CreaseAndAssist

They haven't seemed to want to give anyone from Iowa a real shot. IMO, Gerald Mayhew deserves at least a look, but I don't think he'll get it.

It is true. If Kaprizov wants to play in the NHL, the door still comes through the Wild. No matter how long he decides to wait.

Wild Fans Speak: 2018-19 Off Season Edition Part 3 of 3 Here's the last of it. This mostly is about what the team should do this summer. @Davey J is in this...and thanks to everyone who participated in it. @IllaZilla honestly...your posts are outstanding. The Wild 5-on-5 scoring is rancid. Towards the end, the team could only score on the power play. I think Zucker will get moved, and I agree...I think we'll target Pavelski and it be Heatley / Havlat / Vanek all over again.

As far as Kaprizov goes. I think he does want to be in the NHL and at this point the Wild still hold most of the cards if he wants that chance. I think he knows he'll be given just about anything he wants. His 'new' agent, the one he got last year has a better relationship with the Wild. The old one could never be reached and while I think the Wild were guilty of not trying all that hard, I was told they did everything through an intermediary. Right now, CSKA Moscow is up 3-0 in their series against Avangard Omsk in the Gagarin Cup Finals. If there is a real possibility for the scenario to happen, we'll find out soon. If its true, it would be huge. As far as who is relegated. I'd say...take your pick. IMO, as Russo stated in his article yesterday...the crappy thing is the Wild are likely going to give Rask at least one more year. It cuts down the buyout time, plus they'll see if there is anything worth keeping around. IMO, Eriksson Ek is already relegated when you have Koivu and Staal. Sturm will probably be our 4th line center. Russo also believes there is a strong possibility Zucker gets traded and possibly Spurgeon since Toronto needs a defenseman and we seem to like William Nylander a lot and Toronto is in a cap crunch.

I would agree with you @IllaZilla. I would also argue trading everyone other than #9, #20, #11 more or less means nothing will really change. Unless their hope; although no one said it this way...is to trade everyone and perhaps sour the milk enough they agree to be moved. Yet...I don't think too many teams will want their contracts at this point in their careers. I would also agree the Bruce is the coach next year is hardly a glowing endorsement.

Iowa Wild Clinch Playoff Berth and Wild prospect news I give an overview of the Iowa Wild's season and their roster as they go into the first playoffs. I also discuss the other prospects and their respective seasons. Spoiler Alert there is no news about Filip Johansson but enjoy and discuss everything else...

Wild Fans Speak: 2018-19 Off Season Edition Part 2 of 3 As far as Brown goes...I don't really care. He wasn't that impactful most games. I agree with the sentiment the Wild should be able to at least develop 3rd and 4th liners internally if you're drafting and developing right. This article talks about roster moves and free agents. @Davey J is a part of it. Enjoy!

My thoughts exactly...especially when you factor in the Ex-Badger, Wisconsin kid factor that is Pavelski. He better not see anything in Aberg. Boudreau was able to scratch him in the last few games. That tells me even Fenton gave up on him. As far as Bitetto goes...you could be right unfortunately. He's complete trash, but Fenton either loves the guy or he has compromising photos on him that he keeps wanting him around. There is some talk Brown may get pushed for a breach of contract with the drinking violation. So they may have an out, but that doesn't exactly save the franchise a ton of cap space. I'm more in KissArmyMan's camp...that we're going to throw stupid money at old foagies and paint ourselves back into a corner all over again.

Precisely. The Predators were on their way to being good and being good despite being a budget team in a salary cap world. Leipold got tired of losing money because the corporate money wasn't rolling into buy up the lower bowl seats.

Actually Parise, Suter, and Koivu have NMC's. Spurgeon, Dubnyk, Staal, and Zucker as of July 1st will have modified NTC's. That's why we'll probably see Zucker dealt at the draft.

Wild Fans Speak: 2018-19 Off Season Edition: Part 1 of 3 I got 7 Wild fans together including @Davey J and others to share their views on what happened this season and what they feel needs to be done in the future. Enjoy and discuss...

I don't think Boudreau is aggressively pursuing an extension. And no, I don't think he has as much authority for the lineup as we'd like to believe. I think Fenton did a lot of meddling. Honestly, watching one shift of Bitetto should tell any NHL coach / GM that he shouldn't be in the league. But he kept giving his guy chances...forcing him to sit Seeler. I am not a big Seeler fan, but he was certainly better than Bitetto. I'd say the same about Prosser...Bitetto's arrival is kind of the time when everything fell apart. Great points by @IllaZilla about Kaptain Klydesdale...and how the kids get garbage time and virtually no power play time because you wouldn't want the vets mad. This team is a schittshow and needs to be completely rebuilt; perhaps from ownership on down.

Me neither...damn that's spot on! Let alone dealing him away 1-for-1 within the division.

He also didn't listen to his doctors, trainers and barely listened to Fenton so he avoided skating in some charity game during the summer. Suter does whatever the hell he wants and knows he can. I don't see why I should admire him for being reckless, arrogant and putting his long-term health at risk.

8 losses in a row now has Iowa on the outside looking in on the playoffs right now. This team better figure it out and quick otherwise its going to be another early off season for this club.

Just in case anyone wants some context to what we were thinking BEFORE this season started. Here it is...enjoy...

This post is absurd. Boudreau was just fine for the organization, IF IT LET HIM DO HIS JOB. The problem is, it won't change the power dynamic that would undermine ANY coach this team has. Russo seems to think Boudreau still has support from Leipold and he's still under contract (at $3 million per year) for 2019-20 and then another 2 years as an advisor. While Fenton may want to promote his friend Dean Evason...what will that really change? You think Suter and Parise will suddenly start to listen to this guy who's never been an NHL bench boss before? See Mike Yeo... For all your want to get rid of Boudreau, this team never COMPLETELY GAVE UP on Boudreau the way they did with Yeo. This team disappointed at home, yes. But I think we recognize that isn't Boudreau's issue. He's doing the job and quite honestly, the team needs him more than he needs the team. He doesn't have to prove himself with this franchise. Ownership isn't as much playing the GM in this case; but he's allowing a toxic power dynamic to rule his franchise and the GM and Coach is supposed to sort of work around it. The problem is...you can't. You can try to shuffle other lines etc, but you have to always keep #20 and #11 happy first above anything else. Above wins, anything...as long as those two are content and are not going to whine about their playing time and opportunity. Sorry, that makes it untenable for any coach to really make it work; especially as these two highly paid, highly entitled players get older, slower and more fragile. The dope story is that Boudreau's dead man walking...but unless he leaves on his own, I think he'll stay for now. After this season, unless we see a dramatic shift in the team's fortunes you're probably right. But this season wasn't a dumpster fire because of Boudreau...it is because of the culture of very comfortable veteran players who show up and play when they feel like it. And I don't think all of them really want to win it all. I think many are fine with the low pressure, unreal autonomy to do as they wish and if that means the season ends in early April then so be it. Like others have noted...look who had a smile on his face after our recent home shutout loss against Boston. That says it all right there...

Some of the players can talk to the owner and get what they wish. As long as that stays as it has...no coach or GM can succeed. Same is true for Culture. You can't change the culture if the main part that sets the tone for that culture still does its own thing with ZERO accountability. The coach can try, but he knows he'll be fired if he does. The GM can try, but he knows he'll be fired if he does. As far as the scouts go. FIRE THEM ALL. Honestly, its painful how many years they've been given considering how many failed picks we have. Russo pointed this out rather correctly in his last podcast. We can't even develop players for our 3rd and 4th lines on a consistent basis. We often end up signing older vets at usually over a million or two-million per season to fill those spots. Why? But back to the scouts. Their last 1st round pick was so f%%ing awful, not even the Swedish National Team GM (Johan Garpenlov) even had heard of him. He seriously had no freakin' clue who he was and then seem baffled we even drafted him let alone in the 1st round. But no one on this scouting staff should be retained. Not one, especially if the goal is to get fresh eyes on this organization. #20 dictates his ice time, his partner and all of his opportunities. Hell, #20 was not even listening to his freakin' doctors and trainers. He did what the hell he wanted. He comes off the ice when he feels like it. He probably almost hops over the boards when he feels like it. I don't really care how much they want to be on the Wild. So, by that...the Wild were correct in sinking more money and limited no-trade clause into Staal just because he said he really wanted to be here? C'mon...we really have to be what can you do for me now. Not...what have you done for me in the past. Otherwise we're doubling down on the same culture / work ethic / sense of entitlement you claim to want to diminish. Sorry...its too easy to just say that, get the money you want and then kind of take up space. Which is what we're mostly going to get out of #12 for the next two seasons. Take the freakin' homer glasses off. This team is still hot trash...with a big opportunity to improve its situation or make it worse. Based on the Bitetto addition and the demands to play that POS, the Rask / Nino trade, the Staal re-signing and the incredibly short-sighted 1-for-1 deal with a team in our own division in the Granlund / Fiala shame...I'm going to guess its going to be the latter.

The owner is going to do whatever he wants. Suter is his employee. But the more they let Suter do whatever he wants...the more it undermines the organization's credibility let alone the locker room.

I agree. I have a bad feeling it will involve Joe Pavelski and overpaying him on what he did San Jose and seeing it not happen here.

I wish I could share more. I will simply say that its through multiple sources.

Decent points Empty Shelf. I don't disagree with any of them. I'd only suggest the Country Club is a little bigger than #20, #11, #9 (by the way the order is deliberate). I'd toss in #40 and #12 to that mix. While I don't think #12 demands as much as #20 and #11 or #9 do, I do think we didn't want to upset the fellow Over-30 crowd by shipping him off to be a rental even though it would've been beneficial to the team both in the long run (afterall we gave up on a chance for 1st and a player and still could've signed him back this summer). But #12 has been dead legs most of the season. As for #40, I think he chooses when he starts. And instead of getting your starter upset, we let him try to work through rough patches with more starts and play back to backs when its clear he's often less focused due to fatigue. So I think that makes him a part of that Country Club that is beyond Boudreau's control. As far as the locker room goes. You are 100% spot on. I have a few different sources and they've confirmed to me what I've been speculating all along. The locker room is a mess and it is known throughout the league that the team has dysfunction and its not likely to change anytime soon.

Iowa choked another game away last night. They were up 3-1 going into the 3rd and lost 4-3 in OT. Mayhew had a hat trick. The losing streak is at 7 games and counting and that big cushion they had in the standings is mostly gone now.

These last two losses against Texas were at home. Now they have to try to get back on track against Tucson who visits early this week. I watched part of their game on Friday thanks to Bear, and I liked the speed of the team and early on they looked great and then it just kind of fell apart. I think Iowa misses Matt Read and Kapla a bit. I know they have some young college players they have on ATO's, but they really need to get back to their roots.

Yes when I saw that...I think I almost threw up in my mouth. So resilient just to come back and glide or stand around on the ice. Honestly...just watch him. In many cases in his own end, he just sort of turns and reaches and spins out there. But will anyone in this organization call him out on that lazy play? Nope...because they know all it takes is one phone call from #20 to ownership and you're gone. It kind of reminds me of that old horror movie about the kid with unlimited power; and the family letting the kid do whatever they wish because they just hope to avoid being killed by this kid.