Minnesota Wild General Discussion - 2023-24

[Circulartheory]

I’m personally more of a watch the 1st and decide if I want to not wast my life type guy

Nope, I don't even last that long. This year's been funny in a sad way ... if the opposing team scores first in the first 10 minutes, I put in the game in the background and I do something else.

And this year, that's been out 8 of 15 games ...

 

[BagHead]

Nope, I don't even last that long. This year's been funny in a sad way ... if the opposing team scores first in the first 10 minutes, I put in the game in the background and I do something else.

And this year, that's been out 8 of 15 games ...

That's actually not as bad as I thought, it's 53.33%, so they score first in 46.67% of games. Compared to their win% of 33.33%, this tells me they're actually playing worse after the 1st goal than before it. I would not have expected that.

 

[MuckOG]

I consider myself to be usually a optimistic, "glass half full" type of Wild fan. But its really hard for me to find anything optimistic about what I'm seeing on the ice. This is just awful.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

I consider myself to be usually a optimistic, "glass half full" type of Wild fan. But its really hard for me to find anything optimistic about what I'm seeing on the ice. This is just awful.

It's not even worth watching just to hope Kaprizov pads stats at this point.

 

[57special]

They should have to walk to Sweden.

I don't think that's a thing?

 

[thestonedkoala]

I don't think that's a thing?

Global Warming + Russia = Land Bridge?

 

[Arturia Pendragon]

I don't think that's a thing?

Not with that attitude

 

[MuckOG]

Ice Age + Russia = Land Bridge?

FIFY

 

[Webster]

Lines at practice today, looks like some changes again.
Petan in for Kaprizov who had a day off.

Zuccarello-Rossi-Petan
Johansson-Eriksson Ek-Boldy
Foligno-Hartman-Maroon
Duhaime-Dewar-Lettieri

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

I’m going to take the above as confirmation that Kap is still working through stuff, not that it wasn’t already apparent.

 

[63firebird]

They should have to walk to Sweden.

No way. First class there. But don’t bring them back!!!

 

[57special]

The crazy thing is, as bad as we are, there are 5-6 teams that are just as bad, if not worse.

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

If our special teams weren’t extremely “special” this season, things would likely look a lot rosier. The 5V5 play has shown enough signs that this roster should be fine in the long run, but holy shit is it terrible giving up an extra goal and scoring a half less goals per game than we should. And stop giving up the first goal in the first ten minutes, that’s a death spiral in this league when you always play from behind.

 

[123TripleDoge]

so ideally (and probably likely ) get kap healthy, continued growth from rossi, boldy wont be snakebit forever, hopefully johansson getting some chemistry and production back,, spurge getting back into rhythm and shows his value, continued growth from faber.

Feel like we still end this season pretty close to last season, assuming the goaltending isn't as bad long term as it seems they might be right now lol

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I think the 2021-22 team was legit good. Kaprizov with an MVP caliber season, Fiala + Boldy providing elite secondary scoring, the GREEF line playing at the peak of their powers, and being competent/good in enough of the other areas. I know we folded in the playoffs but as far as the totality of the season goes, that was a no doubt talented team.

The 2022-23 season was a bit of a mirage, with us not folding during the time that Kaprizov missed and Gustavsson having the 2nd best goalie season in the league. Enjoyed the heck out of it at the time, but always seemed a lot less sustainable than the previous season.

This year, it seems like the bill is coming due. Other teams have been getting better over the years. They all have their own Rossi's and Faber's that are coming into the NHL, and they all have their own Boldy's that they are hoping to take leaps. We aren't unique in any positive way anymore.

 

[GordieGallant]

I think the 2021-22 team was legit good. Kaprizov with an MVP caliber season, Fiala + Boldy providing elite secondary scoring, the GREEF line playing at the peak of their powers, and being competent/good in enough of the other areas. I know we folded in the playoffs but as far as the totality of the season goes, that was a no doubt talented team.

The 2022-23 season was a bit of a mirage, with us not folding during the time that Kaprizov missed and Gustavsson having the 2nd best goalie season in the league. Enjoyed the heck out of it at the time, but always seemed a lot less sustainable than the previous season.

This year, it seems like the bill is coming due. Other teams have been getting better over the years. They all have their own Rossi's and Faber's that are coming into the NHL, and they all have their own Boldy's that they are hoping to take leaps. We aren't unique in any positive way anymore.

Thank Leipold. But you can’t fire the owner right Doc?

 

[NHL1674]

Lines at practice today, looks like some changes again.
Petan in for Kaprizov who had a day off.

Zuccarello-Rossi-Petan
Johansson-Eriksson Ek-Boldy
Foligno-Hartman-Maroon
Duhaime-Dewar-Lettieri

Kap better be hurt, because for the amount of suckage from him lately, he's one of the last guys who deserves a day off.

 

[Sweetnut]

Kap better be hurt, because for the amount of suckage from him lately, he's one of the last guys who deserves a day off.

He is maybe next on the shopping list. Trade better be coming

 

[NHL1674]

He is maybe next on the shopping list. Trade better be coming

Nah, he's not going anywhere.

 

[57special]

Can we all agree that the problem is team defense, not just a couple of Dmen or goalies? The GF's are decent, GA's... we are almost as bad as SJS(who are horrendous), and far worse than most other teams.
I do think that our goalies have to be much, much, better, but the first thing that needs to be fixed is the PK. I don't know if it's personnel, scheme, ...I suspect the latter more than the former, though having Spurgeon out hasn't been helpful. We are the worst in the league on PK's and it's not close. We stink. Being so woefully unprepared going into the season in this area is bad, but not fixing it is unacceptable, and grounds for being fired, IMO. The new special teams coach should be polishing up his resume, and whoever hired him should be looking over his shoulder, also.

We seem to be trotting out the same players and doing the same thing on the PK. Is anyone looking at successful PK teams in the league, and trying to imitate what they do?

Oh, and can our idiot GM maybe prioritize getting someone who can win a FO, rather than talk about about how the Center position isn't that important ? Maybe have a coach who teaches them how to win FO's?

 

[Wabit]

Can we all agree that the problem is team defense, not just a couple of Dmen or goalies? The GF's are decent, GA's... we are almost as bad as SJS(who are horrendous), and far worse than most other teams.
I do think that our goalies have to be much, much, better, but the first thing that needs to be fixed is the PK. I don't know if it's personnel, scheme, ...I suspect the latter more than the former, though having Spurgeon out hasn't been helpful.

We seem to be trotting out the same players and doing the same thing on the PK. Is anyone looking at successful PK teams in the league, and trying to imitate what they do?

Oh, and can our idiot GM maybe prioritize getting someone who can win a FO, rather than talk about about how the Center position isn't that important ?

Last year the PK was (40 mins+ ToI for the season):
PK1 (2 min+/game):
JEE/Freddy G
Brodin/Spurgeon
-2 guys have been injured this year

PK2 (1:30 min/game)
Dewar/Shaw
Middleton/Dumba
-2 guys are not on the team this year

PK3 (~1 min or less/game)
Foligno, Steel, Hartman, Duhaime
Merrill. Goli
-1 guy gone, 1 guy injured, and 1 guy benched.

So overall half (7 of 14) of the main PKers from last year have turned over for various reasons.

The team defense is trash this year because MN has been trotting out
-1x 2nd pair d-man (Brodin)
-1x 3rd pair d-man (Faber)
-the rest are guys who should be in the pressbox
-the team's other 2nd pair d-man is just coming off of LTIR.

The FWDs turnover is really only and Marron taking Reaves spot from last year. I don't really count MarJo (retread and played games last year) and Rossi (took back the roster spot Shaw took from him last year) as new. The injury callup 12th FWD is the same quality as the ones from last year.

The goalies are playing like trash and the team has no confidence in them. This has a big effect on the team overall too. They are trying to do too much to compensate for the goalies and this breaks down the systems as a whole quickly. It just turns into a cascade failure in the d-zone.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Faber isn't a 3rd pair. He's pacing ~33 points playing 24 minutes a night with decent-to-good analytics as a recently turned 21 year old with 17 career professional games.

 

[Wabit]

Faber isn't a 3rd pair. He's pacing ~33 points playing 24 minutes a night with decent-to-good analytics as a recently turned 21 year old with 17 career professional games.

He should be on the 3rd pair. Just because MN is playing 4 other pressbox at best quality d-men moves him up the charts.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

He should be on the 3rd pair. Just because MN is playing 4 other pressbox at best quality d-men moves him up the charts.

Nah. The "ideal" defense that @AKL put out before would be fine:

Better than Spurgeon - Spurgeon
Brodin - Faber
Middleton - Better than Middleton

A 3rd paid D is somebody I don't want playing close to 20 minutes under most any circumstances (except positive blowouts). Faber does not apply.

 

[JiricekSaveUs]

Can we all agree that the problem is team defense, not just a couple of Dmen or goalies? The GF's are decent, GA's... we are almost as bad as SJS(who are horrendous), and far worse than most other teams.
I do think that our goalies have to be much, much, better, but the first thing that needs to be fixed is the PK. I don't know if it's personnel, scheme, ...I suspect the latter more than the former, though having Spurgeon out hasn't been helpful. We are the worst in the league on PK's and it's not close. We stink. Being so woefully unprepared going into the season in this area is bad, but not fixing it is unacceptable, and grounds for being fired, IMO. The new special teams coach should be polishing up his resume, and whoever hired him should be looking over his shoulder, also.

We seem to be trotting out the same players and doing the same thing on the PK. Is anyone looking at successful PK teams in the league, and trying to imitate what they do?

Oh, and can our idiot GM maybe prioritize getting someone who can win a FO, rather than talk about about how the Center position isn't that important ? Maybe have a coach who teaches them how to win FO's?

A lot of the PK woes are not being able to get a save imo