Article: Will Fleury Get In A Goalie Fight Before Retiring?

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, vonlonster67 said:

I see potential from three to four prospects to arrive on this roster. Watching Rossi, there is no reason he should even be considered for IA, it's "sink or swim", but he looks as fast as ever and heavier.

Beckman has done nothing that I've seen to standout because he's getting buried by Walker's performance. Lambos continues to impress with his time on ice with the regulars and Masters also looks good, but not at Lambo's level. Spacek is also grinding, but I believe he is getting caught up in the first camp firehose take. Johansson has shown some flash, but I believe he needs to use his size if he's gonna win a D job.

I'm not really seeing Addy do anything special from what he did last year. The PP1 practice this morning looked similar. pass, pass, pass. PP2 with Rossi and JoJo, shot the damn puck, but the mindset is across the whole team pass, pass yet?. I did see Rossi after the PP period talking to King for an extended time on ice and into the hallway locker room, that looked promising!

It sure is nice to have eyeballs on the camp. Thanks Von, good comments!

[vonlonster67]

4 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Evason is going to coach the team in front of him, he doesn't set the roster. If Sammy Walker is playing far better than Rossi, Johansson, or Zuccarello, I'm sure he would be ecstatic to have him on the roster.

Evason isn't going to be excited to play someone who is inferior just to get them experience. Players can develop outside of the NHL. Kaprizov came in NHL ready. Boldy didn't spend much time in the AHL.

There are a lot of teams that will let young players struggle and try to figure it out at the NHL level. The Wild GM and coach both believe in developing players at lower levels so that they are more NHL ready when they arrive than many other teams. As much as it would be interesting to see the young players, they'll get more ice time in the AHL, and can develop there too, possibly more so than they would getting 12 minutes per night in the NHL.

The owner and GM don't want to play losing hockey. The coach and Wild players are on board with playing winning hockey. Fans don't always agree with it though.

The roster may be set by the group BG put together, but DE has to plug n play, react, adapt, reset, restructure, tear down, build up, develop.....TIMELY!

Is he really doing that? Is he getting the most out of this team or is it like last year....ahh chucks, "I don't need to talk to the guys" or do anything...they take care of it???? Do they? It didn't look like that last year on the ice in Dallas. THEY  were all lost at sea with that glazed over look under their visors to include KK. 

Coaching, leadership, drive.....WAS GONE!

[Imyourhuckleberry]

33 minutes ago, vonlonster67 said:

Coaching, leadership, drive.....WAS GONE!

It was a disappointing finish, and maybe another coach could have had them look better in the last couple of games, but do you think any coach could have driven the Wild to win the Stanley Cup last year?

When Eriksson Ek was healthy, the Wild kept winning in the regular season even without Kaprizov, who most consider to be their best player.

Eriksson Ek and Shaw were out in the playoffs. Nyquist was one of their best players, but he had just returned from injury. Kaprizov, Zuccarello, Hartman, and Foligno were all playing through injuries, or had just come back from one, if everyone believes Kaprizov was not hurting at all during the playoffs. Once Eriksson Ek was confirmed out, and Kaprizov was playing as a shell of himself, I don't know that a winning formula existed.

Dallas had the better team for that series, and they advanced to the conference finals because they had a very strong roster. I don't think Vegas had a tougher opponent on their way to winning it all last season than Dallas. A lot of that had to do with Boston falling to Florida early in the playoffs, but no team in the West was more of a challenge than Dallas.

You could say Edmonton was fairly close. Vegas went into OT in both of the first two games against Dallas though, and if either of those went to Dallas, that series might have gone 7 games. Edmonton won their games outright without going to OT, but lost all of their games in regulation.

I'm not saying that Evason is the best coach in the NHL, but I would argue that he's likely better than average. The Wild have exceeded expectations for these buyout seasons with him as coach. The fact they were able to get ahead 2-1 in a playoff series against a better roster suggests that he is doing something right.

[vonlonster67]

13 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

It was a disappointing finish, and maybe another coach could have had them look better in the last couple of games, but do you think any coach could have driven the Wild to win the Stanley Cup last year?

When Eriksson Ek was healthy, the Wild kept winning in the regular season even without Kaprizov, who most consider to be their best player.

Eriksson Ek and Shaw were out in the playoffs. Nyquist was one of their best players, but he had just returned from injury. Kaprizov, Zuccarello, Hartman, and Foligno were all playing through injuries, or had just come back from one, if everyone believes Kaprizov was not hurting at all during the playoffs. Once Eriksson Ek was confirmed out, and Kaprizov was playing as a shell of himself, I don't know that a winning formula existed.

Dallas had the better team for that series, and they advanced to the conference finals because they had a very strong roster. I don't think Vegas had a tougher opponent on their way to winning it all last season than Dallas. A lot of that had to do with Boston falling to Florida early in the playoffs, but no team in the West was more of a challenge than Dallas.

You could say Edmonton was fairly close. Vegas went into OT in both of the first two games against Dallas though, and if either of those went to Dallas, that series might have gone 7 games. Edmonton won their games outright without going to OT, but lost all of their games in regulation.

I'm not saying that Evason is the best coach in the NHL, but I would argue that he's likely better than average. The Wild have exceeded expectations for these buyout seasons with him as coach. The fact they were able to get ahead 2-1 in a playoff series against a better roster suggests that he is doing something right.

I didnt expect the Cup last year, but winning game one in Dallas, then starting Flower, then going up 2-1, Dallas adapts and adjusts.....we keep going with "what works", no changes.

He loses focus, loses his f'n mind on the officials, distracts the team.....we could have beat Dallas without all that, even down Ek and Shawsy. I wouldn't expect to get past Vegas.

[AKwildkraken]

12 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Did Goligoski look worse than last year, like he needed to retire?

On the second goal he looked tired.  Granted it seemed it was a long shift and they were playing at a mile high in altitude.

I think his instincts are still there, just the body was slow to react.  I thought his passing and breaking out of the zone was iffy, but looked fine in the offensive zone.

[mnfaninnc]

9 hours ago, AKwildkraken said:

On the second goal he looked tired.  Granted it seemed it was a long shift and they were playing at a mile high in altitude.

I think his instincts are still there, just the body was slow to react.  I thought his passing and breaking out of the zone was iffy, but looked fine in the offensive zone.

If they pair Goligoski and Addison together this year, every shift will bring anxiety. I'm still hoping before the season that Guerin tells Goligoski that it is time, and he won't lose any money (might have to spread it out a little), that there is a place for him in the front office. 

I'd feel real good if Goligoski's main priority was getting the defense ready in Iowa. He's got plenty of experience and success to garner the respect of all those guys. His age gap with them is enough too. The player is usually the last to know that it's over. He sees the decline as bad luck and if things would have bounced differently his play would have been the same. It is sad to see them hang on by a thread. 

I hope in the handshake deal, that Guerin promised if it was time, he'd tell him.