Article: The Wild Will Regress If They Can't Improve Their Anemic Offense

[Tom Schreier]

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[MNCountryLife]

Hmmm...  I don't believe a team has to tank for several years to be good in the future.  If that was the case then teams wouldn't be stuck in the cellar for decades.   It also wouldn't explain how some teams seem to find ways to be competitive contenders almost every year.  

I would argue that recognition of potential talent and ability to harness that talent plays a much larger role in being an annual contender than higher draft picks.  

 

[SkolWild73]

Come on Tom.  

The Wild may have won seven straight, but they’re only a .500 team now (14-7-5, or 14-12 in other sports). 

You do know that is good for being tied with the 5th best points percentage in the league?

Philadelphia, Columbus, and Buffalo are some of the worst teams in hockey. 

Philadelphia is tied for 8th in points percentage and Columbus is 16th, I would not call them the worst teams in hockey.

Meanwhile, Minnesota scores 2.85 goals per game, slightly more than the Philadelphia Flyers (2.83), San Jose Sharks (2.81), and Columbus Blue Jackets (2.80). The New York Islanders and Detroit Red Wings (2.88) score more than the Wild. So do the Vancouver Canucks, Utah Mammoth, and Buffalo Sabres [italics] (2.96). 

Sure, we sit at 25th in goals for per game, but since the Utah game, or the last 17 games, we are 12th in goals per game played and 4th in goal differential.  Also, there is more to the game than just goals per game.  Toronto is 6th in goals per game and sits at 27th in points percentage.

The Wild can beat anyone on any given night, but they can also lose to the worst teams in the league.

Yes, the Wild lost in OT to Buffalo where the game tying goal was a fluke.  The Wild have played 6 games against teams with a .500 points percentage or lower this year and are 4-1-1 for nine points. It's the NHL. Good teams lose to bad teams sometimes.  Dallas has played 7 games against the same teams and is 4-2-1 for nine points.

 

[MNCountryLife]

What happened to the phrase:  "Defense wins championships".  This team needs depth scoring  and defense to win.  I still think we are short 2 high end wingers for the top 6 to really be cup contenders.  But whoever we bring in... they must adhere to our defense first mentality.  It is how we are built.

[Citizen Strife]

"Tom Schreier article"

"Pessimistic view of a team getting points in 11 games because they didn't tank and kept their defense first veterans"

Yeah, checks out.

I hate to keep bringing this up, but no one is expecting Mojo or Zuccarello to keep up their paces.  No one is saying the Wild are world beaters every day or can go toe to toe with the "TRULY DYNAMIC CONNOR BEDARD WHO CAN DO NO WRONG JUST ASK ESPN GOBBLE GOBBLE!" The same team the Wild "stole a win from?"

But uh...who just beat the Avs and Jets?  For a team who couldn't buy wins against those teams, they "played them at the right time" and won...so feh.  Utah was totally supposed to be so much better.  Isn't looking that way either.

Enjoy the ride.  If the team wanted to regress and suck, they would have done that by now.  Still might, but I like seeing the Wild in 3rd place rather than 8th. 

Edited 51 minutes ago by Citizen Strife

[MNCountryLife]

I've mentioned before that we don't have a legit 2nd line.  Or more to the point.. we don't have 6 players that are legit top 6.  Yurov has played well and Zuc is proving that he can still play.  What happens if we move Rossi to wing when he returns.  Kirill, Yurov, Zuc / Rossi, Ek, Boldy is not a bad top 6....Is that a legit top 6 lineup?  It's close... or more to the point... getting close.

[Citizen Strife]

Also, Jets lost Hellebuyck.  So what?  Every team is injured, and this team is no exception.  You play teams when you play them, and win or lose.  The Wild are 6-8 points clear of the bubble, which is more than I could say for the vaunted Hawks and Sharks.

[Up North Guy]

6 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

I've mentioned before that we don't have a legit 2nd line.  Or more to the point.. we don't have 6 players that are legit top 6.  Yurov has played well and Zuc is proving that he can still play.  What happens if we move Rossi to wing when he returns.  Kirill, Yurov, Zuc / Rossi, Ek, Boldy is not a bad top 6....Is that a legit top 6 lineup?  It's close... or more to the point... getting close.

Interesting idea...

[OldDutchChip]

nothing more than a bubble team hmm 🤔

Wild have a top goalie tandem

Great D core (minus Jiri) - spurge is back to being spurge, Zeev will get better and far ass have played better!

They have 1 superstar and 1 soon-to-be superstar and possibly a selke candidate 

They again had Injuries to top 6 that messed with rhythm but are projected to still come in at 105 pt total

any other division other than Central - then I think we are favorites to get to R2 but we are likely to match Stars …. but I think there is going to be a boost to us via trade* this year and that’ll even out the odds for R1 battle

*while I don’t think we necessary should trade Rossi - I think he will be the one to go out as he has more value than Ohgren and any of our other prospects (besides the core 3 - Zeev, Wally & Yurov) 

Tuch? Buch? ROR? And please Waive Vlady  (Maybe ROR could be had w just Ohgren and then we slide Rossi to Wing)

[Citizen Strife]

Yurov probably gets moved to wing before Rossi does (hello there faceoff percentage), but I get the point.

[goenzoy]

27 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

we move Rossi to wing when he returns

Rossi never played wing during his whole hockey life

[MNCountryLife]

4 minutes ago, Citizen Strife said:

Yurov probably gets moved to wing before Rossi does (hello there faceoff percentage), but I get the point.

I wouldn't mind seeing a line of Kirill, Yurov and Rossi.  Where Rossi takes the face offs but Yurov plays the center role.  As fast as Yurov is learning he may get better at the dot as the season goes on as well.  Rossi can score... and this team seems to get most of the scoring done by the wings simply by team design.  

[MNCountryLife]

4 minutes ago, goenzoy said:

Rossi never played wing during his whole hockey life

Are you insinuating that Rossi could not play wing?  I've always thought center was the harder of the two positions to play.