Wild's road skid hits 8 with 3-1 loss in Chicago

A national TV audience got a chance Monday night to see a pretty good hockey team.

[Tom Van Putten]

Its gonna be a long year

[J-No]

It sure is, Mr. Van Putten. Especially if we have to hear Michael Russo slobber over Andrew Brunette all season. Big mistake to give him all that credit.

[Oh Danny Boy]

has this franchise fallen to new lows....Bring back the North Stars!!!!!!!!!

[Soothsayer]

Message to Brent Burns; Whatever they told about changing your game...FORGET IT! They destroyed your game. Please schedule Zidlicky for a lobotomy,(that boy is dangerous and dumb). Great effort in the first period, first half of second, but they mailed it in during the third though.(Hard to watch) Todd, please don't bench Shep, at least he hustles, Clusterbomb too, Koivu, Bruno as well. Fletch, a lot of your (higher payed)players are loafing and just collecting a paycheck. Please make an example, they're bringing down the effort guys. Give Havlat some Red Bull between periods and don't play him opposite Sykora, terrible chemistry. This team needs to be motivated, only 30-40% give their all. Step up Todd and light up the slackers...and if that doesn't work, get rid of them! I've watched pro hockey for 40 years and never seen a team that misses open nets so often, and there was no tipping involved, just clean misses or posts.

[SSP]

Holy crap, is this what they meant when they switched the team to a more offensive attack machine?

[Oh Danny Boy]

I just have to laugh folks..someone , apparantly doesn't like any of our posts...It just strikes me as funny is all,.... possible that Mr. Richards reads this..or maybe his wife?.....anyway, no disputing the fact this team is terrible and is showing no signs of turning it around anytime soon. Even listening to the players it seems like a long, long season........GO NORTH STARS!!!!!!!

[Get a Grip]

Just a couple points:

50% of the teams in the league make the playoffs, so being a playoff contender is not much of an accomplishment anyway.

The reason the Wild were "contenders" two years ago (even thought they were stomped in the first round) was because they had a coach who was smart enough to know he had a roster of minor league hockey players for the most part. Jacgue implemented the trap which although very dull kept the Wild in games they would've gotten killed in had they tried to skate with the opponent.

Until such time as this organization commits to bringing in top tier talent there is not much hope. Guys like Ovechkin, Toews, Lidstrom, Crosby, Iginla, and heck even Gaborik are on a totally different level than what we have here. You can't compete with teams that are committed to having superstars on their rosters with B and C level NHL players.

All the cute jersey's and beads don't win games... sorry

[Get a Grip]

Oh Danny Boy wrote:

I just have to laugh folks..someone , apparantly doesn't like any of our posts...It just strikes me as funny is all,.... possible that Mr. Richards reads this..or maybe his wife?.....anyway, no disputing the fact this team is terrible and is showing no signs of turning it around anytime soon. Even listening to the players it seems like a long, long season........GO NORTH STARS!!!!!!!

The problem is the Team of 18,000 has been conned for years into thinking they had a good team (we have a retired number, but have never had a player even remotely close to deserving that honor....) They were never smart enough to realize it was being done with smoke and mirrors. They can't handle the truth, they'd rather pretend they have a good team.....

Imagine if this were the Vikings, people would be out for blood. Not these pansies.

[T-Wolves Stink]

This COACH MUST BE FIRED TODAY!!!!!!!! We are 11 games into this pathetic season and in EVERY GAME they have not come to play!!!! THIS IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE COACHING!!!!!!!! Todd Richards couldn't coach a Bantam Team. I can't even watch a minute of the crap they call hockey, meanwhile Anaheim, Nachville, Tamppa Bay, Dallas have won the Stanley Cup and teams like San Jose are prennial power houses and the State of Hockey has a team that could not even compete against Canadian Junior Hockey Teams. IT IS GOING TO BE AN ENORMOUSLY LONG WINTER!!!

[Chucker]

T-Wolves Stink wrote:

This COACH MUST BE FIRED TODAY!!!!!!!! We are 11 games into this pathetic season and in EVERY GAME they have not come to play!!!! THIS IS DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE COACHING!!!!!!!! Todd Richards couldn't coach a Bantam Team. I can't even watch a minute of the crap they call hockey, meanwhile Anaheim, Nachville, Tamppa Bay, Dallas have won the Stanley Cup and teams like San Jose are prennial power houses and the State of Hockey has a team that could not even compete against Canadian Junior Hockey Teams. IT IS GOING TO BE AN ENORMOUSLY LONG WINTER!!!

They have little talent. Too early to tell about the coach.

[Mags]

at least we have the Gophers.... oh wait I mean Bemidji State!

[Monkeybot]

This team has been unwatchable this season. When the Wild were on the PP last night it seemed to me that the Black Hawks were in control of the puck more often.

[Oh Danny Boy]

Mags wrote:

at least we have the Gophers.... oh wait I mean Bemidji State!

I'm worried about the Beavers..........

actually they are probably a better squad right now than the Gophers are...

[Lombo]

Why would it kill Richards to stay with the trap too some extent? The trap is second nature to the Wild. Richards needa to come to some medium between the trap and forechecking if he wants to save his job. Did anyone else notice how the VS broadcasters didn't sugar coat the lack of the trap, the gambling offense, the mis positioned players, and how Burns (-11 before yesterday) is sleepwalking on the ice.

[Puck Crazy]

I would love to see a more successful Wild team. However, I enjoy watching hockey because it's an entertaining game. The experience at the X is as good as anything you could spend your entertainment dollars on. At least that is MY opinon. Even though the Wild are struggling in the W/L category, there are still handfulls of great plays, awesome saves, and let's not forget that there is another team on the ice that you can appreciate the skills and talents of as well. Pro sports are about entertainment. This isn't the same thing as going to watch your kid play a game. Salary caps, available talent, etc... all make pro sports extreemly predictible. NO ONE should have looked at this season as having a high probability for success given all of the change top to bottom. So if you need them to win the cup in order to be entertained, you have yourself to blame for being dissapointed.

[TC Florida]

Exactly what is the difference between working hard and competing hard? Athletes/coaches should probably stick to the script.

[Lynch Klink - Now]

The problem here is Wild players don't have heart n' guts & lack discipline. I don't care if they're short on talent or getting acclimated to a new playing style. If they play with discipline, heart n' guts, they'd at least have one stinking road win by now. Richards needs to enforce a punishment rule where for each road loss, each player will get 10 whips. The whips double if they lose a consecutive loss, whips triple if they lose 3rd straight, etc, etc. With this punishment rule in place, I guarantee the Wild won't lose another road game.