Article: Don’t Throw the Regular Season Out With the Playoffs

[Mikki Tuohy]

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[Beast]

It was a decent regular season.  I would argue it wasn’t that great.

They had a couple of stretches that cost home ice.  They were once again unable to complete the season healthy - losing both Kaprisov and Ek, and only getting a shell of Kaprisov back for the playoffs.  They saw their top center and defensive top prospects flame out and get relegated to the AHL, leaving them centerless and having to give up draft capital to acquire Klingberg (literally, the exact same play as Addison, but even worse defensively).  They had a goalie performing at a near Vezina level, but kept shoehorning the rotting corpse of Fleury in there.  The coach once again displayed his inability to adapt and be flexible.  

We’ve seen these same tired excuses and rationalizations for, what, 15 years now?  What’s Dean’s career playoff record?  What’s Geurin’s as a GM?  Of course those hacks would deflect from that.  You can’t expect to convince fans that this is still good enough.  This is the G.D. State of Hockey.  This isn’t Pheonix.  We should not be satisfied with this crap.  I don’t care about the regular season.  We’re seeing expansion clubs in the desert and the hipster capital of the universe kick our ass in terms of playoff success in a fraction of the time.  I don’t care what Geurin says.  This is not acceptable and is an abject failure.

Edited May 6, 2023 by Beast

[TCMooch]

I don’t consider it much if anything to make the playoffs in the NHL. Half the teams in the league make the playoffs so it’s not really a huge achievement.

 This team is plagued by the same b.s. year after year. It’s pretty bad when at this point Fenton is looking smarter and smarter compared to Guerin.

[Dean]

We shouldn’t be patting these guys on the back for giving up and quitting in the last 2 games. I saw no effort or compete in those games. You can fix that with accountability! You don’t need money or draft picks to fix. How does cap restraints have anything to do with effort?  If they would have played hard and lost game 6 it would be a successful season.  However I saw them do what they always do. There was no growth so no success imo . 
    Bill said next 2 years it’s hard to go for cup because of cap. Like Russo said. How do you ask fans to pay good money to see a team that can’t compete because of money.  It’s a really big ask if there is problems with effort an accountability.  Barrio put it best. Bill hurt his brand with that presser and giving the team an excuse for next few years.  Buyouts. 
   I respect Bill and hope he’s right but I’m not putting the roses glasses on. I still don’t understand what they’re building around? What’s the core? Is kaprizov even here in 2 years?  Seeing Rossi struggle makes you wonder what the real timeline on improving this team is .prospects are just prospects till they prove something. 
    Chicago is loaded with picks as is Nashville and St. Louis. They are rebuilding. So when we rebuild is Chicago gonna roll out there high end picks against are late round picks and make are rebuild moot? There are so many questions surrounding this team. It’s hard to blindly believe. IMO it’s why we’re here after 23 years. Mediocrity is acceptable to the fans. Not to me !  

[SkatingBears]

They dropped 10 points from last year. In a year in which a lot of teams had fewer points. I agree with Guerin. This wasn't a wasted regular season. Honestly, was anyone surprised the Stars won in 6? Was anyone really surprised the Blues won in 6 last year given how bad that matchup was for the Wild? In fact, I've been of the opinion the Wild don't need to expect or anticipate a long playoff run just now. They just need to tread water the next two years until cap hell is over and then they'll have the money to make impactful moves on the roster and won't have their hands tied. However, a first or second round exit in a few years will be completely unacceptable. The Wild's absence from the Western Conference Finals is nearly old enough to go to a bar and order a drink.