CreaseAndAssist

I still think its about the role he can play. They like their bottom 6. And they really only have room there. Personally I think they could really use him on the power play which hasn't been nearly the steamroller it was last year. In other prospect news. Ivan Lodnia has 9 goals, 20 points in 12 games which isn't too shabby.

The GEEK line sounded like they played pretty well, at times almost dominant by what I heard from the radio broadcast. Although I'm glad I missed out on the Wes Walz love fest for Cale Makar, that sounded pretty nauseating. Almost like listening to Buccigross and Melrose talk the whole national championship game about him as if no one else was on the ice even though his team lost. In other news, glad you liked it.

Wild Escape With 3-2 Win Over Colorado I tried something different with the post gamer. I'd love to hear some feedback. Sounded like they had another solid effort beyond giving Makar too much time and space in the offensive zone. Full game impression. Iowa Wild highlights and prospect news too! Enjoy and discuss!

Makar scores...from MacKinnon. Fantasy Team happy. No one else though...2-1 Wild.

I will have highlights of that Iowa Wild / Milwaukee Admirals game in my post-gamer tonight.

I've never had an issue with Brad Hunt. Heck, I wanted the Wild to sign him after he was a tryout out at prospect camp years ago. I also wanted them to sign Matt Read out of that same prospect camp, but they did...just many years later. The Wild have done a number of things I wanted...just later than I had hoped.

Word...

I would agree with this. Hunt has been great, and better that I expected in his own end so far (knock on wood).

Wild vs. Avalanche Game Preview Minnesota Wild (8-11-2) 18pts 7th in the Central 2.71 Goals For Per Game (24th in the NHL) 3.33 Goals Against Per Game (23rd in the NHL) 17.4% Power Play (19th in the NHL) 84.4% Penalty Kill (7th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #12 Eric Staal ~ 6G 9A = 15pts 2. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 6G 8A = 14pts 3. #11 Zach Parise ~ 8G 3A = 11pts 4. #77 Brad Hunt ~ 5G 5A = 10pts 5. #46 Jared Spurgeon ~ 2G 8A = 10pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 33 PIM’s 2. #12 Eric Staal ~ 20 PIM’s 3. #19 Luke Kunin ~ 19 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (4-8-2) 3.35GAA .893%SP 2. #32 Alex Stalock (4-3-0) 2.63GAA .911%SP 1SO Vs. Colorado Avalanche (13-6-2) 28pts 2nd in the Central 3.62 Goals For Per Game (3rd in the NHL) 2.90 Goals Against Per Game (8th in the NHL) 18.6% Power Play (17th in the NHL) 78.4% Penalty Kill (20th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #29 Nathan MacKinnon ~ 13G 18A = 31pts 2. #8 Cale Makar ~ 5G 18A = 23pts 3. #95 Andre Burakovsky ~ 10G 8A = 18pts 4. #72 Joonas Donskoi ~ 9G 6A = 15pts 5. #91 Nazem Kadri ~ 7G 8A = 15pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #16 Nikita Zadorov ~ 39 PIM’s 2. #91 Nazem Kadri ~ 32 PIM’s 3. #28 Ian Cole ~ 20 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #31 Philipp Grubauer (7-3-2) 2.73GAA .917%SP 2. #39 Pavel Francouz (4-2-0) 2.82GAA .915%SP MNSOTA wrote up the game preview. I'm on the post-gamer. Stalock will most likely be the starter tonight as Dubnyk is out attending a personal matter. The Avalanche are dealing with a bunch of injuries, but they still have a lot of firepower on the roster. It will be interesting to see if the Wild can follow up one of their better games of the season with this one against a rival at home. Enjoy and discuss.

A personal matter according to Russo. That could mean a lot of things. But if you listen to Dubnyk, he's playing just fine...

Russo said Dumba was smiling and joking with people after the game. He seemed to take that as a sign that Dumba's injury was nothing too serious.

We got a win against Buffalo. Does that make me think we're still good enough to make the playoffs if Stalock is the workhorse...no. But that's not a slight on Stalock as it is I don't think this team outworks teams consistently like they did last evening. Still, not sure what the controversy is. Is it about the salary that dictates playing time or how well you are playing? That's probably a question for the GM as much as it is the coach.

Parise Strikes Twice as Wild Win 4-1 Over Buffalo Pretty decent game. What a difference of having a somewhat competent goalie makes eh? Stalock made the key saves to keep Buffalo from generating any momentum and the Wild made the most of their opportunities. Decent team effort tonight. Even Rask was working hard out there. I have a full game recap, an extended Iowa Wild report and a ton of prospect news too! Check it out!

Denver also decided to stupidly abandon running the football which made for some 3 & outs and...missed a fairly makeable field goal. Denver found ways to lose that game as much as Minnesota executed enough to win it. As for the Minnesota Wild. Minnesota can't spot teams the hockey equivalent of a 20-0 lead like the Vikings did and expect to turn it around.

Dewar had a decent game on Sunday. My guess is he'll get more opportunities. I trust Tim Army knows what he's doing and he's putting the best team on the ice that he can.

Wild vs. Sabres Game Preview Minnesota Wild (7-11-2) 16pts 7th in the Central 2.65 Goals For Per Game (25th in the NHL) 3.45 Goals Against Per Game (24th in the NHL) 17.7% Power Play (18th in the NHL) 83.6% Penalty Kill (9th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #12 Eric Staal ~ 6G 8A = 14pts 2. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 5G 7A = 12pts 3. #77 Brad Hunt ~ 5G 5A = 10pts 4. #46 Jared Spurgeon ~ 2G 8A = 10pts 5. #11 Zach Parise ~ 6G 3A = 9pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 33 PIM’s 2. #12 Eric Staal ~ 20 PIM’s 3. #19 Luke Kunin ~ 19 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (4-8-2) 3.35GAA .893%SP 2. #32 Alex Stalock (3-3-0) 2.85GAA .903%SP 1SO Vs. Buffalo Sabres (10-7-3) 23pts 4th in the Atlantic 2.90 Goals For Per Game (19th in the NHL) 2.90 Goals Against Per Game (11th in the NHL) 21.5% Power Play (11th in the NHL) 74.6% Penalty Kill (26th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #9 Jack Eichel ~ 13G 11A = 24pts 2. #23 Sam Reinhart ~ 8G 9A = 17pts 3. #68 Victor Olofsson ~ 7G 7A = 14pts 4. #53 Jeff Skinner ~ 8G 5A = 13pts 5. #26 Rasmus Dahlin ~ 1G 12A = 13pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #44 Rasmus Ristolainen ~ 22 PIM’s 2. #21 Kyle Okposo ~ 18 PIM’s 3. #26 Rasmus Dahlin ~ 18 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #40 Carter Hutton (6-4-2) 2.73GAA .909%SP 2SO 2. #35 Linus Ullmark (4-3-1) 2.98GAA .915%SP 1SO MNSOTA wrote up the game preview and I'm on the post-gamer for this evening. The Wild should be fairly well-rested and ready to play an inconsistent team like the Sabres. It will be interesting to see who Boudreau opts for between the pipes after Dubnyk's latest ugly outing. Enjoy and discuss...

(shrugs) I still don't think we had the firepower to truly go all of the way. But I certainly feel a Lemaire-coached team is far better suited to the play of the post-season than what we were doing with Yeo and his successors given the relative talent, speed, and lack of go-to scoring this team continues to be plagued with.

Think it was partly a role-based decision. Iowa had the speedy checkers to fill in the Bottom 6. Sokolov doesn't really fit that skillset, he's more of a top 6 or bust kind of player. And at the time there were few spots available on the top 6 based on who else was there. Although I must admit I was surprised that he didn't get that chance even when we called up Mayhew and Dumont. You think that should've opened the door, but as you noted...it didn't. We'll see what happens now. He played again last night, didn't have any goals but he did register some shots on goal. You know you and I see eye to eye on the development plan of keeping them in Iowa as long as we can.

The Minnesota Wild are like a bad tuna hotdish brought to a potluck dinner. Sure, its food, it doesn't smell too great. And no one wants any.

Dubnyk sucks...Stalock is marginally better. Will that get edited by the Gestapo? People with opinions, dangerous stuff. But I think it goes back to what @IllaZilla said a while ago. We might as well be bad. It looks like we have 2-3 decent goaltenders in development in Kahkonen, Robson and Jones...best thing to do is to let them develop naturally because the team up front won't be ready for them for at least a few years if not longer.

But they were on fire leading into the playoffs. They were a grossly underperforming team prior to the run they made. They had lots of talent and many of whom were in the prime of their NHL careers. The Wild are not anything like that.

I noticed Tkachuk only had 4 penalty minutes in this game. Hmm...

I haven't bought that 'get in the playoffs and anything can happen' slippery slope either.

Sokolov lighting the lamp twice is a great sign. Perhaps he's being helped that Mayhew's probably grabbing the defensive attention of most teams these days?!?! On the flip side...Boldy again no points, 3 shots on goal. I know have some have talked about the adjustment to playing center but if you're still getting shots and you're not burying them is that really all because of that switch? Seems more like rationalization for a guy who is supposedly such a great finisher. Whether this is fair or not...here are two guys that were drafted AFTER the Wild took Boldy with the 12th Overall pick this summer. Cole Caufield (WIS) - 9G 6A = 15pts Alex Newhook (BC) - 5G 3A = 8pts Matt Boldy (BC) - 1G = 1pt Thankfully Beckman, Khovanov and Lodnia are off to fast starts in their respective leagues / teams.

Actually, you heard that after their last road loss in Los Angeles. Where Ryan Carter and company were trying to say going 2-2 on the road trip wasn't too bad and will help the team dig out of the cellar. Boudreau correctly shredded that false narrative but Carter and LaPanta kept trying to make it sound like it wasn't so bad.