CreaseAndAssist

Wild vs. Ottawa Game Preview Minnesota Wild (0-4-0) 0pts 7th in the Central 2.50 Goals For Per Game (22nd in the NHL) 5.25 Goals Against Per Game (31st in the NHL) 27.3% Power Play (9th in the NHL) 78.6% Penalty Kill (15th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #77 Brad Hunt ~ 2G 2A = 4pts 2. #46 Jared Spurgeon ~ 1G 2A = 3pts 3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 1G 2A = 3pts 4. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 0G 3A = 3pts 5. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 2G 0A = 2pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 6 PIM’s 2. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 6 PIM’s 3. #19 Luke Kunin ~ 4 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (0-4-0) 4.56GAA .862%SP 2. #32 Alex Stalock (0-0) 2.42GAA .909%SP Vs. Ottawa Senators (1-3-0) 3pts 8th in the Atlantic 3.00 Goals For Per Game (19th in the NHL) 4.25 Goals Against Per Game (29th in the NHL) 0% Power Play (29th in the NHL) 75% Penalty Kill (21st in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #90 Vladislav Namestnikov ~ 2G 2A = 4pts 2. #44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau ~ 1G 3A = 4pts 3. #7 Brady Tkachuk ~ 2G 1A = 3pts 4. #9 Bobby Ryan ~ 1G 2A = 3pts 5. #28 Connor Brown ~ 0G 3A = 3pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #36 Colin White ~ 6 PIM’s 2. #49 Scott Sabourin ~ 6 PIM’s 3. #2 Dylan DeMelo ~ 5 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #41 Craig Anderson (1-2-0) 3.70GAA .882%SP 2. #31 Anders Nilsson (0-1-0) 5.09GAA .861%SP Here is your game preview for this afternoon's game in Ottawa. As I heard on a podcast last night, this is your litmus test. How bad are the Minnesota Wild? If they lose to Ottawa...not even sure what to say. Luckily I won't have to, this time! Theresa has the post-gamer as I wrote up the game preview, enjoy and discuss.

We used to state the 'boycott' point all of the time to the disenchanted fans. And I think its 100% correct and the one thing that will make this club take notice. As long as its 'We the sheeple' they'll continue to let everything continue as painful as it appears to be. I agree with @IllaZilla as this is the chickens coming home to roost. As another friend of mine said on Twitter yesterday in the wake of their loss to Pittsburgh. This is just the beginning of the schitt show. Its only going to get worse. I even think Bill Guerin knows and realizes this. He may have hoped the team would suddenly pick itself up and find a different level once the regular season started after a mostly ugly pre-season...but he's come to realized this is a horrendous team with terrible locked in cement contracts. I don't think it matters one bit if they replace Boudreau. It might what...spark a few players to try harder for a few games and then it'd be back to being crap. If you need someone to hate Wild fans...hate Paul Fenton. His moves were not just bad, they were devastating both short term and long term. He had to be very careful with the limited assets the team could move and instead he frittered them away for garbage in return and then panicked and signed and cemented some old guys to the team's growing collection of fossils.

Like I said on Twitter after Russo reported that Guerin spoke to the team telling them that they are being paid to win, not just to play. I am sure that resulted in a few uncomfortable stares around the room. But the vets probably barely noticed...they know they'll still be here and are going to be well paid the whole time.

I try to think that will happen, but we'll probably 'lose' the lottery too.

Pittsburgh Powers Past the Wild in 7-4 Victory Kind of went like I expected it to. Initially the Wild working pretty hard and accomplishing very little. The old guys are a total liability out there. They're not generating just about anything positive for this team. The younger legs deserved more time and got it near the end of the game. Hunt is our leading scorer and I thought he deserved one of the stars of the game more than Spurgeon did. Still another loss, first one in regulation for a home opener in team history in games played in St. Paul. I have a full game recap, and a ton of prospect news...enjoy.

I would agree with you here. If Parise is unhappy, then he can waive the NMC and we'll deal you for zilch. I agree the defense has looked pretty good. The Minnesota Wild are sort of like an 1987 bare bones Pontiac Firebird. It once looked pretty good in the past, but when you get a chance to drive it and realize it has just a 2.8L V6 under the hood you realize its not going to fly by anyone. The Wild's offense is worse than it was last year because of aging 'former good players' up front. Line juggling be damned...if this group was any good we'd see a few players emerge as shot generators. Instead...we get a whole lot of nothing. I agree with you completely @IllaZilla

(shrugs) But isn't this kind of telling? He can't find anyone to set up because so often no one is doing much of anything out there. Parise, Staal...Koivu are all looking slower and older and they're not generating many shots whether at 5-on-5 or on the power play. Most of the shooting and real opportunities have come from the blueline. Sure...there have been moments where they've set up Zucker and Donato...but have the cashed in? Nope. If I had to give advice to Zuccarello, take the shot yourself...waiting for these guys to get open is a loser's gambit.

Wild Prospect Watch: October 5th & 6th Here is a complete overview of what the Wild prospects and Iowa was up to this weekend. Enjoy.

The forwards are not pulling their weight. Almost all of our offense; is created by our defenseman. Boudreau says older guys take longer to get going...when he was talking about Staal who has had two horrendous games in a row.

3-2 Avalanche after a rancid shift by Staal. Wild trail by one going into the 3rd.

I guess the goal is credited to Parise. But Dumba is still the team's only real threat...2-2 game.

Dumba! Boom! Parise screen...2-2 game, crowd silenced.

I am not able to write a post-gamer tonight. Even with NHL Center Ice, its not letting me watch the Wild / Avalanche game. By what I was reading on Twitter it sounds like the Wild spent the first half of the period just being 100% dominated by Colorado. Then got a fluke goal by Suter and Colorado is in coast mode right now...2-1 after 1. I would love to have heard what Boudreau said to this team during his timeout. I heard the players didn't exactly turn it around right away after that either. Anything else I should know?

I didn't get a chance to listen to this game because I was coaching football last night. But it sounds like they eeked out a win in the last minute. Dumont scored and Mayhew...two guys who will probably be the workhorse of this Iowa team. Belpedio had a good game too. I also hope Brown accepts the demotion and is a positive leader there too. Duhaime, Dewar and the other kids will get their chances...but the vets can carry a lot of the mail. Nice start for Iowa.

Minnesota Wild (0-1-0) 0pts 7th in the Central 2.00 Goals For Per Game (19th in the NHL) 5.00 Goals Against Per Game (28th in the NHL) 33.3% Power Play (7th in the NHL) 100% Penalty Kill (1st in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #24 Matt Dumba ~ 1G 0A = 1pt 2. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 1G 0A = 1pt 3. #77 Brad Hunt ~ 0G 1A = 1pt 4. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 0G 1A = 1pt 5. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 0G 1A = 1pt Top 2 PIM's: 1. #55 Nick Seeler ~ 2 PIM's 2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 2 PIM's Top Goaltender: 1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (0-1) 4.05GAA .871%SP Colorado Avalanche (1-0-0) 2pts 2nd in the Central 5.00 Goals For Per Game (2nd in the NHL) 3.00 Goals Against Per Game (14th in the NHL) 33.3% Power Play (10th in the NHL) 50% Penalty Kill (28th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #96 Mikko Rantanen ~ 2G 0A = 2pts 2. #72 Joonas Donskoi ~ 2G 0A = 2pts 3. #37 J.T. Compher ~ 1G 0A = 1pt 4. #16 Nikita Zadorov ~ 0G 1A = 1pt 5. #49 Samuel Girard ~ 0G 1A = 1pt Top 3 PIM's: 1. #16 Nikita Zadorov ~ 9 PIM's 2. #41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare ~ 2 PIM's 3. #83 Matt Nieto ~ 2 PIM's Top Goaltender: 1. #31 Philipp Grubauer (1-0) 3.01GAA .900%SP Lines: Colorado Avalanche Landeskog~MacKinnon~Rantanen Jost~Kadri~Burakovsky Nieto~Compher~Donskoi Calvert~Bellemare~Nichushkin Girard~Johnson Zadorov~Makar Graves~Timmins Grubauer Francouz Minnesota Wild Parise~Staal~Zuccarello Zucker~Koivu~Fiala Greenway~Kunin~Donato Foligno~Eriksson Ek~Hartman Suter~Dumba Brodin~Spurgeon Soucy?~Hunt Dubnyk Stalock No game preview article but the stats speak for themselves. The Wild better stay out of the box because the Avalanche are outstanding on the power play. Also, I don't really like to think how we match up speed-wise against this team. I will write up a post-gamer though. Enjoy and discuss.

3rd Period Surge Too Much For the Wild in 5-2 Loss to Nashville You can't show up for a few minutes and expect to win games in the division and probably in the league in general. Koivu, Parise and Staal had ZERO shot attempts 5-on-5 tonight. That's a lot of money not doing much of anything and the game appeared to be 2-3 steps too fast for each of them. Only the Wild defenseman were consistently shooting the puck. Zucker's 3 prime misses didn't help either...the Predators get a chance and they bury it and the game goes off the rails. I have a full game recap and a ton of prospect updates too. Check it out!

Staal looked so slow out there...he could barely keep up.

Listening to Russo's podcast from yesterday, it sounds like Koivu is already back at the #2 center spot. Kunin wasn't good enough and they think he'll be better elsewhere. Tough to argue with Russo when he said this team has three 3rd line centers.

Minnesota Wild Top 5 Scorers: 1. #11 Zach Parise ~ 28G 33A = 61pts 2. #12 Eric Staal ~ 22G 30A = 52pts 3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 7G 40A = 47pts 4. #46 Jared Spurgeon ~ 14G 29A = 43pts 5. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 21G 21A = 42pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #55 Nick Seeler ~ 64 PIM's 2. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 55 PIM's 3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 41 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (31-28-6) 2.54GAA .913%SP 2SO 2. #32 Alex Stalock (6-8-3) 2.99GAA .899%SP Nashville Predators Top 5 Scorers: *1. #95 Matt Duchene ~ 33G 39A = 70pts 2. #92 Ryan Johansen ~ 14G 50A = 64pts 3. #59 Roman Josi ~ 15G 41A = 56pts 4. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 16G 38A = 54pts 5. #9 Filip Forsberg ~ 28G 22A = 50pts Top 3 PIM's: 1. #14 Mattias Ekholm ~ 47 PIM's 2. #59 Roman Josi ~ 42 PIM's 3. #92 Ryan Johansen ~ 42 PIM's Top Goaltenders: 1. #35 Pekka Rinne (30-19-4) 2.42GAA .918%SP 4SO 2. #74 Juuse Saros (17-10-2) 2.62GAA .915%SP 3SO * - Wasn't with the team last year Line Combinations NASHVILLE PREDATORS Smith~Johansen~Arvidsson Forsberg~Duchene~Granlund Grimaldi~Turris~Jarnkrok Sissons~Bonino~Watson Josi~Ellis Ekholm~Fabbro Hamhuis~Y. Weber Rinne Saros MINNESOTA WILD Parise~Staal~Zuccarello Zucker~Koivu~Fiala Donato~Rask?~Greenway Foligno~Eriksson Ek?~Hartman Suter~Dumba Brodin~Spurgeon Seeler~Hunt Dubnyk Stalock No game preview article, Theresa is in Germany right now. I will write up a post-gamer though. Enjoy and discuss...

Well Kunin is getting his shot now it seems. Sturm and Mayhew back to Iowa and Stafford told thanks, but not this time. I am fine with giving him a long audition, but I'd still be looking for a Top 6 center to begin to supplant our two 34+ year old ones.

Tough to disagree with you...

Zucker for Travis Zajac would be a rancid return and not even fulfill the objective of acquiring a center with the quality to play in our Top 6. Or were you thinking Zacha, who I am not sold on his Top 6 potential either.

It'd be nice to be able to watch this...F$ck you Dish Network.

To the first 3 points...duh. Second, its not Iowa's fault for not developing centers. Iowa hasn't been able to keep many quality Wild prospects there for very long before they're called up to play in a bottom 6 role with the big club. Sturm should be with the big club, but we'll probably try to soldier on with Rask in that role. Good luck to Guerin to try to find a Top 6 center. I don't think it will be easy and I'm afraid how steep the price will be at this point in the season or what junk we'll be offered that will be sold to us as 'top 6 calibre' but are not.

Yea. Got to love it when they keep moving the goal posts or set their expectations so low they always will be happy with this team. I so love homers...