CreaseAndAssist

Normally stretch passes involve someone moving fast. The Wild are slow as hell...so you're 100% right @IllaZilla they're just throwing the puck away on attempts like that.

I would agree. If we're going to be bad, which seems likely, we might as well be as bad as we can be. By the way...Donato is playing center tonight and Rask is out with a lower body injury according to Russo.

That's a really good memorial...I am sure @Antti_Laxative could share plenty of memories as well. He's a bit before my time.

That'd be in Elk River. Personally, I think this is a reflection of both Fletcher and Fenton...but the most damning is still Fenton who squandered what little flexibility and moveable assets they had and got no future assets for most of them.

He knows its a tightrope. Especially with the culture of this Wild locker room. He probably wants to bench at least one of the vets, but he knows Leipold won't be too thrilled to see one of his big money players sitting in the pressbox.

Wild vs. Canadiens Game Preview Minnesota Wild (1-5-0) 2pts 7th in the Central 2.33 Goals For Per Game (26th in the NHL) 4.17 Goals Against Per Game (29th in the NHL) 15% Power Play (24th in the NHL) 77.3% Penalty Kill (19th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #77 Brad Hunt ~ 2G 2A = 4pts 2. #46 Jared Spurgeon ~ 1G 3A = 4pts 3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 1G 3A = 4pts 4. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 0G 3A = 3pts 5. #19 Luke Kunin ~ 2G 0A = 2pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #19 Luke Kunin ~ 10 PIM’s 2. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 8 PIM’s 3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 4 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (0-5-0) 4.44GAA .867%SP 2. #32 Alex Stalock (1-0-0) .71GAA .973%SP 1SO Vs. Montreal Canadiens (2-2-2) 6pts 7th in the Atlantic 3.50 Goals For Per Game (10th in the NHL) 3.83 Goals Against Per Game (28th in the NHL) 23.8% Power Play (12th in the NHL) 61.1% Penalty Kill (29th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #13 Max Domi ~ 3G 3A = 6pts 2. #11 Brendan Gallagher ~ 2G 4A = 6pts 3. #92 Jonathan Drouin ~ 2G 4A = 6pts 4. #90 Tomas Tatar ~ 2G 3A = 5pts 5. #40 Joel Armia ~ 3G 1A = 4pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #90 Tomas Tatar ~ 8 PIM’s 2. #8 Ben Chiarot ~ 4 PIM’s 3. #24 Phillip Danault ~ 4 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #31 Carey Price (2-2-1) 3.33GAA .896%SP 2. #37 Keith Kinkaid (0-0-1) 4.93GAA .872%SP I wrote up the game preview, @MNSOTA will be writing the post-gamer. This should be a team the Wild can match up against fairly well. I think Montreal has more speed than the Wild, but that's true of probably every team in the league these days. Will the younger players get more ice time and opportunity with the veterans struggling so much? I think we're getting closer to some kind of crossroads on that subject especially as the losses continue to pile up. Stalock gets the start...so we'll see if that gets the club to play with a little more fire. Leipold and Guerin will be at the game again..enjoy and discuss.

Sad news indeed. RIP in Danny Grant. He was originally a Montreal player right?

In the midst of the Wild's 4-game losing streak to start the season we had a power play that was in the Top 10. But overall...I think most of us would see Toronto's potential for power play scoring is probably greater than the Wild. My guess is the sample sizes are not equal.

I know Russo thinks this Luczyzcyn kid is one of the smartest people he's ever met. He might be. But a lot of people who are all in on the analytics and modeling way to track sports; they don't watch games. Why? The model tells them what they feel they need to know. If you're writing about all of the NHL's teams right now, why would you want to spend much time on the Minnesota Wild? I can't see why. Morbid curiosity?

Wild vs. Maple Leafs Game Preview Minnesota Wild (1-4-0) 2pts 7th in the Central 2.40 Goals For Per Game (22nd in the NHL) 4.20 Goals Against Per Game (29th in the NHL) 17.6% Power Play (20th in the NHL) 84.2% Penalty Kill (10th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #77 Brad Hunt ~ 2G 2A = 4pts 2. #46 Jared Spurgeon ~ 1G 2A = 3pts 3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 1G 2A = 3pts 4. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 0G 3A = 3pts 5. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 2G 0A = 2pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #19 Luke Kunin ~ 10 PIM’s 2. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 6 PIM’s 3. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 6 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (0-4-0) 4.56GAA .862%SP 2. #32 Alex Stalock (1-0-0) .71GAA .973%SP 1SO Vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (3-2-1) 7pts 3rd in the Atlantic 4.00 Goals For Per Game (7th in the NHL) 3.50 Goals Against Per Game (21st in the NHL) 22.7% Power Play (15th in the NHL) 77.8% Penalty Kill (20th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #34 Auston Matthews ~ 6G 1A = 7pts 2. #16 Mitch Marner ~ 2G 4A = 6pts 3. #88 William Nylander ~ 2G 3A = 5pts 4. #65 Ilya Mikheyev ~ 2G 3A = 5pts 5. #91 John Tavares ~ 1G 4A = 5pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #18 Andreas Johnsson ~ 6 PIM’s 2. #94 Tyson Barrie ~ 6 PIM’s 3. #15 Alexander Kerfoot ~ 4 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #31 Frederik Andersen (3-2-0) 3.38GAA .886%SP 2. #30 Michael Hutchinson (0-0-1) 3.85GAA .894%SP I wrote up the game preview today, @MNSOTA will be on the post gamer. Winning over Ottawa is one thing, trying to get a victory over the Maple Leafs is a greater challenge. Can the Wild surprise us by at least getting a point or two from tonight's game? Enjoy and discuss!

Yet Bill Guerin is smart enough he has to sell hope to keep people buying tickets. If he said..we're hopeless. He'd be fired immediately even if he was being honest.

I will be surprised if we end up with over 80 points this season.

Wild vs. Ottawa Game Preview Minnesota Wild (0-4-0) 0pts 7th in the Central 2.50 Goals For Per Game (22nd in the NHL) 5.25 Goals Against Per Game (31st in the NHL) 27.3% Power Play (9th in the NHL) 78.6% Penalty Kill (15th in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #77 Brad Hunt ~ 2G 2A = 4pts 2. #46 Jared Spurgeon ~ 1G 2A = 3pts 3. #20 Ryan Suter ~ 1G 2A = 3pts 4. #17 Marcus Foligno ~ 0G 3A = 3pts 5. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 2G 0A = 2pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #36 Mats Zuccarello ~ 6 PIM’s 2. #38 Ryan Hartman ~ 6 PIM’s 3. #19 Luke Kunin ~ 4 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (0-4-0) 4.56GAA .862%SP 2. #32 Alex Stalock (0-0) 2.42GAA .909%SP Vs. Ottawa Senators (1-3-0) 3pts 8th in the Atlantic 3.00 Goals For Per Game (19th in the NHL) 4.25 Goals Against Per Game (29th in the NHL) 0% Power Play (29th in the NHL) 75% Penalty Kill (21st in the NHL) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #90 Vladislav Namestnikov ~ 2G 2A = 4pts 2. #44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau ~ 1G 3A = 4pts 3. #7 Brady Tkachuk ~ 2G 1A = 3pts 4. #9 Bobby Ryan ~ 1G 2A = 3pts 5. #28 Connor Brown ~ 0G 3A = 3pts Top 3 PIM’s: 1. #36 Colin White ~ 6 PIM’s 2. #49 Scott Sabourin ~ 6 PIM’s 3. #2 Dylan DeMelo ~ 5 PIM’s Top Goaltenders: 1. #41 Craig Anderson (1-2-0) 3.70GAA .882%SP 2. #31 Anders Nilsson (0-1-0) 5.09GAA .861%SP Here is your game preview for this afternoon's game in Ottawa. As I heard on a podcast last night, this is your litmus test. How bad are the Minnesota Wild? If they lose to Ottawa...not even sure what to say. Luckily I won't have to, this time! Theresa has the post-gamer as I wrote up the game preview, enjoy and discuss.

We used to state the 'boycott' point all of the time to the disenchanted fans. And I think its 100% correct and the one thing that will make this club take notice. As long as its 'We the sheeple' they'll continue to let everything continue as painful as it appears to be. I agree with @IllaZilla as this is the chickens coming home to roost. As another friend of mine said on Twitter yesterday in the wake of their loss to Pittsburgh. This is just the beginning of the schitt show. Its only going to get worse. I even think Bill Guerin knows and realizes this. He may have hoped the team would suddenly pick itself up and find a different level once the regular season started after a mostly ugly pre-season...but he's come to realized this is a horrendous team with terrible locked in cement contracts. I don't think it matters one bit if they replace Boudreau. It might what...spark a few players to try harder for a few games and then it'd be back to being crap. If you need someone to hate Wild fans...hate Paul Fenton. His moves were not just bad, they were devastating both short term and long term. He had to be very careful with the limited assets the team could move and instead he frittered them away for garbage in return and then panicked and signed and cemented some old guys to the team's growing collection of fossils.

Like I said on Twitter after Russo reported that Guerin spoke to the team telling them that they are being paid to win, not just to play. I am sure that resulted in a few uncomfortable stares around the room. But the vets probably barely noticed...they know they'll still be here and are going to be well paid the whole time.

I try to think that will happen, but we'll probably 'lose' the lottery too.

Pittsburgh Powers Past the Wild in 7-4 Victory Kind of went like I expected it to. Initially the Wild working pretty hard and accomplishing very little. The old guys are a total liability out there. They're not generating just about anything positive for this team. The younger legs deserved more time and got it near the end of the game. Hunt is our leading scorer and I thought he deserved one of the stars of the game more than Spurgeon did. Still another loss, first one in regulation for a home opener in team history in games played in St. Paul. I have a full game recap, and a ton of prospect news...enjoy.

I would agree with you here. If Parise is unhappy, then he can waive the NMC and we'll deal you for zilch. I agree the defense has looked pretty good. The Minnesota Wild are sort of like an 1987 bare bones Pontiac Firebird. It once looked pretty good in the past, but when you get a chance to drive it and realize it has just a 2.8L V6 under the hood you realize its not going to fly by anyone. The Wild's offense is worse than it was last year because of aging 'former good players' up front. Line juggling be damned...if this group was any good we'd see a few players emerge as shot generators. Instead...we get a whole lot of nothing. I agree with you completely @IllaZilla

(shrugs) But isn't this kind of telling? He can't find anyone to set up because so often no one is doing much of anything out there. Parise, Staal...Koivu are all looking slower and older and they're not generating many shots whether at 5-on-5 or on the power play. Most of the shooting and real opportunities have come from the blueline. Sure...there have been moments where they've set up Zucker and Donato...but have the cashed in? Nope. If I had to give advice to Zuccarello, take the shot yourself...waiting for these guys to get open is a loser's gambit.

Wild Prospect Watch: October 5th & 6th Here is a complete overview of what the Wild prospects and Iowa was up to this weekend. Enjoy.

The forwards are not pulling their weight. Almost all of our offense; is created by our defenseman. Boudreau says older guys take longer to get going...when he was talking about Staal who has had two horrendous games in a row.

3-2 Avalanche after a rancid shift by Staal. Wild trail by one going into the 3rd.

I guess the goal is credited to Parise. But Dumba is still the team's only real threat...2-2 game.

Dumba! Boom! Parise screen...2-2 game, crowd silenced.

I am not able to write a post-gamer tonight. Even with NHL Center Ice, its not letting me watch the Wild / Avalanche game. By what I was reading on Twitter it sounds like the Wild spent the first half of the period just being 100% dominated by Colorado. Then got a fluke goal by Suter and Colorado is in coast mode right now...2-1 after 1. I would love to have heard what Boudreau said to this team during his timeout. I heard the players didn't exactly turn it around right away after that either. Anything else I should know?