Minnesota Wild Game Notes vs the Nashville Predators – December 23rd, 2025

Posted on December 28, 2025 by Robb
Minnesota Wild Game Notes vs Nashville Predators - Decmeber 23rd, 2025

Game Notes are topics we feel need more Clutter from each game as they were either an important part of the game or brought up a topic that could use deeper explanation.

Here are the highlights from the Minnesota Wild’s game vs the Nashville Predators:

Here are the Game Notes from Tuesday night’s Wild game against the Nashville Predators from December 23rd, 2025:

Game Notes
*
#OfficiallyBad Penalty Calls…

There was a tripping penalty called on Minnesota Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek but it was actually on Wild G Filip Gustavsson so it would’ve been any Wild player who was on the ice and you can guarantee coach John Hynes wouldn’t have chosen Ek.*
*…to “be served by another member of his team who was on the ice when play is stopped and the penalty assessed. This player is to be designated by the Coach of the offending team” from the 2025-26 NHL Rulebook

Should the officials make sure the penalty is called on the right player?

  • Joel Eriksson Ek is a huge part of the Minnesota Wild’s Penalty Kill.
    • How long would it take to get that right? Have off-ice officials look at it immediately when the official’s arm goes up.

Nashville scored & Ek said something to the official as he came out of the penalty box. If it’s Ek instead of Sturm killing that penalty, does he win a puck battle and change that outcome? We’ll never know.

  • Can the Wild ask the officials to look at the play and change the call to Gus?
  • Should they be able to?

Later, Minnesota Wild F Vladimir Tarasenko was called for a tripping penalty that happened because he was tripped and neither official saw it. 

That’s #OfficiallyBad!

Nashville scored on that power play too. It usually sucks when officials become part of the game.

Later in the game, Nashville D Nicolas Hague ran over Joel Eriksson Ek in front of the Nashville net and no call was made! 

Do the officials & the Director of Officiating go over every call and missed call after every game?

Disclaimer: 
Officiating an NHL game, or any game for that matter, isn’t easy. If you think it is, you should go do it and then reassess your thoughts. 

**
Should a Coach be able to Challenge anything?

The above note about bad officiating always leads me to think the Challenge Rule should be open for the coaches to challenge anything whether it’s a penalty, a goal or any situation in the game. The response I usually get when I say this is it would take too long and there’d be way too many challenges. But coaches risk getting penalized if the challenge is unsuccessful. For example, coaches can challenge Delay of Game Puck Out of Play penalties but if they’re wrong, they risk being 2 men down so that rule/play has only been challenged 5 times (4 overturned, 1 confirmed)* since it was put into the NHL Rulebook in the 2024-25 season. They could put a limit on challenges too. There is no limit to how many times a coach can challenge right now. They just risk a delay of game penalty if the challenge is unsuccessful.
*according to AI – ChatGPT

There are the fans who think challenging offsides to overturn a goal wasn’t what the challenge system was designed for which is astounding. To me, it’s exactly what it was designed for… to make sure the rules are called correctly because too many were/are missed because it’s hard to see everything with how fast the game is and limits on how fast the officials & linesmen can get to where they need to be to make the call.

***
ESPN Plus/Minus for Hockey Coverage? 

What do you think? Good? Bad? 

The ESPN hockey coverage has been terrible, in my opinion. What do you think? For this game, they didn’t show the whole replay of the Vladimir Tarasenko penalty and they never asked “Rules Analyst Dave Jackson” for his comments about calls and non-calls. His comments are normally stupid anyway so maybe that was a good thing. Is the NHL afraid to show up their officials by showing replays of penalties? 

They asked him about a faceoff situation where Nashville Predators F Steven Stamkos was being tossed out of the faceoff but talked his way back in and Dave Jackson said, “I don’t know what happened there.” Wow! Very insightful. Thanks! 

Do the broadcast networks or the NHL ever ask someone who knows or played hockey how to do a broadcast or what they’d like to see in a hockey broadcast?

The technology likely exists to improve an NHL broadcast astronomically.

  • Give the viewer the option to change the angle or camera they can watch the game or a given play from at any time by just clicking the remote.
  • Follow a player or position from their point-of-view or from a certain angle (behind, helmet cam (point-of-view), above, their teammates, etc..)
  • Give the viewer the option of which broadcast to listen to (Home or Away, National) along with the option to listen to no play-by-play so we can simply here the sounds of the game.
    • Include an option to listen to the players on the ice like NASCAR (?) does when fans can listen to their favorite driver talk to his crew during a race.

ESPN Plus is a streaming app. That means there might be more issues due to internet service, how you’re accessing the app and if the app has a different user interface depending on what device you’re using to watch a game on it.

  • Fire TV Cube: If you pause the game for too long, you might have to start the game from the beginning again. You can adapt to that by looking at the time of the broadcast you paused it at so it’s easier to catch up again.
    • For the first time, this game allowed me to just resume the game from where I paused it. That was refreshing.
    • Apparently none of the streaming services have figured out how to allow slow motion or faster viewing so you can only skip ahead 10-15 seconds depending on the service.
  • It’d be such a time-saver to be able to set how much time you can skip ahead with the skip button. Will we have to watch commercials eventually like most of the Entertainment streaming services? Or pay more to not have commercials.

I don’t know about everyone else but cable looks like the best way to watch TV/Movies/Sports now that we’ve all experienced how streaming works and how it’s divided into the 5-10+ services you need if you want to watch everything you like.

What else would you like to have as options in how you watch a game, ClutterPuckers?

****
Where should Minnesota Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek play in the Lineup?

1st line? 2nd? 3rd?

It might not matter. Joel Eriksson Ek adapts to any situation &/or he’s so good at being a nuisance that he’s effective with anyone around him. That’s because he’s so good offensively and defensively. He’s the Minnesota Wild’s shutdown center so he’s matched up with the opponent’s best players every game

He’s arguably the most valuable player on the Minnesota Wild because you can move him up & down the lineup and not worry about him slumping while also allowing other centers to play in a better role for them and the team.

*****
The Nashville Predators are back in the Playoff Conversation

They’re just 3 points out of a Wild Card Playoff Spot and they have 3 games in hand on the Utah Mammoth. 

They’d still have to leap the Seattle Kraken & the San Jose Sharks but after watching the game against the Wild, they look like they may have found their game. Will it last? Only time will tell.

This could be disappointing to a lot of fans of the Minnesota Wild and any other team looking to acquire F Ryan O’Reilly or any other player on the Predators roster.

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Thanks for reading!!!

Follow Us & Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on TikTok, Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, BlueSky or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way
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Minnesota Wild Film Session vs San Jose Sharks – November 11th, 2025

Posted on November 14, 2025 by Robb
Minnesota Wild Film Session vs San Jose Sharks - 1st goal - Matt Boldy from Mats Zuccarello & Zeev Buium from November 11th, 2025

This is a Minnesota Wild Film Session 

What is a Film Session?

A film session is what we perceive happens the day after a game to help any team adjust to mistakes and/or look at positive plays. The goal (no pun intended) is to develop players so they learn from their mistakes or their good plays so they keep improving.

We’re doing this because, unfortunately, NHL highlights usually only show 10-15 seconds of the goal being scored then add a replay from 2-3 different angles. These highlights don’t show the lowlights of what happened to give an advantage to the team and/or player who scored the goal.

In essence, we are breaking down goals to see why they happened so we can learn how to play better defense so we don’t make the same mistake again. That being said, defense is difficult especially with the speed the game of hockey brings at the NHL level but that’s why you work on it with film and practice.

Goal Notes
*
For the 1st goal vs the San Jose Sharks:

  • The Minnesota Wild were on the Power Play in the 2nd period – Barclay Goodrow (#23) 2 minutes for Tripping Jared Spurgeon (#46)
  • On the ice for the Minnesota Wild were Fs Mats Zuccarello (#36), Kirill Kaprizov (#97), Matt Boldy (#12), Joel Eriksson Ek (#140 and D Zeev Buium (#8). G Filip Gustavsson too (#32). – Wild F Mats Zuccarello just came back from an injury that forced him to miss the first 15 games of the season.
  • On the ice for the San Jose Sharks were Ds Vincent Desharnais (#5) & Mario Ferraro (#38) and Fs Alexander Wennberg (#21) & William Eklund (#72). The goalie was Yaroslav Askarov (#30).

Alright, ‘Puckers, we’ve been wanting to do Goal Breakdowns for a while. We just haven’t had time or the confidence to do it because we have a job* & have been going through some tough times but we’re done waiting & worrying about it so here it is and we’ll adjust on the fly to improve them. Please let us know what you think in the comments here or on social media (TikTok, Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or Bluesky)

*Noooo, 2 jobs! Well… does this count as a job too? We’d say yes so then we have about 6 jobs but four of them don’t pay very well at all… but we’re determined to do all we can to see what we can do with this so… let’s go!

This is the 1st goal from Tuesday night’s Minnesota Wild game vs the San Jose Sharks.

The Minnesota Wild were on the Power Play & just-back-from-injury Wild F Mats Zuccarello showed how impactful he can be with the way he used his vision, his patience and his eyes to find Matt Boldy on the far side with this incredible seam sauce pass!

The Minnesota Wild score on the Power Play on a Beauty of a Pass from Zuccarello!

Matt Boldy (9) from Mats Zuccarello (2) & Zeev Buium (7)

**
Look at how much attention Kirill Kaprizov gets & effects this play

Kirill Kaprizov didn’t get a point on this play but his presence is a big reason Zuccarello has time & space to look at his options and why those options are open.

Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov gets 60 percent of the attention from the San Jose Sharks defense which allows teammate Mats Zuccarello the time & space to find Matt Boldy on the weakside for a one-timer goal.

Look at the NHL EDGE GIF of this goal too. 

We love how it shows the play from above so you can see where the players are and how 3 Sharks players (Ds Vincent Desharnais (#5) and Fs Alexander Wennberg (#21) & William Eklund (#72)) are almost magnetically attached to Kirill. They move when he moves. It’s not a great way to kill a penalty. They’re asking D Mario Ferraro to defend Minnesota Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek in front of the net and to try to take away the seam pass to Matt Boldy.

It also shows how amazing** this pass is. 

** “They’re Amazing Passers!” Remember the ESPN hockey video game with the great broadcasters’ comments.

***
Mats Zuccarello makes the play with his vision, patience and SAUCE!

This pass from Mats Zuccarello is ridiculous. We’ll call it Wild Zuccy Sauce! Would you buy some Wild Zuccy Sauce? 

ZUCCY SAUCE is SWEET! Minnesota Wild F Mats Zuccarello floats a sauce pass through the seam of the defense right on Matt Boldy's tape for a great scoring chance and GOAL!

See it in slow motion HERE since we can’t get the video to work on the article.

****
It’s Matt Boldy too! He’s becoming a superstar. 

After this goal, he’s at 18 points on 9 goals and 9 assists in 18 games this season. Look at where this shot goes.

skarov couldn't get to it, to the upper right corner off the post and in! BE BOLDY!
Getting the shot is only half the job. You have to put it where it can’t be saved!

BE BOLDY!!!

Watch the goal again:

The Minnesota Wild score on the Power Play on a Beauty of a shot from Matt Boldy!

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Thanks for reading!!!

Follow Us & Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on TikTok, Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, BlueSky or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way
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Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Calgary Flames – November 9th, 2025

Posted on November 10, 2025 by Robb
Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Calgary Flames - November 9th, 2025

The Minnesota Wild got Mats Zuccarello back on Friday night and he helped the Wild beat the Islanders 5-2. Wild F Marcus Johansson played in his 1,000th game in the game against the Calgary Flames. Calgary has struggled a lot this season as they have the worst record in the entire league. Did the Wild play down to them while trying to start a winning streak?

2025-26 Minnesota Wild Schedule and Results
6-7-3 (W-L-OTL) (15 points)
7th in the NHL Central Division

2025-26 Calgary Flames Schedule and Results
4-10-2 (W-L-OTL) (10 points)
8th in the NHL Pacific Division

NHL Hockey Standings

––––– CP –––––

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs Calgary Flames from November 9th, 2025

Scratched:
Ben Jones, Jake Middleton (illness)
Injured:
Zach Bogosian (lower body), Nico Sturm (back)

Status report
Wallstedt will make his second straight start. … Faber (maintenance) did not participate in the morning skate but will play. … The Wild reassigned forward Tyler Pitlick to Iowa of the AHL on Saturday. …

⛑️ Sturm, a forward, has resumed skating on his own.

Calgary Flames

Calgary Flames Lineup at the Minnesota Wild from November 9th, 2025

Scratched:
Justin Kirkland, Jake Bean, Daniil Miromanov
Injured:
Martin Pospisil (undisclosed), Zayne Parekh (upper body)

Status report
Parekh, a defenseman, is week to week. …Miromanov, a defenseman, was recalled from Calgary of the American Hockey League on Saturday. 

Game Recap

The Wild scored 5 goals against the Islanders on Friday night so you’d expect them to do something similar against the Flames but you never know after a team is embarrassed on their own ice like Calgary was when they were shutout by the Blackhawks on Friday night.

It was a weird game as both teams seemed to be playing hard but also careful to not make any mistakes. In the 1st, the Wild were getting the better chances but Calgary was taking more shots. The Wild had a 2-on-1 and a 2-on-0 and didn’t get a shot on either one. It’s almost impossible to score if you don’t shoot the puck.

In the 2nd period, Calgary was getting the better chances and the shots.

It took until just over 6 minutes left when Calgary went for a lazy change and Wild D Jared Spurgeon sent the puck to F Joel Eriksson Ek on the far boards for a 3-on-2. He dropped it to Marcus Johansson who passed the puck to Matt Boldy who was left uncovered and Boldy went 5-hole to put the Wild up 1-0:

13:47 – Goal – Minnesota – Matt Boldy (8) from Marcus Johansson (9) & Joel Eriksson Ek (8)

Calgary Flames 0 | 1 Minnesota Wild

Calgary kept the game within 1 and eventually pulled the goalie to get the extra man but Matt Boldy forced a loose puck and Ek evaded a pokecheck of the defenseman to get the puck ahead to Kirill Kaprizov for the empty-net goal. Flames F Nazem Kadri threw his stick to try to stop the goal but that would make it an automatic goal (Rule 53.8.)

19:10 – Goal – Minnesota – Kirill Kaprizov (10) from Joel Eriksson Ek (9) & Matt Boldy (9)

Calgary Flames 0 | 2 Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild G Jesper Wallstedt earned the shutout with a great game with the help of his team playing great defense all night.. He stopped all 36 shots that got through to him for his 1st shutout of the season and the 2nd of his NHL career.

––––– CP –––––

Final
Calgary Flames 0 | 2 Minnesota Wild

Game Summary

The Game Summary from the Minnesota Wild vs the Calgary Flames on November 9th, 2025

Goalies

MN:
Jesper Wallstedt:
36 Saves on 36 Shots; 1.000 Save %; 0.00 GAA*; 3rd Win, 1 Shutout
Season Totals: 130 Saves on 143 Shots; .912 Save %; 2.51 GAA*; 3-0-2 (W-L-OTL), 1 Shutout

Shout out for the Shutout to Wally the Wall!

Shout Out for the Shutout for Jesper the Wall Wallstedt!

CGY:
Devin Cooley:
17 Saves on 18 Shots; .944  Save %; 1.00 GAA*; 2nd Loss
Season Totals: 101 Saves on 108 Shots; .935 Save %; 1.75 GAA*; 0-2-1 (W-L-OTL)

*Goals Against Average

Shift Chart

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

The San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night at Grand Casino Arena at 7pm CST 
on HULU / ESPN+.

––––– CP –––––

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Follow Us & Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on TikTok, Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, BlueSky or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way
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Minnesota Wild Opening Night Recap at the St. Louis Blues – October 9th, 2025

Posted on October 11, 2025 by Robb
Minnesota Wild Opening Night Recap at the St. Louis Blues - October 9th, 2025

The Minnesota Wild started the 2025-26 season in St. Louis against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, October 9th. It’s the Minnesota Wild’s 25th season of hockey so maybe it will be a special season as they try to go where no Minnesota Wild team has gone before, to a Championship and to hoist The Stanley Cup.

Was the way they began last season when they led the NHL on December 6th with a record of 18-4-4 (W-L-OTL) an exception or the new rule? There’s only one way to find out…

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

St. Louis Blues Lineup vs the Minnesota Wild - October 9th, 2025

Game Recap

1st Period

The St. Louis Blues had some season-opening & home-opener energy to start the game but the Wild weathered that small bluesy storm and turned the momentum to their side very quickly as they drew a high-sticking penalty just 34 seconds into the game when Blues D Justin Faulk hit Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek in the face with his stick. TWOOOO MINUTES!!!

That Wild Power Play wasn’t too wild as they didn’t register a shot on goal. They drew another penalty when Wild F Matt Boldy was tripped in the neutral zone. Again, no shots but HEY, we’re just 11 minutes into the first game of the season. We’re positive it will get a lot better.

15+ minutes in, Wild F Ryan Hartman flipped the puck to the neutral zone and Blues D Logan Mailloux just knocked it forward. Wild F Marcus Johansson intercepted it, skated into the offensive zone, created space then found Hartman open as he was going to the net then… 

4:06 – GOAL – Minnesota – Ryan Hartman (1) from Marcus Johansson (1)

Minnesota Wild 1 | 0 St. Louis Blues

That looks an awful lot like a… MAGIC LOOGEY!!!

That’s what we like to call…

A Magic Loogey!

Seinfeld Reference if you didn’t know.

The Wild kept the pressure on and 96 seconds later…

2:30 – GOAL – Minnesota – Matt Boldy (1) from Kirill Kaprizov (1) & Marco Rossi (1)

Minnesota Wild 2 | 0 St. Louis Blues

With 6 seconds left in the 1st period, Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno blocked a shot with his hand and he left the ice immediately but he was out to start the…

2nd Period

The Blues started the 2nd with a lot of zone time and ended up drawing a penalty but the Wild killed it off only to take another penalty 3 minutes later and that one was killed off too. 

The Blues had 13 shots in the first 11:32 of the 2nd period while the Wild didn’t get their 1st shot until the 12:27 which was 8 seconds after the Blues F Brayden Schenn took a hooking penalty and…

7:33 – GOAL – POWER PLAY – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek (1) from Kirill Kaprizov (2) & Matt Boldy (1)

Minnesota Wild 3 | 0 St. Louis Blues

Minnesota Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek scored the 300th point of his NHL Career on a Power Play goal against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, October 9th, 2025.
 That was Joel Eriksson Ek’s 300th Point

The Wild kept playing their game. They weren’t sitting on a lead. They had a forecheck going and, with the puck behind the goal, Blues D Colton Parayko’s stick got caught on Ryan Hartman’s breezers (or ice pants for non-Minnesotans*) and Parayko waved his arms in the air trying to draw a penalty then the puck bounced to Wild F Yakov Trenin and he passed it to… 
*Breezers isn’t even acknowledged as a word by Google.

2:24 – GOAL – Minnesota – Ryan Hartman (2) from Yakov Trenin (1)

Minnesota Wild 4 | 0 St. Louis Blues

3rd Period

The St. Louis Blues came close to scoring 6:43 into the 3rd period when F Robert Thomas fired a wrist shot off the left post and the Blues announcers were convinced it went in but…

It Did Not! That’s not what they mean by Hit the Net or Shot on Goal!

But… 44 seconds later… 

MARCOOOO GOALOOOO!

12:33 – GOAL – Minnesota – Marco Rossi (1) from Kirill Kaprizov (3) & Matt Boldy (2)

Minnesota Wild 5 | 0 St. Louis Blues

The Wild made game 1, GAME WON. They never panicked, played with poise and had confidence in their game and their teammates to sail to a 5-0 shutout on the road against a division rival & in their building for their Home Opener.

That is a great recipe for winning hockey games, ‘Puckers!

––––– CP –––––

Minnesota Wild at St. Louis Blues – Condensed Game from October 9th, 2025

Minnesota Wild 5 | 0 St. Louis Blues

Final

Goals and Assists by the Minnesota Wild in their season-opening 5-0 win over the St. Louis Blues

Goalies

MN:
Filip Gustavsson:
27 Saves on 27 Shots; 1.000  Save %; 0.00   GAA*; 
1st Win

Shout out for the Shutout!

Minnesota Wild G Filip Gustavsson Gives St. Louis the Blues – NO GOALS FOR YOU! – October 9th, 2025

Minnesota Wild Goaltender Filip Gustavsson posts a shutout to begin the season! Gus Bus!

STL:
Jordan Binnington:
16 Saves on 21 Shots; .762  Save %; 5.00   GAA*; 1st Loss

*Goals Against Average

Shift Chart

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

The Home Opener at the Grand Casino Arena although it may have to be renamed the Grand Gusino Arena if Filip “Gus Bus” Gustavsson keeps shutting everyone out.

––––– CP –––––

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Special THANKS to one of the Best ClutterPuckers and ClutterBringers who was at the Game!!!

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on 

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring the Clutter... Every Day in Every Way!
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Minnesota Wild 2025-26 Season Preview – The Execution of a Plan

Posted on October 9, 2025 by Robb
Minnesota Wild 2025-26 Season Preview - The Execution of a Plan on ClutterPuck.com

The Minnesota Wild have been a pretty good team since they chose to buyout F Zach Parise and D Ryan Suter’s contracts in the summer of 2021. Since then, they’ve made the playoffs 3 out of the 4 seasons. They also went over 100 points in 2021-22 & 2022-23. They missed the playoffs in 2023-24 but made it back despite injuries to their best player, Kirill Kaprizov, and arguably their 2nd best player, Joel Eriksson Ek.

But they don’t want to be “pretty good.” They want to be great and there’s a plan to do that, a 5-year plan that is entering year 3.

“Pretty good” won’t get it done in the playoffs as Minnesota sports fans know All Too Well when it comes to their male pro teams. Entering their 25th season, they’ve made the postseason in 14 of their 24 seasons but have only advanced past the 1st round 3 times and won 4 rounds total in the playoffs, twice in their first postseason in 2003 and in back-to-back seasons in 2014 & 2015. 

Wild General Manager Bill Guerin & owner Craig Leipold created a 5-year plan 2 years ago to become a Stanley Cup contender. That plan is entering year 3 and the top goal of that plan was to re-sign their superstar forward, Kirill Kaprizov, to a contract extension. 

According to The Athletic, that plan continued with:

  • The team’s current core and rising stars like Matt Boldy and Brock Faber must thrive.
  • The team’s top prospects, like Jesper Wallstedt and Danila Yurov, must arrive and be impactful.
  • And next summer, when the Wild have some cap space, they need to hit on a few difference-making free agents. It’s not a ton of space, but Leipold says that they have already identified one or two players they want to sign and that next July 1 will feel like “Christmas.”

Did or has that happened?

Kirill Kaprizov Signs Biggest Contract in NHL History – Check ✅ 

Made for Minnesota - F Kirill Kaprizov signs 8-year/$136M ($17M AAV) contract extension with the Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov signed an 8-year/$136M ($17M AAV*) contract extension on September 30th. He’s Made for Minnesota! He loves Minny and we love him and now we get to watch him for the next 9 seasons and they can win a championship or two or more.
*Average Annual Value

They have some more work to do to get there though…

A Thriving Core…

F Matt Boldy is thriving and getting better. Joel Eriksson Ek qualifies as a core player and is a major part of this team winning. Marco Rossi is developing into that type of player and there’s D Brock Faber on the blue line. 

They have a great starting goalie in Filip “Gus Bus” Gustavsson who was also just signed to a contract extension for 5 more years for $34M ($6.8M AAV). 

Minnesota Wild sign G Filip "Gus Bus" Gustavsson to a 5-year/$34M ($6.8M AAV) contract extension

The core is developing. We should also mention the culture that’s been built by captains D Jared Spurgeon, F Marcus Foligno and F Kirill Kaprizov and the rest of the team. On December 6th, 2024, they led the league with 40 points and a record of 18-4-4 then injuries hit and they needed a last second win in overtime to make the playoffs.

They play for each other and even though they still lost in the first round last season, they battled to the end and looked like a different team. Is it a step? It’s hard to imagine they care about a step but they may have learned from that experience and it will help them succeed this season.

Youth Gone Wild and/or Breakout Vets?

Some players have to have breakout and impactful seasons to win it all whether that’s from a veteran having a career season or your prospects providing the depth needed to keep the team rolling through injuries and the occasional losing streak. Last season, F Marco Rossi qualified as impactful along with maybe D Jake Middleton and Fs Marcus Foligno & Frederick Gaudreau but they also had players with down years like F Ryan Hartman. 

They didn’t have a really surprising breakout though. This season, Ds Zeev Buium & David Jiříček and Fs , Hunter Haight and Danila Yurov along with F Liam Ohgren as the youth they might need to Go Wild. Will any other Iowa Wild players get the opportunity to help?

We’ll be keeping our eyes on Ds David Špaček, Carson Lambos & Jack Peart and Fs Riley Heidt & big Rasmus Kumpulainen.

Hit on a Few Difference-Making Free Agents

The Wild didn’t get much of a chance to spend in free agency since there weren’t a lot of options for “difference-making free agents” for the Wild to hit on so they pivoted to the trade market.

The Wild acquired 2-time Stanley Cup champion F Vladimir Tarasenko from the Detroit Red Wings for “Future Considerations*” on June 30th as an option to get a rebound year from a player who averages 30 goals per 82 games over his career.
*which means nothing as we’ve never seen “Future Considerations” turn into anything so it’s taking that player off their hands and their salary cap.

Ridin’ the Sturm Out!

The Wild did dip their toes into free agency to add a former Wild player in F/C Nico Sturm for a 2-year/$4M ($2M AAV) contract to be their 4th-line center and a faceoff specialist and killer of penalties. 

Nico was signed as a college free agent by the Minnesota Wild back in April of 2019 but was traded to Colorado on March 15th, 2022 because at the time, Nico thought he deserved more money and was a player that could move up the lineup. He won a Stanley Cup with Colorado and another last season with Florida. He was traded “because he turned down a five-year contract extension, at the time envisioning a bigger role and not seeing a path to it with the Wild because of the centers in front of him. But a little more than three years later, Sturm realizes that this is who he’ll probably be the rest of his career and has embraced being a terrific penalty killer and elite faceoff guy.”

I always liked Nico because he worked his butt off and knew how to play the game with Clutter. It’ll be fun to have him back in a Wild uniform. Unfortunately, that will wait for a while as he’s out long term with a back injury along with F Mats Zuccarello who’s out until at least 6-7 more weeks.

The Wild placed both players on Injured Reserve (IR) and recalled F Hunter Haight from Iowa and he will likely make his NHL Debut on Thursday night. D Daemon Hunt was claimed off waivers from the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 1st. He was part of the trade the Wild made to acquire D David Jiricek. He was claimed to have another left-shot defenseman as depth for Jonas Brodin. 

Brodin wore a regular jersey in practice yesterday so he’s likely close to being okay to play. Who knows what that’ll mean for Hunt when that happens.

Here’s the Opening Night roster:

2025-26 Minnesota Wild Opening Night Roster

Name Change, Game Change, Make Change! Hit the Slots, boys!

The Minnesota Wild have a new arena to play in… well, the arena isn’t new but the name is. It is no longer The X as Xcel Energy no longer has the naming rights but will stay on as a partner of the team so the Wild and the NHL announced a new naming rights deal with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe—which owns and operates Grand Casino Hinckley and Grand Casino Mille Lacs—and the arena will be named Grand Casino Arena effective September 3, 2025.

The salary cap is going up and the salary Kap is going up. Spending at the Grand Casino Arena is going up. Will it be a gamble for opponents to enter the Grand? Is Filip Gustavsson’s house now called… The Gusino? HA!

So… the Minnesota Wild may still have some work to do when it comes to getting over the hump but the start to last season should give Wild fans hope that this team may have figured a lot of things out last season. If they can avoid the big injuries.

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Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck for the 25th Season of Minnesota Wild Hockey!!!

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Next up: 

Wild at the St. Louis Blues on October 9th at 7pm CST on FanDuel Sports Network North. There’s a 30-minute pregame at 6:30pm and Becoming Wild with Vladimir Tarasenko is on at 6pm so you can Become Wild before the game. HA!

Bring the Clutter, ‘Puckers!!!

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Thanks for Reading!!! 

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AND…as always…

Bring the Clutter Every Day in Every Way!
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