Wild 2014/2015 Regular Season

[leechlake]

Kuemper rejected the 2 way. The rolled the dice on the one way and at this point the Wild lost that one.

[bbfenatic]

Sounds to me like the end is near for Yeo, last ditch effort to light the fire. Strange circumstances I never thought would happen but......

[fishing tech]

Yoe will either gain their respect and get a better effort or lose respect and they will continue their spiral. I would like to see them healthy for a long stretch before any big changes are made.

[leechlake]

my non educated guess was that he got Yeo got more than an earful from the higher ups and then he threw that at the players. Probably didn't take much to set him off at practice, sure the players saw it coming.

[OnAFly]

From the sounds of it, the some of the players thought they deserved it too (Zucker and Vanek). At least it's good to hear that the players are taking this as a kick in the butt and in the right direction, not an "eff you who are you to yell at us".

[OnAFly]

Kuemper rejected the 2 way. The rolled the dice on the one way and at this point the Wild lost that one.

Were the dollars the same in the NHL and AHL or did he reject the two way because of lower pay at the AHL level?

[CaptainMusky]

Were the dollars the same in the NHL and AHL or did he reject the two way because of lower pay at the AHL level?

Normally 2 way deals mean the NHL salary is one rate, while AHL is another, lower rate. I would assume the same here. Now, the way I understood it, Kuemper could have been sent down early in the season even though he was still on a 1 way contract and NOT have to clear waivers because of # of games played. But, we are beyond that point right now as in he has played too many games. They were forced to play him or have him on the active roster because of Harding breaking his foot.

Brodziak also said that they deserved the tongue lashing. From what Russo said, it didnt happen immediately at practice, but was in response to something Yeo didnt like that happened within the first 10 minutes.

These guys are grown men getting paid lots of money to play a game. Aside from a couple guys there really isnt anyone on this team that is beyond getting their butt chewed out for their play. Parise is one and at this point I cannot even think of another. I think Scandella has played really well, but he made some costly turnovers last night too, but this is across the board.

Zucker played great last night. Its really too bad that the goalie costs you a game like that and from what I read Yeo pinned that loss on Kuemper. First I have seen him lay blame on any one thing before, but good, Kuemper needs to hear it.

I was ticked about how he handled the contract negotiations and now here we sit with an unproven guy and are over the barrel. Fletch really didnt have much of a choice and Kuemper knew it. He worked this whole deal like he was Johnathan Quick when he is nowhere near that.

[leechlake]

Kuemper- I've wondered what he's doing sometimes. He will get out of position for example playing a puck behind the net and he seems in no hurry to get back into the net. Usually it doesn't effect things but the other night when he dropped his stick he quit watching the play up the boards and while he picked it up the wing from the other team fired a shot by him. Kuemper saw it as it went by him. Sure it was a flukey play but being out of position by a half step by any hockey player can be a big deal and many times he's a full step out of position. Glad he's big.

[fishing tech]

Sounds like Scandella and Kuemper are out for at least the next game and Koivu should play tomorrow.

Yoe's interview after practice was interesting. Saying Kuempers injury should be that big of a deal. Sound almost like he should suck it up and get over it.

[10,000 Casts]

I wonder if Kuemper has a bad attitude. Yeo never publicly outlashes at anyone and he not only tore apart the team at practice but a day later he is calling Kuemper below average in the press.

http://www.tsn.ca/must-see-wild-coach-yeo-snaps-at-players-during-practice-1.177177

What do you guys think of Cam Ward?

[RuKiddingMe]

Zach lost his dad this morning.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/287918141.html

Very sad

[hoppe56307]

F YOU CANCER!!!

[CaptainMusky]

Sad deal. Thoughts and prayers with the Parise family. Lost a good man, great father and incredible asset to the hockey community. His legacy will live on.

[OnAFly]

That's tough.

[CaptainMusky]

What do you guys think of Cam Ward?

His stats are not fantastic, but he isnt exactly playing with a good team either. He has a high contract though. $6M per year and his 30 right now. If we think Backstrom is overpaid, this guy might be worse. Hmmm. I would be all for it if the contract was smaller, but I just dont like how that would lay out.

[OnAFly]

His ridiculous contract is the only thing I'm afraid of. He's better than anything we have now and we can get him cheap...in terms of traded players.

He's 5 years younger than Backs, better save percentages on a horrible team. As a player, he'd probably be good for the team in the short term (this year and next). Not really beyond that though.

[bbfenatic]

No surprise but Kemper #4 on list of biggest disappointments in the NHL so far this season and the only goalie on the list.

Signing a goalie is tops but not going to make us a winner IMO.

[OnAFly]

Our defense is not much different between this year and last. Scandella is much improved, we lost Stoner (who was not a good defenseman), those are the big changes defensively.

Offensively, Pommer is down, Granny is down and Zucker is way up.

Goaltending has been our biggest issue. The poor goaltending is, IMO, leading to some of the other bad play we've seen lately.

[CaptainMusky]

I have been very hard on Kuemper for a long time, but I havent written him off, much like many of you here. I dont think you guys are either. I think we all believe he CAN be the day someday, but its just too early to push him into that spot. Goalies and Defensemen take the longest to develop and I surely wish we werent forced into going through growing pains with a young goalie. My frustration stems with how Kuemper handled the contract negotiations. If he would have been open to a two-way deal this off-season I think the Wild could have brought back Bryz and we could have had some stability in net. We could have still brought Kuemper up as needed due to injury and give him a bigger test, but not have to fall back on him being a stud right away.

The one thing that probably didnt help matters is how he started the season. Probably put too much "I told you so" in the back of his mind and now that is getting to him. He has the skills, its between the ears right now. Those are the things that take time and maturity to develop.

I wish there was something we could have done with Harding as well. Too bad we couldnt have just dumped that contract due to illness/injury without it going against our cap.

[OnAFly]

Totally agree.

[bbfenatic]

Our defense is not much different between this year and last. Scandella is much improved, we lost Stoner (who was not a good defenseman), those are the big changes defensively.

Offensively, Pommer is down, Granny is down and Zucker is way up.

Goaltending has been our biggest issue. The poor goaltending is, IMO, leading to some of the other bad play we've seen lately.

Names may not have changed much but overall play flat-out stinks, even fundamental skills are sloppy IMO. If we think getting a stellar goalie in there will turn us into a play-off team...good luck with that. We'll see these next few games if Yeo's message sunk in and if the players really have the ability to bring their play up to the next level (which I'd love to see)....if not Fletch has a tough job ahead of him.

[Bear55]

I would actually say yes if we had a quality tender we would be way up in the standings right now. Backs and Kuemper are at the bottom of the list in the NHL. For most of the season we have played fine and scored at a much better pace than last season. We are clearly slumping now and that Dallas game was awful but our goalies have been beyond weak.

[icehole10]

I agree, our goaltending has to get better. Its one thing if they are making great shots, but these last few games some of the goals that have gone in are weak. When your team is scoring 4-5 goals a game and still finds a way to loose, I think you have to start with the goalie!

[bbfenatic]

I would actually say yes if we had a quality tender we would be way up in the standings right now. Backs and Kuemper are at the bottom of the list in the NHL. For most of the season we have played fine and scored at a much better pace than last season. We are clearly slumping now and that Dallas game was awful but our goalies have been beyond weak.

Hopefully Fletch finds one soon so we can see how much of a difference it makes, I think we might win at a better pace than we have but nothing drastic unless play out front makes a big turn around....it's putting all the pieces together at the same time that will make a big difference and thinking we'd be way up in the standings with a different goalie is wishful thinking IMO.

Specifically...hitting the net more often, passing tape to tape, shooting when in the slot, getting a body in front more often for rebounds, backchecking to a player, are a few known issues we've had that come to top of mind real quickly.

[bbfenatic]

I agree, our goaltending has to get better. Its one thing if they are making great shots, but these last few games some of the goals that have gone in are weak. When your team is scoring 4-5 goals a game and still finds a way to loose, I think you have to start with the goalie!

We are avg 2.76 goals scored per game for the season , less than that the last 10 games (100% on the players out front). Giving up 2.87 goals per game which can be attributed some on the goalie and some on the mistakes out front. I've been saying our goaltending has been bad but I think our overall offensive and defensive play has been equally as bad...unless you want to put blinders on and only watch the highlights of the goals being scored!