Wild 2014/2015 Regular Season

[schmitty3]

It's been the not just bad, but straight up awful goaltending that has cost us about 4 or 5 games this year. That's at least 6 points with some ot wins which is how far back we are of a playoff spot. That's just with some average or even a little below average goal tending.

Now give us someone who is going to go out and win you some games you shouldn't be we'd be somewhere near the middle of the playoff race.

Side not anyone catch the Hawks Avs game the other day, when Varlymov had 54 saves in the shutout? One of the best performances I've ever seen, and it really didn't get much attention. Not gonna see Kuemper or Backstrom do that.

[OnAFly]

Here's and interesting stat:

Wild are 1st in shots allowed in the NHL (lowest).

Wild are 29th in save percentage.

Either we are hanging our goalies out to dry every night but only a couple of times, or our problems are seeded in goaltending.

[CaptainMusky]

That was overall a really good effort by the team last night. Backstrom made some saves, but clearly got burned on 2 of the goals. Whatever happened to poke checking the dang puck? Seriously he could have sneezed on the puck as he skated in front of the net to score. POKE CHECK THE PUCK!! Then there wouldnt have been a goal there for sure. Just doesnt seem to be good decision making.

I thought Jordan Shroeder had a very good game last night. Vanek was putting in a lot of effort too, but that resulted in 2 penalties including the 5 minute major. We almost killed the whole thing off which was great, but that really hurt us.

The effort was there, some really good chances on the PP, but Chicago is lights out on the penalty kill. I was actually surprised at how good the chances we had were. Chicago is just that good shorthanded.

[bbfenatic]

I agree, much better effort and Schroeder did look good. On Sharp's goal he should have never been able to cut in front like that without a body on him....Folin reaching instead of taking another step to knock Sharp off his feet IMO.

[bbfenatic]

Here's and interesting stat:

Wild are 1st in shots allowed in the NHL (lowest).

Wild are 29th in save percentage.

Either we are hanging our goalies out to dry every night but only a couple of times, or our problems are seeded in goaltending.

No question it is both and more on the poor goaltending....and since we control the play so much and keep it in the Ozone which limits opponents chances...it wouldn't hurt to score 1 more per game rather than spending all that time and energy controlling play and coming up with nothing.

[Bear55]

Another solid effort and no points to show for it, we are going to need a new goalie and get red hot in the 2nd half. Looking like a minor miracle right now to make the playoffs.

[solbes]

We're in a shrinking box with the goaltender situation. I don't think getting a high priced goalie with most of his best years behind him is the answer. A backup or prospect that is close to taking the #1 spot would be what we need. And for that we'd have to give up a lot to get. Not even sure Keumps would develop into a solid #1 if we gave him another couple of years.

I'd say Vanek gave more effort, maybe not a lot. I don't understand why he can't skate a little harder out there. He moves 30% faster on the power play, why does he get away with gliding around on even strength play? Schroeder looked fast, he should stay while that speed is there.

How bad would we be with out Zucker this year? Its going to be a tough road ahead, but it seems we just need some solid goaltending back there and the confidence might return.

[OnAFly]

I thought Vanek looked good overall last night. Some bad penalties, some floating, but last night's Vanek was the Vanek I hoped we were getting. He looked like he cared much, much more overall. A lot of guys did last night.

Hopefully Parise is back Saturday. Zucker will likely go to the second line, but there's plenty of talent there to support him.

[OnAFly]

We're in a shrinking box with the goaltender situation.

I hope we go after a 3 year solution as opposed to a 1 year solution. Enroth is a 3+ year type guy. Ward is a 1 year type guy. Other than that, maybe Reimer out of Toronto since they have a star in Bernier (who we missed out on last year). Toronto gave up Matt Frattin (junk), Ben Scrivens (backup goalie), and a 2nd for Bernier. Right now, that's looking pretty reasonable.

[Bear55]

We're in a shrinking box with the goaltender situation. I don't think getting a high priced goalie with most of his best years behind him is the answer. A backup or prospect that is close to taking the #1 spot would be what we need. And for that we'd have to give up a lot to get. Not even sure Keumps would develop into a solid #1 if we gave him another couple of years.

Yep we are in a tight spot, the problem with a young goalie is they might be super expensive. We might be able to get a vet with some milage for a reasonable price. With our aging vets a short term stop gab might have to do and then start drafting goalies in hope we find our #1 for the future. I mentioned Ward earlier, he is having a pretty solid year on a crappy team, has a high cap hit but only one more year on his contract. Not to mention a cup win in his career. Not an ideal situation but worth a shot to save this season and maybe the next 1-2. Backs and Harding are done and I don't know what to say about Kuemper, clearly the skill is there but mentally he isn't ready yet and may not ever be.

[fishing tech]

Here is a question for you. Would Broduer be better then Backstrom or Kuemper right now?

I think that the team has no confidence in their goaltending and it shows.

The Wild are a puck first team which means they play the puck instead of the body. I hate that. You are taught stick on puck body on body for squirts on up. If you don't get one you better get the other. Heck Zucker is becoming the teams best hitter.

[bbfenatic]

Here is a question for you. Would Broduer be better then Backstrom or Kuemper right now?

I think that the team has no confidence in their goaltending and it shows.

The Wild are a puck first team which means they play the puck instead of the body. I hate that. You are taught stick on puck body on body for squirts on up. If you don't get one you better get the other. Heck Zucker is becoming the teams best hitter.

Anyone might be better but from what I hear from the "talking heads" is that no Broduer would not be better. And you are correct Zucker is unreal in all aspects right now...Farm Kid strong and willing prove it.

[OnAFly]

Here is a question for you. Would Broduer be better then Backstrom or Kuemper right now?

I think that the team has no confidence in their goaltending and it shows.

The Wild are a puck first team which means they play the puck instead of the body. I hate that. You are taught stick on puck body on body for squirts on up. If you don't get one you better get the other. Heck Zucker is becoming the teams best hitter.

Oh god no on Brodeur. He's a shell of what he once was. Basically, Backstrom is probably a better choice. There were a few clips circulating in the beginning of the year. It was ugly.

On hitting, I see that too and totally agree. There were a couple opportunities to absolutely light Kane up while he had his head down. Hits could have been made completely legally and I'm not saying we should injure other team's starts, but we do have to keep them honest. This is something we just don't do and they wind adjusting their play because of it.

[Bear55]

Wild are 2nd in the league in shots against (pretty solid D coverage and puck possesion) and 2nd from last in the league in save percentage. Just about anyone would have been better over the past month or so. A new goalie might mean just as much or more for next season as it does this one. At the very least it would be competition, not much happening in the AHL to push these guys right now.

[O.T.C.]

They appear to be a mess with no identity. No toughness, weak goalies or is it a combo of weak defenseman and I mean that in terms of strength. Take the hawks, you can pair Duncan keith with a guy like Brent Seabrook, good combo, got the skill guy and the tough guy tandem. It just stinks to still see that gap between like Chicago and us, we haven't closed it at all if anything we're trending more so the wrong way with goaltending and small defenseman. Sure we played with heavy hearts last night of course max effort was there and it still wasn't enough. Kinda like the vikes trying to close the gap with the packers or twins and Detroit or KC, we have the wolves also, all 4 are trying to close the gap with teams that are better then them, we just think out loud hoping for the day it will happen.

[OnAFly]

I honestly believe that half the carp going on this season is greatly influenced by the goalie situation. If we had someone back there that the guys trusted, I doubt we would have an issue with guys A) dropping out of position to try to do another player's job or looking like they're giving up in some games after a bad goal.

With average goal tending this is a playoff team. Imagine what that would do to the moral of the team. Also, I don't buy this "they're adults who should be able to give the same effort night in and night out regardless of they're battling for 1st or 29th." If they feel like they're playing for nothing, it's going to effect they're performance.

[O.T.C.]

You know what on the fly, totally see that point. Same when I played, we had a good goalie shaky goalie tandem, when Mr. Shaky was in net we were like we better put an 8 spot on the board or we're toast. Our team confidence was we can beat anyone with our stud in net. Sorta similar in baseball, we were already tough as ever, but it did not start that way when we got a "Vanek" type guy that should hit 20 jacks for us and he hit 1 that summer, but we were always waiting on him to explode which mentally wasn't the right way to handle our new player, think he was trying way way to hard and it all unraveled for him. Anyway, hard to get on a hot streak without that slam the door goalie for sure.

[O.T.C.]

Back to the word toughness Carter, Prosser, Cooke got manhandled by Nashville wow they got tossed around rag dolled ish.

[yakfisher]

Scary thing is, we could have had Laviolette last year when everyone was calling for Yeo's head. I guess now we could have Carlyle, yay,

[bobberineyes]

Man o man.....this gonna be a long night. Kinda funny how the boys calling the game are ripping on the wild for giving up on plays.We all see goaltending is an issue but if nobody in front of him cares, it's more than goalie issues.

[schmitty3]

They came out tonight with no effort at all. Almost seemed like they already conceded they were suppose to lose this game so that's what they were going to do. Zucker and Parise seem to be the only ones giving full effort out there.

What is going on with Ryan Suter? He has been awful lately, and ironically he is our only player selected to the all star game. Not sure if he's trying to do too much out there or what, but he has not been good. Just saw a stat he is now -18 in his last 19 games.

Going through this lineup there have been so many players that have been extremely disappointing. Coyle, Granlund, Haula, Kuemper, Koiuvu, Pominville, Vanek, Fontaine.

I've always been a Yeo supporter, but now I saying we look at some different options. Way too many mental errors being made out there.

[RuKiddingMe]

Pretty sure we wake up tomorrow morning to Yeo being fired which is really to bad - I like Yeo.

[Bear55]

Ugly year just got worse.

[bbfenatic]

They came out tonight with no effort at all. Almost seemed like they already conceded they were suppose to lose this game so that's what they were going to do. Zucker and Parise seem to be the only ones giving full effort out there.

What is going on with Ryan Suter? He has been awful lately, and ironically he is our only player selected to the all star game. Not sure if he's trying to do too much out there or what, but he has not been good. Just saw a stat he is now -18 in his last 19 games.

Going through this lineup there have been so many players that have been extremely disappointing. Coyle, Granlund, Haula, Kuemper, Koiuvu, Pominville, Vanek, Fontaine.

I've always been a Yeo supporter, but now I saying we look at some different options. Way too many mental errors being made out there.

Sure glad someone else is finally seeing what I have been seeing the last month. We deserve better, this is getting really ugly and no fun to watch. It would be drastic but might make sense to give Suter the rest of the year off and tell him to work with his personal trainer, re-build his engine, get revitalized, get stronger and come back ready to go next year, he has been subpar all season IMO (not himself,appears unhealthy) turnovers, bad passes, poor d-coverage, weak shot, etc, poor guy looks absolutely wore out. I don't think a new coach or new goalie (if you could even sign a better one) could salvage this season. of course the easiest move would be to fire Yeo for a change and at least keep the interest up for both the players and the fans.

[OnAFly]

His system is good (when played correctly), I like that. But, he seems to lose the room every year in January. At some point, that needs to stop.