CreaseAndAssist

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!

Iowa followed up the win in Rockford with a dominating 4-0 win over Chicago in Rosemount, Illinois on Saturday night in a place where they have traditionally struggled. Wallstedt had the shutout. Steven Fogarty, Carson Lambos (his 1st pro goal), Andy Welinski and Adam Beckman with the goals for Iowa. They seem to be finding a groove and impressively, without their most talented offensive player in Nic Petan in the lineup. Sammy Walker also seems to be using his speed more again which is great to see.

Iowa 4, Rockford 2 - Highlights

Firstov is having a heckuva season for Torpedo. He's under contract, it will be interesting to see if they manage to get him over to North America next year if his strong KHL season continues. Iowa won 4-2 last night in Rockford. Wallstedt had 35 saves. Lucchini had two goals, Pavel Novak got his first professional goal and Jujhar Khaira scored the insurance goal to seal the win. They looked a lot better last night; and seem to be finding their groove. They have a tough one tonight against the Chicago Wolves. The Raska kid they got in the Addison trade likes to fly around and hit people. Not sure there is much skill but he gives Iowa speed and some snarl which it needed. Lambos continues to look good too. Daemon Hunt should be back for tonight's game too.

There are a contingent of Wild fans who make it sound like the Wild gave away Bobby Orr. Also, did anyone see Joe Smith's comment that Addison said he was caught completely by surprise by the trade? If so, then his lack of situational awareness isn't just on the ice.

(sigh) Another great impulse buy from Bill Guerin. I can't see too many teams willing to claim him. But I think he might be permanently rooted to the pressbox for a while.

According to Natural Stat-trick the Wild out scoring chanced Buffalo 51-19. We scored twice on the power play and went 4-for-4 on the PK; that should result in a Wild victory...but it didn't. Kaprizov is going to continue to struggle if he's going to stay to the perimeter and take the majority of his shots from there. I thought Eriksson Ek was good, I thought defensively we were a lot better. Boldy was mostly MIA and he needs to pick up his game as much as Kaprizov does IMO. I thought Gustavsson was ok, not great...but not as bad as most of his starts were previous to last night. But it won't get any easier against Dallas on Sunday.

I think TropicalFruitGirl is right. Until you get actually sent down and make it through waivers the minor league affiliate, it stays on the team's cap.

Episode #25: Get Our Sh%t Together In this episode, myself, @MNSOTA and Kalisha discuss the Minnesota Wild's slow start, whether or not to shake up the lines and we answer a ton of listener questions too! Lots and lots of different topics covered. Check it out!

Yea, embracing the suck isn't such a bad idea. Hopefully management doesn't try to do something stupid to fix it. Although they did those stupid things just before the regular season started.

LaPanta and Walz trying to chalk everything up to bad luck as usual. This team can't afford to give up even soft goal. Power play is all perimeter shots; a few guys sort of pass near the crease but no one really stays and battles there. This team is real easy to defend and play against.

Jon Merrill scratched for tonight's game against the New York Rangers. Hopefully it will mean Daemon Hunt will get to play more than 10 minutes this evening. Either way, this team needs a win in a bad way but it won't come easy against New York.

Merrill days with the Wild will come to an end as soon as Spurgeon returns to the lineup. Yet I don't think there is much you can do with him other than perhaps bury him in the minors. Overall this team needs to work on generating more shots from in close instead of spending most of the time just sending shots from the perimeter. Either way...this team still looks slow.

Episode #24: Trick or Treat? In this episode, Kalisha, Theresa and I discuss what is the scariest thing about this Minnesota Wild right now, as well as our thoughts on some smaller topics and listener questions too. Jon Merrill may not appreciate this one, but we hope you will! Check it out!

Kaprizov is trying to make pretty plays instead of just taking what's there. He doesn't have to wow us; just bury the biscuit and stop trying to turn every play into some masterful highlight. Ugly goals get on the game highlights just as much as the pretty ones do. Marc-Andre Fleury played pretty well against Washington. We probably didn't deserve to get a point in that one and we did. Defense is what it is. Merrill is terrible but injuries to others keep him in the lineup. Minnesota's lack of speed in its forwards mean they don't get as much help as their defense needs. As much as they'd like it, Jonas Brodin can't play the whole game. The team's defense is average best especially with #46 not in the lineup.

Vinni has looked better than Sammy Walker did in the call up but neither does a whole lot. One player who isn't playing well is Kirill Kaprizov. He handling the puck like he has a live hand grenade at the end of his stick. No big surprise, but Jon Merrill still sucks. Faber is all over the place but he probably needs to ease up on the pinches up the ice.