CreaseAndAssist

We've said much the same thing on our podcasts. Our defense corps, both with the big club and prospect pool are mostly 6'0"-ish puck mover types. Unfortunately there is not a lot of big, physical defenseman available in this draft.

I think the Carolina players' reaction is something we wish we'd see from our team. Instead its just a 1,000 yard stare, something like mild disappointment, a few empty cliches about needing to be better and onto the next season to do it all over again. Same with management and the coaching staff who have done this a few times already...same schitt, different day.

If Marco Rossi thinks any NHL team will be that incompetent to just part the seas for him the way Team Hungary did he's mistaken. IMO...kind of a meh goal against a meh World Championship qualifier.

Having watched the Wild farm team for years, you might have a few that are ready to graduate. Adam Beckman finally showed some of the scoring touch we saw from his major junior days. Damien Giroux might be workable as a temporary replacement for Mason Shaw as he's a decent penalty killer and hustles on every shift. Another guy that I think may surprise is Mikey Milne, the kid was one of Iowa's best skaters and he always seemed to make good things happen in the offensive zone with his speed and hustle. Rossi...he has to show tangible improvement in his strength and speed / quickness if he's going to be viable in the NHL. I think they're to that point with Rossi. Addison..meh, I think he's trade bait regardless. They have more defenseman in the system and while he's the one offensive defenseman of the group I think they like the more complete game of Daemon Hunt than Addison's game. Hunt was the most impressive this season of the young defenseman for Iowa. Ryan O'Rourke and SIMON Johansson were the others that performed well but I didn't think they were as strong as Hunt was. Their best offensive defenseman in Iowa was AHL vet Joe Hicketts. Iowa will get an influx of major junior players like Kyle Masters, Caeden Bankier, Carson Lambos, David Spacek, perhaps Pavel Novak or Hunter Haight to join guys like Milne if they stay in Iowa. Wallstedt will be back as Iowa's #1 goaltender.

Vegas road was easier because GM's panicked and gave them extra assets not to take certain players. They didn't make that mistake with Seattle. But give Seattle credit, they stayed calm...played a team game and made some savvy free agent pickups in Year 2. As far as the playoffs go from a coverage standpoint it incredible the huge improvement TNT / TBS is over ESPN. Studio and play by play its no contest. TNT / TBS' broadcasters are vastly superior. The only ESPN broadcasting asset they have, Ray Ferraro is doomed to have a rancid play-by-play person to work with. Buccigross or WIschusen are HORRIBLE. Buccigross may love hockey...but his erratic play by play call sounds like the annoying guy who 'oohs' and 'aahhs' with every shot no matter how bad the miss may be.

If the goal is Stanley Cup or bust...then we've been an epic failure. We've only been to the conference finals once in its existence and that was 20 years ago. This team still hasn't shown an ability to draft or develop centers and like @IllaZilla its never just run with the kids and been willing to be bad in order to draft those franchise changers and instead tried some middle of the road approach which accomplishes nothing. You're too good to get the franchise changers and you're not nearly good enough to win it all. Its purgatory until they realize that most teams paid the price (i.e. by being bad) in order to be good. Sure it isn't guaranteed but doing what this organization has done the last 20 years has insured it to be in above average mediocrity even if you can call it that. For the regular season was a success crowd, why? A lot of teams were tanking to try to get Bedard or Fantilii, it was easier to even be above average because clubs were trying to stay near the bottom. Still they had a chance to advance to the 2nd round, but the pis%ed away like they do most of their opportunities and then wonder why when you look over and see other teams doing all of the little things the Wild are unwilling to do (crash the net, kill penalties, grind for ugly goals, star players leading the way like star players).

(shrugs) I think its a GM desperately trying to convince his superstar to stick around by floating hopes and dreams...pretty soon this organization is going to have to show that player it actually has some real talent coming to this club instead of just 'projections' of it.

No question. The 'not a rebuild' has just doomed it to endless mediocrity. I don't think fans will leave in droves if they have a rebuild, but sadly...there is that segment of sheeple that lap up every word they say. So if Guerin says it was a success they believe it; hook, line and sinker.

Just watching any of those clubs that stretched their series to a game 7, there was way more hustle, want to, urgency. But Bill Guerin stood at the podium and tried to call this season a success. And sadly, I've seen a lot of fans buy that sentiment; hook, line and sinker.

I think McLean is the Power Play guy, and Woods is the PK guy. So if they somehow avoid termination you may want to ask them for their lottery numbers because they'd be damn lucky.

Really?! So with the right coach Matt Boldy becomes Connor McDavid? C'mon, get real. You rarely get those generational players unless you're bad enough to draft them.

Episode #12: One & Done (Again) @MNSOTAand I discuss the Wild's latest playoff failure against the Dallas Stars. We talk about the team's steps moving forwards and answer a bunch of listener questions too. Check it out!

(shrugs) But Russo said he's safe. It seems like everyone else seems to think he shouldn't be. They said Bill Guerin spent a really long time just sort of staring down at the ice after the game was over. My guess is the exit interviews will determine whether we see an exit of Dean Evason. My guess is most of the other coaches not named Freddy Chabot are probably as good as gone though.

There are always plenty of Minnesota angles for the playoffs. With so many players / connections there is a lot of ways people can go into it. I haven't hitched to any bandwagon yet. Like many, I have a NHL Playoffs Bracket but it doesn't mean I really care one way or the other how it all works out. Its just for fun. I watched the Lighting / Leafs series finale yesterday, it just makes it painfully obvious how far away the Wild are from being a contender with the lack of speed, skill and effort we had in our last few games against Dallas. Other teams in the playoffs seem to understand the urgency of the playoffs and the Wild just...don't.

Anyone want to add to this story now?

I agree, and that's why I think the axe will fall. If Iowa's coaching staff is getting the axe for two playoff failures and the failure to launch of one prospect...then Evason better start packing for what's happened with the big club. Army gave Rossi every chance to develop and succeed. He didn't seize the opportunity. Even the big club management said as much. I am not sure how that can be on Army for him not stepping up. That's a personal mentality.

(sigh) How long do you think you'll live? Because I'm doubtful it will happen in my lifetime. A buddy of mine named Tom posted this on Twitter. Since Oct 2004: #mnwild: 26-52 (.333) #skol: 4-8 (.333) #WolvesBack: 4-12 (.250) #mntwins: 0-18 (.000) Total: 34-90 (.274) The absolute picture perfect example of irrelevance.

(shrugs) Kaprizov's no movement clause kicks in after next season; so IMO that's your point of no return because if you don't think he'll re-sign then you probably think about selling out. Although the fanbase would probably revolt if they did considering how long its waited to have a superstar. I agree with @IllaZillathat we've shuffled plenty of chairs on the Titanic that is this organization already; players, coaches, management to no avail. Its something embedded in the psyche of this team that it isn't willing to fully commit to win in the post-season. Watch any other series, and you will see guys putting their bodies on the line to block shots, win battles near the crease etc and the Wild never seem to fully commit to that. Toss in a rancid PK and you get bounced easily in the 1st round year after year. I don't think dealing Kaprizov will fix that.

He met with players to go over their shifts so they knew where they could improve. That's called developmental coaching. That's EXACTLY what you want an AHL coach to do. NHL teams try to do this as well when they have time. They get sent clips where they can watch their shifts and learn from their mistakes or see where they made good choices / reads. Malicious? In what way? What proof do you have of that? High scoring prospects became invisible...why is that coaching? Maybe they were great scorers in junior or college and (gasp) the pros are tougher to score in. Look at the time and space some of these kids have in major junior and then they don't get that time and space in the pro's. Openings on the ice are fleeting, almost everyone in the league is a decent skater. Army and his staff were a scapegoat for Rossi failing to live up to the hype. He isn't fast, he isn't dynamic, he has reasonable hands but he's hesitant and inconsistent shift to shift. That wasn't the way he played as a junior player. That isn't on the coach. Tim Army gave him lots of time, until Rossi decided to ignore the defensive side of the puck and then he started to reduce his minutes. He did the same with Sammy Walker. People think the Wild prospect pool is just loaded...desperation has filtered into their expectations. If they were really as good as sites that said we had the top prospect pool Iowa would be dominant but they're not. Daemon Hunt had a good year of development, so did Wallstedt and so did Adam Beckman who started to find his scoring touch after a tough first year as pro. Army and company lost their job because Rossi couldn't step in when this team needed him to do so (after Eriksson Ek's injury) but the truth is...he isn't ready and he may never be that kind of player. Yurov, Ohgren and Khusnutdinov are all going to be spending another season in Europe. So Iowa won't be getting any bluechip help from them anytime soon. Perhaps some junior league players next year like Kyle Masters or Caeden Bankier will get a chance.

No, no I don't. I don't really have a problem with him. He did more than Tyson Jost did. But the Wild didn't really have any real ways to replace #14 no matter who they put in his place. Steel gave what he could. But either way, I hoped you enjoyed the episode. We are recording tomorrow a post-mortem of the Wild's series against Dallas.

In our latest episode we react to Game #4 and talk about what happened and what needs to be done moving forward. The Wild had plenty of opportunities to win that game even with the poor calls. You're not going to win with a 56% penalty kill, unless you stay out of the box altogether.

Here is Episode #11: Wild Public Enemy #1 - @MNSOTA, Justin and myself examine what happened in Game #4. I think you'll find this to be a fun episode even though its after a Wild loss. Enjoy!

Dean's Game #2 decision justification was more or less, this is what we've done all year. Then when asked if that's different in the playoffs, but he couldn't really come up with any sort of sensible answer. Like Joe Smith implied, they felt they were the smartest guys in the room. Ever see this team act that way before?!?!

I don't think Army was garbage. This is because Rossi hasn't matched the hype. He was given plenty of opportunity and chances to dominate in Iowa. He just never seized the initiative. I think Army did a reasonable job of playing a system where the players matched a system Minnesota had, but they felt the team was capable of more. But beyond the Gerry Mayhew / Covid canceled season, they never had a team that really had a potent offense. They probably felt Iowa was kept intact enough to go on a long run, but they never really took off. Rossi was inconsistent; and by the time he started to heat up then they were either saddled by injuries or call ups. Bachman was kept, so obviously they were happy enough with Wallstedt's development.

Here is Episode #10: You Can't Always Get What You Want (Playoff Edition) @MNSOTAand myself discuss Minnesota's upcoming playoff series against Dallas, fan expectations and take some listener questions too! Check it out!