2014-2015 General Wild Discussion Thread IV

[57special]

Who works with Vanek?

Schroeder. Who seems to work with everyone, but especially skill players.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

That first playoff series against the Blackhawks lasted five games, but it may have been the most important stretch of Scandella's career.

"As we got in we saw where his game was at," Yeo said. "He earned more and more ice time and more responsibility. The way he was defending aggressively, the way he was taking away time and space. His confidence was at a completely different level."

It's a confidence Scandella hasn't lost since. It's what has helped him develop into one of the most underrated defensemen in the NHL this season, and perhaps the most consistent on the Wild; that's saying something considering one of his teammates is all-star Ryan Suter.

NHL.com Article on Scandella

 

[J22*]

My take on the lines-

Haula and Brodziak play 4th line because the Wild need them for the PK and because they don't have a 5th line.

Coyle centers the 3rd line because he's better than Haula and Brodziak, not as good as Granlund Koivu. Nino plays with Coyle for two reasons.1- Nino and Coyle are very good together. 2- Every time they put Nino up with Koivu or Granlund, his game goes to ****.

Granlund and Koivu center the top 2 lines. Parise is with Granlund because Parise can play with anybody but Granlunds line dies without Parise. That leaves Pominville and/or Vanek to play with Koivu. Pominville has been playing with Koivu lately but has struggled. My guess is Yeo is hoping that putting the Parise-Granlund-Pominville back together might be able to get Granlund and/or Pominville going again. That leaves you with Koivu and Vanek paired together. They were not a great match at the beginning of the season, but then again, neither player was very good playing with anybody early on.

Now you have your top line, 2/3 of your 2nd line, 2/3 of your 3rd line and 2/3 of your 4th line with Bergenheim, Schroeder, and Fontaine left to fill in the gaps. To me, it makes sense to put the new guy with Vanek and Koivu. Why not try it and see if something clicks? What's the worst that can happen? Bergenheim proves to be similar to Schroeder and Fontaine? If Bergenheim doesn't work with Vanek/Koivu, Yeo can pretty easily bump Schroeder or Fontaine up to that line.

 

[BigT2002]

With our newly acquired player, there are still 3 players in the main roster who have to be moved either when players come back this season or next assuming Zucker, Cooke, Carter are retained next year. Figure Brodziak goes, still have to make room for the injured ones....

 

[Wild11MN]

With our newly acquired player, there are still 3 players in the main roster who have to be moved either when players come back this season or next assuming Zucker, Cooke, Carter are retained next year. Figure Brodziak goes, still have to make room for the injured ones....

I was just thinking this too. That means Haula will be scratched. Then one of Fontaine/Schroeder. I don't think you can bench anyone else.

 

[SomethingGeneric]

I feel like you can't take either of those players out right now... I say keep cooke in the press box until needed

 

[Al Lagoon]

Interesting stat - since the All Star break, Nate Prosser is +11.

Dubnyk is probably helping everybody's +/-, but that is pretty decent month for a guy who gets no respect.

 

[123TripleDoge]

yeah prosser has been quite solid lately, gotta have people step up and our guys have been

 

[gphr513]

Interesting stat - since the All Star break, Nate Prosser is +11.

Dubnyk is probably helping everybody's +/-, but that is pretty decent month for a guy who gets no respect.

Yeah, I haven't found myself facepalming because of Prosser much lately.

 

[TaLoN]

Yeah, I haven't found myself facepalming because of Prosser much lately.

I'll still be glad when this team finally develops a player Yeo feels comfortable playing ahead of him.

Prosser is playing above his head right now... it can't last...

 

[Spurgeon]

Who goes out when Spurgeon comes back in?

 

[TaLoN]

Who goes out when Spurgeon comes back in?

I'm guessing Yeo will sit Folin... though I like what he brings more than Prosser.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Who goes out when Spurgeon comes back in?

I'd say Dumba but they probably keep him up and in the press box near the end, so he can get some experience in. I'd like to keep Dumba in the AHL when we have a healthy top 4, so that he can get some minutes in the AHL. It wouldn't hurt him at all to have a full season in the AHL before getting called up in the NHL. Didn't hurt Zucker or Schroeder or el Nino at all.

 

[TaLoN]

I'd say Dumba but they probably keep him up and in the press box near the end, so he can get some experience in. I'd like to keep Dumba in the AHL when we have a healthy top 4, so that he can get some minutes in the AHL. It wouldn't hurt him at all to have a full season in the AHL before getting called up in the NHL. Didn't hurt Zucker or Schroeder or el Nino at all.

Dumba is playing great hockey right now... he's playing 18mins/gm lately, and I'd expect he'd stay in the 15min range even after Spurgeon is back. No reason to send him down if he's getting these kind of quality minutes while playing as well and with the confidence level he currently has.

 

[10coach*]

I'd say Dumba but they probably keep him up and in the press box near the end, so he can get some experience in. I'd like to keep Dumba in the AHL when we have a healthy top 4, so that he can get some minutes in the AHL. It wouldn't hurt him at all to have a full season in the AHL before getting called up in the NHL. Didn't hurt Zucker or Schroeder or el Nino at all.

Dumba isn't going anywhere kid is a stud.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Dumba is playing great hockey right now... he's playing 18mins/gm lately, and I'd expect he'd stay in the 15min range even after Spurgeon is back. No reason to send him down if he's getting these kind of quality minutes while playing as well and with the confidence level he currently has.

There is a significant reason to send him down; so the Wild CAN send him down when they need too. There is no reason to keep him up and burn through his exemption, when he can and will get enough minutes in the AHL plus continue to grow and learn as a defenseman. They made that mistake of keeping Haula and Kuemper up too long. Why keep him up with a healthy lineup?

Dumba isn't going anywhere kid is a stud.

Yes, because we said that about Kuemper and Haula and to some extent Granlund and Coyle...

 

[10coach*]

There is a significant reason to send him down; so the Wild CAN send him down when they need too. There is no reason to keep him up and burn through his exemption, when he can and will get enough minutes in the AHL plus continue to grow and learn as a defenseman. They made that mistake of keeping Haula and Kuemper up too long. Why keep him up with a healthy lineup?

That would be doing things the Twins way... Also they keep him up because he's already solidified that he belongs. This isn't the same Dumba that we saw at the beginning of last year.

 

[thestonedkoala]

That would be doing things the Twins way... Also they keep him up because he's already solidified that he belongs. This isn't the same Dumba that we saw at the beginning of last year.

It's not the same Dumba we saw because he had time in the AHL to adapt. We were all clamoring for him to get to the AHL earlier in the season. Let's not rush the kid. He's going to have some bad games still and some good games.

Kuemper showed that he belonged last year and so did Haula - and yet we still had to trade for one goaltender and Haula has been scratched a lot this year.

 

[TaLoN]

It's not the same Dumba we saw because he had time in the AHL to adapt. We were all clamoring for him to get to the AHL earlier in the season. Let's not rush the kid. He's going to have some bad games still and some good games.

Kuemper showed that he belonged last year and so did Haula - and yet we still had to trade for one goaltender and Haula has been scratched a lot this year.

The kid has earned his time... as long as he keeps earning his time he's fine. He's not in danger of becoming waiver eligible any time soon yet so we're good.

He's waiver exempt for 3yrs or 160 NHL games. He's got 50 NHL games of the 160... so 110 more NHL games or 2 more years before we have to worry about it. Meaning even if he plays all 82 next season, he still won't be waiver eligible at the start of the 3rd year of his pro-career.

 

[thestonedkoala]

If I'm reading this correctly, all his games from this year apply including the AHL and he loses exemption after next season since he played 13 games when he was 19 meaning he lost two years of exemption.

 

[TaLoN]

If I'm reading this correctly, all his games from this year apply including the AHL and he loses exemption after next season since he played 13 games when he was 19 meaning he lost two years of exemption.

No, waiver rules only count NHL games towards waiver eligibility.

That's why DR screwed up with Sheppard if you recall.

http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/nhl-waiver-rules-explained/

Either way, Dumba will not reach the 160 NHL games mark for him to reach waiver eligibility, so going to the AHL now has zero bearing on on that what so ever.

As long as he keeps earning time at the NHL level like he is, he should stay in the NHL.

 

[Randy BoBandy]

Do you watch the games TSK?

Serious question.

Dumba has been awesome lately. I was all for him getting some time down in Iowa at the beginning of the year. But now he has proven himself and the team is better with him on it. He is still going to have growing pains, but from what I've seen lately. He isn't an AHL player. And playing down there isn't going to help his game. Kid can play.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

If he's going to go back to 10 minutes per game, absolutely you send him down, but 15ish NHL minutes is much better than 20 in the AHL. If he stays at that level, and continues to play well, I don't think it's an issue.

 

[Jarick]

I think Fontaine's getting the shaft right now. He's been the team's most efficient scorer in February at even strength and last night was the best possession player on the team. He deserves at least a third line role, if not more than that.

I would like to see:

Nino-Koivu-Schroeder
Parise-Granlund-Pominville
Bergenheim-Coyle-Fontaine
Haula-Brodziak-Vanek

 

[thestonedkoala]

No, waiver rules only count NHL games towards waiver eligibility.

That's why DR screwed up with Sheppard if you recall.

http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/nhl-waiver-rules-explained/

Either way, Dumba will not reach the 160 NHL games mark for him to reach waiver eligibility, so going to the AHL now has zero bearing on on that what so ever.

As long as he keeps earning time at the NHL level like he is, he should stay in the NHL.

Additionally, for players twenty or older, all professional games count, not just NHL games. This includes all minor league games and European league games while the player is on loan and signed to an NHL team. For waiver purposes, age eighteen means the player reaches that age between January 1 and September 15 of the draft year. Ages from nineteen to twenty-one mean that the player reaches that age during the year of the draft.

Also

First, the number of years is reduced by two for eighteen year old or nineteen year old players playing more than eleven NHL games. So, any goalie playing more than eleven NHL games by age nineteen will lose waiver exemption after four seasons and any skater doing the same will lose waiver exemption after three.

http://www.litterboxcats.com/2013/10/7/4792782/nhl-waiver-waivers-cba-florida-panthers

Do you watch the games TSK?

Serious question.

Dumba has been awesome lately. I was all for him getting some time down in Iowa at the beginning of the year. But now he has proven himself and the team is better with him on it. He is still going to have growing pains, but from what I've seen lately. He isn't an AHL player. And playing down there isn't going to help his game. Kid can play.

I have and he is playing great BUT so was Haula and Kuemper last year. Zucker to some extent as well showed he could play in the NHL two years ago almost with Bulmer. It's not going to hurt his development at all to put him down in the AHL where he can get time on the PK, PP and top pairing minutes.