Prospects:
Zucker leads the WCHA in scoring and Denver wins NCAA title.
That would require them to defeat the defending champs at UMD GO DOGS!!!
Seriously though, Zucker is scary. Seen him play and hope he has a killer sophomore season so the wild bring him up the following year. The kids got speed
1/ Minnesota sneaks into the 8th spot in the West and causes fits against the number 1 team, pushing them the 7th game but ultimately loses
2/ Latendresse ends up being traded after Casey Wellman takes over on the top 6. Injuries limit Lats to a handful of games before the deadline, comes back healthy and is traded to a playoff team that needs depth.
3/ Brad Staubitz is demoted to the AHL. He is claimed by Philadelphia.
4/ Cody Almond establishes himself in the NHL. With him, MacMillian (an emergency call up), Gillies, Powe, and Clutterbuck, a lot of teams have fits against a tighter defensive and more physical Minnesota Wild team.
5/ By the end of the year, Scandella is known league wide and establishes himself in the top 4 due to Wilson and Yeo
6/ Minnesota trades one of their top prospects in order to get help on the blueline once Zidlicky, Schultz and Stoner all go down with injuries. Haula is traded I believe.
7/ Backstrom and Harding both go down with injuries and Hackett is called up. Backstrom is traded at the deadline and Minnesota goes back to the 1A and 1B tandem of before.
8/ Clutterbuck makes a questionable hit on an Edmonton player and Edmonton fans scream we're a dirty team as the player is placed on the IR list.
9/ Heatley likes coming back to the Midwest and posts his best season in the last 3 years with 90 points.
10/ Minnesota has two first round picks this year in the 2012.
- We sign Jarkko Ruutu
- Seto starts in 2nd line, but after three weeks of bad success at the start of the season and first line being borderline useless, he switches places with Bouchard to form the much anticipated "Two sharks and a Finn"- line, resulting in a landslide. They get an instant connection, Koivu gets a 95-point season, Heater scores 50+ goals and Setoguchi gets 41 while Wild make the conference Finals.
- Clutterbuck boards Zdeno Chara in 19th of February home game against the Bruins, resulting in Bruins fans hatred against us because we are a "dirty team". Oh, and Chara's season is over.
- Bäckström scores an empty-netter in playoffs.
- Bäckström will have a 1.92 GAA and 92.1% regular season.
- Mikko Koivu will have at least one 5-point game this season.
- Bäckström will have a 1.92 GAA and 92.1% regular season.
I know they are supposed to be bold predictions, but with this defense I'd think his GAA would be worse, but % good if he were to have a really good season.
Last edited by Foxlockbox: 07-07-2011 at 06:37 AM.
- We sign Jarkko Ruutu
- Seto starts in 2nd line, but after three weeks of bad success at the start of the season and first line being borderline useless, he switches places with Bouchard to form the much anticipated "Two sharks and a Finn"- line, resulting in a landslide. They get an instant connection, Koivu gets a 95-point season, Heater scores 50+ goals and Setoguchi gets 41 while Wild make the conference Finals.
- Clutterbuck boards Zdeno Chara in 19th of February home game against the Bruins, resulting in Bruins fans hatred against us because we are a "dirty team". Oh, and Chara's season is over.
- Bäckström scores an empty-netter in playoffs.
- Bäckström will have a 1.92 GAA and 92.1% regular season.
- Mikko Koivu will have at least one 5-point game this season.
- We sign Jarkko Ruutu
- Seto starts in 2nd line, but after three weeks of bad success at the start of the season and first line being borderline useless, he switches places with Bouchard to form the much anticipated "Two sharks and a Finn"- line, resulting in a landslide. They get an instant connection, Koivu gets a 95-point season, Heater scores 50+ goals and Setoguchi gets 41 while Wild make the conference Finals.
- Clutterbuck boards Zdeno Chara in 19th of February home game against the Bruins, resulting in Bruins fans hatred against us because we are a "dirty team". Oh, and Chara's season is over.
- Bäckström scores an empty-netter in playoffs.
- Bäckström will have a 1.92 GAA and 92.1% regular season.
- Mikko Koivu will have at least one 5-point game this season.
And last but not least...
- We get heaps of band-wagoners.
Three things; 1st; You're obviously Finnish (biased? ) 2nd; Setoguchi will not score 41 goals in this world. 3rd; I hate the band-wagoners (If we would've drafted Armia, there would've been sh*tload of Finnish band-wagoners, which was one of the reasons that I didn't really want us to draft him).
Three things; 1st; You're obviously Finnish (biased? )
Yes, and a fan of him since he demolished Jagr in 2006 Olympics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pajicz
2nd; Setoguchi will not score 41 goals in this world.
That's why they're called bold predictions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pajicz
3rd; I hate the band-wagoners (If we would've drafted Armia, there would've been sh*tload of Finnish band-wagoners, which was one of the reasons that I didn't really want us to draft him).
I hate band-wagoners too, actually, at least in general. Even if the amount of Finnish players obviously has something to do with my interest in Wild, it wasn't the reason I began to support Wild. Oh, and this place already doubles as the Finnish hangout in HFBoards. We have the "Teemu camp" and the "Wild camp"
We will have 3 30 goal scorers, one 40 goal scorer, and 1/3 of them will NOT be Heater, Lats or Seto. (my bolder prediction is Clutterbuck getting 30)
Heater and Butch click like a Logitech mouse, but Koivu and Heater don't work. Lats - Koivu - Seto becomes our "1st" line, with Butch - Brodz - Heater being our "2nd" line. Cullen never sniffs the top-6.
Zidlicky stays largely healthy and regains his ability to shoot on the PP and finishes top-5 in PP goals from defensemen.
Backstrom gets hurt early in the year, and fights nagging injury for most of the season. Harding comes in and starts 50+ games, finishing with a sub 2.5 GAA and a 91%+ save percentage. Proving finally that he can stay healthy AND handle a starting load. 2 years from now, signing him for this season instead of pursuing another FA goalie becomes a killer move. And Backstrom walks to free agency due to some goofy-ness with his his contract's NTC or NMC (I don't remember which he has...)
One of: Prosser, Genoway or Falk make the team out of camp - even AFTER we sign a FA defensemen (during training camp, due to an injury) - and play 75+ games with the big club. I've got my money on Genoway becoming a respectable 5/6 guy who gets PP time, personally. But I'm leaving it open.
We will make the 8th seed, on the strength of trading our 1st rounder for a defensemen at the deadline.
Ugh, all this pontificating is exhausting. I also realized I don't have a single negative prediction... That's far too telling... I'm too hopeful damnit!
People seem more optimistic about the Wild's chances in that thread after they acquired Heatley.
Yeah, I saw us getting better placement after we made that trade, but there's still a lot of people that think that since we have no huge name on the blueline that we're destined for the bottom of the West.
Negative Prediction
Stoner and Spurgeon both fall off the map and have tough seasons. Stoner to 3rd pairing/healthy scratch levels and Spurgeon spends much of the year in Houston.
Draft Prediction
The Wild draft Jacob Trouba, D | USNDT
__________________
After Meaningless Win - 3/29/12 - Game 77 | SoH-"Who knows, that could have cost us a Cup tonight." | Dooohkay
The Wild should sell out almost every game. Remember, our first ever non-sellout was last year. The state is doing better economically. The team on the ice should be more exciting with the offensive additions. Finally, there could be extended lockouts in both competing sports (NFL and NBA) which should bode well for attendance. I'd say the average season attendance will be around 103%
GO DOGS!!!
