Tony Dean: WildHBcommunity: Another December to Forget for Minnesota Wild WildHBcommunity: Another December to Forget for Minnesota Wild

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I think this may end up being a positive for the Wild. They are forced to see what they have in Graovac(who I am a fan of) and it has a decent chance of working out for them. He looked pretty good in the preseason. His speed, hands, and defense were all on display and he had the look of being the real deal. Id like to see him centering the 3rd line with Vanek. On to the D. Im not sure what Yeo's problem with him is, but every time Blum has come here he has been solid. At times he's been very good. Not sure why it is, but for whatever reason Yeo doesn't trust him? I'd like to see Fletcher call him up and force Yeo to play him more in that 3rd spot and really see if we can get consistent 3rd pairing minutes out of he and Folin/Bickel.

I think this may end up being a positive for the Wild. They are forced to see what they have in Graovac(who I am a fan of) and it has a decent chance of working out for them. He looked pretty good in the preseason. His speed, hands, and defense were all on display and he had the look of being the real deal. Id like to see him centering the 3rd line with Vanek. On to the D. Im not sure what Yeo's problem with him is, but every time Blum has come here he has been solid. At times he's been very good. Not sure why it is, but for whatever reason Yeo doesn't trust him? I'd like to see Fletcher call him up and force Yeo to play him more in that 3rd spot and really see if we can get consistent 3rd pairing minutes out of he and Folin/Bickel.
- mnhockeyguy

I am also curious to see Graovac play, saw him play a few games and looked great. Couldn't agree more with you on Blum, he is probably the best player that we have for one of the third pairing spots with experience as well. I honestly don't know why he wasn't the first one up from Iowa after Dumba went down, hell of a lot better than Prosser in my opinion.

Agreed with you Tony on the point that Fletch has downplayed this, we need a solid tender in net and the shake up from a trade or otherwise might just jolt players to perform better. So, like you said put this month behind us and start playing better hockey.

Well said Tony.
The honeymoon with Fletcher is officially over. Yes, he looks like a hockey God when compared to Riser, but he hasn't exactly put together a dominant roster... and let's not even bring up his coaching hires.
While I don't want to see him go like I do Yeo, he better fix the issues that are hurting this team most (goaltending, physical play) or soon he will be looking for employment as well.
I always hear Leipold talk of how loyal he is, but he also wants a winner more than anything. We'll see how much more patience he has in him before heads start to roll.

You guys need a goalie and the Jets have Peter Budaj warming the bench in the AHL. Have your people call our people.

I am also curious to see Graovac play, saw him play a few games and looked great. Couldn't agree more with you on Blum, he is probably the best player that we have for one of the third pairing spots with experience as well. I honestly don't know why he wasn't the first one up from Iowa after Dumba went down, hell of a lot better than Prosser in my opinion.

Agreed with you Tony on the point that Fletch has downplayed this, we need a solid tender in net and the shake up from a trade or otherwise might just jolt players to perform better. So, like you said put this month behind us and start playing better hockey.
- Minsoh

Im also curious to see what Fletcher does about the goaltender situation. It would probably behoove Fletcher to inquire about Reimer from Toronto. If it was possible would you trade Kuemper for Reimer at this point? I probably would...

You guys need a goalie and the Jets have Peter Budaj warming the bench in the AHL. Have your people call our people.
- Grinder6

The answer to all of our prayers...Peter Budaj

derek roy is on waivers just saying could make that old sabre line work again????!!!!!!

derek roy is on waivers just saying could make that old sabre line work again????!!!!!!
- tyler46

Ha I wouldn't be surprised if Fletcher is strongly considering it...

I realize that every phone call Fletcher makes will find teams mentioning Nino Niederreiter, Jason Zucker, Gustav Olofsson, and Dumba so maybe he will have to wait for a more reasonable conversation

All do with respect, but do you really think you can land a high quality goaltender good enough to win a Cup without giving up some high quality in return? Kuemper and a 7th round pick won't land you a cup-winning 'Tender. What would be a reasonable deal?

All do with respect, but do you really think you can land a high quality goaltender good enough to win a Cup without giving up some high quality in return? Kuemper and a 7th round pick won't land you a cup-winning 'Tender. What would be a reasonable deal?
- Hossa1881

Coyle and 2nd for Raanta

All do with respect, but do you really think you can land a high quality goaltender good enough to win a Cup without giving up some high quality in return? Kuemper and a 7th round pick won't land you a cup-winning 'Tender. What would be a reasonable deal?
- Hossa1881

NOT about not giving up to get, NHL GMs are all about leveraging. Fletcher spoke about it after last two trade deadlines. he talked about conversations starting and ending very quickly because teams were asking about this group kids currently at NHL level when they were prospects.

The answer to all of our prayers...Peter Budaj
- SotaPopinski

How about Pavelec then? He's looking more and more expendable every day.

Lets face it, Fletch was painted into a corner right before the season started when Harding broke his foot during the Kuemper negotiations. What an option killer that was. That was a sign of some strange and uncontrollable events to come. You can expect and plan for injuries and deal with food poisoning, other typical flu's, and your run of the mill viruses, suspensions, and all the rest, as those are some of the typical things that are dealt with on season to season basis.

But to add on top of all that, we've had to deal with the never ending case of the mumps for the last 2-2 1/2 months on a seemingly daily basis bouncing from player to player which is something totally out of the blue and it wasn't something that couldn't be controlled.

It would be nice if we could get a solid goalie, but like you said Dean is that because of the situation we are in we just don't have any negotiation leverage and most likely will have overpay big time.

Only thing I can think is to look into one Sabre Goalies. One of them might be available on a best dollar to performance ratio wise.

How about Pavelec then? He's looking more and more expendable every day.
- Muskwa

Sure, Pavelec for Backstrom.

In my opinion this team needs to add a big body veteran Dman before we throw another mediocre goalie to the wolves by the way of how our current d is playing. Of the top of my head in no order; Andrew Ference, Marc Methot, Matt Carle. I think good old Willie Mitchell would have been a bigger addition this last off season then Vanek if we could have got him.

Suter- Spurgeon
Ference/Methot/Carle- Brodin
Scandella- Folin

That makes me feel warm and safe inside!

Yeo benches Haula (deservedly so) but not a peep about Koivu's disgraceful turnover and backcheck.
Sutter and Graovac are exactly the kind of players needed in this lineup, too bad neither of them are a d-man. I was going to flip a lid if they called Vellieux before Sutter, especially after the strong game he had vs Boston.

Matt Hackett placed on waivers, curious to see which club takes a chance on him. Would he be an upgrade over Curry?

*edit- If Wild claimed Hackett, they would then have to put him on waivers and have him clear before sending him to Iowa

Suter- Spurgeon
Ference/Methot/Carle- Brodin
Scandella- Folin

That makes me feel warm and safe inside!
- Rollin4Lines

Scandella as a bottom pairing d-man?? If there were 4 guys better than him, I'd feel all warm and safe inside too

Yeah I guess we could put the new guy on the 3rd line d and keep scandella and spurge together. I really like spurge with suter though. Anyways my point being I would love the wild to get a big body veteran d.

Yeah I guess we could put the new guy on the 3rd line d and keep scandella and spurge together. I really like spurge with suter though. Anyways my point being I would love the wild to get a big body veteran d.
- Rollin4Lines

I think I may like Spurg/Suter more as well. Brodin and Spurg are both similar types of players, though. And I agree whole-heartedly about needing a bigger bodied d-man.
It would never happen anytime soon, but seeing Buff do to opposing forwards, what he did to Granlund would be so much fun.

I think I may like Spurg/Suter more as well. Brodin and Spurg are both similar types of players, though. And I agree whole-heartedly about needing a bigger bodied d-man.
It would never happen anytime soon, but seeing Buff do to opposing forwards, what he did to Granlund would be so much fun.
- SotaPopinski

We don't really have anybody that plays with a nastiness. Cook gets under peoples skin a bit but he's on a short leash with the NHL. The other day after the Philly game I checked out the Flyers SBnation page and one of the articles was " Gotta love Simmons" or something like that. It showed how much he trash he talks on the ice to other teams. He was talking poop to the whole wild bench and no one stood up to him. You could read his lips, he was telling someone to stay the F off the ice. Getzlaf is another one, I hate him as an opponent but I love the attitude he brings to the game. That's gotta rub off on the rest of the team to see their captain bring that much effort and enthusiasm.

We don't really have anybody that plays with a nastiness. Cook gets under peoples skin a bit but he's on a short leash with the NHL. The other day after the Philly game I checked out the Flyers SBnation page and one of the articles was " Gotta love Simmons" or something like that. It showed how much he trash he talks on the ice to other teams. He was talking poop to the whole wild bench and no one stood up to him. You could read his lips, he was telling someone to stay the F off the ice. Getzlaf is another one, I hate him as an opponent but I love the attitude he brings to the game. That's gotta rub off on the rest of the team to see their captain bring that much effort and enthusiasm.
- Rollin4Lines

You hit the nail on the head with your last sentence, which is just another reason why Koivu irks me the way he does. Watching guys like Getzlaf, Backes, Giroux, Ladd and the intensity they bring has to rub off on teammates...and here we are with Koivu and his "ice cold glare"

How long before Yeo realizes this all veteran 5on4/5on3 line isn't going to work?

How long before Yeo realizes this all veteran 5on4/5on3 line isn't going to work?
- SotaPopinski

What is.......After he has been fired!

I will take the Inevitable for $600

What is.......After he has been fired!

I will take the Inevitable for $600
- Tony Dean

Suter is very bad on the point and has been for a long while.
Hey, look at that... Fontaine scores on the PP!!
N/M PP had just expired