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Forums :: Blog World :: Dan Wallace: Wild Host Early Season Punchless Yotes
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Dan Wallace
Joined: 09.15.2005

Oct 16 @ 12:40 PM ET
Dan Wallace: Wild Host Early Season Punchless Yotes
MnGump
Minnesota Wild
Location: Columbus, MN
Joined: 06.21.2012

Oct 16 @ 12:52 PM ET
PP looked absolutely ridiculous last night, despite scoring. Especially in that last couple minutes....
MnGump
Minnesota Wild
Location: Columbus, MN
Joined: 06.21.2012

Oct 16 @ 12:53 PM ET
Let's just hope Nino does some breakaway practices toady... he looked completely clueless on that one last night.
VopatsRash
Nashville Predators
Joined: 07.06.2013

Oct 16 @ 1:26 PM ET
Let's just hope Nino does some breakaway practices toady... he looked completely clueless on that one last night.
- MnGump


He got a good shot away. Rinne just made a really solid pad save. Give credit where credit is due.
joegreif17
Location: Hockeyville, BC
Joined: 05.10.2009

Oct 16 @ 1:55 PM ET
The Wild are not a very good team, up front you got senior citizens Koivu and Parise eating up ice time, the lines are really messed up as well in my opinion. First change I would make is putting Granlund with Staal and Zucker and at least have a solid first line. Too much effort to play Parise and Koivu, wrong as they are not the future. The bright spots are few such as Dumba, Dubnyk and Zucker standing out. Management should seriously make a trade involving Niederreiter, he has peaked and just maybe we could dump him before everyone knows he is poop. Hopefully it all comes together tonite but so far one word describes the teams play for me, Boring!
joegreif17
Location: Hockeyville, BC
Joined: 05.10.2009

Oct 16 @ 2:28 PM ET
As always, great blog Dan. I always read and thanks for a job well done.
MnGump
Minnesota Wild
Location: Columbus, MN
Joined: 06.21.2012

Oct 16 @ 5:10 PM ET
He got a good shot away. Rinne just made a really solid pad save. Give credit where credit is due.
- VopatsRash

I am, i'm giving credit to Nino for a crappy breakaway attempt...
MnGump
Minnesota Wild
Location: Columbus, MN
Joined: 06.21.2012

Oct 16 @ 5:17 PM ET
The Wild are not a very good team, up front you got senior citizens Koivu and Parise eating up ice time, the lines are really messed up as well in my opinion. First change I would make is putting Granlund with Staal and Zucker and at least have a solid first line. Too much effort to play Parise and Koivu, wrong as they are not the future. The bright spots are few such as Dumba, Dubnyk and Zucker standing out. Management should seriously make a trade involving Niederreiter, he has peaked and just maybe we could dump him before everyone knows he is poop. Hopefully it all comes together tonite but so far one word describes the teams play for me, Boring!
- joegreif17

Agreed with pretty much everything... execpt Parise not being the future... another six seasons after this one, so i'd say like it or not, he's still very much apart of this teams future.
mnMild
Location: duluth is not a cool city, MN
Joined: 01.08.2018

Oct 16 @ 5:55 PM ET
Parise and koivu should be getting 3rd line minutes 5v5, bump parises minutes by giving him top pp minutes. Neither should be on the ice in ot. Same with suter. If anything, give him 2nd pp time, and no ot time. Get the young fast players on the ice in ot. Also, dumba should basically be a second forward in ot, run him out there with spurgeon or brodin.
mnMild
Location: duluth is not a cool city, MN
Joined: 01.08.2018

Oct 16 @ 5:56 PM ET
You'd think they'd have learned how to operate in ot by now after being the worst team in the league at 3v3 since they changed the ot rules.
joegreif17
Location: Hockeyville, BC
Joined: 05.10.2009

Oct 16 @ 11:49 PM ET
Right MnGump, forgot about Parise's contract. He played great tonite but how long before he is injured, lol. BB is also a big part of the problem, his line juggling is clearly not working. Like I said Granlund Staal Zucker at least will be a legit first line.
MnGump
Minnesota Wild
Location: Columbus, MN
Joined: 06.21.2012

Oct 17 @ 9:28 AM ET
Right MnGump, forgot about Parise's contract. He played great tonite but how long before he is injured, lol. BB is also a big part of the problem, his line juggling is clearly not working. Like I said Granlund Staal Zucker at least will be a legit first line.
- joegreif17

Parise is obviously getting long in the tooth, but as long as he can stay healthy, he's still very much an asset to this squad. But can he stay healthy??? That's the real question and watching him play is proof enough as to why he can't seem to stay healthy. He's still the hardest working guy on the ice and he's a no quit balls out player.
Gusrichards
Season Ticket Holder
Minnesota Wild
Location: Duluth, MN
Joined: 02.22.2012

Oct 17 @ 1:13 PM ET
Right MnGump, forgot about Parise's contract. He played great tonite but how long before he is injured, lol. BB is also a big part of the problem, his line juggling is clearly not working. Like I said Granlund Staal Zucker at least will be a legit first line.
- joegreif17


I don't think the Wild can run Zucker-Staal-Granlund together anymore. That puts all their scoring on 1 line. It seemed to me that playing Coyle in place of Granlund might have some traction. They didn't look that out-of-sorts playing together last night. Too bad JEE is out, since Koivu didn't play last night. I would like to see him playing in between Parise and Granlund.

It just clicked to me that playing Koivu on the 3rd line as the shutdown line (in this post, he has Greenway and Nino on his wings) makes him play big minutes. BB wants Koivu on the ice every second the other teams best line is on the ice. And correct me if I am wrong, but don't most teams play their top line the most minutes? BB has to find that balance of having Koivu shutdown the opponents top line for a major portion of the game, but he has to pick his times that he does this.

I hope JEE is not out very long. Playing him with Parise and Granlund for a good portion of the season (about half) will go a long way to seeing if he can be a Top 6 C. If JEE can gel with Granlund, maybe toss Greenway up with them a few times during the game to limit Parise's ice time...to keep ZP fresh for the entire season.

As for the defense, I am all for removing Suter from the PP to save him minutes. He will already be playing a lot of minutes paired with Dumba. The only problem I have seen is Spurgeon/Brodin do not seem to have clicked yet. I hope they do.
Gusrichards
Season Ticket Holder
Minnesota Wild
Location: Duluth, MN
Joined: 02.22.2012

Oct 17 @ 2:40 PM ET
I know on a post a couple back, people (mainly Leafs fans) were saying they would do the trade of Willam Nylander for Matt Dumba. I still don't think this is a good idea, but I just read an article on The Athletic purposing a Spurgeon & Niederreiter trade for Nylander. I really like that trade. Someone had added that the Leafs should throw in Holl as well, but that might break the deal. If it was Nylander/Holl for Spurgeon/Niederreiter, I would do it yesterday. If it was Nylander and a salary dump on the Wild for Spurgeon/Nino, I would still take it.

Zucker-Staal-Coyle
Parise-Nylander-Granlund
Eriksson Ek-Koivu-Greenway
Whoever the 4th line is.
MnGump
Minnesota Wild
Location: Columbus, MN
Joined: 06.21.2012

Oct 17 @ 2:52 PM ET
I know on a post a couple back, people (mainly Leafs fans) were saying they would do the trade of Willam Nylander for Matt Dumba. I still don't think this is a good idea, but I just read an article on The Athletic purposing a Spurgeon & Niederreiter trade for Nylander. I really like that trade. Someone had added that the Leafs should throw in Holl as well, but that might break the deal. If it was Nylander/Holl for Spurgeon/Niederreiter, I would do it yesterday. If it was Nylander and a salary dump on the Wild for Spurgeon/Nino, I would still take it.

Zucker-Staal-Coyle
Parise-Nylander-Granlund
Eriksson Ek-Koivu-Greenway
Whoever the 4th line is.

- Gusrichards

Nino needs to be moved regardless of the details. He once again looked god awful last night. I just don't understand what happened to him. I go back to that playoff series in I think 15 when he was the catalyst for the offense against Colorado. He's no longer even close to the player he was then.. His regression over the last season and change is alarmingly enigmatic.
mnMild
Location: duluth is not a cool city, MN
Joined: 01.08.2018

Oct 18 @ 9:23 AM ET
Nino and Coyle = frustrating. Both have the tools and skills to be very good power forwards, yet never put it all together.
Gusrichards
Season Ticket Holder
Minnesota Wild
Location: Duluth, MN
Joined: 02.22.2012

Oct 18 @ 1:31 PM ET
Nino and Coyle = frustrating. Both have the tools and skills to be very good power forwards, yet never put it all together.
- mnMild


Yeah, it seems like neither has been able to get the motor running and have the skills play out at the same time for the last 2 years. I think the Wild are going to be stuck with Coyle until his contract plays out, but Nino has some decent potential as a trade asset. His previous 20 goal season are not that far back (and 18 in 3/4 of a season last year) make him somewhat attractive.

The Nylander for Spurgeon/Niederreiter trade needs to happen right away. Can the money that the Leafs are paying for Horton be traded? Include that if it can.