CreaseAndAssist

Thanks for listening! I am not saying placing Maroon on a line with Kaprizov is ideal but if you wanted him protected he needs to be out there when Kaprizov is out there. While he's not fast, he still has reasonable hands and I think his offensive instincts are ok. Either he or Marcus Foligno. But if you want him protected that's what you're going to have to do; at least against the Jets. IMO its tough to complain at #17 or #20 for not doing their 'enforcing' role if they're on the bench when those liberties are taken. Zach Bogosian and Jake Middleton would certainly step up and answer for liberties taken on Kaprizov. Whether they're out there to immediately step in is another story; kind of like what we were talking about in regards to Maroon and Foligno. Mermis would probably answer too; as he's not afraid to scrap. But if Kaprizov is only going to be out there when you have guys that won't scrap, you can't really expect him to be protected or have someone immediately step in when those kinds of things happen. But again, thanks for listening and I hope you enjoyed the rest of what you heard. I don't think the NHL is going to suddenly protect its star players. And it certainly won't start by protecting players for the Wild IMO.

Crease And Assist: Episode #31: Minnesota M*A*S*H Ward In this episode, Kalisha and myself discuss the Wild's injury woes, New Year's Resolutions and we discuss team toughness as well as answer a bunch of listener questions too! We also finish it up by talking about NHL rumors about expansion sites too. Check it out!

I didn't think the Wild were that far away from winning this game, but they take bad penalties and their still crappy penalty kill digs the hole a bit deeper. I didn't see Saturday's game, but I heard the start was bad but they finished ok (still losing of course) but this one started out fairly well but they couldn't add to their lead despite some prime opportunities. And that allowed the Jets to hang around and then the Wild killed themselves with the inopportune penalty. The other thing that I think is kind of lame is the initial staged fight by Maroon. Not slamming on Maroon for challenging someone from the Jets out of the gate but save that for Brendan Dillon. And the game after they hurt your star player is not really helping anything. I understand you're not going to have Maroon out there with Kaprizov, but what does it prevent doing something like that a game later? I know Middleton dropped the gloves with Dillon on Saturday but light up Ehlers, light up Scheifele...

And the team agreed to mutually part ways with Andrew Heydt, the whistleblower who brought up Guerin's abusive language to HR. Either way, its been a pretty rough month around the Wild front offices me-thinks.

Zane McIntyre has played pretty well in Wallstedt's absence. Bankier looks like he is power forward with good on-ice vision. He protects the puck reasonably well but still needs to add muscle to his frame. Nic Petan has rediscovered his scoring touch and has 5 goals in his last 3 games. Unfortunately, not many other Iowa players are doing much scoring right now. David Spacek has looked good playing elevated minutes with Daemon Hunt and Dakota Mermis being called up with the big club. He seems to be more physically prepared for the rigors of AHL hockey than some of the other rookies. Kyle Masters moves well and you can see some offensive creativity to his game but he too needs to hit the weights. He just gets muscled off the puck too easily. Maxim Cajkovic, the kid we got along with Pat Maroon has played well with the Heartlanders and with all of Minnesota's injuries he got called up to play for the Iowa Wild and had a goal apiece in his first two games. Riley Heidt didn't get invited to Team Canada's WJC camp, but he just keeps scoring for Prince George with 17 goals, 63 points in 31 games. Hunter Haight has 14 goals, 38 points in 30 games for Saginaw (OHL), barring a trade or injury (knock on wood) he should be in the Memorial Cup this year as Saginaw is the host this year. Rasmus Kumpulainen has 14 goals, 27 points in 27 games for Oshawa (OHL) this season. Not bad for his first season in North America. Danila Yurov has 12 goals, 27 points in 36 games in the KHL with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, unfortunately there seems to be speculation that he's going to sign another 1-year deal to stay and play in Russia. Sophomore Rieger Lorenz is having a decent year for the Denver Pioneers, 6 goals, 12 points in 18 games.

Merry Christmas to you @Jimtown guy and everyone else here! It was a nice way to go into the Christmas break for sure. They get better goaltending, less dumb penalties and their star players deliver on the scoresheet and you win games?!?! Who knew? Either way, it will be interesting to see if this team can now pick up where it left off after having a few days to rest up.

Episode #30: Front Office Melo-Drama In this episode, Kalisha and I discuss the latest shake up around the Minnesota Wild front offices, we discuss which song best describes the 2023-24 season and answer a bunch of listener questions too! Its our last episode of 2023! We will see you all next year!

Goaltending hasn't been as good this year. What's wrong with admitting that? We shouldn't have a problem with accepting simple facts like that. Fleury doesn't bother me. He seems like he's being a good teammate and I don't think we are bending over backwards trying to make sure he passes up Patrick Roy. The Wild just suddenly letting go of Chris O'Hearn certainly should raise some eyebrows as he was thought to be a smart guy and Guerin's right hand man. Apparently that dissolved quickly. Perhaps someone is trying to scapegoat him for the dumb deals we signed.

Crease And Assist: Episode #29: Honeymoon's Over In this episode, @MNSOTA & Kalisha discuss the end of the honeymoon for the Wild after back-to-back losses. They also gift Santa and Krampus awards you won't want to miss as well as answering listener questions and Theresa's take. Check it out!

NHL 66 has been our go to for a few years. They keep blacking out games on the other platforms; and since I'm still paying for them I don't feel bad about going somewhere else to see the games. Bally (Sinclair) has been an unmitigated disaster for the NHL. Better effort last night. Although Kaprizov is back to staying on the perimeter which eliminates most of his effectiveness. I can't imagine Hynes (hell even Dean) wanted that. He simply plays that way because it keeps him out of the contact; but it hurts the team immensely when he does.

The honeymoon is certainly at an end. Boldy still looks more engaged. No one works harder than Eriksson Ek. Kaprizov seems to be back to giving 50% and playing on the perimeter. Goaltending has been better.

Iowa earned a 2-game sweep of the Colorado Eagles this weekend in Loveland, CO which is never an easy place to play. Wallstedt got both wins and gave up 4 goals on over 80 shots faced in the two games. He really kept Iowa in those games when they had little reason to be. Daemon Hunt had two really good games as well. Some of the other veterans are starting to come around as Joel Teasdale got his first two goals for Iowa this weekend. Caeden Bankier is closer to getting back in the lineup as well. Riley Heidt had another big weekend for the Prince George Cougars and Jimmy Clark has been a nice freshman surprise for the Gophers this season.

I think he stayed off the officials this season. He seemed less angry. But I don't think that is why this team chose to give him the axe. They simply had no other real move they could make since Guerin has signed half of the roster to NTC's or NMC's. The only question now is at what point does part of this team hit the snooze button again.

A four year deal? Whoa, where was that published? When they asked Guerin at Hynes' press conference what his coaching deal was; he declined to answer. To give him a 4-year deal is crazy. 2 years makes a lot more sense. Either way, instead of doing a search he just calls up another friend and hopes it works out.

According to Russo, he's really the skills teacher. He does a lot of 1-on-1's with players in regards to drills and film work. He's not in charge of either the PK or the PP currently, they said he has a ton of respect from the organization and that his job is interchangeable no matter who the head coach is. They said he's the one that facilitates a lot of the drills and is out on the ice with the players and is still in playing shape.

Crease And Assist: Episode #28 - The Wreck of the Evason Fitzgerald In this episode Kalisha, @MNSOTA and myself discuss the coaching change, why it happened and whether the team's recent boost is a sign of things to come or just a temporary effect? We also answer listener questions too. Check it out!

I agree and I said as much on our Wild Fans Speak show. No reason to feel he HAD to sign them before the season. The smarter move was to wait, probably sell and if you still liked them bring them back and enjoy the rewards of being a seller at the deadline. Instead he boxes himself in and has no move to make other than the obvious choice of just swapping out Dean and hoping it salvages another one-&-done playoff run.

Anyone hear Guerin's pathetic comment about not wanting to bully the players. Dean was hardly a bully to any of the Wild players and if #97 and #12 felt bullied then that's sad. They were simply being asked to perform at a level that matched their salaries. #97 may have had the points but the goal scoring tailed off until recently meanwhile Boldy is still can't get out of his own head. And as far as bullying went, Guerin should look in the mirror as he supposedly shredded the team two weeks ago. But now he burns Dean with a comment like that? Pot, meet kettle... Guerin should be in the crosshairs now, too bad Leipold loves him. We'll see if empty seats kill that love.

Darby is the Rasputin of Wild coaches...

I am not sure I've had smoked Turkey, but Swedish Meatballs sound terrific too. We had a good holidays even if the Wild again gave us another two blah efforts.

I will pass that along to her, she will appreciate the compliment! Feel free to ask questions if you'd like. Our next show is this next Saturday.

I think its like @IllaZilla's favorite analogy, the Wild are just shuffling chairs on the Titanic. Ultimately, it might see a short boost but after 7-10 games it will probably be back to rationalizations and soul searching. Hynes is a stop gap. The best thing that could happen is that they'd just stay bad. Honestly, just sell off what you can (which isn't much) and be bad and hopefully net a blue-chip talent in the draft.

Episode #27: Turkey with a side of Swedish Meatballs In this episode, Kalisha, @MNSOTA and I discuss what we're thankful for to this point in the Wild season; we also play a game Turkey or Tofu-rkey and answer listener questions and finish it with Theresa's take. We hope everyone has a happy and safe holidays even if the Wild aren't giving us much to cheer about!

Anytime Duhaime does something good, he invariably follows it up by doing something really foolish. (sigh)

Episode #26: To Trade, or Not To Trade We discuss what is Minnesota's biggest stumbling block towards changing its fortunes as well as discussing the recent trades. We also answer a lot of listener questions too, check it out!