Article: Bill Guerin Is the Right Person To Get the Wild Over the Hump

[WIWild]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

If the argument is that you're unhappy with the way details were kept inside the organization and not made public, that's a fair yet delusional argument.

Sounds like we have different information and expectations, not sure which is right - his behavior makes my spidey senses tingle, maybe I'm wrong. I expect players to behave differently than coaches, and upper management to behave differently than coaches. And no, I don't think I'm entitled to anything, but it seems I've drawn a different conclusion, based on that information. I'm fairly regular here, listen to a few Wild podcasts, and couple other hockey sites. Right or wrong, this article (wish it was from another source, but is the first article I thought of off the top of my head) has the slant that I've seen or heard most often: USA Hockey hiring Bill Guerin is a bad move on many levels (deadspin.com). One thing that jumps out at me - you say "exonerated" and the article says "Guerin had not committed a fireable offense" - to me exonerated reads as 'he did nothing wrong'.

I'm not trying to convince you, just offering another perspective.

[mnfaninnc]

22 hours ago, WIWild said:

One thing that jumps out at me - you say "exonerated"

Exonerated was when he was with the Pens. I believe it was said he did everything right there, and dealt with things privately instead of publicly on the draft floor. 

He was not exonerated with the Wild. In that instance, the conclusion was "it was not a firable offense." I believe the 3rd investigation did not really concern Guerin, but was centered more on O'Hearn. It sounds like a failed crossed t or dotted i, but we really don't know. 

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

On 4/9/2024 at 10:27 AM, mnfaninnc said:

I think we should start that conversation.

1. McLean was given the keys to what looked to be an exciting Baby Wild team. His best players were gutted by the Big Wild due to injuries.
2. While this has been a transition year for the D, having so many new faces hasn't gone so well. What is the problem there? One thing I see is no respected defensive coach on the team.
3. My biggest problem: The players are not bulking up to be competitive in the NHL. How is this not being stressed?
4. Has there been improvement in the 2nd half? I say no!
5. When hired, was it too late to get good assistants? Maybe.
6. One must wonder, are McLean's messages getting through to the players? At this level, a great amount of teaching needs to be done. Is this happening?

That should get the conversation going. For the most part, the commenters have not watched Iowa Wild hockey. We look at stats and results. Unless we live there to watch it live, the camera work is not good enough to give us a true picture of the team. Maybe one of the writers here has had eyes on the team?

I am not opposed to moving on from McLean, but, I doubt we'll want to swallow a coaching contract at that level.

I heavily questioned the decision to get rid of Army at the time and it looks even worse now. Guerin's comments on it were to the tune of the prospects were not developing under Army yet we now see existing prospects in the system backslide under McLean even after we beefed up the squad with a trio of deals before the season. 

To me, this was another of Billy's "I want my guy in there" moments and it has blown up horrifically. While it is true that McLean has been dealing with a pared down roster due to injuries in the club, Army dealt with the same things year in and year out. We could see prospects improving under Army steadily, under McLean, you start to question if some of these prospects should be in the A. Simon Johansson is a good example; He has 3 more games played this year, five more points but is a terrible -17 on the year. Sammy Walker has almost 6 less points in ten more games and an eye watering -7 vs +19 last year. O'Rourke(3 more points but went form +10 to -33).

[mnfaninnc]

22 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

Simon Johansson is a good example; He has 3 more games played this year, five more points but is a terrible -17 on the year. Sammy Walker has almost 6 less points in ten more games and an eye watering -7 vs +19 last year. O'Rourke(3 more points but went form +10 to -33).

Simply put, I think this is due to a very leaky defense + a #1 line that moved north to St. Paul. The -s are pretty much across the board for the team, and just looking at McIntyre's stat line, you can see that something is very wrong.

Is that all McLean? I don't know, but I think that is where you start to look! Was Army the answer? I don't think he was. I think we needed a better option here. I'm not real happy with McLean's assistants either. 

I guess the main thing I look at is: Did the team improve the 2nd half of the season? I'd say this is a resounding no, and because of that answer, the coaching staff gets the hardest look.

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

Simply put, I think this is due to a very leaky defense + a #1 line that moved north to St. Paul. The -s are pretty much across the board for the team, and just looking at McIntyre's stat line, you can see that something is very wrong.

Is that all McLean? I don't know, but I think that is where you start to look! Was Army the answer? I don't think he was. I think we needed a better option here. I'm not real happy with McLean's assistants either. 

I guess the main thing I look at is: Did the team improve the 2nd half of the season? I'd say this is a resounding no, and because of that answer, the coaching staff gets the hardest look.

How can you blame it on leaking goaltenders when Wallstedt plays 43 games vs 23 for Zane and the wall puts up a +.900 save percentage? 

What happened to the defense is the bigger question. Johansson, O'Rourke and Hunt all came back this year. Ottenbreit and Hicketts left. Mermis spent most the year with the N but you still have half your core that came back. I personally thought Ottenbreit needed a shot in the N as he was a solid shut down guy. Hicketts was an offensive defensemen and was -2 despite putting up 48 points, so I don't see losing him as a defensive loss, more of a wash.

When a team falls that hard with that many returning players, a person has to ask some questions. We have the same goalies as last year. If you don't think Army was good enough, I would say we found our rock bottom. There was only 2 exceptions to being in the minus(over 20 games) and it was Hunt and Butcher. The 4 who played the most were -16,-33,-17 and 16.  Defensively we were absolutely horrendous. 

We had 15 returning guys on the team in various roles playing for various time spans and ended dead last from being in playoffs last year. I would say that in itself is a large indictment on Billy's decision. 

[mnfaninnc]

59 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

How can you blame it on leaking goaltenders when Wallstedt plays 43 games vs 23 for Zane and the wall puts up a +.900 save percentage? 

We have a misunderstanding. My point was looking at McIntyre's sv% this year vs. last year. The Wall ticked up slightly, but that slight uptick likely shows just how good he was.

You're right, something is wrong with the defense, and that bears out in the different sv%s of McIntyre who is not improving. IIRC, last year, Hicketts and Mermis were the PP points. Losing both of them probably affected the team, so getting Butcher likely really helped. 

So, why was the defense sooooooo bad? 

1. new guys did not spend the summer filling out. I believe they underestimated the change in leagues and how strength translates.
2. There is no respected defense coach on this team. That makes a huge difference. 
3. Inexperience does matter. Hopefully they are not making the same mistakes still, but, looking at the results it would suggest that they have not corrected them.

Sorry about not explaining the goaltending point earlier, I probably got distracted by something.

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

41 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

We have a misunderstanding. My point was looking at McIntyre's sv% this year vs. last year. The Wall ticked up slightly, but that slight uptick likely shows just how good he was.

You're right, something is wrong with the defense, and that bears out in the different sv%s of McIntyre who is not improving. IIRC, last year, Hicketts and Mermis were the PP points. Losing both of them probably affected the team, so getting Butcher likely really helped. 

So, why was the defense sooooooo bad? 

1. new guys did not spend the summer filling out. I believe they underestimated the change in leagues and how strength translates.
2. There is no respected defense coach on this team. That makes a huge difference. 
3. Inexperience does matter. Hopefully they are not making the same mistakes still, but, looking at the results it would suggest that they have not corrected them.

Sorry about not explaining the goaltending point earlier, I probably got distracted by something.

I agree, McIntyre did fall off. One of those chicken or the egg things with the defense.

My point was after sewering Army because of the lack of progression, how does Guerin look giving McLean a pass? Iowa regressed in almost every sense outside Wallstedt including second and third year guys. McLean was weak sauce to begin with (see our special teams in the big club), why promote him against a guy like Army?

I hope you are right that inexperience played a big part and they improve drastically next year. I also think that i saw a glaring lack of progression through the year by the team as a whole as you pointed out above. This has to be on the coach whether it is truly his fault or not. A defense coach could go a long way to making this a better team for next year, fingers crossed.

No worries, thank you for clarifying and I agree with you.

[FredJohnson]

On 4/9/2024 at 2:12 PM, Lovehockey said:

Here is what BG inherited when he started as a GM. Plus Kaprisov and Boldy were coming. And exactly the current team any better? Goalie maybe? 

MUCH better! GM Suter is gone.

[Lovehockey]

On 4/11/2024 at 9:21 PM, FredJohnson said:

MUCH better! GM Suter is gone.

Well does not translate to any success in playoffs and we not even there this year. By all indications next year will not be better. So disagree with u. But this is just my opinion 

[Protec]

Goligoski and Johansson slots need to be upgraded. 

That should be the priority. Then find the money to trade for or sign a <4Mish contributer.

[FredJohnson]

On 4/18/2024 at 2:49 PM, Lovehockey said:

Well does not translate to any success in playoffs and we not even there this year. By all indications next year will not be better. So disagree with u. But this is just my opinion 

No hablo español

[Lovehockey]

5 hours ago, FredJohnson said:

No hablo español

Hmm… I can use google translate so I suggest u to respect the other members