CreaseAndAssist

A Tony Tuzzolini trade as @Fargocase used to say.  We trade a better veteran 'ringer' for a worse one.  But he (Turner Elson) must have 'character' since he's been an alternate captain for quite a while now...points not so much anymore.  

16 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

He had to give them the NTC/NMC because of the dead cap space. He couldn’t give them as much as other teams salary-wise. So to compensate he throws in the NTC/NMC. 
 

Maybe if the team had stayed healthy all season long they might have made the Playoffs. Hard to say what they would have done. I don’t think they would have done much. But that’s just me. 

I don't think it was absolutely necessary to hand out NMC's / NTC's to these players.  That's just his idea of courtesy and because of that courtesy they squandered the opportunity to make more lucrative deals.  Either way, he probably did about as well as could be expected, albeit a bunch of mid-draft selections in 2026.  

@MNSOTA and I will talk about this more in our podcast we're recording this afternoon.  

We struggled to win against an Arizona team that is pretty much waiting for another season to end.  I just can't get excited about that.  It looks like (knock on wood) we'll have two 30-goal scorers this season with Kaprizov netting #30 and Eriksson Ek his 29th.  There's that...but the team has to literally win just about every game to have even a chance.  It's not worth it.  

No trade protection on the Zach Bogosian extension.  However, the chart also shows that Wild employ the NTC / NMC bonus more than most of the rest of the league does.  And no team has more NMC's than the Wild do.  I wish I had this chart a few months ago; as I gathered this information just picking my way through Cap Friendly.  

With Colorado likely to be a contender, the 3rd round pick will be pretty late (so its just about a 4th round pick).  It sure would've been nice before we cemented in a bunch of 30-ish year old players to take advantage of other teams wanting to overpay for marginal talent but instead we hold onto it like grim death because they tell our GM "I like it here."  

This was a pretty sad game to watch overall.  Both Gustavsson and Kahkonen were giving up soft goals.  The Wild made this game tough for themselves.  Faber's turnover to Duclair was brutal.  Sure people will fixate on Kaprizov's hat trick...which is always fun but we made that game a lot harder than it had to be.  

I must admit, I'm not sure why some people felt Nico Sturm wouldn't fit as a 4th line center on this team.  

Iowa Wild lost 6-3 tonight to Rockford.  They went 1-2 against Rockford who stands right in front of the in the AHL Central Division standings.  Adam Beckman had a goal.  So his relative 'hot' streak continues.  Beyond that...not much to say about it.  

Riley Heidt gets to a 100 points with Prince George.  

Rieger Lorenz bagged his 9th goal of the season with Denver.  

Aaron Pionk and Jack Peart each had an assist with UMD and SCSU respectively.  

Servac Petrovsky had a goal and an assist with Owen Sound.  

Minnesota Wild (28-25-6)  62pts  6th in the Central

3.14 Goals For Per Game (15th in the NHL)

3.29 Goals Against Per Game (22nd in the NHL)

22.2% Power Play (13th in the NHL)

74.6% Penalty Kill (29th in the NHL)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #97 Kirill Kaprizov ~ 26G 37A = 63pts

2. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 28G 26A = 54pts

3. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 11G 39A = 50pts

4. #12 Matt Boldy ~ 23G 24A = 47pts

5. #7 Brock Faber ~ 4G 30A = 34pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #21 Brandon Duhaime ~ 66 PIM's

2. #5 Jake Middleton ~ 63 PIM's

3. #14 Joel Eriksson Ek ~ 48 PIM's

Top Goaltenders:

1. #32 Filip Gustavsson (16-14-3)  3.23GAA  .896%  2SO

2. #29 Marc-Andre Fleury (12-10-3)  2.92GAA  .899%  1SO

Vs.

Nashville Predators (33-25-2)  68pts  4th in the Central

3.10 Goals For Per Game (17th in the NHL)

3.13 Goals Against Per Game (17th in the NHL)

18.8% Power Play (21st in the NHL)

75.7% Penalty Kill (27th in the NHL)

Top 5 Scorers:

1. #9 Filip Forsberg ~ 28G 32A = 60pts

2. #59 Roman Josi ~ 14G 43A = 57pts

3. #90 Ryan O'Reilly ~ 20G 29A = 49pts

4. #14 Gustav Nyquist ~ 16G 33A = 49pts

5. #82 Tommy Novak ~ 12G 20A = 32pts

Top 3 PIM's:

1. #47 Michael McCarron ~ 82 PIM's

2. #3 Jeremy Lauzon ~ 81 PIM's

3. #36 Cole Smith ~ 56 PIM's

Top Goaltenders:

1. #74 Juuse Saros (24-21-2)  2.91GAA  .905%  2SO

2. #32 Kevin Lankinen (8-4-0)  3.23GAA  .892%

Lines:

Nashville Predators

F. Forsberg-R. O'Reilly~Nyquist

Trenin~Sissons~Glass

Jankowski~Novak~Evangelista

Co. Smith~McCarron~Sherwood

Josi~Fabbro

McDonagh~L. Schenn

Lauzon~A. Carrier

Saros

Lankinen

Minnesota Wild

Kaprizov~Eriksson Ek~Boldy

M. Johansson~Rossi~Zuccarello

Duhaime~Dewar~Hartman

Lucchini~Gaudreau~Lettieri

Middleton~Faber

Brodin~Chisholm

Merrill~Bogosian

Gustavsson

Fleury

Pretty evenly matched...at least statistically speaking.  But a big game for this club.  

Iowa lost 3-2 in OT against Grand Rapids last night.  Bankier and Raska with the goals for Iowa.  If Iowa making the playoffs is a priority with this organization, they certainly could use Mason Shaw if the Minnesota Wild seem to have no plans to use him.   

Friedman: Minnesota Wild have told teams they are not trading Marc-Andre Fleury.  (shrugs)  It was always his call to begin with since he has a NMC.  Now adding Khusnutdinov, other then selling a bit and maybe weaponizing cap space I think it will be a quiet deadline again.  

Not that it should really be that active (unless we had a firesale which we can't since we've chained up most of the roster) anyways.  

Either way, last night's game against Carolina shows the conundrum they are in.  They can go 7-1-1, but you lose once you end up losing ground because those ahead of you keep winning.  One step forward, two steps back...

For all of the ways when Minnesota found a way to win against Edmonton, Seattle and Vancouver before that.  They found a way to lose against Carolina.  A lazy shift at the end of the 2nd period led to a game-tying goal.  While Chisholm moves the puck well; he is not the most responsible defender.  

Toss in Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek being held scoreless and you have another loss.  A missed opportunity indeed.  

Oh and since someone wants to talk about PWHL team.  Watched the end of that one too.  Minnesota has no clue what to do during 3-on-3 overtime.  They seem to think it's some kind of 1-on-1 contest.  As much as I loathe the current 3-on-3 style of waiting and weaving that the NHL / AHL employs it really is the smartest strategy.  The solo attack is what we used to see in the Parise / Suter days...and they get caught extending their shifts and it gives the opposing team an easy 2-on-1 or 3-on-1...and you get burned.  

It's been pretty ugly this year that's for sure.  They really missed Andy Welinski, until they picked up Will Butcher.  Now Welinski and Butcher are there.  But the kids make a lot of mistakes with the puck.  

Yurov yes.  Khusnutdinov is projecting as more of a middle six to bottom six kind of player.  My guess is they feel they can save some money here.  Albeit not a lot.  Another place where it would've been nice if they would've been able to clear out some older players here...but they liked it here and thus were cemented in with a No Movement Clause.  

John Hynes told reporters that Joel Eriksson Ek is fine in case anyone missed it.  

Speaking of tanking...anyone see how Iowa's week went?  1-3; all against divisional opponents.  Yesterday they squandered a 3-0 lead against Chicago to lose 4-3 in OT.  

Zuccarello with a 4-point night.  As long as the Wild's best players play like this...it makes a lot of things a lot easier.  I thought Declan Chisholm had another good game.  It's a good win on the 2nd half of a back-to-back this team has to have if it wants to climb back into the playoff picture.  

Didn't like the hit Eriksson Ek took late in the game by Will Borgen.  Hopefully he's just a little sore; because he's irreplaceable IMO.  

Episode #35: Iowa, We Have a Problem

In this episode, @MNSOTA and I discuss the Iowa Wild's struggles and whether or not that should matter to the Minnesota Wild.  We also discuss Mason Shaw and who he may replace in the lineup whenever he gets his chance and whether or not the team will be a buyer at the trade deadline.  Check it out!  

I didn't think the Wild played too bad to be honest.  I thought Boldy was about as engaged as we've seen all season.  The top line continues to really make things happen for the Wild.  I thought Chisholm had a better game although he has a penchant for taking penalties when he gets caught defensively.  Brodin seems to be gaining more confidence and chipping in more offensively.  A better than expected showing IMO.  

Nah, it probably has to do with $$$.   He can make a lot more playing in Russia than he can playing on a two-way deal in Iowa.  Still, one would think the organization would also like to see him develop chemistry with his teammates, learn the Wild systems...IMO Firstov is a long shot to come on over and play in Minnesota.  

It didn't work out well when Brennan Menell did that.  I don't Firstov is playing that well that he can just call his shot.  Danila Yurov on the other hand...probably could.  

Normally I'd disagree on the Wallstedt thing; but Iowa isn't going anywhere this year.  I don't really think he has much more to gain by staying there.  I'm not in a hurry to see him here, but if you deal Fleury that's the likely scenario as Tomdog points out.  

Perhaps the more pressing question this week is whether the team will bring Khusnutdinov over now that his KHL season is done and give him a chance to show what he can do in Minnesota.  Or will it be lame Guerin rationalizing, he has to show he's earned the opportunity...to be scratched while we watch #89 and #90 do jack freakin' squat out there.  

I'm rather ambivalent about whether they trade Fleury.  If he wants to go; let him go.  It would probably help the Wild slide out of contention which would be nice instead of its delusional attempt to scratch and claw their way back in.  

Khusnutdinov is now available to be signed.  He's already spent a few seasons in the KHL.  Yurov re-signing is what it is.  But I still think it's a long shot for Firstov to return since he chose to return even after signing a contract with the Wild.  

It was like a train going off the rails into a tornado that simply tosses it into a volcano.  It was that bad.  No one is happy to be there.  

Iowa earned a nice two-game sweep of Tucson this weekend.  Tucson had beaten Iowa twice down in Arizona a few weeks before.  Will Butcher has helped a lot; especially on the power play where his ability to move the puck and put shots on goal has helped Iowa generate more offense.  Sammy Walker seems to be finding his stride again too, although he's a notoriously streaky player.  

Still, the Wild are in 6th place in the Central Division.  And making matters worse...they have played 3 more games than most of the rest of the division too.  

I certainly didn't support retiring his #.  He was one of the most overrated players in franchise history.  But it was their attempt to create some history when it felt it didn't have any to draw on.  

But I agree...it was embarrassing and it got even worse when people found out he had cheated on his wife and was trying to stiff his ex on the child support $$$.