Article: The Wild's Structure Has Collapsed

[Tony Abbott]

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[TheGoosesAreLooses]

Whether or not we want to admit it, the cap hits hurt our depth badly. We have been lucky to avoid injuries to our keystone defensive stalwarts in past years that have allowed the system to thrive despite injuries. The loss of Dumba is felt, whatever your opinion was on him, he held together our defensive core quite handily even when Brodin was hurt. With Spurgeon injured and Dumba replaced by a rookie (albeit a great one), the defensive core cannot be held up by one player. 

Things will get better but I think it is high time management and coaching lower their expectations and focus on player development. If players are gripping sticks too tight and in their heads implementing new systems you need to let them play. Not give them a dozen new things to try to input into their game. A split second hesitation loses a puck battle. If you want new systems to work in game situations they need to be drilled until they are second nature. There is no time for a half second delay in reaction and I feel like that is what we are seeing on the ice right now. The combination of new systems and very little practice time is killing us. The line blender that has been required to keep the defense afloat has not helped to get that consistency.

Bottom line, we all need to wake up and smell the coffee as fans and the organization. We should have been rebuilding during the cap hits. Leipold had no taste for it and now we maintain our forever status in the mushy middle. Our lack of depth will not survive the post season even if we do make it in and without a proper rebuild and with the locked in core, I don't see that changing with the cap hit off. Sorry to be a downer folks but this is a highly competitive league and we don't look up to task. 

[raithis]

6 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

If players are gripping sticks too tight

At least we can safely say Johansson isn't one of those players.

[Citizen Strife]

1 hour ago, raithis said:

At least we can safely say Johansson isn't one of those players.

Hey now.  He can't be blamed all the time.  A Canadiens player brushed his stick away.  Even got a free PP out of it.  Maybe that was his plan all along.

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, raithis said:

At least we can safely say Johansson isn't one of those players.

Love this.  Everyone grab a twelve pack of Stroh's and let's play the Mojo stick drop drinking game tonight.

(for the record i do not mind mojo this year.  But i do love a good drinking game)

[Greenbean]

1 hour ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Love this.  Everyone grab a twelve pack of Stroh's and let's play the Mojo stick drop drinking game tonight.

(for the record i do not mind mojo this year.  But i do love a good drinking game)

I'll fall out of my couch by the time the 1st intermission starts!  😆

[Sviginak]

Another dire headline after just nine games in. Perhaps we can expect a post or two on draft lottery prospects soon?

[Wild4Ever]

42 minutes ago, Sviginak said:

Another dire headline after just nine games in. Perhaps we can expect a post or two on draft lottery prospects soon?

Another dire headline and another worthless opinion. Last year the Wild were 4/4/1 at this point. This year 3/4/2. I fully expect them to make the playoffs this year.

[Sviginak]

4 minutes ago, Wild4Ever said:

Another dire headline and another worthless opinion. Last year the Wild were 4/4/1 at this point. This year 3/4/2. I fully expect them to make the playoffs this year.

Nothing like a bit of a positive outlook before the first game in a while! I like it.

[mnfaninnc]

I can't argue with Tony on this one, he's hit the nail on the head. The structure we once had is gone. It seems like it would be a lack of buy in, or quite possibly just a lack of practice. Dean needs to go.

[Quebec1648]

If people want to blame someone, then blame either the owner or the president / gm. The owner picked Guerin and Guerin picked the players, so that is where I place most of the blame. It would very easy to blame the coaches, but they didn`t hand out crazy contracts to aging players. 

The Wild have gone through multiple coaches over the years, yet the futility is constant. Replacing Evason would not change that. It's the front office and ownership that are the true cause of the futility. Lack of a true #1 center, lack of scoring depth and lack of an elite defenseman are all problems that have existed for years. Guerin got lucky by acquiring the Gus Bus and the Wall to finally solve the goal tending problem, but the other problems remain.

It's way to easy to fire the coach, since the problems are often more serious and deeply rooted than poor coaching. 

[Up North Guy]

18 hours ago, Quebec1648 said:

If people want to blame someone, then blame either the owner or the president / gm. The owner picked Guerin and Guerin picked the players, so that is where I place most of the blame. It would very easy to blame the coaches, but they didn`t hand out crazy contracts to aging players. 

The Wild have gone through multiple coaches over the years, yet the futility is constant. Replacing Evason would not change that. It's the front office and ownership that are the true cause of the futility. Lack of a true #1 center, lack of scoring depth and lack of an elite defenseman are all problems that have existed for years. Guerin got lucky by acquiring the Gus Bus and the Wall to finally solve the goal tending problem, but the other problems remain.

It's way to easy to fire the coach, since the problems are often more serious and deeply rooted than poor coaching. 

I don't disagree that the front office has and caused issues. That is obvious. I do disagree that the coaching should not be held accountable for poor performance. The front office does not create the on ice structure and match ups. The front office does not make line up cards. The coaching staff is supposed to be hands on yet appears top be hands off (golfing?).

[Quebec1648]

On 11/4/2023 at 4:07 PM, Up North Guy said:

I don't disagree that the front office has and caused issues. That is obvious. I do disagree that the coaching should not be held accountable for poor performance. The front office does not create the on ice structure and match ups. The front office does not make line up cards. The coaching staff is supposed to be hands on yet appears top be hands off (golfing?).

I won't disagree with what you said, I was merely trying to emphasize the role the GM and owner play in building the roster. Evason doesn't sign the players, he just uses them. I would agree that Evason sometimes puts together bizarre line combos or benches certain players in favor of others. The flaws I pointed to, like the lack of scoring depth or the lack of a top centerman and defenseman, are not things Evason can control. If Guerin wants to sign players like Goligoski and Merrill, what is Evason supposed to do?

I am not saying that Evason is blameless, merely that Guerin and Leopold bear more of the blame, since they have control over player acquisition and callups.

Evason is now experimenting with Boldy, Rossi and Kaprizov on line 1, but that may be short lived, since other than Ek, it creates a lack of reliable scoring on the other lines.

I want to see what happens when all the minor leaguers start coming up. If Evason gives them a fair shot and puts them in a position to succeed that will be good. If the minor league callups totally implode, then I will be receptive to the idea, of the front office moving on from Evason.