CreaseAndAssist

I don't really have an issue with that approach; and keep Stalock as a cheap backup option. I agree, the team needs to be more youth focused for sure and the marketing of the old foagies has to go.

I would agree with you on most of what you said. I think its important to keep Brodin. While he may not be a big point producer, but I think he is really important to the team's defense. If Dumba is only going to launch slap shots, he's going to continue to see most of his shots blocked. Greenway, you're 100% correct. We only see flashes of the talent, but he just doesn't seem to want to dominate even though he appears to be capable of doing so. Its sad. I've heard people toss out NY Rangers as a landing spot for Greenway as he'd be reunited with his college coach. The Rangers have lots of good young talent in their prospect pipeline. Not sure we'd get their best prospect, but Matthew Robertson a big two-way defenseman would interest me a lot.

By the way, I'm not sure when you all read my article. But if it was before Midnight-ish yesterday, I had made a few additions to it that you may have not seen. The fundamental points have remained the same, but I had some more thoughts about a center for Fiala & Kaprizov.

The other teams in the running for this pick...certainly are far better off than the Wild are.

I don't think if he plays 25-30 games as a backup to Stalock will hurt his development. If you don't think playing 25-30 NHL games is good enough, I guess you have him starting 45-50 games in Iowa. Is that really better? Then we keep Dubnyk as backup and hear him whine. By the way, I heard a rumor on a podcast about what Dubnyk's wife's health issue was.

I'd say he's at least playing 25-30 games in a backup role next season for the Minnesota Wild. I think that would be a pretty decent audition.

I think the expectations on Kaprizov are unhealthy and likely unattainable. Yet, with the Wild where they are as a franchise, people are pretty desperate to think he'll be the club's savior. If Kaprizov can do what Dominik Kubalik has done for the the Chicago Blackhawks, that would be huge. It is a shame he was never able to join the team at all for the short playoff run it had because it sounds like his agent dropped the ball. I am sure the team was hoping to get him acclimated and see him on the ice with his Wild teammates to probably gauge where he is. But now they'll have to wait for next season; but hopefully he can still come over and get himself set up and acclimated to life in Minnesota a bit.

This is true. I know I've written these things before, but it'd be nice if they actually addressed these things. But at some point, we have to be nearing action on these issues.

Gaborik had 36 points I believe in his rookie season. No Wild rookie has ever had that kind of season out of the gate.

(shrugs) Stalock is cheap. He's not really hurting anything. Dubnyk IMO is the bigger what if simply because of his contract. Some feel he'll be bought out, others feel he'll be traded. I'm fine with moving on. Should it go to being Kahkonen's crease next year? I'd probably ease him into it.

5 Takeaways from the Minnesota Wild's 2019-20 Season Experience I share some thoughts from the 2019-20 season and what I feel should be the direction moving forward with this team. Enjoy and discuss!

Blaming Staock is crap. Poor defensive coverage resulted in at least 3 of those goals. The more inspired effort proves they had more in the tank. But you can't to expect to advance if everyone wasn't dialed in.

Defensive Breakdowns Doom the Wild in 5-4 Season-Ending OT Loss to Vancouver (sigh) Well that's all she wrote for this season. The Wild had chances to take this game, but defensive breakdowns killed them of the absent-minded variety. They played with more fire, which was good, but where was this the last two games before this one? This is my final game recap of the 2019-20 season. Thanks for everyone who has read our previews and post-gamers over the past year, we really appreciate your support. Onto the draft lottery! If its Koivu's last hurrah, then so be it. The organization has compensated him very well and I think its time for him to move on. You could see it in his face after the game the realization of what just happened.

As it is, they're probably buying out Victor Rask. Although this may sound crazy. I might keep him, play him...and hope for the best. If we have to ride out the contracts of Zuccarello, Parise, etc...we might as well ride his out. I don't see how this team has the space to get anyone impactful unless we draft them.

If those forwards aren't going to score, it won't matter who is in the crease.

The Islanders were intrigued enough about Parise. But Zuccarello, I highly doubt any team wants that contract. The NMC on that deal to him was such a giant mistake especially when they were overpaying him and giving him too much term anyways.

I think Fiala will be fine, but does he realize he's the only chance we have? Yes. Gaborik used to feel this way too I'm sure. I hate to say it, but adding Kaprizov won't make the team that much better. He's not a center, so the Wild will still be losing draws like crazy and while it may give the team a bit more umph up front, it won't really make the rest of the team as its currently constructed to battle harder or be faster. They'll still be fairly old, slow...and fading in ability with ugly contracts still years away from expiring. The one other thing Kaprizov might add, is for someone for Fiala to vent to as they have no decent quality center to work with...but beyond that...its probably still going to be crap. And just think...this team HAS to protect (by contract) in the expansion draft... Zach Parise Mats Zuccarello Ryan Suter Jared Spurgeon While Koivu will be coming off the books...the team has Kunin, Greenway, Soucy to re-sign so there goes what little cap space you had. Folks...the dumpster fire is only warming up.

Are you seriously blaming the losses on Stalock? That makes ZERO sense. It wouldn't matter if Kahkonen, Dubnyk or Robson is in the net, if your team isn't going score goals you are going to lose the game. Its the same old issue with this team, it can't score in the playoffs. Even with Fiala, they don't have anyone else that can help chip in to get enough goals to win games. So its a slow death by small goal totals. We're not playing track meet hockey with Vancouver and simply getting outscored 6-4 like the Blues / Knights game last night, we're dying like a coma patient because it just doesn't seem to have the will to stay alive and really do what is necessary to score (i.e. crash the damn net). Kevin Fiala feels the pressure of the freakin' world on his shoulders because he is the only good player the Wild really have, and the only real threat to score on a consistent basis. I am not saying it would be preposterous to start someone else in net, but I do think its pretty weak to say Stalock has played like crap. He hasn't; he's kept the team around long enough to be able to score and give him some goal support. Yesterday, despite all of the power plays the Wild had, care to know how many shots #11 had? ZERO. The guy who mentions how the team is running out of chances to win couldn't even manage to generate a single shot on goal and he's getting lots of time on the power play. And he's not the only one sitting on the bench with the 1,000-yard stare, doing little on the ice. Galchenyuk, Staal, Greenway, and Zuccarello haven't done anything. Hunt is being exposed more and more for poor decisions and a lack of footspeed. Other than Spurgeon, who else from the blueline has shown any penchant for chipping in offensively? No one. The Wild are an old, slow team...and after a pretty good Game 1. Many players decided to coast or are too sore to work hard...and so they're going to get bounced early. And that's just fine with our super comfortable group of vets who like the long break and little pressure. Vancouver was still a fairly fortunate draw for the Wild, but if you've watched any of the series...the Wild look painfully slow and offensively anemic compared to just about any other team still playing right now.

Vancouver leads the series 2-1 11.8% Wild Power Play Percentage (19th in the NHL) 80% Wild Penalty Kill Percentage (14th in the NHL) 44.2% Wild Faceoff Win Percentage (21st in the NHL) ---------------------------------------- 20% Canucks Power Play Percentage (11th in the NHL) 88.2% Canucks Penalty Kill Percentage (6th in the NHL) 55.8% Canucks Faceoff Win Percentage (4th in the NHL) Lines: Vancouver Canucks Miller~Pettersson~Boeser Pearson~Horvat~Eriksson Roussel~Sutter~Virtanen Motte~Beagle~MacEwen Hughes~Tanev Edler~Stecher Fantenberg~Myers Markstrom Demko Minnesota Wild Parise~Staal~Fiala Foligno~Erksson Ek~Greenway Zuccarello~Galchenyuk~Kunin Sturm~Koivu~Hartman Suter~Spurgeon Brodin~Dumba Soucy~Hunt Stalock Dubnyk Well its do or die time. Vancouver breezed to a 3-0 win in game 3, and the Wild were a team that looks both uninspired and supremely frustrated. Still no even strength goals for the Wild in this entire series, and far too many passengers among its older group of veterans. Ryan Suter may or may not be available for this game. Will this be Mikko Koivu's last game playing for the Minnesota Wild? Unless this team shows some fire we have not seen in the last two games, I would think this series has shown just how far away this team is from being anything resembling a true Stanley Cup contender. Enjoy and discuss!

Stalock isn't the issue. A lack of offense is, no even strength goals in 3 games, enough said and that's not on the goalie.

Penalties Plague Wild in 3-0 Loss to Vancouver, Canucks take 2-1 Series Lead Penalties killed the flow of this game, but the Wild had plenty of chances with the power play too. But we stuck to the perimeter and just tried setting up the same kind of shot time after time after time...almost no crashing the net. It makes for a fairly easy game for Vancouver as they just waited for their chances, cashed in a few times and its an easy win. Zuccarello? My god...what a f%cking dumpster fire of a contract. Parise, he's already on the golf course in his mind. Staal, can't wait to be back at the cabin and he'll probably be on his way back there soon enough if they play like this tomorrow. Enjoy the game recap.

Markstrom barely has to deal with any traffic or crease crashers at all. He can gather himself and fall on loose pucks and the Wild seem to think the shot on goal is good enough. Canucks goal, crashing the crease and off the rebound. Minnesota has no offense beyond Fiala. Parise, Staal, Zuccarello...that's a lot of $$$ not scoring out there.

Series Tied at 1-1 20% Wild Power Play Pecentage (13th in the NHL) 87.5% Wild Penalty Kill Percentage (7th in the NHL) 38.8% Wild Faceoff Win Percentage (24th in the NHL) ------------------------------------------------------------ 12.5% Canucks Power Play Percentage (17th in the NHL) 80% Canucks Penalty Kill Percentage (12th in the NHL) 61.2% Canucks Faceoff Percentage (1st in the NHL) Lines: Vancouver Canucks Miller~Pettersson~Boeser Pearson~Horvat~Eriksson Roussel~Sutter~Virtanen Motte~Beagle~McEwen? Hughes~Tanev Edler~Stecher Fantenberg~Myers Markstrom Demko Minnesota Wild Greenway~Staal~Fiala Parise~Eriksson Ek~Kunin Foligno~Galchenyuk~Zuccarello Donato~Koivu~Sturm / Rask? Suter~Spurgeon Brodin~Dumba Soucy~Hunt Stalock Dubnyk Ferland is out for the Canucks while I think we'll see Hartman out against the Canucks. After last game I would be messing with my 4th line a bit, because they need to get more hustle. Even though some are wanting Dubnyk to get a chance, I'd stick with Stalock. An interesting observation from the stats, the Wild are winning the special teams battle which most (myself included) thought Vancouver would have the advantage), but the Wild are just getting slaughtered in faceoffs. If anything it should prove to the powers that be just how badly this team needs some upgrades at center in the future. I will write up a post-gamer in case you missed the game! Tomorrow's game is at 9:45PM in case you haven't heard yet.

I would agree. Galchenyuk's turnover that set up Vancouver's 2nd goal was a pretty bad. Just overhandling the puck and making a really high risk, low-reward kind of play that turned the game back in Vancouver's favor. Sturm would probably be my first pick too; because he's bigger, and can be effective on a checking line with the versatility to play center if needed.

Mistakes and Penalties Doom Wild in 4-3 Loss to Vancouver, Series Even at 1-1 Kind of a predictable outcome. The first goal, especially just 24 seconds in really set the tone for the rest of the game. Minnesota had to chase the game. I talk about the Dubnyk question in the post-gamer. I would've posted this last night, but I explain that as well. The Wild now play Thursday afternoon which I think will be a tough adjustment after playing these late night games. As much as I don't like staying up until 1AM to cover a game, I kind of wish they'd stay at that time because of the routine that has kind of been created. By the way, if Hartman did to Pettersson what Pettersson did to him, we'd probably see a suspension IMO.