Article: Wild Get Do-Over In Rematch Against Kings

[Thomas Williams]

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[mnfaninnc]

The Extra Point: Vladamir Tarasenko had a career 31.6% shootout record while in St. Louis. He is 0-2 for the Wild and looked strikingly creativitiless in both of those attempts. He was never that good in St. Louis, but at least he could score. Today he is not that guy. He has very little moves at all.

Apparently, Tarasenko is our #4 guy. This is a coaching decision. I don't know how they come up with this lineup, but 'Senko taking the shot falls precisely on John Hynes. This was a lost point due to Hynes' decision, and another lost point the other time he used him. 

The fact is this, Hynes has few options, so it looks like #4 is Tarasenko because he has more than 50 attempts in his career. This is bad logic, but logic that at least half of NHL coaches would use. The shootout needs quick hands, and a lot of moves. Who displays that? The kids who have watched TJ Oshie in the Olympics take 2 handfuls of them. Then, they practiced their moves on the rinks in practice, or in their driveway on the garage door. 

Should we expect out of the box thinking from Hynes? Absolutely not! He is a very risk averse coach and probably person. What I find hard understanding is that when LA threw Clarke out there for the 4th round, why he didn't think to himself "Hmmm, I've got the 2nd best defenseman in the world on my roster, why not give him a try?" That was the obvious move for someone thinking correctly and logically. But, if Hughes misses, then HynZ has to answer questions from the press about why he let a defender take that shot. 

I'm not calling for HynZ's head here, but I am hoping he reads this and starts thinking about the strengths of his roster. Eriksson Ek would have been a slightly better option than Tarasenko and had scored on a semi breakaway. But Hughes has got moves nobody else can match, especially in the 4 slot. So, HynZ, this one's on you.

I also have no idea how Yurov would respond to this challenge. Here's the thing, Yurov has no known tendency. Since he did score, I could have seen him as a legit possibility. His game has been coming around. It could have been a nice reward.

[Willy the poor boy]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

The Extra Point: Vladamir Tarasenko had a career 31.6% shootout record while in St. Louis. He is 0-2 for the Wild and looked strikingly creativitiless in both of those attempts. He was never that good in St. Louis, but at least he could score. Today he is not that guy. He has very little moves at all.

Apparently, Tarasenko is our #4 guy. This is a coaching decision. I don't know how they come up with this lineup, but 'Senko taking the shot falls precisely on John Hynes. This was a lost point due to Hynes' decision, and another lost point the other time he used him. 

The fact is this, Hynes has few options, so it looks like #4 is Tarasenko because he has more than 50 attempts in his career. This is bad logic, but logic that at least half of NHL coaches would use. The shootout needs quick hands, and a lot of moves. Who displays that? The kids who have watched TJ Oshie in the Olympics take 2 handfuls of them. Then, they practiced their moves on the rinks in practice, or in their driveway on the garage door. 

Should we expect out of the box thinking from Hynes? Absolutely not! He is a very risk averse coach and probably person. What I find hard understanding is that when LA threw Clarke out there for the 4th round, why he didn't think to himself "Hmmm, I've got the 2nd best defenseman in the world on my roster, why not give him a try?" That was the obvious move for someone thinking correctly and logically. But, if Hughes misses, then HynZ has to answer questions from the press about why he let a defender take that shot. 

I'm not calling for HynZ's head here, but I am hoping he reads this and starts thinking about the strengths of his roster. Eriksson Ek would have been a slightly better option than Tarasenko and had scored on a semi breakaway. But Hughes has got moves nobody else can match, especially in the 4 slot. So, HynZ, this one's on you.

I also have no idea how Yurov would respond to this challenge. Here's the thing, Yurov has no known tendency. Since he did score, I could have seen him as a legit possibility. His game has been coming around. It could have been a nice reward.

I was hoping he'd put Hughes out there. I gotta feeling he would do good on the shoot-outs.

[bisopher]

Continuing the shootout discussion, I'd also vote for giving both Hughes and Yurov a try.  Data shows Tarasenko scores less than 1/3 of the time; let's get some data on other options.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

1 hour ago, bisopher said:

Continuing the shootout discussion, I'd also vote for giving both Hughes and Yurov a try.  Data shows Tarasenko scores less than 1/3 of the time; let's get some data on other options.

Hard to argue that. I wasn't excited to see Tarasenko there either. Liam Ohgren has connected on 2/3 so far with Vancouver despite zero prior opportunities.

I imagine they have some data on how players do 1-1 against the Wild goalies when they practice them, so maybe Tarasenko is considered one of the better options, but completely understand giving others a chance.

I wouldn't have watched the Wild during regulation and thought Gaudreau would be a great option, but he clearly had that skill. Kind of hard to know who has it and who doesn't, but I imagine Yurov could get there.

Faber might have something to offer too. He seems unlikely, but he has good puck skills and leads the Wild defense in goals scored.

[bisopher]

25 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Faber might have something to offer too. He seems unlikely, but he has good puck skills and leads the Wild defense in goals scored.

Maybe Faber could reprise Brian Rolston's "slap shot from the slot" move, as he's typically scoring from distance. 

[Fezig]

What a horrible "do over". Time to get out of California.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

2 hours ago, Fezig said:

What a horrible "do over". Time to get out of California.

Yeah, 1 more late night road game on the West coast, but it's up in Seattle, then they head home to face the Islanders and Devils.

Not too surprising to have the Wild struggle to score in at least one of the games(given the Kings were top 2 in goals against), but the Wild sure let LA, who were last in goals prior to the 2 game series, score more than expected.

[Pewterschmidt]

Spacek chosen for Czechia.  The Jiri Project™️ invitation gets lost in the mail.   Can’t wait to hear Meatballs spin this one