Minnesota Wild (34-19-4) 72pts 3rd in the Central
3.70 Goals For Per Game (4th in the NHL)
3.21 Goals Against Per Game (22nd in the NHL)
20.2% Power Play (18th in the NHL)
76.2% Penalty Kill (23rd in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 30G 43A = 73pts
2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 19G 41A = 60pts
3. #22 Kevin Fiala ~ 20G 33A = 53pts
4. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 23G 20A = 43pts
5. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 19G 12A = 31pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 95 PIM’s
2. #21 Brandon Duhaime ~ 75 PIM’s
3. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 61 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #33 Cam Talbot (22-12-1) 3.00GAA .906SV% 1SO
2. #34 Kaapo Kahkonen (12-7-3) 2.81GAA .913SV%
Vs.
Nashville Predators (33-21-4) 70pts 4th in the Central
3.14 Goals For Per Game (13th in the NHL)
2.79 Goals Against Per Game (9th in the NHL)
24.3% Power Play (7th in the NHL)
79.5% Penalty Kill (16th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #59 Roman Josi ~ 15G 47A = 62pts
2. #95 Matt Duchene ~ 31G 26A = 57pts
3. #9 Filip Forsberg ~ 29G 22A = 51pts
4. 92 Ryan Johansen ~ 15G 29A = 44pts
5. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 9G 34A = 43pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #84 Tanner Jennot ~ 96 PIM’s
2. #47 Michael McCarron ~ 60 PIM’s
3. #11 Luke Kunin ~ 47 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #74 Juuse Saros (28-18-3) 2.44GAA .923SV% 3SO
2. #33 David Rittich (4-2-1) 3.17GAA .890SV%
Lines:
Nashville Predators
Forsberg~Granlund~Duchene
Jeannot~Johansen~Kunin
Trenin~Sissons~Luff
Tolvanen~McCarron~Tomasino
Josi~Fabbro
Ekholm~Benning
Borowiecki~Myers
Saros
Rittich
Minnesota Wild
Kaprizov~Hartman~Zuccarello
Fiala~F. Gaudreau~Boldy
Greenway~Eriksson Ek~M. Foligno
Duhaime~Dewar~Bjugstad
Brodin~Dumba
Goligoski~Spurgeon
Merrill~Kulikov
Talbot
Kahkonen
If you thought this was going to be a sappy, rose-tinted tribute kind of preview for Mikko Koivu you clearly haven’t been reading my previews for very long. I don’t know about you, but I am not looking forward to the broadcast of this game, on the day that we retire Koivu’s number. In fact, I’m a bit tempted to watch the Nashville broadcast. Of course, they’ll probably talk about it a bit, but it won’t be the ad nauseum ball polishing that we’ll get from Anthony La Panta and whoever his sidekick is today. If I had to guess, I think it will be Wes Walz simply because he played the most years with Koivu, and he’s just as much of a ball polisher as La Panta.
One of my nicknames for Koivu over the years morphed out of his original one “El Kapitan.” I slightly edited the “Kapitan” portion and made it “Kaptain”, then added Klydesdale/Klyde as in the draft horse and a reference to Pac-Man. In the world of horse breeds, I went with the iconic Clydesdale. While it’s a more flashy breed than some of the other draft horse breeds, the fact remains is that it’s a plodding, deliberate sort of horse. And as far as Pac-Man goes, if you didn’t know, the names of the ghosts (in the English version) were Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde. Since Koivu is Finnish, the words “captain” and “Clydesdale” had to start with the letter K. So Kaptain Klydesdale or Kaptain Klyde he became.
Another thing I liked to rag Koivu for, was that overly stoic Nordic expression he would display. We so rarely got anything facially other than the deadpan stare. It was frustrating, because I think many of us wanted to see some actual emotion from our captain. Especially when there was a horrendous call or he got roughed up. But no, we got unemotional Nordic-ness. I have to laugh when people talk about the “British stiff upper lip”. Seriously, that cannot beat the lack of emotions from the Nordic peoples. And people wonder where Minnesota Nice/passive-aggressiveness comes from. What was so crazy about this, is then on occasion the broadcasters would trot out this ridiculous concept of “Angry Mikko” from time to time. Okay, keep telling yourself that exists.
So between all the craziness we’ll get from Minnesota’s broadcasting teams blathering on and on about what a great “elite” player Koivu was, digging through lots of old video in order to prove their “point”, and a bunch of interviews during the game, I’m just going to try to tune things out. What will be going through my mind, is how he couldn’t keep up with line mates, and how he’d pout when he wasn’t on the line of his choosing. Or maybe it will be his slow line changes, and not leaving the ice when he should have. Quite a few years ago, I found this picture when I thought of Koivu, and I hope it makes you laugh like it does to me. I don’t know about you, but “Nordic sweater model” would be a great retirement gig for him.
And since there will be a tribute, let’s start a pool on what video clips we’ll be subjected to. I don’t know about you, but we’re going to see shootout clips over and over again. Yes, his style was effective early, but in the last four or so years with Minnesota, it was ineffective at best. Another video clip will be where he made a powerful move against Niklas Kronwell that led to a Wild goal. Again, a great move, but how often did he make it? I don’t think we ever saw it again. Of course, there will be the clip where he appears to chatter to the Vancouver bench after he scored a big goal after returning from a broken leg. I guess that is one of the rare displays of emotion by the emotionless Koivu. I think we can skip the video tribute.
Considering today’s opponent, I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t get some sort of pre-game or intermission interview with former teammate and fellow countryman Mikael Granlund. I don’t know about you, but I would wager a serious bet there will be some sort of question like “how much did you look up to Koivu” or “how much did you learn from Mikko as a young Wild forward?” Seriously, you just have to know that’s going to happen. What I’d love to hear from Granlund is about how Koivu hampered his development and that it was hard for him and players like Jason Zucker to get enough ice time. However, you know that won’t happen. Instead, we’re not going to get the real story. No, we’re going to get the answer the Minnesota Wild wants us to hear and what they think we want to hear.
And I think that’s the problem. This organization seems to think they know what we want, yet time and time again they fail to deliver. I feel like after we did away with the “Captain of the Month” under Jacques Lemaire, they thought we needed a face of the franchise with the “C’ on the sweater. When management failed to sign Marian Gaborik to a deal and let him walk, the next player in line to be the face of the team was Koivu. He then stepped into the captaincy, and then it became a matter of “we can’t trade our captain.” And with that mentality, this team signed him to long-term, expensive contracts.
However, the contracts he received were not worthy of the skills be brought to the table. So many other teams would have let him walk away or got him to sign a lesser deal, but not the Wild. While not born here, Koivu became part of the “one of us” problem. Yet, in a recent interview, Koivu admitted publicly that he didn’t deserve the “one of us” treatment, as he said his loyalty was in this order: 1. TPS Turku, 2. Finnish National Team, 3. Minnesota Wild. Yes, you read that correctly. And if you ask me, it explain so much. Yet, so many continue to put him up on some sort of pedestal. He only had three seasons with the Wild were he scored 20 or more goals, with 22 being the most in 2009-10 and no Selke wins. Yep, he was elite and couldn’t be dealt.
Some of you may think this might just add insult to injury, but we also need to look at Koivu’s playoff results. In nine playoff appearances, our “elite” center had a whopping 11 goals. Last I looked, true elite players don’t disappear once the off-season starts. However, year after year, Koivu did disappear. The most playoff goals he scored was four, in 2007-08. I also need to point out, that in those nine playoff appearances, only twice did a Koivu-led Wild make it past the first round; 2013-14 and 2014-15. Oh, and in both of those years, he only had one goal in each of those playoffs. Once again, a sign of a true “elite” player.
I feel like I should apologize a bit for not giving you your normal game preview that many of you have to expect. However, since the Wild broadcasters will most likely do little to describe the game and will spend it deifying Koivu, you deserve to get the flip side of the coin. But I would also like to think that those of you who read my words before every game are looking for honesty, as sometimes it feels like we’re only given the company talking points. While the official channels give us great access to the team and information about them, I would like to see a little more blunt talk.
So to my fellow bloggers and podcasters out there, say what you want to say, good or bad about your teams. I know some of you are trying to build a network and get closer to the team, but is constant ball polishing worth your integrity? I don’t know if any of you realize this, but Derek and I have never earned a dime in our coverage of the Minnesota Wild. That lack of compensation has definitely allowed us the freedom to air our thoughts and gripes with this team. And I hope that kind of honesty has done you all well over the years. So tonight when the Koivu love gets to be too much, just remember you don’t have to buy into it.
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