Article: Wild Host Predators As Ignorance Continues

[Thomas Williams]

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[Eddy]

So ignorance is putting forth effort or trying to excel at your job???? I’ll say this there is nothing ignorant about trying to succeed and do your best!!! Rebuilding a winning culture and establishing a locker room that has that determination to not fail could be one of the hardest things in all of sports to achieve. If our GM went to that podium tomorrow and said I guess rough season but I’m ok with losing, as an owner I would fire him on the spot!! That my friend is ignorance! If the Wild are on the bubble to make the playoffs and our GM says give up don’t try then why the hell would they give the extra effort needed next time? Is this the slippery slope you want your team trying to balance on?? Even last season being in the thick of a race to the division crown BG was able to add players to help along with draft capital to keep adding to the wilds already deep prospect pool. BG didn’t break the bank to acquire a player that set this team back from rebuilding but he did show them I’ll get you what we are missing. Arguably if you don’t lose Ek and Kap(definitely was not healthy) to injury those additions could have pushed us past Dallas and to who knows how far. I mean I could be wrong I haven’t looked it up but I think the Wild have 4 mil cap space due to IR relief, to not utilize that would be ignorance. Whether you add a player, a bad contract for picks, or acquire picks/player to help broker a trade it doesn’t hurt the team to put forth the effort and this team surely doesn’t need to use the future to achieve the result they desire after putting spurg on long term IR.

[FredJohnson]

Right now, it feels like we are just waiting for the shoe to drop and for the Wild to be too far down the standings for general manager Bill Guerin to keep on coming to the podium and saying that he believes in this team, or that he thinks the playoffs are still alive.

Embrace the suck! In other words: never give up. It's a great attitude to embed into a team's culture. Doing so now is important for when times are tough again later but the goal is more achievable. 

[Citizen Strife]

You don't quit playing until the season is out of reach.  If Guerin pulls off a stupid trade for a high pick, ok.  I understand the frustration.  But the Vikings balled out with just as many injury woes as the Wild and had a winning record after starting 1-4.  

The team won't accept losing for the sake of a better pick just because.  A player plays well or not regardless of where they get picked.

If the Wild lose every game until March, sure.  Fold the tent.  But the Wild are proving they can beat teams even when they really shouldn't.

Guerin is at most playing both sides: paying lip service to his boss, while not being stupid enough (yet) to throw away a future for a Moulson, Stewart, Hanzal, etc.

I would hate to walk into my job and say, "Yeah.  I don't wanna work hard until October.  Is that cool with you guys?"  

 

 

 

 

Edited January 25 by Citizen Strife

[MrCheatachu]

Quote

• Five members of the 2018 Canadian World Juniors team have been called to London, Ontario to surrender to police in connection to the sexual assault case. [TSN]

Other outlets have reported that 5 players who were on the WJC have gone on leaves of absence.  Read into it what you will, as Dube's statement seems to be related to mental health.  Formenton's specifically mentions travel back to Canada:

Quote

The latest players to request a leave of absence are forward Michael McLeod and defenseman Cal Foote, who were granted indefinite leaves from the New Jersey Devils, the club announced Wednesday.

The team statement said the Devils would have "no further comment at this time" and did not elaborate on the players' reasons for their requests.

On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Flyers said starting goaltender Carter Hart would be taking a leave of absence for personal reasons and that the team would have no further comment.

Two days earlier, the Calgary Flames issued a statement that said forward Dillon Dube was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team to address mental health issues.

"Dillon is under the care of health professionals, and we request that Dillon's privacy is respected during the period," the team statement read.

In Switzerland, HC Ambri-Piotta said forward Alex Formenton has taken leave and was returning to Canada. He played four seasons for the Ottawa Senators before joining the Swiss club.

Will be interesting to see how this shakes out.  Rumblings suggested that GM's in the league knew about it (Formenton wasn't offered a contract) and this summer when Carter Hart was being shopped, a couple GM's mentioned trades with Hart involved were a 'non-starter'

[B1GKappa97]

Good news is that, with something to play for in this game, we can expect the Preds to kick us back to reality. 

Typical Wild though, man. Everyone gives up on them and they go and claw their way back to potentially only be 1 game back of the WC. UGH. 

make up my mind already, do I want you to suck for a better pick or continue the 1st round exit streak!?

[Will D. Ness]

There is a lot of ignorance going around, but it is a two way street when it comes to the whole "tank or not to tank" polarity.  Some fans hold out hope way too long and others at the drop of a hat.  That is what you call a fanatic. 

I wish that some of the writers around here would put a little time into evaluating the true value of tanking as they do with evaluating a trade or some statistically driven value of a player.

The value of moving up in a draft a few spots can be done for a third?  A second?

[Wild4Ever]

4 hours ago, Eddy said:

So ignorance is putting forth effort or trying to excel at your job???? I’ll say this there is nothing ignorant about trying to succeed and do your best!!! Rebuilding a winning culture and establishing a locker room that has that determination to not fail could be one of the hardest things in all of sports to achieve. If our GM went to that podium tomorrow and said I guess rough season but I’m ok with losing, as an owner I would fire him on the spot!! That my friend is ignorance! If the Wild are on the bubble to make the playoffs and our GM says give up don’t try then why the hell would they give the extra effort needed next time? Is this the slippery slope you want your team trying to balance on?? Even last season being in the thick of a race to the division crown BG was able to add players to help along with draft capital to keep adding to the wilds already deep prospect pool. BG didn’t break the bank to acquire a player that set this team back from rebuilding but he did show them I’ll get you what we are missing. Arguably if you don’t lose Ek and Kap(definitely was not healthy) to injury those additions could have pushed us past Dallas and to who knows how far. I mean I could be wrong I haven’t looked it up but I think the Wild have 4 mil cap space due to IR relief, to not utilize that would be ignorance. Whether you add a player, a bad contract for picks, or acquire picks/player to help broker a trade it doesn’t hurt the team to put forth the effort and this team surely doesn’t need to use the future to achieve the result they desire after putting spurg on long term IR.

Reading your comment was better than reading the article.

[mnfaninnc]

When I looked over the schedule, it looked like March was the month where things would be....easier. February looked like a challenging month. And after Saturday we are on radio silence for 10 days, allowing the other 4 teams to gain points while we are idle. 

This is a tough thing for Guerin to project. He doesn't have that much to offer around March 8th, but, that might not be bad. If this team decides they want to make the playoffs, and Hynes is supposed to coach his butt off to get them there. There is absolutely no value for the players to quit on the season. None. 

GMs put their teams in positions to be competitive or non-competitive. If the roster consists of prospects and AHL depth, you're probably going to lose. But, featuring a roster like that is the GM's decision. The coach's and player's responsibility is to win with what you've got and try your best. Some teams simply can't overcome the roster they have. 

Now, Guerin can easily decline other team's offers, and has plenty of excuse to do it with all the designations. It would be hard to say no to some guys like Dewar and Duhaime, but compensation should match what you're giving up. IMO, he has to listen, but unless it benefits this club, he shouldn't pull the trigger. 

If Dino comes over after his season, a reasonable likelihood, we should give him a spot on the roster. That would be our offensive addition at the deadline. Perhaps there will be room by sending down all the A forwards? 

Now, should we have a tough time in February, maybe going .500, Guerin simply has to make a gut call. One thing is for sure, with Goligoski and Merrill in the lineup, we're going nowhere in round 1. Neither player can keep up with the speed. Hunt and Lambos will need to be ready to go by then. Lambos picked up an apple last night, as did Spacek.

[raithis]

31 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

He doesn't have that much to offer around March 8th, but, that might not be bad.

Very much so.  One thing this team has not had all season is continuity.

Now that we are mostly healthy, at least with the majority of our key players, we keep rolling and tweak slightly at things that aren't working.  I say we do that up to the trade deadline and see where we are.

If we are still rolling and look good, great, tweak as needed, but don't derail the train.  If we are floundering, keep figuring things out and focus more on what are roster might be next year so we can start off on the right foot.  If we can't do that, next year isn't going to be any better, higher draft pick or not.

My main concern right now would be seeing if we can get more out of Boldy.  It seems to me that he gets handcuffed by a lot of passes.  I feel like it has a lot to do with the angle that a lot of the passes are coming from.  Is he more successful with a right-handed stick passing to him?  A lot of the passes seem more in his feet unless they are coming to him from closer to the goal line.  If they are faceoff circle or deeper, it seems like he is less able to shoot quickly.

That, and I wish he'd get to the center of the ice more in the offensive zone.  Ek has been showing off that nice wrist shot lately and Foligno is around to take out a lot of the goalie's view.  Ek could shift over and Boldy could cross more to the middle to the other side of the ice once in a while.  Make the other team respect your shot from everywhere rather than from one area.

 

[MrCheatachu]

Parise to sign with Aves:
https://www.si.com/fannation/bringmethesports/wild/report-zach-parise-expected-to-sign-with-colorado-avalanche

Great...now their fans are going to be even more insufferable.

[Wild4Ever]

3 hours ago, raithis said:

Very much so.  One thing this team has not had all season is continuity.

Now that we are mostly healthy, at least with the majority of our key players, we keep rolling and tweak slightly at things that aren't working.  I say we do that up to the trade deadline and see where we are.

If we are still rolling and look good, great, tweak as needed, but don't derail the train.  If we are floundering, keep figuring things out and focus more on what are roster might be next year so we can start off on the right foot.  If we can't do that, next year isn't going to be any better, higher draft pick or not.

Quote

My main concern right now would be seeing if we can get more out of Boldy.

  It seems to me that he gets handcuffed by a lot of passes.  I feel like it has a lot to do with the angle that a lot of the passes are coming from.  Is he more successful with a right-handed stick passing to him?  A lot of the passes seem more in his feet unless they are coming to him from closer to the goal line.  If they are faceoff circle or deeper, it seems like he is less able to shoot quickly.

That, and I wish he'd get to the center of the ice more in the offensive zone.  Ek has been showing off that nice wrist shot lately and Foligno is around to take out a lot of the goalie's view.  Ek could shift over and Boldy could cross more to the middle to the other side of the ice once in a while.  Make the other team respect your shot from everywhere rather than from one area.

 

I think we're all waiting for Boldy to become that solid, full PPG player. We've seen his capabilities but we're waiting for that commitment.

[Dango]

Looks like the Wild made an AHL trade  for a D-man Will Butcher ,perhaps theyre going to call up one of the prospects full time spot on the roster  to replace age vets .

[mnfaninnc]

15 hours ago, Dango said:

Looks like the Wild made an AHL trade  for a D-man Will Butcher ,perhaps theyre going to call up one of the prospects full time spot on the roster  to replace age vets .

This is interesting. They really didn't give up much, the throw in player in the Maroon trade was compensation. Butcher has 275 NHL games under his belt, but hasn't played in the league since '22. 

I wonder what Guerin has in mind here? Could it be insurance in case of a Merrill trade/waivers? Merrill can't be happy, he hasn't played in awhile and his game has disappeared. One would think he'd be taking this time off by reporting to the skating coaches trying to find some speed, but somehow I'm pessimistic that this is happening.

Butcher is only 29 and is a reclamation project at this point. Buying extremely low on a guy who could make an NHL roster. However, once again, he lacks size.