Quoting: jnowariak
All of things you just said point to this team just not being good enough, and I agree. That’s just the way it is. It’s also not that much different from last year’s team. Yes, Staal/Koivu/Kunin are gone but those guys really don’t move the needle that much and the team just isn’t that different.
Would we be a better team this year if we had Staal over Johansson? Yes. Would the team be better this year if we had Kunin over Bonino? I’m not sure. The difference is, we couldn’t win a playoff series with that team, but we moved those guys under the belief that we might be able to in a few years.
Was the Zuccarello contract bad? Yes. We’re the Parise/Suter deals bad? Absolutely not. This is part of the cost of acquiring them and while their cap hits are large, I would sign them both again.
There is a plan. A plan that KK and Fiala are a major part of, but we won’t see it for a few years. Does that suck? Yes. Will you have to get excited about prospects that are more likely than not going to fail to live up to expectations? 100%. That’s the world we are in and pouting that the team is bad just makes you turn into the Sens. Nobody wants that.
Bad moves are bad moves. Bad trades, paying players too much, not getting a NHL quality coach are all on the GM. The only good thing he's done is the Zucker trade.
Blindly following some guy's "vision" that has done nothing to earn that trust, and has done almost nothing good for the team is wrong. If this guy was running any other team, Wild fans would be laughing at him for turning it into the next 10 year basement dweller.
The PP being awful is on the coaching staff. No practices is on the coaching staff. The pre-game team meeting probably goes something like this:
- JEE line you have shutdown duties
- Kaprizov and Fiala you two go do stuff, but on different lines. Each of you get replacement quality centers and wings as your linemates.
- Parise, Spurgeon, and Suter you 3 make the most money so you'll get the most ice time and be on PP1.
- Goalies stop the puck from going in the net.
- Everyone else go have fun, play hard, and do your best. We'll draw names out of a hat to see where you fit in the lineup tonight.
Looking at what's become of "his" team BB must be thanking the hockey gods he got out when he did. I want Yeo back just so we can get some of his practice blowups to watch. Or give the HC job to Walz, at least then he'd be out of the booth and we'd only have to listen to him if we wanted too.