Airing of Grievances: Fesitvus 2011

1. Injuries
2. Zidlicky and Staubitz
3. NHL Department of Player “Safety”
4. $9.00 beers—at that price, my game day behavior is finally being altered and I’m not really happy about it (though, my wife is…)

I’m crashing this and saying officiating, yearly rule changes, and the Wheel of Justice being back in working order – which are all really the same thing – seriously need work. These are my grievances. Or, at least, some.

Haters, Shanacan’t, stats, injuries, Bryan (What a nerd) and my very weak liver. Seriously, I’m easier to get sick on alcohol than I am to get drunk. It sucks.

Happy holidays, merry Festivus.

P.S.: Bryan’s not really a grievance…all the time.

Talking to a friend, he starting whining about Koviu again. People really need to stop bitching about the guy and his contract. If he wasn’t worth it, would the Wild be a total shell of their former selves without him?

0 wins while the guy has been out, and at least 2 of those games were winnable. He’s the heart, soul, and identity of the team. Think how bad this season would really be if he had signed somewhere else.

. Marek Zidlicky & Brad Staubitz – The team was doing better without Zidlicky than with. This tells me there is a real problem. He does not seem to fit the system at all, and keeping him in the games is simply sending the wrong message. He pinches at all the wrong times, doesn’t score, doesn’t play solid defense, and the power play is terrible, his specialty. It makes no sense how he is in the games, and Greg Zanon isn’t.

When Staubitz was brought in, and all through last year, we were supporters of his. We don’t much care for fighting around here, but if you are paid to fight, you should at least be good at it. The opposition is so unimpressed with him, they run whoever they wish, knowing the consequences will be minimal. His defensive play is marginal, and he adds nothing to the offense. Yet there he is, every game.

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS

6 games ago, my list of grievances would have been mostly oriented to the ineptitude of the NHL brass from Napolean on down to Shan-a-lamma-ding-dong. We continue to have the Phoenix annoyance (just feakin’ move them already), referees that are marginal on their good nights and downright brutal on the majority, a rulebook that apparently voids suspensions when a Wild player is targeted, and don’t forget the goalie pad debacle. I can’t acknowledge the athleticism of most current NHL goalies because they aren’t athletes anymore… they’re technicians with billboards strapped to their legs and body gear that would make the stay puffed marshmallow man feel svelte. Nope, not gonna be able to write about that because team performance of late makes other topics more pressing. (Good thing I’m keeping it brief, huh?!)

The team on the ice has looked gassed for the last several games. All teams experience it… it happens. They get a partial pass for the slump. That said, my grievances:
1. Zidlicky – Has never been a good fit on this team. He is supposed to be great in the offensive zone. Problem is he hasn’t done anything on offense and is a liability in the defensive zone. Plus, just bad juju. Is he bad in the room? No idea. Not all his fault though… see grievance #3.
2. Staubitz – The tough guy role is brutal. The story about Boogaard in the NY Times changed my view on it forever. Do that as you must. But, stupid penalties are stupid penalties. He continues to take them in all zones. Our D men can handle the nonsense Staubitz is supposed to tend to.
3. Yeo – He has had a tremendous season all told so I make these remarks with that caveat. LOVE his post game scrums. I was wrong at the onset when I criticized his hiring (Crow tastes like arse BTW). I do think he has fubared the defensemen with the forcing of Zidlicky into the line-up and other changes. 7 D-men saves gas, but it means continued play with different D partners. Yes, these are pros, but when they know their D partners extremely well they are tremendously more efficient on a break-out. Having to look versus simply knowing where the other guy is takes valuable time and leads to forced mistakes. And, get Zanon back in (credit to Zanon for handling scratches like pro that he is)!! He’s lost a step, but will stop at nothing to help the team and provides veteran leadership for the young D group… something I don’t think Zidlicky provides.

I’ll likely get crucified for the last one, but I think his recent goofs have contributed to the current slump. I trust he will get it figured out… I just hope its soon.

Wow, my poor wife… I’ve been ranting on this stuff for days and this is the abridged version. Yikes! Anyway, let’s get the ship righted… GO WILD!!!

Heatley hating: Around the league the guy is absolutely crushed and booed for two reasons. The tragic car accident that killed his best friend on the team. He has to live with that everyday of his life and some of the jokes that are made about it are absolutely disgusting. Especially to the family of the man killed. Just disgusting. If anyone feels he doesn’t think about it almost everyday of his life, I would have to disagree with you. It’s easy to be a tough guy over the internet. Go spit your hatred to his face sometime tough guys. Second reason he is booed, mainly by Canadian teams fans( what a shock), is that he requested a trade but didn’t want to go to Edmonton( again I don’t blame him). He was not the first athlete to do this, won’t be the last. The situation was made worse ten fold by all the nasty details being leaked to the media. There has been speculation it was done by the front office of Ottawa themselves. Many athletes have requested trades for a variety of reasons, their reasons are their own and not for people who could never even have a tiny concept of what its like to be a pro athlete to judge. I like his play. He shoots a lot. He scores timely goals, and seems to really be gelling with the team. I can’t and will not ask him to do anymore than that. I’ve watched every game this season and outside koivu, and brods, I can’t think of anyone on this team who night in night out produces more chances for the team. Would anyone take back the trade?

Second: Trade talk. Its still early in the season and I doubt any trades worth note are going to happen this early, while teams are still figuring out if they are even going to make the playoffs. Also, who is going to give us two cents for Zidlicky? Or Lats? Or any injury prone backup who’s contract is up? Lets be realistic people. That shit ain’t happening, and I would put money on it. The only way we are trading for any top six production, is if draft picks or prospects are involved. And I hope that doesn’t happen. We were so bare in the cupboards for sooo long and now we’ve got some future. Please god don’t let CF do anything stupid with them. Has anyone seen our previous drafts? We have some talent now and we should covet it.
There’s my rant. Go wild.