Alexandron

Thanks LIG also for posting highlights of the Iowa Wild team last game. You are right - the unassisted Sokolov's goal from end to end at the 2nd minute and 57th second of that highlight was a beauty!

I think it is almost over. We lost a crucial game tonight , no one was really able to step up - not from the veterans side as well as not from the youngsters side. Practically , through the entire season we had only 2 short sparks of the consistent competitive drive for our team - at the beginning of the season and after the trade time. The rest of the season was very inconsistent in goaltending, defense and scoring. One single player who really brought my attention was Ryan Donato - in 16 games - 4 goals and 11 assists -so far the best rookie in NHL after the trade time according to NHL stats.

You can see it at the Michael Russo tweet. I just do not know how to attach only a video link from it. Look for replay - Parise went over Tom Wilson's knee. Here is a link: [Hidden Content]

He played 13 seasons for Toronto. Actually he played after Toronto one season for Vancouver and in playoffs with it before retirement according to hockey elite prospects: [Hidden Content]

As more Russian players we will have as better selection we could make and as more interesting team we could build. I believe those 3 current and signed one (Lodnia, Sokolov, Khovanov) will have a better support and communication if they play next to each other. Like Washington, Dallas, Tampa, St. Louis have 2-3 Russian players in the team, which are pretty competitive to other NHL teams. Let's bring some optimism to the future of the Wild organization, because so far is too depressing to see our team's leapfrogs this season especially on home ice. In my opinion, diversity of players has more benefits for the team than without it. Hope team's management understand that better than in previous 18 years. Some other promising recent stats , according to the last news from Iowa, yesterday our "goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen (24 saves) earned his sixth shutout of the season in the contest, tying Syracuse’s Connor Ingram for most in the AHL".

Those such a great news! Actually Alexander Khovanov is a 3rd signed promising prospect with Russian roots. The first one was Lodnia (born in United States but with Ukrainian/Russian roots through his parents), then was Dmitry Sokolov signed last year (he is in our farm club already). Hope, we will see some interesting chemistry, more creativity and more production if they will play together. Unfortunately, still remain unsigned with us Kirill Kaprizov. Hope he will be signed in 2020. I am still thinking that he would like to win first a Gagarin Cup, before he will settle in NHL in the Wild team of Minnesota. Many Russian players dreaming to get a Gagarin Cup during their career. So far CSKA team from Moscow(Kaprizov is playing there) having a lead in games(3:1) over Dynamo Moscow in Western Conference playoffs semifinals. Our other prospect from that team Andrei Svetlakov also having unsigned status with us. Interesting fact, that their CSKA goaltender Iliya Sorokin who was drafted by New York Islanders, I think, had about 10-11 shutouts during the regular season and 2 so far during playoffs series.

I have recently read some interviews of some players in our local media. They said that the team does not have a pure scorer. It is not a surprise for us for 19 years, except Gaborick and maybe Staal and Zucker in some years. But that diminishing status should not be recognized by our own players, because it shoots down more their motivations to play hard. They should recognize if we do not have a pure scorer , then the entire team should become a pure scorer from all lines, including defensemen lines too during the whole 60 minutes of game.

Today it was published a very nice article on 2 pages about a Jared Spurgeon in Star Tribune newspaper. I do not remember such a big article about any Wild player. He put the most goals (70;+/- +61) as a defenseman for the Wild team and having a chance to surpass Burns record per season in a Wild uniform (17 goals). His picture was placed on a first page (almost half of the page) in a sport section of it.

No doubt , it is like a HUGE playoff game. Hope, we will be able to beat them.

According to this video his 5th hole is closed better than for others goalies. Last Sunday Flyers had a remarkable historic game against Penguins which I do not remember for a long period of time ( with a win score 2:1 in OT). I would recommend to the Wild fans to watch a condensed game or at least the highlights of that game. Nice run and gun game with about 40 shots for each team, if I remember. Flyers young (20 y.o.) goaltender Carter Hart was superb at that game. Their young Russian defenseman Ivan Provorov made a superb save at of an empty net at the last 30-40 seconds of the game in regulation and then the team was able to equalize the score at the last 18 seconds of the regulation and to put a winning goal at the last 3 seconds of OT. Just a fantastic finish! That is nice example how our team should always play. I still wish our team will make playoffs and agree with you, because it is always a hope no matter how small it can be.

Agreed. As more goaltenders we will have among the prospects in our system as more competitive they would be; and as well as more choices we will have. In 19 years of the Wild history we had just 3 - Khoudobin, Kruemper and Matt Hackett, which had some promise. And now Kahkonen.

Disappointing loss in OT. We limited them with only 19 shots in regulation and were able to put 34 shots towards their net. Parise’s goal between legs and Spurgeon’s goal were pretty good. Donato was noticeable too and had 2 assists. Agreed, Suter shouldn't be out there as a first option. We have used before successfully with Bruce 1st option in OT – 2 defensemen (Dumba,Brodin) and 1 forward (Coyle). Why we are not using the same strategy? What did we see today? Parise- Kunin- Suter. I would prefer to try OT starting in the future with 2 faster defensemen – Spurgeon and Hunt combined with one fast forward - Donato? Maybe that trio will work better?Then a 2nd trio- Zucker-Staal-Seeler; and a 3rd trio – Parise-Greenway-Brodin; or Kunin-Fiala-Pateryn.

I would go after Panarin too, who is having a nice experience of playing plenty of games in both Conferences as well as against teams in our tough Division when played for Chicago team. Hope he will be interested to play here for the Wild team.

Darcy played 5 seasons(total 102 GP) in a Wild team and a half of the season (19 GP) in Los Angeles before he was traded to Arizona last season where played 10 games. Initially for all three teams he showed inconsistent play. This season he already played plenty of games (46) for Arizona and probably was less stressed as he had in a Wild or Kings uniforms, plus as usual goalies gained more confidence as well experience with an age and more games played during the season. Or maybe goaltending training there(in Arizona) is different too?

All I want at this moment – if the team wins the rest of the games on home ice and wins against Arizona and Dallas on their ice. What is impressing me regarding Islanders ? Both goaltenders having pretty similar stats including shutouts too, which makes a huge difference in their team’s standings this season. Both played a similar amounts of games too, and probably will split playoffs games as well. Chicago is also having a real chance to get a playoffs spot. Their production is amazing despite of not too solid goaltending through the entire season.