Wilderness Walk: Wild Lay Down And Lose

Well... that game was awful.

The Wild are just not the same team. Missing big guys, no momentums for this season. Coaching change and cap constraints. Painful year all around, not just metaphorically for many players. Waiting for prospects is another element. Who could be ready next year? RasmuKampu again getting on the scoresheet for Finland. The lack of Heidt for Canada might have been a thing. MN's got a chance to bouce back next year, but one goal against TB isn't gonna get you a win when they've got the top scorer in the NHL.

I don't wanna be too critical anymore this year. It's gone sideways months ago and the WPG games really solidified the assertions about the Wild's lack of true scariness to face off against and depleted depth due to injuries. Boldy appears to be going through the motions. MoNojo is there, then he's not or vise-versa.

I'd be GMing the team into the lottery pick zone from here on out and trying to send Fleury to a contender at the deadline. Whatever else to help players and put the Wild into the CHI, CBJ category before getting shafted and not winning 1st overall.

That game was...hard to watch.  Roll over is apt description of what I was watching.  I was really disappointed in the callups, none of them were making it hard to send them back down to the AHL.

I really really really hope that Boldy's shoulder is still bothering him as Joe Smith's article suggested he spent a long time in the trainers room after the game, because if we're watching a fully healthy Boldy....oof.

Smith also mentioned that we're likely to see the Wall make his NHL debut pretty soon here...with this dumpster fire of a team, I'm not sure I'm excited for that

If tanking means we have to watch that shit we saw last night for the rest of the season then no thanks.  I'll give up those few percentage points for the lottery pick just so I can enjoy the team that existed before the Jets.

Just watching our rookies play with a purpose is worth those few percentage points.  

1 hour ago, Will D. Ness said:

If tanking means we have to watch that shit we saw last night for the rest of the season then no thanks.  I'll give up those few percentage points for the lottery pick just so I can enjoy the team that existed before the Jets.

Just watching our rookies play with a purpose is worth those few percentage points.  

I didn't watch it, but you'll be singing a different tune if it leads to a top-5 pick and an impact top line defenseman or forward! Right now we are at 7. 

It has been a while since I turned off a Wild game before the 3rd period. But here wee are!

8 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

I didn't watch it, but you'll be singing a different tune if it leads to a top-5 pick and an impact top line defenseman or forward! Right now we are at 7. 

The thing is that it's not guaranteed.  You can watch a team flounder all season and still fail to get a top-5 pick.  Luck hasn't been on the Wild's side when it comes to the draft lottery.

4 minutes ago, raithis said:

The thing is that it's not guaranteed.  You can watch a team flounder all season and still fail to get a top-5 pick.  Luck hasn't been on the Wild's side when it comes to the draft lottery.

Gotta change eventually! 

There was a point where the Timberwolves hadn't had a #1 overall pick in years despite the worst record too and then they landed KAT and Anthony Edwards. 

Plus we just watched the Twins go from #13 to #5, so it seems the MN karma train's pulling into the station! 

18 minutes ago, Up North Guy said:

It has been a while since I turned off a Wild game before the 3rd period. But here wee are!

I had this thought while watching last nights game too.  Wild games are by far my #1 form of entertainment.  (Along with huffing paint and cock fighting)

during last nights 2nd period Pewter said to himself: "the rest of this season's Wild games might not be Must See entertainment"

1 hour ago, B1GKappa97 said:

I didn't watch it, but you'll be singing a different tune if it leads to a top-5 pick and an impact top line defenseman or forward! Right now we are at 7. 

I think we would have to trade half our team to get to top 5.

29 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

I think we would have to trade half our team to get to top 5.

Yeah probably. They'll go on a heater again 😞

Top-10 is definitely in reach though? That should get us a pretty good RHS defenseman with size at least! 

It will be interesting to see if any of the players on the roster want to be traded.  Some players may want to chase the cup or have an audition on another team.  GMBG may also try to push players out.  The potential (however slight) exists at the TDL to alter our roster in ways that may not of existed for a playoff bound team.  

1 hour ago, Pewterschmidt said:

I had this thought while watching last nights game too.  Wild games are by far my #1 form of entertainment.  (Along with huffing paint and cock fighting)

during last nights 2nd period Pewter said to himself: "the rest of this season's Wild games might not be Must See entertainment"

What kind of cock-fighting might be a question?

Isn't it true if MN brings up guys for 10 games or more it begins the clock for RFA status and could cost the Wild?

5 minutes ago, Protec said:

What kind of cock-fighting might be a question?

Asking for a friend?

5 minutes ago, B1GKappa97 said:

Yeah probably. They'll go on a heater again 😞

Top-10 is definitely in reach though? That should get us a pretty good RHS defenseman with size at least! 

Depends on injuries mostly I think.  If we put a team that was on the ice last night then we definitely would be top 5.  

If we get healthy then we pick 15ish.  

Could I bear watching that top 5 pick team... haha. hell no.

I enjoy the Wild winning but no Brodin, Spurge, Kaprizov and the Norwegian Hobbit, Gus, and whichever sixth guy I'm forgetting it's just not gonna happen. That's our best guys and not just a couple. 

Live to fight another day, ya know what I mean. This is a roller coaster year so far, not all bad, and not the way it used to be. This has been more circumstantial and sad than unbelievable and stupid during the Yeo F-bomb era. 

I hate to say it, but I've resigned to the facts. If MN somehow makes the playoffs it's not likely to be on an unstoppable tear. More likely a jolopy limping into the transmission shop with the gears grinding dragging tailpipe...

17 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

It will be interesting to see if any of the players on the roster want to be traded.  Some players may want to chase the cup or have an audition on another team.  GMBG may also try to push players out.  The potential (however slight) exists at the TDL to alter our roster in ways that may not of existed for a playoff bound team.  

I wonder who this would be.  Zuccy?  Flower?  They are the only guys I see wanting to have a swan song.  

I highly doubt GMBG is going to push anyone out that he prematurely extended.

What I want to see isn't a tank, but a change in priority.  I want to see the young D guys get opportunity in place of the old dudes.

Offensively... there isn't anyone.  Sammy is blowing it.  

10 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Asking for a friend?

Yeah like why, when your pal asks you to go duck hunting does it autocorrect and change the vowel in duck to an i? Does that make any sense?

1 hour ago, Will D. Ness said:

I think we would have to trade half our team to get to top 5.

probly a good place to start

4 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

Offensively... there isn't anyone.  Sammy is blowing it.  

I think this is kinda true but with no primary scoring lines or top defense on the ice teams playing the Wild get better matchups and lesser guys face top defense pairings or L1s instead of the depth benefit for the team as a whole. 

You're correct but I don't see it as much of an indictment on tweener guys. It's probably not fair for fans to hope Walker or Letterrriii or those guys are gonna stop the bleeding. I get your point but these guys aren't Guentzel or Connor who emerge from college and are immediately 20+ goal scorers in the NHL. They're good players but many college greats didn't succeed in the NHL so that's just a tough deal. Is Ben Meyers lighting up the league? Knies? It's not that they're lousy players but weird how Johnny Guadreau can make it big and Jordan Schroeder doesn't.

13 minutes ago, Will D. Ness said:

I highly doubt GMBG is going to push anyone out that he prematurely extended.

What I want to see isn't a tank, but a change in priority.  I want to see the young D guys get opportunity in place of the old dudes.

Offensively... there isn't anyone.  Sammy is blowing it.

At this point all GMBG has to do is tell the injured players that they can have extra time off for the injuries.  I'm sure the players would take it.  

I certainly wouldn't mind seeing the young guys getting a chance ... but who?  Walker and Beckman have not made the improvements from last year that they needed.  Hunt clearly needs time but has the potential to make the roster next year.  I say give him the ice time.  As for the rest, do you just toss a bunch a guys up and see who steps up? Talk about a mess.  Stay away from the 28 and older crowd...

I want to see Hunt for sure.  I think he is penciled in for next year so it really is a no brainer.  I would also give the other D guys a taste of the NHL... unless they are just obviously not even close to ready.  What I saw in training camp was encouraging.  

Offensively... no idea.  

Draft picks are the hope that springs eternal with this team. This has been team prospect/draft pick for years now. Wait until Coyle, Dumba and Grandlund come up! Rossi is the no miss #1 center that we have been waiting for. Now we are awaiting our version of the Russian five. If we somehow manage to keep the one we got.  There are too many to list #1 draft picks that either didn't pan out or wound up being third or fourth line grinders. The McDavid's and Bedard's are true unicorns and there are none of them in next years draft. And as evidenced by Edmonton having one of the generational players guarantees you nothing. 

Draft picks and prospects are what teams going nowhere talk about. I would really be interested to see the list of teams players have that have NTC's and how many of those lists the Wild are on. And with BG's antics how many more will add the Wild on their no go list. So even after cap hell thaws out and we have gobs of money to throw around who is going to want to jump into this dumpster fire when they have a choice?  Fun times in the state of hockey. 

5 hours ago, MacGyver said:

And with BG's antics

Hockey is a volatile sport full of volatile people. BG is certainly one of them. So are most of the coaches and in my opinion a vast majority of players. It is not unusual for execs, coaches, players and at times staffs to go red ass. We have snippets of information about BG's "unprofessional" actions. We do not have definitive proof of exactly what went down. Yet here we are having claims after claims about how much of an A-hole BG is. Maybe he did go a bit too far. Maybe the employee was a problem child. Maybe everything got blown out of proportion. Whatever happened it did not rise to the level that BG's job was in danger. At any rate, it is getting seriously old reading and rereading about something that there is no actual solid info on. If BG was the problem OCL would have used clauses that I am sure exist in his contract to dump him with limited financial liability. Has BG made mistakes? Of course. Will he make more? Again, of course. They all do. It has become easy (lazy) to claim BG is too much of a jerk to succeed. Who knows, maybe the guy who left was the A-hole and BG was the guy to stand up and call him out? Probably could have done it better. The Wild could have a bureaucratic suit from an Ivy League factory to say all the niceties and fail completely. Oh wait, we already had Fletcher. How about we just start moving on with cheering for this team. They sure need it right now.

6 hours ago, MacGyver said:

Draft picks are the hope that springs eternal with this team. This has been team prospect/draft pick for years now. Wait until Coyle, Dumba and Grandlund come up! Rossi is the no miss #1 center that we have been waiting for. Now we are awaiting our version of the Russian five. If we somehow manage to keep the one we got.  There are too many to list #1 draft picks that either didn't pan out or wound up being third or fourth line grinders. The McDavid's and Bedard's are true unicorns and there are none of them in next years draft. And as evidenced by Edmonton having one of the generational players guarantees you nothing. 

Draft picks and prospects are what teams going nowhere talk about. I would really be interested to see the list of teams players have that have NTC's and how many of those lists the Wild are on. And with BG's antics how many more will add the Wild on their no go list. So even after cap hell thaws out and we have gobs of money to throw around who is going to want to jump into this dumpster fire when they have a choice?  Fun times in the state of hockey. 

Some of this is fair, some not so much. Yes, picks and prospects are something we're very interested in. From the Guerin/Brackett era, only Rossi has made the roster, and Hunt is right behind. It takes, normally, 5 years for a prospect to make it from their draft year. Top 10 picks maybe sooner. We haven't really even seen what Brackett has been able to bring in.

It should take that prospect 5 years to make it and another 2 to adjust to the N. That means that a player like Hunt would be judged in 2026. Same with Dino. I think it speaks well of Guerin that he has not traded the prospects out for immediate help and has let them develop, but I have some serious problems with the development process, mainly in strength and weight development.

Beckman is fast approaching his 5 year mark, as is Boldy. Those are Fenton players, though. Beckman is a guy I'd like to see up, but he is hurt.

Yurov, Ohgren, Dino, Wallstedt, Lambos still should be developing. If we see them in St. Paul next season, they are ahead of schedule (except for Dino). I'd like to see Wallstedt and Lambos this season just to get a looksie of what they're all about. 

We decided to rebuild on the fly. We knew, eventually, we'd have to transition. Now is the time to start that trek. Not all will be hits, history tells us, but maybe we can get a little lucky.