Minnesota Gophers Recap vs the UMD Bulldogs – October 22nd, 2021

Posted on October 23, 2021 by

Minnesota Gopher Recap vs UMD Bulldogs - October 22nd, 2021

The Minnesota Gophers look to start a winning streak after a HUGE break last weekend gave them an Overtime victory at St. Cloud State, splitting the home & home series.

Through the first 4 games of the season, this 2021-22 Minnesota Gopher hockey team has shown their talent on the offensive end pretty much every game but their defense & the goaltending of Jack LaFontaine has not been pretty for the most part. They’ll have to get that shored up to beat the top teams in College Hockey.

Here’s how the teams lined up for the 1st game of this in-state battle home & home series that began at 3M Arena at Mariucci:

Minnesota Gophers

Starters in Gold!

University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs

For some reason, they didn’t post a line chart.

This is what they had in their most recent game:

1st Period Recap

The Bulldogs came out with a lot of energy and the Gophers didn’t appear ready for it and their lack of execution in really any aspect of the game cost them early as UMD scored twice in the first 12:03 of the game behind goals from  The Bulldogs controlled the majority of play for the first 15 minutes of the game.

It took until the 9:38 mark for the Gophers to get their first shot on goal and that came off a Bulldog pass that went off a Bulldog skate and went on goal. Their actual first shot didn’t come until the 8:27 mark. The Gophers started to find their game and even out the play at that point, too.

The Gophers then got a power play as Blake McLaughlin was hauled down when a pack went up in the air and Bulldog D Connor Kelley tried to reach it with his stick but his stick went under McLaughlin’s arm and he pulled him down when he tried to pull his stick back.

The Gophers SCORED on that Power Play when Mike Koster took a shot from the middle of the point through a bunch of bodies that got past Bulldog G Ryan Fanti. HUGE goal to get the Gophers on the board and to end a pretty bad period only down 1. 

2nd Period Recap

The Gophers came out with a lot more energy in the 2nd.

Coincidental minors ended up in 4-on-4 play and the Gophers had a Communication Breakdown that resulted in a wide open D Owen Gallatin in the slot for a one-timer that beat LaFontaine to his right on the ice for a 3-1 UMD lead.

The Gophers then may have been victimized by a non-call when Mike Koster was sent into the boards awkwardly and he never had the puck. The Gophers were able to clear the zone but D Wyatt Kaiser was able to keep possession after Gopher F Chaz Lucius tried to chip it past him off the boards. Kaiser then spun backwards to create space & passed it to Kobe Roth at the right boards just past the red line and Kaiser broke towards the offensive zone. He was pretty much all alone so he just took a good hard shot that went off LaFontaine’s mask and came out for a juicy rebound that Kaiser got to first as he followed his shot and he was able to score into the empty net for his first collegiate goal. Good for that Minnesota boy from Ham Lake.

Bad for the Minnesota Gophers but they just seemed to be watching the game instead of participating. There aren’t any seats on the ice for a very good reason. The spectators are outside the glass, boys! They were reacting to the play rather than reading and anticipating the play.

This Gopher team has the talent to come back from 3 goals down but not if they don’t compete and compete hard! There’s that old slogan about talent not working hard. The Motz couldn’t be happy at this point of the game & really, for the whole season so far. It’s only 5 games in but holy cow! Someone get them going!!!

Gopher Freshman F Matthew Knies scored with 2:06 remaining in the period and as it was happening, we thought, there’s a guy who could help turn this game around. He got in on the forecheck and made a play at the right half-wall going back towards the point rather than throw it back into the corner where his linemate Mason Nevers was but he made sure to get rid of the puck by sending it to the left half-wall so D Ben Brinkman could get to it. He then passed to Nevers coming around the back of the net. Nevers passed it to Brock Faber at the right point and he walked the line a little before passing it to Knies in the slot and he skated in a little before shooting a backhand that may have gone off of Ben Meyers then into the net. 4-2 Bulldogs

The Gophers ended the 2nd period in a good way just like they did the 1st. Did they make a game out of it in the 3rd?

3rd Period Recap

The Gophers again came out with more urgency & energy in the 3rd but there’s a reason the University of Minnesota-Duluth has been in 3 of the last 4 NCAA Ice Hockey Championship games and won 2 of them.

We don’t have the stats but we can’t imagine the Bulldogs have given up a lot of 2-goal leads in the 3rd period under Head Coach Scott Sandelin.***

The Gophers got a power play but took 2 penalties that look pretty weak and the Bulldogs scored 6 seconds into the 5-on-3 to make it 5-2. The Gophers did score shortly thereafter to get within 2 goals again.

The Gophers battled through the end of the game but as you’d expect, it was too little, too late.

Game Notes

*In the 2nd period: Analyst & former Gopher defenseman Ben Clymer said, “Doug Woog would not allow us to make backhand passes in practice, for real. He would lose his mind on you: ‘You guys aren’t good enough to make backhand passes!’”

He later added that he had made a full cross-ice backhand pass through the neutral zone while playing for Coach John Tortella and when he got back to the bench, Torts said, “Great Pass! Don’t ever do that again!”

**We’ve often thought the Gophers suffered when the WCHA disbanded because the Big Ten wanted to have their own Hockey Conference and tonight was a good example of that because the NCHC, which is mostly teams from the old WCHA, is a power Hockey Conference with St. Cloud State, the UMD Bulldogs, North Dakota, Denver, Colorado College, Omaha (all former WCHA teams), Miami (of Ohio) and Western Michigan. The WCHA was a great hockey conference because there weren’t any easy games. It was very competitive every weekend. It’s taken the Big Ten a while to reach that status but it does look like they’re getting close.

NCHC* Frozen Four Appearances

2014 – 1
2015 – 2
2016 – 2
2017 – 2
2018 – 1
2019 – 2
2021 – 2
Total – 12
*All Appearances are also former WCHA teams

B1G Frozen Four Appearances
2014 – 1 – Minnesota
2015 – 0
2016 – 0
2017 – 1 – Notre Dame
2018 – 2
2019 – 0
2021 – 0
Total – 4

***We looked it up on CollegeHockeyInc.com:

The UMD Bulldogs are 129-7-8 going into the 3rd period with a lead since they left the WCHA & joined the NCHC in the 2013-14 season:

2020-21 – 9-2-1
2019-20 – 18-1
2018-19 – 20-1
2017-18 – 23-0-1
2016-17 – 17-0-2
2015-16 – 14-0
2014-15 – 15-2-1
2013-14 – 13-1-3
Hopefully, tonight’s game will be a lot more competitive.

Next up: 

Thank you for reading! Bring The Clutter in the comments & on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn.

And…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

Posted in College Hockey, Gopher Hockey, Hockey In Minnesota | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Winnipeg Jets – October 19th, 2021

Posted on October 21, 2021 by

The Minnesota Wild faced the Winnipeg Jets for the first time in about 22 months, 650 days ago on January 4th, 2019 to be exact so…Happy New Year and New Season, ClutterPuckers!!! HA!

Only half of the team that played in that game so long ago are still with the team today. Luke Kunin scored the game-tying goal and Eric Staal scored the game-winning goal in OVERTIME!!! Both of those players were traded and the players they were traded for (Marcus Johansson & Nick Bonino*) left via Free Agency in July (Johansson to Seattle & Bonino to San Jose). Eric Staal is currently a free agent.
*The Wild also traded a 4th-rounder (#101) but received a 2nd (#37 – F Marat Khusnutdinov) & a 3rd (#70) which was then traded to Detroit along with pick (#132) to select D Daemon Hunt.

So… how will these two teams greet each other after 22 months? “Hey, it’s been a while, how are you?… Where’d everyone go? Who’s that in goal? What the Puck happened here?” This isn’t the same Minnesota Wild team they’re used to seeing. There’s a lot more grit and fight in this team, now!

Here’s how both teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Winnipeg Jets

Let’s see how it went…

They honored the late Tom Kurvers, their now former assistant GM, who passed away this past summer after a valiant fight against cancer, with a tribute before the game:

1st Period Recap

Matt Dumba took a cross-checking penalty just 37 seconds into the game as he hit Mark Scheifele somewhat softly. Scheifele is a lot stronger on his skates than that but it was a cross-check and the officials are calling them more this season.

The Wild killed off the penalty but maybe the Jets got some momentum from that power play as a 1:11 after the penalty & 3:48 into the game, Kyle Connor scored short side from a pretty bad angle.

The Minnesota Wild showed their resiliency on the very next shift and scored 53 seconds later when Mats Zuccarello had a loose puck come to him and shot it past Connor Hellebuyck. Assists went to Matt Dumba(2) & Kirill Kaprizov(3).

The great thing about this goal is Winnipeg had a chance to get the puck out but the Wild’s top line stayed aggressive and a D-to-D pass behind the net turned into a wraparound and Kirill Kaprizov was there to keep it in the zone then lost it to Kyle Connor but kept on him and created a loose puck that Zuccarello then sent back to the right point to Matt Dumba and he took one his Dumba Blasts that created a rebound. Jets D Nate Schmidt tipped it away from Ryan Hartman but right to Zuccarello and he one-timed it in to tie the game at 1!

Kyle Connor scored his 2nd goal of the night 3:36 later to put Winnipeg up 1 again. Minnesota Wild D Dmitry Kulikov tried to make a pass up the right boards but it was intercepted by Andrew Copp and when he tried to dump the puck back down into the corner & it deflected off of Kulikov right to Connor & he wound up and blasted it past Cam Talbot. Sometimes, that’s how the puck bounces.

Kirill Kaprizov & Mats Zuccarello might be taking notes from Joel Eriksson Ek as they are starting to be pains in the butt to play against. Zuccarello didn’t like Jets D Logan Stanley’s stick between his legs after the whistle so he aggressively hit it down to which Stanley responded by pushing Zuccarello.

Later in the period, Kaprizov came up high on the 6’7, 228 lb defenseman and ended up getting a roughing minor to even up the play to 4-on-4. He may have gotten him with the elbow. Winnipeg didn’t score on their 64-second power play and when Kaprizov came out of the box, he was taken down from behind shortly thereafter by Pierre-Luc Dubois who apparently took exception to how easily he thought Kaprizov went down even though he took out both of his feet. So the Wild went back on the power play and they tied it as every Wild skater touched the puck before tying the game on the Power Play.

Kirill Kaprizov entered the offensive zone on the left & quickly passed it to Kevin Fiala on his left at the point. He quickly passed it to Jared Spurgeon at the center of the blue line and he hit Mats Zuccarello at the right faceoff dot. Zucc took a shot that deflected off a Winnipeg D-man and went wide right but Joel Eriksson Ek quickly got to the rebound behind the net & tried to just get it on net as quickly as possible and it went over Jets G Connor Hellebuyck’s right pad to tie the game at 2.

We knew Winnipeg messing with Zuccs & Kap meant they’d get reacquainted with Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno and it happened immediately after the Wild tied the game as Foligno & Winnipeg D Brendon Dillon dropped the mitts on the ensuing puck drop and Foligno got the fight going with a jump punch (or Superman punch) then finished the heavyweight bout off nicely and skated off the ice throwing his arms up to the fans then down to throw his elbow pads on the ice. He was fired up and he got his team fired up. Don’t mess with our players!

2-2 after 1. The Wild outshot them 13-11 in the first.

2nd Period Recap

Ryan Hartman took a slashing penalty in the offensive zone and Winnipeg capitalized on the Power Play when D Josh Morrissey had some space in the slot and his shot went off the shaft of Kulikov’s stick to deflect past Talbot to and put the Jets back up by 1 goal at 3-2.

Minnesota Wild F Brandon Duhaime laid a big hit on Jets D Josh Morrissey as he was coming to clear the zone. ****Game Notes

After another Ryan Hartman penalty (hooking), Brodin made a nice play off a deflection of a Hartman pass to almost put the Wild up 1 at the end of the period but Hellebuyck made a great save with his outstretched left pad/skate. Hartman jammed at it a couple seconds later as the puck was under Hellebuyck but the officials immediately waved it off. They looked at it and that no-goal call stood.

3rd Period Recap

Frédérick Gaudreau caught a pass from Kevin Fiala and threw it down in front of him so he could take a quick shot and he hit the crossbar early in the 3rd. 

Minnesota Wild F Nick Bjugstad took a delay of game penalty at the 2:43 mark. We’ve always hated this penalty. It’s relatively impossible to measure intent but a lot of the time, these penalties happened as a result of a puck on edge and the players are just trying to clear the zone and the puck happens to go out of play. Maybe they should raise the glass to the same height as the glass that’s on the ends of the ice to help with this.

The Jets took advantage and got their 4th 1-goal lead of the game off the stick of Pierre-Luc Dubois(2). Wild G Cam Talbot may have been screened by D Jared Spurgeon, at least enough to not see the puck until it was too late.

Do they make another response? A big Dumba blast and Hellebuyck doesn’t appear sure he has it so Hartman takes a whack to knock it loose but the whistle had already blown.

F Andrew Copp put the Jets up 2 with 13:23 to go in regulation and the Wild were down 2 for the first time this season.

A nice Jets breakout created a 2-on-1 as they just made a quick passing play and Alex Goligoski had no chance to get back so it was up to Spurgeon to try to defend it and Andrew Copp just shot it and went bar down to the upper left. Jordan Greenway may have been too aggressive on that play, too. Foligno & Hartman were already low so he should’ve probably backed off.

Kaprizov took a hooking penalty. It was another stick infraction. This time, Kaprizov was behind Copp & he caught up to him and tried to lift his stick but he also stopped moving his feet.* The Wild’s Penalty Kill gave them momentum as they allowed very little offense to Winnipeg.
*Why stop when you get within reach of a player? Keep skating so you can reach the puck and/or get even with the player so you can push him off the puck.

Another penalty after the whistle after Zuccarello’s shot and Dumba driving the net and Minnesota-native D Neal Pionk got 2 minutes for slashing. Did the Wild Power Play get them back in this game with 6:26 remaining in regulation?

YES….IT DID!!! FOLIGNO GOT DIRTY after a loose puck was won back by Dumba and he hit Hartman who passed across to Gaudreau and he waited, faked a shot then teed up Alex Goligoski for a blast that was saved but Foligno was on the doorstep and he outbattled Josh Morrissey to get to the rebound and get the Wild back within 1 with 4:58 left!

The Wild took their Time Out with 2:47 remaining and they pulled their goalie. A turnover cost them as Mark Scheifele got the empty-netter and they may have tried to get too perfect of a chance rather than shoot the puck and make something happen. The officials looked at the play for some reason. Kyle Connor appears to be offside on the far side of the ice. WOW!!!

NO GOAL!!! Conner didn’t even try to drag his leg. He obviously must’ve thought it was going to be an easy empty-net goal. Details, people! DETAILS!!! Mark Scheifele received the pass in front of him and for some reason pulled the puck back to his forehand side.

At the sight of the replay, the Wild fans at the Xcel Energy Center start cheering and many fans had started to file out of the arena right after the goal was scored so…when it was called NO GOAL, they all started coming back to their seats. NEVER LEAVE EARLY, people!!!

For some reason, we can’t find any video of this play anywhere. That doesn’t make sense as we saw it on TV!

74 seconds left in regulation! How…uhh…Wild would this be?

THEY SCORED!!! A loose puck went off of Mats Zuccarello’s right leg. The puck bounced up and Eriksson Ek swatted down at it & hit it down with the shaft of his stick and it went in between Connor Hellebuyck’s legs to tie the game with 59 seconds remaining.

Oh, boy! Free Point and now…FREE HOCKEY as we’ll go to 3-on-3!!!

OVERTIME

With new life in OVERTIME, the Wild had all the momentum in Overtime but the teams traded chances and both goalies came up with some big saves. Then Kirill Kaprizov drew a hooking penalty on Josh Morrissey and looked like he had a great chance to end it but Kyle Connor lifted his stick and ended up knocking him down and Kaprizov went hard and awkwardly into the boards. No second penalty for tripping.

So…it was 4-on-3 with Ek, Fiala, Kaprizov & Spurgeon against Lowry, Stanley & Dylan Dimelo. The puck went into the left corner off a deflected pass and Fiala tried to send it back to Spurgeon at the point but it went off Lowry’s stick & it developed into a 2-on-1 with Lowry on the right & Stanley on the left. Lowry fed Stanley a great pass but Cam Talbot got across to make the save then covered but pushed it out to Spurgeon & he fed it to Kaprizov to go up the right side with Ek on the far side and Fiala trailing. As Kaprizov hit the top of the right circle, he passed to Fiala who immediately returned it to Kaprizov but it forced Dimelo to honor Fiala and opened up the backdoor pass to Joel Eriksson Ek for the Game-Winning Goal and his First… Career… HAT TRICK!!!

WOW!!! WHAT A GAME!!!

See the Extended Highlights Below!!!

Extended Game Highlights

Stars of the Game
1st Star
Minnesota Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek

3 goals for his 1st career Hat Trick, +2, 7 shots, 19-25 from the faceoff dot (career-high)

10-19-2021 - Joel Eriksson Ek Faceoff Stats

2nd Star
Minnesota Wild F Mats Zuccarello

2 Goals, 2 Assists, +2, 4 shots, showing the value of line & team chemistry

3rd Star
Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov

3 assists, 3 shots, +2, physicality & just competing his butt off

Honorable Mentions:
Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno

Fighting (Superman Punch) to get his team fired up; the 4th goal; Bringing the Clutter like he always does

Minnesota Wild Video Coaches Jonas Plumb and T.J. Jindra

Making the call down to Assistant Coach Brett McLean to challenge offsides on Winnipeg’s eventually overturned Empty-Net Goal*

*Thanks to Kyle Connor for his laziness, not paying enough attention to stay onside. #OOPS! Thanks for those 2 points!

Game Notes

*This team plays for each other and protects each other. After Kaprizov got his roughing penalty in the first period on big Jets D Logan Stanley (6’7, 228 lbs if you forgot), Stanley cross-checked him and who stepped in front of him, 5’8, 182-lb Mats Zuccarello then, of course, big Marcus Foligno fought Brendon Dillon, who had hit Kaprizov earlier.
-And this might be what the Jets are missing, team chemistry &/or toughness. That’s hard to tell when a team is struggling, though.

**Too many penalties for the Wild. Their Penalty Kill is very good but that doesn’t mean they should keep testing it with dumb penalties. Be aware of where you’re placing your stick &/or keep skating so you can reach the puck instead of the opponent’s stick.

***The first time I heard Paul Stastny’s name was as regulation expired to send this one into OVERTIME!!! Geez! That’s pretty crazy. He had 19:51 of ice time and he also had an assist on Winnipeg’s 3rd goal (Morrissey). He’s now 35 years old so is this obviously his last season or is this just part of the funk Winnipeg is in right now?

****Duhaime was the final player to make the Wild’s roster. We were in favor of Kyle Rau because we think he deserves a chance to get some steady playing time in the NHL but we also didn’t know what kind of player Brandon Duhaime was. As we’re learning about him, it’s easy to see why the Wild made the choice for Duhaime. He’s everything you want in a grinder type of player. He has speed, size and an extremely high compete level. And…if you know why this page is called ClutterPuck, you know that we love his physicality. Clutter Bringer!

*****Not a great game for Minnesota Wild G Cam Talbot but he came up with some big saves that definitely helped his team. We know he’s not satisfied with this game and we’re sure he’ll be motivated to be better the next time out.

Postgame

If you’re into the Postgame. This is a little different than most games so we’ll link all the postgame interviews; Ek & Foligno, Head Coach Dean Evason & Goligoski & Zuccarello.

Next Up:

We have to wait until Saturday night for the Minnesota Wild to play again as they’ll take on the Anaheim Ducks at home at 5pm on Bally Sports North.

Hopefully, you can catch it and we’ll actually post a recap soon after the end of the game.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and Always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

Posted in Hockey In Minnesota, Minnesota Wild, NHL Hockey | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Cluttered 2021-22 Minnesota Wild Season Preview

Posted on October 14, 2021 by

2021-22 Minnesota Wild Season Preview

The Minnesota Wild will be a vastly different team for the 2021-22 season. We thought last season was a big change but it was just the beginning.

After his first season with the Minnesota Wild concluded on August 7th, 2020, General Manager Bill Guerin talked about something being wrong with this team because they couldn’t get over the hump of the first round of the playoffs. He vowed to find out what it is and change whatever was needed to get this team headed in the right direction:

–––––

“I’ve got to figure out what’s the issue? Why have we been falling short? That’s the part I’ve got to figure out. The teams are good. The guys play hard. But there’s something rooted here that’s not working. And it’s not just trading players or changing the GM and things like that. It’s something in the way we operate every day. It’s something in the culture and we need to change it.”

Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin

–––––

We saw some change begin last year when, after about 6 months on the job assessing his team, Bill Guerin made his first big move on February 10, 2020 by trading Jason Zucker, one of the Wild’s best players at the time, for F Alex Galchenyuk, prospect D Calen Addison & a 2020 1st-round draft pick.* 4 days later, he relieved Head Coach Bruce Boudreau of his duties and named Dean Evason the interim head coach. Evason went 8-4 before the pandemic ended the regular season on March 12th.
*turned into D Carson Lambos

5 months later, the Wild lost in the qualifying round of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs but about a month before that, Dean Evason was named the full-time head coach & another big hire happened when Guerin hired Judd Bracket to be the Director of Amateur Scouting.

Stop the Insanity!
The Definition of Insanity from Albert Einstein

After another loss in the 1st round of the playoffs, Guerin knew more change was needed because the Wild had been doing the same thing over & over again  expecting different results by tweaking their roster instead of making big changes and that’s basically coming back with the same team and expecting different results:

“I think we’re a good team, but there definitely have to be changes. We haven’t had success here. Things need to get better, that’s just the way it is.”

“I was disappointed in the goaltending this year,” Guerin said. “Al had a tremendous (20-win) year and Devan had an off-year, and it needs to be better. That’s just the way it is. And if I told you anything different, I’d be lying to you. It was not a strong point for us.”

A flurry of moves sent Fs Eric Staal, Ryan Donato, Luke Kunin, G Devan Dubnyk & long-time goalie coach Bob Mason away and brought in Fs Nick Bjugstad, Marcus Johansson, Nick Bonino & D Ian Cole through trades. G Cam Talbot was signed via free agency and Frederic Chabot was hired as the new goaltending coach from the Iowa Wild, replacing long-time Wild goalie coach Bob Mason. 

That’s your top center, your starting goalie & 2 young forwards with goal-scoring potential to acquire 4 veteran players and 2 of them had won the Stanley Cup before & together…TWICE, going Back-to-Back with the Penguins in 2016 & 2017.

The Minnesota Wild have always had a good hockey team. They’ve had a couple of great teams but those teams still didn’t make a lengthy playoff run, save for that 1st playoff team in 2003 that made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals. If you want the sad truth:

Minnesota Wild Playoff History

2002-03: Won 2 Playoff Rounds 

Since: Won 2 Playoff Rounds in 17 total seasons & 10 playoff seasons

AND…

They haven’t advanced past the 1st round since 2015 with 5 straight 1st round losses over 6 seasons!

So…

How ‘bout a Lil’ Russian?* да!

Probably the biggest change was bringing a little Russian back into the fold by finally getting F Kirill Kaprizov to come to the NHL after staying in Russia for 5 years since being drafted in 2015. Did you know, before Kap, the Minnesota Wild only had a total of 7 Russian-born players over their entire franchise history? Нет! Hmmm…the Russian 7? NYET!!!
*Double meaning: He’s somewhat lil’ & we could use a little Russian talent. Also… Да or Da means yes & нет or Nyet means no. нет Means NO! Maybe we could all use a Lil’ Russian! Careful!

What? Seven? That’s it? Kirill Kaprizov is the 1st Russian-born player to play for the Minnesota Wild since the 2013-14 season (ever-entertaining G Ilya Bryzgalov) and the first skater to play for them since the 2005-06 season (F Andrei Nazarov & D Andrei Zyuzin.)

Wild fans expected Kirill to be great right out of the box and be the savior for their team. That’s hard to live up to but Kirill Kaprizov was amazing in his first taste of the NHL as he scored 27 goals and added 24 assists in 55 games to win the Calder Trophy. He scored the game-winning goal in Overtime in his 1st game thus showing right away that he had a flair for the dramatic and might actually reach the insane hype the fans have unduly placed on him.

His presence seemed to transform the team into this competitive, resilient monster that would battle back from anything & everything. This is what a superstar does for your team. They give every player the feeling of being able to reach or exceed their potential, leading by example.

The Minnesota Wild didn’t lose more than 2 consecutive games in the 2021 regular season. They did, however, lose more than 2 consecutive games in the 1st round of the playoffs to go down 3 games to 1 in the series but they battled back to force a Game 7 &, even though they lost, it definitely appeared that this team was finally heading in the right direction, again. 

“They’re Paying you…to Play Against Them!”

still paying Roberto Luongo recapture penalties because he retired after the 2019 season.

So…speaking of MoneyBall! The Minnesota Wild will be playing MoneyPuck for the next few years, trying to look for the most bang for their puck!

In and Out

I hope that didn’t make you hungry.
AAV = Average Annual Value
ELC = Entry-Level Contract

In:

  • D Alex Goligoski – 1 year/$5M
  • D Dmitry Kulikov – 2 years/$4.5M (2.25M AAV)
  • D Jon Merrill – 1 year/$850K
  • D Jordie Benn – 1 year/$900K
  • F Frédérick Gaudreau – 2 years/$2.4M ($1.2M AAV)
  • F Rem Pitlick – 1 year/$917K (Waiver Claim)
  • F Brandon Duhaime – 2 years/$1.5M – ELC ($750K AAV)
  • F Dominic Turgeon – 1 year/$750K (2-way)
  • D Joe Hicketts – 2 years/$1.5M (2-way)
  • D Jon Lizotte – 1 year/$750K (2-way)
  • D Kevin Czuczman – 1 year/$750K (2-way)

Out:

  • D Ryan Suter – Contract Bought Out
  • F Zach Parise – Contract Bought Out
  • D Carson Soucy – Chosen in SEA Expansion Draft
  • F Nick Bonino – Signed w/SJ for 2-yr/$4.1M 
  • D Ian Cole – Signed w/CAR for 1-yr/$2.9M
  • F Marcus Johansson – Signed w/SEA for 1-yr/$1.5M
  • D Brad Hunt – Signed w/VAN for 1-yr/$800K
  • D Brennan Menell – Traded (TOR-conditional 2022 7th-rd pick)
  • F Gerald Mayhew – Signed w/PHI for 1-yr/$800K
  • F Luke Johnson – Signed w/WPG for 1-yr/$750K
  • F Gabriel Dumont – Signed w/TB for 1-yr/$750K
  • D Louis Belpedio – Signed w/MON for 1-yr/$750K

202

Forward-Thinking

Kirill Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala, Joel Eriksson Ek, Ryan Hartman & Nick Bjugstad were re-signed. Ek looks to build off his breakout 2021 season as he moves to the top line between Kap & Mats. That allows Hartman to easily take Ek’s place between Foligno & Greenway as he’s the same kind of player Ek is, a hard-checking forward with very good offensive skills who will be a forechecking in-your-face pest just like Ek is.

They lost some veteran forwards but replaced them with younger, less expensive forwards with one younger vet in Frédérick Gaudreau (28) and 2 younger forwards that are still developing into NHL players in Fs Rem Pitlick (24) & Brandon Duhaime (24.) It looks like the bottom-6 could have some flexibility to it. Other than Fiala, who should easily stay on an offensive line & role, every player could be moved around as they can all play center or wing. Nico Sturm seems like he could be another Ek, a ferocious forechecker and someone who could make a bigger impact in his 2nd full season. He did have 11 goals. Maybe he sees time with Fiala at 

Gaudreau played with Fiala when they were both developing on Nashville’s AHL team, the Milwaukee Admirals, and he “was one of Wild coach Dean Evason’s favorites from his time in Milwaukee and somebody who played a major role in Nashville’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2017.” Duhaime made the team out of training camp because he showed he was willing to do anything to make the team. He stepped up to protect his teammates on more than one occasion, scored a sweet crazy-angle goal and showed speed and a grind-it-out mentality. 

Rem Pitlick might develop into a very good player. He scores goals. We know. He’s from Minnesota and he played for the Minnesota Gophers from 2016-19. He scored just 47 goals & 108 points in 112 NCAA games before turning pro after his junior year.

Is the Defense Still a Strength?

The Minnesota Wild have always been one of the better clubs on the blue line. They’ve had to be since they came from a time when expansion meant losing right away and building through the draft, not from the rest of the league.

Will we see the defense change a little since they lost half of them this offseason? Probably but Alex Goligoski is a very good defenseman who has his name on the Cup* and should take that top pair spot next 2 Jared Spurgeon without a problem. Dmitry Kulikov is Russian** so…there’s that for one but, he’s also a big physical defenseman so he should be able to fill Ian Cole’s role on the bottom pair and Jon Merrill was pretty good defensively for a bad Detroit Red Wings team last season but didn’t play well for Montreal after being acquired at the Trade Deadline. Jordie Benn was also signed to provide some veteran depth.
*The 2008-09 Penguins that also had a certain current GM on it. It helps when a player has that kind of history with a General Manager.
**Hey! Another Russian! Kirill, Dmitry. Dmitry, Kirill. Погнали! Pognali!

‘Tending to the Cage

Cam Talbot was signed to a 3-year/$11M contract before last season to be their #1 goalie and he lived up to that role. He was very good in the regular season and even better in the playoffs. He thought the Wild were a perfect fit for him because of their defense. 

Kaapo Kähkönen was very motivated after the way his 2021 season ended. He looked like the real deal in his first 16 games as he went 12-4 with a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 2.05 & a Save % of .927 which included a personal 9-game winning streak, showing the form that earned him the AHL’s Goaltender of the Year award when had almost identical number (2.06 GAA, .927 Save %). 

In his next 8 games, though, he went 4-4 with a 4.51 GAA & an .858 Save % and there were 3 games where he allowed 6, 9 & 7 goals. If you take those games out, his number would’ve been a 1.75 GAA & a .904 Save %. That slide was enough for the Wild to leave Kähkönen exposed in the Seattle Expansion Draft and, apparently enough for Seattle to not take him.

Cam Talbot’s play in the postseason (3-4, 2.45 GAA, .923 Save% w/2 shutouts) likely helped with that decision.

The goaltending should be very solid again this season.

Depth Charge

When Ryan Suter & Zach Parise signed with the Wild in 2012, one of the reasons they picked Minnesota was because they thought the Wild had some very good prospect depth that would help them contend in the near future. Players like Jason Zucker, Charlie Coyle, Jonas Brodin, Matt Dumba & Mikael Granlund looked like they were going to develop into big pieces of the future but not enough of those guys panned out to help them get over the hump.

So…now, the Wild have built up their prospect depth to a point where they have a full line of prospects that will, eventually, be the top line in the American Hockey League with the Iowa Wild. Fs Adam Beckman, Marco Rossi, Matt Boldy & D Calen Addison were the final four cuts in training camp with Boldy going on the NHL Injured Reserve List with a fractured left ankle that should see him miss 4-6 weeks.

That says a ton about the Wild’s depth and we haven’t even mentioned some of the other players on the Iowa Wild and in the system.

The Bottom Line

We showed you all of the change the Wild have gone through since General Manager Bill Guerin joined the organization to show how much he’s putting his stamp on this team. He’s building them into what he thinks it takes on & off the ice to win the Stanley Cup. Why should we trust him?

Because he’s won the Stanley Cup 4 times, 2 on the ice with the New Jersey Devils in 1994-95 & with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008-09 and off the ice with the Pittsburgh Penguins in both 2015-16 & 2016-17.

He ended his playing career in December of 2010, retiring as a Penguin then 6 months later he was hired as the Penguins Player Development Coach. 3 years after that, he was promoted to Assistant General Manager and was tasked with developing the analytical side of the game. After those back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 & 2017, he was assigned the duties of General Manager of the Penguins AHL club, the Wilkes-Barre Penguins.

That’s 8 years working with Stanley Cup-winning general managers Ray Shero, who he hired as Senior Advisor to the General Manager on June 9th, 2021, & Jim Rutherford.

We love what he’s been doing because it’s clear culture is something very important to him and to move this team forward. He hired Dean Evason as the head coach and has worked well with him to develop that culture into something that is felt throughout the organization because that’s how they want it to be and how they believe you succeed in the NHL.

We saw a different Minnesota Wild team last season and we expect that to continue with the removal of rumored locker room leaders and Marcus Foligno & Matt Dumba named new assistant captains. 

“Everything we do from today on is all about Winning the Stanley Cup!” – Bill Guerin

“We want to make this room enjoyable, welcoming for everyone…we want everyone to have a voice. That’s the way we want this culture to be in this room starting now.” – Marcus Foligno

and…

It is because of that culture the Wild are building that we believe they will have a great season and go on their longest playoff run since that amazing run in 2003 and they’ll get past the 2nd round!* BOOM! We do have 2 Russians on the roster, again, just like in 2003!
*No pictures of this prediction are allowed! Please disregard if we’re way off!

–––––

Thank you for reading!!! 

Let us know what you think in the comments or on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn

and…

don’t forget to do this…

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Minnesota Gophers Recap vs Ohio State – November 23rd, 2020

Posted on November 24, 2020 by

The Minnesota Gophers started a new series at home tonight after sweeping the Penn State Nittany Lions last week. They have the Ohio State Buckeyes coming in to Mariucci as Big Ten Hockey continues this strange season.

It is likely the first time a college hockey team has played 4 games in less than 7 days as the Gophers played last Thursday night and Friday afternoon before taking the weekend off (other than practice & prep) before facing Ohio State tonight and tomorrow night so it’s actually 4 games in 6 days.

Ohio State played in Wisconsin last week so it’s a little rougher on them compared to the Gophers being able to sleep in their own beds and only having to travel to and from the rink. How much of a factor will that be tonight?

Here’s how they Lined Up:
Minnesota Gophers Men's Hockey Lineup - 11-23-2020

Ohio State Men's Hockey Lineup - 11-23-2020

Minnesota Men’s Hockey won 4-1 last night and will look to win tonight to stay undefeated! Last night, it was a decisive 4-1 victory over Ohio State.

Freshman D Brock Faber got the scoring going when he took a cross-ice pass from D Ryan Johnson and went upper right for the first goal of the game and the first goal of his NCAA Hockey career!

The Gophers then scored with just over a minute left in the 1st period when the Buckeyes got a little too aggressive on a line rush when a defenseman joined the rush to make it a 4-on-2 but they were all lined up across the ice and not one pass was made and Brock Faber broke up the play to start an odd-man rush the other way starting with Blake McLaughlin who forwarded the puck to Brannon McManus then went for a change and Sampo Ranta came flying onto the ice. McManus carried the puck into the left side of the zone then cut to the middle & dropped the puck to Ranta who shoots and it deflects off the defenseman and right to Sammy Walker for an easy empty-net goal as the goalie didn’t expect that deflection. 2-0 after 1 period.

Ohio State then got the game within 1 goal on a goal just before the 7-minute mark of the 2nd period when a turnover in the neutral zone on a good play by D Ryan O’Connell to step up and poke check the puck away for F Gustaf Westlund to chip it past Gopher D Ryan Johnson then get a free shot from the right side and he went 5-hole for his 1st goal of the season.

The Minnesota Gophers responded about 3 minutes later to get their 2-goal lead back on a Power Play when F Bryce Brodzinski got his stick on a Mike Koster point shot for his 1st goal of the season & Koster’s 1st assist & point of his college career.

The Gophers then sealed the win with a Ben Meyers short-handed empty-net goal that he scored from inside his own blue line.

Your Gopher Stars of the Game!

Same time (7:30pm), same channel (Big Ten Network) tonight for Game 2!!!

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Wild Re-Sign F Jordan Greenway; Koivu signs with Colombus

Posted on October 10, 2020 by

Jordan Greenway Re-signed by the Minnesota Wild

The #MNWild signed Restricted Free Agent (RFA) F Jordan Greenway to a 2-year/$4.2M deal ($2.1M AAV (Average Annual Value)).

Jordan scored 8 goals & 28 points in 67 games in the 2019-20 season in his 2nd full season with the Minnesota Wild but so far…he’s struggled to reach his potential which, at 6′, 6″ & 227 lbs, is to be a power forward that produces 20+ goals and probably around 60+ points.

He’s struggled with consistency & it’s not that surprising because he’s always been bigger than the competition so he never had to use his size to physically punish the opponent. It was easier for him to dominate by holding the puck and making plays when he was always the biggest player on the ice so he’s been trying to transition to being more of a physical force on the forecheck to go get the puck. That really wasn’t his game before or, maybe a better way to say it is, that wasn’t a big part of his game before but now, since he’s playing with players who are either as big as he is or don’t care how big he is and know how to play him, he’s not having as much success.

He also needs to shoot the puck more. He should be averaging at least 2 shots per game. In 154 career games, he has 206 shots on goal. In the playoffs, 9 shots in 9 games. We just watched the NHL Draft and a lot of the scout talk was about how players played against their peers which says once they get to the NHL, they should produce more like they did in juniors or college but…that’s a lot easier said than done.

Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin challenged Jordan after the season to come into next season in a lot better shape so he’s ready for the long 82-game grind of an NHL season, It will be interesting to see if he takes that to heart and starts playing like a 6′, 6″, 227-lb player should play. Wild fans might be reminded of one Charlie Coyle who teased them for many seasons before being traded to Boston in 2019. So, we are excited to see a bigger, better and badder #18 next season who should be challenging to be in the top 6.

This quote from him is nice to see: “I think there is a lot more I can do, for sure. I can have more of an impact. I think I need to set the standards for myself higher.

In Other Minnesota Wild News…

  • G Kaapo Kahkonen filed for Salary Arbitration so the Wild will continue to try to get the Restricted Free Agent signed before arbitration hearins are held from October 20th through November 6th.
  • The Wild made a couple of depth signings to help their AHL club, the Iowa Wild on Day 1 of Free Agency with the signings of:
    • F Joseph Cramarossa (1-year two-way contract/$700K/$160K)
      • 51 games – 7 goals, 8 assists, 56 shots, 126 PIMs – 6’0, 195-lbs
    • D Dakota Mermis (1-year two-way contract/$700K/$250K)
      • 53 games – 3 goals, 16 assists, +6, 76 shots, 23 PIMs – 6’0, 194-lbs

In Other NHL News…
Former Minnesota Wild Captain F Mikko Koivu signed a 1-year/$1.5M deal with the Colombus Blue Jackets so that will look weird.

Mikko Koivu signs 1-year/$1.5M deal with the Colombus Blue Jackets

Thank you for reading and…don’t forget to do this…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

 

Posted in Hockey In Minnesota, Iowa Wild, Minnesota Wild, News/Transactions, NHL Hockey | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment