Gonna be a long year...

[Bear55]

We lose in a shootout, they let Miettinen take the final shootout with a chance to tie it, not my first choice but i guess we were playing in Finland.

[Bear55]

I had it DVR'ed thanks for ruining the ending for me. I will probably still watch it, there is nothing else on anyway.

Whoopsy... but this is clearly the fault of some elementary teacher somewhere, they did teach you how to read.

[spearchucker]

Has Miettinen ever made a shootout goal?

[Musky Buck]

I just recall the star and trib last year looking for bold face ink in the NHL leaders page and other than Backstrom and they list nearly all the goalies, we didn't get much bold ink last winter. We can count on a few extra goals that Boogaard and John Scott very rarely got. Our level of talent and skill doesn't match up very well with the rest of the league. Our draft has hurt us and Gabby's groin and purse and skirt killed us, at least he could nearly win a game on his own at times. Poor Mikko, boy do we need Havlat and Bouchard to have career years.

[Bear55]

I don't think so, if you are going to make a bad coaching decision like letting him shoot in his home country at least let him go first so we have one of our better shooters taking a shot when we really need a goal. I am probably more upset than I should be but I just hate to see us giving away a point like that when there are better options on the bench.

[schmitty3]

This all went wrong when we got rid of Jaque. Why we would get rid of one of the best coaches in the league is beyond me. This team is just boring to watch to me. Other than there 3rd period comebacks that it seems like they are trying to make every game they just don't have anyone exciting to watch.

[spearchucker]

I don't think they have a choice with Jacque. He and Riseborough were done with each other and he lost the team. He probably told them the truth and they didn't want to hear it. I think Richards is gone if they lose a bunch of games right away.

If this team could play a second period and not give up a goal 1 minute after they score one they could be alright.

[Bear55]

schmitty3 Jaque decided to move on, not much we can do about that other then to find a new coach. I was not sold on the Richards hire but he was a first year coach last year so I am willing to give him a little time to see what he is made of, we should know a lot more by the end of this year.

[OnAFly]

Spearchucker - That's the biggest problem they seemed to have last and this year. Giving up that goal less than a minute after scoring. It just took the wind out of their sails every time. You could just see the look of "we're screwed" in their faces. Then they would lose the game.

[scsavre]

I was glad to see Jaques go. I dont know if it was him or riesborough who screwed our team up so much, signed ridiculous contracts, and made the worst draft picks in the league. I have a feeling they were both at fault. But hey, maybe Jaques was purely a coach and didnt make personal decisions.

Im sure glad we still pay Parrish for 2 more years. Genius.

[spearchucker]

From what I have read Jaques never had anything to do with contracts. He always said that he could only play with the players he was given. I'm guessing they talked some, but I don't know how much influence he had. My guess is the scouts and GM had most to do with the hiring.

[OnAFly]

That was all DR. We're still paying the price for the poor decisions he made. Letting guys like Gabby and Rolston leave for nothing. You need to either keep a guy like those or get something for them. DR let them go for nothing.

Poor drafting also killed us. Look at where all our drafts went. Pouliot, Sheppard, Theren. All are going nowhere (maybe Pouliot, but you need more than one good season to prove yourself after several terrible ones).

We let our skill guys go for nothing and had no one in the minors to restock with. We ended up paying big contracts to keep guys and eating up cap space with expensive free agent signings. That's not the way to win cups anymore. It's all about drafting now. You need to pay your dues at the bottom before you can get to the top. (or be Detroit, that's just good late round draft choices)

[Bear55]

I blame DR. Jaques has more then proven himself.

[JimBuck]

I blame DR. Jaques has more then proven himself.

+1 Ol' Dougy really screwed the organization. Aren't we still paying for Parrish until 2012 or something like that? It's sickening.

[scsavre]

Parrish through 2013-2014, What a joke. thats $927,000 a year. I believe half of which goes against our cap.

I am not sure about Lameire, he might have won a cup prior to the Wild, but to me he choked, maybe that was DRs fault. Even when we made the play-offs we were terrible. I still remember loosing to Anahiem, and how we would dump the puck in no matter what, power play, 3 on 2 any situation. We ended up recovering the puck 3 times out of 130 or some crazy stat. But yet again and again that is what Lamiere demanded. I know 1 example isnt much, but we are all just a little ticked off.

Also, what a choke he had with New Jersey last year. I heard from several sources and directly from a player, that they thought Lameire was the problem and reason for their short cummings. Some Players did not like him or his stuborness.

Ah well, go Wild. I still think we have a decent squad, but a lot of things need to come together.

[spearchucker]

Lemaire has won 11 Stanley Cups as a player, GM, and Coach. I think the guys knows how to get it done. I don't think the players bought into his system, but what have we done since he left? Most of the problems were Doug R in my opinion.

The "up tempo style" that Richards wants to play sound good, but you have to have the type of players to execute that kind of play. Every game was full of defensive lapses and odd man rushes. I'm not sure we have that now. A lot of potential, but guys need to quit the excuses and start playing. Burns hasn't done squat for 3 years. Every year is going to be his break out year. Koivu and Bruno have been pretty consistent. Injuries kill this team. It seems that they are never healthy. Not sure if they are wimps or if something in the system needs to be addressed to keep this from happening. I don't think we ever had all of our players on the ice at one time last year.

[scsavre]

11 Cups, 1 as a coach.

I dont doubt him though. It has been bad management.

I am just glad that someone else has commeneted on Burns has been a dud. You are spot on, every year was going to be his big year.

[fishing tech]

If I had a coach who has won 11 cups I think I would buy into what he is coaching. It proves that he is a winner and knows what it takes. There are to many people that put themselves first and the team 2nd or 3rd.