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Wild off season


yakfisher

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COOKE adds more to this team than CLUTTER ever could.

Time will tell, if he stays out of the box. I think he is more of a cheap shot artist. I just think Cooke will camp out in front more than Clutter ever did and wreak more havoc which might free up someone else to put it away.

Not sure of our identity....the kids are more skilled with speed as are Parise, Pom, and Suter and not so physical ....maybe the mix will be great. Heatley is a liability IMO and if they have the chance to buy him out I hope they do.

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Sad to see Cullen go away. Really thought he would finish his career at home. He leaves a HUGE void in the lineup. Not only do we lose his leadership, character and experience, we now don't have a second line center. Even tho he might only have a good year, maybe two left on his wheels, if he could play the way he did the last half of this past season, he was worth signing. Rather have signed him than have Heatley back.

Ballard could be a great deal if his game comes back, so the jury is still out on that one in my book.

Cooke......supposedly he has cleaned his game up and is focused more on points than time in the sin bin.

Bottom line is none of us will really know until the players strap on the blades and the season begins. That's where the rubber meets the road and we see how good or bad the decisions were.

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Quote:
HEATLEY will score over 20 goals this year.

I hope you're right! But can he play D? He'll get his goals on the PP and he'll give up alot more on D..

Quote:
COOKE adds more to this team than CLUTTER ever could.

agreed

Quote:
Why the hate for Heatly? Not sure why he should be booed every time he touches the puck. May not be the player he was, and the Wild knew what his contract was when they traded for him.

I know it wasn't his fault he was crosschecked and injured at the end of the last season but he either has lost a huge step or he didn't come into the season ready to play last year. Either way it doesn't warrent paying him over $7m a year that could have gone to Cullen and someone else more deserving. If he plays like he did last season, the Wild are in trouble.. That big contract is the reason we had to get rid of Seto, Clutter and Cullen. And not saying thats a horrible thing but we weren't able to improve. Instead now we have a bunch of wild cards and gambles and we're strapped.

Quote:
Bottom line is none of us will really know until the players strap on the blades and the season begins. That's where the rubber meets the road and we see how good or bad the decisions were.

Yup and I can't wait!
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Cullen played well down the stretch but the first part of the season he was terrible. So which Cullen is more representative of what we would have gotten this year? Who knows. Wheatley is hurt so the wild are stuck holdingthe puck bag on him. can't buy him out while injured. Aside from the money is is slated to get I like him on the roster. But that's a big price yet. There will probably be another move yet because we are down one player unless they are going to roll with one of the young guys and that makes me nervous.

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I think there is 1 more move coming also. I also believe that Heatley's injury has forced Fletcher to change his plans for this year which means we should be in pretty good shape to resign Pommer and have a serious shot at Vanek and another big name FA next year. I know I know next year but with Heatley on the books we are stuck. I do believe he will be in better shape this year then last.

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Im pretty excited about their recent moves, I am going to miss clutter but I think they got a little more grit and skill with Cooke and Ballard

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Wow! Cheap-Shot artists (Cooke) and killers (Heatly). Man, this squad is starting to look like the Raiders of the '70's. Geaux Wild!! Bring on Ogie Oglethorpe!!

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Hated the Cooke signing at first but he is actually pretty good hockey player and looks to be a slight upgrade on cluterbuck. Just hope all the suspensions are diry play are in the past.

Cullen leaving I am ok with, it might make us slightly worse this year but he was old and expensive and we had to move on at some point.

Ballard on the cheap to replace Gilbert is solid in my book.

Also glad we got something for Seto, he was highly likely to go free agent on us anyway. It also opens up a spot for one of the kids.

Spurgie cost us a little more than I would have thought but we needed him. At some point we need some guys to step up on D or they need to be replaced. I am hoping Scandella can take a step forward and Ballard can recover from a bad stint in Vancouver.

Heatley is ugly slow but gets 20 goals easy, I think he was on pace for 23-24 goals last year and scored 24 playing with Brodziak the year before. He will also see plenty of PP time.

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Bring on Ogie Oglethorpe!!

OGLETORPE!?!?!?!!?

I'm not real crazy about their free agent signings but what were they supposed to do?

I'm okay with Cooke and Clutterbuck. Would have like the SCSU guy Cullen back but that was too steep of a price. I've never been much of a Ballard fan so I hope that one works out.

I think the long term plan was for Harding to be the starter and get rid of Healtey but their hands kind of got tied with what happen last year.

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Sounds like the Wild signed Jonathan Blum to a two-way contract. Guy has had a rough couple of years but looked very good as a rookie. Still pretty young too at only 24, was a 1st round pick in 07 with good offensive numbers. A low risk high reward signing, if he can find his game we just struck gold.

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Fletch also signed Landry; another D-Man along with this Blum....if either sees NHL time with the Wild this year we are in deep do-do.......IMO.

I am just not seeing it yet and really concerned for the Wild.....I hope they surprise me!

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Landry won't see the NHL but Blum has a very good chance to get some playing time this year and could be good for us IF and that is a big if, he can turn his game around. He is very much a reclamation project but very good risk/reward type of player. Still only 24.

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If Cooke can clean up his act, if Niño can improve on a new team, if Blum can improve he will be a steal. If Granlund can improve. If Backstrom can last the shole season. If if if if if, there are just too many ifs for me right now. It will make things very interesting.

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Like I said before a lot of out future depends on how the kids develop, we need a deep team to compete and they are our depth right now. With the cap going down there also was not a lot of moves we could make anyway, especially when Heatley got injured.

I do feel pretty confident in the kids will contributing more than last year, we also get a full year of Pominville and he should easily add 60-75 points to the offense.

We are basically sitting in the same spot as last season except we have a much better 1st line winger and the kids have some experience under their belts, what is not to like other than the same ???'s on defensive depth.

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If its & buts were CANDY and NUTS oh what a CHRISTMAS we'll have. Every team has issues. MINNESOTA WILD are deep, young, and will be skating in JUNE. No doubt. Too much talent and too many deep prospects to think otherwise.

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It could be worse, we could be the Twins and have 7 former players in the all star game..

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It could be worse, we could be the Twins and have 7 former players in the all star game..

LOVE IT!!!
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7 former players in the all star game and the Polads who are the richest owners in baseball couldn't afford them! WHAT! sick

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Like I said before a lot of out future depends on how the kids develop, we need a deep team to compete and they are our depth right now. With the cap going down there also was not a lot of moves we could make anyway, especially when Heatley got injured.

I do feel pretty confident in the kids will contributing more than last year, we also get a full year of Pominville and he should easily add 60-75 points to the offense.

We are basically sitting in the same spot as last season except we have a much better 1st line winger and the kids have some experience under their belts, what is not to like other than the same ???'s on defensive depth.

Good article in East Side Fish Wrap Factory today with Fletch discussing new and slightly improved team and Bear has hit it on the head....they are relying mostly on the "kids" improving. Lower cap this year prompted his moves. I feel better after reading what went into his thinking, sounds like Haula may even get a chance to fill Cullen's spot.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm a firm believer that we will be considerably better than last year if we stay healthy.

We missed Heatly last year at the end. We had nobody to camp out in front of the net.

Being 0 for a million on the powerplay in the blackhawks series killed us. Any goalie can look great with a clear view of every shot coming at him.

Ballard for Gilbert is an upgrade.

Cooke for clutterbuck is an even trade, maybe a upgrade uptick on offense.

Rhe kids have a year under their belt. Zucker, Brodin, Granlund will be the future of the team along with suter and parise.

Im excited for this season. There's nothing better than Hockey!

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The wild should be a 4-6 seed playoff team for sure. It's gonna be a good year to see the hawks northstars rival reborn. We will be better team with 4 soild lines which is need to survive a season and a playoff run. Granlund should start to make his magic happen anytime. He showed great effort, and no fear in his rookie season. He's right there on the verge to explode his talents at the NHL level. All our rookies are gonna be better and more motivated to beat Chicago. Only disappointment was not going after clarkson in free agency. We need a player that that! Matt Cooke is spent and a total hack! Bad move hopefully I'm wrong. Can't wait for the new season to begin.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think the Cooke signing is a great move. He is like Clutter but with more offensive upside. I have to admit that it would [PoorWordUsage] me off when Cooke would stir the pot and head for his bench but hey, he knows how to draw a penalty......I believe the Winnipeg Jets will be our new big rival. We had Lots of interaction with JETS fans at the X last time around. It wasnt pretty and reminded me alot of the hAwKS games at the OLD MET CENTER.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think we got about two weeks to training camp. Should be a fun and interesting season. Lots of youngsters competing for spots and a whole new division. I'm not expecting a ton this year unless some of the youngsters step it up but I feel next year could be our year.

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I think the this could be year for a run. If backstrom gets a break instead of using him like a goverment mule this year, he may get real hot in the playoffs. If heatly stays with us and is in good shape who knows? Zucker, coyle, grandlund and and maybe Matt Cooke? A lot can happen in a season, but a heathly wild lineup heading into the playoffs could do some damage. We played with Chicago last year with a nightmare goalie issue and no poms and heatly. That's a lot right there!

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I hope you guys are right! But too many big IF's for me. Heatley is a big if, Backs is a big if, Harding is a big if, Granlund is a big if, Ballard is a big if.

On the other hand, the top line has potential to be unbelievable, the power play could be one of the best in the league and we are tougher and I think Zucker scores 15 goals and Cookie scores 10 which is a huge improvement over Clutterbuck and PMB. As long as Backs isn't a Siv in the 2nd half of the season, I think we squeak into the 8th spot and are one and done

And we don't need any sophomore slumps from Coyle and Brodin!!

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Every team has ifs! Look what Boston did to the best team on paper last year in the playoffs. Coyle and Zucker are going to be that much better this year. Grandlund is learning playing at the NHL level and will succeed this year. Brodin is a top 5 d man in the league. Ballard is a lot better than wuss bag Gilbert. He was a women if u asked me lol! Mikko has potential if he stays focused. Skol wild! F da bi-queens!

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