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.

 

[MNCountryLife]

3 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

(Kap and Fiala's crazy season a few years back comes to mind),

It was hard to watch Fiala leave.  The guy is a sniper and controls offensive zone time.  Those guys can be rare and we watched him walk out the door.  That was an Ouch.

[mnhockeyfan03]

1 hour ago, MNCountryLife said:

It was hard to watch Fiala leave.  The guy is a sniper and controls offensive zone time.  Those guys can be rare and we watched him walk out the door.  That was an Ouch.

This team is still missing the secondary scoring ability of Fiala.  Sorry but that team was way more dangerous than what we have now so I consider Fiala a much more impactful player than Faber.  The league is now won with offense.  Need 2-3 more Fiala danger type players in our top 6 to be contenders.  It’s not Rossi, Zucc, or Terasenko. 

[1Brotherbill]

Good article but I have some questions about the percentages.  

So, a two minute power play is usually broken up into two shifts.  Some players play more and if there are whistles and such that first shift runs longer.  So, it isn't uncommon for a first shift power play run for about a minute and a half, which would be about 75% of that power play.  Figure that to be top half of the league 22 percent of the time that power play result in a score on the first shift, that would leave zero time for the second unit.  So, 70 to 75 percent should be what your first power play should be getting.  

Don't get me wrong the second power play unit is hot garbage and has been for a few years (like 25).  You should expect and demand that your first power play unit gets 70 to 75% of the power play across an entire season.  If they don't they aren't scoring enough.  

[WildRam]

Imagine if Guerin had the foresight to move Dumba for picks and use that salary cap to keep Fiala. Love Faber and at this stage happier to have him and Ohgren than Fiala but you never could have known Faber would be so effective right off the bat. 

[FredJohnson]

22 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

Our 2nd line last year was not a legitimate 2nd line.  (Rossi, Zuc, and Nojo)

How dare you? (Sarcasm)

[FredJohnson]

16 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

It was hard to watch Fiala leave.  The guy is a sniper and controls offensive zone time.  Those guys can be rare and we watched him walk out the door.  That was an Ouch.

How is FiFi doing? I know the LaKings had some drama a season back.

[MNCountryLife]

10 minutes ago, FredJohnson said:

How is FiFi doing? I know the LaKings had some drama a season back.

He stats were better in MN.  I think he misses Boldy.

Edited Friday at 02:42 PM by MNCountryLife

[Scalptrash]

Billy couldn't resist, another big guy inbound, Brett Leason. Does he not trust Ohgren, or is he too small? We'll see if this guy makes the team, but he probably will just for his size. You know, just 'cause.

[mnfaninnc]

I like the idea of having 2 competent PP units. We should have enough incoming talent for this to happen. I could see Faber QBing PP2 with Jiricek playing in Ovechkin's office. As they get used to each other, I could see Heinzy tinkering with both units.