What is The Daily Clutter?
It’s pretty simple. The Clutter is us but it’s also the news about Minnesota hockey & hockey in general and we want to Bring The Clutter to you, our fans or The ClutterPuckers, daily!
Maybe we’ll sprinkle in some fun things, too.
Today… we have the beginning of the Minnesota State High School League Boy’s Hockey Tournament more commonly known as, The Tourney! The NHL Trade Deadline is at 2 pm CST on Friday, March 8th & the Wild signed a young man & an old man.
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The Minnesota High School Hockey Tournament Is BACK!!!
The legend that is the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament started today with the single-A bracket while the double-AA bracket begins tomorrow at 11 am. If you’re a hockey fan & want to see the future of hockey in Minnesota & in college & professional hockey, there might not be any better place to do it than the Xcel Energy Center from March 6th to March 9th. 4 games of hockey for three days then 2 championship games on Saturday.
Here are the 2024 Tourney’s Brackets:
Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament – Single-A
Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament – Double-AA
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The NHL Trade Deadline has Arrived
The entire National Hockey League is on the phone either trying to get better to win The Cup or getting as much as possible for their players so they can eventually be one of those teams trying to get the final piece for their team to win The Cup.
It’s a crazy time for fans, front offices and, more than anyone else, the players. It’s usually exciting for fans because their team is acquiring what they think will be a piece or two to get them over the hump to go on a run for the Cup or your team is acquiring an exciting prospect or a pick that will turn into an exciting prospect.
It has to be difficult for the players though. Just think of being at your current job but for the last month or so, 31 other cities in your employer’s company were doing all they can to get better or get as much as they can get for the best employees because it hasn’t been a great year.
Maybe you’ve been there for many years but your contract is up after this year. You might have a say in where you can or can’t go because of that but not complete control so you’re not sure if you’re going to have to uproot your family and move them across the country or to Canada. Or you might have to just go and work until the year is over and you can then decide where you want to sign a new contract.
Or maybe you’re fresh out of college at your first job & you didn’t know much about this “transfer deadline” situation so when a manager comes up to you because he/she needs to talk to you about something, you’re shocked when you’re told you’re being transferred to:
- Chicago – They don’t treat their employees very well & their latest hotshot employee slipped & broke his jaw so he hasn’t been able to work for 6 weeks but they’re very good at being terrible so they can get better younger employees so maybe it’s a good place to grow & success is not that far away.
- Arizona – They don’t have a lot of office space. Everyone has to have a mullet haircut for some reason, “Did you say mullet?” Employees go there to get more opportunities and then get sent to a better branch after they’ve run with the opportunity they were given & they believe they can help them move up in the industry.
- San Jose – You’ve heard they are Sharks but they’re apparently vegetarian Sharks so nobody is afraid of them taking their customers and they just seem to not be able to figure out how to beat the competition and get going in a positive direction.
- Ottawa – Otta-what? Yep. You’re going to Canada and it’s not Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg or Edmonton. It’s Ottawa. Sure, it’s the capital of the country but they’ve had problems figuring out how to grow, develop & succeed consistently. Your first questions are, “What is a Tkachuk?” & “What is Stützle?”
- Buffalo – Oooh… New York. Kind of but you’re closer to Canada than the city so nice they named it twice. You find out they haven’t been in the top half of the industry for 13 years and, for some reason, a lot of the employees are still angry with the Dallas branch because they think they cheated to achieve the goal of top branch back in 1999. A former employee named Ruff won’t let it go as he keeps saying, “No GOAL!”
- Minnesota – You’ve heard the state and the people are nice but this branch apparently found a loophole to be able to sign a couple of employees to long deals so the head of employment made it so you’re stuck with those contracts no matter what so this branch is hampered with the constraints of having about 20% less money to use to improve their standing. They have some really good employees and they’re a good group but the thought is until those money constraints expire after nest year, they can’t keep up with the top half of the industry.
Crazy, right? And we didn’t even mention Columbus & their crazy manager who was asking employees to show him pictures to see if they had good friends or something. It doesn’t matter now. He was fired.
It’s a good thing you can’t be traded, huh?
More Trade Deadline…
A Crying Flame
Calgary Flames G Jacob Markstrom has a No-Move Clause (NMC) in his contract and there was a rumor he was going to be traded to New Jersey but Calgary decided they wanted to keep him since they got back in the playoff hunt with a few wins against Boston, Jersey & the Islanders. They then lost 3 straight including 2 at home against San Jose & Detroit. Then they won 5 straight agaisnt Winnipeg, Boston, Edmonton, LA & Pittsburgh but lost to Seattle.
Markstrom thought the rumors could’ve been handled “different from up top” and apparently he thinks he shouldn’t have been told or didn’t need to be told about the possibility of being traded. To that, we say, “What a whiner!” Maybe he should’ve told them how he wanted the “rumors” to be handled because we see plenty of trades nowadays that players hear about from social media before the GM tells them & one would think every player is happy to have updates on what’s going on unless they tell the GM, “I don’t want to hear about anything until something is done.” Especially since he has a NO MOVE CLAUSE!* But, he’s also a goalie and they all seem to be a little… uhh… different.
*If you aren’t familiar with what a No-Move Clause is:
Minnesota Wild
The Record: 29-27-6 (W-L-OTL), 64 points
2023-24 Minnesota Wild Schedule and Results
NHL Hockey Standings
6th in NHL’s Central Division
The Minnesota Wild are now 9 points out of a playoff spot. They have 20 games remaining or 40 points available to them to continue their quest to get to Dance with the Cup! “Dance with the Cup?… What the hell does that mean?”* If you don’t know what that means, you need more Clutter in your life! Come on, now!
*It means to make the playoffs for a chance at winning the Stanley Cup. Not a Stanley Cup:
THE STANLEY CUP:
A lot of Minnesota Wild fans have already given up on them for this season because they are 9 points out. Those fans also Need More Clutter. We don’t understand that mentality and here’s why. If your favorite team is still competing their butts off to win & they still have a chance to make the playoffs, why would you give up on them? “Well… they should see what they have for the future with the prospects that are in the minors.” Prospects have to force their way into being an NHL player. They need to know nothing is going to be given to them. That way they know they have to keep working their butts off to get a chance to play in the best hockey league in the world. What GM is saying, “You know what? Let’s give “insert name here” a chance… just because?” Not one of them.
Wild Trade Activity?
Will the Wild acquire someone in the next 3 days before the 2 pm CST deadline on Friday? It’s hard to know and we’re not big on rumors because they’re rumors. They don’t mean anything. It does sound like it’s more likely they might trade a or both Deweys, Fs Brandon Duhaime &/or Connor Dewar. Duhaime is an Unrestricted Free Agent after this season & he’s a player with Clutter that playoff teams love to have as those grinder type physical players can make an impact in the playoffs. Dewar is the same kind of player.
Injured F Pat Maroon could be traded too. He’s won 3 Stanley Cups (not the ones with the straws) & that experience is also something GMs want on or for their teams to get them over the hump.
The Minnesota Wild probably won’t make a big blockbuster move but who knows, right? Billy G knows. That’s it! We’ll see what happens. Bill Guerin wants to win and he has won so he knows what it takes & we’re sure he’d love to help his team and despite what Wild Beat Writer Michael Russo from The Athletic says above, we don’t think he’s given up on his team. It’s been a weird season filled with a crazy amount of injuries but they are still alive.
Will Toronto Acquire a Goalie at the Deadline?
To us, that is one of the biggest questions of the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline. Teams that win The Stanley Cup need a goalie that can be a major part of why they win and we don’t think Toronto has had that for a long time & it’s unbelievable that they haven’t gone out and acquired an unquestioned number 1 goalie.
For the last several seasons, they have relied on goalies that they hope can come back from an or multiple injuries (I Wish You Would), a reclamation project (a former number 1 goalie who hasn’t been up to that status for a while), or a young prospect that has yet to establish himself in the best league in the world. This is why it’s so amazing they haven’t done anything to improve possibly the most important position in the game.
We assume they won’t do anything to change it but this is the first trade deadline for their current GM, Brad Treliving, so… maybe this year will be different.
Signing in the Wild
Also, on Monday the Minnesota Wild re-signed D Zach Bogosian to a 2-year/$2.5M ($1.25M Average Annual Value (AAV)) extension. This is a good signing because Bogo has fit in well with the Wild and he was already living in Minnesota in the offseason so it was an easy transition and he has rejuvenated his career after being with the Tampa Bay Lightning to start the season and not playing very often.
With the Wild:
He’s also averaging 17:36 of ice time.
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If you missed any of the Daily Clutter Issues, Here you go:
Daily Clutter – Issue #1
Daily Clutter – Issue #2
Daily Clutter – Issue #3
Daily Clutter – Issue #4
Daily Clutter – Issue #5
Daily Clutter – Issue #6
Daily Clutter – Issue #16
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