Article: Can the Wild Stay Focused On Winning In A Season Full Of Inevitable Distractions?

[Jonathan Ryan]

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[FredJohnson]

Can a player coughFlowercough retire and move right to coaching?

Asking for a friend.

[Citizen Strife]

Is your friend named Jesper?

[Enforceror]

Fleury can be the emotional support goalie.

[Protec]

Oh wow, gee, who woulda guessed? Vegas getting the special treatment again? Just like when Hossa got sick from his elbow-pads. 😐

https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2024/10/03/vegas-golden-knights-robin-lehner-salary-without-nhl-cap-penalty/

[Enforceror]

50 minutes ago, Protec said:

Oh wow, gee, who woulda guessed? Vegas getting the special treatment again? Just like when Hossa got sick from his elbow-pads. 😐

https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2024/10/03/vegas-golden-knights-robin-lehner-salary-without-nhl-cap-penalty/

Since Fleury shoveled snow, his salary should be changed from player to maintenance. Its only fair.

[Protec]

MN in the hole 14M and Vegas just gets the free pass. Chicago got the last handouts and NY/LA before that, so naturally Vegas gets a little boost. 

[Citizen Strife]

Bettman saying, "We don't always want Vegas to win...but we want Vegas to win."

[raithis]

1 hour ago, Citizen Strife said:

Bettman saying, "We don't always want Vegas to win...but we want Vegas to win."

Maybe not the cup specifically, but it's definitely in the NHL's best interest to have a lot of it's marketable stars in areas they can use them to generate the most revenue.  This includes having teams that generally win in those markets to keep public sentiment high.

I don't think Vegas as a city would tolerate a losing team, at least not for multiple seasons so it's my opinion that Vegas is going to frequently see little breaks like this while teams like the Wild just don't.  Or at least it sure seems like deck is stacked a bit more in those teams' favor.

[Up North Guy]

7 hours ago, raithis said:

Maybe not the cup specifically, but it's definitely in the NHL's best interest to have a lot of it's marketable stars in areas they can use them to generate the most revenue.  This includes having teams that generally win in those markets to keep public sentiment high.

I don't think Vegas as a city would tolerate a losing team, at least not for multiple seasons so it's my opinion that Vegas is going to frequently see little breaks like this while teams like the Wild just don't.  Or at least it sure seems like deck is stacked a bit more in those teams' favor.

I suspect you are correct.

[Sam]

This is Rossi’s year. I can feel it.

[mnfaninnc]

On 10/4/2024 at 1:07 PM, raithis said:

I don't think Vegas as a city would tolerate a losing team, at least not for multiple seasons so it's my opinion that Vegas is going to frequently see little breaks like this while teams like the Wild just don't.  Or at least it sure seems like deck is stacked a bit more in those teams' favor.

Well, the Raiders seem to be surviving, and good luck with the As. 

With all of those national broadcasts, I do not believe that Fleury will be starting all of those games. But, could it be that this year might be magical and referees actually favor the Wild for a change? Could it be that the NHL wants the Wild to win since it's on national tv the 3rd most times? Could this get Kaprizov some well deserved attention?

To paraphrase Herb, what we have this season is a great opportunity. I think this team could skate harder, play harder, and maybe lady luck shines upon her. Fortune favors the bold, so we need to go out from puck drop and go after it. It would be nice to bank points especially on that 7 game road trip!

[Up North Guy]

13 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Well, the Raiders seem to be surviving, and good luck with the As. 

With all of those national broadcasts, I do not believe that Fleury will be starting all of those games. But, could it be that this year might be magical and referees actually favor the Wild for a change? Could it be that the NHL wants the Wild to win since it's on national tv the 3rd most times? Could this get Kaprizov some well deserved attention?

To paraphrase Herb, what we have this season is a great opportunity. I think this team could skate harder, play harder, and maybe lady luck shines upon her. Fortune favors the bold, so we need to go out from puck drop and go after it. It would be nice to bank points especially on that 7 game road trip!

Banking or even hoping for the league and/or refs to favor the Wild may be fool's gold.

[raithis]

15 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Well, the Raiders seem to be surviving, and good luck with the As. 

Football and baseball are different animals.  Hockey doesn't generate anywhere close to what football does in any market that has both.

If a hockey team in Minnesota or Canada does poorly, fans might be frustrated, but there will still be relatively strong support for those teams.  That doesn't happen as much in the south.  It takes longer for the needle to shift up here.

You don't see the Wild show up very much in NHL commercials.  Bedard has more presence in such commercials after playing a few games than I've ever seen Kaprizov get.  You don't see any people wearing Wild gear in the Fanatics apparel commercials.  You don't see the Wild showing up in the Winter Classic as often as other teams that have fared worse than them in that same span.  The Sabres and the Flyers had two appearances long before the Wild had one, and they will probably show up in another one before we do again.  Hell, Vegas will get a second one before that happens and they just had one.  It's all about marketability and who can be marketed to.

[mnfaninnc]

20 hours ago, raithis said:

You don't see the Wild showing up in the Winter Classic as often as other teams that have fared worse than them in that same span.  The Sabres and the Flyers had two appearances long before the Wild had one, and they will probably show up in another one before we do again. 

Another case of East Coast bias. Also within this bias, Chicago gets East Coast treatment. 

But, if we changed our boring jerseys to the '78s or '80s, you'd see us all over the place. You already see those stick out very well with Wild fans on the road. I just watched the preseason game in Chicago last night and they were all over the place.

Perhaps the reason that the Wild don't get promo'd has to do with their boring presentation and boring reputation?

[WheelSnipeCelly]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

boring presentation and boring reputation?

100% this. I think being a defense-first team (aka boring) since inception has made most people overlook the Wild. It'll be a big hurdle to overcome in the upcoming years from a PR standpoint. I think also being nicknamed the Mild doesn't help either! Or being known for consistently being a middling team—not good enough for a playoff run, and not bad enough to be in contention for a high draft pick. Hoping the team is able to change peoples' perceptions in the next few seasons!

[mnfaninnc]

22 hours ago, WheelSnipeCelly said:

100% this. I think being a defense-first team (aka boring) since inception has made most people overlook the Wild. It'll be a big hurdle to overcome in the upcoming years from a PR standpoint. I think also being nicknamed the Mild doesn't help either! Or being known for consistently being a middling team—not good enough for a playoff run, and not bad enough to be in contention for a high draft pick. Hoping the team is able to change peoples' perceptions in the next few seasons!

This is precisely why we need a facelift. We need to change perceptions. The flashy 3rd jerseys are a great way to start this because it is visual. Every store goes through renovations to try and visually present themselves fresh. Why wouldn't an hockey team do the same?

Don't like the retros? Why not change into something else that's flashy? I guess the best way to say it is that the Wild currently play in fall/winter colors, yet we need to be in spring/summer colors. 

We're in green and red right now. If you want the same type of color pattern, brighten up the green and red. I think it will look worse than switching to the kelly and yellow, but we need some flash, some flair. 

If we changed to the '78s or '80s as our primary jerseys, we could redo the green and red for our 3rd, but a complete redesign. Maybe even going with the '80s and instead of the black stripe that was added, make it red?

The problem that we have is that those jersey styles were some of the best looking jerseys ever designed. Many other teams have copied the design. That's our design. The colors are great, but the design is not necessarily dependent on those colors. We can play around with them. 

Since this is what we present when we're on the road, a jersey change is inevitable. Updated logo change is probably due. But visually, this whole franchise needs renovation. 

Also, just in an economical sense, stores that do renovations do them on their own dime, they don't go crying to the legislature for money to renovate their stores. We pay for it in our normal purchases, but they budget for it in their annual budgets. Renovation of the franchise's visual should be done completely by the franchise. 

Renovating the X is a different matter since the city owns the X. That needs to be a private/public partnership. Commercial tenants do renovate there buildings on their dime.