Dan Wallace: Feasting On The West Basement

Fisting on the west basement

Go burn down another local business you stupid poops

Far to much emphasis Is put on the power play, The man advantage success comes and goes, Very simply good teams will win with or without the power play success.

Go burn down another local business you stupid poops
- BluesDroogie

Keep politics out of hockey, d*ckhead....

Go burn down another local business you stupid poops
- BluesDroogie

Politics... Really? Also, a person from Missouri talk crap about other places... Really?

It's funny that you should say that Shady, as I agree with it. But the Widl seem to be the anomoly in that stat. I think last year they were one of the better teams in scoring at 5x5, yet got nowhere. Things are starting to come together for the Wild though now, and I honestly expect them to start being considered a strong Cup contender in about 2 years. Guys like Kaprizov, Boldy, Rossi, Kahkonen and Addison will have had a couple of years to get adjusted to Evason's gameplans. And someone like Fiala should by then realize that he is a very good 2nd line player, but just an average 1st liner. I just hope players like Boldy and Rossi, along with however the Wild draft in this next draft, are eventual 1st line players.

As for the recent improvement of the PP...I'd really like to find some place that can give the faceoff win percentage for the PP broken down. As it where it was sitting when the PP was ugly and where it is now with the PP humming. I'm always reminding my nieces and nephew about paying attention to the little details helps you win. And I am betting that the Wild are winning more faceoffs on the PP, by a wide margin, then they were eariler in the season.

And just thought about this. Having Parise on the 4th line...never been a 4th line guy his entire career. His game is just starting to slip a bit. But what are 4 line types usually considered to be? Energy guys! Hard workers! Always doing the little things to help the team win.

So realistically, having guys like Parise and Bonino on the 4th line has some bonus effects. The 1st being you have a couple of vets who have been there, done that type of knowledge, so they generally shouldn't get rattled by much on the ice. Secondly, they still have some skill, generally making them a better 4th line than an opponents 4th line. This speaks volumes to team depth. And not only that, but a player like Sturm gets to see first-hand how these 2 go about their business on the ice while playing with them...should just build excellent qualities in him as well.

Found another interesting tidbit...Nico Sturm is up to 50% on faceoff wins. Rask is still hovering around 45%. Since Bjugstad is ready to come back now, time to bench Rask again. Put Sturm in between Kaprizov and Zuccarello. Move Bonino from RW back to C on that 4th line, and add Bjugstad at RW. At least Sturm has the speed to keep up with the play of KK and MZ. I know Sturm really is not a Top 6 C, but he has GOT to be better than Rask, if only for 2 reason...more speed and better chance on faceoffs.