Dr Jan Itor
Registered User
Which isn't that hard to believe; he didn't play center when he went to the Q, and didn't play there at all last year. Essentially, they're having him "learn on the job", which would be fine if the "job" wasn't the NHL.
2013-14 Minnesota Wild Discussion
- Thread starter Puhis
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Which isn't that hard to believe; he didn't play center when he went to the Q, and didn't play there at all last year. Essentially, they're having him "learn on the job", which would be fine if the "job" wasn't the NHL.
holy **** Coyle waving to the little fan is all over the internet, Hockey has never seen so much coverage worldwide 
Puhis
Will accept caffeine.
holy **** Coyle waving to the little fan is all over the internet, Hockey has never seen so much coverage worldwide
Little known fact: Mikko Koivu ate that kid for dinner the next day.
Puhis
Will accept caffeine.
tomgilbertfan
#WhyBother
Lapa
Global Moderator
- Feb 21, 2010
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tomgilbertfan
#WhyBother
Lapa
Global Moderator
- Feb 21, 2010
- 13,201
- 2,109
tomgilbertfan
#WhyBother
I'm sure we can find someone else for Dumba to make popcorn with
James sheppard trade confirmed.
DANOZ28
Registered User
at the moment the wild are sitting in 9th & the teams ahead all have games in hand. the secondary scoring well is dry. so far the wild are right where i predicted they'd be. our goal scoring pace has dropped to 190G for the season. if our goaltending cools off were in BIG trouble in little china.
Nino Noderreiter
Registered User
Thing is the Wild have completely reversed their style of play from the beginning of the season. If you remember early on we were all a little bit worried about the high number of odd man rushes we were giving up. We were playing more wide open. Our breakouts were crisp. We were moving through the neutral zone and dominating the puck in the offensive zone.
Now it's grind along the boards in the offensive zone until we lose it. Make sure 3rd forward is high as a 3rd defenseman. Pack the box. We don't really allow a lot of good chances, but with the amount of shots our goalies are seeing they are bound to put 1 or 2 past our goalie. Usually on the PP when we can't box it in as much.
Now it's grind along the boards in the offensive zone until we lose it. Make sure 3rd forward is high as a 3rd defenseman. Pack the box. We don't really allow a lot of good chances, but with the amount of shots our goalies are seeing they are bound to put 1 or 2 past our goalie. Usually on the PP when we can't box it in as much.
holy **** Coyle waving to the little fan is all over the internet, Hockey has never seen so much coverage worldwide
All that free beer wasted on 3 kids on the glass
Jarick
Doing Nothing
Playoff picture using win percentage:
Chicago vs Vancouver
St Louis vs Colorado
Anaheim vs Phoenix
San Jose vs Los Angeles
They would also have the worst draft position among non-playoff teams.
Chicago vs Vancouver
St Louis vs Colorado
Anaheim vs Phoenix
San Jose vs Los Angeles
They would also have the worst draft position among non-playoff teams.
TSK the whole thing is your statement was preposterous no matter how you feel about the end result. It simply isn't true that Fletcher ignored the center position. As the main purpose of his first few years was to build up a prospect pool I fail to see what else he could have done. He traded a prospect they liked a lot for scoring. I don't think you would get a center of the quality you want for the package we gave up for Pommenville, and it would have been foolish to trade any of our top three young players/prospects (Brodin, Coyle, Granlund) for a center with limited time on the contract (as Pommenville had) when the focus is on the long term health of the franchise. Who knows what we could have swung without Heatley on the books though--we would have needed that money to get a veteran center of the quality you wanted. And if it wasn't Heatley's money it would have been Havlats throwing a wrench into the works--for an additional year, to boot.
Fletch hasn't ignored the center spot. He's simply failed to raise it out of a position of weakness.
has he really. name a time we had better centers up and down the lineup.
edit: it's not up there yet, but i don't know what the hell people expect after this amount of time, coming from nothing, when quality scoring centers seem to be the most coveted position in the league. if you have one, you don't let them go, generally. they aren't available. we haven't had a **** ton of top three picks which seems to be where you draft them.
The center spot has been more or less the same (i.e. below par) for years. This year's group isn't significantly better or worse than any year going back to the playoff years of 2006-07, when we had a respectable group consisting of Mikko, White, and Walz. Since then it's always been Mikko, below average 2nd-line C (from Belanger to Cullen to now Granlund), a grinding 3rd-line C (Sheppard to Brodziak), and a bunch of pieces filling in the 4th. When healthy it's a below average group, and one injury creates a disaster with the lack of depth. It's always been lacking in top end and overall talent.
This is Fletcher's fifth team. Long overdue to address the center position. A big move needed to be made.
DeuceMN
Really?
The posters complaining do realize just how ****ing hard and expensive it is to get a really good scoring center in this league right?! You guys ***** about Koivu incessantly, well do you have any reasonable idea just how much he would garner in a trade for us?! A **** load. And you want us to get a better, more offensive (probably established because everything has to be a sure thing for you, but not too old, because, you know) center?! Let's also keep in mind who was complaining about the cost of the Pominville trade, and also the cost of the Pominville trade, and you want a better than Koivu center?!?! Are you ****ing nuts?!
We're losing some of our good PIECES if that happens, especially now. Plus, once Gralnund gets back, IMO, we could be better at C, sure, of course, but we're not that bad, and that opportunity cost makes this whole thing just ridiculous. Haula is also looking like he might have potential there.
Our lack of scoring isn't because we don't have a Crosby on this team, is because of the way these players are told to play. Three seasons, all with very similar results? Oh yeah, the writing's on the wall.
If Harding doesn't play stupidly good up to now, or we just had Backs in net, we'd be ****ing screwed and Yeo would have gotten his walking papers already. He could be sitting in his gazebo on his island pondering why his system of 5'11" guys grinding every night, and his over utilizing certain players in this league wore them down and why they always has injuries to key players. It truly is a mystery.
We're losing some of our good PIECES if that happens, especially now. Plus, once Gralnund gets back, IMO, we could be better at C, sure, of course, but we're not that bad, and that opportunity cost makes this whole thing just ridiculous. Haula is also looking like he might have potential there.
Our lack of scoring isn't because we don't have a Crosby on this team, is because of the way these players are told to play. Three seasons, all with very similar results? Oh yeah, the writing's on the wall.
If Harding doesn't play stupidly good up to now, or we just had Backs in net, we'd be ****ing screwed and Yeo would have gotten his walking papers already. He could be sitting in his gazebo on his island pondering why his system of 5'11" guys grinding every night, and his over utilizing certain players in this league wore them down and why they always has injuries to key players. It truly is a mystery.
BusQuets
Registered User
- Jul 16, 2010
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Yeah some posters here are just delusionals. There are maybe 15-20 centers that are better than him overall. Koivu belongs that Bergeron/Backes/Kopitar tier. No way teams trade these kind of players and you are out on a lunch if you think they are going to end up free agent. We are not going to get better center than him unless we trade Koivu/Granlund/Brodin package and who will do that. U can moan if your top center is Bozak or Stajan. Grabbing guys like weiss or roy from free agent isn't doing anything more than damage our team. We have to hope Granlund can provide that above average 2nd line center duty.
Dr Jan Itor
Registered User
What did you want us to do? Sign a veteran for another 3-4 years and make Granlund wait until he's 25? He brought in a guy that was able to hold the position at a respectable level until the young guy (drafted 9th overall, not some mid-round gamble) was ready to assume control. Their fault was that they assumed that Granlund was ready one year too early, but he definitely looked ready before he got hurt.
- Dec 10, 2012
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Why would you ever let young guys step in and step up when you can just sign washed up veteran stop gaps forever?
Is TSK secretly Doug Risebrough?
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