he's been horrible lately, but I'm still surprised they sent him down.
Our D is so thin on anyone who even has a chance of creating offense I'd think we'd want them all in there. Zid, spurge, scanny.
Scandella to Houston makes all too much sense, yet it is still surprising. Despite his recent struggles (and honestly who on the Wild isn't?) Scandella has proved he can play at the NHL level and will be back. With Schultz, Zidlicky, Zanon, Lundin, Stoner, Falk, and Spurgeon all on the roster a move had to be made. I still believe another move is in the works with Lundin or Zanon being shipped out. Tonight should be interesting because you wonder if Lundin now makes it back into the lineup with Falk or Stoner sitting. I actually think they should have this...
with Falk and Stoner platooning. They both play the same game and maybe the competition would raise their game. The rest of the D I think just need some time. I think the issue we all overlook is that the D we were supposed to have to begin the year never got a chance to gel with all the injuries. Zanon, Lundin, Scandella, and Zidlicky all missed significant time.
Our defense needs to be consistent night in and night out so that guys can get used to each other and feed off the other ones play. Thats why Burns-Schultz was such a good pairing. They played together forever and complimented each other. Obviously Schultz hasn't looked the same playing with a new partner.
Fredheim has good numbers in Houston, did a decent job up here. I'm just sick of seeing the same crap out of Schultz/Zanon/Zidlicky. Although Zids has been better the last few games. No idea why Lundin is in the JSMPB.
For me, Scandy was regressing and in over his head, needed to drop back and develop. Players develop individually, usually dependent on their intelligence. Spurge is probably the smartest guy on the team which is why he barely stopped over in the AHL before jumping into the NHL and making consistent progress. Scandy just doesn't seem to be NHL ready yet. Prosser I think was hitting a bit of a wall but obviously being waiver eligible just got out of the numbers game.
Both Scandy and Prosser should be with the Wild long term so it's not a bad idea to send them down now.
he's been horrible lately, but I'm still surprised they sent him down.
Our D is so thin on anyone who even has a chance of creating offense I'd think we'd want them all in there. Zid, spurge, scanny.
edit: also nice call by Squidz
Not only did I say Scandella would be sent down, I said that McIntyre should be called up to play between Powe and Staubitz. Let's see how much comes true.
Tweet is deleted now, so it must be true. Now we'll finally get to see how Cuma develops. He was one of our best defensive prospects before his injuries.
That's because he improved that tweet.
Quote:
Our D core just got stronger. Welcome back #6. After all, defense wins you championships
Not a bad move to send Scandella back, though even with his recent struggles its hard to say he's not a top-6 d-man on our team. But he's the one with the 2-way contract, waiver exempt, and most importantly the one we're concerned with development. Hopefully he regains his confidence and we see him back up here in ~ 20 games.
McIntyre played fast and aggressive in his first call-up, wing and center. Probably would've been recalled a while ago if not for getting injured shortly after being sent down last time. Hopefully he plays well enough for Yeo to send Peters back down to Houston, where he belongs and excels in a leadership role.
Not a bad move to send Scandella back, though even with his recent struggles its hard to say he's not a top-6 d-man on our team. But he's the one with the 2-way contract, waiver exempt, and most importantly the one we're concerned with development. Hopefully he regains his confidence and we see him back up here in ~ 20 games.
McIntyre played fast and aggressive in his first call-up, wing and center. Probably would've been recalled a while ago if not for getting injured shortly after being sent down last time. Hopefully he plays well enough for Yeo to send Peters back down to Houston, where he belongs and excels in a leadership role.
This is what I want to see (assuming Butch is back):
That's actually a semi-respectable lineup. We could swap Butch and Wellman as necessary as well, since Wellman seems to play exactly the same, regardless of position in the lineup. That's an actually legitimate top line, a passable second, a great third, and a fourth that's actually capable of playing hockey. It might be enough to take Heater or Koivu off the PK as well, which would really help our energy late game.
Scandy was playing far better last year and early this year than he has been lately. Need to get him back on track.
The only thing that worries me is if he's playing poorly because of the concussion.
I think some of it might stem from the whole set of Burns comments. He's feeling like he has to be that guy now, or he'll be a failure. All of his offensive decisions are slow. He's trying too hard, and so the game is speeding up for him instead of slowing down. He needs to go back to just playing defense, and not worrying about helping push the offense. That or he needs time to develop that offense against lesser competition so he can learn how to make it happen, and be better able to make quick decisions.
I'm glad he's being sent back down. Keeping him up longer would just tear at his confidence more, and that's not going to do him any good. He needs to get back his swagger from earlier in the year. I don't think it has anything to do with the concussion.
That's actually a semi-respectable lineup. We could swap Butch and Wellman as necessary as well, since Wellman seems to play exactly the same, regardless of position in the lineup. That's an actually legitimate top line, a passable second, a great third, and a fourth that's actually capable of playing hockey. It might be enough to take Heater or Koivu off the PK as well, which would really help our energy late game.
This is where the Wild get into trouble. Cullen for as great of a start as he had is a 3rd line center every day of the week. The guy at his peak is a 20g/20a player, and that's fine stretch to have him in your top 6. But to then have Wellman along with him who is a guy that i can't ever see scoring 20 goals in the NHL, you have a problem. Having this as an offense is not going to be successful. Yes it looks better than what we have been throwing out there and is probably our best option as of now, but it isn't good enough.
With Latendresse out for what looks like a while we need to address our offensive issues, not only for this but next year as well. I know a lot of people here are banking on Parise, but if that doesn't happen where do we stand? Assuming Latendresse is gone our offense for next year looks no better than this years. I know the other thing people will say is Granlund, but there is no guarantee that he 1. plays in the NHL or 2. is offensive force as rookie playing in a totally new environment. Next years lines could be..
and that to me looks no better than what we had going into this year. I definitely don't want to trade Granlund, Brodin, Coyle, Zucker, or our other top prospects but I really think a move up front needs to be made in our top 6. I personally would love to see us move Brodziak and prospects/ picks or maybe Latendresse and try to get a second line center. Then next year we could move Cullen down to the 3rd line and finally have 2 legit top 6 centers.
That's actually a semi-respectable lineup. We could swap Butch and Wellman as necessary as well, since Wellman seems to play exactly the same, regardless of position in the lineup. That's an actually legitimate top line, a passable second, a great third, and a fourth that's actually capable of playing hockey. It might be enough to take Heater or Koivu off the PK as well, which would really help our energy late game.
But we'll probably see Bouchard/Seto swapped, and unless Bouchard is back I'm expecting McIntyre to take Gillies spot, because Peters is money on face-offs(only reason he's up over Almond that I can see, Peters is actually our FO% leader). Disagree though, that that 2nd line is passable and 3rd line great. Seto's a 40 point guy until he proves me wrong, Cullen's always been a 40 point guy(except last year when he couldn't even hit that) and Wellman's a rookie. 3rd line, no 40 pt player, 1 guy hasn't scored in 15(Johnson), another hasn't scored in 10(Brodziak). Our 4th line would be a little better with Powe on it though, as he's actually scored this year.
Speaking of Gillies, at this point I'd actually not be opposed to putting him on waivers and sending him to Houston when(not if) he clears.
This is where the Wild get into trouble. Cullen for as great of a start as he had is a 3rd line center every day of the week. The guy at his peak is a 20g/20a player, and that's fine stretch to have him in your top 6. But to then have Wellman along with him who is a guy that i can't ever see scoring 20 goals in the NHL, you have a problem. Having this as an offense is not going to be successful. Yes it looks better than what we have been throwing out there and is probably our best option as of now, but it isn't good enough.
The 2006 Hurricanes would like a word with you. Cullen has been a 40-50 point player for his entire career, and that actually pretty well defines an average second line center. Sure, there's a few teams that have a Kesler for 2C, but the better second line centers score in the 50-60 range, but probably over half of them are in the 40-50 range.
Anyone trying to slot Wellman into a third line role probably shouldn't try critique his game though.
But we'll probably see Bouchard/Seto swapped, and unless Bouchard is back I'm expecting McIntyre to take Gillies spot, because Peters is money on face-offs(only reason he's up over Almond that I can see, Peters is actually our FO% leader). Disagree though, that that 2nd line is passable and 3rd line great. Seto's a 40 point guy until he proves me wrong, Cullen's always been a 40 point guy(except last year when he couldn't even hit that) and Wellman's a rookie. 3rd line, no 40 pt player, 1 guy hasn't scored in 15(Johnson), another hasn't scored in 10(Brodziak). Our 4th line would be a little better with Powe on it though, as he's actually scored this year.
Speaking of Gillies, at this point I'd actually not be opposed to putting him on waivers and sending him to Houston when(not if) he clears.
How many 40 point 3rd liners are there in the league? Are there even 5 or 10? Brodziak is on pace for just a hair under 40, Clutter's on pace for mid-30s, and Johnson's on pace for just shy of 30. We should see about 100 points out of that third line this season. That's huge for a group whose primary duty is to grind down the other team.
How many 40 point 3rd liners are there in the league? Are there even 5 or 10? Brodziak is on pace for just a hair under 40, Clutter's on pace for mid-30s, and Johnson's on pace for just shy of 30. We should see about 100 points out of that third line this season. That's huge for a group whose primary duty is to grind down the other team.
It's an average 3rd line, if Brodziak/Johnson start producing again. 40 pts is pretty high for a 3rd liner(Boston is on pace for 8 40+pt forwards like last year), but when you drop that to 35 the number increases significantly. I'm not sold on Nick Johnson as a 30 point player, 1 assist in his last 10 games, no goals in 15. 100 points is do-able and respectable, but they'll have to start producing again. They keep on doing what they've been doing the last 10 and their paces will continue to drop, and 100 points will quickly become unreasonable. Grinding down the opposition? Haven't seen much of that either.
I've liked Clutter on the top line better than I've ever liked Seto there. And that's coming from someone who doesn't care for Clutter in the top 6 at all...
Seto just doesn't do much for me as long as he's being put out there with Koivu and Heatley.
