CreaseAndAssist

Even the Athletic says #mnwild fans have nothing to look forward to with prospects under the age of 23 since Kaprizov is for sure in the KHL two more seasons. Check it out. Check out where the Wild rank folks (if you have an Athletic subscription)

Hammond had a pretty good game. Greenway, Eriksson Ek and Coyle protected the puck ok, but they stayed to the perimeter which kind of defeats the purpose of having a bunch of big bodied forwards on one line. The Lodnia-Niederreiter line looked lost most of the time. Hendricks was ok. Pateryn looked slow and perhaps even troubling...not strong enough to keep people from working their way into the tough areas of the ice. Look at Marko Dano's goal...the player worked to the front of the net and Patyern couldn't stop him. He lacked the quickness to stay with him. It reminded me a lot of Kyle Quincey. Bartkowski was ok though. Seeler looked like a punching bag in his 'fight' with Claude Lemieux's kid. Best line was Rau, Anas and Kloos by far. Fast and clearly good chemistry after playing last season together in Iowa.

Meh, they have a ton of guys to play in pre-season. I wouldn't read into it much. If he's not there for two or three pre-season games then yea...it might be a message being sent. Otherwise, I wouldn't make a big deal about it.

Bingo...

He has good offensive skills. I'm excited to see how he performs in the pre-season.

Really? You needed to remind me that Koivu's game slid quite a bit, including his faceoffs? Wow, never knew that...thanks for sharing. With the average age climbing with this team can they really keep another guy his age around? Is that smart? While I've enjoyed Staal's play with the club, the team already made its bed with Finnish Care Bear stare instead. I absolutely hated it when it happened and I hate it more each day. But if he's here another 2 years can you really sign Staal to a 3-year or 4-year deal? You could, but then what other younger player are we going to lose? Granlund?! As it is right now. Parise 34 yrs old (signed until he's 41) Koivu 35 yrs old (signed until he's 37) Suter 33 yrs old (signed until he's 40) Dubnyk 32 yrs old (signed until he's 35) Staal is 33...if you give him a 4 or a 5 year deal which is probably what he'll be seeking then you have a player until his late 30's. That's a pretty sizable chunk that will be in the grayhair category of their NHL careers.

I heard on XM this morning on my way to work that the Columbus club that won the tournament was mostly free agents and invitees. They didn't expect to do so well. The Wild nearly threw away the game against Chicago in the 3rd period. It reminded me a lot of the 2nd game where they were just holding on for dear life against the NY Rangers. I was only able to see the 3rd period and then Mitch McLain's goal via a highlight someone posted on Twitter. The good...Lodnia, Sokolov, Khovanov, Kahkonen, Belpedio, Shaw, Menell all played pretty well. And of course Greenway playing well enough they didn't even want him playing in this 3rd place game. A better showing than I expected.

I agree with this, unfortunately we decided to tie our money into Finnish Care Bear Stare instead....

Interesting point on how he felt it forced Greenway to be more assertive and less lazy while playing center than on the wing where he mentioned he could be soft on some of his board battles. He felt the center spot forced him to use his skating / mobility more. Wonder if Boston guy Fenton will take Quinn's comments to heart or if the organization has already sold him that Greenway is a wing prospect only.

Sounds like the Sokolov / Khovanov / Knutson line had a pretty good day. Fitzgerald has probably won a spot in Iowa with how well he's played at Prospect Camp and the tournament thus far. Menell and Belpedio should stand out given their age and experience; Menell especially and he gave them a big goal. Unfortunately for this group; they gave up the regulation lead which cost them a chance to play for the championship. Greenway is done for the tourney, team has said its seen enough and doesn't want to risk him getting hurt (ala Shaw from last season). Sounds like Shaw's line wasn't too bad either. Good result against another decent team in Dallas IMO.

I agree. Eriksson Ek better be ready for the #2 center role sooner than later because this team needs to start transitioning away from the Finnish Care Bear stare. I think there is potential for Eriksson Ek to do it, but they need him to play in such a way to compel the organization to keep him in that #2 spot because you know Koivu will probably throw a fit behind the scenes. IMO, this is a test of how much of a team player Mikko really is; because I think he needs to recognize he's not that player anymore.

Wild Fans Speak 2018-19 Edition: Part 3 of 3 The last part features some projections about this upcoming season in regards to where it will finish. How do these 5 Wild fans and one non-Wild fan see the season shaking out? Enjoy. As far as the Mikko Koivu / Oliver Stone theory? Nope, not nearly as convoluted but has this team gone out of its way not to offend him or make him upset? You bet it has. Even Russo has said as much. He noted that Mikko's line is always penciled in as the top line in the locker room even though most night's its not really the top line; but they make it that way to avoid getting him upset. There are plenty of examples how this team has danced around his ego. I think the No Movement Clause was another glaring example of this. Do I think Mikko has the control over this team the way Suter and Parise do? Nope. Those guys have the owner wrapped around their little finger. Mikko is more like finding ways to placate the resident drama queen.

I watched Saturday's game. The Wild prospects looked slow and disorganized for the first half of the game. Lots of needless giveaways, which only made their struggles worse. No one seemed to want to take a shot. Then in the 2nd half of the 2nd the Greenway, Lodnia, Fitzgerald line started asserting itself. Greenway got it started with a wrap around chance. Then the Sokolov line got going, as he buried a goal on a power play. The Wild really swarmed in the 3rd period with Sokolov's line leading the way. Greenway would go top shelf late but they'd give up an empty netter to lose 4-2. Sokolov and Greenway stood out the most to me. Baribeau looked kind of frantic in the crease. The Wild kids passed up a lot of potential shots on the 5-on-3 in search of the perfect shot. I was hoping Belpedio would assert himself offensively more than he did. We play Dallas tomorrow.

@MNSOTA tried to watch it (I was coaching football) but it didn't work for whatever reason. Sounds like Greenway was a man among boys out there with two helpers and lots of good work with the puck down low. Kahkonen had 28 saves and it sounded like he played well. Greenway, Lodnia and Fitzgerald were our best line.

It was something that was hinted at by Russo, but until I see it and they stay with it...until then I will doubt it.

Wild Fans Speak 2018-19 Edition, Part 2 of 3 The same panel chimes in on the team's personnel decisions / possibilities going into this season. Check it out!

Zero disagreements in this analysis...nailed it.

Wild Announce Traverse City tournament roster & schedule I give my thoughts on the tournament and the players as well as what to expect. If we get 4th or better I'll be surprised.

Although I think most agreed that it was less of a reflection of Paul Fenton (and what he's done so far) and mostly about Chuck Fletcher. No matter what, Fletcher and the decisions this team had committed itself to before his termination will continue to be an anchor for this squad. IMO, that was another reason why re-signing Koivu and giving him a NMC drove me nuts. It was an opportunity to at least unleash one of the immovable contracts. Instead we re-attached the anchor and threw it back in the water.

Wild Fans Speak 2018-19, Part 1 of 3 Its that time of year where I gave a few Wild fans a survey and they shared their views as to how they view this club going into the 2018-19 season. Beyond surveying 5 Wild fans, I also surveyed one non-Wild fan in @DJ Ricky. @IllaZilla is in this as well. Check it out...

I agree, the Traverse City tournament would be fun to go to. Although I'd love to see NHL Network bring some cameras there and televise it. IMO, they could've easily done the same with Da Beauty League too. But the Traverse City thing has a pretty good tradition. Khovanov...meh. Still not sold on his skating ability, Hepatitis battle be damned. It is a shame Simon Johansson isn't there, I think he has good potential. Shaw IMO has to prove himself all over again. Sokolov should be our most dangerous scoring threat. Lodnia...hmm, he really tailed off in the latter half of the season last year with Erie.

Kunin isn't exceptionally fast even though he's of average height. IMO, that's pretty bad. I'd be more bullish on his future if he was a better skater and I felt he had more versatility. I am not sure if he has the wheels to be a player like Haula was in a Bottom 9 role while waiting for more of an opportunity. IMO, his skillset is more akin to a Top 6 player and he'll be waiting a long time before a spot opens up there. But more fundamentally than that, Kunin didn't really dominate in Iowa. I think he should lead the way there before he gets a chance to play for the Minnesota Wild. Just my 2 cents...

Daily league, but its still weekly head to head matchups right? Otherwise, it'd be mega complicated to have a different fantasy team to go against each day I would think. I'm in if its still week to week head to head...otherwise, nah.

Boeser is a bit different. I don't care that he's from Burnsville. While he has a pretty interesting (and tragic) personal story on his road to being an NHL'er, I don't really care about that too much. The kid can score...that's why I felt he'd really be a help to the team. That's all that matters to me. Eriksson Ek gives me more hope than Kunin for all of the hype they keep saturating us with. I felt Eriksson Ek actually looked pretty reasonable in his first full NHL season. Far more physical than I expected and you could see that he has real skill and good instincts. I liked what I saw. But Kunin...seemed like a lot of hype to me. Kind of like Casey Wellman 2.0.

That may have been when they made a big deal about Hendricks and J.T. Brown being Minnesotans. Or the guy that just had to mention Nate Prosser. I think they went out of their way to remind everyone about Kurvers too as if anyone didn't know. I agree, I everytime I hear such crap out of this organization. Pure cheese...