CreaseAndAssist

I don't think they need more than 32 teams. But league owners can't help themselves...they love the expansion $$$.

It's funny, I have a guy I follow on Twitter who is a Swede that's moved to Minnesota. He's all about Ohgren getting the chance...falling over himself. Now we see Alexandron angry as hell that the Swede beat the Russian to the opportunity. He's right, its all about the fact Ohgren doesn't count against the cap whereas Firstov does. Either way...its all just arranging chairs on the Wild Titanic of the 2023-24 season. It doesn't really matter all that much at all.

Shifty player with great hands. I'm curious to see if he can be productive at the pro level as he was in High School in college.

Yea some folks are hook, line & sinker on these guys like they will all just be studs. I am with you, I'll believe it when I see it.

I agree. Its failed. They tried for 20+ years to get people to show up for NHL hockey there and they didn't. Even when the were good the fans only kind of showed up. But they can't even fill up a 4,000-seat arena unless road fans fill it up for them. It is a colossal waste of time, energy and money trying to keep NHL hockey there. As for Merulo, why would you continue to do business with that shady guy who never pays his bills? If anything the league needs to revoke their franchise and then sell it to a more reputable and responsible owner / ownership group. Afterall isn't that the ultimate leverage the league has with any franchise...the right to pull away their power if its not being run properly?

Ohgren has looked ok down there. I think the smaller ice and the way the natural way that speeds up the game was still moving a bit fast for him at the AHL level, but they probably just are appealing to the buzz of having another 1st rounder get a look at the big league. He has a decent shot...he hasn't found the back of the net in Iowa, but it will be interesting to see if he can get a goal in Minnesota. Khusnutdinov certainly hasn't piled up a bunch of scoring chances since he arrived. But I think Khusnutdinov is more of a middle to bottom-6 player even if he's small.

Halle-$ucking-luliah....about damn time. All of that pathetic posturing about getting some land in Phoenix was smoke & mirrors for the team about to leave town. Arizona's ownership is shady as hell. Story This took way too long to happen. It more or less keeps the Central Division intact without any major disruption and hopefully with a fanbase / community that can support it. The only drawback, is that Utah has its share of water issues almost as much as Arizona does. Personally, I wish they would go to Houston where you could have the Texas two-step road trip...but at least they're out of the pit that is Arizona. Hopefully this really happens...and this horrific embarrassment comes to an end.

This, 100%. That's really what this organization is pinning its hopes to. No one getting hurt and somehow despite being OLDER...we'll somehow stay healthier and be more productive. And then they have to find a way to pay Brock Faber $9M or more per season. Hahahaha...after all of that stupid money thrown at #17, #38 and #36...and they think they'll fit that in somehow. Honestly, I'd toss #46's deal into this too...just stupid to pay a tiny defenseman until he's 38 years old big money.

100% exactly why I don't buy the "you have to offer NMC's" ******** argument. No you don't, if that was true every team would have about the same amount and they clearly do not. I did an episode about it where I went over the amount of NMC's and NTC's each team had. No other team in the league has more NMC's than the Minnesota Wild. Total, between NMC's and NTC's I think there was one team that had more than we did (Toronto if memory serves me correctly). But some clubs had very few; like Nashville as you mentioned.

Why Firstov? He's just finding his groove with the Iowa Wild. IMO if any young forward that is deserving of a call up right now, its Mikey Milne. He's fast, he's got energy and I think he could do as much as Lucchini or Shaw can and probably moves better than both of them. But I only watch just about every Iowa game so what would I know? Minnesota Wild (37-31-9) 83pts 6th in the Central 3.01 Goals For Per Game (20th in the NHL) 3.13 Goals Against Per Game (18th in the NHL) 21.5% Power Play (15th in the NHL) 74.3% Penalty Kill (30th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 41G 48A = 89pts 2. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 30G 32A = 62pts 3. #12 Matt Boldy ~ 26G 35A = 61pts 4. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 11G 49A = 60pts 5. #7 Brock Faber ~ 7G 36A = 43pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #5 Jake Middleton ~ 77 PIM's 2. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 72 PIM's 3. #24 Zach Bogosian ~ 59 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #32 Filip Gustavsson (19-17-4) 3.07GAA .900% 3SO 2. #29 Marc-Andre Fleury (17-13-5) 2.87GAA .899% 2SO 3. #30 Jesper Wallstedt (1-1-0) 3.52GAA .879% 1SO Vs. Colorado Avalanche (48-24-6) 102pts 2nd in the Central 3.71 Goals For Per Game (1st in the NHL) 3.05 Goals Against Per Game (15th in the NHL) 24.6% Power Play (6th in the NHL) 81.7% Penalty Kill (8th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #29 Nathan MacKinnon ~ 48G 85A = 133pts 2. #8 Cale Makar ~ 19G 65A = 84pts 3. #27 Jonathan Drouin ~ 19G 34A = 53pts 4. #13 Valeri Nichushkin ~ 26G 24A = 50pts 5. #7 Devon Toews ~ 12G 35A = 47pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #42 Josh Manson ~ 81 PIM's 2. #20 Ross Colton ~ 59 PIM's 3. #29 Nathan MacKinnon ~ 38 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #40 Alexandar Georgiev (37-17-4) 2.96GAA .899% 2SO 2. #60 Justus Annunen (7-4-1) 2.24GAA .931% 2SO Lines: Colorado Avalanche Drouin~MacKinnon~Lehkonen Parise~Mittelstadt~Nichushkin Duhaime~Colton~Trenin Cogliano~Wagner~Kiviranta D. Toews~Makar Girard~Manson J. Johnson~Walker Georgiev Annunen Minnesota Wild Kaprizov~Rossi~Zuccarello M. Johansson~Eriksson Ek~Boldy F. Gaudreau~Khusnutdinov~Hartman Shaw~Lucchini~Merrill Middleton~Faber Brodin~Bogosian Chisholm~Mermis Gustavsson Fleury Wallstedt

No doubt, but this will still become more problematic as they get older. Spurgeon has struggled to stay healthy the last two seasons. Marcus Foligno has had his struggles too. The mileage just builds up and even if you're in great shape you find yourself being injured and once injured you spend a lot more time in recovery. Either way, it begs another question of why did Bill Guerin decide to invest in so many years in these older players when you know you have so many young players coming up? As far as Fleury getting back Duhaime...yea, you mess with the bull, you get the horns!

I would agree. But its the same formula as it was back when we still had Pominville and he was stone cold. We just kept putting him out there because he makes $5.9 million a season or kept using Ryan Suter just because...the cap hit.

Exactly. The same one and done crap and then trying to delude themselves and the fanbase that they're inching closer to being a contender. The Wild usually are fading as they go into the post-season and for the most part their 'stars' have been MIA in the post-season and our season ends a week and a half after the conclusion of the regular season. Pride can be a weakness when it makes you do stupid things like the same thing over and over and hoping for a different result.

Not sure, my only guess is they're paying them a lot more money...and the owner likes to see his investment playing on the ice. Same as it was during the 11/20 days.

Episode #39: Questions and Suspensions In this episode, @MNSOTA, Kalisha and I discuss the suspension of Ryan Hartman. We also discuss what question we'd ask Wild GM Bill Guerin as well as answer listener questions and give our two cents on the NCAA transfer portal and its effect on college hockey. I know this was asked in another thread, but if you could ask Wild GM Bill Guerin one question what would it be? Answer here and we'll included it in next week's episode.

Hartman won't reach that mark today. He's on the last game of his 3-game suspension. Minnesota Wild (36-30-9) 81pts 6th in the Central 3.01 Goals For Per Game (20th in the NHL) 3.16 Goals Against Per Game (19th in the NHL) 21.2% Power Play (16th in the NHL) 74.1% Penalty Kill (29th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #97 Kirill Kapriov ~ 37G 47A = 84pts 2. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 30G 31A = 61pts 3. #12 Matt Boldy ~ 26G 34A = 60pts 4. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 11G 46A = 57pts 5. #7 Brock Faber ~ 7G 34A = 41pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #5 Jake Middleton ~ 77 PIM's 2. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 54 PIM's 3. #12 Matt Boldy ~ 46 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #32 Filip Gustavsson (19-17-4) 3.07GAA .900% 3SO 2. #29 Marc-Andre Fleury (17-12-5) 2.83GAA .901% 2SO Vs. Winnipeg Jets (46-24-6) 98pts 3rd in the Central 3.07 Goals For Per Game (17th in the NHL) 2.47 Goals Against Per Game (1st in the NHL) 18.5% Power Play (22nd in the NHL) 76.4% Penalty Kill (26th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #55 Mark Scheifele ~ 23G 43A = 66pts 2. #44 Josh Morrissey ~ 9G 54A = 63pts 3. #27 Nikolaj Ehlers ~ 23G 33A = 56pts 4. #81 Kyle Connor ~ 30G 24A = 54pts 5. #91 Cole Perfetti ~ 17G 19A = 36pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #5 Brenden Dillon ~ 90 PIM's 2. #4 Neal Pionk ~ 57 PIM's 3. #55 Mark Scheifele ~ 55 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #37 Conor Hellebuyck (33-19-4) 2.42GAA .920% 4SO 2. #39 Laurent Brossoit (13-5-2) 2.10GAA .925% 2SO Lines: Winnipeg Jets Ehlers-Scheifele~Villardi Connor~Monahan~Perfetti Toffoli~Lowry~Appleton Barron~Namestnikov~Iafallo Morrissey~Pionk Dillon~DeMelo Samberg~C. Miller Hellebuyck Brossoit Minnesota Wild Kaprizov~Eriksson Ek~Boldy M. Johansson~Rossi~Zuccarello Beckman~Khusnutdinov~F. Gaudreau Shaw~Lucchini~Lettieri Brodin~Faber Middleton~Chisholm Merrill~Goligoski Gustavsson Fleury

Eriksson Ek's Swedish Jr. League stats weren't bad. Still, I agree with what you say. He was fine as a man among boys at lower levels and now his size and strength and even his mobility isn't to a level where he can dominate. It's interesting how you mention Mikko blocking him, you are 100% right. As long as Kaptain Klydesdale was there he was going to be relegated to a lesser role. Same was true with a lot of those kids when Suter and Parise were around. And...as Russo writes an article saying the Wild need to give Parise a tribute it's just sad to see people not recognize how the team blocked the kids from playing with veterans holding on to the last gasps of their career. And even worse, they seem to be doing some of that again...maybe not with the same level of entitlement / ego but we have to play the vets while the kids sit and watch. It's maddening. Even if this team struggles, I'd rather see the kids get a chance than seeing the same folks that have led this club to nowhere continue to hold those spots.

Not saying its all that fun anymore, but listen to Russo / LaPanta's latest show. Russo didn't go back at Tony in this latest one...but geez. Oh go into the locker room and see how it goes if you ask this team to tank!?!? You don't know how much pride those guys have in the room! Blah blah blah... If those guys had any pride they wouldn'tve sleep walked through most of the middle of the season putting them in the position they did. Even the firing of a coach wasn't enough of a kick to the ass to get them to playing hard each night. This team needs to tank, but its in denial about it. They think it will just magically be different even though they're doing the same damn thing.

I disagree. I think our talent is as good as WE think it is. We don't think it's that good and the difference between them and Colorado or the other better teams in the West is painfully obvious. I don't see many (if any) people here that think this team is the equal of any of the West's best. I don't see many (if any) buying the crap Anthony LaPanta, Wes Walz and Ryan Carter try to sell each every game that the club is just a great team that was hobbled by bad luck & injuries. Most of us seem to be rather skeptical of this team and its chances both in the short term and long term. There is a small chance the Wild will have a 40-goal scorer (Kaprizov), two 30-goal scorers (Eriksson Ek, Boldy) and maybe two 20 goal scorers (Rossi & Hartman). In past years we would've killed for that...but with such an atrocious penalty kill and average to below average goaltending...it doesn't really matter.

Maybe. Michigan State would make a lot of sense as a destination given the past history / relationship. Boldy had a bit of a struggling freshman season, but this is really Stramel's 3rd season of struggle in a row. His bigger frame probably has made people want to wait and see but as a junior he'll have to start showing some potential or if he is slow out of the gate you really have to wonder what's there. I agree, which is why this team's unwillingness to just bottom out places it in the eternal purgatory of selections in the mid-to-late teens.

Not a great game. It was another one where I felt the Wild were making this game way more difficult than it needed to be. The top lines were trying to be way too fancy with the puck; trying to set up the perfect chance. 4th line ends up bailing out the club with two goals but the inability of the penalty kill to understand why they can't allow the cross-ice pass (especially from down low) is beyond frustrating. Chisholm had some Dumba-esque turnovers. He owes Fleury a dinner or two after bailing him out for some gaffes with the puck.

Not sure how team friendly I'd say they were. We overpaid and gave too much term to Marcus Foligno. But I agree in principle that it makes you wonder if he had some kind of earlier agreement. However, including the 'handshake' deal to Goligoski these deals have only kept around old bones way too long.

Nah, Firstov can stay and play in the AHL. Seems like Liam Ohgren will be joining the Iowa Wild too. If the Wild want to see what they have in Adam Beckman; now would be the time to give him an audition in a Top 6 role or they should just admit they have given up on him. Also would be nice to see Marat Khusnutdinov play with some better linemates too. As far as Marcus Foligno being shut down...oh well. As for Hartman's suspension...not surprised. I just hope it provides some late-season opportunities.

(shrugs) Hard for me to point to Hastings as the problem as Stramel was underwhelming with Tony Granato too. Don Lucia got the same rap over time; especially when he doesn't just give the drafted kids unlimited ice time & opportunity. It will be interesting to see where Stramel goes but anyone really expecting him to just become a college stud after two pretty mundane college seasons under his belt?

Yes, and after we pulled that off a few weeks ago against Nashville most people became aware of that rule. But it also begs the question why the Wild didn't pull the goaltender during regulation rather than OT with an effort to block Vegas from earning even a point in the standings which might be just as important as earning 2 points. Seems a bit silly to do Vegas a favor by conceding (at the very least) a loser point to the Golden Knights when you were risking 2 or no points in OT. Oh well, it dropped our odds of making it down to 2%.