Alexandron

Kevin Fiala had his 4th goal on IIHF World Championship in a game against a team from Austria, which just finished recently. Switzerland team is doing well there - 3 wins already. Kevin put a very nice goal into the net just below the goaltender's bottle, which flied away like a bird from the nest. You can see it on a Fiala's goal reply from that link: https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2019/wm/gamecenter/playbyplay/4200/24-sui-vs-aut

Finally a Canada team had a win against a team from Slovakia with a score of 6:5. It was a really tough and such a close game for both very good teams of that tournament. https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2019/wm/gamecenter/playbyplay/4195/19-svk-vs-can

To our moderators - please, check the forum software for submit reply. Something happened to it recently. To our fans- please, do not press multiple times to submit reply button for same message. Otherwise , the message will be published multiple times. Enough, to press just once. Regarding a World Championship tournament: Our Wild player who is playing for the Switzerland team – Kevin Fiala has already a hat trick during the game 1 against Italy. So far a Swiss team doing well – 2 wins. Russian team is doing pretty well there too – 3 wins. Our Wild prospect Kaprizov is playing for team of Russia at the 4th line. No points yet for him so far. And Dadonov, Kucherov and Gusev(certainly is a future NHL star, who signed for Vegas) are most productive for the Russian team. Vasilevskiy having 2 shutouts out of 3 games too. Kaapo Kakko (top 2019 draft prospect) from Finland also had a hat trick during a game 2 against Slovakia team and having total the most goals 5 in this tournament. Team from Finland lost today a tough game 3 against USA in OT with a score 3:2. Canada team is having a hard time too by playing at this moment against Slovakia team. After 2 periods score is 5:4 for the Canada team because a Slovakian team had already twice a two goal lead during that game.

2019 IIHF World Championship started today in Slovakia. 1st game and 1st surprise - team of Finland was able to upset team of Canada and win with a score 3:1. Interesting that Finland team has only 2 NHL players. Present interest also that 2 goals out of 3 to Canada net put ranked#2 top prospect eligible for the 2019 NHL entry draft Kaapo Kakko. Team of Russia won over Norway team with a score 5:2. 2 other presenting an interest games are scheduled for this evening (8:00 p.m.): USA team is playing tonight against Slovakia team and Czech Republic team against Sweden.

Our Wild prospect Kirill Kaprizov was included into the team of Russia for participation at the World Hockey Championship of 2019, which is going to start soon in Slovakia on May, 10. IMO he will get very nice experience because he is going to play together with a most Russian NHL professionals - Ovechkin, Malkin, Kovalchuk, Kucherov, Kuznetsov, Orlov, Anisimov as well as with a very promising now Vegas player Gusev and some other Russian NHLers and KHLers. Our young forward Kevin Fiala was included to a Switzerland team there. And our Wild veteran defenseman Ryan Suter is going to play for the US team as well. It seems teams from Canada, USA, Russia, and the Chech Republic having the strongest rosters this year. And teams from Sweden and Finland also bringing surprises too. Here is a link about rosters and a schedule to read: https://www.nhl.com/news/2019-world-championship-hockey-schedule-rosters/c-307246548

Just a small things to share. The Wild fans made a certain success in 1 year( since May of last year), which I would like specially to mention for this month of May (kind of our home birthday). In one year we have got a 2nd place at this hockeyforums.net site after the Flyers. We passed already a Pittsburgh team with their 13593 posts. And also after the Nino's trade from Minnesota to Carolina, the Hurricane team moved from the last place at this site to the 2nd place from the bottom by passing the Dallas team.

Both teams clinched the best positions during the regular season in their leagues. Charlotte Checkers had a 1st place in AHL with 110 points(51 wins out of 76 games) and Florida Everblades had a 2nd place in ECHL with 106 points (50 wins out of 72 games). Definitely a big Carolina club Hurricanes has a nice promising potential in their young prospects.

Agree. Never want to see that during the game. Thanks for bringing that such a painful topic. I am still shocked/under sadness already for almost a week. And it does not matter for me now who is going to win these series Carolina or Washington. That drama has few aspects which should be discussed in a league because these playoffs will be remembered forever just for that cruel fight. Agree that fight should have never happened. And who is guilty in it we will talk next. Well known that Russia is popular for extremely brave and strong fighters. Personally, for me, the Hurricane coach is guilty that he put provoking Svechnikov against Ovechkin to block his play, but the coach was really able to prevent that incident. A huge coach mistake, who was not smart enough. Second who is guilty was the youngster Svechnikov who did not tell the coach that he is not going to follow Ovechkin during the game but someone else. And that pinching each other started right from the beginning of the 3rd game. Those few aspects are: 1.-coach should never put 2 Russians against each other because they could make a badly damage themselves, and especially if the youngster was previously idolizing the Ovechkin; 2. Svechnikov was smaller than Ovechkin and did not have a lot of NHL and playoffs experience; 3. Ovechkin had fought only 4 times in his career(never against Russians) and never lost; 4. This NHL season Andrei Svechnikov had 62 penalty minutes out of 82 games- it seems a lot for the youngster. I was following our Wild prospect Dmitry Sokolov who was playing half of the last season in OHL Barry Colts team together with Andrei Svechnikov. And Svechnikov always had plenty of penalty minutes there too. Of course, the fight in a professional hockey will never be eliminated, especially during the playoffs time, because the level of provoking fighting tension is extremely high. But the saddest part of the happened drama that Svechnikov did not realize well that he is fighting against a much bigger, more experienced, more aggressive player. Nothing else was clicking in his young brain that how he will put his country Russia in front of the world. Just a shame that 2 Russians had a bad fight each other to the level of concussion during the playoffs. Or maybe he wanted to be famous that way because he fought against Ovechkin during his career? When I watched 2 days after that fight we already had 1,42 million views through the internet. Regarding a concussion- yes, definitely was at least micro-concussion, but it was not a bad one because Andrei had his helmet all the time in on his head and that micro concussion mainly happened right away when Ovechkin had a quick hit into the Svechnikov's neck which stopped brain circulation for a few seconds. In that situation Ovechkin it seemed had no other way to stop him. Anyway, it was a good lesson for youngsters(not only for Svechnikov), before starting a fight they should think well if it is necessary, especially if you are fighting against a famous player from your own country. Instead of fighting, Andrei should say to Ovechkin: "Sorry, I will try to avoid to provoke you during the game in the future, because you are my hockey idol ". I have feelings, that Svechnikov will never play for the Russian team in international competitions because of that hockey drama among 2 Russians happened this year. I remember when recently during the regular season Evgenii Malkin was suspended for one game because he just pretended to hit with a stick one idiot's head (I do not remember the player's name). But what I remembered that this player was hitting badly few times to Malkin with a stick into the back and neck few seconds before the incident. And Malkin had a normal human reaction to give it back to prevent future destruction of the game as well as his body damage, which is especially typical for the Russian character and never is a matter for them a game suspension or a money charge. Probably in those cases, better to give a penalty minutes to a provoking person/player too.

Good news for the Wild fans! CSKA,Moscow team won today for the first time in their history a Gagarin Cup by beating Avangard team,Omsk in OT with a score 3:2. They won all 4 games in finals.Congrats to our prospects who are playing there - Kaprizov and Svetlakov to get this title at their young age! Both built a pretty good chemistry/communication by playing together, as well as they built a fresh extended playoffs experience because they reached together Gagarin Cup finals two years in a row (last and this year). I think it is a time as soon as possible for our Wild management staff start to negotiate with CSKA team as well as with both players and their agents to move them earlier towards our team. Another part is also impressed for me a lot for this CSKA team of winners. That was an outstanding goaltending of NY Islanders prospect Ilya Sorokin - 11 shutouts in a regular season and 5 shutouts in a playoffs season this year. Islanders are lucky to have him in addition of having already in their team 2 outstanding goaltenders. Here is a short link to read about a Gagarin Cup from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gagarin_Cup

Unfortunately, we are playing against Admirals. First game is on Sunday, April 21 (Easter day) at 4 p.m. at our home ice. Here is a schedule: https://www.iowawild.com/news/detail/iowa-wild-announces-first-round-playoff-schedule

I do not know about Iowa Wild schedule during the first playoffs round, but, hope, we are not going to play against a tough team during the first round - Milwaukee Admirals, who are winning now their last game against Rockford IceHogs and who won their last 9 games out of 10. Regarding current Gagarin Cup finals I am hoping too - if CSKA,Moscow will get this Cup, then we will have a chance to see earlier our prospects Kaprizov and Svetlakov in a Wild uniform this season and ,hope, they finally will be signed too this summer.

IMO, it will be a huge mistake for the Wild organization if Zucker or Staal will be traded this summer. Hope Russo is completely wrong about that prediction. Let’s they will make that trade decision after 2019 -2020 year. Just looked through the stats of Zucker and Staal. I think both are still considered a consistent scorers. In the last 4 out of 5 years Zucker has more than 20 goals per season , including this year(21), as well Staal in a last 13 out of 15 years has the same statistics, including this year too (22). Even Parise because of multiple injuries was not so stable in a last 5 years as those two producers. Yes, this year was not the best actually for the whole team and not only for Zucker and Staal. I would say even more - for the entire Western Conference was not the best year, especially for Vegas, Edmonton, Chicago teams who have much much better consistent snipers as we have. Who else is capable to put more than 20 goals per season if Zucker and Staal will be traded? I do not know. Do we have more of those consistent producers in our disorganized by alcoholics team(J.T.Brown played with the team 56 games and had 3 goals;5 assists;+/- 0) and maybe some other Pro players were playing under alcohol affection – no one knows)? Or the team will be dependent on defensively minded lower talented scorers or maybe they will be dependable mostly on their production from defense? If they(defensemen) would be injured then we will see more shutouts against us like this year? Or be dependable on missing Koivu like media says? Believe it or not he never marked a 20 goals season since 2010-2011(9 years already). Do we really need his faceoffs or we need more talented young producers in all lines? If we are not capable to produce even if we won those faceoffs then they mean less for the team. As well as his speed is absolutely not noticeable any more too. And that past injury will make him even slower same as it did for Suter. I even not saying about the age. Older age does not make people faster. It is a time for the retirement next year. Some people(media, fans, players, coaching staff, management staff) talk a lot about the depth. Is that mean anything if the team not capable to produce any single goal in 11 games out of 82 and be on a last place of the Division? Depth without a production? Is that depth of the bottom? I would like to hear from the fans what is that mean for them? Personally , team’s chemistry as a well oiled machine towards an exclusively winning goal/mode is more important. Or depth is equal to chemistry? Sincerely,I still have an interest to the Wild team because of Zucker(his speed and his multiple chances to score), Staal(his valuable experience) and now Donato(his first shoot mentality and a smart play) presence. The rest of forwards still having huge questions for me as a real future for our team. Maybe or maybe not. Time will show. Regarding Wild inability to draft smart beyond the first round(1st overall) for 19 years of the Wild history, then the major solution for our organization is to train those available and signed drafts to the level of the 1st overall , because we are not going to get them(those 1st overall) in a nearest future. Same way as happened with a Pavel Datsyuk by his enormous training and smartness despite he had a draft 6(#171 overall) and who became exclusively valuable player for the team. IMO Wild development training camp should be completely reinforced/reorganized as soon as possible with a talented group of experienced former highly productive NHL players, capable to train how to shoot; how to change/redirect the trajectory of the puck by using different angles; how to score;how to change mentality more towards shooting; how to find the weakest spots of the most current NHL goaltenders; how faster to read goaltenders mind and his reaction; movements of his stick as well as the puck. Same it should be done with a farm club too. I like Lynxrattle idea to use some former experienced NHL players from Russia as consultants for training and share their experience which will add the real depth to the Wild organization.

I just finished listening our last Iowa Wild game of the regular 2018-2019 year and we won it with a shutout 3:0. That means according to a radio commentator we are for the first time in Iowa Wild history have got into the playoffs. The other teams which are competitive around us for the Calder Cup playoffs spot are still in a battle. Congrats to our farm club waiting for that franchise day 6 years already!!!

Iowa Wild team won a difficult last game in OT against Chicago Wolves (2:1). Both goals were put by our captain - Cal O'Reilly. We still have a chance to get into playoffs if we will win tonight game against Rockford IceHogs and Chicago Wolves will win one of the last 2 games against of Manitoba Moose.

CSKA team,Moscow won today the first game in Gagarin Cup finals against Avangard team,Omsk with a score of 5:2. Svetlakov put a pretty nice goal on a second minute of the 1st period. He played together with Kaprizov in that line.

Another promise is happening also in KHL Gagarin Cup playoffs now. Our 2 unsigned yet prospects Kirill Kaprizov and Andrei Svetlakov together with CSKA team, Moscow have won a 2nd year in a row a Western Conference finals of the Gagarin Cup by beating a 2 times champions SKA team, Saint Petersburg(in 7 games) and advanced to the Gagarin Cup finals again. Both players improved their playoffs records - Kaprizov (in 15 games) has 3 goals and 9 assists;+/- +2 and Svetlakov (in 14 games) has 1 goal and 6 assists; +/- +6. As well as both having a pretty nice playoffs experience by achieving in 2 years in a row Gagarin Cup finals.

Will be also OK in addition to Brown, Bitteto, Aberg to get somehow rid of Rask, Fehr, as well as under questions our youngsters Ek and Fiala. IMO team needs in really true consistent snipers(as more as better) in all lines. For me, it does not matter which (right, left, or center) just true. We are missing them 19 years already, the exception was Gaborik. A tough task for the scouting staff. I am very hoping that Donato will be developed into one of them. One example of a true sniper is Ovechkin. Despite his age, he was able to put more than 50 goals(including this year) per regular season in 8 seasons already and almost reached the Wayne Gretzky 9 seasons of the same record.

Agreed. We still have a chance if we will be able to win the last 2 games of the season. We had a nice win(7:3) 2 days ago by beating a second team in our Division - Grand Rapids Griffins. Wild reinforcement (Donato, Kunin,Greenway) were the main contributors(11 points out of 18) in that game. Donato had 5 points(2 goals;3 assists); Kunin had 4 points(3 goals;1 assist); Greenway - 2 points(2 assists). Tonight we are playing on home ice against the first team in our Division - Chicago Wolves. No doubt is a must win game.

Minnesota Wild reassigns Donato, Kunin, and Greenway to Iowa. Hope it will boost some production and the team's mentality towards winning of remaining last 3 games of the season. Here is a link to read about it: https://www.iowawild.com/news/detail/minnesota-wild-reassigns-donato-greenway-kunin-to-iowa

Sincerely, I was shocked about the news from the Pioneer Press. The team’s member J.T.Brown was arrested at Dallas at 2 a.m. in the morning because of a high alcohol intoxication at the day of the game. It seems his personal discipline, his personal respect for the teammates, as well for the fans is extremely low. No excuse at all. It is not a good example for the youngsters and he should be gone as fast as possible. In a professional sport the discipline should be almost like in army. IllaZilla proposed in his posts at the end of the season a meeting among the players. In addition to that, it would be nice to have a meeting between an owner and the whole team as well as a meeting between an owner and a team’s management ; team’s coaching staff; team’s scouting staff. To discuss about a discipline in the team; about the leadership; about overall team’s results this season; about a more effective signings and trades; or minimal or no trades at all during the season; if the person was badly injured and had a long rehab time then as a rule, he should not see a maximum play time during the game until the player will start playing a solid games with minimal mistakes and,of course, the player should not dictate his time. Maybe it is a not bad idea if the entire teams (big club and a farm club) will not see their families during the months of March and April and be more focused to finish well their season. Here is a link to the Pioneer Press article: https://www.twincities.com/2019/04/07/wild-winger-j-t-brown-arrested-in-dallas-misses-teams-final-game-of-season/

The message above was written by Rotty last September, but still is actual/important for this team. It seems both Achilles heels were badly beaten by "rattle snakes" and provided their(Dubnyk’s and Stalock’s heels) inconsistency to be focused on boosting team’s winning confidence. Any modern successful team should start first with a most consistent goaltenders. Same happened with a Chicago team this season where inconsistent goaltenders did not helped that team enough to get into a playoffs despite of a much much better production in comparison to our team’s production (270 goals vs ours 211). Same happened with Arizona team - as soon as Kuemper was injured Arizona lost a real chance to get into playoffs. IMO our drafts should start first with the best scouting of a consistent goaltenders.

LIG. I agree. Probably is too little too late already. I was proposing to bring a different goaltender Motte before. Now is probably too late for his call. I am disappointing with that team too same way as with the big club this year . What kind of team is that, if lost already 8 games in a row right before the playoffs season starting? Are any winning mentality left in their players brains? Is anybody out of about 30 players capable to step up and lead the team to get at least to the playoffs? Or we will see a 6th year unsuccessful attempt for the farm club to make a playoffs was stopped this year the exactly same way as ours 6th year playoffs participation was stopped for the big club ?

We are losing again 0:2 after the first period against Milwaukee Admirals. Kahkonen is in the net tonight. Admirals stats in the last 10 games are 8-0-1-1, and ours are 2-7-1-0, including last 7 losses. 2 other teams reached us too with 81 points. What is going on with our 2 clubs in the month of March and April this season? No one was able to step up to get our teams to the playoffs spot. I think we are badly need at least a different goaltender to help boosting teams confidence.

Sincerely, I had tears in my eyes when I have seen how our crowd/fans supported our team to put at least one goal into the Boston net last game. Last night was 10th shutout against us (7th on home ice). Is that team’s respect of the fans who spent money and time to drive and see those games for nothing? Just came a question - What it would happened if we will not sign 4-5 oldish unproductive players last summer and did not do any signings and trades during the season? Is that was necessarily or not to improve the team's production or that was just a better chance to bring our team to the last place? I have feeling that we will get the last place in our Division this season. Or maybe that was a strategic plan to get a better draft in 2019? I am still impressed about Carolina results by looking how just one player Nino(for the trade of Rask) helped to bring that team from nowhere in the mid of the season to the playoffs spot. Definitely Aho without Nino was not able to do that. Any goals, any points are counting in a professional sport. That is the most matter part of it.

Yeah,7th lost game in a row. Surprised that they put for that game the same goalie Hammond as they did the day before. Hat trick was nice , but not enough for the win.