Wild 2013-14 season

[Guest]

Yeo said this morning that they are not happy with Heatley at this point but says "what are our options?". Are you serious...put him on the bench or scratch him and rotate up some of the Youth everyone is so high on. IMO options are obvious.

Ballard out....hurt. He's been hurt a lot last several years, has not been productive for a while and Vancouver was happy to see him go after "over paying" him.

[LundProAngler]

If he starts hitting a goal streak like we know he can, then you guys will love him again. I still think he will hit 25-35 goals this season if he stays healthy. Let him play, he's a proven goal scorer and I think he just needs to find his groove.

[Guest]

Personally I hope you are right...but I don't see it in him, not near the same player he used to be. He has to turn it around quickly or he'll be on the outside looking in....way too much of a liability on the defensive side of the puck.

[hoppe56307]

Got it, I missed the part where they could not use their buyouts during the season.

[OnAFly]

Yeah, I wish we could have. It would save Leo about 7.5mil right now and give us some much needed space.

[10,000 Casts]

I'll be surprised if Heatley scores more than 10 goals this season. And he'll be on the ice for alot more than that.

[CaptainMusky]

I agree he is a liability right now, but I am giving him a little lattitude considering he may be taking a while to get back to "game" shape after the injury. At least, that is the excuse I will give him for now.

If no improvement after 5 more games, something needs to be done, but I admittedly dont know how these roster call ups and send downs work politics wise to know the impact of bringing up one of the young guys.

If they bench him and bring up one of the young guys, say Haula, are they put into a bad situation with future injury situations where they need to do a callup? Are they only allowed "X" number per player or how does that work?

[OnAFly]

Unlimited callups prior to the trade deadline I believe. But, very very seldomly do guys making Heatley money get sat for too long or sent down. Sheldon Souray is the only instance that comes to mind. He was making 8mil in the AHL at one point.

[archerystud]

Not the domination tonight. I thought the bolts should have had some early penalties but then later it was the Wild parade to the box. I am ready to bring up Zucker send down Vellieux and pull the plug on the Heater and send him to the 4th line.

Team needs to stay around 500 until Coyle gets back.

Granlund has been flying the last 2 nights. He gets on a roll and he may light it up.

[10,000 Casts]

Ya Granlund is looking solid which is great to see. He's supposed to be a natural goal scorer isn't he? Hopefully only a matter of time. Speaking of goal scorers, how about that breakaway in the 3rd by Stamkos? Jeez.. Flew in and Harding never had a chance.

[Guest]

Unlimited callups prior to the trade deadline I believe. But, very very seldomly do guys making Heatley money get sat for too long or sent down. Sheldon Souray is the only instance that comes to mind. He was making 8mil in the AHL at one point.

Heatley's situation is unique in the fact that had he not been injured last year he'd have been dumped by now....funny, his injury has actually prolonged his career, go figure.

[CaptainMusky]

Yeah isn't that ironic. Not often you see an injury extend a career. It often ends one.

[10,000 Casts]

Quote:

funny, his injury has actually prolonged his career, go figure.

Makes you wonder...

The Heatley situation was huge, if we could have bought him out, we'd still have Cullen or another quality center and prolly have another solid Dman or maybe even another goalie. I'm of the opinion that if we don't make the playoffs or are 1 and done, it is because the Heatley non buy out. This team is one skilled player from being very very good, they just need someone to get hot and start scoring. We're all happy about Granlund, Nino, Coyle, Fontain, Mitchell playing solid but we need goals.

[OnAFly]

Put a real top 6 forward on that 2nd line and we have a better scoring threat by spreading the skill to two lines. If we stop giving up a PPG a game, we are a much better team too. We won't make it far with a 70% penalty kill.

[schmitty3]

I want to see what some of these young kids can do in the shootout. Koivu is a one trick pony, and goalies are finally figuring it out. Granlund has some great hands, kinda wanna see what he can do in the SO.

[CaptainMusky]

I was thinking then same thing about granlund and the shootout.

[Guest]

I agree on the shootout issue, give others a chance. Their inability to score in a shootout might be related to inability to score in games. Parise likes to camp out on the post and stuff everything in, can't do that in a shootout, Koivu does the same thing every time, Pom should just crank it up like Brian Rolston used to do. They just do not have any "snipers" at the moment and seem to try and work everything in too deep before putting it on the net. Even Suter seems lackluster in the "O" zone IMO.

[Bear55]

Out of town for a few days and the Wild looked to have taken a turn for the worse. Have to score more than one a night or we will be drafting first overall.

Ya Granlund is looking solid which is great to see. He's supposed to be a natural goal scorer isn't he?

Granlund can score by he is more of an elite puck distributor, if you watch him close he has some amazing vision and finds guys who often aren't ready for the pass.

[10,000 Casts]

Getting Granlund off the Heatley line was a great move. I figured that it was going to help him and it showed against FLA. I really liked that line with him, Nino and Cooke. Last year I think that had something to do with his slow development, now he is faster and it only makes sense to have him and Nino on the same line imo.

[CaptainMusky]

I really like that line too. Russo spoke at length today about Heatley and how disappointed the Wild are that he is so terrible right now.

I do think he played better against Florida, but that isnt saying much.

They are really over a barrel with him.

Its frustrating that the team provides so much puck control, shots and rpessure, yet yield so few goals. Last year they started the same way. Eventually it gets figured out, but they could be a long ways back in the standings if its too far out.

[schmitty3]

Good win tonight, hope Brodin is alright!

Harding has quietly been putting together a helluva start to the season.

[archerystud]

Hope Brodin isn't hurt too bad

[CaptainMusky]

Harding has been great! So happy for him. So now the only guy on the roster with nice teeth probably lost a few? Hopefully Borodin had a few stitches and that is all not like Crosby's injury a few years back.

[Bear55]

Hope Brodin isn't hurt too bad

I know, really don't like our D with him and Ballard on the sidelines. Just waiting for Granlund to have a breakout game one of these days, the kid is all over the ice making plays and now he is starting to shoot a little more.

[RK]

Was traveling so I missed the whole road trip, which sounds like a good thing from what I read...

Last night was kind of a typical game against the Preds. They don't generate much and don't give up much. Rinne's a very good goalie and his puck control is really stellar, plus his D collapses down and clears out well when he does leave one out there.

Still frustrating to see how much they struggle to score though. Have to think they're going to start going in eventually. (Right??)

D was stellar last night, especially playing down a man. Thought Spurgeon really stepped up with Suter on the top pair. How that guy can constantly go into the corner against guys with 6" and 50 pounds on him and come away with the puck just amazes me. Thought Prosser played really well too, but man o man what a stupid decision to drop the gloves in the third when you're already down a man.

Brodin eating that puck - youch. Hope it's just dental work and not something worse like a broken jaw. But it looked bad...

Harding - wow has he been good. Nice to see him get rewarded for it finally. Have to wonder how long it will be until Backstrom gets his next start. Don't think there's any way Harding gives up the net as long as he keeps playing like he is.

Anyhow, nice to get a W.

[10,000 Casts]

That was a huge win and they need another one against Carolina tomorrow. Then they have a home and home with Chicago. It would be nice if they can get 2-3 but they could also be sitting at the bottom of the division if they go 0-3 or 1-3.

[Guest]

I am very impressed with their ability to control the play offensively and then lock down on defense. Fontaine's goal should be a model for what they need to do in order to score more so hopefully they start crashing the net more cuz they are not sniping any goals on first chances so far.

[Bear55]

Speaking of Fontaine, he has been a pleasant surprise. Enough hustle and skill to play on any line.

[schmitty3]

Brodin has a broken cheekbone. Glad it isn't a broken jaw.

[archerystud]

Speaking of Fontaine, he has been a pleasant surprise. Enough hustle and skill to play on any line.

I think we can call Fontaine the anti-Heatley....

Nice to hear about Brodin. My guess is he'll be back by next week, then closely followed by Coyle, immediately to be followed by Heatley down to the 4th line.

Glad Spurgeon knocked that one out of the crease and not into the net at the end Harding was just a smidge behind and would have had it covered before it crossed. Usually in those instances it seems like it goes off the goalie and in.