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, The ClutterPuckers, daily!
Maybe we’ll sprinkle in some fun things, too.
Today, we cover if the Minnesota Wild are trying to copy the Florida Panthers in their way of building a Stanley Cup contender, the NHL Roster Freeze and the trades that preceded it and the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships.
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Are the Minnesota Wild trying to emulate the Florida Panthers?
The Minnesota Wild lost to the Florida Panthers last night. The Panthers showed why they are a great team. They played their game and took advantage of a Wild team that wasn’t at their best for whatever reason. There are a few to pick from with injuries leading the list. The depth has yet to show up from the Iowa Wild & that makes the injuries sting a little more. They may have seen the team they want to be just show them how you need to play to win.
The Florida Panthers are the team the Minnesota Wild want to be. They have taken on and beat every challenge to become the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Champions but it took a lot to get there. They had to get the right coach and the right player to lead them which took a big trade but it built the culture of that team and made them into a winner.
Like the Minnesota Wild, the Florida Panthers made the Playoffs in their 3rd season and it was their greatest playoff result when they reached the Stanley Cup Finals only to get swept by the Colorado Avalanche in 1996.. The Wild reached the Conference Finals only to get swept by the Anaheim Ducks. Since that 3rd season, both teams struggled to make it out of the 1st round of the playoffs. Florida didn’t get past the 1st round until 25 seasons (26 years) later and they only made the playoffs 6 out of those 25 seasons. The Wild didn’t make it past the 1st round until 10 seasons (11 years) later and lost in the 2nd round. They missed the playoffs 6 out of those 10 seasons. They got to the 2nd round again the following season but lost in the 2nd round again. Since then (2015), they have yet to make it past the 1st round in 7 tries.
The Minnesota Wild appear to have the culture and they may have the coach and the player to lead them as this season’s start has shown them to be a team to be reckoned with despite the last few games. It remains to be seen how this season will play out.
Will the 2024-25 Minnesota Wild be different when it comes to the postseason? Will they finally go on that run their fans have been waiting on for so long? We’ll see.
In the meantime, will they respond to losing their first back-to-back regular season games this season when they face the Utah Hockey Club on Friday night?
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New York Rangers Traded F Kaapo Kakko Traded to Seattle
🎄 Roster Freeze 🥶!
It was pretty well known in the offseason that the 2024-25 season was going to be an important one for New York Rangers F Kaapo Kakko. He was the 2nd overall pick in the the 2019 NHL Draft behind only New Jersey Devils F Jack Hughes. Should he be compared to Jack Hughes? No. It doesn’t matter what another player does or has done. It’s about what Kaapo Kakko has done and even that isn’t completely correct because the New York Rangers deserve some credit &/or blame for Kaapo Kakko’s results or failures to be an impact player.
The New York Rangers are struggling on & off the ice. They traded their captain D Jacob Trouba recently and it was confusing because why would you want to trade your captain? The Rangers are coming off a 2023-24 season where they were playing for a chance to play for the Stanley Cup but were defeated 4 games to 2 by the eventual champion Florida Panthers. That Cup run fueled the fire for a great 2024-25 season that started with a record of 12-4-1 (W-L-OTL) in their first 17 games but, for some reason, it’s gone sideways since then. They are 3-11-0 in their last 14 games. They fell out of a playoff spot on December 10th and are now 5 points out of the 2nd Wild Card spot.
In year 6, Kaapo Kakko was on the 3rd line for most of the season. He was recently a healthy scratch and had apparently fell out of favor to the team because they traded him when his value was pretty low and all they received was D Will Borgen and a 2025 3rd-round pick and a 2025 6th-round pick. That’s a pretty underwhelming return for a former 2nd overall pick.
The good thing is Kaapo Kakko gets a fresh start in Seattle. What will he do with it? Will he get he top 6 minutes there and be a different player there? He’ll be watched closely. There’s a post on Instagram from the @nhlnetwork that asked, “What’s one word you would use to describe Kaapo Kakko’s tenure with the Rangers?” I put Misused and that tiny comment had 191 likes and many replies from Rangers fans.
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The Christmas or Holiday Roster Freeze is coming soon. Well… make that very soon as it started at 11:59 pm on December 19th.
What is the NHL Holiday Roster Freeze? Explaining why teams can’t make any moves next week
“Dec. 24 through Dec. 26 the NHL is on their Christmas break; there are no scheduled practices or games with locker rooms remaining closed.
Dec. 19 at 11:59 p.m. local time to Dec. 28 at 12:01 a.m. local time is a different kind of break; the annual NHL Holiday Roster Freeze. It’s exactly what it sounds like it is, no roster movement, but there’s a bit more to it than that.
What is the NHL holiday roster freeze?
Per NHL PR, the freeze will halt all trades, loans and waiver activity for “all players on an NHL active roster, injured reserve, or with non-roster and injured non-roster status… with respect to waivers, trades and loans, subject to the exceptions provided for in CBA Article 16.5 (d).””
Here’s what it says:
(d) Holiday Roster Freeze.
(i) For all Players on an NHL Active Roster, Injured Reserve, or Players with Non-Roster and Injured Non-Roster status as of 11:59 p.m. local time on December 19, a roster freeze shall apply through 12:01 a.m. local time December 28, with respect to Waivers, Trades and Loans; provided, however, that Players may be Recalled to NHL Clubs during this period and, provided further, that if a Player is placed on Regular Waivers prior to the roster freeze period and is claimed during such roster freeze period, the roster freeze period shall not apply and the Player shall immediately report to the claiming Club. However, during the roster freeze period a Club can make any Player transactions necessary for the Club to come into compliance with Article 50 as a result of a Player being removed from the Bona-Fide Long-Term Injury/Illness Exception.
(ii) Notwithstanding Section 16.5(d)(i), a Player on emergency Recall may be Loaned during the roster freeze period and a Player who was Recalled after December 11 may be Loaned through 11:59 p.m. local time on December 23, provided such Player is not required to be placed on Waivers during the roster freeze period in order to effectuate such Loan.
(iii) No later than ten (10) days before the holiday roster freeze, the League shall provide the NHLPA with a holiday roster freeze and restricted day memorandum.
There were three trades on Wednesday and 7 so far in December. Will there be more when the Roster Freeze ends on December 28th?
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The 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships begin in one week!
The annual tournament to see which country’s best U20 hockey players starts on December 26th so next Thursday on the NHL Network. Find where you can watch the NHL Network HERE!
News 2025 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
Schedule and Results 2025 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
PDF of IIHF 2025 WJC Schedule
IIHF – 10 burning questions about 2025 WJC
The U.S. is Taking an Aggressive Mindset into World Juniors
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