Article: What Hope Is There For the Wild Against the Vegas Golden Knights?

[Tony Abbott]

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[SkolWild73]

I agree with most of what the article states on why this year could be different, except for this is being by and large the same team.

We only have 8 players on the team that played against Vegas in 2021.  Brodin and Spurg are the only returning D.  Foligno, Hartman, Zucc, Nojo (who only played in three games), Ek, and a rookie Kap are are returning forwards.  The rest of the team is new, including a different coach.

Edited Friday at 09:12 PM by SkolWild73

[Citizen Strife]

I wonder if Tony and Tom planned it this way.  Negative view in the morning, slightly less negative view in the afternoon...

[Enforceror]

42 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

I wonder if Tony and Tom planned it this way.  Negative view in the morning, slightly less negative view in the afternoon...

Funny, I wondering the same thing. Yin/Yang??? Tony's alter ego? 

LOL

[SkolWild73]

I always wonder where does everyone gets the list of heaviest teams?  Early in the year I thought I saw the Wild were the lightest team.  Then there is a Reddit post each year that showed the Wild were 30th and Colorado was the lightest (via elite prospects).  I go to elite prospects and it shows the Wild at 28th and Vancouver the lightest.  Left wing lock updates it’s site daily and uses on ice time and has the Wild at 17th.  

[Enforceror]

2 hours ago, SkolWild73 said:

I always wonder where does everyone gets the list of heaviest teams?  Early in the year I thought I saw the Wild were the lightest team.  Then there is a Reddit post each year that showed the Wild were 30th and Colorado was the lightest (via elite prospects).  I go to elite prospects and it shows the Wild at 28th and Vancouver the lightest.  Left wing lock updates it’s site daily and uses on ice time and has the Wild at 17th.  

Constant monitoring of player body conditions. If the team celebrates with steak dinners, we go from 32nd to 15th. 

[1Brotherbill]

The defense is going to decide the series.  If Buium plays will his offensive upside counter the defensive downside.  If he scores at all during the series that will be exponentially more than Merrill will.  And as long as he isn't picking the puck out of the net like Merrill does so often it will be a good thing.  

A healthy team should give Vegas a problem.  

[Burnt Toast]

It sure has been an up and down season for the Wild. It’s fair to ask the question, which Wild team will show up for the playoffs? They are going in with a full roster that includes mostly healthy players. That’s very important,  in addition they seem to have a renewed confidence. They are going to be a handful for Vegas. I think they can win the series. 

[Sam]

4 hours ago, SkolWild73 said:

I always wonder where does everyone gets the list of heaviest teams?  Early in the year I thought I saw the Wild were the lightest team.  Then there is a Reddit post each year that showed the Wild were 30th and Colorado was the lightest (via elite prospects).  I go to elite prospects and it shows the Wild at 28th and Vancouver the lightest.  Left wing lock updates it’s site daily and uses on ice time and has the Wild at 17th.  

I thought that mnfaninnc posted a quarterly about that. The guy seems to really know his stuff..

[Tony Abbott]

4 minutes ago, Sam said:

I thought that mnfaninnc posted a quarterly about that. The guy seems to really know his stuff..

He only does muscle size. You want bicep and hammy measurements, you go to him.

[Patrick]

19 hours ago, SkolWild73 said:

I always wonder where does everyone gets the list of heaviest teams?  Early in the year I thought I saw the Wild were the lightest team.  Then there is a Reddit post each year that showed the Wild were 30th and Colorado was the lightest (via elite prospects).  I go to elite prospects and it shows the Wild at 28th and Vancouver the lightest.  Left wing lock updates it’s site daily and uses on ice time and has the Wild at 17th.  

They go with what suits their narrative the best!

[mnfaninnc]

Quote

For those who feel that size becomes a determining factor in the playoffs, it's worth noting that Minnesota is the lightest team in the NHL.

Thank you, Tony, for this part right here. Why? It's not just because I harp on this all the time, it's because of the style of play that Heinzy/Shooter want to play. They want a heavy style game, and I believe it's the right way to play. However, when your team is built as the lightest team in the league, or, for argument's sake, one of the lightest in the league, it makes it difficult to play this way.

But, what I liked the most about it was acknowledging that it is weight not height that makes the biggest difference. We've got an undersized team trying to play a grit game. This doesn't usually work without a ton of injuries. Light teams, generally do stick checks on offense and have a bunch of skill. This team has that in very few players....but does do a lot of stick checks.

It will be interesting to see if this team can steal a series against another team 10-20 pounds heavier on average than this team. I don't think that will end well. At any rate, official measurements in hockey are similar to those in wrestling: nobody really knows the true height and weight of any player. But you can see it on the ice. When our guys are wearing large jerseys and the other side is in XXLs. We have a few large guys, but not nearly enough, and our large guys are large with nothing, not large with skill.