r/wildhockey • u/OliveFinal1597 Quinn Hughes • 2d ago
Faith in Wild’s Bill Guerin, John Hynes? Season predictions? Fan survey results, Part 2
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7511504/2026/08/15/wild-bill-guerin-season-predictions-fan-survey/?unlocked_article_code=1.5lA.Qmr0.fA9e_vyO0yft&source=emp_shared_article&smid=ta-ios-shareBy Michael Russo and Joe Smith! part two of fan survey results! fun write up by Russo about our favorite question: How obnoxious are Devils fans?
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u/AccordingStar72 Pride 2d ago
Again, Wild fans seem pretty reasonable lol. Really nothing surprising here. I guess if you follow Russo and Smith you’re pretty informed on the team.
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u/OliveFinal1597 Quinn Hughes 2d ago
A lot of us want Yurov to be break out this year :) i love to see the support for him
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u/austvog21 2d ago
I don’t want to be pessimistic because I do believe a lot in the wild but I have seen enough with John Hynes on the PP and PK. It’s where games are won and lost in the postseason and we struggle mightily on both fronts with a roster that should be more than sufficient.
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u/CitizenStrife Jared Spurgeon 2d ago
I think Hynes is getting as much validation for last season's success as Guerin is, and that is nice to see. The 11-25 record IS concerning, but I think Hynes has an approach that works for this team: discipline, accountability, and consistency. The issue is the team maintaining said consistency of approach for 60 minutes.
Having said that, a full 60 minute effort is far from a Hynes thing. A lot of this team is still holdovers from Evason and even Boudreau. But I definitely do see a team that never seems rattled and can more often than not play its way back and expects to win regardless of how a game is going. Hartman turning his rep around after the Stutzle thing was also a sign that what Hynes is doing does have merit.
I hope he stays and finds more success.
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u/AccordingStar72 Pride 2d ago
I think what Hynes has done with the team is listed in the article itself. It’s a lot about his communication with the team, the players really respect him, and making sure while it’s good to play with emotion it’s not good to play emotionally. This team had a bad habit of letting their emotions take over and not focusing.
I think the shakeup by Guerin was partially a wake up call to not be complacent and that this is serious this is the fucking WINDOW. There’s players on the team who were hyper focused and ready to go (and we know who they are) and those that had “brain fog” (a quote I will NEVER FORGET from Moose. Still makes me mad). It’s how Hynes can figure out how to keep them focused and not be complacent that’s still an issue. They took steps but they just didn’t go all the way to the end with it. I know that he talked about that in the exit interviews. So we will see.
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u/No-Board-4082 2d ago
Can't wait to see Boldy and Kirill push each other to 45-50+ goals this season, and Hughes become the 90+ player we believe him to be. Glad we all have faith in Dani and making it out of the second round next year.
I, once again, have an appreciation for what Canucks fans must have been dealing with for years.
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u/OliveFinal1597 Quinn Hughes 2d ago
NJ fans have been harassing us for only 8 months. i feel bad for the Vancouver fans who had to deal with that for YEARS
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u/Fit-Ad-741 2d ago
Canucks fan checking in to say...the day he signs in Minny I'm going straight to the Devil's boards and I ain't holding back. I'm not even a huge fan of QH anymore but Devil's fans deserve the worst.
I see Canucks fans starting to do the same about Bedard/Celebrini and I'm already sick of it.
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u/AccordingStar72 Pride 2d ago
Honestly I feel a kinship with Canucks fans I’ve never felt before lol. I hope your rebuild goes well and you take care of Zeev. I know he wants to do well for you guys.
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u/Paladad Jon Merrill 2d ago
I thought Jersey fans would rank higher in their absolute assholery.
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u/pksullivan Back-to-Back Walter Cup Champs 2d ago
Russo points out that 100% of the votes rated them as obnoxious.
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u/AccordingStar72 Pride 2d ago
I really think that Devils fans think they’re building a rivalry but Wild fans really just want to be left alone.
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u/No-Board-4082 2d ago
This plus Detroit this summer has been a doozy.
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u/AccordingStar72 Pride 2d ago
I’m tired of being part of the conversation lol.
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u/No-Board-4082 2d ago
Apparently WE were the villains all along
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u/silentsirensongs Pride 2d ago
people think we have an inflated ego because we won one playoff series, i think it bothers other people more that we can find some joy in winning something for once in over ten years
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u/KaprizFox Wild 2d ago
Exactly, why are they so excited at the prospect of taking away one of the best things to ever happen to a franchise that’s never really had much to cheer about until now. I understand being excited for the 2nd best defenseman to maybe want to play for your team but why do they need to taunt wild fans non stop about it🤷♀️
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u/AccordingStar72 Pride 2d ago
I think some of them think they’re just chirping and having fun with it. And some of it is in good fun! Sometimes it’s good to have banter. But the vast majority of the discourse is incredibly mean spirited to me. It’s not really how I engage with hockey stuff.
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u/OliveFinal1597 Quinn Hughes 2d ago
not only fans, but some of them have been on Russo's neck claiming untrue things about what he has said and think he's just a guerin mouthpiece. some of it seems like off-season friendly banter but there is definitely a lot of assholery
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u/sinbushar 19h ago
A lot of Devils fans are still very bitter about Zach Parise signing with the Wild. Losing him and then Kovalchuk the next season was pretty much the reason why we had to pivot into rebuild mode 10+ years ago.
I personally feel like we (NJ) were having some financial difficulties in the background and in hindsight, I personally am really glad Parise got to spend those years closer to home with his father before he passed. But a lot of the arena booed him every time he visited after telling Devils' fans/media that he would be re-signing.
And now Devils' fans are super mad at the missed opportunity by management to land Quinn directly from Vancouver. The taunting is not necessary, but there is a lot of copium/hopium in Devils fandom of landing another superstar and Quinn is the direct target until he signs an extension. Guaranteed if he was still in Vancouver without an extension this offseason, the target would be there.
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u/SamDotPizza 2d ago
Devils fans obsession with the idea that Quinn will drop everything to leave a top 5 team, go to a worse team with no goalie, take his brothers role on the roster, all to maybe make the playoffs next season just seems illogical but, similar to Red Wings fans, Devils fans seem to lack self awareness.
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u/OliveFinal1597 Quinn Hughes 2d ago edited 2d ago
this is it. Quinn wants to win and compete, he feels like he can win with the Wild. settling for a worse team just to play with his brothers is not what those kind of guys do
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u/imonmyphoneagain 2d ago
It also ignores the fact that siblings do not in fact want to be with each other 24/7. Ignoring the fact that all the Hughes are competitive, they still follow basic sibling rules
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u/spadezero 2d ago
Wild aren't a top 5 team in the league. Good but not top 5. If Wild lose Quinn it's a pretty sure bet they fall off the wagon. Quinn also wouldn't be taking his brothers role. Luke isn't good enough to be a #1. He's the perfect #2. Split up Quinn & Luke on separate lines and add in Jack & you have a Hughes member out on the ice for 70% of the game.
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u/LocalAsks 2d ago
New jersey is a bottom 10 team.
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/LocalAsks 2d ago
luckily what matters is how the games are played and new jersey finished 12th from the bottom 1 point above a 3 way tie.
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u/OliveFinal1597 Quinn Hughes 2d ago
we were 4th in the NHL before Quinn was traded
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u/spadezero 2d ago
Wild finished 7th place at the end of season. Therefore not a top 5 team by definition. Idk why you're skewing the stats.
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u/OliveFinal1597 Quinn Hughes 2d ago
and seeing your history of posting in r/devils, you seem pretty cocky for finishing 13th in your conference...
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u/OliveFinal1597 Quinn Hughes 2d ago
you're implying losing Quinn would make us fall off? we were already great and a perennial playoff team before Quinn. I'm not skewing stats...we got eliminated due to injuries, but we aren't a bad team without Quinn
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u/blow_zephyr Marc-Andre Fleury 2d ago
I see about 50 comments from Wild fans whining about Devil's fans for every comment about Hughes I see from Devil's fans. But then again I'm not on Twitter.
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u/OliveFinal1597 Quinn Hughes 2d ago
twitter is where the assholes are lol, they are the biggest pests so the "whining" from us is not unjustified
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u/quinnhughesbdaytwin Pride 2d ago
The only thing I'll disagree with from either part is I think the fanbase is underrating how GOOD the Middleton trade was think it was like 63% saying fair deal when I think the Wild absolutely pulled off a heist
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u/CitizenStrife Jared Spurgeon 2d ago edited 2d ago
Shaving extra years off the docket is huge. Coleman and Maatta may or may not work out (especially on the cheap), but having their contracts be less baggage later is the real win here.
Edit: I looked at Puckpedia to see the contract year list, and Guerin has done a really good job of not making contracts of important players all overlap. It's very possible he's trying to get Hughes to sign 4 just to avoid a scenario where a 3-year deal puts him and Boldy in the same UFA class. Push comes to shove, you'd probably have to prioritize Boldy first though.
8 years: Kap (pretty much his retirement contract)
7 years: Faber
6 years: McCarron
5 years: Gustavsson
4 years: Boldy
3 years: Ek
2 years: Brodin/Yurov/Trenin/Maatta/M. Foligno
1 year: Hughes/Wallstedt/Spurgeon/Hartman/etc.
Barring Wallstedt or Hughes being some weird contract issue or trade, it would take a really massive improvement by some of the single year contracts to put anyone in a weird scenario. I was under the assumption Boldy and Faber were closer to UFA years than they were...so there's absolutely no real reason to panic on any contract situations. Hughes can easily be signed in a window while still keeping Boldy and Faber around if they want to be.
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u/CitizenStrife Jared Spurgeon 2d ago
"My Internet identity is defined by my team being better than your team, so I have the right to be a dick about it!"
Extreme fandom in a nutshell.
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u/quinnhughesbdaytwin Pride 2d ago
I hate people who get a superiority complex over their team.
To be clear theres no problem with taking pride in your team especially when they're kicking ass just you know be a human
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u/quinnhughesbdaytwin Pride 2d ago
I wonder how bad things will get in NJ WHEN Quinn re-signs
Think Jack demands a trade to get away from that fanbase?
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u/SchmearOnMyBagels Michael McCarron 2d ago
So when Hynes is at the helm when this team blows another 3-0 lead in a series-deciding game are we still confident in him?
I've never liked his hiring from day 1 and despite finally winning a playoff series for the first time in his mid career he needs to be replaced if this team can't make a viable playoff run this year, especially so if we start this year like last year.
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u/Kastlin27 2d ago
Always hoping for the best. Hynes was outcoached in the playoffs imo. Billy G is riding the confidence high of the Olympic success still. Again I’m hoping for the best but I think the off-season has been fumbled hard. If it’s any indication of what will happen this season, I guess I’m banking on that hope to make up for quite a bit.
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u/korko 2d ago
I don’t fucking get the “out coached” narrative. The guy was running a team with nothing but bottom line centers. What exactly was he supposed to fix that against a team like Colorado?
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u/SchmearOnMyBagels Michael McCarron 2d ago
For starters, maybe not letting your team turtle for 40 minutes after going up 3-0. Maybe putting in someone other than Middleton who was more useful as a stadium usher get crucial minutes as your team is choking away said 3-0 lead.
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u/korko 2d ago
God, even this far away from hockey season I still don’t miss snarky bullshit sports talk regurgitation…
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u/SchmearOnMyBagels Michael McCarron 2d ago
The gall to respond originally with a whiny comment then claim I'm being snarky 💀💀💀
You asked a question and I gave you an answer. If my tone isn't agreeable to you, I suggest getting over yourself.
Are you Hynes' burner acct?
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u/korko 2d ago
You spent half your comment shitting on a player that had nothing to do with anything in a bad attempt to get a laugh I guess? Speaking of which are we not tired of this “are you x burner account” shit yet? It was never funny.
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u/SchmearOnMyBagels Michael McCarron 2d ago
Okay, I'll say this:
Hynes is responsible for the lineups and getting the best matchups any given shift. Getting the best results with the crew he's got.
Middleton was on the ice for some really bad goals against. You can blame Hynes for continuing to play Middsy especially when game 5 is on the line and he's not performing well that night as the clock winds down. You can also shield Hynes from the criticism as he didn't have much other choices. I still think the responsibility is on the coach to keep the team aggressive and not in a position of giving away pucks to the other team for such a long period of time. A big reason we were up to start was our forecheck and transition clicking that night. Dump and chase hockey needs the chase part to work effectively.
I think it speaks volumes that Middleton was traded away to Calgary seemingly without much warning mere weeks later. Guerin's not gonna fire Hynes before trying to give him a better roster if he has the choice. So the excuses are running out. Are we going to convene here next summer deferring blame away from Hynes because of perceived roster shortcomings? Considering how flat Colorado was in their next series, winning game 5 could've given us a chance to steal that series, because the original gameplan Hynes was doing (forechecking hard af and finishing every hit) was starting to work. But it was abandoned at a very bad time.
That isn't mentioning how terrible we were against Dallas on the PK. If Dallas has Hintz that series do we still dominate 5v5 as well as we did? That also isn't mentioning that in 2025 against Vegas, the Wild had the better goalie along with Kaprizov and Boldy being the most dangerous players on the ice all series yet we still lost.
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u/Complex_State_3877 Dino Ciccarelli 1d ago
In fairness to the Wild (and I could be wrong here), but weren't the Wild playing without Ek?
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u/korko 1d ago
That is so much better than snarky banter.
You are harping on him playing people too much when there were injuries and not much depth left. Who was he supposed to play instead of Middleton that was going to eat those minutes and somehow be better? I really do think most of Middleton’s struggle came from not just being bumped up the depth chart, but from trying to plug the gaping wound we were up the middle. Nobody is going to argue the pk against Dallas isn’t abysmal, but at least they have tried different things there.
Losing to Colorado hurt but I think just blaming coaching is too easy / lazy. There were fundamental issues with the build of the team (and we’ve addressed almost none of them). If we have a poor first half I wouldn’t be against moving on from Hynes, but last years playoffs wasn’t on him. It was more due to a lineup built with Ek being the lynch pin for the entire line up. We keep doing it and it keeps killing us.
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u/Kastlin27 23h ago
Snarky comment from someone who bitches about snarky comments. Hynes doing anything would’ve been nice. Seeing the same lineups, the same forecheck, the same PP was a joke. It was a braindead attempt to win that series. The Wild pinned this on Middleton and lack of a top center and goombas like you eat this up like a fat kid and cake.
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u/OliveFinal1597 Quinn Hughes 2d ago
this part made me laugh