Wild 2015-2016 Season

[hoppe56307]

Been pretty quiet in here so I though this might get people thinking about he season, first pre-season game is in 10 days.

[knoppers]

just renewed my FM fantasy hockey league, for those that played last year, your invites have been sent. lets play hockey!

[Bear55]

Preseason underway and real hockey almost here, despite our collapse at the hands of Stanley cup champions (again) we have reason to be optimistic this year. Goalie is finally in place, vets aren't super old yet, we have a pile of talented kids and we were one of the very best teams in all of the NHL the 2nd half of the year, not to mention thumping the Blues in the playoffs.

Like last season this may be our best chance to really contend for a cup but we need to see some improvement. The vets don't need to explode but a good number of them need to be better than last year. Feel like I have been saying this forever but now is the time for these young guys to step up and show what they have, the experience is there. We need a couple of break out seasons or at the very least see some nice improvements in production across the board. Have to give Nino and Zucker credit for stepping up last season but the ret of the could have been better. It should also be fun to see what Dumb can do after getting his feet wet last year.

[MN BassFisher]

I can't wait until the season starts up! I haven't watched much of the preseason games the last 2 night (I normally don't) how have they been looking?

[Bear55]

Can't really tell much from preason but we usually come out flying so I expect a good start, this big test will come mid-season, we need to avoid that annual swoon.

[O.T.C.]

Ditto Bear55, I think having the goalie answer will help, no more is it Harding or Backstrom or drawing a blank but the big goalie AHL Iowa guy we called up frequently. Is it the Winter classic year also finally ? Glad to have Parise's take on the Wild's status, Gaborik could barely speak English etc or seem to answer the question not sure it was always fully understood. Zach will tell it as close to like it is as possible, 1991 was it seems like forever ago darn Mario Lemieux had to come back in that series, but getting there again would be awesome and we at least may have that potential. 

[CaptainMusky]

Yeo is sure giving some of the young guys an opportunity to prove themselves. Both Reilly and Graovac have been getting a lot of ice time. For Reilly, I think he is really showing something, but Graovac haven't really seen much. He would be a guy that could fill the void left by Brodziak with his size.

I expect a much more even keel season this year, but I really don't know if they can meet or surpass their point total from last year (100 pts). Its possible that St Louis and Colorado got worse in the off season, no doubt Chicago did, but they still will win a ton of games. I just see the rise of Dallas being a big test this year.

I would really like to see the Wild get out of the Wildcard spot and get home ice. Then I think it would be a better shot of getting past the second round. We have some holes and really need some guys to step up that had off years last year.

Haula, Vanek, Pomminville all need to have more production. More goals from Vanek, but equal # of pts would be fine. Coyle also needs to pick it up, which I think he can, still wish he was at wing instead of center.

[hoppe56307]

The one thing I would love to see is, Suters minutes decrease.  You can't tell my that averaging 29 min a night took something out of him down the stretch and playoffs last year.

[CaptainMusky]

I think is a guarantee, especially with the emergence of Dumba that Suter's ice time will drop. Around 24 to 25 min per game would be great. A lot less wear and tear for sure.

Not sure what to make of the Porter signing. I don't think he really brings too much to the table.

[Bear55]

I think we have a few injuries and Porter will be more for 4th line depth guy, he won't put up many points but a good hustle guy to throw in there. Ya Suter needs less ice time and needs to bring his A game, the 30 minutes of his B game was both wearing him out and he just hasn't been as good overall.

[CaptainMusky]

Well, we can now see why the Wild were able to let Brodziak slip away, not to mention they couldn't afford him, but they are going to roll with Graovac.

Reilly sent down to Iowa and Shroeder waived today. They have their opening night roster set. Should be interesting.

I know there are lots of naysayers about Vanek, but to have that skill level on your 3rd line could really lead to some fireworks.

I LOVE that Coyle is on the wing on that line!! He is better suited at wing IMO and he could really shine there. Graovac with his big frame, man, with Coyle and Graovac out there its going to be like the Red Sea parting for vanek coming up the ice! LOL Of course this is my Christmas colored goggles speaking, but I really really like the potential of that line.

Not surprised that Reilly was sent down. With having to have 3 goalies on roster and the fact if they did suit him up at the expense of someone else, well, he isn't going to see the ice enough to grow. Spend some time in Iowa, stay healthy and there WILL be injuries. Come up and make a difference then.

[BartmanMN]

Game night.  Yeah baby

[ANYFISH2]

Wow, what was that!

Not quite sure how, but what a change from 1st.to 3 periods.  Kinda a nice first game

82-0 here we go.

[ANYFISH2]

Another nice win tonight.

Dubnyk was huge in the third.  Boy, Coyle looks good so far, where did this speed come from? Carter played well as well imo.  3rd.and 4 lines look to be shaping up nicely

 

 

[Bear55]

Nice couple of wins and we aren't even playing all that well yet. Pretty amazing comeback against the avs, it's so much fun to just own them over and over.

Coyle is looking really really good, him taking a big step could be amazing for us.

[CaptainMusky]

Agreed on Coyle! He looked great at the beginning of the season last year too, but then got injured which I think set him back big time. His first goal was absolute BEAST mode!

What an effort. I hope Graovac comes back soon so Coyle can be back at wing, I still think this is a better overall position for him and will showcase his skills more.

Dubnyk looked pretty good against STL and we are definitely knocking rust off the D in the first 2 games. Across the league though it appears that goal tending and D is a bit slow to start thus far.

[hoppe56307]

Why so many days off between games, I need my wild fix .  I just hope they do not come out as slow as they did against the Avs.

[hoppe56307]

Well they came out firing the first period and a half.  Kinda slacked off towards the end of the second, and third.

I would say that Parise has really been earning the money, and Vanek is off to a better start, just wish he would show some more effort on the defensive end.

[10,000 Casts]

Our Defense and goaltending scares me, we are smaller than ever and Duubnyk still looks unproven to me.. I hope we can score a lot of goals this season. And the West is on fire again.. It's going to be another very tough season.

[hoppe56307]

Kemper looked good in his first start of the year. 

[CaptainMusky]

What hasn't been discussed is exactly how much impact NOT having Sydor with the coaching staff is having right now. I agree, our D zone coverage has been suspect at best.

Last night's game was as close to a full 60 minute game that we have played thus far, but we ended up with a loss to show for it. Dubnyk hasn't been rock solid, but 2 of those goals last night were deflected right in front of him so those are tough. You hope your goalie gets those, but it will come I think. Otherwise I think he played decent. Made some big saves along the way. It did seem that he took every chance to freeze the puck which to me is a sign of a little lacking in confidence.

Its a long season and I am not alarmed at all yet. We have been getting contributions from 3 lines and different players too so that is great.

Glimpses of Coyle coming out in games, last night may have been one where he wasn't as noticeable. What was up the last 7 or so mins in the 3rd? I didn't see our 3rd line out there at all since that time??? No Vanek, Coyle or Fontaine in there.

Vanek is looking better there were some plays that just barely failed to connect and as these guys get games under them I think will start to.

Disappointed in Pominville still. I have been riding him since the playoffs last year and still now. Lackluster play in my eyes. Top line player but is not capitalizing on all the opportunities he gets. He was a major contributor in the OT loss in LA and last night, just seems out of position or not making plays. We need more from him than he has been doing.

[hoppe56307]

What do you guys think about bringing Todd Richards back as an assistant to replace Sydor on the defensive side of things.  He and Yeo have kinda the same coaching background with the Penguins system, and Richards played defense.  He was not actually that bad of a coach given the players he had to work with.

[CaptainMusky]

I don't hate the idea, but I have to imagine that at some point Sydor will be coming back (right or wrong) and the bench is already crowded with Bruno added in as well.

It was interesting, on Tuesday night I am watching Tortorella on NHL network as an analyst, yesterday at lunch watching him on NHL Network via a news conference announced as the new Columbus head coach. :-)

Columbus if far better than their record and this should be pretty easy for Torts to turn that around. The players simply gave up on Richards. That is a young team and when your goalie says he doesn't have any confidence that is not a good sign.

[hoppe56307]

Sure would be nice to get an easy win one of these games.  Don't know how they played in the first as I missed it, talk was they did not come out ready to play or Columbus was just that hyped up with the new coach.  Caught the second and that was the period to watch and they played a very good period other than the couple minutes they got trapped in the defensive end with around 5min left in the period.

[bobberineyes]

They didn't look real good the first 20, your right the second was there best period.  I'm all for heavy hitting hockey,  but do we have anybody on our roster that has the seeds to stand up to our opponents? Parise gets leveled by hartnell from behind, Coyle gets friggin steamrolled and no one on our bench does a damm thing about.  Goin to be lots of injuries this season if they are going let other teams run them over...