Article: Are the Wild Entering Their Golden Era?

[Chris Schad]

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[Pewterschmidt]

Pewter’s way too early prognostications:  this is the same group that’s one and done’d for 10 years now (with a couple exceptions).  Why be optimistic?

1) First exception is Z Boo. By mid season when he hits his stride comparisons will be made to Hutson and makar.  He will win us some games

2) Boldy looks like he’s ready for another stair step of improvement.  Add’l wins.  
3) what about the other rookies? Jiri, Ogz , yurov and Haight will be in and out of line up all season.  Net zero contribution

4) 47 yr old Vlad will be better than Nyquist, but he needs a PMB/Slap Nutz type to set up his snipes.  Net zero contribution for the near term

 5) NoJo will play more top 6 minutes than any hockey fan wants to watch.  Same with Foligno.  
Conclusion: this season will be another season of sideways development.  

[Citizen Strife]

We'll never know the answer until the team actual makes a second round.  Too early to even guess.  Focus on Game 1 for now.

[0 Stanley Cups]

The Wild have given both Yurov and Ohgren every opportunity to earn the second and third line roles, and neither has risen to the occasion.  Even Ohgren admits he hasn't been good enough in camp, in fact sounds like Haight has outplayed both of them, but the Wild are given both 1st rounders the benefit of the doubt to begin the season.  Good thing the Wild didn't get rid of Rossi.

[PiranhasOnIce]

So does the Roslovic chatter interest you then?   RH Centerman coming off a 22g/17a year.

As an aside- did anyone catch that Brazeau netted 2 last night for Pitt?  Should have resigned him, LOL!  

[Pewterschmidt]

53 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

We'll never know the answer until the team actual makes a second round.  Too early to even guess.  Focus on Game 1 for now.

Ballsy take Strife.  This is the Lapanta "I can't see the future so who knows what will happen.  Let's wait and see".

You're better than that Strife.  

[Citizen Strife]

No I'm not.

If I was, I'd be doing something like "ZEEV TOTAL 4 CALDER, KAP WILL BE A FORCE AND WE'LL GET FIRST IN THE DIVISION LETSFFFFFFGOOOOOO"

Or...I can just see how the team does against St. Louis instead 

 

 

[Pewterschmidt]

10 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

No I'm not.

If I was, I'd be doing something like "ZEEV TOTAL 4 CALDER, KAP WILL BE A FORCE AND WE'LL GET FIRST IN THE DIVISION LETSFFFFFFGOOOOOO"

Or...I can just see how the team does against St. Louis instead 

 

 

Or how about a spicy take like who you think is going to disappoint this year?

[Citizen Strife]

13 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Or how about a spicy take like who you think is going to disappoint this year?

 

Youth wise, Ohgren and Jiricek.  Neither of them look fantastic, and Ohgren is a more worrying case because the forwards aren't as strong.  He should also be further along than "invisible 4th liner"

Vets wise, Tarasenko.  I mean 40 points is the floor (and is doable).  But the team needs way more than 40 pts from 2nd liners.

Edited 3 hours ago by Citizen Strife

[mnfaninnc]

I have to call Chris out on this:

Quote

Think Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in Chicago. Or Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh. Even the Edmonton Oilers have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, while the Florida Panthers have Keith Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov.

Nowhere on the Panthers' squad is there a 60+ year old playing with Barkov.

Chris, change it to Matthew.

[mnfaninnc]

1 hour ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Conclusion: this season will be another season of sideways development.

If Heinzy sticks with giving the kids TOI, I think the development will be advancing, but I sense that what you're trying to say is that the results will be similar to last season.

If that is your interpretation, I agree with you. I think we're fighting for a WC spot with 5 games left. But, the team will have gotten better and the rookies will look like contributors instead of passengers. I believe we will have a tailwind and be sailing into a very attractive situation in '26.

I think we'll claim that spot and will not go into the night quietly when the playoffs start. 

[mnfaninnc]

15 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

Vets wise, Tarasenko.  I mean 40 points is the floor (and is doable).  But the team needs way more than 40 pts from 2nd liners.

What if he has 40 points but is a +10 in net goals?

[mnfaninnc]

I tend to agree with Chris on the article. I think the door is starting to crack open for contending. It may not look like it the 1st half of the season, but this team will learn and get stronger.

One thing we have going for us is that this is the perfect season to insert youth. With a condensed schedule, young legs rebound quickly and can give this team an advantage. 

We've had 2 straight season with well below average player health. We should be swinging the pendulum in the other direction this season. But, both Pewter and I have the Wild trainers in our focus. They need to have a big year, IMO.

[Pewterschmidt]

26 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

Ohgren is a more worrying case because the forwards aren't as strong.  He should also be further along than "invisible 4th liner"

Vets wise, Tarasenko.  I mean 40 points is the floor (and is doable).  But the team needs way more than 40 pts from 2nd liners.

Agree 100% on Ogz.  

I think Vlad will be closer to 30pts (15 G, 15 A), and he'll be slow out of the gate while this group figures out who fits where.  With Ek at center and Foligno/Nojo/Ogz/Yurov on the other wing Vlad is going to go stale.  Those wings are where offense goes to die.

I'd suggest moving Hartman 2C and count the days til Slap Nutz gets back with Vlad.

Then move Ek to 3C with Folingo and (insert hungry physical winger name here) and create Ekingo shut down juggernaut line.  

[Will D. Ness]

I predict growing pains from all the rooks.  Defensively we are going to give up a few goals with Zeev and Jiricek learning where they can open it up on the NHL level, and where they should safely punt.  

Ogrez and Yurov were somewhat milquetoast in preseason.  At least they were defensively responsible with their games.  I'll be surprised if we see a real breakout year from either, but hopefully a little experience and confidence will have them turn the corner and be relatively productive and NHL calibre.

Wally?  No idea.  He looked pretty good in preseason.  I think Gus is going to have a strong workhorse year again and Wally will get the occasional game.

I'm really looking forward to more rooks and less AHL lifers and less Nojo.

(please don't let me down Heinz)

[Scalptrash]

It depends on how you define the Golden Era. If you were to ask Leipold, he would say that they already are in the Golden Era. Home games are at near capacity and that's all he cares about, steady revenue. He treats the team as a business, first and foremost. While I'm sure he wouldn't mind going further in the playoffs and winning a Stanley Cup, he is unwilling to risk the guaranteed profits he's been making for years.

His only requirement of Billy, when hired, was "just make the playoffs", that's it.

The majority of the fans are perfectly content with status quo as well. They keep buying tickets and showing up to watch the same result year after year. And they are ok with that. The same could be said for every (male) pro franchise in MN. Content with mediocrity. Just give us a little hope every once in a while before reality comes crashing down.

It's pretty sad that in 25 years, the Wild's biggest accomplishments were signing Parise and Suter, and re-signing Kaprizov.

Without ever making league shaking moves, nothing will ever change. Expect more of the same. There is a good reason why the rest of the country considers this flyover country...because it is, and nobody else cares. Kaprizov was overpaid to retain any form of relevancy and for ticket sales, not winning a championship. I can guarantee that the NHL, Bettman, and the rest of the country don't want to see the Wild playing for a Stanley Cup.

[Enforceror]

Haight in over Yurov for the Blues game. Based on what I saw in preseason, I think this is the right move. Was really hoping Yurov would have been stronger out of the gate but at least it sounds like he's making strides.