Wild Fail To Score, Lose In Boston

120 minutes of hockey with no goals. Huge issues with no end in sight.

The lines just aren't working except for maybe the emergence of the 4th line recently.  

Boldy and Ek need someone more north/south.  Zucc is a bad fit.  Sounds crazy but I would put Ohgren with them even though he is still a little green.  He might surprise us.

Foligno and Trenin need to be on the same line.  I wish we had another Ek to center them but Freddy hasn't been half bad.  

I know that leaves Zucc and Nojo with Rossi which might be scary bad defensively but at this point Heinz needs to roll the dice. 

Trying to stay positive here.  We are still in 3rd place in the Central after all.  We didn't give up a PK goal.  We went 3 for 3 in kills.  So there is that... 

$14M in penalties equates to two extremely good players or 3 very good players.  This team is not a cup contender this year.  But we are not that far away from being one.  I hope BG understands this and sells.  Sell the guys not coming back fall 25 and let the youth come up and play some minutes.   See what you have and snag those 2 key players this summer.  

Wow, shut out 2 games in a row. That is bad. I think it specifically falls on Boldy who should be leading our offensive production and needs more goals. One thing we were able to get away with earlier is secondary scoring from our defense. This has dried up too. PP didn't look good. At the very least, perhaps Guerin sees where we're at and makes changes next offseason.

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There is a whole lot of talent heading to the 4 Nations Face-off later this month. But who is the best skater, the top stickhandler, and the best in other areas of the game of hockey?

Try as I might, I simply can't get even the least bit excited about the 4 Nations thing. Really, I simply don't care. My hope is a lot of Wild players will pull out to heal up during the 10 games off. 

Last night I decided to pay attention to OgZ, just to see if he could build upon his 3rd period in Ottawa. His 1st shift he hit a guy hard on the end boards and then proceeded to play pond hockey the rest of the night. Note to Ohgren: You have said you want to play like Landeskog. You've got to bring the body ALL GAME LONG to do this. You have to be hard to play against. You're not there yet, FINISH YOUR CHECKS. Also run lanes closer to the middle of the ice. These 2 things will make you a much better player.

6 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

Trying to stay positive here.  We are still in 3rd place in the Central after all.  We didn't give up a PK goal.  We went 3 for 3 in kills.  So there is that... 

Yas!!

1 minute ago, MNCountryLife said:

Sell the guys not coming back fall 25 and let the youth come up and play some minutes.

Can we sell negative cap space? Maybe to a team that needs to hit the floor, like CBJ after they sell?

23 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Can we sell negative cap space? Maybe to a team that needs to hit the floor, like CBJ after they sell?

After starting just 5-10, Columbus has climbed within a point of the playoffs. Are you sure they will be selling?

Buffalo and Nashville look like they'll be sellers, but I'm not sure CBJ fits quite yet, although they do have some injuries piling up, so may get there.

36 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

Trying to stay positive here.  We are still in 3rd place in the Central after all.  We didn't give up a PK goal.  We went 3 for 3 in kills.  So there is that... 

Ya, I'm still positive about them also. They didn't stumble on to success so far, but special teams def needs to improve.

I said before the season this was about the time they'd stop playing for Hinesy, but I really don't see that as the problem right now, although who knows. For the most part Hines has impressed me. I still think Deano wins a playoff series before Hinesy will although I'm not as confident anymore...

5 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

After starting just 5-10, Columbus has climbed within a point of the playoffs. Are you sure they will be selling?

Buffalo and Nashville look like they'll be sellers, but I'm not sure CBJ fits quite yet, although they do have some injuries piling up, so may get there.

I'm convinced they may be doing a little of both. I think Provorov probably is leaving, perhaps being replaced by Hunt? I think they have some guys they will want to promote and get high assets for some of their better players who will be UFAs. This team has a bit of a chip on it's shoulder, and it would be a real feather in Deano's cap if he can get an invitation. But, they are still rebuilding, and I think Waddell will continue building more youth. 

1 hour ago, Will D. Ness said:

Foligno and Trenin need to be on the same line.

Agree 100%.  Trenin is so bad he's made me appreciate Foligno's game.  Put Fraud between them, call it a 3 and 3A situation so no one has to play on the 4th line and make it a shut down line.  Foligno and Trenin obstruct our own offense more often than not.  And Fred is incapable of creating offense, but the sum of these defensive parts is the way to give them TOI and give the others rest.  And then we can hear about how great their cyber metrics are thru the end of their contracts.

55 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

$14M in penalties equates to two extremely good players or 3 very good players.  This team is not a cup contender this year.  But we are not that far away from being one.  I hope BG understands this and sells.  Sell the guys not coming back fall 25 and let the youth come up and play some minutes.   See what you have and snag those 2 key players this summer.  

We all know BG won't do that. He's had 4 seasons to do something positive with the buy out penalties and all he managed to do was sign players to bad contracts, essentially rendering the removal of the penalties borderline null and void. Which I don't know how much we can blame Guerin. He's probably doing what the dumb ass owner wants. And it's obvious OCL cares way more about filling seats than he does winning a cup. A perennial wild card bubble team is good enough to keep the X rocking most nights, so why do more?

22 minutes ago, Willy the poor boy said:

I said before the season this was about the time they'd stop playing for Hinesy, but I really don't see that as the problem right now, although who knows. For the most part Hines has impressed me. I still think Deano wins a playoff series before Hinesy will although I'm not as confident anymore...

Curious to why you thought they'd stop playing for him, genuinely asking and I don't want to sort through all your posts.

Dean had golden opportunities to win playoff series against the Blues & Dallas and his lack of adjustments and style he brought into those games cost them.

The only thing the team can do is play things out.  We know Merrill is done, and that opens one spot for Buium or Jiricek.  If you can swing a deal for Bogo or Chisholm to free one more, that'd be something.  

I would like all of Khus, Ohgren, Yurov, Buium, and Jiricek to be around as a statement next season, but I'm not sure how feasible or smart that is.

4 minutes ago, M_Nels said:

Curious to why you thought they'd stop playing for him, genuinely asking and I don't want to sort through all your posts.

I made a similar comment earlier.  After a bit of reflection I wouldn't say guys stop playing for Hinesy.  They just stop buying into the structure he is creating.  They try to do too much or cheat a bit.   This is not a team that can win like that.  

Losing is obviously the main cause.  But you can't keep giving guys like Nojo 16 minutes TOI a night.  Other players will try to compensate and it goes sideways from there.