Wild 2014/2015 Regular Season

[leechlake]

the on ice tirade didn't work for very long. I'm having flashbacks to 40 years ago when the North Stars stunk. Fun to go to games or watch on tv but my expectations are about a 2 on a scale of 10 now. It was great against the Preds when Cook cross checked the Captain in the teeth (I'm kidding it was pathetic) and then one of our D got his rear handed to him in a quick fight. The Wild aren't very intimidating. I love watching Parise work though, it's really a treat to see someone with an engine like that.

[OnAFly]

Too bad we're wasting the tail end of his prime with this kind of performance.

Russo is noting that Suter's performance decline is likely due to having to carry the load of a 3rd pair the is not NHL worthy (Prosser/Bickel/Falk).

So, the list of our problems seems to be:

Lack of a true #1 center

NHL worthy goalie

NHL worthy 3rd pair D

wow, I had such high expectations for this season.

[fishing tech]

My thoughts on Suter is he is still struggling with the loss of his father. I am no expert and have not lost a parent, but when you lose someone close to you and very unexpectedly it can and will take a toll on you. Lack of sleep and depression. He told Zach to take more time off and spend it with his Dad, something Suter didn't have a chance to do.

On the rest of the team, they quit! They have given up except for a couple. Pomer should sit in the press box and watch a game or 2 along with a few other veterans.

At least the announcers last night called it the way it should be.

[fishing tech]

I just finished watching NHL tonight. The Wild players are like bobble heads, watching the puck. Maybe some 5 on five with one side playing with no sticks will help. Force them to play the body in practice and maybe it will carry over to there games. Doubt it but the need to finish their checks to even start to turn this around.

[CaptainMusky]

Pominville is one guy that you dont get hear being ripped often, but IMO he is playing absolutely horrible. How many times have you seen him not pick up the free man in the D zone? This led to goal #1.

How many times have you seen him pull some bonehead move right at the blue line when entering the zone? Example. THe other night he was the open wing on a rush with Zucker (I believe) instead of staying wide he skated directly AT Zucker and by the time they were at the blue line they ran into each other. [PoorWordUsage] is that? Seriously, watch these guys head up ice, they dont stay in lanes and stay wide. 1 defender can cover 2 wild players because they are not playing positionally sound.

On the power play last night we had ALL 3 forwards in the corner of the offensive zone. WHo is left to have a scoring chance? What happens if the puck comes out to the Hawks? Odd man rush in a hurry.

Suter needs to have his ice time cut. He came back from the mumps too soon and all this ice team is wearing on him big time. I have been saying this the last two years. He dies off in the playoffs because he plays half an extra season than anyone else.

At this point I rate our needs as left shot D #1 priority, goal tending #2 and #3 a top line center.

I would trade Pominville for any of the above. Koivu is completely worthless.

[10,000 Casts]

Give Suter the rest of the year off? Are you serious?

This team is NOT far off. I still think a solid goalie and a typical playoff run will get them in.

[bbfenatic]

Give Suter the rest of the year off? Are you serious?

This team is NOT far off. I still think a solid goalie and a typical playoff run will get them in.

LMAO...u watching the same team everyone else is watching? What kind of odds you want for them not making the playoffs? It would take teams ahead of us to completely tank...Dallas, CO, Calgary, LA....plus finding that stalwart goalie....you keep the faith though!

As for Suter he does not appear to be healthy, playing terrible...like someone stated earlier -18 in the last 19 games...just an idea...the guy is shot IMO

[OnAFly]

Yeah but imagine a thorough tanking of the rest of the season....imagine Eichel in a green/red sweater

[bbfenatic]

Or McDavid...either way we are going to get a good pick at this rate.

[OnAFly]

haha, at this rate, through the half season, we'll be picking 10th. No chance at either player, but still 5 C's in the top 10 of the draft rankings as of now. Maybe Strome would fall. 6'3" highly rated center....that would be sweet, especially if he could walk into the NHL and play the first year at a decent level.

[Bear55]

10K isn't that far off, overall play has been solid but goalies have let us down for the most part and right now the whole team is just in the dumps because they have no confidence in the net and each other. It doesn't help that we have been passing around the mumps and flu for a good stretch of the season and a lot of our best players are dealing with major off ice issues. We just found a recipe for disaster, now we have to see if/when they bounce back. Maybe in the 2nd half, maybe by the end of the year maybe the focus will shift to next season and fixing what is broken. No reason we can't rebound, it's just a matter of when.

[bbfenatic]

No reason we can't rebound, it's just a matter of when.

Really Bear...No Reason? I could think of about 12 reasons plus a goalie. I realize we have had the mumps, injuries, etc but injuries and sicknesses are not going away just because....that's part of hockey and when you consider our size/strength my guess is we will continue to suffer injuries. I'd normally say it could get interesting but that thought does not even enter my mind with this mess.

[bobberineyes]

Look at the bright side though fellas, we got a couple games coming up that should be worth watching. Buffalo and Edmonton. ...that should tell us where we end up in the draft.

[bbfenatic]

Look at the bright side though fellas, we got a couple games coming up that should be worth watching. Buffalo and Edmonton. ...that should tell us where we end up in the draft.

LOL...good point, will be interesting to see who is favored in those games..probably the home team by half a goal. We'll win our share, problem is our share is not good enough to make up ground.

[schmitty3]

It's starting to look less likely, but I agree no reason we can't get back in this. We are right at the half way point and 7 points out of a spot with a game at hand. We go on a little streak and we are right there.

With that said there is absolutely no way we do that with Backstrom in goal. Kuemper has to get healthy and start playing up to his potential. Backstrom is old and slow, and can't seem to give up less than 3 goals a game. It surprises me every game seeing how slow he is moving side to side.

[Bear55]

Really Bear...No Reason? I could think of about 12 reasons plus a goalie. I realize we have had the mumps, injuries, etc but injuries and sicknesses are not going away just because....that's part of hockey and when you consider our size/strength my guess is we will continue to suffer injuries. I'd normally say it could get interesting but that thought does not even enter my mind with this mess.

We are basically the same team as last year minus Briz and +Vanek, we can't slump forever. Again not saying this year isn't toast, it highly likely is but there is still plenty of talent to turn things around. All is not lost.

[CaptainMusky]

7 pts isnt much to make up BUT its the number of teams we have to pass that concerns me.

[bbfenatic]

We are basically the same team as last year minus Briz and +Vanek, we can't slump forever. Again not saying this year isn't toast, it highly likely is but there is still plenty of talent to turn things around. All is not lost.

Been down this road....same personnel but other than a couple most are not performing near as well, most notably in the Net and trending the wrong way. I'd be extremely surprised if they make the playoffs and would bet against it...not saying they won't improve from present play but teams ahead of us are just as talented, many more talented, they all have better goaltending...and just as hungry to stay in the playoff hunt. If Yeo stays and no tender is found then IMO they should start shuffling, giving others chance on PP and PK, bring up more prospects, etc.

[BartmanMN]

We are basically the same team as last year minus Briz and +Vanek, we can't slump forever. Again not saying this year isn't toast, it highly likely is but there is still plenty of talent to turn things around. All is not lost.

Don't forget about Harding. He was the best goalie in the league last year when he played and won us a TON of games before all star break.

[bbfenatic]

IMO it will be tough to match the 18 wins in this second half with 24 road games and 17 home games plus last 15 games are as tough as we could fear IMO: Islanders, Calgary, LA, Rangers, Detroit, Winnipeg (3 times), Chicago, Nashville, St Louis (3 times) and Pittsburgh (2 times)

[bobberineyes]

Put it like that bb and things are gonna havta change pretty quick for this team. I would definitely like to see Harding on the ice yet this year, but the way things are going for him would prob be short lived. I missed the game Curry was in net.....how did he look?

[OnAFly]

Harding's career is over. This is the last year of his contract. Curry looks like an AHL goalie...as do our other two goalies...so I guess he's abut the same.

[CaptainMusky]

Harding is done for sure. Played 2 games, left the second game after two periods and hasn't played since. That was nearly a month ago.

Curry isn't terrible but I don't know if its an upgrade over the other two sieves.

[bobberineyes]

I've never been a big Roenick fan but he had a good point last night. This team was beating up on teams early on and pretty much skating with anybody. Even though they had to battle thru injuries and health issues this team has not rebounded and that stems from coaching. Same players from the start to now.....changes need to be made.

[CaptainMusky]

That is the fatal flaw in roenicks argument. Same players? Have you or he even looked at the lineup from then to now? Scandella out. Ballard out. Kuemper out. Granlund out. Dumba in ahl. That's not counting all the games missed between then and now. Look at it this way. The blackhawks have only had one game where their top 4 d men weren't together. The wild have had 7 in which they HAVE played together.

Roenicks a moron and a coach killer himself.