Wild 2016-17 Regular Season

[Bear55]

Kuemps has looked decent his last 2-3 starts, maybe our backup situation got magically cured. Parise and Pommers looking 3 years younger too. If we can get a healthy Dumba and Brofin back I am really liking olofsson as the 6th D. Just need to get Stall going again and we will be tough to beat.

[hoppe56307]

Tuch had a couple good chances last night too.  He seems to be getting a little more acclimated to the speed and play of the NHL compared to Iowa.

[CaptainMusky]

I was thinking that Reilly would turn out to be the better of the two between he and Olofsson, but Olofsson has looked really solid back there.

The one thing I noticed with Tuch is that his hands do not appear to have made it to the NHL level yet. It will come. He made a few poor choices, but that is going to happen and should get better as he gets more time. For how big he is he does have decent speed and he does have a great shot if he can ever get it off.

 

Well, we no longer have games in hand with Chicago, but we are 7 pts up!

[Bear55]

Tuch is close but I don't think we see an impact this year or in the playoffs unless there is an injury. Showing good signs but needs to find that extra gear. He will come in handy next year when we are cap strapped.

[bbfenatic]

I agree with CM....Tuch has stone hands at this point compared to others and that needs to improve to play the Wild style...you gotta be able to catch passes and dish them back out immediately...you can't be fighting for puck control as long as he does...I like Groa better than Tuch but unless Groa lights it up quickly in Iowa he may have burned his bridge..."next man up"

 

IMO Schroeder had a great game and that line really dominated in most cases...the depth this team is showing separates them from others IMO....and Dallas needs to get rid of Ruff like yesterday...what a waste of talent that team has.

[Bryce]

Dumba possibly back tomorrow night. 2-3 more turnovers in our own zone to deal with.

[hoppe56307]

23 games in 41 days after the mandated break, and the horrid streak for teams after their break contiunes i think its like 3-13-4.  That is going to put a lot of strain on players playing that many games in that short amount of time.  We will probably be seeing Kemps at least once a week I would guess, but if he can be remotely close to his last start we should be alright.

[bbfenatic]

I'm interested to see if they make a deadline move or not.  Glad to see Grao back up vs Tuch...Grao at least has a clue out there...just needs to play a little more North South with more grit IMO....and my guess is that if they don't get what they need out of Groa they may pick up a cheap vet like Eaves or Parenteau for one of our young guys and maybe a low draft pick...problem is we only have 2 games after the break before the deadline...and I'm fine if they decide to just roll with what they have...been working so far 

[Bear55]

Eaves is having a really nice year, might be worth a look for sure.

[CaptainMusky]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Fletch pull something during the "break". That would give that person time to come in and get acclimated to the surroundings. I am sure the players will be having some "skates" along the way, but no organized team activities. They cannot even practice until after 5:00 the day before their first game back! That is why the results are so poor coming out.

Its one thing to skate, scrimmage-like, but practice is a completely different animal and I am pretty sure the players are not going to voluntarily "bag skate".

I think this is a big night tonight. Go into the break on a high note. Wouldn't be shocked if Kuemper started, but I would expect Dubnyk.

 

The Hawks will play 2 games while the Wild are on the break, this would put them at 3 games in hand. 7 pts up right now. They play the Yotes and Blues. I would expect 4 pts there. If the Hawks win tonight that lead is down to 1, but we would have the 3 games in hand. I think this is a must win type game. We want to win the division and kick the Hawks down a peg. They still scare me come playoff time, but this team has the best chance in their history to make some real noise in the playoffs.

 

Edited February 21, 2017 by CaptainMusky

[hoppe56307]

I timed a work trip perfectly to be in Winnipeg when the Wild play the Jets, so I will get to take in a Wild game for the first time in a couple years.  

[Bryce]

Have heard that's a fun arena to catch a game at.

[CaptainMusky]

I think the Wild vs Jets games are pretty awesome atmosphere-wise. They have a lot of fans that travel down here for games too. It would appear to be a fun place to watch a game in Winnipeg for sure!

[Bobby Bass]

Looking for a Wild win tonight, I don't think Kemper is going to get the start in this important game. I don't think anyone likes the five day layoff. Typical got to mess with something that works instead of just playing. Wild will come out of the break with a lot of games to play and little time off to rest anyone.

[bbfenatic]

So we laid an egg last night, Dumba was trash, Scandella was trash, Ollefson was trash...and we just did not match their up tempo game.  Concerning? Maybe, but lets hope it was just one of those nights and we rebound.  do we have to win the division...no..but we better be able to turn it up a notch come playoff time....no need to panic at this point.

[bottomdweller]

Agree, wild were off especially the second period, no answer for the toews line.  way too much time in our zone.  They better figure it out or we will be done early again.  

[Bear55]

Not going to worry about it, just 1 of 82 games. However that version of the Hawks could be scary in the post season, no matter how good we are if we don't beat them you likely aren't going anywhere.

[CaptainMusky]

21 hours ago, Bear55 said:

Not going to worry about it, just 1 of 82 games. However that version of the Hawks could be scary in the post season, no matter how good we are if we don't beat them you likely aren't going anywhere.

They always seem to ramp it up come playoff time. I was listening to KFAN on the way home last night and Pat Micheletti was on and what he said made a lot of sense. He said it would be best to hit the Hawks in the first round because the last couple years they have had a very hard time in the first round. I don't think that is going to happen this year considering where the standings are, but I just hope the Hawks get bounced in the first so we potentially wouldn't have to play us. That is really the only team that scares me.

Its going to be a boring stretch of days. I wonder if Fletch is blowing up the phone trying to bring someone in? I wouldn't want to make too big of a move and disrupt the chemistry we have, but adding a 3rd or 4th line guy certainly would be a good idea. We have some assets that other teams would covet and we need to think about down the road who we are going to be able to sign. We have some D guys with some good salary sitting there and we need to sign guys like Granlund. I think we part with a D and bring in a forward.

How good would Eaves look on this team? He is cheap too!

[Bear55]

Honestly I'd rather just face the Hawks whenever we get our shot, we are either good enough or we are not. This the first year we have been better than them for the entire season, I say bring em on. I don't want to trade anyone away right now, havingn a guy like Scandella on the bottom pair makes us that much better. Throw some picks at a rental and keep our depth, no reason to make any drastic moves. We should be warry of San Jose too, they have a very solid team and made the trip last year but everyone else should be beatable if we play like we can and don't run into a hot goalie.

[Bear55]

Man the Avs are a dumpster fire this year, looking at that team when we knocked them out of the playoffs they were loaded with young talent and had the potential to be one of the best teams in the league. Now their stars are gone or playing way below their capabilities and everyone else looks like AHLers.

[pikestabber]

23 hours ago, Bear55 said:

Honestly I'd rather just face the Hawks whenever we get our shot, we are either good enough or we are not.

Seems like lately we've beaten them in the regular season and we get dusted in the playoffs, so if this is a step toward reversing that trend, I'm fine with it.

[bbfenatic]

On 2/23/2017 at 0:10 PM, Bear55 said:

Honestly I'd rather just face the Hawks whenever we get our shot, we are either good enough or we are not. 

 

Bear...did you steal that from Yogi Berra? 

[Bear55]

More like Yogi the Bear but if I stole his quote my apologies.  Have to get that Chicago gorilla off our back, don't care if they win 4 of the next 5 cups, we just need one and I will be a happy camper.

I'm not liking that they found some decent youth to play with Towes, we need to pounce before they fill in their gaps with depth and scoring again.

[bbfenatic]

35 minutes ago, Bear55 said:

More like Yogi the Bear but if I stole his quote my apologies.  

 

Nope...I think that is an original Bear55 Quote but Yogi Berra would be jealous if he were still alive.

 

Agree on the Blackhawks...when the season ends they will probably be the favorite to win the cup IMO so it will take an upset by any team to knock them off...would love for the Wild to be the ones to do so....it is getting very interesting as the trade deadline and playoffs time approach!

[bbfenatic]

Wow...Ducks get Eaves from Dallas for a conditional 2nd round pick...pretty cheap rental IMO..where were the Wild on this deal...oh ya we don't have a 2nd round pick