Minnesota Wild Thread

[TheLeviathan]

Best in the West!  We need a thread to talk about these guys!

 

I'm really, really impressed with this team.  12 good forwards every night, 6 good d-men every night, an amazing goaltender. 

[Willihammer]

Stanley Cup bound

[Willihammer]

The season is unfolding in such a perfect way. They were able to ride Dub's early on because they had a good amount of off days, now they have had a flurry of games but everyone else is picking up the slack. And, just in time, 3 days to rest.
And yeah this club has a ton of depth. No stars but they seem to have no weaknesses either. I think Parise has the worst +/- on the team for cripes sakes.

[Vanimal46]

Eric Staal has been a pleasant surprise this season where they finally have a 1st line C to build around. Let's hope coach Boudreau can help this team go far in the playoffs.

[TheLeviathan]

Scary how good they could be if Parise finds his way back to his normal status.

[Pardon My Dinger]

This has been a fun season so far. Very impressive. However, they're still don't have that game changing scorer, and they'll need one of those if hey want to win a cup. If they want to go all in, time to call Burnaby Joe and see what it might take to bring Matt Duchene aboard. 

[TheLeviathan]

Do they need a surefire scorer though?  And what price do you pay?

 

I'm not convinced they do.

[Vanimal46]

I don't think we'll see any major moves happening. Seems like everyone is on hold until the expansion draft for the new Las Vegas team next year.

[Mr. Brooks]

I don't think we'll see any major moves happening. Seems like everyone is on hold until the expansion draft for the new Las Vegas team next year.

I think that will actually lead to more major moves at this year's deadline.

 

Sellers will be willing to move players that they won't be able to protect in the expansion draft.

[Pardon My Dinger]

I don't really know what to say about these guys. They are f-word-ing cruising right now. Making mince meat out of a very successful Oilers team on the road fresh off the break. This is the most formidable minnesota team I've seen in any sport ever (I'm 28). I mean...is this the team?!

[DaveW]

What a time to shutter Wildextra...ugh.

 

Oh well.

 

Yes, Wild look amazing right now, no real "holes" they could always use another "pure scorer" but maybe Pominville can continue to provide that (last solid 10 games or so)

 

Key now is HEALTH, HEALTH, HEALTH! Esp with:

duby

Suter

Staal

Koivu

Zucker

 

IMO

[Pardon My Dinger]

Qualifying statement: there have probably been some good Vikings teams, but I really wouldn't know.

[Pardon My Dinger]

Sorry to clutter the thread, but does anyone else find the Delay of Game signal a little...'zieg-heily'? I don't care for it.

[DaveW]

Qualifying statement: there have probably been some good Vikings teams, but I really wouldn't know.

Yeah they are no 1998 Vikings.... which maybe a good thing

[Vanimal46]

13:2 odds to win the Stanley Cup.... Best (or worst, if you're betting on it) odds in the league!

 

This team right now is the best Wild team ever. It's nice to see a collective effort every game, where they don't have to rely solely on one guy to produce.

 

I'm also glad to eat crow about Granlund... He's made a big jump this year that I thought he would never make.

[Pardon My Dinger]

So, the St. Louis blues are giving Mike Yeo the keys to the car. He's now supposed to pull a moderately talented team, swimming in veterans out of a prolonged mid-season slump.

 

Huh.

[nicksaviking]

I liked Yeo, he seemed like a good guy.

 

But isn't this Wild team nearly identical to the one he was forced to abdicate last year? And here I thought it was Chuck Fletcher this whole time. Not that this run definitively settles that debate.

[Pardon My Dinger]

I think Yeo is way too "system" minded. He does not make dynamic decisions and he clearly doesn't manage people very well. Boudreau is a pro. 

 

That said, it was Yeo's first job. Maybe his time with Hitch has helped him with the finer aspects of leadership. 

[Vanimal46]

Yeo's downfall was giving veterans the benefit of the doubt, and having a very little leash with young players... Sounds familiar! 

He stubbornly put Pommer on the PP when he was clearly struggling, and created a divide in the locker room. He had to go.

We'll see if he learned his lesson. At least St. Louis is littered with veterans to cater to.  

[Pardon My Dinger]

Yeah, I really don't see things working out for Yeozie in this situation. 

[Pardon My Dinger]

I would like to officially coin the term #tuchandroll. Any and all royalties will belong to me, thank you.

[DJSim22]

BB has more clout and isn't afraid to make changes.  Putting Nino on the PP was a nice change for one example.  Yeo would have just kept putting the five same vets out there. 

 

The Wild quietly is putting up some huge depth too. Tuch is one example, if anyone watched the World Juniors, you know they have 3 captains getting ready to knock down the door. 

[twinsnorth49]

I'll get a chance to see the Wild live in person tomorrow night, looking forward to it. I think the Wild are a good team but personally think they are overachieving a bit, their underlying metrics are going to be pretty hard to sustain. Obviously Dubs is Dubs, he's the biggest factor in the Wild being where they are, but between a .936 sv% and a 10.10 sh%, something has to give at some point. Their advanced shot metrics currently sit 24th in the league. 

 

 

[TheLeviathan]

I read an interesting thing on the shots.  The article's claim was that Boudreau has done this before, that he has his team forgo meaningless shots from the outside in favor of shooting from further inside.  Which might explain having the second best shooting percentage in the league.  

 

This might be an interesting read for you.  I think some of this is purposeful and analytics in isolation are failing to see the full picture.

[twinsnorth49]

Oh I'm aware that the Wild are one of the better teams in the league when it comes to preventing high danger shots (guess what though, so are the Jets). They are also clearly not a high volume shot team, which can also play a part in their shot differentials.  I don't watch them on a regular basis so context is definitely lacking when in relation to the eye test. I think of all the things going for them, Dubnyk's play is least likely to regress, although I can't see him maintaining .936, but at some point their sh% is going to drop, they aren't headed for a 12 year league wide high sh% imo, which will effect their GF%.

 

CF% is far from a complete way of analyzing things, but it's pretty rare for bottom 3rd teams in that area to have long term success through the playoffs. High danger zone or not, they have to get their shot generation up a bit imo.

[TheLeviathan]

 

Oh I'm aware that the Wild are one of the better teams in the league when it comes to preventing high danger shots (guess what though, so are the Jets). They are also clearly not a high volume shot team, which can also play a part in their shot differentials.  I don't watch them on a regular basis so context is definitely lacking when in relation to the eye test. I think of all the things going for them, Dubnyk's play is least likely to regress, although I can't see him maintaining .936, but at some point their sh% is going to drop, they aren't headed for a 12 year league wide high sh% imo, which will effect their GF%.

 

CF% is far from a complete way of analyzing things, but it's pretty rare for bottom 3rd teams in that area to have long term success through the playoffs. High danger zone or not, they have to get their shot generation up a bit imo.

 

And that's a fair point, I know that's a stat people like to point to, but our GF% is pretty damn good too.  And that has some good playoff predictability to it as well.

[twinsnorth49]

 

And that's a fair point, I know that's a stat people like to point to, but our GF% is pretty damn good too.  And that has some good playoff predictability to it as well.

Boudreau is a great coach.......I'm jealous, that might be motivating me   

[TheLeviathan]

 

Boudreau is a great coach.......I'm jealous, that might be motivating me   

 

I never expected this.  I had given up on Granlund, so what he's done for him alone is huge in my book.  The guy has totally transformed this team.

[Physics Guy]

I attribute the biggest difference on this team as being the addition of Staal.  While he has not been as good lately, having two larger centers in Koivu and Staal allowed Granlund and Coyle to stay on the wing where they are clearly better.  It has trickled down throughout the lineup.  The addition of Stewart on the 4th line hasn't hurt either.

[mrkarbo]

The best Wild team yet! Has me excited like the old North Stars did. Maybe a Pro mens Minn. team that can actually challenge for a Championship! Wouldnt that be GREAT!! Super move getting Boudreau and Staal is a differance maker. Finally seeing some young players living up to expectations. What do you suppose Yeo is thinking?