeing young players break into the lineup, but with the signings that BG has made, even that has been curtailed.

Faber should be at least slightly better due to learning from the rookie mistakes he's made this year.

From what I've seen, Marat K currently isn't even at the level Dewar was as a player. I haven't said anything because I haven't watched every game and giving him a chance to settle into NA hockey. Now the entire team looks checked out so hard to really say anything about anyone.

For the d-corps. They really just need Spurgeon (healthy) to be a 2nd pair d-man and find a top-4 LD to pair with him. Middleton/Bogo is a solid 3rd pair, but neither one belongs in the top-4.

In net they need Gus to be a league average goalie. Or trade him and run MAF/Wallstedt for the same/less combined cap hit as Gus is now.

The 4th line can be found for cheap in FA and still be decent. Fix that and adding a middle-6 winger and the FWD group should be okay.

It doesn't make a great team, but it does make them a team Kap can drag into the Playoffs.

 

[BagHead]

Even if everything breaks 100% in the wilds favor next year the team isn’t remotely close to being anything other than a bubble team that would get absolutely wrecked in the post season. Guerin is 100% incompetent. Somehow getting younger and faster and purging the country club ended up being the oldest slowest laziest country club in the league and the worst offenders have trade protection for god knows what reason.

What you cite as his bad moves are definitely bad moves, and you'll get no push back from me on that but, to me, Guerin is 50% incompetent, which is about normal for NHL GM's. He has some good moves he's completed, and that's why this team hasn't bottomed out. I've seen ~100% incompetent, and I'll just say that the waters of the Incompetental ocean go much deeper than Point Guerin.

Wishing for a new GM is like trying to get the words right while holding a monkeys paw. The step from having a GM who is bad enough to make a team tank is not far from having a GM who also can't draft well in spite of high picks. I would like to see the Wild get a better GM, but they need to be careful.

 

[BagHead]

We need Yurov next season to have any shot at being competitive.

Am I crazy for hoping he doesn't come over, then? I think the kids could use a year in the AHL rather than the NHL, and then let them all hit the NHL team at once. Or at least in short sequence, as they become ready. Throwing them into the flames and just leaving them there won't cook them, it'll burn them.

 

[Wabit]

Am I crazy for hoping he doesn't come over, then? I think the kids could use a year in the AHL rather than the NHL, and then let them all hit the NHL team at once. Or at least in short sequence, as they become ready. Throwing them into the flames and just leaving them there won't cook them, it'll burn them.

I like them being in the AHL in theory, but the team needs to be good for them to really get anything from being in the AHL for longer than a short stint.

The Wild's farm system is just broken. Currently the AHL team has the least points in that league and the ECHL team has the 2nd fewest points in that league.

 

[thestonedkoala]

The biggest concern next year is defense...anyone think Spurgeon is going to start the season on LTIR?

 

[BagHead]

I like them being in the AHL in theory, but the team needs to be good for them to really get anything from being in the AHL for longer than a short stint.

The Wild's farm system is just broken. Currently the AHL team has the least points in that league and the ECHL team has the 2nd fewest points in that league.

I agree, it does need to be much improved for them to get anything out of it. I guess I'm just expecting that as the team is infused with more talent, they'll improve. Their defense this year was very young and mostly inexperienced. With another year of development they'll do better, I would hope, and an added veteran would probably help as well. Of course, this is just looking at their player-personnel, not considering coaches.

 

[Wabit]

I agree, it does need to be much improved for them to get anything out of it. I guess I'm just expecting that as the team is infused with more talent, they'll improve. Their defense this year was very young and mostly inexperienced. With another year of development they'll do better, I would hope, and an added veteran would probably help as well. Of course, this is just looking at their player-personnel, not considering coaches.

Where does this vet d-man play?

There are 6 signed and 1 RFA d-men currently in Iowa. The NHL roster had 6 signed d-men and 1 RFA. You bring in a vet d-man for the AHL team and it just bumps someone to the pressbox or to the ECHL.

The FWD group (mainly 2-way centers) is what's needed to add (quality) vets to bolster the kids.

 

[57special]

Am I crazy for hoping he doesn't come over, then? I think the kids could use a year in the AHL rather than the NHL, and then let them all hit the NHL team at once. Or at least in short sequence, as they become ready. Throwing them into the flames and just leaving them there won't cook them, it'll burn them.

Yup, dead crazy.

 

[57special]

Where does this vet d-man play?

There are 6 signed and 1 RFA d-men currently in Iowa. The NHL roster had 6 signed d-men and 1 RFA. You bring in a vet d-man for the AHL team and it just bumps someone to the pressbox or to the ECHL.

The FWD group (mainly 2-way centers) is what's needed to add (quality) vets to bolster the kids.

I agree. Hunt is probably ready now, but certainly next year. Has quietly had a nice season down in Iowa.

I think we will be reasonably well off on defense. Middle of the pack, at least. Better than that if Spurgeon comes back and is close to what he was.

Our big problem is with the forwards. Once we get past the top 5 or 6, it gets really thin. I am not at all confident that our bottom sixers can win any puck battles against even average teams, let alone good ones. Gaudreau, MarJo, Letierri, Luchinni, Shaw, Beckman are either too weak, too slow, or just not good enough.

 

[BagHead]

Where does this vet d-man play?

There are 6 signed and 1 RFA d-men currently in Iowa. The NHL roster had 6 signed d-men and 1 RFA. You bring in a vet d-man for the AHL team and it just bumps someone to the pressbox or to the ECHL.

The FWD group (mainly 2-way centers) is what's needed to add (quality) vets to bolster the kids.

I hear what you're saying, and you're probably right about the forward group. I won't pretend to have all the answers, but from what others on this board said after watching Iowa this year, it sounds like maybe some of the 7 AHL d-men are actually ECHLers, which would make assigning them to the ECHL a solution, not a problem. If you add one veteran, you're really only looking at 2 of them being in the ECHL while Iowa and Minnesota are both fully healthy.

If you want the defense in Iowa to improve, something needs to be done to improve it. A balance of open spots for prospects and good veteran AHLers needs to be met, and then you just let the cream rise to the top.

 

[BagHead]

Yup, dead crazy.

Fair enough. I know it's good to get Yurov into North America as early as possible, even if only to ensure he arrives. I think he's got the skills for the NHL, I just doubt our team has the skills to capitalize on him.

 

[57special]

I hear what you're saying, and you're probably right about the forward group. I won't pretend to have all the answers, but from what others on this board said after watching Iowa this year, it sounds like maybe some of the 7 AHL d-men are actually ECHLers, which would make assigning them to the ECHL a solution, not a problem. If you add one veteran, you're really only looking at 2 of them being in the ECHL while Iowa and Minnesota are both fully healthy.

If you want the defense in Iowa to improve, something needs to be done to improve it. A balance of open spots for prospects and good veteran AHLers needs to be met, and then you just let the cream rise to the top.

By next year ROR, Hunt and S JO will have plenty of AHL experience. part of the problem is that Mermis was up for most of the year. He was their captain down in iowa, and a steadying influence. He's a classic tweener, but down in Iowa he's effective. surprisingly strong and tough, too.

I want our young Dmen in Iowa to get lots of TOI. Army seldom used them in PP spots, preferring veterans there. That might help the AHL team a bit, but it sure doesn't help the young guys develop into anything other than bang it up the boards types. This year, Hunt, S JO, and even Spacek have been getting PP TOI. That's what i want to see.