Not gonna lie, I'm a little concerned with how this club is handling Wally right now. He should be up here, but instead he's getting jerked around between both teams....and that is completely on Billy.
Minnesota Wild General Discussion 2024-25
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Minnewildsota
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So it’s Guerin’s fault Ohgren and Khus aren’t getting more time in Iowa, but it’s also Guerin’s fault that Hunt is getting more time in Iowa. Did I get that correct?
Seems likes he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
Sad People
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Id rather have Gus and Wally be the goalies and have Flower be the 3rd goalie and be a mentor from there.
Wally needs games.
Wally needs games.
Guerin likes his prospects Well Done.
If Wallstedt is going to be a good NHL'er, nvm mind a #1 starter, he has to be a great AHL'er. If he is so easily thrown off his game by playing a few games in iowa at the start of the year, how will he handle the pressure and higher level of competition in the NHL, nvm when he gets to the playoffs?
- Milne has been injured a lot in the AHL. He's a tweener. Nice speed, a bit of skill ...at the AHL level. Not strong, or tough enough enough to make an impact as a checker, not skilled enough to be a skill guy in the NHL, as of now.
- Bankier looks slow both physically and mentally. Good size, but not strong. Has promise, but needs to get better.
- Hunt could play in the NHL, and has played in the NHL. Looks OK, but by no means outstanding. Is he better than Chisholm...at this point, no. Merrill....much as i hate to say it, no , not right now. Merrill has had a decent start to the year. Hope Hunt continues to improve.
- None of ROR, Spacek, Masters, Peart scream NHL right now. They don't even look like particularly good AHL'ers. They are still young, but I'd have to agree that the drafting, particularly of ROR and Peart, could be better.
- Not sure what's going on with Healey, Pionk, and Parker. My expectations are very low.
If Wallstedt is going to be a good NHL'er, nvm mind a #1 starter, he has to be a great AHL'er. If he is so easily thrown off his game by playing a few games in iowa at the start of the year, how will he handle the pressure and higher level of competition in the NHL, nvm when he gets to the playoffs?
- Milne has been injured a lot in the AHL. He's a tweener. Nice speed, a bit of skill ...at the AHL level. Not strong, or tough enough enough to make an impact as a checker, not skilled enough to be a skill guy in the NHL, as of now.
- Bankier looks slow both physically and mentally. Good size, but not strong. Has promise, but needs to get better.
- Hunt could play in the NHL, and has played in the NHL. Looks OK, but by no means outstanding. Is he better than Chisholm...at this point, no. Merrill....much as i hate to say it, no , not right now. Merrill has had a decent start to the year. Hope Hunt continues to improve.
- None of ROR, Spacek, Masters, Peart scream NHL right now. They don't even look like particularly good AHL'ers. They are still young, but I'd have to agree that the drafting, particularly of ROR and Peart, could be better.
- Not sure what's going on with Healey, Pionk, and Parker. My expectations are very low.
Not necessarily. Ohgren and Khus should be in the AHL instead of spending 11 minutes in the NHL or playing with third or fourth liners. I'd like to see Khus work on his offense a little more. He has the PK down and is good at face offs, but there is more to the game than those two things. Guerin has his prospects that he likes.
I think Wally has been pretty good given how crappy the AHL team is the past three years, and it isn't thrown off his game, but picking up bad tendencies and just - confidence issues. Goalies are weird like quarterbacks. The issue is if they are going to keep him in the AHL with this crappy team.
Everyone was saying Bankier was going to take that next step - well where is that next step? Also fans were expecting a big jump from the team as the young players matured and they got more talent. Well, two of the guys got stuck on the NHL immediately and the only relief they got was Haight. None of the prospects have stood out, which is a big concern because that was what doomed Fletcher's team was middling guys that were thrown on the team too early or just didn't develop.
Dr Jan Itor
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Minnewildsota
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And they think this is going to make it better?FanDuel Sports Network is New Home for Minnesota Wild Games and Programming | Minnesota Wild
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - FanDuel Sports Network is the new television and streaming home for Minnesota Wild hockey. The network has rebranded from Bally Sports, effective today, and will continue to produce and broadcast all Wild games except those selected as national TV exclusives.
Don't sleep on Roni Hirvonen. He has had injury concerns it looks like. As well Topi Niemela...
They also have a good mixture of former NHL players (Nylander, Bellows, Clifford) and some younger guys.
Iowa has...Travis Boyd, Brendan Gaunce and uh...
But that isn't the point here; Iowa SHOULD be better. Losing is part of the equation. I've said time and again, it's time to get rid of the hockey development guys because something isn't working.
Dr Jan Itor
Registered User
Those are just names, same as ours.
So you're saying that we need more guys like Cal O'Reilly, Anas, Mayhew, etc. who aren't NHL level players but make AHL teams better?
You said you don't see any NHL players on the roster...
If you think O'Reilly, Anas, Mayhew are on the same level as Nylander, Bellows, Clifford...
I do think Minnesota could use a couple of stronger veteran NHL players like Boyd and Gaunce and keep them for more than a season. Bellows and Clifford have been with the Marlies for two seasons now along with Logan Shaw their captain.
I think Walker is the longest tenured Iowa Wild guy...
I also think fans were deluding themselves that Iowa would be better this year.
Dr Jan Itor
Registered User
Nylander, Bellows and Clifford not the "NHL players" that you're looking for Iowa to "develop". You want Bankier to be Stankoven, not Bellows.
I think you're getting confused; Nylander, Bellows and Clifford are good veterans to be in the AHL so that Bankier can turn into a Stankoven or a Robertson. But that hasn't happened. Iowa has yet to develop a goal scoring forward like Stankoven. The fact that Iowa has been on a downward trajectory is a concern and the rough start this season is a concern. Wild fans were told - next year it should be better, because they are getting more help...I mean the Wild motto should be, "Maybe Next Year" because that has been the motto for both the big club and the little club. Didn't win a playoff series? Maybe next year. Iowa sucks lemons? Maybe next year when they get more talented prospects and their young players have a year under their belt.
Oh they had another losing season? Maybe next year...
The development guys and the Iowa staff are entirely different things. The development staff have been doing a phenomenal job, Boldy, Faber, Rossi have all made huge strides after spending the past few summers working with them. Ohgren and even Merrill spent last summer working with them too, the results are pretty clear.
Who was even saying they expected IA to be good? There were almost zero Iowa posts here the entire summer, certainly not enough to get this much angst out of you. The depth moves in my eyes were meant to give more ammo to the MN Wild in case of injury in the form of competent bottom 6ers, not true difference maker, scoring talent that can win a bunch of AHL games. Winning is obviously ideal, but the most important use of the AHL is to support the NHL team.
If you keep crediting Stankoven to the AHL, when he only played 47 games there vs 43 NHL games last season, and entirely ignore his 5 seasons dominating in the WHL as his game actually developed, then why don't you credit the IA staff for Boldy?
Dr Jan Itor
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Stankoven has 6 NHL goals in 30 games, a 16 goal per 82 pace.
It's also been 4 games so far this year. How about we check back on the progress at the quarter mark at least?
Part of the development staff though is Iowa and that has been a concern.
This you: Minnesota 2023-2024 Affiliates Thread (Iowa Wild, Iowa Heartlanders)
Most fans were expected to see at least the team get a bit better. Maybe not great, but at least improving on last year. There were discussions about how Iowa would be better next year with the addition of some veterans and the expected growth of some of the young players littered throughout this forum at the end of the season and in the prospect thread.
Boldy was a 1st round pick and a high first round pick at that. He only spent 24 games split between two seasons in the AHL and one was for conditioning if I remember correctly. He didn't really spend any time in the AHL - 14 games at the end of his college career and 10 games the following season.
I mean we see what dominating the WHL can do; Sam Steel, Adam Beckman for example and they didn't translate. It's harder to translate skill from the WHL to the AHL much less the NHL. Also 57 points as a rookie in 47 GP in the AHL is pretty damn good - including 24 goals.
Minnesota's record holders are Grayson Downing or Justin Kloos scoring 19 goals. Rossi almost met that with 18 goals in 63. Long gone are the days of guys like Voloshenko or O'Sullivan scoring 47 goals as a rookie.
One of only two teams that haven't won a game so far, giving up almost a goal more per game than the next worse team...
I agree that the team SHOULD progress and get better - I mean they ended on a pretty high note last year as the team came together, but giving up 21 goals in 4 games is not a good look, especially since only two teams were worse last year and they were tied with another.
Both those guys were signed when Hunt was pretty unknown… Bogosian doesn’t play the same side either.
Assumed the defensive prospects would find a way to not look anywhere near as bad. They might just be bad. And if your referencing me saying that, I most certainly was talking about Lorenz, Kumpulainen, Yurov, Ohgren, etc playing for or forcing another good prospect to play for Iowa (i.e. Yurov would have forced Ohgren down).
If he busts because of a few bad games in Iowa, he was never going to be the guy anyways.
We are getting contributions from 1st and 2nd round picks… Rossi. Boldy. Khusnutdinov (whom you just said should be in Iowa despite being NHL quality). The rest of the guys just need time. Should we be expecting non-top 15 or so picks at 20 year olds to be contributing NHL players?
The impact prospects are not here. You’re talking about Bankier/Spacek/Haight while I’m talking about Yurov/Ohgren/Buium/Etc. I do not have crazy expectations for Bankier/Spacek/Haight at this point.
Goals against is a defense issue. Which, again, I talked about maybe they are just bad…
Its way too early to even say they haven't improved on last year, the team was really bad. I haven't watched a single AHL game this season, and you haven't posted a single time in the IA thread stating you have either. So if its pure stats, that means extremely little on a 4 game sample against 2 different opponents. They have two periods where they gave up 9 goals, that is an issue, but not an uncommon one early in the season when there has been so much turnover.
My post was about as non-committal as possible, if you think that qualifies as everyone here raving about IA, then we must be living in different worlds. No one expected the IA offense to be good, and when you can't score normally, you often take more risks and give up more dangerous chances.
Stankoven is a first round skill caliber player with a high motor but limited by a Rossi like physical package, there just isn't much demand for that kind of player in the modern NHL and its why he dropped. The Wild are the 2nd smallest team in the league, we already have a bunch of guys on the roster playing that style in big minutes, even if you think he is better than some of them long term, its marginal and we have roles that are much more needed for this roster.
Stankoven was a complete game player in Juniors, not just a scorer but dominant two way force and recognized for it across the entire CHL. Scoring 57 points in his first 47 games in the AHL clearly shows he was already developed to a high point before he entered the pro leagues. The question with a player like him will always be about ceiling though, if you are a GM looking through the league for a playoff team, he wouldn't be on my short list for a top 6 spot.
And yet Merrill could be sent down to the AHL without a lot of issues?
A few bad games? The team that Minnesota has put in front of him two years in a row have been defensive liabilities. More so, Wally should be backing up Gus right now. Finally, goalies can be weird just like QBs. A lot of is mental and when you team sucks at defense and you can't rely on them, you pick up really bad habits. We've seen that with a lot of good goaltending prospects that break down mentally.
We should be expecting them to be contributing to the AHL and growing. It's not like O'Rourke, Bankier, Pillar, Spacek don't have a season (or two) under their belt and should be aware of what they need to do.
Didn't we hear that excuse last year? The impact prospects aren't here. Then we add more. Oh wait, the impact prospects still aren't here. Oh wait...
Last year the issues were defensive and they were actually taking strides late last season. The issue isn't scoring goals, the issue is that continue to have issues stopping opponents from scoring.
Minnesota is 3-0-2, gotta find something to bitch about I guess?
Dr Jan Itor
Registered User
As worried about Iowa as he is, he must absolutely over the moon about the NHL club then.
Minnewildsota
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DANOZ28
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