Minnesota Wild Recap at the Vancouver Canucks – February 20th, 2020

Posted on February 20, 2020 by


Will the Minnesota Wild make a push for a playoff spot?

The Minnesota Wild played their 2nd game under interim coach Dean Evason last night after having 3 days to work on what they want to do and/or change to get this team to respond to a brutal showing Saturday night in a 2-0 loss at home to the San Jose Sharks.

Give some credit to the Sharks for executing a great game plan in that game but the Wild were, as the coach said postgame, maybe squeezing the sticks too tight trying to make things happen instead of just playing the game.

Well, after those three days of work, the Wild took a 1-0 lead just 63 seconds into the game when Kevin Fiala had the puck on a 2-on-1 with Zach Parise and he shot it over Canucks G Jacob Markstrom and off the bar for his 15th goal of the season and his 6th goal (& 11th point) in his last 8 games.

The 1st period ended with the 1-0 lead still intact for the Minnesota Wild but 90 seconds into the 2nd period, Matt Dumba pinched and made a physical play but the puck got by him to produce a 2-on-1 for Vancouver and rookie Canucks D Quinn Hughes somehow got a pass through to F Jay Beagle to tie the game at one.

With 7 minutes left in the 2nd period, Wild D Brad Hunt got the puck at the left boards of the neutral zone after a long sequence with the Wild in the offensive zone. He skated down the left side below the goal line and found Luke Kunin open in the slot for a quick one-timer that snuck through Markstrom to give the Wild their 1-goal lead back and they would finish the 2nd period with that same 2-1 score.

Once again, though, the Canucks scored about 90 seconds into the next period to tie the game at 2. Recently acquired Canucks F Tyler Toffoli got the puck at the right point and saw F JT Miller in the slot so he made a shot-pass that Wild G Devan Dubnyk looked like he had but it snuck through him.

Around 3 minutes later, an icing is waved off as the linesman thought Canucks F Elias Pettersson beat Wild D Brad Hunt to the dots and would’ve been the first to the puck. Hunt looks to have gotten to the puck first, however, and he rimmed it around the boards where his partner, D Carson Soucy, was coming to get it but the linesman was in his way so the Canucks regained possession of the puck. The Wild were scrambling to get back into possession and that left JT Miller open in the left slot and he ripped a shot past Dubnyk to put the Canuck on top, 3-2.

The Wild, as the coach said postgame, didn’t sag, though. They didn’t hang their heads. They were calm and they responded and with just under 5 minutes to go in the 3rd period, F Mats Zuccarello carried the puck into the right side of the offensive zone then curled to the center making a nice little move to keep the puck on his stick and passed to an oncoming Carson Soucy for a shot that goes wide left but off the boards and comes out on the other side where F Alex Galchenyuk was able to grab the puck and turn around for a quick shot attempt. The shot would’ve gone into the left corner but it deflected off of Canucks F Loui Eriksson’s right skate up in the air then off of D Troy Stecher’s glove up and off of his face and into the net for a tie game! Wow! That is One Magic Loogie! That’s F Alex Galchenyuk’s first goal as a member of the Minnesota Wild. It was a big one.

Then, in Overtime, Kevin Fiala almost ended the game with a wraparound attempt that he ended up shooting wide probably because he was tripped on the play. No call was made.

The game then went to a shootout. The Canucks scored on their first 2 attempts and the Wild went 1-for-2. Dubnyk then stopped Toffoli to give Zuccarello a chance to extend the shootout and he made a great move to do just that. Then Tanner Pearson missed and Zach Parise missed and Bo Horvat missed and Wild Coach Dean Evason sent Alex Galchenyuk out to try to end the game and he made a sick move to his backhand and then went top shelf for the extra point! Nice game by the young, struggling forward. Maybe this will get him going, huh?

Next up: the Edmonton Oilers at 8pm on Fox Sports North on Friday night in Edmonton!

Thanks for reading, ClutterPuckers!!!

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Minnesota Wild Relieve Bruce Boudreau of his Head Coaching Duties

Posted on February 14, 2020 by

Bruce Boudreau Fired as Head Coach of the Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin relieved Bruce Boudreau of his duties as Head Coach this morning. Assistant Coach Dean Evason has been named interim coach for the remainder of the 2019-20 season. Assistant Coach Darby Hendrickson will go to the bench full-time next to Evason and Assistant Coach Bob Woods.

Evason has never been a head coach in the NHL before but he’s spent 5 years in the Western Hockey League & 6 years in the American Hockey League as a head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals. He has been an assistant coach in the NHL for 7 seasons with the Washington Capitals (from 2005-2012) and he was hired as an assistant coach for the Wild last season by GM at the time, Paul Fenton, who knew him well from his time with the Nashville Predators, the Milwaukee Admirals parent club.

Bill Guerin said he had been thinking about for a while and felt the timing was right to do it now. “I would like to thank Bruce for his hard work and commitment to the Minnesota Wild during his tenure with the organization and wish him and his family the best in the future,” Guerin said in a statement.

This is another message to the players that they need to be better. Does it feel like strange timing? A little bit but, with 7 coaches already being fired in the NHL this season, this isn’t that surprising. Giving up a 2-goal lead in the 3rd period, no matter how it happens, is never a good thing. The Wild played good enough to win last night’s game but, it’s happened too many times where they’ve played good enough to win and still haven’t gotten the 2 points. Good enough isn’t how you win in the NHL.

We’ve already heard Guerin say he expects this team to keep pushing for a playoff spot and this move doesn’t change that. It’s a different voice in the room to see if that makes a difference and the Minnesota Wild will do an extensive search in the offseason to find a new head coach. Some initial names that would seem to be of interest are Mike Babock, Peter Laviolette, Gerard Gallant, Iowa Wild head coach Tim Army and maybe even Guerin’s former teammate & former Islanders head coach, Doug Weight.

They will look far and wide to find the right coach to help the Wild take the next step to succeed in the NHL. Bill Guerin is very familiar with all of this and we trust his decisions as of right now. He’s had all season to feel out the players & the organization’s culture and decide the direction he wants to go. This is another big step towards that. The next 10 days will be very interesting to see if we see any other moves.

Here are some quotes from Bill Guerin’s press conference a short while ago:
“in a decision like this, it’s never just one thing. I just felt the timing was right.”

Guerin felt the team needs to go into this upcoming stretch on a high and needed a new voice. “Last night was a game we should have won.”

“It’s not about how many goals and assists you have, what you did last game. It’s about winning the game tonight. If somebody’s unhappy with their ice time or lack of production, that’s too bad. The coaches are going to do what they need to do to win the game at hand”

On top 2 lines: “They didn’t have a good night last night and we need them. The veteran players know that. They’ve been there before. We need them to lead the way. We need them to guide the younger players and do the right thing. It’s all about winning games right now.”

“I have the highest respect for Bruce. … He’s a good guy and I planned on seeing it through. I came in (as GM) with an open mind and didn’t have a decision made. This was just something that’s been on my mind for a little while and I felt like today was the day.”

“If players are hurt by this, then maybe they’re not the players that we should have here.”

If Bill Guerin made the decision that he wasn’t going to bring Bruce Boudreau back after this season & after last night’s loss, then it makes sense to do this now.

Guerin knows full well how teams & players react to the coach being fired and how much a new voice can play into their psyche so to all those that don’t like the timing, Billy G had seen enough to make this move and see what happens from it.

Too many games the Minnesota Wild should’ve won but didn’t for any reason. Finish the game and get the 2 points!

Message sent!

We’ll see how they respond tomorrow night at The X at 4pm against the San Jose Sharks.

Full 12:27 Podcast of Bill Guerin’s press conference from Minnesota Wild PONDcast on SoundCloud

 

Full 10:51 Podcast of Dean Evason’s press conference from Minnesota Wild PONDcast on SoundCloud

 

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Minnesota Wild Recap vs Vegas Golden Knights – February 11th, 2020

Posted on February 12, 2020 by

The Minnesota Wild had another tough opponent in town with the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night. Vegas currently holds the top Wild Card spot so it should be another good battle at the Xcel Energy Center.

The Wild were also going to have to play without F Jason Zucker as he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night but they had new acquisition, F Alex Galchenyuk, in the lineup to take his spot.

The game started and Vegas F Ryan Reaves laid a heavy check on Minnesota Wild C Mikko Koivu and F Ryan Hartman saw the hit, didn’t like it and told Reaves so. They had a little scuffle and Vegas got a power play out of it because Hartman was a little rougher than Reaves during the scuffle as he got a double-minor for Roughing while Reaves only got a minor.

Well, the Wild get to work on their power play and they’ve been trying to fix it for a while now. The work is starting to see results as they shut down the Knights to get back to 5-on-5 play.

Then, on their own power play, the Wild think they score but the official waves it off saying it never completely crossed the goal line but they were celebrating like it had so Vegas F Reilly Smith got a breakaway and G Alex Stalock made a huge save to keep the game scoreless.

Later, in that same power play, Ek got the scoring started when he flew into the offensive zone and took a shot that was blocked by Vegas D Nate Schmidt. The puck came right back to Ek though so he shot it again and G Marc-Andre Fleury had very little chance to react fast enough to make the save. It was Ek’s 1st Career Power Play goal. He’s not usually a power-play guy but the power play was almost over and his line was going out for the end of it so he got a chance and buried it.

The next goal, also on the power play. Ryan Suter got the puck at the middle of the blue line and fed Jared Spurgeon in the slot. Spurgeon made a tip pass to Kevin Fiala at the right of the goal crease for a shot then another chance on the rebound but he tried to move the puck to his forehand and missed but it trickled out for Jared Spurgeon to put the wild up.2-0,

The Wild continued to play very well in the 2nd period and had the Knights trapped in their own zone. Eric Staal had the puck at the right point with Fiala coming towards him up the right half-wall and Staal tries to pass it to Fiala but Vegas F Chandler Stephenson gets a piece of it then knocks it towards the center of the zone. Wild D Jonas Brodin was coming in on the puck and tried to shoot only to snap his stick but the puck got to the net and may have hit Zach Parise’s skate before getting to Fleury then Zach tries to slide it between his legs but Fleury makes that save only to have the puck laying there for Fiala to score his 14th goal of the season. 3-0, Wild!

The @MinnesotaWild added another goal on the Power Play when Zach Parise tipped in a quick one-time pass from Eric Staal that may have gone off of Nate Schmidt and then up and over Fleury. This goal also happened after Fiala’s pass from the corner was blocked but he got it back and made the pass to Staal below the goal line.

Just a great all-around game from the #MNWild, from being physical in the 1st period not letting Ryan Reaves get them off their game with his physicality to G Alex Stalock making big saves in the 1st & the 2nd that kept the game scoreless and the Wild up 3-0.

The value of gold may have gone down because the Wild dismantled the Golden Knights.

Goals by Joel Eriksson Ek (7), Jared Spurgeon (7), Kevin Fiala (14) & Zach Parise (21) all came on rebounds or a tipped shot.

Next up: New York Rangers at #TheX tomorrow night at 7pm on Fox Sports North

Thanks for reading! Let us know what you think about this game or anything Wild and…always…

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Minnesota Wild trade Jason Zucker to Pittsburgh Penguins

Posted on February 11, 2020 by
Minnesota Wild trade Jason Zucker to the Pittsburgh Penguins

Zucker to Pittsburgh for Galchenyuk, Prospect D Calen Addison & a 1st-round pick

The Minnesota Wild traded F Jason Zucker, probably the player who had the most value in a trade, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for F Alex Galchenyuk, the Penguins Top Prospect D Calen Addison and a conditional 2020 1st-round pick.

Alex Galchenyuk was the 3rd pick in the 2012 NHL Draft for the Montreal Canadiens and he produced right away, scoring 71 goals in 275 games including scoring more each of those first 4 seasons and producing more on the power play. Unfortunately, injuries and/or other issues have brought some rough years and, as he’s a free agent after the season, the last 27 or so games left in this season might be his only chance to show teams that he can still be a goal-scorer in the NHL. He’s still only 25 years old (26 tomorrow) so this is the time for him to figure out how to produce on a nightly basis. Either that or he’ll have to sign a 1-year prove-it deal this summer and go from there. GM Bill Guerin could still flip him to another team at the deadline, especially if he gets on a roll. All it takes is one GM that thinks they can get something out of a player to turn his career around.

Wild coach Bruce Boudreau compared the situation to Anthony Duclair this season. Duclair had 20 goals in his 2nd season but struggled for the next 3 seasons, traded twice since then and ending up in Ottawa. Something finally clicked and/or, as it is with a lot of young, very talented players, he realized his career was in jeopardy so he went all in and he’s having a career season with 21 goals and 34 points in 54 games and he may be a very important piece in Ottawa’s or another team’s future with 13 days before the Trade Deadline.

Calen Addison is an offensive defenseman and the stats shout stud but producing in Junior Hockey, even in the Canadian Juniors, is not even close to producing in the NHL. He’s at a point per game with the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League including 4 goals and 16 assists on the power play. He is in his last season in junior hockey so he will turn pro next season or later this season.

Add on a 1st-round pick in the next draft, even if it ends up being late in the first round because the Penguins will likely make some noise in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and this trade looks very good for the future of the Minnesota Wild. The 2020 NHL Draft is rumored to be a very deep draft as well. The conditional part of the pick is if the Penguins miss the playoffs, they can change the pick to be lottery-protected and/or have the option to push the pick to the 2021 Draft. There have been very few things said about this so we may be wrong on this. The pick may already be lottery-protected but it probably doesn’t matter because it’s highly unlikely the Penguins miss the playoffs. They are currently in 4th place in the Eastern Conference with 73 points and they are 4 points behind the Washington Capitals in the Metropolitan Division with 2 games in hand.

Other parts of why this is a good trade for the Wild? Someone likely had to be moved to make room for F Kirill Kaprizov and now that has happened. The Wild will also gain some cap room since Galchenyuk is a free agent at the end of the season. With 27 games left, there is a spot for either Galchenyuk, Ryan Donato or maybe even Gerry Mayhew to get some games playing in the top-6 to see if they can produce there.

Thanks for reading this Clutter!!! Have a Great Day! GO WILD and…

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Minnesota Wild Film Session – Kevin Fiala PPG vs Colorado on February 9th, 2020

Posted on February 11, 2020 by

On Sunday night, February 9th against the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild F Kevin Fiala scored an Amazing goal on the Power Play. It was so good, it calls for another Minnesota Wild Film Session!

The Minnesota Wild were down 3-1 late in the 2nd period and they were on the power play. After a shot attempt failed, the Wild retrieved the puck and Fiala got it from Eric Staal on the right half-wall with an Avs forward between him and defenseman Ryan Suter & the other Avs penalty-killers in front of the net, the other forward in the slot defending Parise and the 2 defensemen on either side of the net defending Staal who was on the goal line on Fiala’s side and Spurgeon at the top of the left circle.

Kevin Fiala scores an amazing power play goal for the Minnesota Wild

What Fiala had to look at with the puck on the right-half wall (closest in the picture)

Fiala had already passed it to Staal and got it back and that may have given him a little more space between him and that strong side defenseman. Fiala turned to his left as if he was going to pass it to Suter at the blue line & Avs F Matt Nieto went to take away that passing lane so Fiala made a quick move around him and that forced the strongside D to come up to him but Fiala knows he’s trying to take away the shot and he still has space to pull the puck back. He can also see Compher, who was defending Parise, is trying to take away the passing lane to Parise so he should be able to skate past him, too. 

Kevin Fiala scores an amazing power play goal for the Minnesota Wild

Amazing how Fiala reads the play and uses the space created by passing lanes available to him.

Fiala gets the open ice and sees an open shooting lane since Erik Johnson moved over to cover Jared Spurgeon so Fiala has a couple of options. He can pass to Parise in front of the net knowing Parise could also then move the puck to either Spurgeon or Staal for a quality scoring chance but…

Kevin Fiala scores an amazing power play goal for the Minnesota Wild

Fiala created a shooting lane with his quick hands so what would he do with it? #WickedWrister

Fiala also knows he could just rip a wicked wrister past Francouz and get his team within a goal and that is what he did. What a fantastic play.

Kevin Fiala is turning into a heckuva player for the Minnesota Wild. Former GM Paul Fenton might not have been as bad as we thought he was, huh? Well, at least in his scouting of players. We’ll see how his 2 drafts turn out in a few years.

What do you think, ClutterPuckers? How good is #22 going to be? Is it a coincidence that he wears the same number as the one and only Cal Clutterbuck who is the reason for this here blog you are reading? It probably is but, hey, we’re big fans of Mr. Fiala and, at still only 23 years old, his future looks very bright and…Very WILD!!!

Thanks for taking time out of your day & life to read some Clutter! We hope you like it but would still love to hear what you think so Bring The Clutter in the comments or on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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