Article: Wild Place Two Players On Waiver Wire

[Thomas Williams]

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[mnfaninnc]

Quote

Connor Bedard is feeling down in the dumps during this recent Blackhawks slump.

Get used to it, there's a lot more of that to come!

Last night was a horrible night for MN sports as the Vikings got crunched in AZ. Sam Darnold was exposed in week 18 for holding on to the ball too long and was once again exposed last night. Does this bring back any memories of Randall Cunningham? He, too, held on too long and once the league figured it out it was Jeff George time.

While the offensive line didn't play well (but not as bad as 9 sacks), the defense was exposed, the Stafford throw was a horrible call/rule (at the very least this should have been an in the grasp sack) which could have changed the full complexion of the game, the Vikings simply went down.

At the beginning of the season, I believe the best case scenario was 7 wins. I would have taken the under if I were a betting man. But they stacked up 14 wins. Why even mention this on a hockey site?

Because what we saw was a complete overperformance by a team in the regular season. Bells and whistles should now be going off in everyone's head. What are we seeing with the Wild this regular season? Primarily with what they have on paper, we are once again seeing overperformance. But, like the Vikings, when it comes to crunch time, some things we've been able to get away with against poorer competition likely gets exposed again.

I didn't get to watch many Vikings games, settling instead for the highlights on the NFL app, mainly because I am too cheap to buy the YouTubeTV package with Sunday Ticket. But, I still enjoyed watching them compile wins over the course of the season. It was a happy ending to a week (if you count Sunday as day 7). 

I think this is where we're at with the Wild too. Enjoy some overachieving wins in the regular season, but also realize that this team is not that deep and is not really that good. They're good enough to make the playoffs, but they are not yet contenders. Can they be? Yes, with a couple of tweaks, but I'm unwilling to give up a bright future for a year of contending. 

The Vikings seemed to make one more run with some older free agents while surrounding with some younger players for a core. However, I think they are probably doing a modified rebuild the next couple of years. For me, I'd like to experience a contending team for the next decade, so the younger guys need to come in and shine. They've been marinating, but many should be ready next season. 

So, what can we enjoy? An honest effort each game to take up 6 months of our lives, but we get to see some improvement in young guys for our entertainment. Personally, I think this youth invasion is exactly what Kaprizov is looking for and I'm positive he knows this blueprint. It would be nice if we could win a playoff series, and if Goose gets hot, we could, but let's be real: It will take a hot goalie for us to advance, it's as simple as that (assuming current roster). Expectations should match this assessment. The Wild are still building momentum towards contending, but they're just not there yet. 

[raithis]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

Get used to it, there's a lot more of that to come!

Last night was a horrible night for MN sports as the Vikings got crunched in AZ. Sam Darnold was exposed in week 18 for holding on to the ball too long and was once again exposed last night. Does this bring back any memories of Randall Cunningham? He, too, held on too long and once the league figured it out it was Jeff George time.

While the offensive line didn't play well (but not as bad as 9 sacks), the defense was exposed, the Stafford throw was a horrible call/rule (at the very least this should have been an in the grasp sack) which could have changed the full complexion of the game, the Vikings simply went down.

At the beginning of the season, I believe the best case scenario was 7 wins. I would have taken the under if I were a betting man. But they stacked up 14 wins. Why even mention this on a hockey site?

Because what we saw was a complete overperformance by a team in the regular season. Bells and whistles should now be going off in everyone's head. What are we seeing with the Wild this regular season? Primarily with what they have on paper, we are once again seeing overperformance. But, like the Vikings, when it comes to crunch time, some things we've been able to get away with against poorer competition likely gets exposed again.

I didn't get to watch many Vikings games, settling instead for the highlights on the NFL app, mainly because I am too cheap to buy the YouTubeTV package with Sunday Ticket. But, I still enjoyed watching them compile wins over the course of the season. It was a happy ending to a week (if you count Sunday as day 7). 

I think this is where we're at with the Wild too. Enjoy some overachieving wins in the regular season, but also realize that this team is not that deep and is not really that good. They're good enough to make the playoffs, but they are not yet contenders. Can they be? Yes, with a couple of tweaks, but I'm unwilling to give up a bright future for a year of contending. 

The Vikings seemed to make one more run with some older free agents while surrounding with some younger players for a core. However, I think they are probably doing a modified rebuild the next couple of years. For me, I'd like to experience a contending team for the next decade, so the younger guys need to come in and shine. They've been marinating, but many should be ready next season. 

So, what can we enjoy? An honest effort each game to take up 6 months of our lives, but we get to see some improvement in young guys for our entertainment. Personally, I think this youth invasion is exactly what Kaprizov is looking for and I'm positive he knows this blueprint. It would be nice if we could win a playoff series, and if Goose gets hot, we could, but let's be real: It will take a hot goalie for us to advance, it's as simple as that (assuming current roster). Expectations should match this assessment. The Wild are still building momentum towards contending, but they're just not there yet. 

While I really don't think we are a true contender, I do feel fairly strongly that we could win a playoff round and get that monkey off our back. 

Two things need to happen though:  

1.  We need to be relatively healthy going into that round

2.  It depends who we are seeded against.  Winnipeg, LA, and Vegas concern me the most in a series.  Dallas, Edmonton, and Colorado I have a good feeling about, oddly enough - though #1 is imperative (maybe not for the duration, but we have to get the series lead while healthy to be able to seal the deal).

Of course, we always seem to be either down a key player or get matched up against a team we've had horrible history with or both.

[Citizen Strife]

I still have no idea how they are 4th in the league still.

[Up North Guy]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

It will take a hot goalie for us to advance

I think 99% of the teams that advance is due to a hot goalie.

[Sam]

7 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

I think 99% of the teams that advance is due to a hot goalie.