Article: Bill Guerin Is Gonna Go For Broke

[Tom Schreier]

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[Backwoodsbob]

We'll see after the break but I feel that there is still time for the soft tank.

 

[MNCountryLife]

I don't think tanking is in BG's blood.  He is all in and believes in this roster.  Why not... the roster, when healthy, can compete against most teams.  Last year we lost to a very good Dallas (without Ek and an injured Kirill) team that made it to the conference finals and played Vegas tough.  We are also stuck with this roster through next year... so tanking really takes on a mulit-year horror show.  Nobody wants that... so hope for the best.

[Dean]

It’s nice to see them playing some respectable hockey the past few games. In my opinion it wasn’t a vote of confidence that got them to start winning a few games. I think it was the talk of trading fleury and others if out of playoffs. I think this is the same team we see every year. They do enough to stay mediocre an not anymore. They were healthy to start year and they decided not to play the first 20 games . Now when players and there families might get moved the team decides to start giving some effort. 
     My guess is they finish a few points out of playoffs with a 15-20 th pick for draft. If they do squeak in , they will get embarrassed again . We aren’t close to the top teams in roster or depth . This year feels like the same old stuff . Do just enough to not be one of the  bottom teams but never enough to be a good team. We so need a top 10 pick more than a fake push for playoffs 

[Citizen Strife]

If Edmonton showed anything, it's that writing a team off until the season is out of reach is foolish.  

Am I expecting a 10-15 game win streak?  No.  But they will play the team in front of them and try to win.  They had no reason to win that Carolina game, but did.  They beat the Capitals by scoring early.  Wins are wins, and the team looks like it will fight for everything.  I give them credit for that at least.  If the team was going to lose everything, Florida and Carolina would have embarrassed them like Arizona did.

[Protec]

If Boldy gets going and Gus is hot, the Wild could string together some winning. They’ve done it before. I think the Wild have much better confidence now than previously in the season. Some big Central wins will go a long way towards being a playoff team. 
 

I just don’t think players tank. The Wild will get what they get from a draft pick standpoint. I would expect something around 20th.

[Burnt Toast]

I can’t remember a bigger roller coaster ride season than this one. We’re going to find out pretty quickly if the track ends or we go on a Wild ride to the finish in the playoffs. There are essentially 6 teams fighting for the last Wild Card spot. This Preds’ game coming up is huge. 

[B1GKappa97]

I just hope we don't trade away picks to bring guys in at the TDL.. 

[Willy the poor boy]

35 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

I just hope we don't trade away picks to bring guys in at the TDL.. 

I've always maintained that the Wild don't really have the cap space to trade high round picks away. I suppose there are scenarios where you could make it work, but you'd have to find a Fletcher type GM to work with. There just aren't many, if any, of those around.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

1 hour ago, Protec said:

I would expect something around 20th.

The 8th spot in the East is currently at 53 points, with only 5 Eastern teams below 50 points. The 8th spot in the West is currently at 51 points, with 8 Western teams below 50 points.

This season, you could possibly make the playoffs in the West and pick #17. You lose out on the lottery, of course, but get a chance for at least 1 playoff series, which is generally quite valuable to ownership and I'm sure the Wild players would really like.

Assuming they don't make the conference finals, they could retain their pick in the teens. If they do finish with the worst record among playoff teams, you should anticipate the Wild weirdly advance to the conference finals before getting trounced this season, dropping their pick down to #29 the very year that many fans were content with a losing year and high pick.

Not Weird. Wild!

[Backwoodsbob]

5 hours ago, Protec said:

I just don’t think players tank. The Wild will get what they get from a draft pick standpoint. I would expect something around 20th.

Unfortunately I whole heartily agree. Stuck in the middling conundrum as usual.

[Protec]

4 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

I can’t remember a bigger roller coaster ride season than this one. We’re going to find out pretty quickly if the track ends or we go on a Wild ride to the finish in the playoffs. There are essentially 6 teams fighting for the last Wild Card spot. This Preds’ game coming up is huge. 

I do. The whole Parise/Suter Era. Yeo, Torchetti, Boudreau, and finally under Evason the Wild had a few solid seasons without many ultimate highs or rock-bottom lows.

Since Hynes, it's been more steady but injuries have still been an issue.

[Luke Sims]

Who's ready for the Ryan White reunion? 

[mnfaninnc]

22 hours ago, Protec said:

I just don’t think players tank. The Wild will get what they get from a draft pick standpoint. I would expect something around 20th.

I simply cannot see this team drafting 20th. I don't think they can catch LA, and the Eastern finalists are likely ahead of the Wild in points. To me, if we make the playoffs, we're due #17 if we lose in the 1st 2 rounds of the playoffs. 20th would assume we could stumble into 3rd place in the division, something I'd say we gave away in losing both home and homes. 

To get there, we'd have to keep all relevant players healthy. That is much easier said than done.

[Pewterschmidt]

4 hours ago, Luke Sims said:

Who's ready for the Ryan White reunion? 

or that Guggenheim putz

[Protec]

Pontus A. Pylon? 😁

[nonameprovided]

This is Leupold more than Guerin, IMO. Content in mediocrity... Sell the team to someone capable of winning, clown.

[Mateo3xm]

On 1/24/2024 at 12:32 PM, MNCountryLife said:

Why not... the roster, when healthy, can compete against most teams.

You really think that?

this team is not built for the playoffs and has so many holes it’s ridiculous.

i don’t understand how ppl think this is a competitive team.

do you want a team that can compete with all these high quality teams or actually win against teams?

how many years has this team made it to the first round then got beat?

you think this team is any better?

I don’t want a team that barely makes it in to the playoffs and “competes” with teams only to get beat the first round.

i want a well constructed team with as little holes as possible to be prepared to WIN in the playoffs and WIN a Stanley Cup.

it makes absolutely no sense to barely make it in, to pick between 15-20 in the first round.

Why are Wild fans standards so unbelievably low?

 

[Mateo3xm]

On 1/24/2024 at 12:33 PM, Dean said:

It’s nice to see them playing some respectable hockey the past few games. In my opinion it wasn’t a vote of confidence that got them to start winning a few games. I think it was the talk of trading fleury and others if out of playoffs. I think this is the same team we see every year. They do enough to stay mediocre an not anymore. They were healthy to start year and they decided not to play the first 20 games . Now when players and there families might get moved the team decides to start giving some effort. 
     My guess is they finish a few points out of playoffs with a 15-20 th pick for draft. If they do squeak in , they will get embarrassed again . We aren’t close to the top teams in roster or depth . This year feels like the same old stuff . Do just enough to not be one of the  bottom teams but never enough to be a good team. We so need a top 10 pick more than a fake push for playoffs 

EXACTLY!!!

[Mateo3xm]

On 1/24/2024 at 12:56 PM, Citizen Strife said:

If Edmonton showed anything, it's that writing a team off until the season is out of reach is foolish. 

That situation/team isn’t even in the same realm as the Mn Wild’s..

they have arguably the top 2 players in the nhl the last 3-4 years.

they have incredible depth in RNH and Hyman, Bouchard, Kane etc.

thats not a good comparison.

why get into the playoffs if you aren’t built to make a legitimate push to win a Stanley cup?

it just doesn’t make sense.

 

[Citizen Strife]

Because losing sucks and no player on any team is going to accept that ever, just because fans are going to sit there and say its "for the best."  Being defeatist is a stupid mindset, so excuse me for being a bit positive.

Edited January 27 by Citizen Strife

[Mateo3xm]

On 1/26/2024 at 8:20 PM, Citizen Strife said:

Because losing sucks and no player on any team is going to accept that ever, just because fans are going to sit there and say its "for the best."  Being defeatist is a stupid mindset, so excuse me for being a bit positive.

You facilitate the losing. It’s a strategy to WIN. It’s anything but defeatist.

you trade players that have value for picks and let younger players play which is a big component of a tank.

San Jose is doing this very thing right now.

you don’t need any player to “accept” anything whatsoever.

So is tanking a defeatist attitude?are you just not liking the word tank?

you can call it a regroup or acquiring the proper tools to win.

if you want to win, you don’t show up to the playoffs with improper personnel. The goal is to win a Stanley Cup correct? 
Did the Pens have a defeatists attitude when they got Crosby, Malkin and Fleury?

Did the Hawks have a defeatist attitude when the got Toews and Kane?

How about Tampa when they got Hedman?

Kings when they got Doughty?

all the players/teams had to tank to get the players I listed above. They were all within the 1st to 6th pick I believe.

i want to tank so we can truly WIN and the state of hockey can finally win a Stanley Cup!

 

[MacGyver]

I thought Kaprizov had the Stanley Cup in his back pocket when he got here? You certainly would have thought as much the way most fans were carrying on. And truthfully the way he was playing at first it looked as if he just might be able to take this mediocre team across the finish line or at least deep into the playoffs. Now it's draft picks and prospects are what we need. 

Kaprizov is not the same player he was. He's streaky, prone to bad turnovers and looks to have lost a step over the last two years. Could be a lingering injury or just the effect of being in a losing culture. He is certainly a big fish in a small pond being on this team.  I have my doubts Guerin is going to be able to keep him here. Given the mess this team is from the front office to the locker room who can blame him for wanting to get back to a winning culture. I feel he can get back to playing the way he did when he first got here but it will be in a different jersey. 

[Citizen Strife]

Ask Edmonton how the previous McDavid drafting helped them...oh wait.  It didn't.  Eichel got traded from Buffalo to get his ring, so Buffalo didn't win via tanking either.  Ottawa, with 3-5 high end draft picks haven't done shit in their rebuild either.  You act as if there's a one size fits all method to winning any and all games ever.  

All you can say right now is Guerin jumped the gun (either from Leipold's mandate or his own hubris).  If any or all of the Yurov's, Wallstedt's, etc. turn into half as good a prospects as Faber did, and the Wild win next year, the hell do you say to "Oh we should have fucking tanked and given up?"  The Wild had a high pick and got Pouliot out of it once.  How'd that help them?  #1 picks like Yakupov and Daigle exist too, you know.

I'm not unrealistic.  There was every indication the Wild could have paid the price for signing the extensions.  That's all you can accuse them of yet.  Telling the team to lay down and die isn't going to fly with them, and I don't think you get that it isn't always a solution either.

If there weren't good players coming, then you'd have an argument against being "optimistic" or "naive."  One bad year doesn't mean the team is never going to make hay next year.  

You're free to root for Dallas or Colorado anytime you know.

Edited January 29 by Citizen Strife

[Citizen Strife]

Note: my point overall (though not all, and I'm not saying everyone is like this) is a lot of articles and comments think one bad year or one bad contract means the team is worthless, wasting time, isn't worth rooting for, or is a dead end team.  I hope you can understand that my stance has been that is it pointlessly defeatist and pessimistic, when it doesn't really have to be.  Just trying to balance the "fanatical pessimism" I'm seeing with a bit more realistic optimism.

Edited January 29 by Citizen Strife