Article: Charlie Stramel Is Ready To Put Last Season's Struggles Behind Him

[Luke Sims]

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[vonlonster67]

Luke we always appreciate your insight and you gave us the good and the not so good comparison,

Stramel will do us well. We have never had that size or physical presence in front of the net. A 200 foot game, digging pucks out in the corner, going skate to skate with the bigger D and dominating others.  I'm sure EEK will appreciate the focus shifting off him at least a few shifts.

Stramel looks like he could suit up and play some pigskin games on Sundays for the Purple.

Can't believe I'm going to have to watch Bucky 😳 Badger hockey and even cheer this predicament on. It will be a first.

 

 

[Up North Guy]

It is fun to imagine the Wild having two of the first three centers the size of Ek and Stramel. It would seem to make opponents have to pick their poison. That is always a good thing.

[vonlonster67]

7 minutes ago, Up North Guy said:

It is fun to imagine the Wild having two of the first three centers the size of Ek and Stramel. It would seem to make opponents have to pick their poison. That is always a good thing.

Here's hoping Kumpulainen we took in the 2nd round and Yurov are another option.

Many tools coming our way depending on  what style we want to play or shift our smaller centers to wing or play the speed game with Rossi, Khusnutdinov, and Heidt up the middle and shift our biggens to wing 😎.

Deano wont know what to fo with all his options if he don't have to play the same lines...like he does now. Options are good to have in the playoffs. 

[MNCountryLife]

This will be a big year for Stramel.  He will be 19 and in his 2nd year of college with his 2nd coach.  Hopefully we see a big uptick in production from him.  I do like that BG drafted several C players and has more options in the pipeline.  

[vonlonster67]

18 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

This will be a big year for Stramel.  He will be 19 and in his 2nd year of college with his 2nd coach.  Hopefully we see a big uptick in production from him.  I do like that BG drafted several C players and has more options in the pipeline.  

MNCL, Mike Hastings should be the perfect fit for "Stram da Man"!  Cant imagine starting your hockey career at 17 and have the chance to play NHL out of college at 20.

Hastings has used a steady stream of mature men to fill out his rosters the past few years at Mankato ( usually 23-26 yoa). He has worked with many who were either Canadian players looking for a college venue and chance or the overlooked, underestimated, transfers who were past over by bigger programs.

Now he is that bigger program with all of that experience and national stage history. Should be the perfect fit for  Stramel.

Edited August 7, 2023 by vonlonster67

[Willy the poor boy]

1 hour ago, vonlonster67 said:

Here's hoping Kumpulainen we took in the 2nd round and Yurov are another option.

Many tools coming our way depending on  what style we want to play or shift our smaller centers to wing or play the speed game with Rossi, Khusnutdinov, and Heidt up the middle and shift our biggens to wing 😎.

Deano wont know what to fo with all his options if he don't have to play the same lines...like he does now. Options are good to have in the playoffs. 

You always act like DE is a fuckup who doesn't know what he's doing. He coached this team of castoffs, for the most part, into the playoffs for two years now when no one thought that he had the talent to make it. 

 

 

[Protec]

I think Stramel would be viewed quite differently had he played with USNDTP.

Likely would have been a top 20 guy. I think his path to college hockey somewhat early will pay off. He's got top potential to reach the NHL quickly, maybe more than most MN prospects who aren't yet to the AHL. 

The Wild need options. The young players in the system bring a nice variety of elements. 

[vonlonster67]

1 hour ago, Willy the poor boy said:

You always act like DE is a fuckup who doesn't know what he's doing. He coached this team of castoffs, for the most part, into the playoffs for two years now when no one thought that he had the talent to make it. 

 

 

Well, he's no Pete DeBoer who actually did coach a bunch of cast offs in Vegas and won a lot and outcoached DE, and Deano had no answers or adjustments other than to change goalies, game two in Dallas, no adjustments for their PP or our lines, only when the game is out of hand .

He's no Craig Berube who adjusted the shit out of DE the year before after a two game lead...so you tell me? Castoffs? with KK, Zucci, a young Boldy in the mix. He failed to take control of the team, dumb penalty after dumb penalty, played a guy with a broken fibula, and his adjustment was complain to the officials because he wasn't getting the calls instead of focusing on the problem, fair calls or unfair, that's the game. DeBoer blew off the Dumba call and took the focus away for his team and adjusted to the game.

DE coached this team to two 100+ point season. Kudos!, but he has a lot to learn about playoff hockey and I don't see BG being patient enough to let it go beyond 25-26 if things don't change in the playoffs.

[BillieGismylover]

He’s so young and had a tough year personally last year. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt. I think another year of maturing and a whole offseason to prepare will do him wonders. I hate the Charlie Coyle comparison. 

[Dean]

IMO DE is a terrible coach for the reasons previous comments laid out. His only schtick is freddy g. His answer to everything is freddy g. The sooner those two get separated the better! I doubt DE will get another look at playoffs with this wild team. 

[mnfaninnc]

4 hours ago, vonlonster67 said:

Deano wont know what to fo with all his options if he don't have to play the same lines...like he does now. Options are good to have in the playoffs. 

Call me pessimistic, but I'm doubting Evason will be here by the time they arrive.

[Willy the poor boy]

1 hour ago, vonlonster67 said:

Well, he's no Pete DeBoer who actually did coach a bunch of cast offs in Vegas and won a lot and outcoached DE, and Deano had no answers or adjustments other than to change goalies, game two in Dallas, no adjustments for their PP or our lines, only when the game is out of hand .

He's no Craig Berube who adjusted the shit out of DE the year before after a two game lead...so you tell me? Castoffs? with KK, Zucci, a young Boldy in the mix. He failed to take control of the team, dumb penalty after dumb penalty, played a guy with a broken fibula, and his adjustment was complain to the officials because he wasn't getting the calls instead of focusing on the problem, fair calls or unfair, that's the game. DeBoer blew off the Dumba call and took the focus away for his team and adjusted to the game.

DE coached this team to two 100+ point season. Kudos!, but he has a lot to learn about playoff hockey and I don't see BG being patient enough to let it go beyond 25-26 if things don't change in the playoffs.

So what are the probabilities BG hires another Berube or DeBoer? The odds are whoever he hires to replace him does no better and likely does worse.  

Funny how a lot of posters here will say how the team lacks talent and then want DE fired for not getting past the first round. If you're asking me it's a wonder how we even made the playoffs for two years never mind setting the mark for the franchise' best win record.

Is Dean perfect? Hell no, but who is. It ain't like it's easy to just go out and find a Stanley Cup coach. I'd hate to have to wait out another 3, 4, 5 years because DE doesn't make it past the 1'st round with a 15 million dollar handicap. 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Willy the poor boy

[mnfaninnc]

2 hours ago, Willy the poor boy said:

You always act like DE is a fuckup who doesn't know what he's doing. He coached this team of castoffs, for the most part, into the playoffs for two years now when no one thought that he had the talent to make it. 

Evason is an excellent regular season coach, but it is well documented he doesn't win playoff series. With what he's had, he's done real well. He's been the best coach we've ever had at taking care of business with the bottom teams, but he leaves something to be desired in series with top 10 teams. Generally speaking, he is simply outgunned, but he hasn't done himself any favors with matchups and small tweaks. I believe he won't overcome this and we will see a new coach next season or the year after, a proven playoff coach. Maybe a guy like Mike Sullivan?

[Willy the poor boy]

1 minute ago, mnfaninnc said:

Evason is an excellent regular season coach, but it is well documented he doesn't win playoff series. With what he's had, he's done real well. He's been the best coach we've ever had at taking care of business with the bottom teams, but he leaves something to be desired in series with top 10 teams. Generally speaking, he is simply outgunned, but he hasn't done himself any favors with matchups and small tweaks. I believe he won't overcome this and we will see a new coach next season or the year after, a proven playoff coach. Maybe a guy like Mike Sullivan?

How is he supposed to get past the first round with a lack of talent? I'm almost positive I've seen you write that quite often. I'm just trying to understand your thinking. They don't have the talent yet they are supposed to get past round 1 against teams who have the cap advantage and have far deeper teams. 

I thought for the most part they outplayed Dallas, to bad Deano can't put the puck in the net for them. They just got a new special teams coach, let's see how that works out. That is and has been the biggest failing of this team IMO. 

[Protec]

Will MN regret not getting Mike Babcock before he was hired in Columbus? 

Is Kurt Russel available? Get him one of those Herb Brooks suits or perhaps Gordon Bombay who I've suggested before. Get him out on the frozen pond to re-live his childhood failures and parlay that into coaching losers to a Championship. Nah, Dean is gonna wanna avoid the hot-seat. I think he might wanna switch it up a bit though and roll with some of those Herb Brooks suits though.

[joebou15]

Ok. The Stramel puck is winning me over. My hope is that the kid rebounds like Boldy did after his freshman season.

I'm not a Minnesota St. Fan, per sé, but I respect the hell out of what Mike Hastings was able to accomplish doen there. I think as head coach of a once former proud program with the abilities to be a first option for many players in the area, rather than constantly recruiting kids that might've been turned down once or twice, he'll bee really good in Wisconsin...as much as it pains me to say that.

But, it's up to the kid. He'll be given ample opportunities, and maybe even ones he doesn't yet deserve based on performance, and he'll have to shine. Hope he does. Would be awesome for a hometown kid to not just be a good story, but one that can be a tru difference maker for the Wild.

[Willy the poor boy]

14 minutes ago, Protec said:

Will MN regret not getting Mike Babcock before he was hired in Columbus? 

Is Kurt Russel available? Get him one of those Herb Brooks suits or perhaps Gordon Bombay who I've suggested before. Get him out on the frozen pond to re-live his childhood failures and parlay that into coaching losers to a Championship. Nah, Dean is gonna wanna avoid the hot-seat. I think he might wanna switch it up a bit though and roll with some of those Herb Brooks suits though.

I think it's more like Columbus will regret hiring Babcock. I pretty much believe he proves my point eventually. Columbus had their pick they chose Babcock and I 'think' that ends badly for them. (shrug)

[vonlonster67]

2 hours ago, Willy the poor boy said:

So what are the probabilities BG hires another Berube or DeBoer? The odds are whoever he hires to replace him does no better and likely does worse.  

Funny how a lot of posters here will say how the team lacks talent and then want DE fired for not getting past the first round. If you're asking me it's a wonder how we even made the playoffs for two years never mind setting the mark for the franchise' best win record.

Is Dean perfect? Hell no, but who is. It ain't like it's easy to just go out and find a Stanley Cup coach. I'd hate to have to wait out another 3, 4, 5 years because DE doesn't make it past the 1'st round with a 15 million dollar handicap. 

With the talent we are going to have and the salary cap we expect in 25-26 BG will have whatever coach he wishes that are available. 

If you want to settle for what you see on the ice as far as coaching? We're missing out.

Did you see what Vegas did with their coaching decisions. Do you want to make a Cup run with DE.

We're not gonna miss out on anything with BG. If you want to hope for the best keep living in DE shadow. The cap is an excuse, we had the opportunity in the playoffs the past two years and got outcoached.

[vonlonster67]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Call me pessimistic, but I'm doubting Evason will be here by the time they arrive.

Exactly!!

[joebou15]

2 hours ago, Willy the poor boy said:

So what are the probabilities BG hires another Berube or DeBoer? The odds are whoever he hires to replace him does no better and likely does worse.  

Funny how a lot of posters here will say how the team lacks talent and then want DE fired for not getting past the first round. If you're asking me it's a wonder how we even made the playoffs for two years never mind setting the mark for the franchise' best win record.

Is Dean perfect? Hell no, but who is. It ain't like it's easy to just go out and find a Stanley Cup coach. I'd hate to have to wait out another 3, 4, 5 years because DE doesn't make it past the 1'st round with a 15 million dollar handicap. 

In year one, a goofy COVID bubble, git an early lead to Vancouver and let Travis Green beat him. 

Pete DeBoer beat him in Vegas in 7 games. Ok, fine, the team was building, finally had their star forward, and were building a prospect pool.

 

Best record in the regular season, had thr Blues on the ropes, and let them off the hook. In the run up to the postseason, it was reported he hardly practiced. Tough to break out of PK slump that's killing you in the playoffs if you don't practice. Also, this season very much the season of the Roncor Cooker lines. He liked to set it and forget it. Never making changes until he had to. In Game 6, changes were too late, and too small of changes to mean anything of substance.

 

Ok, this last season, he's learned right? But not really. Lines were etched in stone again, even while Zuccarello was slumping...hard. Fast forward to the playoffs, he didn't make lineup changes. Changed the goalie into Game 2 after Gustavsson put on one helluva show in Game 1. Ok, Gus was really out of it, fine, Game 2 for Flower. But the Wild had the Stars reeling. And again, he let the other team off the hook. What's frustrating is he let the same things pit the nail in the coffin for him. Bad special teams -> Check. No line blender -> Check. Focus on tone setting and grit rather than winning -> Check.

Oh and name me a prospect he's brought along that wasn't Uber talented when they arrived like Boldy and Kaprizov. I'll wait.

Dean hasn't been able to fix the myriads of issues on special teams despite having the most talent on the PP this team has ever had, and the grinders on the PK he wants.

There's no leash to prospects. And slow to adjust, or not at all in the playoffs all because they have this preconceived notion of "how playoff hockey is supposed to be played." Nah man, you're supposed to just win. That's all anyone cares about and until you do, that's all they're going to care about.

[joebou15]

Also, this team does have talent. I think it's deep and quite skilled. Are there holes? Sure. And there's a lot of skill and talent coming soon. But it's young talent, and the vets that they fill out the roster with is old (Zuccarello), not good (Merrill), ineffective (Goligoski), or playing way above their role (Gaudreau). And none of those vets are tipping the balance in a postseason.

[vonlonster67]

39 minutes ago, joebou15 said:

In year one, a goofy COVID bubble, git an early lead to Vancouver and let Travis Green beat him. 

Pete DeBoer beat him in Vegas in 7 games. Ok, fine, the team was building, finally had their star forward, and were building a prospect pool.

 

Best record in the regular season, had thr Blues on the ropes, and let them off the hook. In the run up to the postseason, it was reported he hardly practiced. Tough to break out of PK slump that's killing you in the playoffs if you don't practice. Also, this season very much the season of the Roncor Cooker lines. He liked to set it and forget it. Never making changes until he had to. In Game 6, changes were too late, and too small of changes to mean anything of substance.

 

Ok, this last season, he's learned right? But not really. Lines were etched in stone again, even while Zuccarello was slumping...hard. Fast forward to the playoffs, he didn't make lineup changes. Changed the goalie into Game 2 after Gustavsson put on one helluva show in Game 1. Ok, Gus was really out of it, fine, Game 2 for Flower. But the Wild had the Stars reeling. And again, he let the other team off the hook. What's frustrating is he let the same things pit the nail in the coffin for him. Bad special teams -> Check. No line blender -> Check. Focus on tone setting and grit rather than winning -> Check.

Oh and name me a prospect he's brought along that wasn't Uber talented when they arrived like Boldy and Kaprizov. I'll wait.

Dean hasn't been able to fix the myriads of issues on special teams despite having the most talent on the PP this team has ever had, and the grinders on the PK he wants.

There's no leash to prospects. And slow to adjust, or not at all in the playoffs all because they have this preconceived notion of "how playoff hockey is supposed to be played." Nah man, you're supposed to just win. That's all anyone cares about and until you do, that's all they're going to care about.

Joebou, thank you for your in depth explanation!

Maybe after your detailed explanation, the rest of the rubes will finally understand, if not, there's no hope and they'll just have to see it happen... 

[vonlonster67]

10 hours ago, Luke Sims said:

 

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Luke good starting point, this one blew up!

[FredJohnson]

Can we have one (just 1!!) center pan out before the sun explodes??!!