Wild Regular Season 2017-18

[bear555]

Good read on Dumba here. 
https://zonecoverage.com/2018/wild/remington-confirmation-bias-matt-dumba/

 

Despite having to make some bad trades because of the cap and some hindsight expansion moved that don't look as great as they once did I am still glad we hunt onto him, only 23 and elite in the offensive zone. I think Dumba will always make some mistakes because he takes chances but he is starting to show he can more than make up for it in the other end. One more point to crack the 50 mark. 

 

Edited April 7, 2018 by bear555

[lungdeflator]

Good read.  I was just thinking of how Dumba is comparable to Burns the other day.  I could see Dumba taking a path similar to Burns (hopefully without the trade) which his D game improves while he keeps up his O numbers.  No reason he shouldn't be vying for the Norris in years to come as he matures and improves behind the blue line.  

 

Scenario and prediction- If the Wild trade Dumba, the following season he will grow a beard and proceed to win the Norris trophy.  ha

[bear555]

Game 1 tonight!!! woo hoo finally playoff hockey!!! Jets are just crazy good, like a better more skilled version of us last year, they will come out flying. No way we go anywhere without Dubs stealing a game or two. He's never been bad in the playoffs but I dont' think we've ever seen him be red hot either. Should be a fun game tonight, just find a way to win.

[bear555]

Well not a bad game but not enough to win, Dubs was great but probably wants that 3rd goal back. I think it was tipped but still. Overall thought the D played good enough but need a little more up front, they totally shut down the Staal line. Cullen line felt like the weak link but they looked good out there, Greenway had a great game too. Jets offense is just insane, don't even want to think about playing them when Laine, Connor & Ehlers hit their primes. I still don't think the jets D is all that great, we just need more zone time to expose them, hard to do playing in our own end. 

[hoppe56307]

Laine has one wicked wrister,  I think if Parise does not screen Dubs, or blocks the shot on the second goal, Dubs makes that save and changes the course of the game.

[leech~~]

When you get out shot 40-20 you don't have much of a chance. That needs to change next game.

[bbfenatic]

1 hour ago, leech~~ said:

When you get out shot 40-20 you don't have much of a chance. That needs to change next game.

 

Agree...no matter how you slice it we were dominated....we capitalized a couple times on the few chances we had and Dubs shut down the Jets...I look for Jets domination to continue and scores to get more lopsided...we may get a win at home but overall Jets are bigger, faster, stronger.  One more thing....Koivu's $12 milion extension is looking worse and worse IMO...can't even just win face offs in a crunch time situation.

[lungdeflator]

Probably not a good look to not get a shot on goal in the last 2:30 when your 6 v 5 and have 6 offensive zone faceoffs.  Too bad they couldn't keep the pressure on after that second goal.  

[bear555]

6 hours ago, leech~~ said:

When you get out shot 40-20 you don't have much of a chance. That needs to change next game.

We aren't going to outshoot the jets, there is a reason they were 2nd overall in the nhl standings. They also have two first lines that outclass anything we can put in the ice, need strong D/Dubs and some opportunistic scoring to have any chance in this series. Still we know they can play better and our D minus Suter hasn't looked awful. 

Seeler looked pretty good out there, Soucy made me a little nervous at times. Might be time to ride Brodin/Dumb & Spurgeon/Seeler hard and let Prosser and Soucy give them a breather for 10-12 minutes a game. 

[bobberineyes]

The jets are good but their also beatable.  The opportunities will be there we just need to capitalize  ( zucker first period) and find a way to bottle em up on our end. Sure would be good to have a wrecking ball running around hitting everything in sight taking em off their game. I'm feeling pretty confident we'll take game 2!!

[bear555]

Another opportunity to steal one on the road, we are a different animal at home 27-6-8. First half of game one we really did a good job of keeping their scoring chances down despite being badly outshot, need more of that. They have elite skill so we can't give them any time/space. Win or lose love this time of year, its never over until you lose 4. 

12 hours ago, bobberineyes said:

Sure would be good to have a wrecking ball running around hitting everything in sight taking em off their game. I'm feeling pretty confident we'll take game 2!!

 

Foligno is kind of that guy, heck even Koivu was laying people out. I actually thought we were very physical which is good but it's also the jets game. When we pulled the upset over the Blues they were going all physical on us and we beat them with speed. The problem there is the jets are just a faster team then us, I think we are just going to have to find a way to out work them and maybe out goalie them. 

[bbfenatic]

Most important game of the series IMO.....5-2 Jets

[bobberineyes]

14 hours ago, bear555 said:

 

 

Foligno is kind of that guy, heck even Koivu was laying people out. I actually thought we were very physical which is good but it's also the jets game. When we pulled the upset over the Blues they were going all physical on us and we beat them with speed. The problem there is the jets are just a faster team then us, I think we are just going to have to find a way to out work them and maybe out goalie them. 

Foligno, who is that? Pretty much non factor so far, you can't hit what you can't catch. Pretty sad when big buff is laying out our guys.. we're slow.

[bear555]

What a brutal game, just outclassed in every possible way. My god the Jets have a beautiful team, they are just relentless. 

1 hour ago, bobberineyes said:

Foligno, who is that? 

You know, the overpaid forth liner. Sad part is that our 4th line has looked better than the rest of them. 

Edited April 14, 2018 by bear555

[bear555]

I guess we should be use to this, results of the first two games of a series going back 6 years. At least when we went down 0-2 the Avs we were dominating, this year we can only skate with them for about 10-12 minutes a game.

0-2
0-2
0-2
1-1
0-2
0-2
0-2
0-2

[bear555]

Jets had to turn the plane around last night but sounds like they are in Minneapolis so game on. We will see if there is any fight left in this team or if the Jets might have broken us physically and mentally. Go Wild 

[lungdeflator]

Saw that Morrisey is suspended for tonight.  Really too bad they missed the call during the game.  Should've been a 5 min major and a game misconduct.  Really would've changed the entire game IMO.  There are lots of times I wish Boogy was still around.

 

Staal needs to be checked for a concussion and Koivu needs to be checked into a retirement home.  

 

Seems like we can pull up last years playoff and offseason threads and just ride that until October.  Same story, can't compete with a couple heavy blue liners and can't score.  

[bear555]

Koivu has been pretty decent and our leading out team with 4 points but ya we just never find that next level. Our patchwork D hasn't been the issue, Stall hasn't produced like we needed him to and Nino, Coyle & Zucker have zero points between them. We needed our "depth" to score and they haven't. Coyle I think has been the best of him but he just isn't a goal scorer, has let numerous golden opportunities slip away. Hopefully the wild surprise tonight, otherwise its on Dubs to pitch a shutout and magically assists on the game winning goal. 

[hoppe56307]

If the refs call the game tight like they did in game 3, i think we come away with the W.  If they kind of turn a blind eye like they did in Game 4, the series is over.

[Jmnhunter]

the missed call hasnt really bothered me, the wild should have retaliated after that but they seemed just lax about it. too bad they suspended him, just wish I was old enough to watch the playoff atmosphere of the 80's and early 90's. i thought by the end of the 3rd they would have tied it, I think the mix up lines helped change up the momentum, boudreau will need to pull some of this stuff tonight if they seem stale. I agree with Lung, Kiovu has not impressed me this year, his shootouts, his shots on goal just nothing special, just hope tonight they find a spark on the offense as we know those big boys on the Jets will be pushing them around tonight, too bad we dont have some more Folino's

[bear555]

Thank you jets for stomping us, we clearly needed to be put out of our misery. 

[bear555]

Fletcher is gone, pretty impartial to this, will be interesting to see who they bring in and what they do to shake up the team. Overall I think he was a good gm but not great, pulled us out of the dark ages but never seemed to get us over the hump. New GM will have a much better starting point as far as players and assets go. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2018/04/23/wild-split-with-gm-chuck-fletcher-after-playoff-exit/34168091/

[bobberineyes]

The finger needed to be pointed in his direction, after a few coaches got it first.  I keep reflecting back on the team of 2002-2003, Marion led the bunch in points but the rest was either rookies,  hand me downs and two goalies that got hot. Throw in guys that weren't afraid with lots of heart and they made it work.. 

[bear555]

The strange part is the better teams/points we had in the standings the worse we looked in the playoffs. It is probably a good thing to get some new eyes on the team and see what happens. I think someone else will scoop up Fletcher fairly soon, like players and coaches sometimes a change of scenery is in order. 

[bbfenatic]

Season ended just like I thought it would and happy Leipold held true to his word and moved on from Fletcher...he did some good things but overall did a poor job building a team that can compete at a high level unfortunately.  It will be interesting to see how the new GM handles this situation...getting rid of under-performers will not be easy and what in return? Going to be one of those down before heading back up deals. Coyle will be the first to go IMO, Granny can go as far as I'm concerned...gotta sign Zucker even though he was terrible in the playoffs, Nino is a question mark, Staal might need to go with the up year he had but long in the tooth and now would be the only time to get anything for him, Ennis (terrible player) will be bought out, Foligno (terrible) probably not tradeable with his contract...enjoy the ride Wild fans!