Comments on: Selanne gives his thumbs-up to diminutive Wild prospect Granlund

By: lordfletcher

lordfletcher — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 16:51:54 +0000

@ray

-wild fan who agrees with you

By: ray2013

ray2013 — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 08:00:20 +0000

Rather than argue with Wild fans about whether their team was a playoff lock, I was just pointing out that a rookie prospect like Granlund hasn’t proven whether he can handle the physical play that he’ll face as a top-6 forward. Particularly in the playoffs, where the referees look the other way when it comes to penalties (see Weber, see a dozen guys in round 1).

I pointed out in other threads that their top scorer only got 53 points, and two other players tied for 44 points. That will need to improve if they are going to make it to the playoffs. I also pointed out that outside of Suter and Gilbert, they have a thin defensive corps, especially their seventh and eighth d-men.

They’ve still got a lot of holes. But adding three players the skill level of Granlund, Suter and ZP will see them improve. It has to. Playoffs? We’ll see.

By: wpgjetter

wpgjetter — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 01:39:02 +0000

Who says that the Wild are “obviously” going to the playoffs??? Just because they signed 2 top guys it doesn’t automatically punch a post season ticket. As I said in a previous thread, their defense is still VERY subject to scrutiny…at best they remain sub-par until proven otherwise. Many of the games lost last year were due to defensive collapses in mid to late games. I highly doubt that a couple of off season changes will drastically change that and certainly not right in the beginning.

By: greatminnesotasportsmind

greatminnesotasportsmind — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 23:44:30 +0000

Konopka believes Granlund, Koivu, Heatley, and Parise should be sitting at center ice reading the morning paper while drinking tea and eatting crumpets and nobody should lay a finger on them.

By: kingfooj

kingfooj — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 23:11:51 +0000

2 words: Nathan Gerbe.
Granlund will be fine

By: williplett

williplett — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 21:57:50 +0000

Latendresse is 6’2” and around 240 lbs and he played less than twenty games each of the last two seasons for the Wild because of various injuries. Any player, no matter their size, can get injured in this league; at this point, injuries are a way of life in the NHL.

I’m sure Zenon Konopka and Matt Kassian will be curious to see how it all plays out as well.

By: ray2013

ray2013 — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 21:20:59 +0000

Selanne can talk about how the game is different, but we just saw a large number of suspensions in the playoffs for some pretty out of bounds plays. Since the Wild are “obviously” going to the playoffs next year, how does he hold up if and when he’s targeted by a borderline or not even close to borderline kind of play? It’s a question that all teams with smallish, skilled forwards has to ask.

If you were playing the Wild, do you trade a 4th-line energy guy for a key top-6 forward if you were in a playoff series with them? And if it was a star taking him out, I’m sure Shanny would give them a medal instead of a suspension.

It’ll be interesting to see how or if he holds up.

By: atwatercrushesokoye

atwatercrushesokoye — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 20:59:53 +0000

Height doesn’t mean much, what’s more important is weight and body type (is he a muscular guy?) those things will determine his ability to take hits and not get injured from them. Also his speed and shiftiness, if you can avoid big contact hits it’s much more valuable than being 6’4″

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 20:47:23 +0000

He stands anywhere between 5’8 and 5’10? Is he some kind of shapeshifter? You’d think that if he had the choice like that he’d stay 5’10 all the time.