Wild 2013-14 season

[Bear55]

Good news on Brodin, he has been amazing this year and still only 20! Suter was playing in the AHL at that age, we might have a rare talent on our hands with this kid.

[CaptainMusky]

Spurgeon, Fontaine and Neidereiter have all been a pleasant surprise. When Coyle comes back and if the rest can remain healthy there should be a lot of optimism with this club.

[Bear55]

I think Coyle has been doing some light skating, still nowhere near ready but he's probably still twice as fast as heatley.

[solbes]

Also glad to see Fontaine doing well on his first call up. Great college player (F and the CC!), but I didn't think he'd carry this much hustle to play in the bigs.

[CaptainMusky]

Coyle on the ice for morning skate. Wearing a knee brace, which he will probably have to wear for the foreseeable future.

[bbfenatic]

Heatley finally catches fire! Very nice of Cooke to give him the freebie into the open net. The team is playing very well considering injuries to key players and now Harding which would be a bummer if he is out long. Nino is so good and getting better every game and they all are making small improvements which should lead to more wins. Back to back with Chicago will be fun. Yeo for coach of the year!

[OnAFly]

I was there and had about as good a view as you could have last night on the Semin goal. You could see that one coming a mile away. He drifted back into the weak side, a passing lane opened up through the slot, he one-times it and it gets through Harding as he moves post to post.

My first reaction when Heatley scored was, "He finally scored!...into an open net....on a PP" Why does this guy just fall down randomly? He plays like he's 40 out there.

Watching Parise at the X is awesome. That guy is just an animal out there. He just never stops.

[Bear55]

My first reaction when Heatley scored was, "He finally scored!...into an open net....on a PP" Why does this guy just fall down randomly? He plays like he's 40 out there.

It is both funny and sad that the only goal Heatley scores is the very rare power play empty netter. That and Cooke fed him on the play instead of shooting himself.

[10,000 Casts]

Quote:

Why does this guy just fall down randomly? He plays like he's 40 out there.

Heatley looks like the old out of shape coach that is schrimiging with high schoolers. He stands staright up and floats around with one hand on his stick. All I ever think is jeez buddy, bend your knees, put 2 hands on your stick and be ready, some fundamentals could go a long way..

[CaptainMusky]

Heatley had is stick knocked right out of his hand and into the corner while in the defensive zone against Nashville. When I first saw the play I was like [PoorWordUsage] Heatley, a defender two feet from you WITH THE PUCK and you just turn and skate to the corner?

I backed up the DVR to see his stick go flying into the corner. So apparently retrieving his stick was more important that doing something to the guy WITH the puck!!!??? The first time I saw it I didnt even see his stick go flying, but either way, dont chase down your dang stick if the defender is right there with the puck!

[OnAFly]

I think it's a combination of him aging and just seeing the writing on the wall and being ready to give up. He's ready for retirement.

[schmitty3]

Big win tonight! Monday should be a fun one.

Pommer and Grandlund sure do look good together.

[10,000 Casts]

Huge when tonight and Pom and Gran had a great game but Backstrom came up huge all game. We have to be happy with our goalie situation so far, when one goes down, the other comes in and plays well.

I think we have a real streaky team.. Either they don't show up like in Fla, or they put 5 goals on the best team in the league..

[OnAFly]

Backs has always been better when he's got someone pushing him to be better by threatening to take that #1 position.

Hey, at this pace we'll make ~102pts in the end. That's home ice advantage worthy! We hit a hot streak going into the playoffs and we could be in for a run.

[bbfenatic]

Nice to see Pom snipe one from the slot, we need more of that.

Vanek to NYI. His agent claims no long term deal just a rental at this point but for what NYI gave up for him they must be thinking they can sign him to a long-term deal.

[OnAFly]

I'm getting more and more iffy on the Vanek idea. I mean, how much is he gonna get this summer? What does that mean for our young guys, many of which will be looking for big 2nd contracts. Do we want an aging scorer or to be able to resign another Coyle/Granny/Nino or Fontaine/Phillips/Bulmer?

IMO (and that's not saying much ) we would be better off long term with paying our younger guys and passing on the Vanek deal.

[Bear55]

Awesome win Saturday, nice to see us score more than 2 goals. Signing Vanek could totally screw us down the road but he might also might be the extra goal scorer we need to push us over the top. Just imagine Granlund with Pommers and Vanek instead of Heatly. If Fontain can hang on the first line we could have a 3rd line of Cooke Coyle and Nino and be scary good.

[bbfenatic]

I'm getting more and more iffy on the Vanek idea. I mean, how much is he gonna get this summer? What does that mean for our young guys, many of which will be looking for big 2nd contracts. Do we want an aging scorer or to be able to resign another Coyle/Granny/Nino or Fontaine/Phillips/Bulmer?

IMO (and that's not saying much ) we would be better off long term with paying our younger guys and passing on the Vanek deal.

I agree 100%!!! As good as he is now IMO he is on the later half of his productivity. Unless he would take a short term (2yr max) deal with us for decent money I see no need to offer any kind of Parise/Suter deal to him and would be better off looking for younger options. My guess is NYI intends to offer up some good coin to keep him past this year and we'll just have to pass and move on.

Hopefully we can grab another win tonight and establish ourselves as a team to be reckoned with every night!

[10,000 Casts]

The Islanders have made alot of stupid moves from what I can see. Here's one for example:

Cal Clutterbuck - no goals, 1 assist, for a -2

Nino Niederreiter- 2 goals, 3 assists, for a +1

I know it's early but jeez, what a steal it's looking like it will be for MN.

Buffalo got a good prospect, a 1st and a 2nd and they don't even know if they can sign him for next season?!? It will take a HUGE # to be able to sign him. And after all that I'm not so sure it would have been right for MN either.

[OnAFly]

Buffalo made out good in the Vanek and Pommer trades. Not to say that we got fleeced since we were able to afford the price pretty easily with all of our prospects. Vanek, however, might not be such a great deal if the Isle can't resign him. At that point...wow.

Buffalo might have been able to accelerate a total rebuild by a year or two. If Riseborough would have understood that concept, he might still have a job here. Personally, I think we're better off with Fletcher anyways. So, maybe it's good ol' Dougie screwed us up so bad

[Bear55]

Buffalo got a great deal, Moulson is a great player but is also a UFA and if they can't resign him they can dump him at the trade deadline for even more picks.

The Nino trade was an absolute steal, we got a younger bigger more skilled player for Clutterbuck. The 3rd round we had to add was nothing for a young first rounder with TONS of up side.

[10,000 Casts]

I'm already getting excited for tonights game! going 2-0 on a home and home with Chi will make a statement!

[archerystud]

Is DR a consultant for the Isles now!! Sounds like it if they don't resign Vanek.

The way the young guys are improving I'd rather resign them and have a couple years to make runs. Pick up a rental player then if needed. If you get Vanek you have a 1-2 year window and an injury right before the playoffs could kill that one year.

Coyle/Brodin are beasts and Granlund is looking MUCH stronger on the puck.

The Hawks will be out for blood and we are missing 2 of our top 10. Hope to see a good game.

[schmitty3]

I hope they don't go after Vanek if given the chance. With our youth we'll be competitive for many years to come, no need to jeopardize that by giving away some of it for 1 guy.

El Nino has been awesome! I never expected him to step in and make this big of an impact, that deal is looking like a steal for us.

[CaptainMusky]

I think if they front loaded a deal they could get it done and not screw themselves in 3 yrs when the young guns are due. I wouldn't want to jeopardize losing some of these young guys in 2 or 3 yrs but would love to see vanek in front of the next. One of the best in close quarters with the puck.