Article: Which Teams Can the Wild Overtake For A Playoff Spot?

[Tony Abbott]

View full article

[Up North Guy]

Time for the veterans players, of whom the Wild have plenty of, to start earning their keep.

[Citizen Strife]

Gobble Gobble, let's eat turkey and get some hope.  Five months left of the season.  They have a chance, but they have to get some momentum first.

[Dean]

The difference between this year and last is no teams are tanking for Connor bedard. Tsn was projecting Edmonton needs to go .600-.650 to make playoffs.  Minny needs a good run and consistency. 

[Burnt Toast]

Colorado has been on fire. They blew out Dallas in a big statement game. If the Wild can take down the Aves tomorrow night they will be back in the playoff conversation. I’m expecting the whole team to be competing in a hard fought effort. 

[FredJohnson]

On 11/23/2023 at 10:24 AM, Up North Guy said:

Time for the veterans players, of whom the Wild have plenty of, to start earning their keep.

Deano better light some fires.

[mnfaninnc]

Generally, the Wild do go on runs. If they can recapture their structured game, I think we'll see a good run. Will it be enough? Well, we'll see how St. Louis does down the stretch and if Binnington can hold up.

That said, I'm ok with sneaking into the final spot. Shooter has promised we will be competitive. Right in the middle is competitive. However, some Eastern Conference "competitive" teams are simply better than us.

Please also note that we have been Eastern Conference heavy in our schedule and very little Western Conference play. Since the West is really a worse league this year, that should mean that while we are West heavy going forward, we will need to win games in regulation and take care of our business. 

Being this far out at Thanksgiving is usually a few nails in the coffin, but due to the scheduling, I wouldn't quite pick up the hammer just yet. Our structure appears to be back, though it's only 3 games, but the results of that should be coming either next game or the game after.

Of course, if results don't come, we will likely have ourselves an interim coach to start the New Year. I anticipate some desperation from Evason between now and Christmas. If we don't get the results, it should be concluded that he has reached his expiration date (which all coaches do now in this era). 

I certainly wish someone would do homework (on the writing staff) to look into replacements and what Shooter might be looking for in a coach. What I'd like to see are possibilities from in the league, AHL, and Jrs. I've already stated that the guy in charge of the Swedish team that produced both Goose2 and The Wall should be in line for the goalie coach. Plus, with all the Swedes on the team, it doesn't hurt to have one of the coaching staff be able to speak their first language. 

On a different note, I'd hope that the Wild continue in the Global Series. I think they have a lot of fans in Upper Europe that would get a chance to see them live. I'd also have to think that OCL gets some benefit out of that. Could anyone imagine the Classic being played outdoors in Sweden?

[FredJohnson]

So...we're tanking a year too late??

[Dango]

I still think they should put Zucc on line 2 and move a gritty player up to line 1 and see if that lessons Kaprizovs physical demand , you would have speed with Rossi ,Kaprizov  and more grit  with another player , but not Boldy .  i would try a few different guys.   Anyways couldnt hurt to try .

[mnfaninnc]

Something to ponder: Should Guerin fire Evason and bring in an interim coach, does he bring in a demanding, disciplinarian coach who will make life miserable for those giving less than 100%, practice every off day, and encourage players with designations to waive them so that they can be traded?

[Up North Guy]

5 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Something to ponder: Should Guerin fire Evason and bring in an interim coach, does he bring in a demanding, disciplinarian coach who will make life miserable for those giving less than 100%, practice every off day, and encourage players with designations to waive them so that they can be traded?

Interesting notion

[Gritty.Not.Pretty]

Not one.

[Mateo3xm]

There isn’t one team Mn is overtaking and that’s a good thing.

let them suck really really bad.

 

[Mateo3xm]

On 11/25/2023 at 1:55 PM, mnfaninnc said:

That said, I'm ok with sneaking into the final spot. Shooter has promised we will be competitive.

You’re ok with sneaking into the playoffs to get demolished?

do you believe everything shooter says?

this isnt a competitive team.

there is absolutely no point in barely getting in to get crushed.

it makes no sense

[mnfaninnc]

16 hours ago, Mateo3xm said:

You’re ok with sneaking into the playoffs to get demolished?

do you believe everything shooter says?

this isnt a competitive team.

there is absolutely no point in barely getting in to get crushed.

it makes no sense

You have a valid point. However, the one man who matters disagrees with you. He values invitations to get crushed every year. Since he signs (or has his name stamped) on Shooter's paycheck, that would be the guy I'd try to please. 

I do believe the team is good enough to sneak in. It just has to beat up on the Western Conference, something the team has had little time facing. 

This is a competitive team, or at least has been in its overachieving previous 3 years.