CreaseAndAssist

I got asked yesterday what I saw from Mason Shaw. He played again on Monday; played better but you could tell it was either his struggle to be at 'game shape' or perhaps he's playing through a lot of pain...but its not quite the same. He's trying, zero doubt about it, giving all that he can but the burst doesn't seem to be there. Not what he had before his last injury. Will it emerge again...hard to say. But I have little doubt he's going to work his ass off trying to get there...even if it never happens. On another positive note; Adam Beckman is playing better. And Daemon Hunt is playing with confidence and a lot of initiative.

The Washington Capitals are a sad sight to see. They still have great hands but the legs seemed to have diminished greatly for a lot of them. Johansson had two last night, how many had that on their #mnwild bingo card?! The team is earning wins, getting closer to that wildcard spot but part of me is kind of ambivalent about it. Still, it's more entertaining to watch a team that is trying, working hard and scoring...but part of me still kind of feels its all kind of a sad tease for what will likely be more playoff futility. I know Wild fans are calling for Brock Faber to get the Calder, but there is no way he gets it over Connor Bedard. We may see a great young defenseman but most non-Minnesota media types don't take notice of him over a flashy forward playing in a bigger media market on an Original Six team.

Johnson gets hurt a lot. And he lost his 'one of us' status for being a d-bag when he was with Colorado. After screwing up his knee in a golfcart accident, I don't think he's the sharpest knife in the drawer. I'll pass. The others...also pass. I am with @IllaZilla, we might as well leave the cap space and just be bad and use our cap space to help other clubs and get some other assets / picks in the process.

Not sure anyone saw this, but Mason Shaw returned to the lineup this weekend in a 4-1 road loss to Rockford. Iowa plays Texas tonight. Iowa needs to get on a heater as much as Minnesota does if it hopes to make the playoffs. Bankier seems to be getting better and better.

I watched the Florida feed for this one. They were pretty whiny with all of the penalties in what was a fairly chippy game. Duhaime tagged Lockwood pretty good. It was more of a nailbiter than it needed to be but they managed to get it done. I just hope Fleury isn't out for a while. Losing Dewar isn't ideal either, but it happens when teams are trying to tag one another in an ornery game like this one.

I didn't have high hopes going into this one. As the 1st period rolled and the Hurricanes were just toying with the Wild and peppering Filip Gustavsson with scoring chances it didn't look good. But we found a way to hang in there and it was kind of like watching Rocky; where he's getting mauled but he's hanging on and when does punch he seems to draw blood. Kaprizov's goals had to really drive the Hurricanes crazy. But it was a gritty victory against a pretty damn good Hurricanes team. It will be interesting to see how this week goes with Hockey Day Minnesota capping it off this weekend.

Boom goes the dynamite! Honestly, this is 100% right. This is your Minnesota Wild team; as uninspiring as it mostly is right now. It will just get a little older but its not going to be able to change much at all. I agree, I don't think Fleury leaves because as @IllaZilla points out he has absolutely nothing to prove. This is his victory lap season and I think he's enjoying savoring the moment as much as he can. As for tonight's game. Yea, I'm not too optimistic. Even if they play with an effort more akin to what they had against the Islanders I don't see Tampa just failing to show up like New York did. That in itself will make it pretty tough for the Wild to have a chance. Hopefully the team keeps #4 in the press box and let Daemon Hunt continue to play.

No, you're wrong. It already is on Bill Guerin. He made those deals. He didn't have to make them. He painted the team into corner when everyone in the league knew things were going to be tight with the dead money. You don't throw big raises & NMC's to players over 30. Especially not all 3 of them. Then toss in the front-office stuff; axing his Assistant GM who was known as the cap / contract guru; then booting a very well-liked Hockey Operations Assistant after he talked about Bill doing some unprofessional things. The spotlight is very much on Bill Guerin, as it should be at this point. This is HIS team; and he's running it HIS way and the results speak for themselves. Yes the Parise / Suter / Koivu locker room environment was toxic and entitled hierarchy existed that needed to be eliminated. I don't second guess that decision one bit and I think most Wild fans feel the same way. Suter was a cancer and Parise wasn't much better. However making that choice to cut bait wasn't just predicated on culture, it was predicated on the NHL retro-actively punishing the Wild and other clubs after they made long-term deals that we determined to be some form of cap circumvention. He had to cut them soon or wait for the possible land mine of even bigger cap hits if they retired early. Again, not ideal...yet I think most Wild fans understood the necessity of it. At this point, they don't need to openly tank. The team's performance and inconsistency is doing that for itself. It should bottom out but they have the owner who only cares about playoff round revenue money (who cares if they never go anywhere) and thus the team is mired in permanent mediocrity. Adding more middle six forwards by drafting in the last 1/3 of the draft isn't going to help us. They need some blue chip talent up front and some on the blueline. We might as well be bad and make the most of it.

Wild one of a handful of teams Fleury only had single digit wins against. Better effort although the Islanders didn't seem to want to be there at all. Cal Clutterbuck was pretty annoyed after the game at his team's poor effort.

Surprisingly energetic crowd in this odd-start time on a weekday.

Their cap situation doesn't allow them really to do much else. I also saw someone speculate that perhaps the poor effort is a team that's unhappy with the organization for whatever reason. They got rid of their caretaker in Andrew Heydt, I wonder if O'Hearn told Guerin he'd made a mistake...and thus both were shipped out but the problem remains. At some point, it has to just come crashing down on Guerin right? You don't hear squat from the In Billy G we trust crowd anymore.

The #mnwild even gave the fans those hats to throw; although they were some nice 78's stocking hats by what I saw. I am sure the Wild loved seeing their 'giveaway' given back by the fans as Bjugstad got his hatty.

This is a short survey for those of you who have listened to our podcast. What do you like, what do you dislike? It's pretty short but your input would be most appreciated! Crease And Assist Podcast Listener Survey

(sigh) I am not even remotely surprised or annoyed. This team looks like it wants to be done with the season already. I'm going to guess the 20+ minute closed door meeting was to decide as a group on where to go during the All Star Break. Poor folks who spent money to watch that kind of effort...wow.

Crease And Assist: Episode #32 Records & Broken Records Kalisha, @MNSOTA and I discuss the Wild's current struggles, some interesting rules in the PWHL and what can be done to address these teams' issues as well as answering listener questions. Also, later this week I am going to post a survey about the podcast and I'm looking for your input as to what you'd like to see, etc.

Adam Raska works hard, but he has zero offense to him at all. I don't have an issue with putting faster players on the ice for OT than what we often throw out there. I think Connor Dewar would be a logical player to give an opportunity to in OT; fast, some offensive ability and I think he's defensively capable too. Duhaime...nah. He is fast but I'd be afraid he'd take a dumb penalty.

Other than a weekend where he had 4 points he's been mostly forgettable or hurt. 3 goals, 3 assists in 16 games, as a sophomore on a pretty good Wisconsin team. Contrast that to sophomore Rieger Lorenz, at the Denver University; 8 goals, 8 assists, 16 points in 20 games. Not that this matters a lot, last night the Iowa Wild played the San Diego Gulls. Caeden Bankier really stood out, 2 goals (he has 6 goals in 12 AHL games) and really was Iowa's go-to option all night. They lost the game, but he was dangerous on most of his shifts; once he adds some more muscle to his frame he could be a decent player. Great shot; good instincts and protects the puck well. Another player who looked pretty good IMO; he isn't ours anymore was Nikita Nesterenko. Lanky but fast, and really changes angles well to elude defenders and make things tough for goaltenders. But we traded him. Iowa is getting healthier. Mikey Milne was back as was Adam Beckman. Beckman, stick a fork in him...there's nothing there to see. He isn't fast enough to be dangerous and he doesn't handle or protect the puck well enough to turn himself into a power forward kind of player either. His shot, which is something we don't see nearly as much as we used to, isn't fooling much of anyone even when he does let it go. Milne's wheels were evident and helpful even though the club didn't win. Carson Lambos had a rough night. He needs to simplify his game; a few of his turnovers were very Matt Dumba-esque. High-risk, low-reward kinds of plays. Riley Height (39GP, 22-49-71), Hunter Haight (38GP, 17-30-47), Rasmus Kumpulainen (28GP, 14-13-27) and Kalem Parker (35GP, 4-21-25) are playing pretty well in the CHL. Danila Yurov, who is expected to sign a 1-year extension with Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL) is continuing to play well 45GP, 14-20-34. Marat Khusnutdinov is expected to come and play in North America according to Russian sports news folks. Ryan Healey, the young defenseman (a sophomore at Harvard) is having a great start so far, 14GP, 5-7-12. Which is more impressive than what I can say for Jack Peart, Marshall Warren or Aaron Pionk although I think those players play in a far tougher college hockey conference than Healey does.

I am not sure I'd go that far. However I'd say Leipold could care less about the draft and all he wants is that Round 1 of the playoffs revenue, anything else be damned. The Wild have been trying to serve two masters for way too long (not rebuild, win a Stanley Cup) and the result is they're piss poor at both. I think Guerin is keeping the guys around him that he likes. He remembers the veteran-led New Jersey Devils teams and probably in his Penguins run and figures you can build up around the vets and then the draft guys help provide the support for the experienced core instead of the other way around. The vets are who they are. Either way, I think we all have recognized this organization and its approached have been flawed for years and the moves made this fall only made their problem worse both in the short term and long-term.

As soon as the Flyers brought that game to OT you knew it wasn't going to end well. Better effort than what they had Wednesday but at this point, who cares? They need two points, especially against clubs like the Flyers. Wild found a way to throw away a point...

By the way, Darby Hendrickson doesn't have anything to do with the power play. He apparently is kind of the practice / skills coach. Jason King is the power play guru.

I agree, it doesn't create almost any movement on the penalty kill; as they move the puck station to station. It didn't create any movement when Mikko & Suter did it and it certainly isn't now with Rossi & Faber or Boldy & Faber. You have to work pucks cross-ice to get the goalie and shooting lanes to open up and shots have to come fast. You settle and shoot, it doesn't work. How often is it when we finally take a shot on goal there isn't anyone near the crease and if they are they are not screening the goaltender. Its like Stephen Valiquette said, it may make your Corsi look great but you are really just playing catch with the goaltender. I agree, its pointless.

I thought some of our power play chances weren't too bad, but others it was terrible and uninspiring. Seeing Faber and Boldy just pass it back and forth to each other reminded me of Suter and Mikko playing catch with one another. I like it when they try to work the puck down low and then send something quick towards the net. Sending passes out to the point for a shot IMO is mostly a waste of time and effort. Minnesota had good jump and energy to start but when they didn't score after that 1st half of the first where they peppered Murray with shots, you just knew Dallas was going to get one opportunity and bury it and the effort was going to just turn to mush and that's pretty much what happened.

Thanks for listening! I am not saying placing Maroon on a line with Kaprizov is ideal but if you wanted him protected he needs to be out there when Kaprizov is out there. While he's not fast, he still has reasonable hands and I think his offensive instincts are ok. Either he or Marcus Foligno. But if you want him protected that's what you're going to have to do; at least against the Jets. IMO its tough to complain at #17 or #20 for not doing their 'enforcing' role if they're on the bench when those liberties are taken. Zach Bogosian and Jake Middleton would certainly step up and answer for liberties taken on Kaprizov. Whether they're out there to immediately step in is another story; kind of like what we were talking about in regards to Maroon and Foligno. Mermis would probably answer too; as he's not afraid to scrap. But if Kaprizov is only going to be out there when you have guys that won't scrap, you can't really expect him to be protected or have someone immediately step in when those kinds of things happen. But again, thanks for listening and I hope you enjoyed the rest of what you heard. I don't think the NHL is going to suddenly protect its star players. And it certainly won't start by protecting players for the Wild IMO.

Crease And Assist: Episode #31: Minnesota M*A*S*H Ward In this episode, Kalisha and myself discuss the Wild's injury woes, New Year's Resolutions and we discuss team toughness as well as answer a bunch of listener questions too! We also finish it up by talking about NHL rumors about expansion sites too. Check it out!

I didn't think the Wild were that far away from winning this game, but they take bad penalties and their still crappy penalty kill digs the hole a bit deeper. I didn't see Saturday's game, but I heard the start was bad but they finished ok (still losing of course) but this one started out fairly well but they couldn't add to their lead despite some prime opportunities. And that allowed the Jets to hang around and then the Wild killed themselves with the inopportune penalty. The other thing that I think is kind of lame is the initial staged fight by Maroon. Not slamming on Maroon for challenging someone from the Jets out of the gate but save that for Brendan Dillon. And the game after they hurt your star player is not really helping anything. I understand you're not going to have Maroon out there with Kaprizov, but what does it prevent doing something like that a game later? I know Middleton dropped the gloves with Dillon on Saturday but light up Ehlers, light up Scheifele...