Wilderness Walk: Falling In Philly

So much bad that game. Wild are really struggling right now getting pucks out of the d-zone against a heavy forecheck and I can't quite figure out why. Did they change a scheme in some way? Noticed the forwards are hanging out closer to the blueline and not getting much deeper than the hashmarks.

KK97's turnovers absolutely killed any chance of a comeback. He doesn't look as quick to me this year? Maybe it's just him trying to be too perfect but I wonder if that injury is still nagging. He needs to be more selfish on his shooting, still passing up some good looks.

Oof. The fall from grace this year has been fast. It is early and they have not put any nails in the coffin on this season but that performance was dead on arrival.

Why are we having so much trouble starting every game? I think it is time to force the morning skate, these guys don't look like much of a team. I'm not pushing the panic button yet but Columbus and now Philly have dominated us. These are teams that are rebuilding. If we are getting thoroughly routed by rebuilding teams are we really expecting to make a deep run?

Makes those extensions we handed out look really bad. We could have been sellers at the deadline and got rid of some of these flatlining players for some decent draft picks, now we are locked in without any foreseeable progression. It is too early to call them busts but this core is leaving me with more questions about how astute Billy really is. 

After a rousing game at home against Edmonton where our first line really got going it was an incredible regression to watch in this game. We got outworked on both ends of the ice and had a terribly ugly slow start. I hope Gus keeps his confidence after getting rained on game after game. Going to be hard to stay calm and bounce back when our defense is an utter non-factor.  

2 hours ago, M_Nels said:

KK97's turnovers absolutely killed any chance of a comeback. He doesn't look as quick to me this year? Maybe it's just him trying to be too perfect but I wonder if that injury is still nagging. He needs to be more selfish on his shooting, still passing up some good looks.

Kaprizov looks to me like he's trying to do too much. That's not the 1st bad turnover he's had this season, however, I don't remember the turnovers being this bad in previous seasons. He knows better. Both he and Zuccarello need to remember to get pucks deep.

KK97 has always been a little loose.  He needs to refine his game ever so slightly to tighten up and just do the safe play at times.  I think he absolutely abhors dumping the puck deep in principle.

Late in the third, down a goal... different story though.  I say let him do his thing and if we lose like we did last night, so be it.

New Era of Orange?  I mean, getting rid of Fletcher was a start.  I'll give them that.

I tuned in at about 9 minutes left in the 2nd. I was not a fan of the broadcasting crew upon arrival, but as a national broadcast, I believe they did a pretty good job of explaining some team things we already know.

3-0 was the score, being outshot 24-11. What happened?

The 3rd period got going. I thought Mermis was making a statement that he wanted to stay as he potted his 2nd goal. We had all the momentum and looked like we were going to tie it until....Kaprizov's turnover. 

After the game, I had to go back and watch the Maroon-Deslauriers bout. Looked to me like Maroon was swing real good, but couldn't really reach Deslauriers. After that, I didn't watch the rest, and figured what was the point? 

To be fair, we have, historically, had trouble with Philly. Some teams just have your number, kind of like we have Edmonton's. But the concerning thing for me is losing to Columbus and Philly, not just on the scoreboard, but being dominated on the shot clock. That tends to show that the other team is taking it to us. I would conclude from the eye test, this was so.

This season, based upon what I saw on Tuesday, I think the Eastern Conference is better than the West. They're faster and a bit more skilled. If the worst in the East is that much better than playoff teams in the West, we could be in trouble. Even the 6-0 Avs had trouble with a Penguins team last night. 

Has the Evason message gotten old? Some coaches only have a certain shelf life before they get stale. What is the reason for the slow starts? This goes back to the Koivu led era. It needs more than being addressed, this needs a full makeover. The last I saw, the 1st period is part of playing a 60 minute game. If we don't start that now, we will not just flip a switch at playoff time to play the full 60!

I also saw a line blender come in. It looked like Khiara was benched for awhile and they played either 1 or 2 forwards down in the 3rd until the breakaway. Did Khiara have a tough 1st couple of periods? On the 2nd goal, it looked like Faber would have gotten a 3rd assist, but he was really the one who made the play, faking the dump in and finding the open forward who went tic-tac-toe to Foligno. 

One more thing. If the team is struggling so badly, why aren't there mandatory practices? Get everyone on the same page, and I don't see how you do that without practice! Surely these highly paid professional athletes cannot be so fragile that they cannot take the practices? I think there needs to be higher demands on the performance, and, perhaps we go back to the roots of Again-Again-Again! 

If we get another stinker tonight, I'm going to say a fire is starting under Evason's seat. Perhaps another voice is needed. It's a little early for a players only meeting. Sullivan is still employed by the Pens, I wonder who else Shooter could look at? About the only other available guy I see is Gerard Gallant, who could probably blend right in.

1 hour ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

Oof. The fall from grace this year has been fast. It is early and they have not put any nails in the coffin on this season but that performance was dead on arrival.

Why are we having so much trouble starting every game? I think it is time to force the morning skate, these guys don't look like much of a team. I'm not pushing the panic button yet but Columbus and now Philly have dominated us. These are teams that are rebuilding. If we are getting thoroughly routed by rebuilding teams are we really expecting to make a deep run?

Makes those extensions we handed out look really bad. We could have been sellers at the deadline and got rid of some of these flatlining players for some decent draft picks, now we are locked in without any foreseeable progression. It is too early to call them busts but this core is leaving me with more questions about how astute Billy really is. 

After a rousing game at home against Edmonton where our first line really got going it was an incredible regression to watch in this game. We got outworked on both ends of the ice and had a terribly ugly slow start. I hope Gus keeps his confidence after getting rained on game after game. Going to be hard to stay calm and bounce back when our defense is an utter non-factor.  

Lets pump the brakes here a bit.  The wild are 3-3-1 through the first 7 games, whereas last season the started out 3-3-1 including getting 7 goals dropped on us in the first 2 games, and 6 goals against in the third.

Also, we're getting bit with the injury bug and hard up against the cap this season.  When the lineup has changed literally every game with guys getting hurt and sent back and forth to Iowa, it's not surprising they look a bit disorganized and not playing cohesive hockey.  It's also a bit of awake-up call that all the 'studs' we have down in Iowa might not be primetime ready.

I'm also not quite sure how many of our players would result in a 1st rounder back as compensation?  Even if they do, you want to be watching a team with Khaira/Beckman/Walker in place of Zuccarello/Foligno/Hartman, holy hell that would be painful.

Somewhat related, what's going on with our last first rounder? 

Quote

• Charlie Stramel has 0 points, nine shots and two minor penalties through four games. He centered Cruz Lucius (Carolina draft pick) and Sam Tange (Detroit draft pick) on the third line before getting injured. As a result, Stramel didn’t play in Wisconsin’s series against Michigan Tech this past weekend.

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/news/minnesota-wild-prospect-report-oct-16-22

4 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

I

This season, based upon what I saw on Tuesday, I think the Eastern Conference is better than the West. They're faster and a bit more skilled. If the worst in the East is that much better than playoff teams in the West, we could be in trouble. Even the 6-0 Avs had trouble with a Penguins team last night. 

Philly lost to Dallas in OT  and lost to Vegas 2-3  both on the road then beat the Wild real bad at home .  So thats pretty good showing .