Dan Wallace: Time to Reflect and Recharge Wild

Dangerous team. Tons of speed. Great power play. 4 lines deep. With health and steady goaltending, this team can win it all....

Dangerous team. Tons of speed. Great power play. 4 lines deep. With health and steady goaltending, this team can win it all....
- jam10sugar

Hey man!

Agreed. I would not count the Wild out at this point, or assume anything as a Hawk fan (or of any other team). They're deep, good, and fast. Hawks are playing their best hockey of the year right now, without question.

As a Hawks fan who lives in the Twin Cities, I've seen time and again the resilience of the Wild throughout this season. Thats the biggest intangible needed to make a deep run in the playoffs. Good game last night, but there's more to be excited for in the Wild than disappointed.

" Dangerous team. Tons of speed. Great power play. 4 lines deep. With health and steady goaltending, this team can win it all.... "


Sounds a lot like the Hawks, except for the part about the great PP

BB does have to change things. Here's the challenge. He has to do it based on what the opposition presents his team that night / that series. Last night the 'Hawks were a tad better.

He should have learned what happened in the '15 WCF. Q out-matched him for a good portion of that series. And if he learned from that, and last night, the Wild should still be in good shape.

I still stand by my statement in the last blog. 'Hawks will need a new player or two if they are going to flip the switch mid-April and be a cup favourite.

The standings do not lie. Minny has played the best this year. But the Hawk's are not far behind and closing the gap. I do not think either team will make major additions before the TDL. It would be a great match up if they meet in the playoffs. Very similar teams that play the game the right way. Any series could be decided by a hot goaltender, a fluke goal, a bad call, a puck off the cross bar. I am not sure home ice is going to be a huge factor. But winning 1st place probably means playing Calgary instead of St. Louis in the first round. That is significant.

Wow! That 2nd period was the ugliest period from the Wild that I have seen all year. But credit needs to be given to the Blackhawks for the game they played last night, and how much they have stepped it up over the last week or two. And Toews was incredible...just one of those nights where everything he did was good. The push that the Hawks are making right now kind of reminds me a little of the Wild of the past few seasons. "20+ plus games to go, need to make the big push" is what I am referring to. Only difference is the Wild, in the past, needed to make that push to get into the playoffs, whereas the Hawks are doing it to win the division. This next month and 1/2 is going to be a lot of fun to watch.

As for the small changes that each team needs to make to go deep in the playoffs, I've come up with a great solution. Pominville & Graovac for Toews & Kane...with Chicago keeping most of the salaries as well.

Yes, I have been drinking...

The score could have been more favorable for the Wild were it not for some heroics by Crawford, especially in the first period. I don't think the delta in the score portrays how the game was played. The Wild were much more in the game than it would suggest. I still think the Wild, by far, are the team I would like to avoid in the playoffs.

Cheers to a great season.