CreaseAndAssist

You are probably right. Some that may watch will wonder why the North Stars changed their name.

Markstrom, Canucks Shut Down the Wild in 4-1 Victory Kind of predictable. Another 2 day lay off and we look like the tired team while Vancouver was ready to play and outworked us most of the game. Pateryn didn't do anything for me, and neither did Zucker beyond yapping at the officials and taking some lazy penalties. Embrace the tank is back in full swing folks! Full game recap, an Iowa Wild report and a ton of prospect news. Enjoy...

And you know I said the same thing...

Woo hoo...the Blues. Yea, that really gets Wild fans riled up. I guess that will mean Keith Tkachuk will get to cross-check Wes Walz in the throat again, if it keeps Wes from talking so much during the broadcast maybe its not so bad afterall.

Boldy had a big night last night, for him at least. A goal and an assist. But still...pretty mundane. I watched part of his game last night against UMass. I see a kid that has the lateral quickness to win some of the small races in the offensive zone, but no real speed. Decent stickhandler...I'll give him that, but not a lot of forward lean. Kind of a take 2-3 strides and glide kind of a player. This kid played for the U.S. National Development program where he had the probably the most attentive training a young player could ask for in the U.S. and he's still skating like that. Boston College is a high quality program as well. Luckily for them, they have enough other players performing well they don't really have to care too much he's not pulling his weight scoring-wise. Boldy is tied for 2nd on the team with 54 shots on goal. Just to make some easy comparables with other kids he was drafted with in the 1st round last summer that are playing college hockey. Mind you, these are all kids like Boldy who made the jump from Jr. A or High School to the NCAA ranks. So all of these kids are freshman, probably all 18 years old... MATT BOLDY (Boston College) - 2G 4A = 6pts 54 SOG's Drafted BEFORE Boldy Alex Turcotte (Wisconsin) - 6G 10A = 16pts 42 SOG's Trevor Zegras (Boston U.) - 6G 13A = 19pts 46 SOG's Drafted AFTER Boldy in the 1st round Alex Newhook (Boston College) - 7G 9A = 15pts 35 SOG's Cole Caufield (Wisconsin) - 13G 9A = 22pts 86 SOG's John Beecher (Michigan) - 5G 5A = 10pts 44 SOG's Forwards Drafted in 2019 AFTER Boldy in the 2nd round or later playing college hockey this year AS FRESHMAN Shane Pinto (North Dakota) - 10G 6A = 16pts 55 SOG's Bobby Brink (Denver) - 8G 9A = 17pts 60 SOG's John Farinacci (Harvard) - 6G 8A = 14pts 24 SOG's Nick Ambruzzese (Harvard) - 6G 12A = 18pts 31 SOG's Trevor Janicke (Notre Dame) - 7G 3A = 10pts 51 SOG's Owen Lindmark (Wisconsin) - 4G 6A = 10pts 19 SOG's Patrick Moynihan (Providence) - 8G 6A = 14pts 61 SOG's Aiden McDonough (Northeastern) - 8G 10A = 18pts 41 SOG's Andre Lee (UMass-Lowell) - 6G 9A = 15pts 48 SOG's Robert Mastrisimone (Boston U.) - 4G 8A = 12pts 57 SOG's *Vladislav Firstov (UConn) - 6G 7A = 13pts 39 SOG's * - Wild prospect

Wild vs. Canucks Game Preview Minnesota Wild (20-18-6) 46pts 6th in the Central 3.02 Goals For Per Game (16th in the NHL) 3.27 Goals Against Per Game (25th in the NHL) 18.1% Power Play (20th in the NHL) 75.8% Penalty Kill (26th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #12 Eric Staal ~ 16G 17A = 33pts 2. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 6G 24A = 30pts 3. #11 Zach Parise ~ 14G 12A = 26pts 4. #22 Kevin Fiala ~ 9G 16A = 25pts 5. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 11G 13A = 24pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 50 PIM’s 2. #18 Jordan Greenway ~ 35 PIM’s 3. #24 Matt Dumba ~ 33 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #32 Alex Stalock (9-7-3) 3.01GAA .901%SP 1SO 2. #40 Devan Dubnyk (8-10-2) 3.16GAA .898% 1SO Vs. Vancouver Canucks (24-17-4) 52pts 5th in the Pacific 3.29 Goals For Per Game (10th in the NHL) 3.13 Goals Against Per Game (18th in the NHL) 24.7% Power Play (5th in the NHL) 79.9% Penalty Kill (17th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #40 Elias Pettersson ~ 20G 27A = 47pts 2. #6 Brock Boeser ~ 16G 27A = 43pts 3. #9 J.T. Miller ~ 16G 26A = 42pts 4. #53 Bo Horvat ~ 13G 25A = 38pts 5. #70 Tanner Pearson ~ 12G 21A = 33pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #23 Alexander Edler ~ 40 PIM’s 2. #9 J.T. Miller ~ 34 PIM’s 3. #57 Tyler Myers ~ 26 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #25 Jacob Markstrom (16-12-3) 2.81GAA .914%SP 1SO 2. #35 Thatcher Demko (8-5-1) 3.20GAA .903%SP @MNSOTA wrote up the game preview, I will be on the post-gamer (which by the way will have lots and lots of extras). The Canucks played yesterday afternoon and won 6-3 over Buffalo. The Wild should be fairly well-rested from their one-game road trip, but you know as well as I do that we'll probably look more tired, somehow. The Canucks are fairly youthful, have an excellent power play. Enjoy and discuss...

Well they put him back on the wing, with McBain moving to center. But again...last night with no points, 5 shots and a -1.

I hate Boldy's skating. I think at lower levels its less of an issue but at the NHL level it becomes a real big problem. He's a great stick handler...but he's not scoring for a lack of opportunities at BC. He's getting plenty of ice time, he's shooting the puck. But I hope we see a much better 2020 for him than what he did in 2019.

Inconsistent Effort Dooms Wild in 2-1 Loss to Calgary Too many passengers in a game where you really have to win. At times it looked like we just didn't have any energy. The Wild's best line tonight was the 4th line. Dumba was certainly taking every chance he could to shoot the puck but he's just desperate for a goal. Stalock played well enough and gave the Wild a chance to win in a game where they perhaps didn't quite deserve it. The two misses that hurt the most...Staal's shot off the post, Zuccarello's shot to the side of the goal...and Hartman's failed redirection. Parise and Koivu didn't seem to have a lot of energy, just sort of going through the motions. That isn't good enough. Especially with another fairly long layoff before tonight's game. Even if they had a mandated furlough, you'd have to imagine they had lots of time to watch film and figure things out since Sunday. No excuse for getting outworked. This is a pretty ugly loss...now we're 7pts behind Calgary. I have a full game recap, an extended Iowa Wild report and prospect news too...

Subban wasn't a difference maker in Nashville. He was unnecessary and it was smart on the Predators for finding someone to take him off their hands. Nashville's quality blueline is Josi, Ellis and Ekholm's domain even when P.K. Subban was there. But even they can't make up for sub-par goaltending.

Ranking the Minnesota Wild Prospect Pool 2019-20 Edition, projections and potental... I went through and did a deep dive on the Minnesota Wild's prospect pool. Enjoy and discuss...

Is it just me, or when someone comes out and says they're not going to fire him...they often do exactly that a few days or a week later.

Intriguing. Kind of wondered when the shoe was going to drop. They kind of took a small step back last season and this year they've really been struggling . The team felt it made some decent moves to keep them competitive and strong. The Granlund trade isn't looking so hot. Goaltending has been rough this year too. I don't think it was anything that Laviolette did, but he also wasn't able to do much of anything to get them out of their rut either. Duchene doesn't seem to be difference maker, the record for multiple franchises seem to indicate that pretty well and now he's there guy for quite a while. It will be interesting to see if Poile starts selling off pieces if an interim coach can't right the ship.

Yea, imagine what may have happened if they had a guy that might actually crash the crease. Oh wait, the night before...they crashed the crease and we won the game. As a friend of mine says on Twitter all of the time in regards to the Minnesota Wild, its checkers...not chess!

Not to mention, with zero people willing to screen a goaltender or litterally camp out near the top of the crease. They literally race for a spot along the perimeter.

No doubt...although Vegas won't have to worry about it apparently.

Missed Opportunities Abound in Wild's 5-4 Shootout Loss to Calgary The Wild let Calgary hang around despite having a pretty shaky goalie tonight. Then in overtime they get a gift of a power play and then decide this is the time to just hang out on the perimeter. A missed chance at a regulation win and then throwing it away in OT too. Foligno, Kunin and Eriksson Ek was their best line. Good teams take advantage of a team fighting it like Calgary was, instead the Wild gave up an extra point who they are fighting for a wildcard spot with. Not good enough. I have full game recap, an Iowa Wild report and prospect news too! Check it out!

I've watched it a lot over the years, but with other hockey going on...unless Wild prospects are in it I normally don't watch too much of it. Gord Miller and Parm do a pretty good job with it.

That makes sense they'd start Rittich, since Talbot didn't fare too well against us last time.

Russia sat back...and found a way to lose. Give credit to Hayton for gutting it out and sort of swinging the momentum back to Canada's favor. The non-delay of game call was comical. It clearly hit the camera and how the crew on the ice can't review that is another embarrassment for the IIHF. Delay of game is a pretty black & white rule. Khovanov still had a respectable tournament and he was the only reason I paid any attention to the WJC's at all.

The camera non-call is ridiculous. As even Parm said...the camera sits behind the plane of the glass for that reason. It is ridiculous that wasn't a delay of game call. Either way, the Russians sat back...and found a way to lose. Either way, Khovanov had a great tournament and that is literally the only reason I cared about this game at all.

2021 NHL Expansion Draft, What Are the Minnesota Wild to do? Some thoughts... @IllaZilla wrote up this article discussing some of the possible scenarios and tough choices the Minnesota Wild will possibly have with Seattle's addition to the NHL. Some great food for thought here. Enjoy and discuss!

My fantasy team wants Matt Tkachuk healthy. As long as Foligno makes the 3rd line a huge pain in the ass to play against and can continue chipping in points...I'll be fine with that.

It will be interesting to see if Khovanov can make a play for tournament MVP if he has a strong game against Team Canada. I have a huge prospects article in the works and I'll probably publish it tomorrow.

I'd guess we'd see Stalock between the pipes today.