Are the Wild Ready to "Crash for Couturier?"
by BReynolds on Dec 8, 2010 9:53 AM CST
Email
Print
Le sigh.
Get this: The Wild are only four points from making the playoffs! All they need is for Los Angeles, San Jose, St. Louis, Nashville, and Colorado to decide they don't really feel like finishing the rest of the season, and the Wild will be all set.
It is often difficult to decide when to be positive, and when to be negative. No one wants to be seen as the guy who thinks the team should plan a parade when there is no hope. At the same time, no one wants to be the guy who writes about the terrible penalty kill when the team is ranked second in the league. It comes down to telling it like it is, and you simply hope you aren't seen as an extremist.
Looking at the standings after last night's action, the Wild are only four points from a playoff spot. That's "the glass is a quarter full" way of looking at it. I would say half full, but who would I be kidding? To the pessimist crowd, they see that the Wild are just one point of out last place in the West.
Where am I? The way I see it, the glass is broken, and the beverage inside has run off of the table onto the floor. Meanwhile the plumbing is leaking, and the only is plumber that is available charges way more than he is worth, but you have to hire him because otherwise your house will flood from the Chinese water torture device currently dripping on your forehead.
If you can link all of that up to actual real world examples, good on ya.
The Pioneer Press had this quote from Matt Cullen today:
"I think we're a team that's right on the edge of being really good, and I think we've shown flashes of that more recently, even though the results haven't borne that out."
Indeed. Maybe the Wild are "right on the edge." However, so are the Oilers. The teams ahead of them in the standings are already "really good." Now, it comes down to being better than teams that have already found their stride. The teams ahead of them are already in the race, and only have to stay there. The Wild have to be better than the "really good" teams.
Also, results are all that matter. Moral victories don't count. Haven't for the past three seasons, anyway.
The truth is, the Wild are in bad shape. They have a handful of positives. Martin Havlat is playing his mind out right now, Brent Burns has returned to his old form, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard is back in the lineup. It is difficult not to get a bit of hope when you remember those three things.
Then you are snapped back to reality. Stupid reality. Mikko Koivu is not himself, Matt Cullen has cooled considerably, and the defensive forwards brought in this season have been offensive, and not in a good way. The short handed goals against have begun to show up again. The team takes full periods off at a time. The goalies are being shelled, and then blamed for losses.
The most telling stat? At this point last year, the Wild were 11-12-3. This year, they are 11-11-4. All of the progress has stopped dead. Last season at this point, the word on the street was one of "They suck, but give it time, this is a new system, new coach, new GM, new teammates." What is the reasoning now? Unless you are in first place, having the same record as last year is not good.
I've been reading posts about the Wild from around the interwebz. There is still a strong sense of "wait and see" from fans and pundits alike. It's only 26 games they say. It's only the second season they say. It's just a slump they say.
No. It's not. The system is in place, the team is in place, and the season is more than 1/4 over. The time for waiting is over, and it is likely too late. Just 26 games? That's 26 games they don't get back, folks. This isn't college, you don't get to re-do your failures to raise your winning percentage. Just a slump? Was last year just a slump? Why is the record more acceptable this year than last?
Plain and simple, the team, as it is constituted, cannot hack it. This is not a team that is suddenly going to rip off 20 straight wins and leap frog five teams and make the playoffs. The time for "what-ifs" has passed. It is time to do the job or pack it up and, as our friends at Pension Plan Puppets said last night, "Crash for Couturier."
I've never been an optimist, nor a pessimist. I have always been a realist. The reality of the situation says that there is little hope. The team needs to stay positive, and I understand that. The fans are going to jump off the nearest cliff if the team loses a game. I understand that, too. The realist that is me says that anything is possible, it just doesn't normally happen.
No one is telling anyone not to cheer for the team, to pull for them to win. On the contrary, this is your team. Full on, vocal support is something every fan should be willing to do until the bitter end. However, savor those victories, because they are not going to be the norm. Maybe that makes the victories they do get more sweet, maybe it makes the bandwagoners jump off. Whatever your perspective, keep an eye on reality, OK?
As for hope for the playoffs, you may want to find a different dream.The Wild have the seventh highest payroll in the league and are currently sitting one point out of last place. If you are still in a "wait and see" mode, promise me you will never go into business.
For those who feel change is not needed, just remember. Nothing changes unless you change something. Enjoy your patience and wait and see attitude. The rest of us will be over here, accepting that this team just isn't very good.
31 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Crash for Couturier sounds a lot better than the Nosedive for Nugent-Hopkins!
The post is right on though. I know people will say its early, but its not like we’re 10 games into the season. More than a quarter of the way through the season, you can USUALLY tell what kind of team you have. Sure, there will be outliers and exceptions… but not EVERY team struggling is going to be that exception.
You hit the nail on the head when you were mentioning not only the points they are out of the playoffs, but all of the teams they’d have to jump in order to sneak in. And lets be real… if they do sneak into the playoffs with the 8th seed, how far WOULD they go in the playoffs?
Sometimes, the worst thing for a team is to ALMOST make the playoffs. No playoffs, no playoff money, no high draft pick, nothing.
View From My Seats
Sarcasm: God's gift to smart people...
Sometimes, the worst thing for a team is to ALMOST make the playoffs. No playoffs, no playoff money, no high draft pick, nothing.
Trust me, THIS we know. Have been living it for ten years. Sigh. And if they did sneak into the playoffs, they would likely get the Wings, and would get bounced in four. Guaranteed.
Editor:Hockey Wilderness Assistant Editor:SBN Minnesota Owner: Komissaari erämaa
Rule #17: You may not impersonate representatives of Hockey Wilderness and handout NHL themed wrist bands.
I wish the "crash" would've started 2 years ago.
There should have been no question that a rebuilding project was necessary after the shape in which HWSRN left this team. As it sits now, that rebuilding project continues to be delayed, and we, as fans, continue to lose out on years that our team could have a chance at being actually competitive. Cheap Seats nailed it and Bryan reiterated it: an ALMOST team is subject to being consistently ALMOST which is ALWAYS not good enough.
If the Wild are going to Crash for Couturier or Lose for Larsson....
….they might want to check the East standings as 13th in the West still equals the 8th-10th pick.
First Round Bust: A Cast of Thousands celebrating a rather dodgy track record of Minnesota Wild Drafting.
Exactly. The losing would have to get much worse. No one can beat the Isles at losing.
Editor:Hockey Wilderness Assistant Editor:SBN Minnesota Owner: Komissaari erämaa
Rule #17: You may not impersonate representatives of Hockey Wilderness and handout NHL themed wrist bands.
Exactly. The losing would have to get much worse. No one can beat the Isles at losing.
Editor:Hockey Wilderness Assistant Editor:SBN Minnesota Owner: Komissaari erämaa
Rule #17: You may not impersonate representatives of Hockey Wilderness and handout NHL themed wrist bands.
its the harsh reality setting in
as always, nice work BR
"That was a goal-scorer's goal." (by definition, aren't they all)
I just realized the Wild are in a similar situation to another coaching situation that’s been in some recent turmoil: The University of Iowa Men’s Basketball team.
From 1986 to 1999, the Hawkeyes were coached by Dr. Tom Davis. While under Dr. Tom, the Hawkeyes made the NCAA tournament 10 times in 14 years and made the NIT in 2 of the other years.
After making the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in 11 years (losing to UConn), the AD chose to not renew his contract and instead hired a hot HC (and former B11 guy) Steve Alford. Alford had some success but left under odd circumstances to the University of New Mexico. Following Alford’s departure Iowa hired another “hot hire” Todd Lickliter. Over his 3 years as HC, the media claimed that Lickliter “just needed to get his system implemented” or “get his guys playing his system”. However, that really wasn’t the problem, he was trying to force his system on players that didn’t completely fit into it and had an ineffective system for a team with not enough talent (sound familiar?)
I think the Wild are currently sitting at the Lickliter stage.
Cheering for inconsistent, undisciplined teams [Twins, Wild, Packers, Hawkeyes] since 1989. "False Hope is better than No Hope"
I love how the bottom four are Northwest teams
It used to be such a strong division…
JS, Champion of the first ever Hockey Wilderness Playoff Bracket Challenge! WHOOOOOOOO!
Not the loser of the first official Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League
Owner of the Bertrand Acadians of the Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League
twitter: BubbleWild48
It's not really a big surprise...
After years of having very strong teams in the division, all rather closely matched, meaning 7th -10th place finishes because everyone beat everyone else, and with the exception of Vancouver, not really being top FA destination locations, the new/young talent all sort of dried up, too much money was spent, etc. Edmonton and then Colorado hit restart first. They have young talent and some hope for better days. The Wild should have hit the refresh itself but the team is up against the cap and there just isn’t enough talent and game changers on board to stave off the slow collapse. Calgary got old and made some awfully bad player decisions. Both teams are locked into mediocrity.
by Krotz the Wall on Dec 8, 2010 2:02 PM CST up reply actions
I just don't know how they're going to do it.
The Wild are pretty much stuck with Koivu, Havlat, Bouchard, and Backstrom for several years yet, and at a large amount of money. The contracts that are up after this year are not large, and mostly taken up by raises for Koivu and other contract modifications. Cullen is around for a couple more seasons at moderate money. Lats has next season to show who he really is as a player.
Burns and Schultz have what, another year on their contracts? Burns is probably the best commodity on the team right now, as much as most of us would hate to see him go. Someone might give us something decent for Schultz, though for his money he’d be hard to move. Barker is just wasted $3 million for another year at least.
I am hopeful of a couple of the youngsters in the system. Still, the team doesn’t seem like it can be bad enough to get a top 2 or 3 pick, for a couple years even. Salaries are almost all too high around the league to really believe the Wild can get some salary relief while getting a good pick for a trade.
It still baffles me to some degree, and I think this plays into a little bit of those people who are still ‘wait and see’. The Wild should be better than they have been. The players aren’t world beaters, but they stack up well to be a league average team or slightly better. It’s on the players that they just disappear for periods at a time. Richards can rightly take blame, but there has been something missing with the Wild players for 4 years now. They just don’t seem to want it enough, or consistently enough.
The hope would be that one of the top picks ends up being a high-end player and at least some of the young players can take over as role players. There is talent on the team – albeit not enough where it can get easily wiped out by injury – but the lack of depth and ability to have cheap young players be contributors has caused the team to overpay role players. That’s something which can be fixed in time but for now the onus is on the Fletcher draft picks to pan out. Otherwise the Wild are still stuck in a holding pattern unless they get a star through trade or free agency.
First Round Bust: A Cast of Thousands celebrating a rather dodgy track record of Minnesota Wild Drafting.
My statement was that
I don’t see it likely that the Wild gets one of those ‘Top Picks’. So the Wild is back to hoping that one of those 6th to 10th picks is better than anyone thought they would be.
by Krotz the Wall on Dec 8, 2010 3:01 PM CST up reply actions
*BREAKING* New Conspiracy Afoot
As it becomes increasingly evident Canadian cities such as Winnipeg and Quebec City will not be able to pluck failing NHL franchises from the sun belt, a new target emerges: The Minnesota Wild!
Minnesota Wild players, coaches and the front office are now on the take from these behemoths north of the border to play just good enough not to be good enough for the playoffs. As such, emptying the Xcel Energy Center of fans and forcing the ownership group into massive year-over-year losses.
Very soon the mantra of “there is so much other hockey around the state of Minnesota that the NHL can’t possibly thrive” begins to circulate. Then, Gary Bettman announces for the 2015-2016 season the team from St. Paul is moving north to now be known as the Winnipeg Wild. This is viewed as a win-win between Canada’s game and the NHL brass: Gary does not having to admit defeat of far southern expansion by folding up shop in one of those cities, and Canada receives another NHL franchise without expansion. It will soon be known around the league as the “Great Canadian Compromise.”
How’s that for your daily dose of tin-foil-hat?
Dude - that's diabolical!
How far is Winnipeg from St. Paul? I better get a car with better gas milage because I am driving up there for games, dammit!
"Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever." Shane Falco
by minnesotagirl71 on Dec 8, 2010 4:17 PM CST up reply actions
8-9 hours
North Dakota up I-29 is a straight line on flat fields, has a nice 75mph speed limit and if you do get pulled over, tickets aren’t a huge hit. Or, at least last I checked. It’s been a little while since I lived there. It’s a shorter drive to Chicago.
No one's moving.
Not down here (Preds), definitely not the Wild. Atlanta and Phoenix would be the top targets with good teams and still abysmal attendance. But Bettman is not moving anyone.
The Dopey Optimist Would Note...
…that while getting the 8th seed would be difficult, getting the 3rd seed would probably be easier. The Wild are only 5 points behind Vancouver for 1st place in the division, and only have two teams to climb over for that position.
Not saying I disagree with the basic point of the article, but getting into the playoffs would not be as hard as described.
At one point...
Many of the guys on this team made the playoffs and won the division. Now I know that was with ol’ Jacques running the show, but if these guys get their shit together there’s no reason why we can’t enjoy some success. We aren’t that far away from having a solid team, CF just needs to make a few moves and we would be money.
1) Fire Richards, bring in Ken Hitchcock or someone who doesn’t suck as a game coach
2) Trade Barker now while we can get anything out of him.
3) Scratch Koivu, for just one game! Send a message that even though he’s our hero, our hard working, example setting captain, that he isn’t above reproach for poor play
4) Put Splurgeon back in the AHL.
5) With the two spots created by demoting TINY and moving Barker, bring in two defensive d-men. I’m talking the Paul Mara, Rob Scuderi, Hal Gill types. (Yes I know, we have Zanon, not good enough right now!) Those are the guys who win championships or get close. If not two of them, just get one and call up Pizza.
We need our back end to be solid defensively, screw scoring points unless your name is Zidlicky or Burns. Let the forwards do their thing, make good passes, shoot if open, don’t lose the puck and don’t give up rushes. Protect Backs and Jose. Block shots but don’t block Vision. Play simple hockey.
Sure, flashy hockey is fun to watch, and we can still have some of that with Havlat, Butch, etc. but know what is also fun? Winning, let’s do it.
Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Team: 12th Legion
Jacques Lemaire called
He wants his gameplan back
Proprietor of Hockey Wilderness - We take Minnesota hockey WAY too seriously.
I would bring in a new coach and see if he could do anything with Barker before trading him.
Wheel of Time, save my soul, find a way; may it be as the pattern has chosen, oh Wheel of Time..
by TheDragonReborn on Dec 9, 2010 4:29 PM CST up reply actions
“We need our back end to be solid defensively, screw scoring points unless your name is Zidlicky or Burns. Let the forwards do their thing, make good passes, shoot if open, don’t lose the puck and don’t give up rushes. Protect Backs and Jose. Block shots but don’t block Vision. Play simple hockey”
Here’s the thing, nobody is putting up points besides Havlat. We need more offense if we want to make it to the playoffs. This gameplan might squeak us into the playoffs but would be swept easily by a top team. We have much more to do then that to make this team a legit threat.
by Kingpin45 on Dec 9, 2010 9:57 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
That’s true, we do need more offense, but until we get it or until some of our guys can figure out their chemistry, I don’t see why we can’t rein in the defense and stiffen it up a bit so we can have a better chance at putting together streaks of wins again.
I think if Barker were gone and replaced by an actual defenseman, we got a new coach, Koivu gets his mojo back, and we got a guy like Lats back in the line up, we could be a dark horse threat. Of course no one is going to paint us as a favorite, but I don’t see why we couldn’t be the the 2010-11 Habs.
That is a lot of “ifs” though admittedly :P
Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Team: 12th Legion
Those ''ifs'' were the hot topic of the summer
Right now, we’re seeing a lot of those ifs bite us in the ass. Lats is injured, Richard’s system is either not working or non-existant, Backstrom is having a great year, but lately he hasn’t been getting help from his players or his coach, none of our rookies have stood out enough to make a veritable impact on the team… so yeah, back to square one if you ask me.
JS, Champion of the first ever Hockey Wilderness Playoff Bracket Challenge! WHOOOOOOOO!
Not the loser of the first official Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League
Owner of the Bertrand Acadians of the Hockey Wilderness Fantasy Hockey League
twitter: BubbleWild48
With our luck
We would get the 1st overall pick and the player we draft would be abust.
Wheel of Time, save my soul, find a way; may it be as the pattern has chosen, oh Wheel of Time..
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Hockey Wilderness
Related FanShots on Hockey Wilderness
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Latest Puck Daddy - NHL from Yahoo! Sports
- Peter DeBoer’s Devils: How coach’s philosophy, rivalry with Tortorella have defined New Jersey’s playoff run
- Los Angeles Kings give Rainn Wilson, a.k.a. Dwight Schrute, free playoff tickets in a Jell-O mold
- Monday’s Three Stars: Parise scores, Brodeur saves in Game 4 Devils win
- Zach Parise, Devils respond after a quiet Game 3 to even series with Rangers in Game 4
- Mike Rupp shoves Brodeur, sparks Game 4 chaos as Devils, Rangers coaches squabble (VIDEO)
Latest stories and headlines from NHL.com
- Brodeur, Parise lead Devils to 4-1 Game 4 win over rattled Rangers; East Finals tied, 2-2
- Brodeur, Parise lead Devils to 4-1 win over rattled Rangers; East final tied 2-2
- Brodeur, Parise lead Devils to 4-1 win over rattled Rangers; East final tied 2-2
- Wild prospects lead Saint John past Edmonton
- Labrie stars in Admirals 1-0 overtime win over IceCaps; Norfolk leads series 3-0
