Wild Regular Season 2017-18

[bbfenatic]

Nice win this afternoon on the road...things are getting interesting....need others to keep stumbling and we may not have to worry about a Wild Card.

[bear555]

Forgot this was a day game, missed it but happy we got the two points. We have been holding our spots and even have some games in hand on some other teams. If we can just keep this pace up we are in, but here is hoping we get hot towards the end of the year. Would be nice for a change. 

[bear555]

Nice of the Blues to go 4-5-1 in their last ten, they only have 1 point on us but we have two games in game. 

[bear555]

Little bit of an ugly win last night but two points is two points, Stalock was pretty incredible too, so close on that empty netter. Time to crush the rangers and get a little winning streak going here. 

[bear555]

Hey 3rd in the central and winning games on the road, we are certainly trending in the right direction at the right time of year. After some rocky starts to their careers Zucker and Granlund have really turned into some amazing players, like anyone they go hot and cold but I can't really say enough good things about them. Along with Staal they have really carried our offence this year. Hopefully in the next 20 games we can get some other guys going. Coyle can give us more, Nino looks a little off but it sounds like he is still fighting that ankle injury. Parise looks like his old self more and more but just not converting like he use to, hopefully that changes. I was against making a deadline move earlier in the year but if we keep this pace up we really could use another top9 winger, Ennis just isn't cutting it. Absolutely do not want to spend a 1st rounder on anyone at this point but if they can pick up someone decent on the cheap it might be worth it. We still have the majority of the team that was 2nd in the west last year and if they can play up a little closer to their potential there is not reason we can't make some noise in the playoffs in some kind of underdog fashion.

[hoppe56307]

Ok, I must admit that I thought we should have stuck with Yeo before they fired him, but it looks like he still has not learned how to coach a team out of a slump.  St. Louis has lost 6 in a row, fallen out of a playoff spot, and come to town tomorrow.

[hoppe56307]

Some big names being traded today, Evander Kane to the Sharks, Blues trade Stasney to in division rival Jets, and Chimera goes to the Ducks.

 

 

[bbfenatic]

Winnipeg Jets...your 2018 Stanley Cup Champions.

Poor Fletch....wishing he could...but can't....by his own past doings....ride it out and see what happens!

[hoppe56307]

Stewart claimed off waivers, and Mike Reilly for a 5th rounder.   

Not too depressed that we did not make a trade, we are playing decent hockey now, and everybody looks to be getting healthy.

[bbfenatic]

All the teams in the race made good moves and got stronger....going to be fun to see how it all unfolds...tought to bet against Pitt and TB. Hope the Wild can continue the hot streak and that nobody else gets a long term injury...peaking too ealry or just the right time?

 

Also, that  give and go between Spurg and Zucker was one of the better plays the Wild have had in a long time IMO...Zucker's maturity this year has been incredible....sure wish Fletch had not spent that foolish money on Koivu and locked up Zucker for at least 5 more yrs.

[bear555]

Wouldn't have minded Maroon for a 3rd to replace Ennis but what do ya do. Jets look scary too, funny to see the blues selling but when you lose 6 in a row at a critical time of year I guess that happens. 

[bear555]

Wild are 17-5-4 since Christmas, that is kind of elite right there, keep it rolling. 

[bear555]

Well that was fun, Stall Granlund Zucker 26 points in 3 games together, that is kind of insane. So this is what it feels like to have a stud first line center and some amazing wingers to go with him. 

[hoppe56307]

STAAL FOR MVP!!!!

[bbfenatic]

I just hope we have not become a one trick pony and we can get other lines going before playoff time or it will be difficult to compete. at a higher level.  Where are Nino and Coyle and Ennis and Cullen, and Winnick, and Foligno, etc? 

[bear555]

Yep, need more from several other guys. Hopefully they are saving their best for the. I also saw we lead the league in point by defensemen so they are clearly carrying the rest of the load while our other forwards figure it out. 

[knoppers]

here we go again, struggle against bottom dwelling teams. if we could win the games against last place teams this year, we would be in 2nd in the division.

[hoppe56307]

Can someone tell me why we are paying Ennis 1.1mil more than Staal?  I sure hope they buy the last year of Ennis' contract out, it is also a good thing that Staal is signed through next year.  I would wager if he would hit free agency this summer he would get a pretty hefty raise, maybe we can switch his and Ennis' contract.  Staal is worth every penny of the 3.5mil he is getting.

[bear555]

I think we are saving a million on the pommer contract by paying ennis that much. Looking at their production it is money well saved. Pommers started red hot too and then has kind of vanished. 

After we dropped those games to Arizona and the Avs again it looks like we shouldn't have to worry about getting too hot too soon. Still its nice to see Stall, Granny & Zucker do their thing. Defense putting up some really nice numbers as well, a little life out of Koivu and Parise lately. Will need everyone firing on full blast by the end of the year so hopefully Coyle and Nino can start to contribute a little more by then. Pretty brutal schedule to end the year so we will know a lot more about this team soon enough, that stretch should tell us if we are legit or just another speed bumb for a better team. 

[CaptainMusky]

Yep, this stretch is going to be the kicker. They haven't faired well against the Western Conference teams, especially Pacific Division and here we are, loaded with games against the Pacific, multiple (4 or 5) back to backs coming up too. The schedule isn't easy, this will test their mettle. Aside from their last 2 terrible road games, they actually strung together 4 good ones so hopefully its more that game of 4 trend than the last 2.

[knoppers]

if we can get 3 points out of this weekends games, the wild will be in a great position. the tougher games coming up doesn't bother me, as we seem to play our better hockey against the better teams.

[bbfenatic]

Good news is that a lot of teams chasing us in the West are stumbling down the stretch...IMO we are in unless a complete collapse, now a matter of who we play in the first round.

[hoppe56307]

Yeah, our last 4 games of the season are a brutal west coast road trip.  With a back to back against the ducks and kings.

[bear555]

Yep not worried either, even going just under .500 puts us at 97 points and that is almost always a lock to make the playoffs. Obviously we don't want to limp into the post season like that but like we saw last year, once you are in nothing else matters. Still a good test to end the season, 3 back to back and the Avs and Yotes have owned us recently. Still I see signs of us heating up at the right time of year, Parise and Koivu have been producing, Nino has looked better the last couple of games and Coyle is starting to put up points here and there. To have any chance to make a run we need everyone to contribute, no passengers. 

[bear555]

On ‎3‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 6:31 PM, knoppers said:

as we seem to play our better hockey against the better teams.

 

Agree with this, we have always seemed to up our games a bit so that is good news. Less fun to look good against some of the lesser teams and find a way to lose.