Wild 2013-14 season

[10,000 Casts]

Can't fault Kuemper for 1 goal on 28 shots and I thought he played well.

Russo pointed out how much slower this team is with Mitchell gone and Koivu, Moulson and McCormick on the ice. Not to mention Heatley/Brodziak/Cooke. We went from one of the faster teams to one of the slower ones. The results are showing.

[OnAFly]

Kuemper just needs to figure out the SO. Teams figured out his weakness there. Move in head on med speed, make a move glove side then pull back and slide it in stick side. He's bitten on this a lot lately. The Johansen goal it looked like he may have read it but lost his edge, or he was trying to kick on the initial move and got burned. He needs to wait these guys out. Obviously he's gotten a rep.

As for the 65 leading up to the SO, he's been pretty good. Kind of a flukey one last night. Bob absolutely stole that game. He made 3 or 4 saves that just should not be made. Against a good goalie, we still get 2-3 goals in that game. Last night, Bob was much better than just good.

[OnAFly]

Russo hinted at putting in Fontaine for McCormick coming up. IMO, we should have done that last night. CBJ isn't a bruiser club, why play the slow bruiser?

Coyle-Haula-Fontaine anyone?

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

I thought Haula and Granlund both looked awesome again last night. If these two continue to improve the wild are going to be real dangerous. A couple of times Granlund was just flying down the length of the ice with the puck stick handling through people creating chances by himself. It was about as fun of a 1-1 game as you could ask for.

Parise was worth every penny and then some. So fun to watch and so easy to root for.

[bbfenatic]

Who looked good??? The TEAM stunk it up - period.

[CaptainMusky]

Negatory alert negatory alert! Had bobski not taken away at least 3 goals that game the wild would have won handily. If you honestly watched that entire game and formulated the opinion in your previous response Bb, you obviously cannot evaluate a hockey game.

[bbfenatic]

"All Aboard"..."All Aboard".....the Excuse Train is now in the station ready to board and leave soon. If you too think "the younguns aren't quite ready", the other goalie "robbed us", the "referees jobbed us" "the chemistry just isn't right", or any other lame excuse then hop on board the Excuse Train to NoWhere.

[Bear55]

Who looked good??? The TEAM stunk it up - period.

Really? I think that was one of the better 1-1 games I've seen, both teams were working hard and lot of action. Bob stole that one, it sucks we blew so many great scoring opps but that happens, not to mention all the pipes we hit. Once you get to a shootout you just never know.

Despite us not pulling down a lot of wins lately we are 6-1-3 in our last 10, nothing wrong with that. We have points and games in hand to the teams behind us and with a big win tonight we can tie LA.

[Bear55]

"All Aboard"..."All Aboard".....the Excuse Train is now in the station ready to board and leave soon. If you too think "the younguns aren't quite ready", the other goalie "robbed us", the "referees jobbed us" "the chemistry just isn't right", or any other lame excuse then hop on board the Excuse Train to NoWhere.

If only we could move east and be in 4th place in the conference, then all would be ok?

[bbfenatic]

Bear and CM have front row seats on the Train, who else likes the way things are unfolding here late in the season? Last 5 games....1 win 4 losses, seem to be headed in the wrong direction recently....ya prior to that they were doing OK but can't live on what happened long time ago. Maybe this is a short-term bump in the road and they can get it back on track soon but as playoffs approach and all teams turn it up we seem to have a flat tire and another one with a slow leak IMO. GO WILD!

[CaptainMusky]

Last 5 games....1 win 4 losses, seem to be headed in the wrong direction recently

You obviously dont understand how the scoring system works since those Losses were in shootouts and do not count as an L in the ledger. They still muster a point, though yes, 2 pts beats 1 Pt every time, but any points are better than 0 which is what a loss gets you.

Bob was the Vezna winner from last year as the top goalie and without him in net Sat night the Wild win that game handily. Just shows how important a hot goalie can be. Equally impressive was Kuemper, but I think Bob made more critical saves that would have resulted in gimme goals.

End to end action and chances that was one of the best played games I have watched all season. The Wild had chances and I really dont think anyone played poorly.

The Edmonton game really frustrated me, but this last game against Columbus was a very good effort that the goal tenders battled it out.

[bbfenatic]

CM - thanks for explaining how that all works, I did not realize this after all these years. LOL

I am not complaining about the effort put forth but good teams find ways to win against good teams much less these bad teams and you need to take into consideration the teams we have gone 1-4 against the last 5, then take a look at their remaining schedule with 8 away and 6 home with the home games against some formidable foes...I had high hopes especially after the trades but unless Yeo can "figure it out" we will limp into the playoffs and be one and done....AGAIN. Like I said...I hope they figure it out and can make a run...the talent is there for sure.

[PierBridge]

What exactly does YO have to do to figure it out?

Signed.... the excuse train.

[bbfenatic]

What exactly does YO have to do to figure it out?.

I am sure Fletch and hsolist are scratching their heads wondering what the heck is going on....early season success, late season slump again, upgrades at the deadline, solid line-up. We'll see how this plays out.

[bbfenatic]

HAHA put Craig Leipold's intitials in there and we changed it to HSOLIST instead of that competing List....too funny!

[TomWehler]

We enjoyed the game and had a of fun.

Lots of good stuff going on to view if your not a puck follower.

Come on now - True hockey fans know although a puck "HITTING THE POST" is exciting it really means squat.

Except being a missed chance an something to build on immediately after on the bench or later when coach or players need to shake media.

: )

Tonight against Bruins, well should be a fun test for the team an coaches.

No doubt.

Bobrovsky is a good goalie and fun to watch. No surprises to me seeing him make special saves an Rob someone.

It is very entertaining, win or lose.

Wild staff need to focus on keeping Big K in goal relaxed an not stressed.

I see one weakness he has is wanting to move a bit early east an west, so like with Back's an Hard's he can be beat easy on a connecting three or four pass rush.

If I can see it, you know other teams see it.

D men an back checkers been doing well to prevent to many of these per game so it is nothing but good for him.

I do like watching him work, he is a good one.

Captain K not moving his feet hurts.

Was he made not being on 1st line or just maybe had White Castles for lunch?

Geeezzz.

Happy Day to you all.

Tommy

[CaptainMusky]

I'm not worried yet. They really only need to outpace one of 3 teams. Dallas, phoenix and the Canucks. They are at least 5 pts up on each of them with games in hand.

Its not like they have gotten blown out for cripes sake.

So they lost in a shootout to teams like st Louis, Columbus its not the biggest deal. St Louis is on fire with the best record in hockey now.

The Edmonton game is the one that bugs me. That should have been a W.

The Wild were 1-0-3 on that homestand. Not great, but not terrible either. I was hoping they would have had 3 out of 4 at least. This road stretch will be tough with one of the hottest teams in the league tonight.

[bbfenatic]

If Koivu would at least produce half what he should be that might be enough to put us over the top...he only has 2 assists and 6 shots in his last 6 games since returning....4th line material.

[Bear55]

What exactly does YO have to do to figure it out?

Signed.... the excuse train.

Maybe if coaches could play in the shootout our problems would be solved? Like others mentioned the only game to be upset about is Edmonton, they gave that one away, they played well the rest of the way. Shootouts are sure nice when you get the extra point but you can't freak out when you lose them.

[CaptainMusky]

Maybe if coaches could play in the shootout our problems would be solved? Like others mentioned the only game to be upset about is Edmonton, they gave that one away, they played well the rest of the way. Shootouts are sure nice when you get the extra point but you can't freak out when you lose them.

And if shootout wins become super important, TJ Oshie will sign the largest contract in history. That guy is a stud when it comes to shootouts. It was no fluke in the Olympics.

Maybe they could have it kinda like the DH in baseball. :-)

[fishing tech]

I would like to see Heatley sit one game at least and see how the team plays without him. Would be a lot faster that is for sure. As long as he plays I think Yoe is safe because Heatley hand cuffs the line up. The Wild will make the playoffs I hope, but if they don't do you think Yoe is gone?

[bbfenatic]

Like others mentioned the only game to be upset about is Edmonton

Pretty much sums up our differences! Go Wild, but if you come up just short that's OK, we are going to be really good next year for sure.

[Bear55]

Pretty much sums up our differences! Go Wild, but if you come up just short that's OK, we are going to be really good next year for sure.

Its either that or get [PoorWordUsage] when they don't win the cup every year and trade Koivu for a backup goalie. You realize they don't give the cup to every team right? Or maybe its just about perception, some people seemed to think adding Parise and Suter = Cup. What it showed me was how far away we were to actually competing for the Cup. How can anyone look at the west this year and think the wild are going to go on a run? Not saying it can't happen this year but I doubt it.

[CaptainMusky]

Its either that or get [PoorWordUsage] when they don't win the cup every year and trade Koivu for a backup goalie. You realize they don't give the cup to every team right? Or maybe its just about perception, some people seemed to think adding Parise and Suter = Cup. What it showed me was how far away we were to actually competing for the Cup. How can anyone look at the west this year and think the wild are going to go on a run? Not saying it can't happen this year but I doubt it.

Some good nuggets there for sure Bear!

Reality and perception seem lost on a few folks. If they Wild to not make the playoffs I will be majorly disappointed and look for some significant changes.

If they Wild do not get past the first round of the playoffs I will not be overly concerned because I didnt have that expectation for them this year. They are close, but not quite a real contender. They have shown (and it gets proven every year) that a hot goalie can make all the difference. Early on it was Harding. Now Kuemper is playing VERY well. I would say he is hands down exceeding my expectations of him right now especially considering his first few outings. Yikes.

It was kind of interesting they were discussing who the best forward on the Wild is the other day on KFAN. One was arguing for Granlund while another thought that was preposterous that it was Parise.

Over the course of an entire season I would agree, but looking at what Granlund has been doing lately, his heady play, play making ability and just the seemingly innate ability to do whatever he wants out there has me siding with Granlund right now at this moment.

Parise is a guy who gives everything he has every shift and that is what makes him fun to watch (for me at least). Granlund just seems to have something special about his game. The sky is the limit for this kid. He has grown leaps and bounds from last year and its not even close.

So, BB, look at the growth these players have had in a year and just think for a moment what they might look like next year. This is what many of us have been talking about. Some of these kids could be playing college hockey. They arent used to an 80 plus game schedule yet. It takes years to build up the strength and conditioning to compete every night.

Next year the Wild better make a serious run deep into the playoffs and have a legitimate shot at the Cup.

They are not quite there, but they are not far off either.

I am hopeful that Yeo switches lines around tonight a bit. Fontaine = IN, McCormick = Out. My thought.

[bbfenatic]

I just enjoy the back and forth and certainly appreciate all that everyone brings to the "hockey talk". If you knew me personally you might say I was a little high strung or impatient but I understand the big picture. Unfortunately I am of the mindset that professional sports has become all about "today" as players come and go via injury, trades, or lose their game so rapidly. I think we have what it takes now when comparing player for player of other teams and they've shown that for stretches this year and that gets me on my high horse, and as you know its a hard fall off that high horse! I'll stop "stirring the pot" so much and getting people thinking I am way off in right field. Go Wild!