CreaseAndAssist

First of all, thanks for listening and reading, we greatly appreciate it. IMO, I've had that same conversation with myself many times. In fact, when Seattle joined the league I thought about starting over with them. Yes, they didn't have it as tough as Minnesota / Columbus / Atlanta / Nashville did in those late 1990's early 2000's expansion but GM's learned their mistakes after Vegas' addition and so Seattle didn't have it quite as easy. Still, it was a new organization and I've liked their hard-working style. The Minnesota Wild feel like they are in a never ending loop of mediocrity. Half of the league qualifies for the playoffs and throughout most of it...the Wild don't do anything once they get there. They are unwilling to be bad to get the players that could push this team out of that cycle and it just continues to repeat itself. And because of that; timing has often seemed to work against them. We finally get lucky enough to draft a superstar, but then his prime years are likely going to be squandered by the cap hell for Suter and Parise. I know people said those moves were necessary but maybe that was the biggest mistake in franchise history. They never led the team on a long playoff run and now we're in a holding pattern as our superstar ponders whether to stick around or seek greener pastures. As far as the fanbase goes, the Billy Goat homers are just crazy. They will accept anything this Wild organization puts in front of them. But those people have always been around. @IllaZilla & @MNSOTA can certainly attest to the early days when the team was cheap by choice of how many folks would trot out "we're just glad hockey is back" and accept the fact it wouldn't spent another $200k to keep Cliff Ronning around after their deepest playoff run (ever)? I don't blame anyone for stepping away from it and feeling its better for their own sanity / mental health or just not wanting to be as angry about things you can't control. My dad (76 I think) is a more casual Minnesota sports fan even though he reads a lot and watches a fair amount but he doesn't get into the details as much; and at times I ask myself if its worse that I do because it often leaves me more frustrated.

True and he improved markedly by shifting from center to wing. But of course...that means you missed on addressing that need for a center. Stramel is at least supposed to be good at draws. The rest is what he needs to improve and work on.

No argument with you here. I don't care where they are from, but proportionately this was a fairly good year for Minnesota-born prospects when you think about American-born kids as a group. I don't have an issue with going for need at this point, because how many more years are you going to kick the can down the road on centers? However, was Stramel the best one available at #21? I think that seems to be a fairly big reach. David Edstrom taken at #32 by Vegas may not be 223lbs, but he's 6'3" and doesn't mind being a net front-presence and I think he had a better chance to being an NHL'er than Stramel.

Or centers...or scorers...

Also, one last thing and its another thing I feel perhaps I should've brought up on the podcast. Do you think they drafted Minnesotans to try to create more buzz for a team that knew it wasn't going to be able to do anything substantial in free agency. Is it an attempt to appeal the provincial homers who fall over themselves because of the "one of us" crap?

This shouldn't matter AT ALL. The only thing that should matter is can they play and have they shown improvement. But please...continue to fixate on where they are from.

Yea, pretty much typical cliche crap you say when you go to a new team. He know he'll probably get moved at the deadline too.

@IllaZilla You know as well as I do that almost all GM's say one of two things at the draft; "That was our guy" or "I can't believe he fell to us, but we're really happy he did." I think they wanted toughness and I could see Bill Guerin and Leipold fixating on Stramel. I kind of felt the same way when the Wild picked Luke Kunin and even Judd Brackett said those were orders from above. I'm not real thrilled about it as he just doesn't seem to do enough things well where you feel confident he'll stick. I think on Heidt, it may simply come down to what people consider physicality. I guess the best way I can differentiate it is how some people see a player who makes hits during the play that stop an opponent in their tracks versus a kid who might skate around and then finish checks after the puck is gone. Eliteprospects, just looking at who their talent evaluators are are mostly in the the early to mid-20's. HockeyProspect.com are people late 30's to being people our age. So maybe that's part of it. But one was clearly sold on Heidt and super impressed and other seemed to be very turned off and skeptical. However, you caught the other $64 question on Heidt in regards to so many teams passing up on Heidt allowing him to be taken at the very end of the 2nd round. So that would seem that plenty of other teams that had their doubts too. Here is some more quotable stuff for Riley Heidt, this time from Eliteprospects.com. “Whether Heidt is initiating early contact to sweep in and behind a puck-retrieving defender, layering a west-to-east pass to stretch defensive schemes, or even processing the upcoming play to float a pass into space, he is a dominant presence on the cycle,” Crossover scout Daniel Gee wrote in an October Scout’s Notebook on EP Rinkside. “Nasty physically, despite his 5-foot-11 frame, Heidt has the handling, shooting, and vision to inflict major damage on opponents.” This feels like a good time to get into Heidt’s physical dimension. In a word, he’s nasty. Even standing at a modest 5-foot-11 with a frame that isn’t all that developed, this guy packs a serious punch. 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. The problem is that Heidt’s profile aligns with that of a lot of really good junior players in the past who struggled to translate their game to the next level. Whether it’s the disproportionate amount of power play offence, the lack of more explosive outside edge skating manoeuvres, wildly inconsistent play, and virtually no concern with playing defensive – the red flags are numerous. Granted, the potential is sky-high for Heidt, too. That’s why we’ve ranked him well inside of our first round. He can be a middle-six scoring winger with power play utility, and that sort of value is hard to find once you get out of the teens. I agree with you when saying you're apathetic on the team. I am too. Unless they put themselves in position to draft a game changer they will probably continue to be slightly above average at best. But to me the annoying part is seeing how many Wild fans out there that are 100% satisfied with that. Its insane to me. I probably should've said this in the podcast, but the two defenseman are more of what they already have in abundance. 6'0"-ish puck moving defenseman. I know Andrew Gibson, a physical stay-at-home defender got picked before we took Kumpulainen, but for their attempt to address their lack of size up front one would think they would try to do the same on the back end given their experience. Either way, thanks for listening to what you have so far. I hope you enjoy the rest of it, even if maybe if you're not 'Feeling Minnesota' anymore.

Yea, good things teams don't win that abuse LTIR...oh wait.

Iowa Wild GM Mike Murray today announced that the American Hockey League (AHL) club has signed Kale Kessy, Greg Meireles, and Brenden Miller to 1-year, 1-way AHL contracts. The team also signed Brett Budgell and Kevin Conley to one-year, two-way AHL contracts More names added to the mix to fill out the rosters with either Iowa club.

Oh and don't forget RW - Pavel Novak who will be coming off a season lost to cancer. He was looking rather promising in his time with Kelowna, but he might have to be used a bit more sparingly if there are any after affects to his treatment.

(shrugs) I'm not going to worry about the Leafs problems. There is enough Wild issues to be too concerned with that. Besides, next year could be a rough one for Leafs nation with so many big names as UFA's.

Sometimes interventions happen on their own. If this is how we get there, I won't feel bad about it.

According to MNWild prospects, Cajakovic was booted off the Slovakian national team for being a bad teammate. It didn't specify what he did, but according to him he's accepted their judgement and has tried to be better in that regard but interesting tidbit. I just hope Tampa was jettisoning him now for this same reason even though the original incident happened back in 2018-19.

(shrugs) I think for 1-year it probably doesn't seem like the worst place to go. He'll probably get along with the team just fine. But that does add a different layer to it as well.

A lot of teams have shed younger, mid-20's players this season even if they were RFA's. While Guerin has said Lettieri will be in competition for the bottom spot you know the younger players will probably have to schitt the bed in order to be supplanted by Lettieri or Lucchini. Now toss in Pat Maroon who is going to be on your 3rd or 4th line.

He's mostly an ECHL'er. He's only had a some limited time at the AHL'er. But the Heartlanders need all of the help they can get. Maroon only has one year left on his deal and if the Wild aren't anywhere near the playoffs he probably becomes an asset you can trade at the deadline as teams always look to toughen up for the post-season and with his extensive playoff experience he'd probably be in demand unless his game has gone to complete crap. IMO, a no lose move for the Wild unless you are of the mindset it blocks a young player out of the lineup.

Tampa Bay is paying a portion of his salary, and while some roll their eyes at the 'toughness' adds this addresses that concern if there is any to have. Whether people want to scoff or not, he has a ton of playoff experience and its tough to get annoyed at the cost of a 7th round pick. Iowa Wild and / or Iowa Heartlanders get a little help too. Although I wonder if that means maybe they're going to move on from Brandon Duhaime?!?!

Episode #18: Feeling Minnesota (2023 Wild draft review) Kalisha, @MNSOTA and myself discuss all six of the Minnesota Wild's selections. We analyze all of the picks and discuss fan reaction too. Its a longer podcast, but we hope the detail we've provided is insightful.

Edina-native, Casey Dornbach is a Invitee at this upcoming Wild prospect camp. He didn't get much of a look late in the season for Iowa last year after he turned pro. Boudon impressed with his play late in the season after signing as a free agent. Since I'm guessing the team is going to go with the kids; especially on defense this season they will need someone to make up for the points they got from Joe Hicketts they've had the last two years. Joe Hicketts was a great leader / teammate for Iowa too.

We shall see. I would still guess the team is on he hook for his rehab of his knee.

Nope. And it doesn't sound like either side is very close to a deal either according to Russo's latest Worst Seats from the House. He thinks it may come to a point where the team just cuts bait and trades him and looks for another goaltender. Unfortunately, a lot of the cheaper goaltenders were picked up today. There can't be a lot of cheaper goaltenders available. I noticed a lot of teams jettisoned players in their early to mid-20's instead of re-signing them even though they were RFA's.

Add F - Casey Dornbach D - Louie Boudon D - Landon Koisior Both are 5'11" offensive defenseman...

Add Jake Lucchini to the Iowa Wild roster, another center. I would agree. Everyone has been patting Judd Brackett on the back for a while, but so far...we haven't seen a single player that he's drafted make a difference for the Minnesota Wild. This is a big year for his reputation here in Minnesota and for the players he drafted.

So here's whose potentially in Iowa next year as I see it. C / LW - Caeden Bankier LW - Mikey Milne C - Sam Hentges RW/LW - Sammy Walker RW - Nick Swaney C / LW - Steven Fogarty C / LW / RW - Nic Petan C / RW - Vinni Lettieri D - Kyle Masters D - Carson Lambos D - Daemon Hunt D - Ryan O'Rourke D - Dakota Mermis D - Simon Johansson D - David Spacek G - Jesper Wallstedt G - Zane McIntyre G - Hunter Jones