Article: Wilderness Walk: Wild Have To Do Or Die In Game 6

[Thomas Williams]

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[IllicitFive]

I am going to stick my neck out a bit, I have a good feeling about tonight. This team seems to do well with backs against the wall. Prior to their long point streak there was talk about being sellers. The team heard this and said, nah, F that noise, and pushed. Hopefully being home, desperate, and a superstar breaking lose pushes a game 7 on Sunday.

[mnfaninnc]

Boy, that was a tough game 6 to watch. Being outshot like that through 2 periods was brutal, as the Wild shooters subconsciously felt like they had to have perfect shots in the upper corners and kept missing the net.

I also thought that Kaprizov would get going and that Evason would be able to keep him away from the Heiskanen-Suter pairing.  To me, it didn't seem like he was too successful at that.  

There were some themes that I'd like to review. 

1. Dallas wins the draws. And, they knew what to do with those wins.
2. The Wild lost in game 6 this year and last year to teams who were simply stronger down the middle, especially in the top 6. It could also be argued that this happened in the Vegas series. These 2 themes are related.
3. Our forwards couldn't find the twine when most needed, including Kaprizov. While he did do it last year, Boldy has yet to score a playoff goal. This is concerning.

With our current talent and our cap situation, essentially, the Wild were only able to ice 1 top 6 line and 3 bottom 6 lines.  They spread out the scoring to try to get 2, but the reality is they are lacking the skill to stay with the best teams in the league. Specifically, this deficiency is down the middle. Hartsy and Freddy are not full time top 6 players, let alone centers.  

Shooter's got to fix this specific spot, and it may be that the solution comes after '24-25 when we're done paying our penance.  Could Bankier be that guy? Could Rossi? Could Khus%^&*(? Might we have to trade for that guy? Would Elias Pettersson see this as a destination, and could he be the center we need?

[IllicitFive]

Well my good feeling went away very quickly after Hartman missed his opportunity and Dallas went right back down the ice and scored. I will eat my words on that. I think we are just in for a few tough years now while the young guns learn to play big boy hockey. 

Center help is NEEDED, how we are going to get it besides hoping a draft pick turns out or wait until cap space comes is anybody's guess.  Either way the next 2 years are going to be very interesting and possibly brutal. I hope its not and we are pleasantly surprised. 

[mnfaninnc]

5 hours ago, IllicitFive said:

Center help is NEEDED, how we are going to get it besides hoping a draft pick turns out or wait until cap space comes is anybody's guess.  Either way the next 2 years are going to be very interesting and possibly brutal. I hope its not and we are pleasantly surprised. 

Anyone have any ideas about who we should target?  If we could pry Martin Necas away from Carolina, I think he could be a nice C.  He currently plays on the wing and might be a little light, but has tremendous skill.

It seems to me that playoff invitations are very important to OCL. Of course, you'll never win a Stanley Cup without one. I think it's time we look in the mirror and actually see the glaring need down the middle. We actually have 2 capable guys playing C, Ek and Dewar. Others are listed that way, but really, Gaudreau and Hartman are wings. I have no idea where to put Steel, Duhaime is supposed to be one but plays wing. Nyquist and Johansson are also listed there but are really wings.  What we need to identify is which top 6 Cs are in a tough spot on their current teams and need a change, and, go the Vegas route and identify which 3rd or 4th Cs could be top 6 given the opportunity. 

Rossi could be a solution, next season will be a big determining factor. He's got to get stronger. I suppose you could get by with Gaudreau and Hartman playing 1 position, but like happened this year, 1 injury and you're in deep trouble. I'd rather slot them in as wings and slide them into C if there is an injury.  There really isn't any help in Iowa. Bankier and Petrovsky are at least 3 years out. Same with Haight.

I know we have Mikko Koivu in the organization. We've also got Mike Modano. Both are Cs. Could we not have them develop some sort of training for our forwards on taking draws? Could we not stress this in developmental camps and training camps? Are there not drills that can be done to get better at this skill?