CreaseAndAssist

We never said any of those things. It is why we invite a tear down as do a growing number of Wild fans. It was fairly evident on Michael Russo / Joe Smith's latest mailbag too. Most folks see it as a flawed team that should probably be gutted and in the more immediate sense not worth making any moves to 'save' its playoff hopes.

It will be an awfully expensive 4th line.

Wild pick up defenseman Declan Chisholm off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets. He's a 6'1" defenseman who put up ok points with the Manitoba Moose but he hasn't been given much of a shot at the NHL yet. (sigh) Sounds like a lot of other defenseman we have.

It's also hard to give the kids some high pressure games to compete (i.e. develop) in if the farm can't make the playoffs. I can't imagine the organization is real thrilled about how things are going down in Iowa.

Thanks for listening. I don't think we suggested we trade everyone. But I'd be fine with a tear down, and I don't mind the idea of being bad for a few seasons to then build ourselves into a contender. I don't mind much when they lose either, for the same reason you said; better draft position. Another thing that our poll didn't determine; was how many of the "They won't do it ever" group really wishes the team would tear it down. But even as is...a growing portion seem to be in favor of that instead of the 'Tweak, Rinse and Repeat' insanity this fanbase has endured for the better part of a decade. I'd rather tear down that than desperately trade futures (prospects and/or picks) for some old rental. Or just tear it down to the following pieces: Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, Faber, Rossi, Wallstedt...the rest can go.

C'mon @IllaZilla, New York is an expensive place...give him a break.

Crease And Assist: Episode #33 Oh Captain, My Captain In this episode, @MNSOTA and I discuss what Wild GM Bill Guerin will likely do with Jared Spurgeon being out for the season as well as discussing whether this fanbase is willing to be bad in order to be good for the long-term. Check it out!

Here is Iowa's latest loss. The two empty netters make the game look more lopsided than it really was but this team has just two wins in January. TWO.

The deal is meant to help Iowa who now is without Andy Welinski. And with Mermis already promoted to the big club, they need a veteran defenseman presence. Cajokovic had been a good soldier with the Iowa Heartlanders. If anyone really loses in this deal its the Iowa Heartlanders who are enjoying their best season ever this year. Butcher will likely be Iowa's veteran leader on the blueline as its mostly made of Wild prospects. As @Fargocase used to call these deals, a Tony Tuzzolini trade...

I think his name was put on the trophy before the season started...figuratively. But I agree with your sentiment.

I have no doubt confidence is a part of this. At one point he had a collision near the boards after checking an opposing skater. He was on one knee and thanks to a stoppage he just kind of stayed there on one knee. I'm sure he had a lot on his mind as he took his time before getting back up on his skates and making his way back to the Iowa bench.

I see Kaapo Kahkonen was mentioned in that article...he's playing for the West Wild, aka the San Jose Sharks.

Yea, those teams might not see those players for a while. I don't feel bad for them one bit either.

I got asked yesterday what I saw from Mason Shaw. He played again on Monday; played better but you could tell it was either his struggle to be at 'game shape' or perhaps he's playing through a lot of pain...but its not quite the same. He's trying, zero doubt about it, giving all that he can but the burst doesn't seem to be there. Not what he had before his last injury. Will it emerge again...hard to say. But I have little doubt he's going to work his ass off trying to get there...even if it never happens. On another positive note; Adam Beckman is playing better. And Daemon Hunt is playing with confidence and a lot of initiative.

The Washington Capitals are a sad sight to see. They still have great hands but the legs seemed to have diminished greatly for a lot of them. Johansson had two last night, how many had that on their #mnwild bingo card?! The team is earning wins, getting closer to that wildcard spot but part of me is kind of ambivalent about it. Still, it's more entertaining to watch a team that is trying, working hard and scoring...but part of me still kind of feels its all kind of a sad tease for what will likely be more playoff futility. I know Wild fans are calling for Brock Faber to get the Calder, but there is no way he gets it over Connor Bedard. We may see a great young defenseman but most non-Minnesota media types don't take notice of him over a flashy forward playing in a bigger media market on an Original Six team.

Johnson gets hurt a lot. And he lost his 'one of us' status for being a d-bag when he was with Colorado. After screwing up his knee in a golfcart accident, I don't think he's the sharpest knife in the drawer. I'll pass. The others...also pass. I am with @IllaZilla, we might as well leave the cap space and just be bad and use our cap space to help other clubs and get some other assets / picks in the process.

Not sure anyone saw this, but Mason Shaw returned to the lineup this weekend in a 4-1 road loss to Rockford. Iowa plays Texas tonight. Iowa needs to get on a heater as much as Minnesota does if it hopes to make the playoffs. Bankier seems to be getting better and better.

I watched the Florida feed for this one. They were pretty whiny with all of the penalties in what was a fairly chippy game. Duhaime tagged Lockwood pretty good. It was more of a nailbiter than it needed to be but they managed to get it done. I just hope Fleury isn't out for a while. Losing Dewar isn't ideal either, but it happens when teams are trying to tag one another in an ornery game like this one.

I didn't have high hopes going into this one. As the 1st period rolled and the Hurricanes were just toying with the Wild and peppering Filip Gustavsson with scoring chances it didn't look good. But we found a way to hang in there and it was kind of like watching Rocky; where he's getting mauled but he's hanging on and when does punch he seems to draw blood. Kaprizov's goals had to really drive the Hurricanes crazy. But it was a gritty victory against a pretty damn good Hurricanes team. It will be interesting to see how this week goes with Hockey Day Minnesota capping it off this weekend.

Boom goes the dynamite! Honestly, this is 100% right. This is your Minnesota Wild team; as uninspiring as it mostly is right now. It will just get a little older but its not going to be able to change much at all. I agree, I don't think Fleury leaves because as @IllaZilla points out he has absolutely nothing to prove. This is his victory lap season and I think he's enjoying savoring the moment as much as he can. As for tonight's game. Yea, I'm not too optimistic. Even if they play with an effort more akin to what they had against the Islanders I don't see Tampa just failing to show up like New York did. That in itself will make it pretty tough for the Wild to have a chance. Hopefully the team keeps #4 in the press box and let Daemon Hunt continue to play.

No, you're wrong. It already is on Bill Guerin. He made those deals. He didn't have to make them. He painted the team into corner when everyone in the league knew things were going to be tight with the dead money. You don't throw big raises & NMC's to players over 30. Especially not all 3 of them. Then toss in the front-office stuff; axing his Assistant GM who was known as the cap / contract guru; then booting a very well-liked Hockey Operations Assistant after he talked about Bill doing some unprofessional things. The spotlight is very much on Bill Guerin, as it should be at this point. This is HIS team; and he's running it HIS way and the results speak for themselves. Yes the Parise / Suter / Koivu locker room environment was toxic and entitled hierarchy existed that needed to be eliminated. I don't second guess that decision one bit and I think most Wild fans feel the same way. Suter was a cancer and Parise wasn't much better. However making that choice to cut bait wasn't just predicated on culture, it was predicated on the NHL retro-actively punishing the Wild and other clubs after they made long-term deals that we determined to be some form of cap circumvention. He had to cut them soon or wait for the possible land mine of even bigger cap hits if they retired early. Again, not ideal...yet I think most Wild fans understood the necessity of it. At this point, they don't need to openly tank. The team's performance and inconsistency is doing that for itself. It should bottom out but they have the owner who only cares about playoff round revenue money (who cares if they never go anywhere) and thus the team is mired in permanent mediocrity. Adding more middle six forwards by drafting in the last 1/3 of the draft isn't going to help us. They need some blue chip talent up front and some on the blueline. We might as well be bad and make the most of it.

Wild one of a handful of teams Fleury only had single digit wins against. Better effort although the Islanders didn't seem to want to be there at all. Cal Clutterbuck was pretty annoyed after the game at his team's poor effort.

Surprisingly energetic crowd in this odd-start time on a weekday.

Their cap situation doesn't allow them really to do much else. I also saw someone speculate that perhaps the poor effort is a team that's unhappy with the organization for whatever reason. They got rid of their caretaker in Andrew Heydt, I wonder if O'Hearn told Guerin he'd made a mistake...and thus both were shipped out but the problem remains. At some point, it has to just come crashing down on Guerin right? You don't hear squat from the In Billy G we trust crowd anymore.

The #mnwild even gave the fans those hats to throw; although they were some nice 78's stocking hats by what I saw. I am sure the Wild loved seeing their 'giveaway' given back by the fans as Bjugstad got his hatty.