Article: Is This the Year the Wild's Power Play Has A Second Punch?

[Tony Abbott]

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[MNCountryLife]

I think it goes beyond the power play as well.  Our 2nd line last year was not a legitimate 2nd line.  (Rossi, Zuc, and Nojo) ... That is not a dependable goal scoring 2nd line.  Who is it now?  My best guess: (Rossi, Ohgren, Tarasenko).

There will be some hope there.  I have no idea if Tarasenko can reinvent himself at his age or if Ohgren or Yurov can step in and take over 2nd line minutes in an abbreviated learning curve.  Whoever it is needs to put up 2nd line quality contributing minutes.  

I do like our D-core.  Spurgeon, Brodin, Faber, Mids, Buium and Jiricek ... with Bogo as the 7th man has the possibility of a very dynamic defensive core that can contribute at both ends of the ice.  The back end of our PP should be a bit more involved this year.   While I expect a learning curve for Buium and Jiricek ... the results should be a nice upgrade over Bogo and Merrill.  

[Will D. Ness]

Zeev will no doubt have rookie moments but I'm feeling good about his dynamics with the puck and hopefully he has the vision on the PP.  

Defensively I don't want him hanging too loose, just picking his spots wisely.

[Sam]

Why is the display picture, or whatever it’s called, a pic that includes two guys who don’t play here anymore and one guy (NoJo) who wishes he could play on the pp but is too busy combing his neck-beard?

[WildNotMild]

Based on the last year’s power play ranking and not being able to score clutch power play goals consistently for years, maybe a better title would be “option” instead of “punch”.  I don’t know if anyone would characterize the Wild’s power play as having a punch.  Maybe a casual wave, a mild swat, etc.

I am hopeful that with an influx of hopefully better talent, I won’t find myself thinking that the Wild would have better scoring chances if they declined the man advantage like I have thought many times in the last few years, especially when they really needs a decisive goal.

[Citizen Strife]

Depth scoring is the Wild's main issue going back half a decade.  If you take out a couple outlier seasons (Kap and Fiala's crazy season a few years back comes to mind), offensive production has just not been the Wild's M.O.  That is squarely a talent and depth issue, which I hope is what gets resolved.

Provided they get the offense they need without making games a track meet.