Alexandron

Bill Guerin added to his GM title a new title of President of Hockey Operations: https://www.nhl.com/wild/news/wild-announces-executive-promotions-072523/c-345429564

Joe Smith @JoeSmithNHL Brandon Duhaime arbitration hearing is July 20. Filip Gustsvsson is on Aug 4. Obviously the hope is still to get deals done before #mnwild.

Hope, Pat Maroon will be better than Reaves for that role.

Joe Smith @JoeSmithNHL Really awesome to see #mnwild prospect Pavel Novak. Cancer free, got back on ice for first time in December. Not participating fully in development camp due to a lower body injury. But plans to be ready for training camp. “It’s been amazing and kind of emotional for me.”

I listened an interview of Danila Yurov which he had on 7/7/23. Interpreter was not very good. Simple questions and answers he had difficulties to translate. But Danila's English was not bad at all when he was talking on English. From my understanding Kaprizov sent to him a supporting letter and helping him now in Minnesota. Probably Danila will play one more season in KHL to finish his professional preparation and then he will play directly in NHL.

For me is matter. I would like to see the difference of the team with different players including Minnesotans and from other countries, because they can bring their own specific style of play like Kaprizov, Gaborik, Pavol Demitra, and team based on Minnesotans won Olympic's. Hope with the new AHL coaching team the development of the young prospects from different countries will be better. With previous one was a disaster. We should bring more optimistic mentality and be more patriotic regarding our Wild club future. Guerin really would like change the team in that direction which gives us an interest.

I just looked for Maroon's stats and achievements. He is a big player 6'3"; 234 lbs. He reached 4 times Stanley Cup finals and 3 times Stanley Cup winner (1 with Blues and 2 with Lightning) which we did not have before in our roster. But he was the most penalized player in NHL for the last 2022-23 season (150 PIM). I do not know how good that part would be for our team. Time will show.

Here is a list of 2023 Development Camp Roster: http://cms.nhl.bamgrid.com/images/assets/binary/345160992/binary-file/file.pdf

I just looked for Development Roster at Summer Camp which is going to happen on July 7-9. It seems intriguing: 2 from Czehia; 1 from Slovakia; 1 from Russia; 2 from Sweden; 1 from Finland; 1 from France; 9 Minnesotans. Interesting all 4 goalies are invitees. Maybe one of them will present an interest for the Wild club future roster.

Among 6 drafted players we have got 3 Minnesotans for the 1st time in a Wild history in a single draft. So far, I have more interest in 2 players: Heidt (round #2; 64th overall) and Jimmy Clark (round#7; 213th overall).Clark doesn’t just advance the puck to open teammates; he creates those openings with fake shots and look offs before slipping pucks through traffic. With a quick fake, he pulls defenders towards him and dekes through them. Where many offload the puck, he waits a split-second to find a better option. And he pulls off all these plays at top speed. -EliteProspects 2023 NHL Draft Guide. Here is more to read: https://www.nhl.com/wild/news/wild-selects-six-players-in-2023-nhl-draft-062923/c-345129190

I found some of Riley Heidt's highlights on YouTube, which are looking very promising: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQB2b1mNgY4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyscVgI0vrs

Here is a description regarding Heidt on eliteprospects link: Nasty physically, despite his 5-foot-11 frame, Heidt has the handling, shooting, and vision to inflict major damage on opponents. He takes the extra stride to play the body, never passes up an opportunity to sneak in a shot behind the play, and is an enthusiastic combatant in scrums. On retrievals, Heidt establishes inside positioning early, drives through opponents’ hands, and separates them from the puck. And the use of contact to create space in the small area game allows him to spin off of defensive pressure and attack the inside. -EliteProspects 2023 NHL

Michael Russo just published recently our Wild 2023-24 schedule. But some Wild games (probably Nov 18;19)will be in Sweden too.

MINNESOTA WILD DRAFT NOTES First Round: 21st overall Second Round: 53rd overall Second Round: 64th overall (from VGK via BUF) Third and forth round: N/A Fifth Round: 149th overall Sixth Round: 181st overall Seventh Round: 213th overall Hoping for some nice promise from Round#2.

IMPORTANT OFF-SEASON DATES June 27 Complete NHL 2023-24 Regular Season Schedule Announced June 28-29 2023 NHL Draft (Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn.) July 1 NHL Free Agency begins at 11 a.m. CT July 7-9 Minnesota Wild Development Camp at TRIA Rink in Saint Paul, Minn. July 7 “Crazy Game of Hockey” VIP Event at Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis, Minn., at 7 p.m. CT July 8 “Crazy Game of Hockey” Celebrity Hockey Game at TRIA Rink in Saint Paul, Minn., at 12:30 p.m. CT July 8 “Crazy Game of Hockey” Concert featuring O.A.R. and Cory Wong at Armory in Minneapolis, Minn., at 7:30 p.m. CT July 11 Minnesota Wild Street Hockey Series at Burnsville (Minn.) Ice Center July 13 Minnesota Wild Street Hockey Series at Veterans Memorial Community Center in Inver Grove Heights July 18 Minnesota Wild Street Hockey Series at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood, Minn. July 20 Minnesota Wild Street Hockey Series at Andover (Minn.) Community Center July 25 Minnesota Wild Street Hockey Series at Rogers (Minn.) Activity Center July 27 Minnesota Wild Street Hockey Series, Location TBA August 1 Minnesota Wild Street Hockey Series at Chaska (Minn.) High School August 3 Minnesota Wild Street Hockey Series at St. Louis Park (Minn.) Rec Center August 7 Minnesota Wild Road Tour at Cullen Hockey Center in Moorhead, Minn. August 8 Minnesota Wild Road Tour at Paul Bunyan Park in Bemidji, Minn. August 9 Minnesota Wild Road Tour at Runestone Community Center in Alexandria, Minn. August 10 Minnesota Wild Road Tour at Red Baron Arena & Expo in Marshall, Minn. August 25 NHL/NHLPA Tour in Stockholm, Sweden September 12-13 NHL/NHLPA Tour in Las Vegas, Nev. September 15-17 Minnesota Wild participates in Tom Kurvers Prospect Tournament at TRIA Rink in Saint Paul, Minn. September 18 Wild Off The Tee golf event at The Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo, Minn. September 21 Minnesota Wild Training Camp Begins September 24 Minnesota Wild first preseason game at Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo.

Wild preseason schedule: https://www.nhl.com/wild/news/wild-announces-2023-24-preseason-schedule-062323/c-344970232

Joe Smith @JoeSmithNHL · Jun 22 “This is my time.” Marco Rossi is spending summer in Minnesota, determined to be a full-timer with #mnwild next season. My sitdown with prized prospect on his up and down year, the outside noise/doubts, how he regained his confidence. It’s up to him now.

According to news Michkov is in New York now. It seems Flyers have a chance to get him. But Capitals want to make everything to get him too. Not sure about the Wild chance.

Iowa Wild @IAWild 3h NEWS: The #IAWild has signed defenseman Landon Kosior to a one-year, two-way AHL contract.

I did not find any info about this player at elite prospects link, who was signed recently according to Russo.

MNW Young Guns @mnwprospects 2022-23 season officially ended. Here is the first All-Star #mnwild Prospects team: Caedan Bankier WHL: 85 pts (37+48), 57 GP playoffs: 18 pts (7+11), 13 GP WJC: 1 assist, 7 GP; Marat Khusnutdinov KHL: 41 pts (11+30), 63 GP playoffs: 7 pts (1+6), 16 GP; Liam Ohgren Sweden2: 20 pts (11+9), 36 GP playoffs: 13 pts (8+5), 17 GP WJC: 2 goals, 7 GP; Brock Faber NCAA: 27 pts (4+23), 38 GP NHL: 8 GP; David Spacek QMJHL: 57 pts (13+44), 58 GP playoffs: 8 pts (3+5), 14 GP WJC: 8 pts (3+5), 7 GP; Jesper Wallstedt AHL: 38 GP, 2.68, 90.8 sv% WC: 3 GP, 0.67, 94.7 sv%.

I agree. Both goalies(Hill and Gustavsson) have same style of play and hope Guss will show same play next season too. According to our other players and this such a tough playoffs run for Panthers and Vegas teams , we should have more physically and mentally prepared players capable to replace each other during a critical/crucial time if they key player was injured. Do we have that option? Not yet. Without Tkachuk (who was previously badly injured by Vegas team),Panthers team looked different in a final game without him. Still I would be very happy if our Wild team will reach finals in our lifetime like Florida did in their carrier. Actually, they did it twice. This season last seed team was capable to reach finals like last seed Canadiens team did a couple seasons ago. Interesting fact, that for both teams (Panthers and Canadiens) played with our former player Eric Staal. Proud for his carrier achievements.

I think it is going to be a last game tomorrow for this dramatic playoffs 2023 season. And total score will be 1:8 for Panthers in 9 final games at Stanley Cups (1996;2023). Not a good score for a warrior team. You are probably right with a discipline affected this score. Plus I was impressed by Vegas goalie outstanding results in his 4 (so far) final games: he was losing only 2 goals per game in regulation, which was a crucial number for this finals. Panthers,unfortunately, were not able to pass this number except one game(#3) in OT when placed a 3rd goal in Hill's net. Do you think our Gustavsson is capable for this long run play similar to Adin Hill?

Good news: MNW Young Guns @mnwprospects · 20h "I feel great. I am healthy, which is the most important thing," says Pavel Novák in an interview for http://hokej.cz. Novák has defeated cancer and is now preparing for the new season. He would like to secure a spot in the AHL. #mnwild

Regarding the yesterday game#2 of Stanley Cup finals when Panthers were losing 0:3 during the game, Michael Russo placed a message which had my attention: Michael Russo @RussoHockey 13h Per NHL Stats because I was maniacal enough to send them a query at 3-0, Alex Lyon is the 5th Minnesota-born goalie to play in a Stanley Cup Final (Jake Oettinger, 2020; Jon Casey, 1991; Frank Brimsek, 1939 and 1946; Mike Karakas 1938 and 1944).