Article: Special Teams Has To Carry the Wild Through Their Injuries

[Justin Wiggins]

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[Will D. Ness]

I'm not holding my breath on special teams.  We are going to have to grind out games with stout defense like we have been so far.  I hope Heinz can find some offense with the line shuffles. 

I would keep 3rd line intact though.  I wouldn't mind seeing Marat and KK together for some shifts.

[Citizen Strife]

5on5 is where the team lives and dies.  

Also, crazy news out of New York.  Igor gets 8x11.5-12m (jebus; that Gus contract gonna be massive if he keeps this up).  Also traded Trouba to the Ducks with no retention.  Rumor was a B. Tkachuk trade was also explored...but Ottawa called their tabloid bluff and called it 'Total Bullshit."

 

Edited Friday at 11:20 PM by Citizen Strife

[Enforceror]

I'm hoping for the intangibles here. There seems to be a deep "team first" mentality this year. It is coming from the locker room? Hynes? Who knows but it's there. Sustaining our win rate is going to be tough at any rate...even with a full healthy lineup. I'll put my hopes on this teams' ability to pull together as a unit and keep playing hard to play against.

[Patrick]

No way we sustain the pace with all these guys missing. If we can win 50% until they get healthy that should be considered a win. 

[Sam]

1 hour ago, Patrick said:

No way we sustain the pace with all these guys missing. If we can win 50% until they get healthy that should be considered a win. 

There’s a small chance. It probably won’t happen but you can’t be 100% sure. At least the other teams aren’t making it too difficult for us to be towards the top of the division.

[Citizen Strife]

Just have Trenin score empty netters every game, and they got this!

[Pablo]

Tonight against the kings on a back to back is a huge test of the depth and team first mentality. 

[mnfaninnc]

Special teams- I think the injury to Zuccarello has showed how important he is on the PP. At this point, I'd say that's his specialty. That unit is really good when intact. It's not real good when pieces are missing. 

PK is simply going to struggle. Here's my thinking, our PK is going to look horrible against top 10 PPs, it will look slightly below average against 10-20 ranked units, and it will look good against the bottom 3rd PP units. They will catch some breaks with top units not in sync, but other than that, stay out of the box.

Who's going to step up is the key question. Last night, I thought MaRat and Faber both showed up really well. I also thought Johnson out of the callups was a little better than everyone else. MaRat has gotten more physical and Faber really showed off his strength by putting Vattrano to the ground and mauling him while on top. I believe Faber has added quite a bit of upper body strength this offseason.

Banking points is the key thing, now up to 40. It's a long season and I'm sure there will be lulls, especially when the flu hits the team. But, Chisholm is getting some real good experience. I think MaRat is too, as it seems like he is getting a little more ice time. This is positive and will pay dividends later. 

I'm anxious to see how tonight will play out, and then we get a nice little road break. Early game for west coast time, right in our normal timeslot. Let's hope Fleury can hold us in there. 

[Pewterschmidt]

7 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

Just have Trenin score empty netters every game, and they got this!

Just finished watching the ANA game and the verdict is in.  Yack-ov is not an NHL hockey player.  The only potential NHL skill he could bring is physicality and this stiff bumps people apologetically.  At least giant Greenway would win his fights with the puck and make a hockey play from time to time, while bringing zero physicality.  Yack-ov cannot skate or handle the puck like an NHL'r.  And now we know he doesn't hit either.  Yack-ov is the Wild's new cardio king.

[Pewterschmidt]

I like what I see from the latest call-ups.  Letteri and Jake Bikini were NHL tweeners (not quite a top six skill set, not quite a bottom six skill set).

BJ and Shore bring more sandpaper with enough hockey sense to create an opportunity from time to time.  

[Pewterschmidt]

5 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Just finished watching the ANA game and the verdict is in.  Yack-ov is not an NHL hockey player.  The only potential NHL skill he could bring is physicality and this stiff bumps people apologetically.  At least giant Greenway would win his fights with the puck and make a hockey play from time to time, while bringing zero physicality.  Yack-ov cannot skate or handle the puck like an NHL'r.  And now we know he doesn't hit either.  Yack-ov is the Wild's new cardio king.

Yack-ov's main contribution is taking TOI during garbage time so the hockey players on the team don't get hurt

[Enforceror]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

Faber really showed off his strength by putting Vattrano to the ground and mauling him while on top. I believe Faber has added quite a bit of upper body strength this offseason.

 

Faber rag-dolled Vattrano. Definitely a strong kid, glad we got him long term.

[mnfaninnc]

23 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Yack-ov's main contribution is taking TOI during garbage time so the hockey players on the team don't get hurt

I'm guessing you don't appreciate the defensive side of the game? Also, Trenin had a pretty nice snipe in the final minute last night. 

Kings were without Doughty. They have also been playing structured defense, much like I saw in the St. Paul game. They're in 2nd in the Pacific. Are they better than us at full strength? I saw the Wild outplayed both games. I don't believe this would be a good team to draw.

[Enforceror]

25 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I'm guessing you don't appreciate the defensive side of the game? Also, Trenin had a pretty nice snipe in the final minute last night. 

Kings were without Doughty. They have also been playing structured defense, much like I saw in the St. Paul game. They're in 2nd in the Pacific. Are they better than us at full strength? I saw the Wild outplayed both games. I don't believe this would be a good team to draw.

Agreed. We couldn't do anything against them. I think we can beat the Jets, not sure about Dallas yet. Kings for sure have our number.

[Pewterschmidt]

32 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I'm guessing you don't appreciate the defensive side of the game? Also, Trenin had a pretty nice snipe in the final minute last night. 

I’ve only recently gained an appreciation for Foligno’s defensive game doing the little things that don’t make highlight reels, but affect the outcome of games positively for the wild.   This season I have no complaints about Foligno’s game or his contract.   I cannot say the same for Trenon.  And if every fifth game, he gets a shot on goal I won’t point to that and say see he’s making a contribution.  My Trenon hate started out as a fun game for me because I assumed his game would eventually reveal itself after playing enough games with the team but what we’re seeing is who he is and it ain’t much. I rarely see him create loose pucks through four check. I rarely see him deliver a punishing body check and no one debates the fact that he’s got zero hockey skills.