The Minnesota Wild had to head back out on the road to face the Blackhawks, arguably their biggest rival but, the Chicago Blackhawks are not doing so great this season, kind of like last season.
They were 12-15-6 before last night’s game but they still have that guy named Kane and another guy named Toews and, because it’s a rivalry, it doesn’t matter what the records are.
So….let’s get to the highlights.
Chicago got on the board first when Patrick Kane tried a wraparound that Kaapo Kahkonen stopped but the rebound came right back out so Kane could make another attempt at it. They said no goal on the ice and the game kept going until a stoppage allowed the officials to take a look and they saw the puck had crossed the goal line so 1-0, Chicago.
The Blackhawks then got a power play and Kane ended up with the puck in the slot and he took a shot that deflected off D Ryan Suter’s stick and got past Kahkonen and Chicago lead 2-0.
Wild F Eric Staal was sitting on 999 career points and he buried his 12th goal of the season on a one-timer on the power play to get the Wild back within a goal at 2-1.
About 2 minutes into the 2nd period, Patrick Kane had the puck in the offensive zone near his blue line and he tried to shoot but it hit Ryan Suter and deflected right to Kevin Fiala allowing him to get a breakaway and he went upper left over Chicago G Robin Lehner to tie the game at 2 goals apiece.
Around 6 minutes later, Chicago got a shot-pass-tip-in goal to take another 1-goal lead but it only lasted another 6 minutes before Fiala tied the game again. This time, it was off an intended centering pass that went off a Chicago defenseman’s skate then off Lehner and in.
The 2nd period ended in a 3-3 tie and it took until almost 14 minutes into the 3rd period to break the tie and, unfortunately, it was a weird goal against the Wild. A shot from Connor Murphy, the same Connor Murphy that the puck deflected off of for the Wild’s 3rd goal, was tipped in front of the net by F Brandon Saad. The puck then goes off of Wild D Matt Dumba and goes up and over Kaapo Kahkonen for a 4-3 Chicago lead.
Then, with the net empty, Wild D Brad Hunt stumbles as he enters the offensive zone with maybe a little help from Jonathan Toews’ stick. Toews passes to Kane and he shoots into the empty net for the Hat Trick and that’s how it would end.
5-3, Chicago over Minnesota.
The Wild will head to Vegas for a Tuesday Night tilt but they did make some moves today…
The Wild sent G Kaapo Kahkonen back down to the AHLIowa Wild because G Devan Dubnyk has re-joined the team but he’ll be the backup on Tuesday night as Stalock will get the start. Duubs might need some practice time to get back in a rhythm.
They also recalled Fs Nico Sturm and Luke Johnson after placeing F Joel Eriksson Ek on IR (Injured Reserve.) He left the game against Philly after blocking a shot.
Also, injured D Jared Spurgeon and F Mikko Koivu are on the road trip and both skated in the optional skate this morning but Mikko left early which is likely a bad sign. We’ll let you know if anything changes!
The Minnesota Wild tried to extend their home point streak to 12 games last night against the Philadelphia Flyers, who have former head coach Mike Yeo on staff as an assistant coach and their General Manager is former Wild GM Chuck Fletcher.
The Minnesota Wild have been very good at home because they are playing very well defensively. They’ve shown the ability to shut down the best in the league when they get the matchups they want. It helps that every line is playing well on both sides of the puck, too.
This game started with a Flyers goal, though. James van Riemsdyk came down on a 2-on-1 when a loose puck in the neutral zone is chipped past D Brad Hunt. His defensive partner D Brennan Menell takes away the pass leaving G Alex Stalock to take the shot. James van Riemsdyk shoots and the puck catches the tip of Stalock’s glove and deflects into the net for a 1-0 Flyers lead just 1:34 seconds into the game. The shot actually looks like it’s going wide but still, that’s a save Al probably expects to make.
Is this shot going wide as it hits Alex Stalock’s glove?
Not the most ideal start but they have 58+ minutes to come back to score 2 or more goals and they’ve been good at doing that recently. About 5 minutes later, Kevin Fiala tried a wraparound attempt to tie the game and it fails but Zach Parise’s stick is there to tip it in for a 1-1 tie. It first tips off Flyers D Shane Gostisbehere blade then off Parise’s blade and in. 1:45 later, D Ryan Suter got the puck at the right point and passed it to D Jonas Brodin at the left point. Brodin then used the ice in front of him to skate in and force the defense to move which opened up a passing lane to F Eric Staal at the right side of the net, who tried for the tip in but it hit Staal’s own skate and deflected behind him but he had enough time to turn, get to the puck and shoot a backhand past sprawling Flyers G Carter Hart. The 1st period would with the Wild up 2-1. Halfway into the 2nd period, a turnover by a Flyers D Ivan Provorov at his own blueline allows Wild F Jason Zucker to take the puck and head up the left boards into the corner then makes a centering pass to Matt Dumba coming up the slot. Dumba makes a quick move to his backhand and shoots but it’s blocked and the rebound is heading out towards an open Eric Staal but Zucker had skated behind the net and intercepts the rebound and shoots but it’s saved. That rebound is just laying there where Mats Zuccarello is standing so he passes back to a still waiting Eric Staal for another try and it gets past Carter Hart for a 3-1 Wild lead. The 4th goal was an empty netter from Carson Soucy with over 2 minutes left in the game but he shot is from behind his own goal line all the way down the ice to seal another win for the Wild and a 12-game point streak at home. They’ll head to Chicago for their 4th back-to-back games of the season but their first home-road back-to-back. They are 1-2 in the 2nd game of their other back-to-back games so far this season, all road-road back-to-back games. If you’re curious, they have 6 more back-to-backs this season, 1 home-home, 2 home-road & 3 road-road. I wonder how that compares to the rest of the league. Wild vs Blackhawks highlights coming soon!
The Minnesota Wild have been stuck in a rut of playing just good enough to make the playoffs but not good enough to advance in the playoffs and, well, that’s not good enough for the State of Hockey. Last season’s battle cry or motto was Good Is Not Good Enough and they proved that to be true.
Now we move onto this season and this is a different team. There were some major changes to the Minnesota Wild’s roster during last season and some additions made in Free Agency. Most of the changes are still up for debate on if they were good or bad changes. Right now, the trades look uneven with the Wild side getting the short end of the stick or, in some cases, maybe no stick at all.
Then, on July 30th, Minnesota Wild Owner Craig Leipold decided his General Manager, Paul Fenton, was not the right man for the job. An extensive search was done to find the right man for the job and that search found former player and, at the time, the Assistant General Manager for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Bill Guerin is the right man to run the show. So far, this feels like a great move, especially after hearing all the strange things that happened under the reign of Paul Fenton. That could be because it’s still new so we still need to see how things go. Billy G did say all the right things:
“I hope my playing experience can help players. I feel like over 18 years and 1,200 games, or whatever it was, I’ve seen a lot. I’ve played on 8 teams, so I’ve seen a lot; I’ve been in a lot of situations. So I feel like I can empathize with what players are going through if things are tough. So I think it can only help.
…I hope to be a solid foundation for everybody. I have to be at my best if things are at their worst.” – Bill Guerin
“There’s everything here to win. Everything. I’ve seen it as a player. I’ve seen it in management…what it takes to build a winner; what it takes to be on a winner and everything is here. Everything’s in place. We have a committed owner. We have a great fan base here that’s knowledgeable and passionate. The building’s full. The environment’s great. We have an incredible staff. We have great coaching staff, scouting staff, hockey ops…and we have a good team. This is a good team. My job is to make it better and we’re going to build.” – Bill Guerin
“I’ve learned what it takes to build a winning culture and a winning team and you don’t win in this league unless the team comes first. We’re going to put an emphasis on character, on commitment & on sacrifice and what are you going to do for this team to help it win? I’ll bring what I’ve learned over the last 10 years to the Minnesota Wild. I’m really really looking forward to getting going in the state of hockey. We have a ton of work to do but it’s going to be a ton of fun and I can’t wait to get going.” – Bill Guerin
He stressed finding players and personnel with character who are will to sacrifice and put in the work to help the team win. He also said the Wild have everything here to win.
The big difference between Paul Fenton is that Bill Guerin understands this is a relationship business and you need good people to win. He is a winner. His name is on the Stanley Cup 4 times! FOUR! He won 2 Championships on the ice with the New Jersey Devils and the Pittsburgh Penguins then helped the Penguins win 2 more Championships from the management side. Does it get any better than that? He knows what it takes to win on the ice and how to build a champion from a management perspective off the ice.
It is a tad easier when you have a Sidney Crosby & an Evgeni Malkin on your team. Right now, the Wild do not have players of that caliber on their roster. They have good players. They have a bunch of players that have yet to realize their potential. Most of those players are in just their 2nd or 3rd NHL season so this is a big year for every one of them. They also have players coming off of some tough seasons who are looking for a rebound this season.
Adding Bill Guerin as General Manager is the biggest change to this team. The question will be if that big change can be enough to get them back to the playoffs and, more importantly, to get them to play together and for each other.
Welcome To The State of Hockey
The Minnesota Wild added playmaking F Mats Zuccarello and physical, gritty F Ryan Hartman (he did play for the Flyers) through free agency. D Carson Soucy also made the team out of camp, partly because D Greg Pateryn sustained a lower-body injury that required bilateral core muscle surgery and he’ll be out for approximately 6 weeks. Soucy did play well throughout camp, though. He also brings size and a defensive focus on his game.
Zuccarello comes billed as a great playmaker who can also score goals. He’ll help on the power play and he’s known for being a great teammate, too. Just ask King Henrik Lundqvist about it.
Some might say that being a great teammate isn’t that big of a deal when signing a free agent but there have been rumors about the Wild locker room for a long time. Are they just rumors? It’s a team sport and the teams that actually get along great usually are better than teams that don’t get along. Ask the Minnesota Twins. Culture is a huge part of winning! Bill Guerin even talked about it in the quotes above and he’s obviously been through it many times.
Hartman is now known as a gritty-4th-liner type of player but he has some scoring ability, too. He scored 19 goals with Chicago 3 seasons ago, 11 goals 2 seasons ago and 12 last season. He’s been traded at the last two trade deadlines, from Chicago to Nashville in 2018 and from Nashville to Philadelphia (for F Wayne Simmonds). He was also traded to Dallas in June for F Tyler Pitlick before becoming a free agent.
Pack Your Crap!
Some players had to pack up their stuff after last season. Gone are Fs Pontus Aberg, Eric Fehr, Matt Read and D Anthony Bitetto but the Wild won’t really miss them. Fehr was a decent 4th-liner but the Wild will be okay without him. F J.T. Brown was sent to the AHL Iowa Wild to begin the season as he just hasn’t been what the Wild wanted when they signed him to a 2-year, 2-way deal back in 2018.
Core Work
The Minnesota Wild have a bunch of young forwards that should turn into core players. They all need to take a step up this season. Fs Ryan Donato, Joel Eriksson-Ek, Kevin Fiala, Jordan Greenway and Luke Kunin all have the ability to make a huge impact on the Wild’s 2019-20 season.
Fs Ryan Donato, Kevin Fiala and Victor Rask were acquired through trades last season. They got their first full Wild offseasons so they had time to get everything in order and have a normal offseason to work on their offseason programs & improve their bodies and their game. That should help them assimilate to the rest of the team and Head Coach Bruce Boudreau’s system. That should turn into more comfort and better play. They’ll find out how their teammates like to play, where they want the puck and how to play alongside them. They’ll find out they need to be selfish with the puck sometimes because they all need to shoot the puck more.
That should turn into more points for all of them, especially F Kevin Fiala, who was trying to do too much by himself after coming to the Wild for Mikael Granlund. He was a turnover machine but you could see he has speed and skill. He came in 15 pounds lighter and at 5.7% body fat and, as for the legendary Boudreau skating test, Bruce said he not only passed it but, “blew it away.” Will he become a GameChanger for the Wild? We think so.
Donato established himself as a shooter and a goal-scorer. He just needs to continue that mindset. You’re a shooter so shoot the puck. He also showed how well he sees the ice. He makes and reads plays.
Joel Eriksson-Ek started to show what he can do after Mikko Koivu’s season ended in early February. He played well as his replacement but he still only scored 7 points (5 goals, 2 assists) in 22 games but compare that to 7 points (2 G, 5 A) in the 36 games before that and there’s progress. He also had more shots (58) in those 22 games than he did in the previous 36 games (53.) That’s an increase of more than a shot per game. Now, can he continue that even if he’s playing as the 4th-line center with Marcus Foligno & Ryan Hartman?
Luke Kunin has a bright future if he can stay healthy. He could be the future Wild captain because he plays the right way and is just a natural leader. He says and does all the right things. He won’t back down from anyone. He’ll drop the mitts if he feels the need and he knows how to get open for a shot, which he’s not shy about letting go. We like that!
Jordan Greenway is starting to realize how much of a beast he can be with the puck by using his size to protect the puck and be physical. We haven’t seen him be physical very often but in the preseason he made some hits that caused turnovers and turned into scoring chances.
A few seasons ago, people were raving about the Wild prospects they had coming with Kunin & Greenway & Ek. Now, they’re complaining that the Wild don’t have any prospects and, although that is mostly true, there really isn’t room for them anywhere. These players need time to grow and get used to the NHL game. This season, though, could decide their fate because there’s a guy named Kirill Kaprizov who will be here come April. Nico Sturm also showed he’ll be pushing for a callup as soon as one is needed as he was sent down to Iowa because they didn’t want him to sit in the NHL when he can play every day and develop in the AHL.
Kunin & Greenway are also on the last year of their entry-level deals so they know what this season means, the better season they have, the bigger paycheck they receive next offseason! Hopefully, by the end of the season, we’ll be saying…
Will Jordan Greenway & Luke Kunin have great seasons and get paid in the offseason as Restricted Free Agents?
Parise Does It
Can he keep doing it? Zach Parise led the Wild in points (61) & goals (28) last season. As he gets older, the only thing to worry about is his health. He’s going to be relentless whenever he’s on the ice and he has a knack of being where the puck is to score goals. That’s near the crease if you didn’t know. He plants himself in there and just battles to win pucks.
He should start the season on a line with Mats Zuccarello and he has really enjoyed playing with him so far this preseason. He likes being with a playmaking forward because he knows Mats will find him and get him more chances to score goals.
Foligno Security
Marcus Foligno will protect his net and his teammates. He’s become a very good penalty killer and he knows one of his jobs is to be the bodyguard or the enforcer and he doesn’t hesitate to step in when he feels the need.
One of the best plays of the preseason came in game 2, the first televised game. Matt Dumba took a high hit against the Colorado Avalanche and Marcus Foligno did not hesitate to show it’s not okay to mess with Dumba.
The Return of The Dumba Blast
Matt Dumba’s injury last season was the turning point. That’s when the offense and the power play went downhill and the season followed. Did it affect the locker room? It played a part but a lot of things affected the Wild missing the playoffs, the trades, the losing and no Dumba to lead the offense with his shot and his energy.
Dumba looks ready to continue what he was doing last season. He had 12 goals through 32 games. That’s a 30-goal pace! His 12 goals still finished in the Top-20 for defenseman. So having him back in the lineup and hopefully, for a full season, will be a huge boost to this team.
Remember what happened to the defense last season after the Dumba injury? They moved Greg I-Don’t-Even-Score-In-Practice Pateryn up to the 2nd pair. Dumba had 22 points in 32 games last season. Pateryn had 2 goals & 20 points over the last 2 seasons (153 games) on 200 shots on goal for a shooting percentage of 1. So, it was Jonas Brodin & Pateryn on the 2nd pair. Ouch. That pair had 1 goal & 16 points (Brodin: 9 assists; Pateryn: 1 goal, 6 assists) in the 50 games after December 15th, the game that brought Dumba’s season to an end.
The Kapfinn Returns, too
F Mikko Koivu will also return from surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered on February 5th. The Wild missed their leader, too. He leads from a defensive standpoint but he still brings some offense, too. He provides a center that can shut down the opponent’s top lines and he wins faceoffs. The Wild missed that when he was gone.
At 36, you’d think it would take a while to recover from an intense injury and surgery like that but Mikko is ready for the season to begin. We’ll see how well he holds up, though.
Where will Mikko line up? 2nd, 3rd or 4th-line center? Or, maybe the question should be who will his linemates be?
Zucker is Still Here
Thankfully, all of the efforts of Paul Fenton to trade F Jason Zucker fell through. He’s due for a bounce-back season after only scoring 21 goals last season. He also went from 64 points in 2018-19 to 42 points last season. He shot the puck more but his percentage went down. He hit the post a lot and his shot percentage went down by over 5%. His scoring chances actually went up although high danger scoring chances went down and he obviously didn’t cash in on as many of those scoring chances.
Having been in the trade rumors for the majority of last season and the offseason, Jason Zucker didn’t need any further motivation as he wants to stay in Minnesota and succeed here. He knows he can be and expects to be a 30-goal scorer in the NHL.
Deep Blue Something*
One of the good great things Bill Guerin did soon after being named GM of the Minnesota Wild was to get in touch with D Jared Spurgeon to address his contract situation. It didn’t take Billy G long to get Spurgeon extended for 7 more years in the State of Hockey to the tune of $53.025M, a $7.575 average annual value & cap hit.
That’s actually a higher cap hit than D Ryan Suter & F Zach Parise so he will be the highest-paid Wild player starting next season. It would also make him the 11th highest paid defenseman this season taking over 11th from Suter and he would be 10th if Dustin Byfuglien decides to retire but, of course, that starts next season. He is currently the 49th highest paid d-man.
D Jared Spurgeon had career highs in goals (14), even-strength goals (10), points (43), shots on goal (152) and shots attempted (304) last season. He also finished 11th in Norris Trophy voting. He’s 29-years-old for another 57 days but he’s become one of the best defenseman in the entire league since his career began in 2010. At just 5’9 & 167 lbs, Jared might be the guy to look at if you don’t think you can play in the NHL. He’s small but he plays defense and, although not a big physical presence, of course, he still plays physical but his skating ability, his speed, his shot and, most of all, his hockey sense help him succeed.
The blue line is one of, if not, the biggest strength for the Minnesota Wild. Since training camp began, the talk has been all about Matt Dumba’s return and Jared Spurgeon’s contract extension and nobody is saying anything about Ryan Suter, the Wild’s #1 defenseman.
Ryan Suter played all 82 games last season and he was coming off a brutal foot injury that many were saying could be of the career-ending variety. Now, he’s had a good offseason and he’s just lying in the weeds for another great season. He’s missed 9 games over his 7 seasons in Minnesota while averaging almost 28 minutes on ice and scoring 43 points a season. If you look up above, you’ll see 43 points was just Jared Spurgeon’s career-high in his 9th season and Suter averaged that.
Sutes should be completely healthy and put up great numbers again this season.
Jonas Brodin will always provide great defense because of his skating ability and his knowledge of the game. Doesn’t it feel like he should put up more points, though? He has been shooting the puck more but they just haven’t found the back of the net. What would a breakout season look like from #25? 10+ goals, 20+ assists? He had 8 goals in his 2nd season in 2013-14 but he didn’t turn into the 2-way defenseman we’d thought he’d be. He’s still as dependable as they come on the back end, though.
Nick Seeler, Brad Hunt and Carson Soucy round out the blue line. Seeler is a physical presence that is very much welcomed by his teammates. He has very good ability on defense as well. His skating ability is underrated but he’s a battler every time he’s on the ice. Brad Hunt is a decent defenseman who can bring some offense on the power play because of his shot. He’s also a great teammate. Soucy could turn into a Greg Pateryn-type with a little more offense. He has size and skating ability. We’ll see how he fills in for Pateryn over the next 6 weeks. If it doesn’t go as well as the Wild hope, Louie Belpedio will be waiting in Iowa for the call. *Does anyone remember Deep Blue Something? They were a one-hit wonder with the song, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. You know, “and I said, what about…Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She said I think I…remember the film…” It’s a good song! Maybe they should play it at a Wild game?
Stopping the Puck
Devan Dubnyk is a good goalie and he has the ability to be very good. He allows too many soft goals, which aren’t always his fault, to be honest. That being said, it is his job to stop the puck. He has a great defense in front of him and he’s been very good for the Wild since he was acquired in 2015 but his Goals Against Average (GAA-2.25, 2.52, 2.54) has gone up while his Save % (.923, .918, .913) has gone down the last three seasons while he’s played 60 or more games.
Will the Wild try to lessen his workload this season? Is Alex Stalock capable of giving the Wild 20-25 starts and not hurting them in net? His stats don’t paint a great picture but he’s a good puck mover and he always has a great attitude.
Does former Gopher Mat Robson get a chance to show what he can do in the NHL this season? Or maybe Kaapo Kahkonen? They’re both 23-years-old and will battle for the #1 starting spot for Iowa. Kaapo was thrust into playing early last season due to injuries then faded as the season went on while Robson took over the full-time spot for the Minnesota Gophers. His numbers reflected a young defense in our opinion but he looks like a future NHL goalie with his size and his skill. The Wild signed Robson to give him a shot so he’ll likely begin the season as the #1 starter in Iowa. They are both restricted free agents after this season.
The Bottom Line
Can the Wild get better because the culture is improved? Did Paul Fenton tear up this team last season, causing them to miss the playoffs? Is Bill Guerin able to make that big of a difference with his players, his coaches and the entire organization to get this team back on track of making the playoffs?
It definitely feels like he has and he can. It’s a vastly different feeling in the building since Billy G has joined the organization. He knows what he wants from the team and he’s told them what he wants. He’s not going to dance his way around telling anyone how it is. He expects the team to play hard and put forth the effort and sacrifice to help this team win and to be a team that cares and plays for each other.
It’s time to see how much of a difference that’s going to make because the 19th Season of Minnesota Wild Hockey begins…TONIGHT!!!
Thank you for reading!!! We really do appreciate it more than you know. We hope you Bring Some Clutter in the comments or on social media on our Facebook page, our Twitter and/or our Instagram.
video from TSN’s #InsiderTrading Feature and TSN Insider Darren Dreger, Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin is looking to acquire a center: “You’ve got a rookie GM in Bill Guerin, who is now the GM of the Minnesota Wild and, he’s willing to be aggressive but he’s also a realist. He wants a top center or a 2nd line center. How do you acquire that piece? The Wild have an abundance of wingers. They’ve got a good draft pile in terms of prospects and…they also have a good picks list as well so he’s willing to use all of that as bait but, again, he’s also careful in knowing that the market just doesn’t throw a player like that out there.”
That’s basically word for word what TSN Insider Darren Dreger said about Wild General Manager, Bill Guerin. The part of the video about the Minnesota Wild starts at about 1:45.
So…the question then is, how badly do they want/need a top center?
Eric Staal is currently their #1 center and he just signed a 2-year extension last season that goes through the 2020-21 Season. They have Captain Mikko Koivu, who’s coming off a torn ACL and is penciled in as the 3rd-line center. They’ve been experimenting with F Ryan Donato as the 2nd-line center and F Joel Eriksson Ek is probably the 4th-line center on paper.
They also have a few guys who are centers or have played center before in their careers: There’s Victor Rask, who was acquired for F Nino Niederreiter partly because former GM Paul Fenton wanted more depth at center. So far, that hasn’t worked out well but Rask’s contract is tough to move and/or pay to have him in the AHL so…what does that mean for him? If they wanted to trade him, they might have to sweeten the deal with a pick or prospect because it’s hard to imagine a team would want his contract. Maybe a team who’s in rebuilding or development mode would take him as a way to get to the cap limit? It’s hard to know right now if a team like that exists.
They also have Fs Luke Kunin, Jordan Greenway & Nico Sturm. Kunin has played a lot of center already in his Wild career so he’s able at that position. Greenway played a little center last season. Nico Sturm is a center and is still fighting for a roster spot but, he’s a young center who has only played 2 games so far and he maybe wasn’t considered a Top 6 center. He’s known as a defensively responsible center who has a great motor who will play the right way and probably get some points.
If they are in a bind, Kunin would be the first choice to move to the middle in our opinion. He’s pretty much already made the team and he’s been developing well after having to rehab from his own torn ACL last offseason.
Are any of them a Top 6 center right now? Well, if Bill Guerin is looking for one, he obviously doesn’t think so but, is he looking for one right now and does that mean he doesn’t think any of his players are ready to be the 1st or 2nd-line center for the Wild?
And, still, another question is how much should we believe the rumors from these insiders? Is it really he’s looking to acquire a center or is it more like Bill Guerin knows they have more forwards than they have room for on the NHL roster? Or have other NHL GMs shown interest in some of them and that’s what his response for what he wants back?
Do the Minnesota Wild have what it takes to acquire a Top-6 Center right now? We assume that would take a mixture of maybe an NHL Player, a Prospect or two and/or some Draft Picks.
The Wild have drafted better in the last couple of seasons but most of those players are very early in the development process to be considered top prospects just yet. For instance, The Athletic did a Top 124 Prospects Entering the 2019-20 Season List (Subscription Required and Highly Recommended) and the Wild had 2 players on it! TWO! That’s it! They are F Matthew Boldy, their most recent 1st-round draft pick, and F Kirill Kaprizov, who they weren’t as high on as most Minnesota Wild fans.
The Athletic also did a ranking of NHL Farm Systems and the Wild came in at #22. They were ranked #18 last season and were given a B for their 2019 Draft. The first center in their farm system prospect rankings is at #3 and it’s C Alexander Khovanov and they have him listed as a “Legit NHL Prospect.” They describe a Legit NHL Prospect as a player who “Projects to be a full-time NHL player in the bottom half of a roster.” That is obviously not a Top-6 center. Nico Sturm is the 4th-ranked player but he’s also listed as a “Legit NHL Prospect” so…do the Wild have enough to acquire a Top-6 Center right now? It appears they might be a little shy of what it would take to do that but it also depends on what the other teams want in a trade. If they are looking for defense, the Wild might be able to work out a deal.
So, we’ll see if anything happens on the trade front for the Minnesota Wild.
We’ll look at some young centers the Wild might be looking at, too, and then update this post. We did some posts on the Wild quest for goal-scorers in our Chasing Goals series.
We will see Victor Rask play in tonight’s Wild preseason game. Will that shed a light on these rumors? We’ll see. He has to have a really good game to show he’s progressed from his terrible 2018-19 season or who knows where he could end up?
Thanks for reading. Let us know what you think in the comments, or on Facebook, Twitter &/or Instagram and don’t forget…
Can the Wild Find Goals from the Buffalo Sabres roster?
The Minnesota Wild are looking for goals or, more to the point, players who score goals. We already covered the Wild’s roster in the first part of this 31-part series! You can see other parts here: Chasing Goals on…
Colorado Avalanche | Columbus Blue JacketsDallas Stars | Detroit Red Wings
Edmonton Oilers | Florida Panthers | Los Angeles Kings | Montreal Canadiens
Nashville Predators | New Jersey Devils | New York Islanders | New York Rangers
Ottawa Senators | Philadelphia Flyers | Pittsburgh Penguins | San Jose Sharks
St. Louis Blues | Tampa Bay Lightning | Toronto Maple Leafs | Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights | Washington Capitals | Winnipeg Jets
One of the problems with “Chasing Goals” is every team is trying to do the same thing. No team wants to give up a goal-scorer when they find one so this is no easy task for the Minnesota Wild and General Manager Paul Fenton. That being said, we are going to point out some options available to the Wild on each NHL team and the only limit we’re going to put on those options is they have to be able to help the Wild score goals next season so they have to already be playing or, at least, played some games in the NHL.
We may point out some prospects that look like they could help but it’s very difficult to judge what a player can do in the NHL based on stats from even the AHL let alone NCAA Hockey & the Canadian Junior Hockey Leagues. The Foreign leagues are usually even more difficult to judge because they are top professional leagues and the prospects are usually not playing top line minutes so their stats reflect that.
The Buffalo Sabres are coming off a weird season. They went 11-3-1 in the month of November and that included a stretch where they went 11-1 in 12 consecutive games. They were 17-6-2 after the first 25 games on the season but they went 16-33-8 in their final 57 games and missed the playoffs. Phil Housley was fired as the head coach after the season.
Here’s a team that’s built through the draft and they’ve been blessed with some high picks in F Jack Eichel and D Rasmus Dahlin but they haven’t been able to break through to the postseason and go on a run. They’ll add another high pick (7th) in the coming NHL Draft. They also have St. Louis’ first-round pick (#30/31) from the Ryan O’Reilly trade.
It makes you wonder what they could’ve done had they not traded F Ryan O’Reilly who is currently set to play for the Cup in Game 7 on Wednesday night and who has also been a huge reason why the St. Louis Blues have had such success this season.
It’s obvious the Sabres have some talent but it’s also quite obvious that the talent they have is likely not going anywhere anytime soon but let’s see if we can find some hidden gems that might interest the Wild on the roster of the Buffalo Sabres.
The Chase
Victor Olofsson: 23-yrs-old; Contract: 1 year, $767,500 Cap Hit (RFA) 2019 Stats: 2 goals, 2 assists in 6 games; Power Play: 2 G, 0 A NHL Totals: 2 goals, 2 assists in 6 games; Power Play: 2 G, 0 A Highlights
AHL (Rochester): 30 goals, 33 assists in 66 games last season
SHL (Frolunda HC): 27 goals, 16 assists in 50 games in 2017-18 as a 22-year-old
Shot the puck 21 times in 6 NHL games & was put on the Power Play right away. That’s 3.5 per game and we like that!
Hard to see Buffalo giving up this kid because he looks to have a very bright future. Picked in the 7th round in 2014.
CJ Smith: 24-yrs-old; Contract: (RFA) 2019 Stats: 2 goals, 0 assists in 11 games; Power Play: 0 G, 0 A NHL Totals: 2 goals, 1 assists in 13 games; Power Play: 0 G, 0 A Highlights
45 Goals in 119 AHL games; 17 in 57 games in 1st season, 28 in 62 games in 2nd season
43 Goals in 113 NAHL games; 13 in 53 games in 1st season, 30 in 60 games in 2nd season
27 Goals in 59 USHL games; 4 in 13 games for Muskegon; 23 in 46 games for Chicago
56 Goals in 120 NCAA games at UMass-Lowell; season progression, 16 (39 gms), 17 (40 gms) & 23 (41 gms)
Undrafted; Played at the Academy of Holy Angels as a 16-yr-old then left to play Jrs for the next 3 seasons.
It’s very cool to see players progressions from season to season and you can see that CJ gets better everywhere he goes and he has a history of scoring goals.
CJ is a Restricted Free Agent so the only way the Wild could obtain him would be through a trade to obtain his rights or through an offer sheet and since he’s only played 13 NHL games, they might be able to offer him a contract in the $1M/year range for 2 years and there wouldn’t be any compensation needed. I doubt the Wild would go that route, though.
