Wild 2013-14 season

[10,000 Casts]

Russo tweeted last night that there were 3 scouts from the Rangers at the game. Lundquist, Del Zotto and Callahan are all free agents next year.. I wonder if something is brewing?

[OnAFly]

East #1 = West #8 in pts. That's ridiculous. Should even out more when we start seeing more in conference games.

The Wild need to end this dominate-then-let-off-the-gas business when they start playing better teams. Better teams will take full advantage of that and our point streak will end quickly.

Our next 16 games:

Montreal

Ottawa

Winnipeg

St Louis

Phoenix

Colorado

Colorado

Philly

Chicago

Columbus

San Jose

Anaheim

San Jose

Colorado

Vancouver

Pittsburgh

Very few cupcake teams in there.

[fishnowworknever]

We won't get anywhere if we make the playoffs this year as the lineup stands now.

There is NO one on our team that stands up for the cheap shots that happen through out these last few games. I know kenopka has a broke hand or wrist w/e but he's one guy. Where is the GRIT and "dirtiness" to our game? It doesn't exist.

Come playoff time, if we make it, we won't stand a chance against any team in the West, they are big tough teams that hit hard and play the body. We have a bunch of pansy silly-me players that skate away from trouble.

Winning is always our top priority, but what happens when these tougher teams start taking out star players? They know no one on the Wild will stand up for each other.

[OnAFly]

Sounds like the Wild are under direct orders not to get into the extra curriculars for the most part. Yeo's take, which I have to agree with, is that you'll win many more games than you'll lose by outplaying the other team as opposed to trying to beat them down physically. Now, during the post season, when you re playing the same team for 4 games at least, you probably will see more retaliation for cheap shots, but in the regular season, the Wild will just grind it out.

BTW, Wild are #4 in the TSN power rankings right now. 8 of 10 are Western teams

[Bear55]

I'll take a winning skilled team over some tough guys who can't stake every day of the week. Now if you can get size and skill that is sweet but every team in the league is looking for that, not easy to come by but coyle and nino are pretty big kids, they will get there eventually.

[10,000 Casts]

I love the Wild and I am as big of a homer as there is but if we turn into the Red Wings, My new favorite team will be Boston or Toronto..

Mediocre Habs tonight, it will be a good chance for the Wild to keep the W's rolling.

Quote:

BTW, Wild are #4 in the TSN power rankings right now. 8 of 10 are Western teams

Nice to see!

[OnAFly]

Oh god not Toronto!!!

[Bear55]

I don't see us turning into the wings but I would sure take their past decade over ours. Gotta have some skill to win games.

[Abndoc]

Dany heatley is a load! Can't skate, can't score. Its time to bench him!

[OnAFly]

How to lose a game:

Pass in the skates or 1 foot out of reach

Fan on most scoring chances

Don't move your feet

Put a terrible goalie in (Kuemper)

Hack at the puck with no real goal in mind

Did I miss any?

Maybe we were just due for a stinker.

[schmitty3]

Maybe we were just due for a stinker.

I hope that was just it, that was brutal.

[PierBridge]

I don't see us turning into the wings but I would sure take their past decade over ours. Gotta have some skill to win games.

What in the world are you guys talking about in reference to Detroit please?

Because I would love to turn into Detroit arguably the greatest NHL franchise of the last 10 years.

[broodwich]

I love the Wild and I am as big of a homer as there is but if we turn into the Red Wings, My new favorite team will be Boston or Toronto..

LOL... Detroit has been a contender for the cup since 1995 through today. That is a span of nearly 20 years, and you wouldn't want the Wild to become that? How many cups has Toronto won in the last 20 years? Toronto can just continue down their current path and just become the easy W on the schedule. I like this winning is the best retaliation approach, because come April the NHL doesn't count fights and "toughness" in the standings.

[CaptainMusky]

Brutal game last night. It seems we have lost the edge in play recently even though we were winning. Last night was terrible. How many stupid penalties did spurgeon take?

We need to get some time out of kuemper. Like it or not we need to take some load off Harding or we will have a repeat of last year when Backs went down.

[bbfenatic]

We had been riding high for quite a while and laid an egg last night....I guess it was due. We never found the intensity we've had and did not seem mentally prepared from the start. The real test will be how they rebound tonight against the Senators.

[OnAFly]

Biggest thing I saw was that the Wild weren't moving their feet enough. They reached when the Habs had the puck and took penalties. When the Wild had the puck, they didn't skate and let the Habs either maul them and take the puck away or get sticks into passing lanes.

[Bear55]

Yep it was ugly last night, hopefully more fight tonight.

[RK]

Pretty glad I was watching my daughter's team win rather than the Wild game last night. I'd recorded it and was going to watch it when I got home but after catching the score I watched a few minutes of the second period is all. That was more than enough.

They just had a stinker. 82 game season, it'll happen. Shoot, the Preds thumped Chicago 7-2 the other night.

Probably an OK thing in the long run. They were gradually getting away from their structured game so maybe this is a wake-up call. Good that it came against an out of conference team not someone in the West, or worse yet a division opponent. With a lot of big games against some of the better Western teams coming up probably good to get this out of their system now.

Will see how they come out against the Sens tonight, but personally I wouldn't want to be the first person Koivu meets up with in the corner.

Do have some concerns in net though for sure. Kuemper will be a good goalie but he's young and obviously not ready for prime time, although to be fair, coming into the situation he did last night wouldn't be easy on anyone. Really expect to see them pick up a veteran keeper here very soon.

As to the Wild becoming the Red Wings... Perennial playoff team, 3 cups in the last 15 years, deep talent pool in the system, model franchise from an administrative standpoint... We should be so lucky. Look at teams like Dallas and Tampa Bay. Both are run by guys (Yzerman and Nill) who came through Detroit and are using that model to turn moribund franchises around.

If you want to watch 'tough' teams play bad hockey, you can probably catch every Sabres game on the NHL network.

[10,000 Casts]

If I have to I will lol... Can't fault a guy for liking a little old time hockey.

My night last night began with getting creamed 8-1 in our fist league night of Curling and then got to the bar about 1/2 way through the 2nd period to see the Wild get creamed 6-2. Ouch.

MOST NHL PLAYOFF APPEARANCES BY FRANCHISE

FRANCHISE PLAYOFF APP. FIRST YR YRS

1. Montreal Canadiens 79 1918 94

2. Boston Bruins 67 1925 87

3. Toronto Maple Leafs 64 1918 94

4. Detroit Red Wings 60 1927 85

5. Chicago Blackhawks 57 1927 85

6. New York Rangers 54 1927 85

7. Philadelphia Flyers 36 1968 44

7. St. Louis Blues 36 1968 44

9. Buffalo Sabres 29 1971 41

9. Dallas Stars 29 1968 44

11. Pittsburgh Penguins 27 1968 44

12. Calgary Flames 26 1973 39

12. Los Angeles Kings 26 1968 44

14. Vancouver Canucks 25 1971 41

15. Washington Capitals 23 1975 37

16. New Jersey Devils 22 1975 37

17. Colorado Avalanche 21 1980 32

17. New York Islanders 21 1973 39

19. Edmonton Oilers 20 1980 32

20. Phoenix Coyotes 19 1980 32

21. San Jose Sharks 15 1992 20

22. Carolina Hurricanes 13 1980 32

22. Ottawa Senators 13 1993 19

24. Anaheim Ducks 8 1994 18

25. Nashville Predators 7 1999 13

26. Tampa Bay Lightning 6 1993 19

27. Florida Panthers 4 1994 18

28. Minnesota Wild 3 2001 11

29. Columbus Blue Jackets 1 2001 11

29. Winnipeg Jets 1 2000 12

[OnAFly]

Is it any surprise that the original 6 have the most playoff appearances?

I think you have to look at the appearances by teams after 2005 when the league revamped the reffing and rules. Different game between then and now.

[10,000 Casts]

I hear ya. What I'd really like to see is the Wild play a skilled game like you guys are looking for and then have a couple bigger nasty Dmen that can police the game. Suter, Brodin, Spurgeon, Scandella are all skilled Dmen with no grit.

Although not a D Rupp is a good example of a guy that has size and can stand up to an enforcer yet can also contribute to the team skill wise. Stoner is kind of that guy too but still a liability more often than not.

[BartmanMN]

Zucker was called up. I'm hoping Brodin gets his game back again. Seems like he has been mis-playing a lot of pucks since his puck to the face.

[10,000 Casts]

Konopka/Sens and Kassian/wild had a tilt in 2011. I wonder if they'll go again tonight now that they're on opposite teams?

[bbfenatic]

Great win last night, Koivu was a beast and his patented move and quick release put the game away. Nice to see them rebound, play at subpar and still scratch out a win. Harding is noticeably getting tired, too bad we don't have much for a backup....time to get Gustafsson up to speed, play him a ton in Iowa and give him a shot, Kuemper does not look like he has it.

And what about Heatley, happy for the guy and he seems to understand his role and necessity to perform or be out.

[Musky Buck]

Well it was Stoner vs. Neil, Neil is like my least favorite player in the league so I was glad Clayton got in a few straight rights, nhl fights go there to watch it, I like Stoners teammate in the very beginning of the video, read his lips and you'll like that or I did lol. Wild are solid, good rebound game.