CreaseAndAssist

I don't care where the player is from. As long as they can help, bury goals and brings speed and works hard each night I am feeling confident I'd want them on my team. The Wild have often settled for the safe pick. The fact that most of our scouting staff is STILL intact at this point concerns me a lot. I hear P.J. Fenton is running the show now, but the 2019 draft will be telling since its really Fenton's 1st draft he's engineered from the start. IMO, Fenton has a ton to prove and this is supposedly his strength so my expectations are pretty high. If we see another Filip Johansson type of pick...we'll know the old scouts are still running the show.

We drafted another Russian defenseman once besides Tyulyapkin. Georgi Misharin...he played a little bit in the OHL if memory serves me correctly and then went back to Russia. But, the team has mostly avoided Russians until recently. Sokolov had a great end to end goal last night.

(shrugs) I think his growing legal troubles here gave him more than nudge to move the team too. The fanbase still wanted to support the North Stars, they were just tired of seeing a crappy product for so long. I think he tried; to a token amount and when everything didn't line up just the way he wanted...he decided to bolt to Dallas. Green burned some bridges and his style caused many to bolt. I think the better What if...is if this team won a Stanley Cup in 1990-91 or even 1981. Could that have changed things. I know I wrote an article about that too a few years ago.

Meh, not sure I buy that. He obviously had to admit it was wrong in being in Atlanta and that relocation worked out great.

Yea, it is interesting. Although I really wonder if they'd spare them from relocation today. My guess is they'd love to move that franchise to Houston.

Why did the Minnesota North Stars leave Minnesota for Dallas? Since today marks the 26th anniversary of the announcement the North Stars were leaving for Dallas I tried to find my article I wrote back in 2011. Much to my horror it had disappeared because the site I wrote it on no longer exists. Thankfully it was archived via the Way Back Machine. So I took it and updated it a bit and re-issued it. Enjoy...and discuss.

(shrugs) We really don't have much in the way of defensive prospects, especially non NHL / AHL ones. I am not counting anyone in Iowa. Otherwise you'd have Belpedio, Soucy and Menell in this mix. Johansson gets put here partly because he better be at least at this level otherwise they missed terribly. While his stats are rancid, its tough to gauge because I don't see him very much. His inability to make the WJC squad was certainly a red flag for me; even if Sweden is a pretty decent hockey factory. We did sign Connor Dewar to a 3-year entry level deal late last week though...so there is that.

That was a big win for Iowa, who had a pretty good California road trip. Menell has been quietly productive all season. Rau, Mayhew, O'Reilly, Mennell and when he's there Read continue to be the workhorses for this team.

Bad news, the Iowa Wild squandered a 4-1 lead with just 3 minutes left in the 3rd period to lose 5-4 in overtime to Ontario. They play their 3rd game in 3 days this early evening. Rau had a hat trick last night. Kahkonen had 49 saves in the loss.

Dewar hasn't played the last few games for Everett. I think he's hurt or sick. Ivan Lodnia returned to action since being hurt since mid-December. I don't think our prospect pool is completely empty but here's my Top 15 of Wild prospects not in the AHL / NHL. The gaps are intentional...as I think there is a significant drop off in these places. The fact there is no one goaltender in this group should be a bit concerning...although Russo has said the organization is very interested in Mat Robson (Minnesota) and to a lesser extend Hunter Shepard (UMD). Not many quality defensive prospects either. 1. LW, Kirill Kaprizov (CSKA Moscow, KHL) 2. C, Connor Dewar (Everett, WHL) 3. RW, Ivan Lodnia (Niagara, OHL) 4. C/W, Ivan Khovanov (Moncton, QMJHL) 5. D, Filip Johansson (Leksands IF, Allsvenskan) 6. RW, Nick Swaney (Minnesota-Duluth, NCHC) 7. LW, Brandon Duhaime (Providence, Hockey East) 8. C, Andrei Svetlakov (CSKA Moscow, KHL) 9. C/W, Sam Hentges (St. Cloud State, NCHC) 10. RW, Shawn Boudrias (Cape Breton, QMJHL) 11. C, Damien Giroux (Saginaw, OHL) 12. D, Simon Johansson (Almtuna, Allsvenskan) 13. D, Jacob Golden (Erie, OHL) 14. D, Nick Boka (Michigan, Big 10) 15. D, Jack Sadek (Minnesota, Big 10)

Iowa had a big 5-4 win over San Antonio last night. Read with 2 goals and a helper. Gerald Mayhew has really been great since Kloos left; 16 goals, +12...2nd on the team in scoring. Sokolov with the OT game winner, his 10th of the season. Belpedio with 3 assists, Kapla with 2 assists. Kapla has been played reasonably well since the trade. Kahkonen with the win; not his best game but he got it done. On another note...Connor Dewar had no points last night, first time in a long while since that's happened but he went 23-for-29 on his draws in Everett's 1-0 loss.

Well even since Fletcher got here, the team became far more apt to draft and sign college players. Risebrough never seemed to care too much for the college-trained guys. But I think more and more teams are seeing the benefits of developing a player who ends up being more physically and mentally mature.

Cal O'Reilly keeps leading the way, while Sam Anas and Gerald Mayhew has seemed to have been the ones to step up their game in Kloos' absence. Will Bitten has also starting to become a regular on the stat sheet and Kyle Rau is also raising his game. Sometimes, a trade like this lets you find out just what you have or do not have. So far, Iowa seems to have some scoring depth even if they do not have some dominant go-to player.

(shrugs) I don't think the Wild were all that interested in what Kloos could give them; even if it meant having a good go-to guy in Iowa. I think the fact Aberg has NHL skill and is cheap and the Ducks obviously didn't want him because they didn't ask for much in return is both good and bad. For Iowa, they have a fair amount of scoring depth. Kloos was their best scorer, it hurts but they roll 4 lines and have a decent amount of skill on each. Obviously someone down there will have to step up. Almost surprised it wasn't Kyle Rau since he had a hat trick against San Diego with the Ducks' bosses watching the game. If he doesn't take off or skips practices and other dumb stuff...he'll be gone the way of Mattias Weinhandl. But the risk IMO is pretty minimal for the Wild.

I agree with you 100%!

I would keep him in Iowa splitting time with Hammond. We shouldn't rush him or any prospect IMO, let them arrive when they are ready. Is he playing well right now? Yes, but why rush him?

IMO, keep the kids in Iowa. Kahkonen is playing well, but the team in front of him has played pretty well too. Eriksson Ek, for all of the ranting about him...he's putting up points for Iowa. Sokolov has been scratched the last few games. O'Reilly's back too which has certainly helped their offense. The best part of Iowa is their depth. It's fun listening to games because this team rolls 4 lines that can score and they skate well. Army seems to be a great fit as coach for this club.

Hammond was in net for that game too. Milwaukee is the top team in that super tough division. They have another tough game this afternoon against Chicago. So if you want to listen to them before the Wild's game this early evening...I know I'll be tuning in. I'll have some highlights of Iowa's game against Milwaukee in my post-gamer. As well as some other prospect news.

Wow, 8-7. I am mad I missed it, but we were driving back to the Twin Cities. Well Justin Kloos had 6 points last night, 3 goals, 3 assists. But yea, let's bring up Kunin because he's a 1st round pick (where have we seen this flawed philosophy before?). Sokolov had a goal too and led the team with 7 shots on goal which is what he used to do as a junior player. Iowa is much better team than it has in recent seasons because they do have better depth overall. The defense corps isn't just a bunch of ECHL no names like it used to be in its first few years. I think they'll be ok once O'Reilly comes back. Some of their late-season college pick ups from last year continue to play pretty well in Fitzgerald and McLain.

Losing Kunin has hurt a bit. But I'd still argue Cal O'Reilly's absence has been a bigger deal; especially on the power play. You're right, lots of dumb mental mistakes in that game. On the prospect front, two Wild prospects were involved in trades in major junior. Dereck Baribeau a 6'6" goalie was dealt from Quebec to Baie-Comeau which is probably a good thing because he was splitting time with the Remparts, and Shawn Boudrias got dealt from Gatineau to Cape Breton. Both players are overagers, so these are typical deals by clubs looking to add depth for a run towards their respective league championship. We'll see if it results in more production for both. Boudrias had a good start, but he's tailed off in recent weeks and I think he's been hurt too.

Motte hasn't been bad. Its the power play scoring tailing off and the penalties that have been the bigger story IMO. Early in the season Iowa was converting on the power play at nearly a 30% clip. Not having Sam Anas (hand injury) and Cal O'Reilly has really set that back. But Hammond returning certainly would not hurt, especially for Kahkonen's confidence as you said.

John Scott was 6'8", but Falkovsky didn't light the world on fire in his debut. Iowa has lost 5 of their last 6 games. Penalties have really dogged this team, many times the preventable variety. They also miss Cal O'Reilly way more than I'm sure they'd care to admit. Sokolov has been making a bigger mark on the scoresheet while Rau has tailed off. Read is playing well now.

Stepan Falkovsky, a 6'7" defenseman with some mobility and offensive ability getting his debut with the Iowa Wild this afternoon.

Ok Greenlay...

Kahkonen has lost his last 3 starts. He's not playing awful, but being the #1 goalie (with Hammond still hurt) is probably feeling the challenge of carrying most of the workload. But please go back to talking about which posters you'd like to get a room with...that's Iowa Wild related discussion I'm sure!