CreaseAndAssist Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllaZilla Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 That's nice to see Shaw back. I though he was having a positive impact on the team and then he got hurt again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomdog Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 5 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 agree.We never know. Probably it will take a while. But I am admire of him already that despite of his multiple injuries he didn't lost his wish to play a real professional hockey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllaZilla Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 Not sure how the Wild expect to build a Cup team when the farm team is terrible. If your draft picks are garbage, then your only route is UFA’s, which are expensive and tend to cause cap problems… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 On 1/27/2024 at 10:34 PM, IllaZilla said: Not sure how the Wild expect to build a Cup team when the farm team is terrible. If your draft picks are garbage, then your only route is UFA’s, which are expensive and tend to cause cap problems… 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Hockey wilderness.com site published yesterday very very interesting article regarding our prospects Danila Iurov and Marat Khusnutdinov. That article brought more interest to this club which was significantly diminished especially the last two weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Khusnutdinov's KHL season is going to end on Feb. 25th. Russo has speculated the team will probably sign him, burn a year of his entry level contract to see what he can do. And for anyone not watching at home. Metallurg Magnitogorsk gave Yurov kind of a cheap offer $330k for next season so the #mnwild might as well jump in and offer him the standard rookie deal and see if he comes over sooner. Either way it's intriguing that we may see them a bit sooner than what was generally expected (at the earliest, next year). Won't make a difference this season...but might as well have the kids here now than wait until they are 23-24. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomdog Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Yea at least we will be able to see how they play against real talent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 (edited) On 2/5/2024 at 7:45 AM, CreaseAndAssist said: Khusnutdinov's KHL season is going to end on Feb. 25th. Russo has speculated the team will probably sign him, burn a year of his entry level contract to see what he can do. And for anyone not watching at home. Metallurg Magnitogorsk gave Yurov kind of a cheap offer $330k for next season so the #mnwild might as well jump in and offer him the standard rookie deal and see if he comes over sooner. Either way it's intriguing that we may see them a bit sooner than what was generally expected (at the earliest, next year). Won't make a difference this season...but might as well have the kids here now than wait until they are 23-24. I just looked at eliteprospects.com stats for our prospects who played in KHL this season. I think second after Yurov is most interesting for us prospect is Vladislav Firstov who was already signed by the Wild club. He showed pretty stable production there for 2 seasons already. This season he had 32 points (17 goals; 15 assists); +/- +5 in 59 played games. And he has a nice size too which is similar to Danila Yurov's size. Among 3 prospects Yurov had this season a better stats than Firstov and Khusnutdinov. In 55 played games he had 46 points(21 goals;25 assists); +/- +19. Sadly, but he is still unsigned by the Wild club as well as Khusnutdinov. Khusnutdinov had this season only 16 points (6 goals;10 assists); +/- -10 in 47 played games there, but during the previous season he showed a pretty nice stats for SKA St.Petersburg club (in 63 played games he had 41 points (11 goals; 30 assists); +/- + 15)). It seems he is more a playmaker (looks like Zuccarello is) than a pure scorer. Edited February 6 by Alexandron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Firstov started out real hot but he's cooled down quite a bit from that pace. He gets the odd goal every now and then but I still think it's mostly unlikely he comes back. I think the organization would've liked to have seen him be a go-to offensive element in Iowa; but he didn't want to ride the bus. Like it or not, I think Guerin and the other management feel that's part of earning your stripes so to speak. Mason Shaw is looking a bit faster; in his last game he showed some wheels on a breakaway. I am not sure I'd call him up to play with the big club just yet but I feel he'd fit in helluva lot better as a 4th liner than Adam Beckman will. Just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starofthenorth Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/news/wild-top-prospect-ties-vladimir-tarasenkos-khl-record 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 1 hour ago, Starofthenorth said: https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/news/wild-top-prospect-ties-vladimir-tarasenkos-khl-record Very impressive record at the age of 20 y.o. Hopefully he will pass Tarasenko's record this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 On 2/5/2024 at 7:45 AM, CreaseAndAssist said: Metallurg Magnitogorsk gave Yurov kind of a cheap offer $330k for next season so the #mnwild might as well jump in and offer him the standard rookie deal and see if he comes over sooner. Either way it's intriguing that we may see them a bit sooner than what was generally expected (at the earliest, next year). Won't make a difference this season...but might as well have the kids here now than wait until they are 23-24. Sadly, it seems Wild didn't offer a standard rookie deal and didn't signed him. According to recent news Danila Yurov signs extension with Metallurg team of the KHL for another year. Which means, we probably will see him here not too soon. Maybe during the season 2025-26 or even later. The Hockey News published an interesting article regarding this prospect: https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/news/wild-prospect-danila-yurov-could-be-the-next-marián-gáborík Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Iowa earned a nice two-game sweep of Tucson this weekend. Tucson had beaten Iowa twice down in Arizona a few weeks before. Will Butcher has helped a lot; especially on the power play where his ability to move the puck and put shots on goal has helped Iowa generate more offense. Sammy Walker seems to be finding his stride again too, although he's a notoriously streaky player. Still, the Wild are in 6th place in the Central Division. And making matters worse...they have played 3 more games than most of the rest of the division too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllaZilla Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 5 hours ago, Alexandron said: Sadly, it seems Wild didn't offer a standard rookie deal and didn't signed him. According to recent news Danila Yurov signs extension with Metallurg team of the KHL for another year. Which means, we probably will see him here not too soon. Maybe during the season 2025-26 or even later. The Hockey News published an interesting article regarding this prospect: https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/news/wild-prospect-danila-yurov-could-be-the-next-marián-gáborík Guerin made it clear in an Athletic article that he as no issue with letting the Russian players mature in the KHL. Let them come over when they are ready. But I think part of this is that the Wild have zero cap space this year and next year. The Wild have some breathing space this year with Spurgeon on LTIR. But he won't be on LTIR next year (hopefully). So all that relief will go away. And earlier in the season, before Spurgeon went on LTIR, the team could only call up certain players from Iowa or they would exceed the cap. If a player made over $800K in the NHL, the Wild couldn't call them up. They might have a little more wiggle room next season if the cap goes up as predicted, but not much. And there are some players that are going to get raises unless the Wild jettisons them (Dewar, Duhaime, Beckman, Chisholm, etc.) And then the Wild will have to replace them. Let the kids mature in Mother Russia and come over when they are ready. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Khusnutdinov is now available to be signed. He's already spent a few seasons in the KHL. Yurov re-signing is what it is. But I still think it's a long shot for Firstov to return since he chose to return even after signing a contract with the Wild. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandron Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 6 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said: Khusnutdinov is now available to be signed. He's already spent a few seasons in the KHL. Yurov re-signing is what it is. But I still think it's a long shot for Firstov to return since he chose to return even after signing a contract with the Wild. Probably because Firstov would like to mature well in KHL instead of AHL like Kaprizov did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreaseAndAssist Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Nah, it probably has to do with $$$. He can make a lot more playing in Russia than he can playing on a two-way deal in Iowa. Still, one would think the organization would also like to see him develop chemistry with his teammates, learn the Wild systems...IMO Firstov is a long shot to come on over and play in Minnesota. It didn't work out well when Brennan Menell did that. I don't Firstov is playing that well that he can just call his shot. Danila Yurov on the other hand...probably could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllaZilla Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 The Athletic has been ranking NHL prospect pools in February. The Wild have come in at #11, down from #1 last year (graduating Marco Rossi, and Brock Faber and losing value with 2023 #1 pick) The top prospects are: 1. Jesper Wallstedt G - projects #1 goaltender 2. Danila Yurov C/LW/RW - projects top six forward 3. Liam Ohgren LW - projects top nine forward 4. Riley Height C - projects top nine forward 5. Marat Khusnutdinov C - projects third liner 6. Charlie Stramel C - projects bottom six forward 7. Daemon Hunt LD - projects solid NHL defenseman 8. Carson Lambos LD - projects 3rd pairing defenseman 9. Caedan Bankier C/LW - projects AHLer, maybe bottom six 10. Adam Beckman LW - projects AHLer, maybe bottom six 11. Hunter Haight C - projects all over the place 12. Rasmus Kumpulainen C - projects 4th liner 13. Rieger Lorentz LW - still developing 14. Jack Peart LD - projects depth defenseman 15. Ryan O’Rourke LD - projects #6-#7 defenseman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomdog Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 That really doesn’t look very impressive for the Wild. Didn’t see anything about a right shot defenseman or a stand out 1st line center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllaZilla Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 3 hours ago, Tomdog said: That really doesn’t look very impressive for the Wild. Didn’t see anything about a right shot defenseman or a stand out 1st line center. Well, that’s what happens when you constantly draft in the 15-20 range. You get a bunch of nice players, but not great players. Wallstedt and Yurov were projected as bona fide NHLers. #3-5 were projected as good players but probably not top six. #6-15 were projected as third line to depth players, maybe even topping out as career AHLers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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