Weekly Wild Update for 1-16-2012: Well, It's Been Fun

by BReynolds on Jan 16, 2012 3:14 PM CST in Features

Anyone want to keep looking? Grab an umbrella, and that big metal pipe.

A month or so ago, the question was: How many ways can we come up with to say the Wild are pretty good? Now, the question is: How many ways can we come up with to say the Wild are absolutely cooked?

Last night's news about Mikko Koivu is not going to be well received. By any one. One thing I am a bit disappointed about, but not completely surprised, is the reaction from fans outside Minnesota is more about who replaces Koivu in the All-Star game than who replaces Koivu in the Wild line-up. Which is fair, but it sure would be nice to read about something that matters, and not the corporate boondoggle that is about to take place in Ottawa.

Ah well.

Links after the jump. I wonder what they're about.

Wild News

Mikko Koivu injures shoulder during shootout loss at St. Louis | StarTribune.com - Le sigh.

Koivu injury could throw team in even larger state of flux | StarTribune.com - Indeed. What happens next is anyone's guess.

Time to pack it in? Mikko Koivu out at least a month with shoulder injury | ProHockeyTalk - Yes. Yes it is.

Report: Minnesota Wild lose NHL All-Star Mikko Koivu for month; can they survive? | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports - No, they can't survive.

Wild blue-liners lacking offensive punch | StarTribune.com - Pretty helpful group, they are.

Tending the Fields

The Third Intermission: Weekend wrap-up - Hope the folks in Houston are ready to lose player after player the rest of the year.

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Comments

Sigh

"Believe in the system. For it shall bring light when there is dark, food when there is hunger, and shots when there are passes. This is the divine process." Yeo 4:18

by NorthernStar on Jan 16, 2012 3:29 PM CST reply actions

Embrace the fail

All you can do is laugh by this point

Being from Minnesota, it would be rude to put something clever here.

by redheadzeb on Jan 16, 2012 3:43 PM CST reply actions 1 recs

I hate to say it, but I'm to the point where...

I’m either hoping we can overcome this and rise up to claim a playoff spot at the end of the season…OR…lose every game from now through the end of the season. I’m sick of just doing alright but not making the playoffs. I’d rather have a #1 overall pick than just enduring another mediocre season and getting a 9th-14th draft pick.

Proud Sioux Falls Stampede Season Ticket Holder and #1 Nate Prosser Fan! Go Wild!

by wild4life on Jan 16, 2012 4:05 PM CST reply actions

Although...

Fletcher’s done a good job with his drafting.

Proud Sioux Falls Stampede Season Ticket Holder and #1 Nate Prosser Fan! Go Wild!

by wild4life on Jan 16, 2012 4:12 PM CST up reply actions

you know what i say?

Don’t give up the ship.

Great moments are born out of great opportunity.

Official US Navy Seabee of the Hockey Wilderness

by Jolonco on Jan 16, 2012 4:23 PM CST via mobile reply actions

Amen!

Proud Sioux Falls Stampede Season Ticket Holder and #1 Nate Prosser Fan! Go Wild!

by wild4life on Jan 16, 2012 4:28 PM CST up reply actions

At least the game isn't in Dallas where they haven't won since the Johnson administration.

by cgp711 on Jan 16, 2012 4:44 PM CST reply actions

Ryan Lambert didn’t waste anytime to insult Wild fans on puck daddy

2010-2011 Minnesota Wild Fantasy League Champion
President/CEO of the Tutu Many Slapshots fantasy hockey club

by Chris Winner on Jan 16, 2012 9:32 PM CST reply actions

Call me when he does NOT insult us

He insults everyone else all the time, why not us, too?

Being from Minnesota, it would be rude to put something clever here.

by redheadzeb on Jan 16, 2012 9:44 PM CST up reply actions

Meh

Lambert is losing his touch. He has insulted so many people that his act has grown tired. I chirped him the last time he insulted the Wild using the old advanced stats garbage. The problem? He was about 3 months behind everyone else. He flipped on me, saying I was just mad he criticized “my” team.

The whole point was the the insult was boring. His work bores me at this point. He just flat out isn’t funny. I absolutely LOVE a good joke at the expense of me or the Wild. Love them. But when it isn’t funny, it just isn’t any fun.

Editor:Hockey Wilderness Swarm Beat Writer:In Lax We Trust Now with more Twitterness: ReynoldsSBN

Master of unsustainable passive regression.

by BReynolds on Jan 16, 2012 10:18 PM CST up reply actions

He's been hit or miss as of late.

Not sure if he is not taking as much time before he writes or what his deal is lately. I used to look forward each Monday to WWL but there is only so much Teemu Selanne gushing I can take. Great player but enough all ready.

by cgp711 on Jan 16, 2012 10:49 PM CST up reply actions

There is a not insubstantial silver lining to all this though in my mind

The Koivu injury basically leaves two likely scenarios. One, the Wild continue playing like they have been, or improve enough to put up a decent showing for themselves but not enough to compensate for the key injuries. Either way, they lose a lot of games in the next month. Two, they get back into the system, rediscover themselves, and get back to the team of last month. In that case, they might manage .500 hockey with Koivu gone, and then they’ll be primed to go on another tear when he gets back. In the first case, they get a decent draft pick and 20 games with a fullish team to work on getting back into the system and enter the offseason on a positive note, and in the second they could grab around the 6th seed and come into the playoffs hot. The worst case scenario, where they get the 9th or 10th seed or stumble into the 8th seed and get quickly eliminated, has been made much less likely now, because the team would need to play the system very effectively to win with Koivu gone and would thus probably get a higher seed, and if they don’t they’ll probably lose too much for Koivu’s return to get them back into contention.

by Xenai on Jan 16, 2012 10:58 PM CST via mobile reply actions