Article: Wild Painfully Get Shutout By Dallas

[MNCountryLife]

I would think that some of the players with a No Move or No Trade would be more willing to jump ship if they know we are moving into a full rebuild and that we won't be competitive until 25-26.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

1 hour ago, Citizen Strife said:

whether Stramel ends up as "just another Ek."

Right now, Stramel looks a lot more like Greenway than JEE. Not sure if he will play above 4th line based upon his current development.

[Willy the poor boy]

43 minutes ago, raithis said:

  Hartman just seems like he doesn't care sometimes.

 

That's funny because I don't think I've ever seen Hartzy being lazy or not trying or caring.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

39 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

The frustration for me with Stramel is that he currently skating 4th line on wing...not even as a center, which is why he was supposedly drafted.  You took Stramel over Perrault because Stramel was a 'center'

Also, where's this Ek comparison coming from?  Dude has 0 hits so far this season.

Agreed. David Edstrom(Vegas) is the guy who was compared to Eriksson Ek. Stramel was big and can skate, but lacking high end skills that lead to points.

Stramel seems more like a Greenway or Coyle than an Eriksson-Ek, but Coyle was more productive in the points department than what Stramel has shown.

[Will D. Ness]

I'm feeling the sentiment here too.  The problem with last night was after the Faber screw up on the PP the team got so dejected that they couldn't recover.  I mean that was one helluva crappy play after a nice start.

Dallas only had 10 shots on goal after 2.  It was anyones game beginning the 3rd and then Fleury let in a softie and dejection #2 really sets in.  I'm not putting this on Fleury or Faber but more on a little fragility on the mental side as a team. 

 

[MNCountryLife]

7 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

I'm feeling the sentiment here too.  The problem with last night was after the Faber screw up on the PP the team got so dejected that they couldn't recover.  I mean that was one helluva crappy play after a nice start.

Dallas only had 10 shots on goal after 2.  It was anyones game beginning the 3rd and then Fleury let in a softie and dejection #2 really sets in.  I'm not putting this on Fleury or Faber but more on a little fragility on the mental side as a team. 

We lack a sniper goal scorer right now.  No Kirill, No Fiala... and Boldy is streaky.  The puck isn't going in and we are not seeing back door passes available.  End result is a team that doesn't believe they can score... and even one goal behind is monumental to overcome.

[Protec]

2 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

What's the ETA on Petro?  

Sometime after he adds the required  mnfaninnc 20lbs of pure unadulterated muscle to the legs, buttocks, and core regions.

[Protec]

35 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

I'm feeling the sentiment here too.  The problem with last night was after the Faber screw up on the PP the team got so dejected that they couldn't recover.  I mean that was one helluva crappy play after a nice start.

Dallas only had 10 shots on goal after 2.  It was anyones game beginning the 3rd and then Fleury let in a softie and dejection #2 really sets in.  I'm not putting this on Fleury or Faber but more on a little fragility on the mental side as a team. 

 

You're not gonna beat top teams with zero goals and breakdowns. You gotta play clean, polished hockey. MN is out-matched against Dallas. You gotta be damn near perfect to get Ws against those kinds of teams.

Edited January 9 by Protec

[Pewterschmidt]

51 minutes ago, Protec said:

20lbs of pure unadulterated muscle to the legs, buttocks, and core regions

I’d argue Boldy needs to beef up his buttocks.  For him to take next step he needs to get heavier.  This season he’s learning that he’s gotta be the guy when on the ice.  He’ll get there

 Rossi also needs to add 10-15lbs to his buttocks.  He’s made a great stair step improvement this year.  He needs to come to camp with Marchand sturdiness next season.  
Mojo needs to add a heart in the offseason. 

[mnfaninnc]

3 hours ago, Beast said:

Kicking the can down the road for years and not ripping the bandaid off on the rebuild has led us to today.

I still contend Guerin needs to be fired for the inconceivably stupid offseason he just put together.  Jerking Rossi around,  giving him peanuts playing time on the fourth line then throwing him under the bus and back to the AHL.  Taking Charlie freaking Stramel with Perrault, Ritchie, Musty, etc. staring him in the face.  Then, the weird scandals behind the scenes started.

This franchise is a mess.  Get Guerin out of here.  He sucks.

I understand the frustration, but I simply disagree with this take. Guerin has to work with what his boss wants, and his boss wants playoffs. That fact is non-negotiable. As for Rossi, I think they played it right. There is 1 reason why Rossi has been so much better this year: 15 lbs. of muscle. That is it, and he needed to be sent down because he was simply too small to play up in the N.

I don't understand the Stramel pick. I was heartbroken that Moore went 1 pick ahead of us. Stramel is a local kid who was obviously heavily scouted since he was in our own backyard. I'll give you the Ritchie suggestion, as I thought he'd be next man up. Fact is, though, Guerin wanted size, and the rumors were NYR was wanting him in the 1st too. Don't give up on the kid just yet. When it clicks, he will be a hard player to play against. Also, before his year in Wisconsin, he was ranked far higher. This has been the type of picks Brackett makes, guys who were once high but have fallen. Lambos, Yurov, Wallstedt all fit that theme.

As for Rossi on the 4th line, that is Evason not Guerin. 

[Will D. Ness]

2 hours ago, Protec said:

You're not gonna beat top teams with zero goals and breakdowns. You gotta play clean, polished hockey. MN is out-matched against Dallas. You gotta be damn near perfect to get Ws against those kinds of teams.

True although Dallas didn't do shit really either.  Their goals were flukey and it's not like they were peppering the shots.  It was a winnable game for us but we folded like a paper cup.  

[Will D. Ness]

2 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

We lack a sniper goal scorer right now.  No Kirill, No Fiala... and Boldy is streaky.  The puck isn't going in and we are not seeing back door passes available.  End result is a team that doesn't believe they can score... and even one goal behind is monumental to overcome.

I would add on top that we need a true bruiser line with a bruiser center but we don't have one other than Ek.  Freddy doesn't fit that role.

[raithis]

4 hours ago, Beast said:

Jerking Rossi around,  giving him peanuts playing time on the fourth line then throwing him under the bus and back to the AHL.

I really don't understand your Rossi comments at all.

Guerin doesn't choose what line a player skates on or how many minutes a player is on the ice.  That was Evason.  Rossi may not have been put into a position to succeed, but it was blatantly clear he was not ready for the NHL.  That's hardly jerking Rossi around.  It's seeing he wasn't there yet, moving him to Iowa, and the trying him again after he seemed to find himself.  The thing is though, he still wasn't there yet.  It wasn't until after spending all off-season working to gain muscle and conditioning that he's become a capable NHL player - and he's been given ice time relative to that.

I think Rossi is where he is today because of all that.

[Citizen Strife]

Given stuff like the Gauthier situation with the Flyers, we should be happy Rossi took the last year and said, "It's my problem, I'll deal with it," and did.  Not every player is willing to bust ass to get better, sometimes thinking talent or "name" will get them by.  That or they don't want to play for the team.  Rossi clearly wants to be here and succeed, and even if it took a bit, it is happening.

[mnfaninnc]

14 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

I would add on top that we need a true bruiser line with a bruiser center but we don't have one other than Ek.  Freddy doesn't fit that role.

I could see Maroon-Hartman-Foligno as that line.

[mnfaninnc]

14 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

Given stuff like the Gauthier situation with the Flyers, we should be happy Rossi took the last year and said, "It's my problem, I'll deal with it," and did.  Not every player is willing to bust ass to get better, sometimes thinking talent or "name" will get them by.  That or they don't want to play for the team.  Rossi clearly wants to be here and succeed, and even if it took a bit, it is happening.

I saw some stuff on Gauthier not wanting to play for the Flyers. Anyone know what happened there? He seemed to be gung ho when drafted and then changed his mind. It seemed really weird!

[Citizen Strife]

I mean, the most I'd heard was rumors of Kevin Hayes telling him this franchise was kinda shit and then Torts saying, "I wouldn't know Gauthier from a "AHEM NAUGHTY SEXUAL THING REDACTED" on a wall."

Edited January 10 by Citizen Strife

[MNCountryLife]

16 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

I would add on top that we need a true bruiser line with a bruiser center but we don't have one other than Ek.  Freddy doesn't fit that role.

I'm not convinced that a team needs a bruiser line.  I am convinced that teams need players like Victor Hedman from Tampa.  A defender that is big, clears the net front, great skater, clears the d-zone with ease and runs the offense.  Guys like that are worth their weight in gold.

[mnfaninnc]

3 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

I'm not convinced that a team needs a bruiser line.  I am convinced that teams need players like Victor Hedman from Tampa.  A defender that is big, clears the net front, great skater, clears the d-zone with ease and runs the offense.  Guys like that are worth their weight in gold.

Maybe we get one this offseason 😀

[Will D. Ness]

1 hour ago, MNCountryLife said:

I'm not convinced that a team needs a bruiser line.  I am convinced that teams need players like Victor Hedman from Tampa.  A defender that is big, clears the net front, great skater, clears the d-zone with ease and runs the offense.  Guys like that are worth their weight in gold.

Rare as gold too.  It would have to be FA because all of our top d prospects are not big.

[raithis]

22 hours ago, Willy the poor boy said:

That's funny because I don't think I've ever seen Hartzy being lazy or not trying or caring.

Really, I see it all the time.  He has an attitude.  Sometimes it benefits us and sometimes it hurts us.  The problem is that unless he's scoring, it tends to hurt us more than it helps.  If you want a recent example, in one of the last games (believe it was one of the Winnipeg games), he didn't quite get a handle on a puck in our defensive zone late in the game.  Rather than making any effort to get to the puck that was maybe 15-20ft from him, he barely glided toward the puck and let a Winnipeg player skate around him and throw it in for an empty net goal.  That's just one example.  It's not like it's all game long, but he definitely turns the effort down a bit at times, and it occasionally then turns into a dumb penalty or a breakaway for the other team.  We don't score enough as a team to make up for his BS.

[Protec]

The Wild's problems this year are bigger than any one player. 

Boldy was golfing all Summer while Rossi and Addison were training hard. Most of the top guys got hurt. Evason and Woods choked. Gus started slow again after whimpering about not getting sleep with a new baby in his contract interview. Guerin banked on his vets coming back strong which sorta happened with Zuccarello as a top scorer and Foligno with strong two-way stats but Fleury isn't stealing wins when NoJo and the remaining uninjured guys can't score goals.

It has been a sideways year and perhaps an expected move back towards the mean after a few really good years. Just how it goes sometimes and the Wild have played some really good hockey too.

Biggest problem I've had with the Wild forever is not taking care of business in the Central. Perennial little brother to a few teams in the division.  Used to be Chicago and Winnipeg. Then Dallas and Nashville. More recently Dallas and Colorado, but now Winnipeg again too. 

The Wild need guys like Marchment from Dallas but we got Duhaime or Nojo. The Wild need guys like Connor from Winnipeg but we got Boldy who is good for a two goal game once in awhile but doesn't do nuthin many other games. 

The roster needs an off season tweak again and some new blood. Nojo is dead weight, let's see what can be done at the deadline,(which probably isn't much) and use next Summer to get Boldy on the Rossi program instead of the PGA wannabe program. 

At least we're not seeing any stupid grit vids.

[Willy the poor boy]

1 hour ago, raithis said:

Really, I see it all the time.  He has an attitude.  Sometimes it benefits us and sometimes it hurts us.  The problem is that unless he's scoring, it tends to hurt us more than it helps.  If you want a recent example, in one of the last games (believe it was one of the Winnipeg games), he didn't quite get a handle on a puck in our defensive zone late in the game.  Rather than making any effort to get to the puck that was maybe 15-20ft from him, he barely glided toward the puck and let a Winnipeg player skate around him and throw it in for an empty net goal.  That's just one example.  It's not like it's all game long, but he definitely turns the effort down a bit at times, and it occasionally then turns into a dumb penalty or a breakaway for the other team.  We don't score enough as a team to make up for his BS.

Well what player, maybe besides Ek, can you not say that about? You mention one play so maybe were talking about apples and oranges. I can't think of a game where Hartzy has taken the game off or even a period. He's usually being called in the playmaking when he's on the ice. I'm not saying he's perfect he's an emotional player and that can be good and bad at times. That's just what you get with him and I'll take players like him all day long on my team. Everyone talks about his penalties, but that's part of his game. I saw against Dallas how they were diving  again and Hartzy gets called. He gets a lot of cheap penalties from the refs. He can't help that he's just gotta keep playing his game, it's up to Hynes to let the refs know that kind of stuff is bullshit.

[mnfaninnc]

With Hartman, I've seen plenty of play that looks like not enough effort. What I can not verify is where he was in his shift. I think he gets winded pretty quickly and some of this stuff may be late in his shift where he's gassed. But, he still looks like he's not hustling. 

He also does some strange things with the puck in his own end sometimes. Still, he's the only guy on the team who seems to really stand up for players and target opponents skilled guys. For me, that earns him a spot. He performs unpleasant tasks very well.