CreaseAndAssist

The Minnesota Wild Trade Eric Staal for Marcus Johansson (sigh) Good thing the season hasn't started yet, I'm not sure I'm ready for 2-3 articles per day. Anyways, its an interesting move for a team that already had one reclamation project to deal with. Enjoy and discuss... I'm most indifferent about it. If the Wild got a 'steal' in the deal with Pittsburgh, Buffalo probably got a steal in this one.

Minnesota Wild sign Jonas Brodin to 7-year $42 million Contract Extension (sigh) This team loves hanging on to the same players that help contribute to its middling finishes. The length of the term and the NMC for most of it is again maddening. This team just can't get out of its own way. Why do we always decide we want the players with the leverage; because it'd be a shame if the country club culture felt threatened by a move; so lets cement them here.

Amen to that. I don't care about where they are from. Can they make this team better, and at this point; make us a faster and younger team. Bjugstad is younger, but faster is debateable. We'll see how long he can stay healthy.

He was too good for the AHL, but now he's playing in the KHL's minors? Uh, ok. Menell has 5 points in 3 games. Lodnia, from what I've heard has looked fast out there which is a good sign as we all know this organization needs more speed in such a bad way. Falkovsky, he might be a 'prospect' but as a guy who played in the ECHL last year...he barely registers on my radar.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the veteran players like Jared Spurgeon takes him in, sort of like Mario Lemieux did for Sidney Crosby. It may help him continue to improve his lanague skills and acclimate to a new culture better. But we'll see. No doubt it will be a big change for him.

Matt Dumba's King Clancy Award, An Opportunity for Something Greater I wrote this as news broke about Dumba's King Clancy win. I know it probably won't go over well with some posters around here, but I think it needs to be said. I really hope what he's doing now continues; not just for hockey but for society in general.

Its actually pretty easy to ask to be traded. The question you should ask, why didn't he?

This is some pretty woke commentary by radoran and I'm not being even slightly sarcastic. Koivu also insisted he was the #1 center for about a decade too. He'd get pouty / angry if the team didn't have him on the board as the top line center. But hey, some Wild fans really believed he was the best captain ever.

This is pretty much my feelings on it all. I am not in the least sad to see him go. Heck back when they solved the last lockout I had hoped the team would use a compliance buyout on him. And then in 2017 I wrote this for Gone Puck Wild. If anything, hearing it was finally over brought a smile to my face, the way it might be when you finally pay off a car or something like that. Not a big smile, but one that was a sign of glad that is now behind us. Like Hockey_78 said, Mikko was very well paid in his time with the Wild and more or less given 100% autonomy and top ice time for the majority of his career. I don't think we ever saw Mikko really stand up for his teammates despite being team captain. We saw him yap at guys from time to time, but we didn't see him do anything really selfless for the team. But hey, because this organization hasn't accomplished much in 20 seasons, lets retire his jersey!?!? I think there is a fair chance I might just miss paying attention to that cheesy and predictable Wild moment.

Wild Trade Conditional 7th round pick in 2021 to Pittsburgh for Nick Bjugstad Meh. Nick Bjugstad is so good, the Penguins just paid $2 million to get rid of him. The Wild essentially risked nothing or virtually nothing in this deal. I love how the other fans jumped in to tell us about Nick Bjugstad as though we haven't seen him play since he was in high school or anything like that. I hope Bjugstad understands that this just may be his 'last' NHL chance to show he deserves to stick around in the league. Either way, he gives the team another center with just 'ok' speed and maybe some flashes of offense. Its like Pokemon with this club for stockpiling ok skaters. Collect 'em all! The conditions are listed in my article. This is the part that is annoying. Why should it matter where he's from? I don't see understand that's such a priority for some people.

2020 Minnesota Wild Draft Preview: Defenseman I look at the defenseman available in this year's draft. I have one more draft-focused article left which I will publish probably this weekend. Also, the draft dates hae been announced, on October 6th & 7th, 2020. Enjoy and discuss. I really like Schneider's skillset.

Not likely, since Nesterenko will likely only get bit time on that club. Boldy was given a fair amount of ice time right from the start. We'll see if Newhook and Boldy stay paired together. Because Boldy really didn't take off until he had Newhook as his center instead of Jack McBain.

The AHL is a very good league. I don't think its that far off from the KHL. Khovanov finally got in, but didn't do much and went just 2-for-6 on his draws and had no shots on goal.

Russo's a great source, but there are plenty more Wild voices to check out. Especially, if you want to hear discussion that goes beyond just news.

Minnesota Wild Podcast-opia 2020 has been a pretty rough year for just about everyone, but for podcasts its been kind of a boon as people perhaps have the time and reason to start them. I give sort of show descriptions to a bunch of Minnesota hockey podcasts that I regularly listen to. Enjoy and tell me what you're listening to.

IMO, Nesterenko is a long-term project. We'll see what kind of a freshman year he has on a still fairly loaded Boston College team.

Who cares, he thought he was 'above' playing in the AHL. Khovanov is probably finding out what every young player finds out, the game gets so much faster the higher the level you play. Time and space become more and more fleeting and he's not going to have 3-4 seconds to decide what he wants to do with the puck like he did when he was in the 'Q'.

Lodnia was scratched for Dinamo Minsk today. Menell on the otherhand had 3 assists in Dinamo's 5-4 OT win over Barys Astana. So for the young forward prospects hoping to develop in the KHL, while the guy who spent some time in the AHL and thrived...is thriving in the KHL. Hmm...maybe the AHL isn't such a bad league afterall.

Nesterenko is such a long way off. I wonder what line he'll play on with the Eagles. That is a pretty deep team, and ice time might be tough to come by for a freshman. I really hope he can start to fill out his frame as he's pretty slight. IMO, way too soon to know what we have in him. It doesn't mean he sucks or anything, but he probably has at least 3-4 years of college for us to see before we have any idea of what sort of possibe NHL future he may have.

Just thought I'd drop this little note. Alexander Khovanov has been scratched two games in a row for Ak Bars Kazan. Belarus is a mess and Russia is propping up the dictator because that's what they like to do. Like I said, I am not sure I'd want to be there if I'm any pro hockey player and be in the mess of what could be a civil war in that nation.

Yea, I'm not sure I'd want to take my career to Belarus right now. But it is what it is, I heard their game against Jokerit yesterday was postponed because of threats of violence. Did anyone see that Khovanov was a healthy scratch for Ak Bars Kazan's 1st game? I am not sure if he's playing in the one today, his team is currently trailing 1-0.

Askarov is the only goaltender probably worthy of a 1st round pick. Blomqvist and maybe Daws are 2nd or 3rd round picks. After that you're probably picking those guys in the 5th round or something like that. The most intriguing thing about Askarov to me is the combination of size, athleticism and the fact he's a 'wrong' catching goalie in that he catches with the right hand. That's pretty rare and would likely make him more of a challenge for shooters to deal with. However, his poor season last year is kind of cautionary. While Alexandron has listed a whole bunch of Russians; maybe 3 of them I think have a legit chance at an NHL roster. Kaprizov, Khovanov and maybe Firstov. The rest are pretty long shots to make it.

2020 Minnesota Wild Draft Preview: Goaltenders It should work this time! Enjoy and discuss!

I never made it private though. According to what I see on my end, it says its marked public. I'm looking into it. Not sure when I'll get some help on this though.

Strange. I will look into that.