CreaseAndAssist

It seems like more and more fans are coming to that conclusion. If this homestand is a complete debacle, we might see the heat get rather visible at games.

(shrugs) Teams sometimes give you crazy things for bigger players they wish to add for a playoff run. I certainly would entertain offers for Marcus Foligno if I'm Bill Guerin. As far as Greenway goes, yea...his cap hit is defined and he wouldn't be a rental but if he's going to continue to play like a finesse player that is 5'9", 165lbs instead of a 6'6" 230lbs wrecking ball on skates that he could be, I can't imagine that will draw too many decent offers.

Yea I saw they practiced today too, with the scoreboard still showing 5-1 from Thursday night's embarrassment.

Lines for tonight from Jessie Pierce: Kaprizov~Hartman~Zuccarello Duhaime~Eriksson Ek~Boldy Greenway~F. Gaudreau~M. Foligno Dewar~Steel~Shaw Middleton~Spurgeon Brodin~Dumba Merrill~Addison Gustavsson Intrigued to see how the 2nd line works. Duhaime has been one of the better effort players the last few games. Brodin being back should help because it will probably mean less minutes for Merrill who has been mostly dogschitt the last few games.

I am not sure if anyone read the Joe Smith article about Marco Rossi (Roh-see is how its pronounced according to him), but I would somewhat disagree with some of what it said about him. In the article it stated he was dominant. I wouldn't go that far, I would say he's playing more assertively. He's getting involved more in all situations and is showing the same level of hustle and attentiveness at both ends of the ice. He's making more plays but he's not just scoring 2-3 points per game in Iowa either. I agree with Guerin for leaving him there because I don't think his arrival would move the needle with the big club at this point. Walker and Petan are still their best point producers in Iowa in case anyone is curious what is going on down on the farm. Strangely enough, Iowa is kind of going through a similar slump scoring-wise that Minnesota is. Especially at even strength, goals are hard to come by. Even though the team has some significant cap space right now; I don't see this team being a real threat in the post-season even if it has enough in the tank to make it in the first place. Russo suggested this, that perhaps the Wild should weaponize its cap space by taking some bad contracts at the deadline and acquiring picks and prospects as teams want to give themselves more flexibility at the deadline. I'm for that because I think the next two years are going to be bad because the crunch is even tighter.

Minnesota Wild (27-20-4) 58pts 4th in the Central 2.96 Goals For Per Game (22nd in the NHL) 2.90 Goals Against Per Game (12th in the NHL) 24.1% Power Play (8th in the NHL) 80% Penalty Kill (14th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 29G 33A = 62pts 2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 19G 31A = 50pts 3. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 19G 24A = 43pts 4. #12 Matt Boldy ~ 16G 21A = 37pts 5. #2 Calen Addison ~ 3G 22A = 25pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #5 Jake Middleton ~ 61 PIM's 2. #24 Matt Dumba ~ 54 PIM's 3. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 53 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #29 Marc-Andre Fleury (16-12-3) 2.98GAA .902% 1SO 2. #32 Filip Gustavsson (11-8-1) 2.27GAA .923% 1SO Vs. New Jersey Devils (34-13-4) 72pts 2nd in the Metropolitan 3.49 Goals For Per Game (5th in the NHL) 2.65 Goals Against Per Game (7th in the NHL) 21.6% Power Play (18th in the NHL) 81.4% Penalty Kill (9th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #63 Jesper Bratt ~ 20G 32A = 52pts 2. #7 Dougie Hamilton ~ 15G 36A = 51pts 3. #13 Nico Hischier ~ 21G 26A = 47pts 4. #91 Dawson Mercer ~ 11G 18A = 29pts 5. #90 Tomas Tatar ~ 10G 18A = 28pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #44 Miles Wood ~ 49 PIM's 2. #7 Dougie Hamilton ~ 38 PIM's 3. #56 Erik Haula ~ 37 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #41 Vitek Vanecek (22-5-2) 2.34GAA .916% 2SO 2. #29 MacKenzie Blackwood (7-4-2) 3.05GAA .900% Lines: New Jersey Devils Palat~Hischier~Bratt Sharangovich~Haula~Zetterlund Tatar~Mercer~Holtz Wood~M. McLeod~Bastian Siegenthaler~Hamilton Graves~Severson Bahl~Marino Vanecek Blackwood Minnesota Wild Kaprizov~Hartman~Zuccarello Boldy~Steel~F. Gaudreau Greenway~Eriksson Ek~M. Foligno Duhaime~Dewar~Reaves Middleton~Spurgeon Goligoski~Dumba Merrill~Addison Fleury Gustavsson Evason recently admitted he feels this team is 'different' from last season. Anyone think he might be in trouble? This is going to be a really tough game.

I started a new Wild podcast with Zone Coverage's Kalisha Townsell. Give it a listen if you'd like! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crease-and-assist-podcast/id1665471983 We discuss all things Wild hockey, but I plan on talking about other levels of Minnesota hockey too.

I would agree. I think the time is right to sell. But @IllaZilla is correct, we're probably going to have to settle for a pittance or something as nebulous as 'future considerations.' If Dumba had any real value at all, he'd be gone by now. Greenway is probably not interesting too many GM's right now as a 6'6" power forward who stays on the perimeter PMB-style. Another name I'll toss out there that might generate more interest is Marcus Foligno. Like Greenway, he's having a rough season and the offense has pretty much eluded him most of the season. But teams like to add toughness at the deadline and he can at least do that. Because if he's not scoring, you're paying a 4th liner over $3 million per season. I would be buying if I'm a team in the Wild's situation. Its not worth it. We might as well let the fanbase embrace the suck...and stock up for the future.

Indeed, that was a pretty bad turnover.

Greef line played pretty well. Dewar's fluky goal got things going. They simplified their game down the stretch and were rewarded with goals. Hopefully they've learned their lesson.

It's a shootout move...meh.

What do they win?

Minnesota Wild (19-11-2) 40pts 3rd in the Central 3.16 Goals For Per Game (16th in the NHL) 2.78 Goals Against Per Game (10th in the NHL) 24.3% Power Play (10th in the NHL) 80.6% Penalty Kill (10th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 19G 23A = 42pts 2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 14G 22A = 36pts 3. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 11G 15A = 26pts 4. #12 Matt Boldy ~ 12G 13A = 25pts 5. #2 Calen Addison ~ 2G 14A = 16pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 46 PIM's 2. #5 Jake Middleton ~ 40 PIM's 3. #15 Mason Shaw ~ 34 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #29 Marc-Andre Fleury (12-7-1) 2.85GAA .901% 1SO 2. #32 Filip Gustavsson (7-4-1) 2.31GAA .922% 1SO Vs. San Jose Sharks (10-18-6) 26pts 7th in the Pacific 3.00 Goals For Per Game (22nd in the NHL) 3.62 Goals Against Per Game (27th in the NHL) 21.5% Power Play (18th in the NHL) 84.2% Penalty Kill (2nd in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #65 Erik Karlsson ~ 12G 30A = 42pts 2. #28 Timo Meier ~ 17G 15A = 32pts 3. #39 Logan Couture ~ 14G 14A = 28pts 4. #94 Alexander Barabanov ~ 4G 16A = 20pts 5. #62 Kevin Labanc ~ 7G 11A = 18pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #42 Jonah Gadjovich ~ 35 PIM's 2. #51 Radim Simek ~ 25 PIM's 3. #62 Kevin Labanc ~ 20 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #47 James Reimer (6-9-3) 3.04GAA .904% 1SO 2. #36 Kaapo Kahkonen (3-7-2) 3.83GAA .872% 1SO Lines: San Jose Sharks Meier~Bonino~Barabanov Nieto~Couture~Labanc Gregor~N. Sturm~E. Svechnikov Gadjovich~Lorentz~Lindblom Harrington~E. Karlsson Vlasic~Benning Ferraro~Simek Reimer Kahkonen Minnesota Wild Kaprizov~Steel~Zuccarello Hartman~F. Gaudreau~Boldy Greenway~J. Eriksson Ek~M. Foligno Reaves~Dewar~Shaw Middleton~Spurgeon Brodin~Dumba Merrill~Addison Fleury Gustavsson Pretty sure Gustavsson gets the start tonight against the Sharks.

Leah Hextall...brutal but its been said all over. Haven't met too many people that like her play-by-play. Good thing the Wild didn't let this one get away from them. Still, was hoping to see some scoring from the other lines. The GREEF line really has been making themselves a pain to play against. And I know some people are not big fans of Ryan Reaves, but you don't see other clubs taking any liberties with us because they don't want #75 retribution. Anyone missing Goligoski? (cue crickets)

Minnesota Wild (10-9-2) 22pts 4th in the Central 2.90 Goals For Per Game (22nd in the NHL) 2.90 Goals Against Per Game (11th in the NHL) 23.2% Power Play (14th in the NHL) 82.4% Penalty Kill (6th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 13G 14A = 27pts 2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 7G 13A = 20pts 3. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 6G 11A = 17pts 4. #12 Matt Boldy ~ 9G 7A = 16pts 5. #2 Calen Addison ~ 1G 10A = 11pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 35 PIM's 2. #26 Connor Dewar ~ 29 PIM's 3. #5 Jacob Milddleton ~ 29 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #29 Marc-Andre Fleury (7-5-1) 2.91GAA .901% 1SO 2. #32 Filip Gustavsson (3-4-1) 2.62GAA .914% Vs. Edmonton Oilers (13-10-0) 24pts 4th in the Pacific 3.43 Goals For Per Game (8th in the NHL) 3.57 Goals Against Per Game (26th in the NHL) 27.4% Power Play (6th in the NHL) 72.8% Penalty Kill (27th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #97 Connor McDavid ~ 18G 23A = 41pts 2. #29 Leon Draisaitl ~ 15G 21A = 36pts 3. #93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ~ 10G 15A = 25pts 4. #18 Zach Hyman ~ 9G 14A = 23pts 5. #22 Tyson Barrie ~ 4G 9A = 13pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #25 Darnell Nurse ~ 22 PIM's 2. #93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ~ 18 PIM's 3. #29 Leon Draisaitl ~ 14 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #74 Stuart Skinner (6-5-0) 2.91GAA .914% 2. #36 Jack Campbell (7-5-0) 4.04GAA .875% Lines: Edmonton Oilers Draisaitl~McDavid~Hyman Janmark~Nugent-Hopkins~Puljujarvi Holloway~Malone~Hamblin Benson~De. Shore~D. Ryan Nurse~Ceci Kulak~Barrie Broberg~E. Bouchard S. Skinner Campbell Minnesota Wild Kaprizov~Steel~Zuccarello Shaw~F. Gaudreau~Boldy Greenway~Eriksson Ek~M. Foligno Dewar~Petan~Reaves Middleton~Spurgeon Goligoski~Dumba Merrill~Addison Fleury Gustavsson No Brodin, so...its going to be tough one to try to hold down McDavid / Draisaitl. However they did play last night, although the Wild have a reputation for being lethargic when they've had a bit of a break. Enjoy the stats folks!

It was a pretty ugly game. No doubt about it. We didn't have to do much and we still nearly threw that one away. I think Rossi has put pressure on himself, but I also don't think he's the player we thought we drafted unfortunately. I just don't see the burst of the motor that he had as a major junior player. In some ways, it reminds me of watching old film of Thomas Vanek when he was with the Gophers. Vanek used to just fly around the ice, and when he didn't out skill people he'd out work them. At some point, as a pro that hustle element of his game faded away and he became the cherry picker he was by the time he got to Minnesota. Rossi looks a lot like that cherry picker right now. Not really willing to do the dirty work, etc. He seems to think it will just happen by being there. But his decision-making isn't up to speed just as his skating is not up to speed. And then he tops it off by saying he feels he's better served by staying in St. Paul. Not playing is not going to get him up to speed. I don't care what he does in practice, it not the same as being in games and that's the speed he needs to try to reach. I don't mind the team sitting him out, because by the quality of play...he's the one that deserves to sit. But they also shouldn't wait and just send him back to Iowa already. Dragging it out isn't helping him or the situation. I also can't say I'm surprised that Rossi struggled either. I watched him all season last year in Iowa (I had AHL TV, watched his home and away games), once Boldy left, what you have seen in Minnesota this year looked a lot like what I saw in Iowa most nights. Especially at even strength. He didn't have the acceleration to win the races to loose pucks nor the burst to create space for himself. He was a power play specialist and by the end of the year he became more and more passive and dare I say it, disinterested. At the end of the season we heard some vague references that he may have been injured but nothing really definitive. It really got me to question whether there was long-term effects from his myocarditis or did he just not think he had to work anymore? If its the former that's sad and unfortunate, if is the latter than its an indictment. Either way, its not good for the Wild who really need him to match the hype he had when he was selected whether that's fair or not.

Yea, pretty much a throw spaghetti at the wall strategy. Let's challenge and see what happens?!?! Who cares if it doesn't work...

The Wild focused on scoring for a few minutes and it was enough to win the game. Way too many passed up chances though. Minnesota was fortunate the Coyotes' lacked the skill and ability to make us pay for trying to be cute with the puck. Although if anyone wants to find any validation in adding Reaves, the Coyotes didn't try a damn thing against us all game. No silly crap after the whistle by Crouse or Kassian. They wanted nothing to do with it. We are fortunate Foligno's mouth didn't get us behind the 8-ball in this one. Not sure why we keep waiting around to send Rossi down to Iowa. Are they afraid they will embarrass him? I think everyone knows they're going to send him back. @MNSOTA and I had the Arizona broadcast for today's game. I sure as heck don't miss Matt McConnell one bit. He wanted to talk about Goligoski's 'story' but he kind of sidetracked himself and never got back to it. I was kind of interested to hear his take on it. They did also mention everyone wanting to deal Dumba and they can't understand why we would do that. Just thought people might appreciate hearing that outside perspective on it since it was mentioned by the opposing broadcast.

i like the penalty for a failed challenge because it eliminated the challenging just for challenge sake that it used to be.

Minnesota Wild (9-9-2) 20pts 6th in the Central 2.85 Goals For Per Game (25th in the NHL) 2.90 Goals Against Per Game (11th in the NHL) 22,7% Power Play (13th in the NHL) 81.8% Penalty Kill (8th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 12G 12A = 24pts 2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 7G 13A = 20pts 3. #12 Matt Boldy ~ 8G 7A = 15pts 4. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 6G 9A = 15pts 5. #2 Calen Addison ~ 1G 9A = 10pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #26 Connor Dewar ~ 29 PIM's 2. #5 Jacob Middleton ~ 29 PIM's 3. #15 Mason Shaw ~ 28 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #29 Marc-Andre Fleury (6-5-1) 2.91GAA .902% 1SO 2. #32 Filip Gustavsson (3-4-1) 2.62GAA .914% 3. #31 Zane McIntyre N/A Vs. Arizona Coyotes (7-9-3) 17pts 7th in the Central 2.68 Goals For Per Game (27th in he NHL) 3.37 Goals Against Per Game (21st in the NHL) 23.9% Power Play (10th in the NHL) 80.3% Penalty Kill (12th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #9 Clayton Keller ~ 7G 13A = 20pts 2. #14 Shayne Gostisbehere ~ 4G 9A = 13pts 3. #90 J.J. Moser ~ 2G 10A = 12pts 4. #67 Lawson Crouse ~ 9G 2A = 11pts 5. #12 Nick Ritchie ~ 6G 4A = 10pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #38 Liam O'Brien ~ 25 PIM's 2. #12 Nick Ritchie ~ 18 PIM's 3. #22 Jack McBain ~ 17 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #70 Karel Vejmelka (6-5-2) 2.97GAA .916% 2SO 2. #39 Connor Ingram (1-4-1) 4.00GAA .885% Lines: Arizona Coyotes Keller~Boyd~Schmaltz Crouse~Bjugstad~Guenther O'Brien~McBain~Fischer N. Ritchie~Hayton~Kassian Chychrun~Gostisbehere Moser~Mayo Nemeth~Stecher Vejmelka Ingram Minnesota Wild Kaprizov~Steel~Zuccarello Greenway~F. Gaudreau~Boldy Reaves~Eriksson Ek~M. Foligno Shaw~Dewar~Petan Spurgeon~Middleton Goligoski~Dumba Merrill~Addison Fleury Gustavsson McIntyre Duhaime has been placed on the IR. Rossi apparently is going to be sent back down to Iowa soon, and one of our goaltenders got hurt at practice yesterday so they did an emergency recall of Zane McIntyre. Arizona is good on special teams, not so great at even strength; sound familiar?!?!

(shrugs) I don't think you can go that far. However, a 2-minute delay of game penalty should be the first step for intentionally knocking the net off its moorings. If it happens again then it's a 5-minute major. I would also make it challenge-able by the coach. So if a goaltender knocks the net off its moorings unabated by the opposing team (just like Murray did multiple times) then the penalties kick in. If it is the helmet coming off constantly, then they should be removed from the game (for safety reasons and replaced with the other goaltender) until the issue is resolved. I think that will get rid a lot of the fakers. I felt the same way about those that flop and try to fake an injury to get a timeout or hope to draw a penalty. If the trainer has to come out to the ice to attend to you, then you should be out of the game for the next 10 minutes for a medical evaluation. That way the league can say its doing its due diligence but it should also reduce the impulse to fake since you'll have to be taken out of the game for the next 10 minutes anyways.

Minnesota Wild (9-8-2) 20pts 5th in the Central 2.84 Goals For Per Game (23rd in the NHL) 2.84 Goals Against Per Game (11th in the NHL) 21.9% Power Play (14th in the NHL) 81% Penalty Kill (10th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 11G 11A = 22pts 2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 6G 12A = 18pts 3. #12 Matt Boldy ~ 7G 7A = 14pts 4. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 6G 8A = 14pts 5. #2 Calen Addison ~ 1G 9A = 10pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #26 Connor Dewar ~ 29 PIM's 2. #5 Jacob Middleton ~ 29 PIM's 3. #15 Mason Shaw ~ 28 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #29 Marc-Andre Fleury (6-4-1) 2.80GAA .906% 1SO 2. #32 Filip Gustavsson (3-4-1) 2.62GAA .914% Vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (11-5-5) 27pts 2nd in the Atlantic 2.90 Goals For Per Game (22nd in the NHL) 2.62 Goals Against Per Game (7th in the NHL) 26.5% Power Play (6th in the NHL) 78.6% Penalty Kill (17th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #16 Mitchell Marner ~ 4G 20A = 24pts 2. #91 John Tavares ~ 12G 11A = 23pts 3. #88 William Nylander ~ 10G 11A = 21pts 4. #34 Auston Matthews ~ 9G 12A = 21pts 5. #58 Michael Bunting ~ 4G 6A = 10pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #58 Michael Bunting ~ 32 PIM's 2. #55 Mark Giordano ~ 19 PIM's 3. #91 John Tavares ~ 14 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #30 Matt Murray (3-1-1) 2.41GAA .926% 2. #50 Erik Kallgren (2-2-4) 2.87GAA .891% Lines: Toronto Maple Leafs Bunting~Matthews~W. Nylander N. Robertson~Tavares~Marner Kerfoot~Holmberg~Jarnkrok Aston-Reese~Kampf~Engvall Giordano~Holl Sandin~Liljegren Jo. Benn~Hollowell M. Murray Kallgren Minnesota Wild Kaprizov~Steel~Zuccarello Greenway~F. Gaudreau~Boldy Duhaime~Eriksson Ek~M. Foligno Shaw~Dewar~Petan Spurgeon~Middleton Goligoski~Dumba Merrill~Addison Fleury Gustavsson Ryan Reaves probably takes Petan's spot on the 4th line; but beyond that...and Fleury returning the lineup will probably be pretty close to what we used Wednesday night against Winnipeg I'd imagine.

Nic Deslauriers was good the first game with the Wild and after that it never really amounted to much. Tony Abbott had a pretty good article about how the Wild keep making the same assumption that adding a tough guy will fix other problems not related to toughness. Chris Simon, Brad Staubitz, Nic Deslauriers...lots of guys brought in...still didn't put us over the top.

Russo tried to explain this on his podcast this week; he said it was more or less that the team had high expectations and to play so lousy their first 3 games put everyone on edge for being that awful. Not sure if I buy it, but I'm sure for him...after his pre-season and then that he probably felt like he was barely holding onto a roster spot. He just never did enough to impress or keep his spot despite the opportunities to do so.

Good game, who would've thunk it, you simplify your game and you get rewarded. Send shots on goal, with traffic in front and you benefit from some fortunate bounces. I hope it means we'll see a departure from all of the east / west crap. Anyone miss Rossi...not me either.