Pre/Post Game Minnesota Wild Banter

[JimBuck]

If we could have played the way we did in the 3rd period all night, it may have been a different game. We spent the majority of the night flipping the puck into the neutral zone and offense was nearly non-existent. Scott going after Staubitz was just unfair but I gotta say it was good seeing big John swingin' again.

[spearchucker]

Wild looked terrible last night. Didn't win any of the puck battles.

As for the Khudobin trade I think we came out well. He got lucky in his games with good D play. He doesn't slide post to post, he goes wall to wall. There were saves that Zanon was making while he was flopping around out by the faceoff circle.

[OnAFly]

JimBuck - +1 We played 1/3 of a game last night.

As for Havlat. I seem to remember a guy by the name of Gaborik that played like that. Then when he left everyone thought the sky was falling.

In Havlat's defense, he needed to take chances in the third doing things like that. We needed three goals to keep the game alive. This is from a team that doesn't score much. It was time to start floating. As for the second, well, the whole team was pretty bad there too.

[10,000 Casts]

Chicago played the Coyotes the night before and the Wild hadn't played since Friday so as usual, the team that played the night before comes out swinging in the first period or 2 then the gasses out in the 3rd.. Chicago is a much better team and Havlat's lazyness killed us. I hate his style of play, the only way he is a superstar is if he is playing with superstars. Good to have on the PP and he hasn't been hurt nearly as much as Gaborik but imo, he costs us too many games.

[OnAFly]

He does take chances sometimes, but he'll make a good defensive play (usually in the neutral zone) to stop rushes sometimes too.

I think our biggest problem when we get into periods like the first two last night is flipping the puck out of the zone. We send it right back to the defense and we wind up back in our zone. We can't do this. The Wild need to be better at breaking out of their zone. Dump and chase only works going into the offensive zone, not out of the defensive zone.

[spearchucker]

Dump and chase only works if you chase down and get the puck too.

[OnAFly]

True, but crossing that red line is the first step. And I don't mean our goal line (though sometimes I think they've confused this part of it).

[Bear55]

Havlat is terrible, trade him for Boogaard straight up!

[spearchucker]

Havlat is terrible, trade him for Boogaard straight up!

I don't think I would go that far.

[Bear55]

Come Boogy has 2 points in a total of 22 games this season, just imagine his production if he got the playing time and pp time of Havlat, he would be unstoppable!!!

Only kidding of course. I like Havlat, we need him. I was hoping Mikko was going to step it up a little this season after that big contract he signed, he's doing ok but not for the $$$ we are going to pay him next year. Thankfully Havlat decided to step it up and the be the offensive leader of this year.

[scsavre]

I really dont agree with the Havlat comments. If you want to score, that is what you need to do. The problem is we dont have a game plan or line up to support a goal scorers. Havlat needs guys with him that can make up for him every once in awhile. They should almost have a rule that he and Burns cannot be on the ice together. Havlat is even +-

[schmitty3]

Typical MN sports fans always gotta find something to complain about. They guy is finally playing hard and scoring like crazy. He has been all over the place, and been the spark on offense that we need. Just look at the plus/minus it speeks for itself.

[10,000 Casts]

Quote:

The problem is we dont have a game plan or line up to support a goal scorers. Havlat needs guys with him that can make up for him every once in awhile.

completely agree.

the fact that he floats around the ice doesn't help either. Just think what his + - would be if he hussled, maybe he would be worth the $5mil we pay him. just my opinion

and as far as Boogaard goes.. I was bummed when he left but I now see he wasn't worth the $1.5 yr.. But man was he fun to watch.. So lets send Staubitz down and bring up Kassian for good!!!!!

Do you guys think Kassian will be up with the big club next year?

[Bear55]

Actually this season Havlat appears to be scoring no matter who we throw out there with him, he hasn't even had Lats to feed this year and he is still putting up great numbers. We are paying him to score and he is doing that, I don't know what people expect out of him. Sure we all want a guy to go 110% both ways and put up 80+ point every year but how many guys like that are out there, maybe 6 or 8 in a given year? Maybe not even that many, those kinds of players are rare so we have to work with what we have. Would I like Havlat to work a little harder and play a little more defense? Yes I would, but I am not going to trade him for a Clutterbuck clone because you still need some talent on your team. Don't get me wrong I love Clutterbuck and he has a great shot and work eithic but he just can't do the things that Havlat does.

You always see the young guys in the NHL going full blast all the time and its fun to watch but the guys who have been around for a while know when it's time to go hard and know when it's time to back off a little. They might cost you a goal here and there but how many are they scoring for you on the other end to help you win.

[OnAFly]

Having more than one line that is a legitimate scoring threat would be nice too. Matching your shutdown guys to one line is pretty easy. Two becomes more difficult.

BTW - We lost one game and had a off night. We dropped from 6th to 10th in this time. If we win tonight, we go up to 6th or 7th depending on what the outcome of CAL-CHI is. For our hopes, we're cheering for Calgary, even though they have 75 point, and we have 72 (74 with a win tonight).

[schmitty3]

HUGE stretch of games coming up. It'd be nice to win our next 4. We have the Islanders, Rangers, Sabres, and Aves. No reason we can't win all of them or at least 3 because after that we have a 4 game road trip against the Predators, Stars, Canucks, and Sharks. That is gonna be a very tough stretch. Also I don't think it'd be all that bad if Chicago won tonight as Calgary has played two more games then the wild, and if the wild win that would put us 1 point behind Calgary with 2 games at hand.

[10,000 Casts]

I think we'll see tonight why we need an enforcer.. Konopka and Martin are going to be running all over the place laying people out..

just an fyi, we looked at signing Konopka last year when he was with TB.. I would of rather we had him instead of Staubitz..

you guys are right and we need to make some hay against the east!

[OnAFly]

Last time PMB played in the coliseum, he didn't play again for a season and a half.

NYI just got into a completely ridiculous brawl against the Pens where a few of their players simply gooned it up taking sucker punches and hitting guys while they were down.

Hopefully we see an NHL game tonight and not a circus.

[10,000 Casts]

and Gillies.. forgot about him back from suspension..

wild down 3-0 almost 5-0 and they are playing pretty good.

[OnAFly]

That was ugly. Really ugly. We pretty much stopped trying after it went 2-0. Okposo's goal shouldn't have happened, the third goal shouldn't have happened.

Gillies comes back from a 9 game suspension and continues to goon it up hitting CC from behind. He may now have a concussion. This guy is like Matt Cooke, but bigger.

We need Koivu back...bad.

[JimBuck]

Yeah, pretty tough game to watch. We looked completely flat. We missed out on a few calls that were pretty poor decisions. Clutterbuck getting layed out in front of the Islanders bench away from the play and then him getting 2 for instigating?

Guilles flying elbow was ridiculous. I hope the guy gets another 9 games and the team does something about it. It's frustrating to see perfectly good checks turning into a fight because someone was skating with there head down and got rocked.

+1 for Koivu and the tenderness to come back asap.

[spearchucker]

I think we'll see tonight why we need an enforcer.. Konopka and Martin are going to be running all over the place laying people out..

just an fyi, we looked at signing Konopka last year when he was with TB.. I would of rather we had him instead of Staubitz..

you guys are right and we need to make some hay against the east!

Konoka is a 4th line center. We didn't need a center until everyone got hurt. We were deep at center. We need goal scorers, not fighters.

[spearchucker]

Yeah, pretty tough game to watch. We looked completely flat. We missed out on a few calls that were pretty poor decisions. Clutterbuck getting layed out in front of the Islanders bench away from the play and then him getting 2 for instigating?

Guilles flying elbow was ridiculous. I hope the guy gets another 9 games and the team does something about it. It's frustrating to see perfectly good checks turning into a fight because someone was skating with there head down and got rocked.

+1 for Koivu and the tenderness to come back asap.

I don't understand how they are dishing out penalties this year. We have had a couple guys get 5 for fighting without dropping the gloves. Thee NHL's crackdown on head shots is a joke as well. Gillies needs to sit the rest of the season to send a message.

[schmitty3]

where's Boogaard when you need him. Who remembers this?

[Bear55]

Enforcers are cool and everything and they have their place but they don't win you games.

[10,000 Casts]

Quote:

Enforcers are cool and everything and they have their place but they don't win you games.

they protect your better players so they don't get gooned into the boards ex. last night with Clutterbuck.. Look at the east, every team has an enforcer, Boogaard-Rangers, Orr-Leafs, King-Capitols, Carkner-Sens, Gillies-Iles..

There is still room in the NHL for an enforcer, Gillies is a heavy wieght and the Iles normally don't dress him unless the other team has a heavy wieght.. The only reaso he was in last night was to go after Clutterbuck... and it worked....

We just got owned by one of the worst teams in the league..

[OnAFly]

It seems the league is trying to get away from the enforcer era. They don't want players to police themselves. They want to police the players.

Unfortunately, they do a very poor job of policing players with erratic calls (which is never going to change when the game is only getting faster) and very poor discipline management. A CLEAR message needs to be sent by Collin Campbell. But, that's not going to happen with the way he hands out punishment (non-existent).

Guy's like Boogaard are handcuffed when the slightest infraction on their part puts their team down a man for two or four minutes, yet guys like Gillies, Cooke, and Burrows can continue head/knee hunt, with little repercussion to the team.

BTW, the Isles have also recently beaten the Pens and SJ by a healthy margin too. Their problem is distraction, poor coaching, and poor management. They've got talent to be higher in the standings. They just have a joke of a front office.

[Bear55]

We just got owned by one of the worst teams in the league..

I did say enforcers have their place and I understand why teams have them but us getting owned by the Isles had nothing to do with their enforcers. Their skill guys put the puck in the net and won the game. Us having 1-3 enforcers in a lineup in a given night doesn't change a thing for us except maybe we get a few more penalties and give us a few more PP goals.

Chicago just won 6 games in a row and shot up the standings, trust me their enforcers didn't get them there.

[10,000 Casts]

agreed that thier skilled guys put the puck in the net but on the other hand, our skilled guys didn't and Clutterbuck was non existant on offense.

I see exactly what you guys see in the new NHL, the Red Wings, Coyotes and Blackhawks are prime examples and it works, I know. I'm not saying that we need 3 enforcers, just 1. It doesn't have to be a goon, just a big guy that knows how to drop the gloves, puts a little fear into the other Goons and can also play to NHL standards.. Shawn Thorton of Boston is a perfect example, plays well and when someone takes a shot at a Bruin, he is always there to make them answer for what they did. Big John Scott is another example and someone who I think could have played to the same level of Winger as Staubitz..

Thu Mar 03 11:59am EST

Defending Trevor Gillies (wait, there's a defense for Trevor Gillies?)

By Greg Wyshynski

TSN's Darren Dreger reports that Trevor Gillies(notes) of the New York Islanders will have an in-person hearing with the NHL on Friday to determine the sequel to his 9-game suspension.

An in-person hearing usually means a suspension of more than five games, but there's always the chance Gillies is actually some kind of legal savant like Joe Pesci in "My Cousin Vinny" ... in which case we'd suggest Matt Moulson(notes) for the Marisa Tomei role.

The hearing will cover this incident with Cal Clutterbuck(notes) of the Minnesota Wild in last night's Islanders' victory, in which Gillies stood up for a teammate that Clutterbuck hit from behind by delivering a blow to the Wild forward's head.

You've heard the reactions from VERSUS talking heads Keith Jones and Mike Milbury, who both blasted Gillies and, in the case of Mad Mike, want him drummed out of the League. Ryan Cooper, writing on WashingtonPost.com:

Gillies is a cancer on this game. He is the epitome of everything in it that is wrong, because he has no respect for the bodies of his opponents. It's well within the rules to hit a guy, but the stunts he pulls could literally kill another player one day, or leave them unable to cognitively function on a normal level. That, to me, is absolutely hideous, and he has no place in the NHL.

Defending Trevor Gillies from a "ban" from the NHL ... that's reasonable. Defending his actions last night? Some Islanders faithful and other fans have made their cases.

First, here's Gillies after last night's game, via Newsday (reg. required):

"I went over and finished my hit. There was no intent at all to injure him," Gillies said after the game. " I saw him hit [DiBenedetto] and I just made a hit on him. That's it."

Both Gillies and coach Jack Capuano said they didn't think Clutterbuck's back was fully turned. "I didn't think it was from behind at all," Gillies said.. " I hit him from the side."

Dominik from Lighthouse Hockey, an Islanders blog, had this take:

Gillies is an easy disciplinary target -- you could hear the ref shout "you're gone" almost with satisfaction like he believed the ignorant press about the Isles after the Penguins' game -- so in Heckuva Job Colie's world I can see anything happening, especially with the NHL suddenly finding Jesus about contact with the head. But Clutterbuck's hit broke an even older golden hockey rule: Do not check from behind. No, seriously: DO NOT CHECK FROM BEHIND. For someone who hits a lot, you'd think that part of the drill would be rote for Cluster by now.

Alas, as all he got was a minor, and as he rarely drops the gloves to answer for playing constantly on the edge (that's a euphemism for "I don't bodycheck to separate man from check, I hit to hurt people, regardless of where the puck is"), I've got nothing more to say other than: That's the NHL for you, circa 2011.

There seems to be a lot of "if you want to crucify Gillies, what about _________" going on after this incident. Frankly, it's more benign than what earned him a 9-game ban, which was a cheap shot against Eric Tangradi that left Gillies grinning as the Penguin was laid out on the ice. The Clutterbuck hit was in the heat of battle, and in defense of a teammate; not premeditated.

Open Ice Hitter from the Star Phoenix sent over this take to Puck Daddy Radio this morning, and it's an interesting one:

"Gillies should have been sat down for boarding, that's it. Clutterbuck should have been booted from the game for his dangerous hit. But the way Colin Campbell has the refs calling these games now, it is more important that the name on the back of the jersey, or the logo on the front, determine the call. The refs got the call exactly [PoorWordUsage] backward.

"To clarify my position on Clutterbuck, well, his picture is featured on the Hits of the Day column. He plays a regular shift, he can score, he is a bonafide NHL player. No particular issue with the guy.

"The whole point here is this - It is easy for the refs and the league to pick on a guy like Gillies. It is called bullying. Just like what Gillies does, exact same thing. Do something to somebody who can't do anything back. Gillies is a tough, who looked really bad in the whole thing with the Penguins. He was out of line, he screwed up, he was sat down. Done deal, no argument.

"But the league needs to be able to say they are coming down on thugs. So the blind bat refs boot Gillies from this game, for an infraction that Clutterback actually performed. Now the ball is in Colin Campbell's court, which is widely recognized as a kangaroo court. Campbell's decisions are erratic, senseless, lack any consistency or rationale, so Gillies will likely face a long suspension. Easy guy to pick on. Easy guy to bully. Easy guy to point at and get self righteous about ..."

There are 17 games left in the season for the Islanders, and one wonders if Gillies will be available for any of them as a repeat offender. He deserves a suspension for being stupid enough to do what he did after a 9-game ban, no matter what the motivations were.

It's like a guy getting paroled who steals a car on the same day; but officer, it's so I can visit my family ...

Should Trevor Gillies be banned from the NHL? Of course not.

He's doing his job. It's not like Snow pays him and Capuano puts him in the lineup to be Henik Sedin; nor should they be shocked when the mad dog slips the leash and bites his neighbor. It's not on the NHL to do anything about players like Gillies as drastic as drumming them out of the League; it's on the teams that hire them and the coaches who play them to determine whether they have a place in the League.

(And to those who say Trevor Gillies is an irredeemable thug with a mental defect when it comes to the safety of others, we'd ask if your memories are long enough to remember when they said the same about Steve Downie(notes).)

One last thing on the Islanders: Their fans feel like there's a pile-on from media, the League and opposing fans to the point of suffocation. Some feel Gillies is being singled out because of the sweater he wears. We don't buy it.

The Islanders aren't treated well now. They're considered a laughingstock by some, a circus by others. But know this: They're the next Chicago Blackhawks. There's a mountain of buoyant nostalgia under this team and it's going to erupt like Vesuvius when the Islanders are back in playoff contention, no matter how many Trevor Gillies types are on the roster. Count on it.

[OnAFly]

That's an interesting read. Thanks for posting it. One thing I can agree with is that The Isles can be the next Hawks. They have the talent. They just need to know how to use it.

I just read an interestind stat. The Wild are 1-3 without Barker. Maybe he was useful