CreaseAndAssist

Firstov is going to play in Iowa according to Russo. One would think this is make or break time for him now that he's had time to develop since being drafted. Also in that report, the Wild are not going to sign Servac Petrovsky. He can re-enter the draft but already has a bunch of European league deals on the table. The Wild did sign Rasmus Kumpulainen to a 3-year entry level deal that starts next year. Ovchinnikov is never going to play for the Wild either; they've even let him stay and play in Toronto. I guess it was to say we got something besides just a pick for Dewar...literally in name only.

Iowa looked like it had some scoring depth going into the season, at least in theory. Nic Petan (23 goals in Iowa last year), Sammy Walker (27 goals last year in Iowa)...along with Vinni Lettieri were supposed to be the pace-setters offensively for Iowa. Lucchini, Teasdale (23 goals last year in Laval), Fogarty (19 goals a season ago in Iowa) and Beckman (24 goals a season ago in Iowa) were supposed to also be solid secondary scoring. Almost none of that really came into fruition. Petan was their most dangerous player, but between call ups and and not a decent playmaker to work with (he had Rossi last year) his scoring was muted. Yet so was everyone else. Novak got sent down to the ECHL to get more ice time. Jujar Khaira started out pretty well, but he's been hurt since probably early December. Current Stats Petan - 12 goals in 44GP (before he was traded to the Rangers) Walker - 12 goals in 57GP Lettieri - 4 goals in 10GP (up with the MN Wild) Beckman - 16 goals in 48GP (up with the MN Wild not playing) Fogarty - 14 goals in 56GP Lucchini - 11 goals in 30GP (up with the MN Wild) Teasdale - 6 goals in 57GP Bankier - 9 goals in 38GP Elson - 5 goals in 43 GP (he was who we traded Petan for) Just before the season began, Mermis was named captain of their team. But he's spent almost no time in Iowa. So they didn't have any vets on the blueline until they signed Andy Welinski. Welinski helped out a lot until he got hurt. Mermis had been a rock in Iowa for the previous two seasons. Did a little bit of everything. They also won't admit it but they never really replaced Joe Hicketts; who was their other veteran workhorse on the blueline who also chipped in a fair amount of points too. Simon Johansson has had his best year offensively but he's still frail. Daemon Hunt has been called up a fair amount, and has been Iowa's best young defenseman. Carson Lambos has looked like a junior player having a tough adjustment to the professional game. He has the Dumba-like penchant for the catastrophic turnover. Mobile, but he too needs to add strength. O'Rourke, coaches apparently really like his game. Other than a few glimpses I don't think he stands out. David Spacek has been somewhat similar to Lambos minus the catastrophic turnovers. Kyle Masters was sent down to the ECHL to get more ice time and has done fairly well there. Adding Will Butcher helped add a bit more offense and a power play QB to this team. Toporowski has been a decent add so far. But all in all, they've had a lot of guys regress. Speed-wise, they really missed Michael Milne on their lower lines in the 1st half. Call ups for players like Lucchini, Raska deprived the team of some speed as well. Wallstedt has been their most consistent player game to game. Zane McIntyre hasn't played all that much and at times he looks good but at others he's had some rough games too (perhaps from not playing as often as he did last year where it was more of a 50/50 rotation). It's been a season of frustration in Iowa. A horrid January (just 2 wins that month) and they're still trying to scratch and claw for the last spot like the big club is doing. I don't think losing one of their coaches (after Dean and Woods was let go) helped either. Cody Franson replaced Dwyer. Brett McLean at times has appeared to be a bit overwhelmed and effort and consistency has been an issue all season long. They go on the road and look great in Hershey against the defending Calder Cup champions and then come back and look like crap against a far weaker Rockford team. I've probably watched about 95% of their games. They rarely ever make their games look easy, even when they are playing well. Everything is a grind or one step forward and two steps back with this team.

(shrugs) It makes sense. Also, Minnesota is really finding its groove now. Kendall Coyne-Schofield is finding the back of the net with more frequency and Michela Cava, Denisa Krizova are starting to light the lamp too to go along with Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle. A bit of an interesting choice not to keep Abby Boreen on the club after scoring 4 goals on her two 10-day PTO's. Now if they can only get Kelly Pannek and Sofia Kunin to get rolling offensively (goal scoring-wise) they could be pretty scary. https://www.thepwhl.com/en/stats/standings Currently in 2nd place with 1st place Toronto having a game in hand. Big week this week with games against 3rd place Montreal. It will either preserve the log jam or Minnesota will open up some space between the two clubs.

Iowa Wild 3-2 over Chicago A good game that came down to the bitter end. Wallstedt had some great saves but he also made a big mistake too which you will see in these highlights. However, they found a way to earn a victory this afternoon.

Iowa has lost back-to-back games to Grand Rapids on Friday and last night (Saturday). Yesterday they got out to a 2-0 lead only to give up five unanswered to get blitzed 5-2. I know Michael Russo thinks the Wild will bring in Vladislav Firstov and then send him to Iowa but what's the point? Iowa doesn't look like they'll make the playoffs and I can't imagine the kid who bolted for the KHL because he didn't want to play in the AHL will just be thrilled to go back to the AHL upon arriving back in North America.

I didn't see this one, I had friends over. Theresa kind of described it as kind of a slow and sleepy 1st period and then they picked it up in the 3rd. Had some opportunities to take the lead but couldn't bury it. As much as in past years where we'd probably be pleased with a shootout loss, now the team can't afford to come away with anything less than 2 points. Certainly sounded like a game where we missed Eriksson Ek big time.

I saw that on Twitter. At what point does the uniform guy have to consider using a smaller font?

Episode #37: Wild Ride the Fleury bus? In this episode, @MNSOTA and I discuss the resurgence of Marc-Andre Fleury, the future of Filip Gustavsson and the NHL debut of Marat Khusnutdinov. We answer listener questions and Theresa talks about possible NHL expansion to Alpharetta, Georgia. Give it a listen!

I didn't like how the Wild decided not to use Marat Khusnutdinov in the 3rd period. IMO, give him ice time...let the vets rest a bit. Instead of they shortened their bench and basically used their 1st and 2nd lines throughout most of the 3rd.

Thanks for dropping that here. I thought he looked pretty good last night, albeit against Anaheim. But he looked fairly comfortable. Won some draws, delivered a few checks, played attentive defense and even used his speed a bit too. Not sure why the Wild decided to nail him to the bench for the 3rd. I think he has the potential to be a very important role player for the club. And still just 21 years old too.

They got the two points, but this is against another bottom feeder. Got to feel for Lucchini trying to stick with the big club to have another goal undone by it being waived off (although rightfully so) because of Lettieri's goaltender interference. The biggest thing from this one is the injury that had Eriksson Ek leaving the game. If he's out for even a week or two that will probably be the final nail in this season's coffin. Not that I'd complain about that...but they have to have him in order to have a chance to win IMO.

(shrugs) We've seen stories like this before. See Adam Beckman. Sure, we're all hopeful this isn't just junior league domination...but it's best to not buy too heavily into this. If he ends up scoring at a point per game pace in the AHL after the conclusion of his junior season then you have something to get excited about.

I saw a ton of posts on Twitter where they suggested John Hynes do the Sam Cassell big balls dance, but I'm thinking why? The Wild are desperate, clearly...it's only a shame that if you pull that goaltender in 3-on-3 that if you win it denies the other team the loser point. That might end up making more 3-on-3 OT's near the end of the season interesting if that's a rule change.

I said that right after it happened. 50:10 in the podcast (sorry there is a lot of background noise) I said this on Oct. 8th. And another friend Tom pointed out even when cap hell ends, the big space some expect won't really exist as you will have to start issuing raises to other young players.

Luke Toporowski, the first Iowa-native to play for the Iowa Wild has done pretty well. A goal and an assist in two games so far. Caeden Bankier had a decent weekend too. Reiger Lorenz, Riley Heidt, Kalem Parker, Aaron Pionk, Hunter Haight and Rasmus Kumpulainen all registered points over the weekend.

While Brodin has a goal today, he's bailed on his coverage in his own end a few times. I am listening to the Iowa game as I watch Minnesota. Iowa is up 5-2 in the 3rd period. Bankier has had a good weekend, Iowa still mostly is crap. Although Toporowski became the first Iowa-native to play for the team and so far he has two points in two games. I think Fleury has been working hard, and had has had to clear a lot of rebounds away by himself.

Episode #36: Trader Bill and the State Tournament We discuss the #mnwild trade deadline day moves, we also discuss the state tournament and answer listener questions too. Lastly, @MNSOTA talks about the travesty that is the DIv-III Men's & Women's hockey brackets / tournaments.

Kirill seems to be playing more like his 100% self. Creating plays, showing more initiative to score. Had some great opportunities but he just couldn't bury them. But he was still pretty dangerous out there. I still feel he's much more direct with Eriksson Ek as his linemate instead of pass-happy Zuccarello.

A Tony Tuzzolini trade as @Fargocase used to say. We trade a better veteran 'ringer' for a worse one. But he (Turner Elson) must have 'character' since he's been an alternate captain for quite a while now...points not so much anymore.

I don't think it was absolutely necessary to hand out NMC's / NTC's to these players. That's just his idea of courtesy and because of that courtesy they squandered the opportunity to make more lucrative deals. Either way, he probably did about as well as could be expected, albeit a bunch of mid-draft selections in 2026. @MNSOTA and I will talk about this more in our podcast we're recording this afternoon.

We struggled to win against an Arizona team that is pretty much waiting for another season to end. I just can't get excited about that. It looks like (knock on wood) we'll have two 30-goal scorers this season with Kaprizov netting #30 and Eriksson Ek his 29th. There's that...but the team has to literally win just about every game to have even a chance. It's not worth it.

No trade protection on the Zach Bogosian extension. However, the chart also shows that Wild employ the NTC / NMC bonus more than most of the rest of the league does. And no team has more NMC's than the Wild do. I wish I had this chart a few months ago; as I gathered this information just picking my way through Cap Friendly. With Colorado likely to be a contender, the 3rd round pick will be pretty late (so its just about a 4th round pick). It sure would've been nice before we cemented in a bunch of 30-ish year old players to take advantage of other teams wanting to overpay for marginal talent but instead we hold onto it like grim death because they tell our GM "I like it here."

This was a pretty sad game to watch overall. Both Gustavsson and Kahkonen were giving up soft goals. The Wild made this game tough for themselves. Faber's turnover to Duclair was brutal. Sure people will fixate on Kaprizov's hat trick...which is always fun but we made that game a lot harder than it had to be. I must admit, I'm not sure why some people felt Nico Sturm wouldn't fit as a 4th line center on this team.

Iowa Wild lost 6-3 tonight to Rockford. They went 1-2 against Rockford who stands right in front of the in the AHL Central Division standings. Adam Beckman had a goal. So his relative 'hot' streak continues. Beyond that...not much to say about it. Riley Heidt gets to a 100 points with Prince George. Rieger Lorenz bagged his 9th goal of the season with Denver. Aaron Pionk and Jack Peart each had an assist with UMD and SCSU respectively. Servac Petrovsky had a goal and an assist with Owen Sound.

Minnesota Wild (28-25-6) 62pts 6th in the Central 3.14 Goals For Per Game (15th in the NHL) 3.29 Goals Against Per Game (22nd in the NHL) 22.2% Power Play (13th in the NHL) 74.6% Penalty Kill (29th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 26G 37A = 63pts 2. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 28G 26A = 54pts 3. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 11G 39A = 50pts 4. #12 Matt Boldy ~ 23G 24A = 47pts 5. #7 Brock Faber ~ 4G 30A = 34pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #21 Brandon Duhaime ~ 66 PIM's 2. #5 Jake Middleton ~ 63 PIM's 3. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 48 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #32 Filip Gustavsson (16-14-3) 3.23GAA .896% 2SO 2. #29 Marc-Andre Fleury (12-10-3) 2.92GAA .899% 1SO Vs. Nashville Predators (33-25-2) 68pts 4th in the Central 3.10 Goals For Per Game (17th in the NHL) 3.13 Goals Against Per Game (17th in the NHL) 18.8% Power Play (21st in the NHL) 75.7% Penalty Kill (27th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #9 Filip Forsberg ~ 28G 32A = 60pts 2. #59 Roman Josi ~ 14G 43A = 57pts 3. #90 Ryan O'Reilly ~ 20G 29A = 49pts 4. #14 Gustav Nyquist ~ 16G 33A = 49pts 5. #82 Tommy Novak ~ 12G 20A = 32pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #47 Michael McCarron ~ 82 PIM's 2. #3 Jeremy Lauzon ~ 81 PIM's 3. #36 Cole Smith ~ 56 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #74 Juuse Saros (24-21-2) 2.91GAA .905% 2SO 2. #32 Kevin Lankinen (8-4-0) 3.23GAA .892% Lines: Nashville Predators F. Forsberg-R. O'Reilly~Nyquist Trenin~Sissons~Glass Jankowski~Novak~Evangelista Co. Smith~McCarron~Sherwood Josi~Fabbro McDonagh~L. Schenn Lauzon~A. Carrier Saros Lankinen Minnesota Wild Kaprizov~Eriksson Ek~Boldy M. Johansson~Rossi~Zuccarello Duhaime~Dewar~Hartman Lucchini~Gaudreau~Lettieri Middleton~Faber Brodin~Chisholm Merrill~Bogosian Gustavsson Fleury Pretty evenly matched...at least statistically speaking. But a big game for this club.