CreaseAndAssist

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...

12 hours ago, Tomdog said:

The only way Bedard doesn’t get the Calder is if he misses over half the season. 
Even missing games they will resort to goals per games played versus goals scored. 
+\- will be totally ill relevant as well. Bedard can be the worst +\- on the team and it won’t matter.  

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

7 hours ago, Tomdog said:

Some of Shaw’s issue may be linked to confidence. 
It might take him a while to trust that leg again at game speed. 
Or he just doesn’t have it anymore. 
I’m hoping for the former not the latter. 

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.  

23 hours ago, Icechipper said:

Potential defense targets for Wild, per reports:

Scandella, St. Louis

Carrier, Nashville

Erik Johnson, Buffalo

 

Johnson intrigues me. He's big.

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.  

2 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

I wouldn't put too much stock in those articles. He really has no incentive to waive his NMC. He's got his name the Cup multiple times, he's #2 all time for wins (And the way teams are resorting to the 1A-1B tandems I really don't see anyone catching him), and he doesn't want to be away from his family.

 

Those writers are grasping at straws because the Wild are at that point where they have to take a hard look at the team and decide if they are a Playoff team. GMBG seems to think so. But it's kind of a moot point, because the extensions for Foligno, Hartman, Zucarello, and Gadreau eliminated any buying or selling. They have nothing to sell, and can't buy because of the cap hit. For better or worse, this is the Wild team for the next two seasons...

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.  

On 1/15/2024 at 3:10 PM, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

He doesn't even has to say that much, TBH.
Why? To give story hungry reporters or wanna-be/think-they-are-reporters fuel for their speculative fires?

He could do like lots of GM's do: Give the media standard, stock answers, all the while, whatever is really going on behind the scenes with regards to how to go about reshaping the team, and more importantly, treading through the buyout cloud the next couple seasons, is kept behind the scenes.

And if he ultimately plans well, and certain things fall right, he and the franchise should be in decent shape two seasons from now.
If not, then his head may roll for not navigating the tough times properly.

If I were him, I wouldn't give the media, podcasters, or any other me-too guy anything to pump themselves up over....besides, in the course of writing something just to write, things could even go over into territory where players may feel not wanted and begin the kind of malcontent culture in that locker room that supposedly existed before, which Guerin has tried to eliminate.

Stock answers at a time like this is fine.
From there, if people want to speculate, they are going to anyways.
I just wouldn't give them anything for them to say, "Yea, but Guerin said this, that, etc".

The Wild, of course, should NOT be openly tanking, but if they do see some merit in placing in such a way they get a higher draft pick, then things can be left going as they are.
I don't think the players are trying to lose, but they just aren't particularly suited to go against the better teams in the league as currently constructed, and the losing will happen organically anyways.

The extensions with NMC? Yea, probably not the best moves, but again, in these next couple dark ages seasons, throw chit at the wall see what sticks...when that cloud is lifted, those contract extensions should be done, or about done...Wild get a fresh slate, then it will REALLY be on Billy G to do what needs to get done with players, contracts, and hopefully, good drafting.

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.  

On 1/14/2024 at 9:21 AM, Tomdog said:

I posted last night in the coyote game thread that the Wild may be in some type of tankless tank system. 
As of this morning they are the 5th worst team in the league. 
If they continue they should be in line to draft at a better position than they have in years. 
Brodin and Spurgeon’s return will definitely give them a boost, but I’m sure they can come up with something to offset that. 
As of today Bogosian is their 3rd best defenseman. Keep in mind he couldn’t get ice time in Tampa. 
Merril and Gologoski are having a battle over who is the worst. 
There is absolutely no one in the forward group that makes you think they can skate around anyone and take the puck to the net and score. 
Kaprizov does some great things but he isn’t the scary type who will undress a defenseman. 
 

This team needs more talent and losing this year for a top pick should NOT be looked at as a bad thing. 

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.  

7 hours ago, Icechipper said:

Bjugstad visits and collects some hats from classy X fans!

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.  

This is a short survey for those of you who have listened to our podcast.  What do you like, what do you dislike?  It's pretty short but your input would be most appreciated!  

Crease And Assist Podcast Listener Survey

(sigh)  I am not even remotely surprised or annoyed.  This team looks like it wants to be done with the season already.  I'm going to guess the 20+ minute closed door meeting was to decide as a group on where to go during the All Star Break.  

Poor folks who spent money to watch that kind of effort...wow.  

Crease And Assist: Episode #32 Records & Broken Records

Kalisha, @MNSOTA and I discuss the Wild's current struggles, some interesting rules in the PWHL and what can be done to address these teams' issues as well as answering listener questions.  Also, later this week I am going to post a survey about the podcast and I'm looking for your input as to what you'd like to see, etc.  

Adam Raska works hard, but he has zero offense to him at all.  I don't have an issue with putting faster players on the ice for OT than what we often throw out there.  I think Connor Dewar would be a logical player to give an opportunity to in OT; fast, some offensive ability and I think he's defensively capable too.  Duhaime...nah.  He is fast but I'd be afraid he'd take a dumb penalty.  

On 12/24/2023 at 10:48 PM, IllaZilla said:

So how’s that stud Charlie Stramel doing?

Other than a weekend where he had 4 points he's been mostly forgettable or hurt.  3 goals, 3 assists in 16 games, as a sophomore on a pretty good Wisconsin team.  

Contrast that to sophomore Rieger Lorenz, at the Denver University; 8 goals, 8 assists, 16 points in 20 games.  

Not that this matters a lot, last night the Iowa Wild played the San Diego Gulls.  Caeden Bankier really stood out, 2 goals (he has 6 goals in 12 AHL games) and really was Iowa's go-to option all night.  They lost the game, but he was dangerous on most of his shifts; once he adds some more muscle to his frame he could be a decent player.  Great shot; good instincts and protects the puck well.  

Another player who looked pretty good IMO; he isn't ours anymore was Nikita Nesterenko.  Lanky but fast, and really changes angles well to elude defenders and make things tough for goaltenders.  But we traded him.  

Iowa is getting healthier.  Mikey Milne was back as was Adam Beckman.  Beckman, stick a fork in him...there's nothing there to see.  He isn't fast enough to be dangerous and he doesn't handle or protect the puck well enough to turn himself into a power forward kind of player either.  His shot, which is something we don't see nearly as much as we used to, isn't fooling much of anyone even when he does let it go.  Milne's wheels were evident and helpful even though the club didn't win.  

Carson Lambos had a rough night.  He needs to simplify his game; a few of his turnovers were very Matt Dumba-esque.  High-risk, low-reward kinds of plays.  

Riley Height (39GP, 22-49-71), Hunter Haight (38GP, 17-30-47), Rasmus Kumpulainen (28GP, 14-13-27) and Kalem Parker (35GP, 4-21-25) are playing pretty well in the CHL.  

Danila Yurov, who is expected to sign a 1-year extension with Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL) is continuing to play well 45GP, 14-20-34.  

Marat Khusnutdinov is expected to come and play in North America according to Russian sports news folks.  

Ryan Healey, the young defenseman (a sophomore at Harvard) is having a great start so far, 14GP, 5-7-12.  Which is more impressive than what I can say for Jack Peart, Marshall Warren or Aaron Pionk although I think those players play in a far tougher college hockey conference than Healey does.  

On 1/9/2024 at 7:13 PM, IllaZilla said:

Unfortunately GMBG doesn’t view the draft in a positive way. He basically pooh poohs the draft. He’d rather take a shot at making the Playoffs than take a shot at a top pick. 

I am not sure I'd go that far.  However I'd say Leipold could care less about the draft and all he wants is that Round 1 of the playoffs revenue, anything else be damned.  The Wild have been trying to serve two masters for way too long (not rebuild, win a Stanley Cup) and the result is they're piss poor at both.  

I think Guerin is keeping the guys around him that he likes.  He remembers the veteran-led New Jersey Devils teams and probably in his Penguins run and figures you can build up around the vets and then the draft guys help provide the support for the experienced core instead of the other way around.  The vets are who they are.  

Either way, I think we all have recognized this organization and its approached have been flawed for years and the moves made this fall only made their problem worse both in the short term and long-term.  

As soon as the Flyers brought that game to OT you knew it wasn't going to end well.  Better effort than what they had Wednesday but at this point, who cares?  They need two points, especially against clubs like the Flyers.  

Wild found a way to throw away a point...

By the way, Darby Hendrickson doesn't have anything to do with the power play.  He apparently is kind of the practice / skills coach.  Jason King is the power play guru.