Round 2 Guide

With the team out of the playoffs, I thought it would be a good idea to give the average Wild fan a Guide to watching Round 2, from a Wild point of view:

(1) Penguins v. Senators ~ Do we really care who wins this series?  I say yes.  We would be best served cheering for the Ottawa Senators.  Why, you ask?  Simple.  Former Wild forward Pascal Dupuis has turned into a star for the Penguins; how many people here want to see him succeed?  To remind us of past trade failures?  Not this Wild fan...let's hope Dupuis crashes and burns.  Also, anytime you can root against Matt Cooke you take the opportunity.

(2)  Bruins v. Rangers ~ tough one.  On the one hand it would be nice to see CDH alum Ryan McDonough get near the Cup, but that would be mean cheering for Rick Nash, who is still despise from his days in Columbus.  How about Boston?  Nope, can't do that either...Marchand, Lucic and the Missing Link all bother me.  Best of 2 evils:  go with the Rangers so Marian Gaborik can wonder for the rest of his life "what could have been."

(3)  Kings v. Sharks ~ easy one here.  Go for San Jose...they have Brent Burns, Marty Havlat and James Sheppard.  Hell, maybe Alex Stalock will get his name on the Cup.  Jeers for the Kings because they won it last year and continue to employee cheap buzzard Dustin Brown.

(4)  Blackhawks v. Wings ~ no possible good outcome, sorry.  Hope for mutual-assured-destruction.  When pressed, I guess I give a slight nod to Detroit, simply because every time I type "Wings" it makes me hungry.

Kane is Overrated

Let me start this entry by stating what I think is obvious:  Patrick Kane is the most overrated player in hockey, bar none.  Sure, he is an amazing stickhandler and gets into some mischief now and again, but he is not a complete player.  If I were making a list of Chicago's best players he might be 4th or 5th.  He is a skilled scorer and makes the easy moves look spectacular, but he is always one solid check away from becoming a frustrated crybaby.

If the Harlem Globetrotters fielded a hockey team, complete with fancy passing, stickhandling around the inept Washington Generals and even the confetti in the bucket trick, I would nominate Kane for the squad.  He is plenty of flash and little substance.  He would be beloved by hundreds of kids across the nation for his ability to spin a puck on his middle finger.

Having said all of that, the Minnesota Wild still need to keep him in check.  Make him dump and chase; do not allow him to carry the puck into the zone.  Kane will get tired and frustrated to keep chasing the puck and forechecking.  Sooner or later he will get lazy, maybe take a few hooking penalties and start thinking about how good he's going to look on a line with Curly Neal and Meadowlark Lemon.

Vancouver's Tired Sitcom

I think everyone on the North American continent understands that there are 2 pretty good goaltenders playing for the Vancouver Canucks and that the team intends on trading one of them in the next few months or in the off-season. What I am getting tired of is the Canadian Media trying to portray the tandem, pictured above, as being a couple of fun-loving best friends. Who's number 1? You know what?  I don't really care. I turn the channel every time I see the stupid featurette with James Duthie and the pair of average netminders engaged in a silly skit about who is starting that night. We get it, move on.

Taking It Too Far

The pattern always goes like this:  someone comes up with a great idea, it succeeds, then they try to expand the idea and it makes everything including the original, great idea worse.  The marketing mavens at Taco Bell came up with the Doritos Locos Taco last year and it was met with resounding praise.  It was a perfect combination; I have consumed hundreds.

But now they are taking it one step further.  Soon you will be able to order a Doritos Loco Taco in either the original Nacho Cheese or Cool Ranch flavor.  Seriously?  A Cool Ranch Taco.  Another case of tampering with perfection in order to make more money.  Will I try one?  Of course I will, but I won't be happy about it.

Chicago Will Lose

I know I am not exactly going out on a limb here, but tonight the Minnesota Wild will win 3-1 and end Chicago's unbeaten in regulation streak.  I quote Clubber Lang:

Reporter:  Clubber, do you have a prediction for this fight?
Clubber Lang:  Prediction?  Pain.

Hope for Better Coffee

Warning: this is another bad analogy post. You accept all responsibilities by continuing to read.

I have worked for the same company for nearly 20 years now and the only consistent thing about it is the awful coffee I drink every day. It tastes terrible and seems to have no discernable effect on making more alert. But yet I continue to drink it, morning after morning in hopes that someday it will change. Complaints have led to changes. Management has tried switching coffee providers, used new coffee machines and even introduced filtered water to see if it would make the product taste any better. No difference. Hopes are raised and then dashed. No matter what we do, the coffee still sucks. You can probably see where I am going with this.

For nearly 15 years, the Minnesota Wild has struggled to score goals. Coaches, owners, general managers and players have come and gone, yet the team cannot score goals on a regular basis. Sure, Marian Gaborik was a dynamic player, but even here he had issues. Players who cannot score here go on to other teams and become offensive threats. They bring in the mighty Zach Parise and despite his unrelenting efforts, his line is failing.

What exactly is the issue? I wish I knew. Is there something in the water in St. Paul that makes good players allergic to putting the puck in the net? All I know is that after decades of drinking piss-like coffee at work, I continue to drink it. Why? Because tomorrow it might be good.

Bring Back Ralph!

When the North Stars left in 1993 the hockey fans in the area lost more than a professional hockey team.  We lost our presence in the NHL and the great players like Mike Modano that went along with it.  Some people had the vision to realize the NHL would return to Minnesota someday; we were too big of a hockey-mad market to go without a team for too long.  And so it was that the NHL awarded a team to Minnesota and they began play in 2000.  All was right again, correct?  No.

Not only did we have to build a team for scratch, selecting journeymen players and coaches, the broadcasting side had to be rebuilt as well.  Nowhere did this hurt more than on the TV side.  Shortly  before the North Stars moved south they had hired an unproven play-by-play guy by the name of Ralph Strangis.  Ralph started doing telecasts and was soon adored by most Minnesota hockey fans.  Then the team left and Ralph along with it.

Since then Strangis has teamed up with Daryl Razor Reaugh to form what I believe is the best hockey game-calling tandem in the United States.  Meanwhile, we have been listening to games called by Dan Terhaar and most recently Anthony LaPanta.  I liken the difference to eating at Murray's versus eating at the Best Steak House in Mounds View.

How great with Strangis sound doing Wild play-by-play?  Maybe Craig Leopold will make another free agency splash this offseason and bring Ralph back home.

Granlund Impresses

Mikael Granlund had his best game last night in Vancouver.  Despite his Pee-Wee frame, he played big in the corners and did not turn over the puck at inopportune times.  Up until last night he was the singlemost disappointing part of this team, and believe me, there are plenty of disappointing parts, but last night he showed glimpses of what his future could hold.

I have reversed my earlier-held belief that he should be sent to Houston for the remainder of the season.  Granlund would best be served by playing every day with the NHL team, to get acquainted with the speed and more importantly, the size of NHL players.  He will succeed if he does not shy away from contact, but rather initiates it.

Kneejerk

To be fair, I fully admit I am a kneejerk reactionary blogger.  I was one of the first to call for Jacques Lemaire's head, I hated the Mikko Koivu draft pick the first two years when he was in the Finnish Coast Guard and I thought "Good Will Hunting" was the greatest movie ever when I first saw it.  As it turns out I was wrong on all three accounts, but I'd still put GWH in my Top 10.

That being said, after the first few games of the season I was ready to release Mikael Granlund.  Ok, not release him, but send him back to Houston for some seasoning.  He looked over his head in the NHL and was coughing up the puck at the most inopportune times.  He looked like my 13 year old son playing with the bantams...not ready for the show yet.

Granlund played better Wednesday night against the Blackhawks.  Sure, he was still guilty of a few turnovers, but I thought he played his best game of the season.  It just goes to show you that a few games does not a season make.

For now, I am saying keep him around a little longer and if after 10-15 games he still looks overmatched, send him to Houston and recall Charlie Coyle.  Coyle is exactly the type of big forward we need on that second line.

Goaltending

Minnesota Wild Coach Mike Yeo was pretty quick with the trigger last night in pulling Josh Harding.  Harding did not look sharp in allowing the 2nd goal of the 1st period and Yeo made the switch to Nik Backstrom.  Backstrom came in, played shutout hockey for 2.5 periods and the Wild came away with 2 points.
But this raises the bigger question:  what does the future look like in goal for the team?  Backstrom is only signed through this year and Harding has 2 more seasons on his contract.  Matthew Hackett is waiting in the wings and looks very promising playing for Houston in the AHL. 
Here is what I would do:  let Backstrom walk after this season (and hopefully a deep run into the Stanley Cup Playoffs) and install Harding as your Number 1 next season.  Bring Hackett up to back up Harding in 2013-14, with the intent of making him your full-time number one down the road.  Letting Backstrom go will not be easy; he's been the franchises best goaltender and it is not close, but given his age and expected salary, it is time to pass the torch.
That being said, if Harding's bad game last night is the start of a trend, then the team may have no option but to re-sign Backstrom and do something with Harding.  All I know is that Hackett should be on the team starting next season and they definitely won't be keeping 3 goalies on the NHL roster.