CreaseAndAssist

I don't think this team will have the cap space to entice a center to come here. Taylor Hall is not going to want to come to Minnesota. Beyond that, the UFA class for centers is pretty ugly. Staal at best at this point is a 2nd line center.

Hunt was horrible. It seemed to me like the game was moving too fast for his brain to process it all. And I wasn't impressed by his footspeed as opponents took adavntage of him with their speed on multiple occasions both in the exhibition and in this series against Vancouver. IMO, Addison, Menell can do just as well as Hunt...and if it wasn't for Hunt's shot, no one would care one bit about him.

Well I thought I saw an add that has already stated that the Kraken black spiced Rum is already a sponsor of theirs.

I think everyone but the Panthers know this.

Evan Fitzhugh calling some games... Sounds like a good first choice for the Seattle Kraken.

I just can't. Kuznetsov and Kucherov arrived on teams that have far more other talented players around them. Kaprizov will have Fiala and that's really it and at this point, no decent center to work with. IMO, that's a huge obstacle.

Nah, I think it was worth it. We saw who stepped up and really wanted it and who looked like they went through the motions. From an evaluation standpoint I think it probably revealed a lot to Bill Guerin.

I don't really have an issue with that approach; and keep Stalock as a cheap backup option. I agree, the team needs to be more youth focused for sure and the marketing of the old foagies has to go.

I would agree with you on most of what you said. I think its important to keep Brodin. While he may not be a big point producer, but I think he is really important to the team's defense. If Dumba is only going to launch slap shots, he's going to continue to see most of his shots blocked. Greenway, you're 100% correct. We only see flashes of the talent, but he just doesn't seem to want to dominate even though he appears to be capable of doing so. Its sad. I've heard people toss out NY Rangers as a landing spot for Greenway as he'd be reunited with his college coach. The Rangers have lots of good young talent in their prospect pipeline. Not sure we'd get their best prospect, but Matthew Robertson a big two-way defenseman would interest me a lot.

By the way, I'm not sure when you all read my article. But if it was before Midnight-ish yesterday, I had made a few additions to it that you may have not seen. The fundamental points have remained the same, but I had some more thoughts about a center for Fiala & Kaprizov.

The other teams in the running for this pick...certainly are far better off than the Wild are.

I don't think if he plays 25-30 games as a backup to Stalock will hurt his development. If you don't think playing 25-30 NHL games is good enough, I guess you have him starting 45-50 games in Iowa. Is that really better? Then we keep Dubnyk as backup and hear him whine. By the way, I heard a rumor on a podcast about what Dubnyk's wife's health issue was.

I'd say he's at least playing 25-30 games in a backup role next season for the Minnesota Wild. I think that would be a pretty decent audition.

I think the expectations on Kaprizov are unhealthy and likely unattainable. Yet, with the Wild where they are as a franchise, people are pretty desperate to think he'll be the club's savior. If Kaprizov can do what Dominik Kubalik has done for the the Chicago Blackhawks, that would be huge. It is a shame he was never able to join the team at all for the short playoff run it had because it sounds like his agent dropped the ball. I am sure the team was hoping to get him acclimated and see him on the ice with his Wild teammates to probably gauge where he is. But now they'll have to wait for next season; but hopefully he can still come over and get himself set up and acclimated to life in Minnesota a bit.

This is true. I know I've written these things before, but it'd be nice if they actually addressed these things. But at some point, we have to be nearing action on these issues.

Gaborik had 36 points I believe in his rookie season. No Wild rookie has ever had that kind of season out of the gate.

(shrugs) Stalock is cheap. He's not really hurting anything. Dubnyk IMO is the bigger what if simply because of his contract. Some feel he'll be bought out, others feel he'll be traded. I'm fine with moving on. Should it go to being Kahkonen's crease next year? I'd probably ease him into it.

5 Takeaways from the Minnesota Wild's 2019-20 Season Experience I share some thoughts from the 2019-20 season and what I feel should be the direction moving forward with this team. Enjoy and discuss!

Blaming Staock is crap. Poor defensive coverage resulted in at least 3 of those goals. The more inspired effort proves they had more in the tank. But you can't to expect to advance if everyone wasn't dialed in.

Defensive Breakdowns Doom the Wild in 5-4 Season-Ending OT Loss to Vancouver (sigh) Well that's all she wrote for this season. The Wild had chances to take this game, but defensive breakdowns killed them of the absent-minded variety. They played with more fire, which was good, but where was this the last two games before this one? This is my final game recap of the 2019-20 season. Thanks for everyone who has read our previews and post-gamers over the past year, we really appreciate your support. Onto the draft lottery! If its Koivu's last hurrah, then so be it. The organization has compensated him very well and I think its time for him to move on. You could see it in his face after the game the realization of what just happened.

As it is, they're probably buying out Victor Rask. Although this may sound crazy. I might keep him, play him...and hope for the best. If we have to ride out the contracts of Zuccarello, Parise, etc...we might as well ride his out. I don't see how this team has the space to get anyone impactful unless we draft them.

If those forwards aren't going to score, it won't matter who is in the crease.

The Islanders were intrigued enough about Parise. But Zuccarello, I highly doubt any team wants that contract. The NMC on that deal to him was such a giant mistake especially when they were overpaying him and giving him too much term anyways.

I think Fiala will be fine, but does he realize he's the only chance we have? Yes. Gaborik used to feel this way too I'm sure. I hate to say it, but adding Kaprizov won't make the team that much better. He's not a center, so the Wild will still be losing draws like crazy and while it may give the team a bit more umph up front, it won't really make the rest of the team as its currently constructed to battle harder or be faster. They'll still be fairly old, slow...and fading in ability with ugly contracts still years away from expiring. The one other thing Kaprizov might add, is for someone for Fiala to vent to as they have no decent quality center to work with...but beyond that...its probably still going to be crap. And just think...this team HAS to protect (by contract) in the expansion draft... Zach Parise Mats Zuccarello Ryan Suter Jared Spurgeon While Koivu will be coming off the books...the team has Kunin, Greenway, Soucy to re-sign so there goes what little cap space you had. Folks...the dumpster fire is only warming up.

Are you seriously blaming the losses on Stalock? That makes ZERO sense. It wouldn't matter if Kahkonen, Dubnyk or Robson is in the net, if your team isn't going score goals you are going to lose the game. Its the same old issue with this team, it can't score in the playoffs. Even with Fiala, they don't have anyone else that can help chip in to get enough goals to win games. So its a slow death by small goal totals. We're not playing track meet hockey with Vancouver and simply getting outscored 6-4 like the Blues / Knights game last night, we're dying like a coma patient because it just doesn't seem to have the will to stay alive and really do what is necessary to score (i.e. crash the damn net). Kevin Fiala feels the pressure of the freakin' world on his shoulders because he is the only good player the Wild really have, and the only real threat to score on a consistent basis. I am not saying it would be preposterous to start someone else in net, but I do think its pretty weak to say Stalock has played like crap. He hasn't; he's kept the team around long enough to be able to score and give him some goal support. Yesterday, despite all of the power plays the Wild had, care to know how many shots #11 had? ZERO. The guy who mentions how the team is running out of chances to win couldn't even manage to generate a single shot on goal and he's getting lots of time on the power play. And he's not the only one sitting on the bench with the 1,000-yard stare, doing little on the ice. Galchenyuk, Staal, Greenway, and Zuccarello haven't done anything. Hunt is being exposed more and more for poor decisions and a lack of footspeed. Other than Spurgeon, who else from the blueline has shown any penchant for chipping in offensively? No one. The Wild are an old, slow team...and after a pretty good Game 1. Many players decided to coast or are too sore to work hard...and so they're going to get bounced early. And that's just fine with our super comfortable group of vets who like the long break and little pressure. Vancouver was still a fairly fortunate draw for the Wild, but if you've watched any of the series...the Wild look painfully slow and offensively anemic compared to just about any other team still playing right now.