Article: Wild Humbled Further With 4-3 Loss to Hurricanes

[Thomas Williams]

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[MNCountryLife]

I missed the game last night.  Going to have to catch the re-air on Saturday.

Comments in the game thread seem to indicate a pretty sloppy game.  Anyone have thoughts on it?  

[Enforceror]

4 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

I missed the game last night.  Going to have to catch the re-air on Saturday.

Comments in the game thread seem to indicate a pretty sloppy game.  Anyone have thoughts on it?  

To be fair, I thought they played a lot more connected then they have been. For whatever reason our defense (or maybe Gus) is really struggling. There were several "answer back" goals from the Canes that we should have stopped. It's almost like the blueprint to beat Gus is to catch him before he can get settled. They pressured hard but I thought we didn't panic like in the Nucks game. 

I didn't really notice Hunt but that might be a good thing (no glaring mistakes).

Just my humble observations.

[Pewterschmidt]

3 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

I missed the game last night.  Going to have to catch the re-air on Saturday.

Comments in the game thread seem to indicate a pretty sloppy game.  Anyone have thoughts on it?  

Highlight was Pitlick going full-Scott Stevens on Chatfield, if you’re into that.  97 did lots of 97 things (he’s trying to put the bottom nine on his back) and Z boo flashed what he’s going to be in couple years (FREAK).  Hunt looked like he belonged (bright spot)  Rossi, Ek, Ben Jones, Trenin and Foligno were 0-0-0

[Enforceror]

17 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Z boo flashed what he’s going to be in couple years (FREAK)

What was crazy to me was watching him thread through defenders MULTIPLE times like they were just standing still. It was like they didn't know what to do with him.

Exciting indeed.

[OldDutchChip]

Game reaction:

Gus and Faber need to be better

Zeev looked great (he was a bit too unselfish at times) best game for him 

hunt was much better than barker 2.0

johy again played like a 5-7 mm player - great play by him

[Aimlessone]

Maybe I am the odd man out in the comments here, but I feel like our defense is getting worse. This is the second game in a row where our defenders got out muscled on the puck in our own zone multiple times a game. These led to grade A chances for the Canes and puts Gus in a bad spot.

And this isn't just forecheck, I'm referring to when we clearly have possession, should clear the zone but a single forward comes in on an attack and wins the puck with authority. What gives with that?
 

Edited 7 hours ago by Aimlessone

[mnfaninnc]

Who did Hunt go in for? I assume Jiricek?

I also didn't see the game, was blocked since it's my local market.

What I did notice was giving up goals quickly after scoring them, and only putting 3 shots on goal in the 1st period. 

This team starts slow offensively almost every game. However, Carolina only had 7 and they are a shot volume team. Perhaps the strategy was to start out playing very structured? It didn't work as we converted on 2/3 shots, and the Canes converted on 3/7. 

It looked like we had a decent 3rd period in shots, but at this point we are chasing the game. 

So, I'm looking at the lineup and I see no Yurov....again. Yet I do see Trenin and Foligno playing, and I believe Foligno is banged up. The Canes are a very structured team but small. They have skill. It would seem to me that this would have been a perfect time to rest Moose. 

I'm starting to think heavily that the lineup is being mismanaged by the coaching staff and there needs to be change. Hunt is also a young player who needs TOI so I would put him in the mix too. Did he play left or right side?

This may be the time to relieve Hynes of his duties as coach and kick him up into the FO. He can be useful there, as it seems we have one of the leanest FOs in the league. I know Moose will need rest as he ages. This is the type of game you don't need his attributes for. Rest him! 

[Pewterschmidt]

1 minute ago, mnfaninnc said:

Who did Hunt go in for? I assume Jiricek?

I also didn't see the game, was blocked since it's my local market.

What I did notice was giving up goals quickly after scoring them, and only putting 3 shots on goal in the 1st period. 

This team starts slow offensively almost every game. However, Carolina only had 7 and they are a shot volume team. Perhaps the strategy was to start out playing very structured? It didn't work as we converted on 2/3 shots, and the Canes converted on 3/7. 

It looked like we had a decent 3rd period in shots, but at this point we are chasing the game. 

So, I'm looking at the lineup and I see no Yurov....again. Yet I do see Trenin and Foligno playing, and I believe Foligno is banged up. The Canes are a very structured team but small. They have skill. It would seem to me that this would have been a perfect time to rest Moose. 

I'm starting to think heavily that the lineup is being mismanaged by the coaching staff and there needs to be change. Hunt is also a young player who needs TOI so I would put him in the mix too. Did he play left or right side?

This may be the time to relieve Hynes of his duties as coach and kick him up into the FO. He can be useful there, as it seems we have one of the leanest FOs in the league. I know Moose will need rest as he ages. This is the type of game you don't need his attributes for. Rest him! 

Gotta believe Hynze stay's in place at least thru Olympics

[mnfaninnc]

7 minutes ago, Aimlessone said:

And this isn't just forecheck, I'm referring to when we clearly have possession, should clear the zone but a single forward comes in on an attack and wins the puck with authority. What gives with that?

Canes aren't even a big team and they are doing this? Could be concerning. Our D needs to be way more assertive. This was also, probably, a good game to give Jiricek a break. His skating wasn't going to keep up.

[mnfaninnc]

1 minute ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Gotta believe Hynze stay's in place at least thru Olympics

If he's in the front office, he can still coach in the Olympics. I don't see a problem with that. 

[Scalptrash]

Quote

I'm starting to think heavily that the lineup is being mismanaged by the coaching staff and there needs to be change.

Starting???

[Enforceror]

7 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Hunt is also a young player who needs TOI so I would put him in the mix too. Did he play left or right side?

Both I believe. Hynes started him with Buium, don't recall who he was with after that.

[mnfaninnc]

6 minutes ago, Scalptrash said:

Starting???

Yes, starting. I'm fairly patient when it comes to this, but my patience has about run its course. I would generally give a coach until the 20 game mark before passing judgment. We're at 15. 

One of the benefits of having vets is that their positioning is typically pretty solid. It seems that much of Hynes' system is based upon positioning. This is probably where the kids are having the most trouble, being at the wrong place at the wrong time. When he's been given 5 kids to train, he's got to move out of that comfort zone and account for those mistakes, yet he just can't do it. 

Some coaches will coach to the talent on the team. Others expect the players to fall in line with his system. Hynes seems to be from the ladder. He's fine winning games 3-2, 2-1. He doesn't seem like a coach who will realize his skill is good and let them run with the skill while somehow maintaining a defensive friendly system. 

Evason started out that way, but then fell back to concentrating on the vets. I will give Hynes a little credit, Boldy has played far better under him. You could also say so has Rossi, but I think that was more Rossi than Hynes. Hynes does not have an answer for what Buium can do. I thought his whole point of spending time with John Cooper before he got here was all about this sort of thing? He may have learned it then, but he never really implemented it into his instincts.

[Scalptrash]

10 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Yes, starting. I'm fairly patient when it comes to this, but my patience has about run its course. I would generally give a coach until the 20 game mark before passing judgment. We're at 15. 

Hynes was hired as a favor to a friend in need. He never should've been hired after the interim stint. The results of his previous stops, plus his tenure here, are evidence of that. Both Billy and John have this team stuck in perpetual mediocrity. Neither one has moved the needle, or if they have, it has moved down. Remember, we were promised that THIS was the year. All I've heard are excuses. "No big names available, players resigned with their own teams", etc. What year are we in of the five year plan?! The elite teams still find a way to make big moves (Dallas, Colorado, Vegas). Even the Ducks and the Mammoth managed to improve their teams this past offseason.

It is what it is, and has always been, with this team. It will probably never change under Leipold. He is only interested in consistent ticket sales, not building a contender. However, there is finally a crack starting to form there. Seeing empty seats now.

I personally hope they miss the playoffs so Billy and staff are out. Better yet, do it now and maybe save the season. Either way, expect massive turnover for the franchise after this season. Anyone who can be moved, or will agree to be moved, will probably be gone. Then again, Leipold doesn't get it, so nothing will surprise me. He'll blow the next hire too.

[mnfaninnc]

14 minutes ago, Scalptrash said:

I personally hope they miss the playoffs so Billy and staff are out. Better yet, do it now and maybe save the season. Either way, expect massive turnover for the franchise after this season. Anyone who can be moved, or will agree to be moved, will probably be gone. Then again, Leipold doesn't get it, so nothing will surprise me. He'll blow the next hire too.

I just can't agree with you here. If OCL gives Guerin new marching orders, he'll do it, but according to the goals OCL has put in front of Guerin, Guerin has met them in spades. We might not like it, but OCL does and he's the only opinion that matters on this issue.

One thing I haven't particularly liked is the lack of FO people. We have a very lean staff. Is it because they don't want to work for Guerin? Maybe, but we don't know that. Is it because Guerin hasn't found the right people for that spot? I think this is a higher probability. 

I have not been enamored with Judd's picks either. He's not picking players for the style of play the GM wants here. Clearly, Judd needs to revamp his priorities in this. I am specifically talking about size, and handedness here. We are out of balance with both of these. Judd will say that we don't draft high enough to get these guys with speed/size/skill. But Judd's history says he passed on Matthew Tkachuk and wasted a high single digit pick on a guy who never made it. We don't have many 6'4" 220 lb. guys in our system. These are the bottom 6 guys you hope develop. But they don't skate as pretty as he likes. They look clumsy because everything just grew on them. He needs to overlook this stuff, and get what they can be.

But this is not a cleaning house type of thing here. It can be salvaged. And, I think OCL will do just that. If anyone leaves, I think it's Judd, but there's 2 parts to that. Judd has to be replaced and currently we don't have anyone else who can run a draft table. 

[Kevin]

Disappointing to me to watch Boldy, Gus and Faber in post game interviews all talk about how well they played and that just hanging in the game against Carolina was such a positive.  When losing becomes expected and winning becomes moral victories you need to re-evaluate your roster.  Where is the grit?  

[MrCheatachu]

30 minutes ago, Kevin said:

Disappointing to me to watch Boldy, Gus and Faber in post game interviews all talk about how well they played and that just hanging in the game against Carolina was such a positive.  When losing becomes expected and winning becomes moral victories you need to re-evaluate your roster.  Where is the grit?  

Honestly, this was the first game they've lost all season that didnt feel like they never had a shot to win.

The third period they were right there, and had some great scoring opportunities, along with the extended time at the end with the extra attacker where they had a few legit scoring opportunities and also retrieved the pucks after shots so they didn't immediately give up the ENG.

Would have been nice to get some points out of this one, and I know there's no such thing as a 'good loss' but this one at least was worth watching until the final buzzer.

[Dean]

I agree with scalptrash. I want this badly run , coached and constructed team to keep losing. This is perpetual mediocrity. It needs to get blown up in some way. I’m all for Billy Jonny and Judd to go .Preferably to a central team so they can f that team up . 
   Let’s be honest there is no 5 year plan. Unless it’s to age out mediocre vets while waiting for Judds picks to not develop. Like ogie . Yurov and Zeev just need a few more years then away we go. B.s. it doesn’t solve all the other problems or is it likely they’ll be good enough to move the needle. Where is the clown at the athletics explanation as to why our highly  rated prospect pool can’t make nhl . Maybe it’s just click bait hype from a no nothing.  What do the wild have in the cupboards? Nothing . We just wasted an entire draft on a bust d man . So how do you fill in roster while paying kk his extortion money when you have a big gap in drafting while your vets are washing away. . You don’t. You just keep kicking the can down the road with moral victories and b.s 5 year plans that start 6 years into a gm . Ridiculous pr b.s

   The wilds glaring problem Is they get dominated down the middle of ice. They can’t get to the net or defend the net with there weak centers and soft small d core. It’s been the same problem for Billy’s existence yet Friedman is talking about Billy’s looking hard for another scoring winger. . Because the wild need another undersized perimeter player? Ridiculous.  It’s exactly why I’m with. Scalptrash on this team needs to lose for change.  F this season. Play the kids. Hopefull ocl sells team or  fires the entire management department! Get a high draft pick so in a perfect world we could draft a kid with dog in him like celebrini , Cooley . Not one of Judds undersized weak dented cans . 
   The wild are stale and boring. We all know how this ends. Missing playoffs or being run over by top seed. No progress or growth and nothing to look forward to 

[MacGyver]

4 hours ago, Enforceror said:

What was crazy to me was watching him thread through defenders MULTIPLE times like they were just standing still. It was like they didn't know what to do with him.

Exciting indeed.

Something our $17M man cannot do. You never see him thread through multiple defenders to get a clean shot on goal. He either loses the puck or passes back out to the top sometimes to nobody. I never would have pegged Kaprizov to be about the money but it would appear he has a big contract hangover or is in some other way disengaged. Yes he is putting up his points but the rest of his game is brutal. He will be the perpetual big dog on a small fish team and maybe that's good enough for him. At least he hasn't been hurt yet. Joe Mauer 2.0 

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, Dean said:

We just wasted an entire draft on a bust d man

I hadn’t thought of it this way, but if jiri busts we did in fact waste an entire draft on him (ignoring 5-7 rds)

[NoJoSux]

6 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Highlight was Pitlick going full-Scott Stevens on Chatfield, if you’re into that.  97 did lots of 97 things (he’s trying to put the bottom nine on his back) and Z boo flashed what he’s going to be in couple years (FREAK).  Hunt looked like he belonged (bright spot)  Rossi, Ek, Ben Jones, Trenin and Foligno were 0-0-0

His numbers offensively weren't good but he was not bad defensively. 

If the Wild can stop shooting themselves in the foot ya know...

For a string of games it was giving up the early goal. It's also become a trend for them to give one up right after scoring. Twice last night against Carolina.

They're making lots of mental mistakes and just not doing well enough on the details. They've had many mistakes that cost them and they seem surprised at times. It kills momentum and they kinda get rattled. That's been an issue this year in my opinion. Dropping games in OT has been part of that too, like when your top guys fumble in the first minute and Connor casually zips one in on the ice.