Article: The Wild Have An Opportunity To Drop the Grit and Pick Up A New Identity

[Tom Schreier]

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[Willy the poor boy]

The Wild Have An Opportunity To Drop the Grit and Pick Up A New Identity

[Citizen Strife]

Maybe instead of grit first, or "skill and scoring," maybe try to find a balance first.  They don't have the players to do shootouts with the top teams.  I still thing playing it safe and making other teams screw up, but doing it without trying to be undisciplined would be nice.  I'm not entirely sure how exactly, but the team isn't lacking defense when people aren't getting ridden into the boards by idiots and injured.  

Hynes has slowly gotten the PK from the disastrous levels it had to, "Just bad."  I don't think the team is also good enough on the PP yet to develop into that.  So, something akin to a few years ago, where on 5 on 5, they were hustling through the zone and trying to score, but still keeping an eye on being safe and smart, rather than go for unwarranted hits or dumb plays if it costs them if the other teams come back out.

There were a few games this year and last year I singled out as weird examples, but still worth mentioning: New York Islanders last year and Ottawa Senators this year.  You could call them "boring" I guess, but the Wild kept the game super close by playing smart.  The Islanders game even more so: it felt cloying and slow at the best of times, but the Wild weren't ever out of it.  They were keeping the teams honest enough by not trying to "punish" teams.  Just keep pace with them.

Maybe if you get 3-4 more Brock Fabers, you can say, "Yeah, go whole hog and play a track meet game."  I don't think that would be wise.  Lemaire's teams never felt outmatched and outgunned like the recent teams have.  I wish I knew how or why to stop the rampant penalties, or to fix the PP into something even "pedestrian but effective" compared to this...but whatever.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Not sure I see Rossi as the #1 center on a contending team, but maybe he can be some day. Wouldn't be surprised if he's a #2 center much of his career, or possibly even a move to wing.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Also, I thought part of the grit was about effort, not letting the opposition have an easy game. It's not about penalties, it's about playing hard.

If the Wild lose that identity, what do they have?

[Lovehockey]

5 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Also, I thought part of the grit was about effort, not letting the opposition have an easy game. It's not about penalties, it's about playing hard.

If the Wild lose that identity, what do they have?

 

[Lovehockey]

Just now, Lovehockey said:

 

This is a little bit strange article that put everything together. I think 

1. Rossi is not nbr 1 center, he is good player but does not have speed, he is not strong/big, he does not distribute the puck like zucarello, his shot is ok not more than this. To me on the good team he is nbr 3 center

2. Spurgeon passed his prime, he is still good but regretting each of the couple of years. If it will be teams needed defense player for the playoffs deep run Wild should try to trade him (I understand it may not be possible because of the NMC/NT )

3. Injuries does happened and yes it is too many for Wild right now, but it is just showing how bad our prospects as of today. Wild not only lost 6 games, the last four was complete disaster without any change for success (or BG is incompetent as usual and afraid to bring young players).

4. each of the players we extended just recently does not provide anything exceptional 

maybe next 2 years will bring players who will return the excitement but as of now Wild back to be a team before BG and even worse 

 

[Pewterschmidt]

Put those marketing dimes to work.  Here are my Wild Org. marketing slogan suggestions:

1) Suck Less

2) We Can't Stand NoJo Either

3) Yes we regret the Foligno Extension

4) What happens in Nordy's Man/Bear/Pig House stays in Nordy's house

No bad ideas when we're brainstorming

[MNCountryLife]

The most competitive hockey we are currently capable of would require a few things.  

1)  Stay out of the box.  Avoid penalty riddled gamed.  We are best at 5v5.

2)  Learn to play D.... stop the run and gun style of play.  

3)  Get Healthy. Kirill, Spurgeon, Brodin and Gus are incredibly important cogs in our lineup.

All that being said.  We still don't go anywhere.  Let the young guys play and prepare for next year.

[Protec]

33 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Also, I thought part of the grit was about effort, not letting the opposition have an easy game. It's not about penalties, it's about playing hard.

If the Wild lose that identity, what do they have?

Mental grit is more important and MN doesn't have that. Sloppy, undisciplined, and often distracted by PR stunts, coaches blunders, players lost to injury, media criticism, and ongoing failures to win important draws or get special teams results. 

Wild need another reset. They came in this year thinking, we're gonna be right back at the top of the Central but guess what, Arizona, STL, Nashville, Winnipeg, all had a goal to be better. MN was worried about getting their 2020 pick to the NHL while Boldy golfed through August and vets falsely believed they were entitled to success. 

Bullshit! Now you're right there with Chicago and the Central has shuffled itself to be a strong division with no cruds given about the poor Minnesota Wild's issues. I hope Guerin has the awareness to realize what he and OCL have done here lately. Lost in the woods and just realizing you're at the same spot you were 4 years ago.

[WheelSnipeCelly]

Grit First unfortunately feels like it equates to more penalties for the Wild. This year we're ranked 4th highest (or 29th) in PIM, with 464 PIM in 40 games. The league average is 385 PIM. We have almost 80 PIM more than the NHL average. We average 10.85 PIM / game — meaning we've been on the PK for 18% of the season so far. 

Unfortunately, the same mentality is mirrored in Iowa, where they are 3rd highest (or 30th) in PIM, with 511 PIM in 32 games. That's essentially 16 PIM / game, or in other terms, they've been on the PK for more than 25% of the season. They have 106 PIM more than the AHL average (405 PIM), which equals 3.3 PIM more / game.

I wondered if the teams that play a heavier harder hitting game means more penalties — the good news, not necessarily. The Islanders are ranked 2nd in hits so far this season, with 789 and are the 5th least penalized team with 309 PIM (that's 155 less PIM than the Wild, and 108 more hits). Toronto Maple Leafs are 8th in hits (750) and tied for 12th in PIM (357) and Vancouver Canucks are 6th in hits (765) and  tied for 12th in PIM (357). 

[Willy the poor boy]

13 minutes ago, WheelSnipeCelly said:

Grit First unfortunately feels like it equates to more penalties for the Wild. This year we're ranked 4th highest (or 29th) in PIM, with 464 PIM in 40 games. The league average is 385 PIM. We have almost 80 PIM more than the NHL average. We average 10.85 PIM / game — meaning we've been on the PK for 18% of the season so far. 

Unfortunately, the same mentality is mirrored in Iowa, where they are 3rd highest (or 30th) in PIM, with 511 PIM in 32 games. That's essentially 16 PIM / game, or in other terms, they've been on the PK for more than 25% of the season. They have 106 PIM more than the AHL average (405 PIM), which equals 3.3 PIM more / game.

I wondered if the teams that play a heavier harder hitting game means more penalties — the good news, not necessarily. The Islanders are ranked 2nd in hits so far this season, with 789 and are the 5th least penalized team with 309 PIM (that's 155 less PIM than the Wild, and 108 more hits). Toronto Maple Leafs are 8th in hits (750) and tied for 12th in PIM (357) and Vancouver Canucks are 6th in hits (765) and  tied for 12th in PIM (357). 

A lot of that can be attributed to phantom calls on Foligno and Hartman and I'm not even kidding. Meanwhile they get abused game after game and the refs swallow their whistles. The Wild at some point need to collect video and just keep sending it to the league. It can't hardly get any worse.

[mnfaninnc]

There's a lot of talk about grit=PIMs. That is simply not the case. The Wild still have to play gritty because the skill guys they've drafted simply aren't ready yet. The thing that gets me, though, are the silly stick infractions. That has nothing to do with grit, absolutely nothing. 

This team still has to win by wearing other teams down. That requires grit, mainly because they do not have the skill to keep up. However, when transition eventually happens, the skill is coming and at that time the identity will change. 

The other comment about us being right back to where we were 4 years ago is completely fair. The difference, however, is that while the Wild are right back there with their on ice product, the organization is far ahead with a lot of good looking prospects. Prospects must mature and we are starting to see them graduate, though, just 2020. While we may have gotten lucky with many of our prospects, the reality remains: They lost 1.5 years due to covid that must be made up with development. They also have guys, from where we were drafting, that will likely take the full 5 years to develop. Many of these guys aren't even old enough to play in the A yet.

I believe this team will end up being very, very skilled. It's just not the right time yet. So, the grit must continue. There has to be a way to get rid of these stupid stick infraction penalties, though.

Also, not all PIMs mean shorthanded. When PIMs are majors and misconducts, they don't really leave a team shorthanded. Remember near the end of us winning, we had b2b games where Maroon and Rossi got 17 minutes each for instigating? Really, only 2 of those minutes were shorthanded. WSC above does not take that into consideration with his math right above.

The other thing that was covered was injuries. It says Guerin cannot remember seeing so many injuries. You could clarify that by him saying he has not seen so many injuries to key players. To build a competitive team with the buyouts, it requires a few things. Paramount in this are finding undervalued players (like Freddy and Hartman) and having a good run of health luck. We simply do not have the ability to have enough depth to cover for important injuries. That's simply reality, not an excuse. And it's not just to the N roster, the prospects to be called up for their opportunity have been hurt too, and that's really disappointing.

Tom wrote a very good article hitting on everything. We haven't even played half the season yet, and it seems pretty gloomy. I'd be ok with it if I were watching the future kids get a shot, but even they're hurt. Sometimes you just have to swallow it, and take your top draft pick and hope the injury bug goes away.

[Pewterschmidt]

23 minutes ago, Willy the poor boy said:

The Wild at some point need to collect video and just keep sending it to the league.

Did anyone else notice the embellishment call on Dallas.  Embellishment RARELY gets called so I think this is an indication that the refs are catching on to Dallas

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, Protec said:

Lost in the woods and just realizing you're at the same spot you were 4 years ago.

[FredJohnson]

[Willy the poor boy]

29 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Did anyone else notice the embellishment call on Dallas.  Embellishment RARELY gets called so I think this is an indication that the refs are catching on to Dallas

I didn't see the game Dallas yet. In MN. their were two obvious dives that were called on MN without any embellishment calls.

[Will D. Ness]

Marketing should go this route:

1) Be nice out there on the ice now folks. (with a deep Minnesota accent)

2) Play soft and carry a light twig.

3) The state of fine knob polishing.

4) Protective cup?  No need.

[Burnt Toast]

Reality? This year and next will take an absolute perfect storm for the Wild to make any noise. Older players + grit = injuries. We’ve got the reputation of a tough team and that’s fine but other teams are coming in gunning for us. This script has a ton of potential to change as the buyouts disappear and our best prospects hit the league. Rossi, Boldy and Faber are no where near their prime. There’s another storm coming IMO and it’s going to be unstoppable. 

[mnfaninnc]

3 hours ago, Willy the poor boy said:

A lot of that can be attributed to phantom calls on Foligno and Hartman and I'm not even kidding. Meanwhile they get abused game after game and the refs swallow their whistles. The Wild at some point need to collect video and just keep sending it to the league. It can't hardly get any worse.

This will do no good. The referees must be embarrassed, and forced to go through NHL reviews and extra paperwork. It is the only way. That way it is public. That way it goes viral. That way it's out in the open. Perhaps you even choose which officials you want to target. A full meltdown is in order, and who could blame them with this current level of frustration.

[raithis]

They need it to be

Grit First, but Discipline Firstlier.

[Tony O]

I would like to thank Billy G for freeing up my schedule. The team he continues to put on the ice is totally unwatchable, let alone wasting money by going there. They have no clue what they are doing most nights. Way  way to much dead weight. What a joke this franchise has been since day one. I miss the North Stars. At least they were fun to see play, win or lose. I dont think the owner gives a crap. As long as people keep filling up the x to watch these losers. I'll check in again after 75% of this club is gone.