Give'n up goals!

[NoJoSux]

Last place in the Central Division, Minnesota Wild have given up less goals than only the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks. 

Are we starting to see the consequences of the off-season's singular focus which was getting Kaprizov extended?

Has the timing of the Wild's non-rebuild caught up to them?

Has their darft guru's inability to bolster the youth movement with tangible qualities, lack of chemistry, deletion of defensive dominance, and adherence to an unproven coach/roster done them in? 

 I'm not saying there's no bright spots, but the PP success hasn't allowed the Wild to win more than one game at a time. LA almost came back to beat MN after a 0-3 deficit so the Wild are much closer to the bottom of the Central than the middle. Looks like Warroad Nelson and Burnsville Boeser had some inside info that us hockey fans don't truly comprehend. 

Is it gonna be a long season in a bad way? The first 1/16th of the season says yes it is. At least the Rossi trade conversation simmered-down.  

[NoJoSux]

Hard sell at the deadline for as many picks as possible and suck the most all season to get a crack at McKenna in the draft. 

If things don't shape up quickly, the metaphorical fork in the road will have arrived.

The soft-rebuild, running-reset, or whatever you wanna call it with hair-free coach number three since 2016, cagey old vets, and draft guruisms might not be working.

Is there a high likelihood the Wild would *NOT get the #1 overall pick??? Yes, because instead of OCL using his own money to do bribes to the NHL like I've been saying for decades, he's giving organizational moolah to Kirillionaire through the appropriate channels to probably get a tax break, not a Stanley Cup.

[Oliver It]

Unwatchable again last night. “Lost on Ice.”

[Willy the poor boy]

Last night looked like a 1st preseason game. Other than Gus they packed it in early.

[Sam]

Last nights game was terrible, the only semi-impressive thing was Ovi’s goal off the face-off win. Usually it’s easy to blame the defense, but we had no offense either. Well other than NoJo’s timely “throw at the net and get lucky”.

[MNCountryLife]

The lack of a viable 2nd line is rearing its ugly head.   Tarasenko is unnoticeable.  Ek is in damage control.  Marcus ... well.... we all get it. When the opposing team can focus on one line..we are in trouble.   Last night the caps kept their 2nd line locked up with our 1st..  

That was a horrible game.  Hard to watch 

[MNCountryLife]

With Hynes intent on playing vets over rookies I have little hope for tonight.  

Foligno has always played well with Ek..   He did well the 1st game.  Give him another try on the 2nd

[Willy the poor boy]

2 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

With Hynes intent on playing vets over rookies I have little hope for tonight.  

Foligno has always played well with Ek..   He did well the 1st game.  Give him another try on the 2nd

Maybe we leave Philly tonight minus Ogre and Yurov and Michkov hops on the plane with us...

[Enforceror]

Just to add a little context, Sabres shut out the Panthers 3-0 today. Hockey gonna be hockey.

[Dango]

Sanko with the goal  "challenge " 

[Willy the poor boy]

The longest first 2 minutes in hockey history...

[Sam]

We shouldn’t have given up Brazeau. He’s an offensive powerhouse.

[Sam]

He’s third on his team in points behind Malkin and Crosby.

[NoJoSux]

9 hours ago, Sam said:

We shouldn’t have given up Brazeau. He’s an offensive powerhouse.

Hynes put him in a role that was setup for success, I'm sure. 

Plus, we want smooth skating, elite Swede, puck distributors.

Nice to see a solid game from Wally, and the Wild only gave up one in the first 60 mins. 

Only scored twice in the last two games. Giving up 5 or scoring 1 is the perfect formula for being last in the Central. The genius of Hynes, and Guerin is on full display with another disjointed and ineffective game resulting in a loss to a non-powerhouse team. Love to see NoJo out there in OT playing defense and he smoothly backed in and allowed Cates a perfect uncontested shot from the slot. Now he's even for his nothingburger goal against Washington.

Should be fun when the Wild get games against Colorado, Dallas again, and Winnipeg. 

[Will D. Ness]

Is Heinz the scapegoat so far?  I used to think he was an upgrade over Dean if not solely for the fact that he showed a more flexible approach instead of the old school stoicism that plagued Evason.  As it turns out... Heinz is looking like a statue out there as well.  

What the hell?  I understand there is a trial period for Tarasenko, so I give him a pass on that one.  I also understand we are missing Zucc and Sturm which forces lineups that aren't optimal... but the one thing I can't forgive is Nojo on the 2nd line.

Definition of insanity.

[NoJoSux]

5 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

Is Heinz the scapegoat so far?  I used to think he was an upgrade over Dean if not solely for the fact that he showed a more flexible approach instead of the old school stoicism that plagued Evason.  As it turns out... Heinz is looking like a statue out there as well.  

What the hell?  I understand there is a trial period for Tarasenko, so I give him a pass on that one.  I also understand we are missing Zucc and Sturm which forces lineups that aren't optimal... but the one thing I can't forgive is Nojo on the 2nd line.

Definition of insanity.

Creativity lacking, risk aversion strong with Hynes. To the detriment of everything. 

Now I'm not sure you wanna go full-Boudreau and shuffle the lines between every shift, but the overall strategy is quite predictable just like Dean-O.

The Wild have talent. They have some toughness. They have some youth. They also have some pretty good goaltenders. I've thought Wallstedt has been very good and capable of winning NHL games. 

To me, the coach is the guy who puts it all together to make the most of the group. NYR has been brutal at home which is something the Wild need to be very concerned with because they'll be desperate tomorrow night. Minnesota will need to bring the scoring punch they had against STL with the defensive effort from last night. Right now some positive momentum is important.