On today’s episode of Locked on Wild, Alex Micheletti joins as we recap a much needed win against the Rangers. We discuss the new look lines, a better performance by the defense and continued excellent play from youngsters Marco Rossi and Brock Faber. We discuss Filip Gustavsson’s slow start to the year, and why the team needs to allow him to get a breather and let Marc-Andre Fleury take the lead for now. We also discuss the upcoming week with games against the Islanders, Rangers, Sabres and Stars. With tough goalies coming up, the offense will need to build off of their breakout performance on Saturday to take pressure off of the defense and goaltending.
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#NHL #KirillKaprizov #MinnesotaWild
12 Comments
He is letting in a lot of softies, but we can credit many of his goals against to Middsy. If we are going to rag on Merrill, then Middsy should be scratched as well. He is constantly being beat by his man, and this is putting him in position to screen Gus or just out of position period and making goals very easy for the opposition. We made a drinking game after the first game to track how close Middsy was to the goal scorer, guess what, almost every fucking time it's his botched defense.
Gustavsson is relatively young, started off poorly last season, has been up against some good offenses, and has had some poor defensive help fronting him. I think for the long term he is better than his numbers. But in the NHL focus is given to what is happening right now. Consistency is key for your #1 and obviously no matter how to you look at it Gus is struggling in that department right now.
If Rossi continues, maybe a top 5 for Calder Cup. That has a nice ring to it after all the crap he’s endured. Looking at the standings this morning, the Wild are in seventh, 2 points out of third. I would match them up with any of the others, Jets, AZ, Nashville, Blues etc. especially if they play with the intensity displayed on Saturday. I’m noticing other teams are starting to get a few nicks with injuries, the Wild have been hit hard, so, maybe this balances out. It was ironic when it was 3-0 the scoreboard had a video on Wallstedt in Iowa, you can’t make it up. Gusty will be ok, he’s a big body and 29 will guide the Bus through. All players go through dips, goalies happen to be under the microscope. Again, do not panic 69 game left…Once 97 starts shooting amd scoring goals again – he passed on 2-3 point blank shots Saturday for the pass, the Wild will get healthy in short order. Good show boys 💯…
These lines clearly give all the players involved the best chance for success. Our new top line is among the best in the league, and they will only get better as they play together.
Gus is a solid goalie and will be fine longterm. He’s still learning for sure. Every goalie goes through rough stretches. Don’t forget his game 1 shutout. That’s Gus too.
Seth Alex, good morning
To start, I agree with pretty much everything you touched on , one thing I want to touch on , our first line
Can you name one line in the Wilds history that has the speed skill and hockey Sense that Kaprizov Rossi Boldy have? I know it's only one game
What I see here is magic the beginning
Of a very special combination, no more
Dump and chase, speed creates time and space, which you can clearly see,
Hartman is where he belongs, look at the difference, if this was against Edmonton etc I wouldn't say so much
But New York is a very good team in first place, they haven't been dominated
Like that in a very long time,.
I think it pained Evason to make changes, but he was feeling the heat
As long as he keeps these lines together, meaning no Merrill, I really like are chances,
Alex this is for you, long time ago I had a conversation with your Dad, on fan line , I told him Kaprizov was going to be the very best player in Wild history
And of course your dad , disagreed
And yes he later changed his mind and gave me some props
Another thing to note is that the Wild have been blocking way less shots to start the season. Dumba and Spurgeon are almost always in the top 20 for blocked shots, and while Faber and Brodin have been decent in that regards the rest of the D core hasn’t picked up that slack. Wild also havnt been tipping shots/passes high in the zone as much. Gaudreau, Steel, Greenway before he was sent off, Shaw, and the Deweys (who have had reduced ice time in these early struggles) were all great at that last season. And this team has never been great at tying up players in front of the net but this year our big man Middleton who’s supposed to be good at that has really been struggling. Watch the Rangers goals last game and see who was covering their net front player it’s usually Middleton. So yes I think the Wild need to to be a more possession based team, winning more puck battles and having a heavier volume of shots to counteract their defensive struggles. Hopefully this shakeup of the lines is the start of better effort and play going forward.
Gus will be fine, I've been in his corner since the trade and that won't change just because our defense has been beyond terrible.
That said…my expectations are still two words: we'll see
I do appreciate the fact that the game against the Rangers went well toward the end, but I've noticed a lot of emotional rollercoasters this season and it's only been one game with the new lines. We shall see!
Real quick on Dean too…if he starts letting some slack on the rookie leashes and it starts to pay off….then my opinion of him will start to increase again. He waited as long as he could not to change anything, but it appears he's starting to adapt to the changing times and use his weapons effectively on the ice. This is important to keep a close eye on, because it wasnt 2 days ago that everyone was calling for his head lmao 😂
Update: just saw that Nic Petan got called up about an hour ago too. Nice.
Last comment….can we get some damn players that shoot right handed? I mean, im pretty sure our top 2 lines are all lefties now (except hartman i think?) 😅
Gus will be fine. Just a matter of giving him a proper reboot and getting a good game under his belt again.