Maybe Guerin shoulda just kept that one guy that was really good and already on the team.
Minnesota Wild General Discussion - 2022-23
- Thread starter TaLoN
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This topic has been beaten to death already. But, if you are thinking of the same guy I am, I’d rather have him than Fiala.
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Still the 2nd wild card if you go by P%, so I would rule that bet as inconclusive for now.
True. It is cause for concern that we’ve been losing so much. Paper tiger, just like the Vikings?
StateofCelly
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- Jan 5, 2017
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Quite a stretch in the schedule coming up... I am predicting 2-7-1 in the next 10, there are some games that could go either way. Have them beating Philly and one of Arizona/Nashville and think the other could go either way depending on which team shows up so I called it a tie. Really tough part of the schedule to need to be banking points.
Nah, the Wild just aren't that good. They fall into the better than the bad teams, worse than the good teams meh zone.
Last year they were good (and lots of 6v5 luck) enough to play about even with the good teams and get games to OT then take their chances in gimmick hockey for an extra point. They did not have a lot of regulation wins against quality teams. The team has gotten worse overall and they are getting beat in regulation.
They had 23 games get to OT last year, this year so far it's 9.
No question the team is worse this year. Each season through 46 games:
Last year: 30-13-3 ~ 63 points
This year: 25-17-4 ~ 54 points
And as StateofCelly pointed out, it’s only going to get worse for the next little bit.
The sad part is, we probably would have won last night without Hartman. One player directly involved in all three of TB’s non-EN goals.
Dickie Dunn
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This is just an ok team getting ok results. Same story as so many years, too much talent to sink but not enough to really make a charge. In a weird way, Kaprizov is so good he almost makes the problem worse. He can nearly singlehandedly keep them 'ok' against other 'ok' to bottom teams.
They have a lot of games at home and it's not against many teams currently sitting in the Playoffs.
8 of the next 10 games are at home.
-1 of the away games should be a win (AZ), the other a loss (DAL). 1-1
-3 home games are teams well ahead of them in the standings. NJD, VGK, DAL. 0-3
-1 home game against a sub .500 (PHI) team should be a win. 1-0
-4 home games against similar record teams so games that should be won due to home ice, but at least get to OT (BUF, FL are wins), COL and NSH are tossups. 2-0-2
So a 4-4-2 record is what I see as the baseline.
StateofCelly
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That is a fair assessment, I was being far more critical of the team and looking at what other teams are doing right now as far as getting hot vs where we are at. That Arizona team in their barn has been a tough out for a lot of teams, that's why I had it as more of a toss up. Colorado has Nate back, and probably will have Makar back by then.
Hoping your prediction is more correct, but even still .500 hockey at this point of the season is an indictment on the direction this is going, and hopefully realistic decisions are made by management. A mediocre team performing at peak mediocrity is such a tough product to support.. this is my first year in 9 as a STH that I have questioned my own decision making in the investment.
After 46 games last year they only had 2 more reg wins than they do this year. They also had 3 more games get into OT. The 8-0-3 OT record, They also had 16 goals with and EN compared to 4 so far this year. They gained a lot of standings points just from turning a reg loss into what (usually) ended up as an OT win.
The team didn't really settle in until the Boldy callup (game 33) last season. They don't have a Boldy to call up this year to "complete" the lineup.
I mean, they do… They arguably have two, but I’ll stick with calling up Walker and letting Hartman ride the bench for a bit.
I canceled mine a few years ago when my kid was getting into hockey. I didn't have time to coach and make it to games. I don't regret it one bit.
Even now that my kid is done with hockey a 10 (whatever the small number is) pack of games doesn't interest me. I was considering it for this season, then they dumped Fiala and it made it an easy no.
I don't even see one that is better than Shaw (who is already sitting on the bench).
There for sure isn't a guy that can be called up and go a ppg over his first 10 games.
StateofCelly
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I am in the same boat, have an 8 year old finishing his first year of squirts and then a 6 and 4 year old that are both in mites plus coaching... never going to find time to make it to games anyway, and no motivation to use as an investment tool.
Its pretty simple to do the math. Foligno, Hartman, and Greenway have been injured, and doing very poorly when they are playing. Fiala is gone.
JEE’s improvement isn’t enough to make up for all of that.
Boldy, Gaudreau, Kap, and Zucc are treading water. I feel like Boldy is a better player this year due to his increased strength, but he has no support at even strength. Dean seems determined to turn him into a grinder, just like he was.
Looking like it, although the Vikes regular season record was far better. We are firmly in average land… not bad, not good.
Well, Walker is very different than Shaw. I’d say he is going to be better, but then, I didn’t think that Shaw was that good down in Iowa. He was a pleasant surprise when he came up.
Walker is decent defensively, but his main thing is offense, skating, and skill.
I’m sure Dean will be able to beat that out of him in a year or two.
I don’t know what to make of Rossi. He looks vg down in Iowa, but is definitely a perimeter player. Is getting better at withstanding physical play. Good, but not fast, skater. Seems to be improving, but in small increments. Frankly, Petan seems just as good, if not better, but his game seems to disappear in the NHL.
I sold some of my tickets and broke about even during the regular season. The post season is where I made money on tickets (they paid for themselves + the glass seats I sprung for). I look at prices now from time to time and I'd be taking a loss. The Jets games were money makers too, but they are so fun to be at that I didn't want to miss them.
It depends with the kids playing hockey. I live a few hours away from the X to begin with, so it's a big timesink with the game and driving on its own. My daughter only wanted to play in a girls league and the closest team was 45 mins away so that was a 3 hour time sink a few times a week. Not a lot of girls teams overall so every weekend it seemed I was putting 400 miles of driving in.
If I lived in the cities and most of the practices/games were local then it would be feasible to be a STH and have a kid in hockey as long as I wasn't coaching.
StateofCelly
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Yea we are in SE Minnesota so we are over an hour from the X. Not impossible, but with everything else going on it is hard. Chicago and St. Louis games always have done well too, but not as great this year. We have our tickets for tomorrow night and can't get anyone in on them, and it is supposed to be the first kick off for HDM, used to be a hot ticket...
Minnewildsota
He who laughs last thinks slowest
- Jun 7, 2010
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Boldy needs to have that grinder element to his game. He's not a speed deamon and doesn't have a great shot. He needs to be a power FWD to really succeed in the NHL.
Walker needs to add body mass. He's just small. I haven't looked in awhile, but Iowa doesn't seem to get a lot of 5v5 scoring.
CHI did well, STL was hit and miss. I wouldn't count them for the next few seasons selling well. STL doesn't have the players it's fun to hate anymore and they could be losing all their star power. CHI was a rival (in MN fans' minds) and had star power everywhere. The West overall is weaker so there will be a lot low interest home games. If they fall during the week they were hard to sell.
I can see tomorrow's tickets being hard to sell. Weeknight game, bad team opponent from the East, no opponent star power, MN on a losing streak, late Jan (not sure what the weather is there), etc.
StateofCelly
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Might as well be, idk why they would kick off Hockey Day Minnesota on a weeknight game against the Flyers.
Right, seems like from a marketing standpoint the timing of it all is a miss. I know they don't influence the schedule but no reason to have the state's hockey celebration represented by a team no one cares to see... actually make that two teams no one really cares to see
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