Minnesota Wild Trade F Eric Staal to Buffalo for F Marcus Johannson

Posted on September 16, 2020 by

 

Minnesota Wild Trade F Eric Staal to Buffalo for F Marcus Johannson September 16th, 2O2O

Bill Guerin continues to try to change the Minnesota Wild. For the 2nd time already this offseason, Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin has made a trade. This time he traded C Eric Staal to the #Sabres for F/C Marcus Johannson.

Guerin on Staal:
“Eric Staal was a positive influence on guys, but sometimes it’s just change is good for us,” Wild general manager Bill Guerin said. “This is part of it. We need to mix things up. We need to find a different pathway to success and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to build a better team and sometimes you have to take some drastic measures.

“We’re getting a little bit younger. It’s a different look for our team. Marcus provides a lot of speed, a lot of skill, and we’re looking forward to adding him to our lineup.”

Guerin on Johannson:
“I think opportunity,” Guerin said about why Johansson might succeed as a center in Minnesota. “They’ve got a pretty good No. 1 centerman there (in Buffalo) and sometimes it’s not a great fit, but I think Marcus fits well with us and he’s going to get a lot of opportunity. Dean (Evason) knows him very well from Washington (as a former assistant) and believes he can an impactful centerman, so he’s going to get that opportunity.”

I like the move more for what it says about changing this team than maybe the player the Minnesota Wild acquired although, kind of like Zuccarello, with the right linemates, Johannson has the skill to make plays. Does he center Fiala & Kaprizov on the top line? Does he join Zuccarello on a line?

Who centers the top line? TBD as there will likely be more moves.

Here’s what Guerin said about the culture of the Wild and likely why he wants to make changes:
“I’ve got to figure out what’s the issue. Why have we been falling short? There’s something rooted here that’s not working. … It’s something in the culture, and we need to change it.”

Staal was a good guy to have in the locker room and he loved it here but the GM can’t worry about hurting a player’s feelings or he’d never make a move. It’s a business and the Wild need to fix the team. Bill Guerin knows how to win on & off the ice!

Who will be next? Donato? Greenway? Kunin? Parise?

I’m only for trading Parise if you get something of value back. I realize that’s difficult to do with his contract but keep something useful back, not just another shorter bad contract. Parise still scores goals.

Guerin is definitely trying to put his mark on the team. Culture is the hardest thing to change but the biggest piece to build a winner in my opinion. I thought the 2019-20 Wild started to show that Play-For-Each-Other vibe, especially after the coaching change.

That’s another thing that will be interesting to see. How does Evason change how this team plays? System changes? Power Play? The lines? The defensive pairings? In goal?

All of this is still to be determined in an offseason that has already brought a lot of change to this team. It will be exciting and interesting to see how the Minnesota Wild look at the end of it.

Thanks for reading this Clutter!!! Have a Great Day! GO WILD and…
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The Future Starts Now for the Minnesota Wild

Posted on August 13, 2020 by
The 5th & Final (?) Episode of the Minnesota Wild’s YouTube series Beyond Our Ice came out earlier today.
 
This one is called “The Future Starts Now” and it covers Game 4 & the very quick end to the Minnesota Wild‘s season in Overtime and then moves to The Arrival of Kirill Kaprizov to Minnesota on Tuesday and then moves on to the questions surrounding the offseason & the 2020-21 NHL Season…
 
—When will the season start?
It’s tentatively scheduled to begin on December 1st. An NHL season usually goes about 6 1/2 months so next season would likely end sometime in the middle of June meaning the Stanley Cup would probably be awarded sometime in August unless the league is planning on trying to somehow compact 82 games into a shorter span of time. Would they then start the 2021-22 season on time in October or maybe gradually get back to October by starting in November then get back to starting in October in the 2022-23 season.
 
—Have we seen Mikko Koivu’s last game in the NHL? or with the Wild?
He’s going to take some time to think about it and talk to his brother who’s gone through it already to figure out what he wants to do. He’s not under contract so he would have to be signed. If they did that, would he still be Captain?
 
Obviously, it seems unlikely that Mikko would come back because he was their 4th line center to end the season. We wonder if he’d be someone that would join the organization in some other capacity.
 
—If Mikko retires? Who takes over the Captaincy?
There are some obvious options in Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon and Luke Kunin. A note on Spurgeon & Kunin from the video below, they contacted Kirill Kaprizov to start to get acquainted with him and so he could get acquainted with them, too. That’s pretty awesome leadership right there.
 
—Who’s #1 in goal next season?
Devan Dubnyk has 1 year left on his contract. Alex Stalock had a very good season & started all 4 games in the playoffs. Then, you also have Iowa Wild G Kaapo Kahkonen, the American Hockey League‘s Outstanding Goaltender for the 2019-20 season who looks ready to make the jump to being in the NHL at least as a backup if not the #1 goaltender.
 
—How does the Minnesota Wild get better?
That’s been General Manager Bill Guerin’s quote since the season ended. They have to get better. How do they do that?
 
They have the Draft coming up and prospects from the last couple drafts have looked good but they probably aren’t ready and you for sure can’t count on them to be ready. Kaprizov should be a nice piece but even that’s not a guarantee.
 
Do they trade a goalie? Do they trade somebody like F Ryan Donato? Do they trade a defenseman to get a nice top 6 forward from another team?
So many questions but that’s what always makes the offseason fun and I believe Bill Guerin is meant for this job. He knows how teams win so he knows what they need. He just has to go get it and that’s the hardest thing to do. Teams don’t want to give up what the Wild need but this is has been such a strange season, who knows how strange the offseason will be.
 
Stay tuned to #TheClutter so you know what’s happening.
 
We’ve been posting something every day for almost a full year now and we’re not going to stop anytime soon!
 
THANKS to all the #ClutterPuckers for following us, like-ing our content and commenting on it, too…or Thank for #Cluttering up our stats! Haha!
 
Let us know what you think!
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Minnesota Wild Recap at the Edmonton Oilers – February 21st, 2020

Posted on February 21, 2020 by


Can the Minnesota Wild start a winning streak in Edmonton? To Carson Soucy & Jared Spurgeon (natives of Alberta, Canada)…ARE YOU TOO GOOD FOR YOUR HOME?

Two Minnesota Wild players were going home to Alberta to play tonight’s game, D Carson Soucy & D Jared Spurgeon, and they had HUGE games proving they might be TOO GOOD FOR THEIR HOME!

The Minnesota Wild came back from 3 1-goal deficits before a huge 3rd period.

The Edmonton Oilers top line was wreaking havoc on the Wild in the first 2 periods. F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored 50 seconds into the game off an Oilers rush. Wild D Jonas Brodin actually appeared to take the puck but it was taken right back and passed to an open Nugent-Hopkins who beat Stalock by shooting through Matt Dumba.

Kevin Fiala made a nice play in front of the net to move the puck from his forehand to his backhand to get a wide-open net for his 16th goal of the season to tie the game at 1.

Nugent-Hopkins scored again when he was found wide-open driving to the net and it looked like the backchecker lost track of his man and/or was late getting back.

D Carson Soucy was found driving up the left side of the zone by Mats Zuccarello for an open shot that he wristed in for his 7th goal of the season. Unfortunately, he left the game with an upper-body injury. Luke Kunin did as well so the Wild had to battle through being short 2 players.

Leon Draisaitl scored on a pass from the goal line when the puck went off of Jordan Greenway’s skate and deflected back and into the net. It was a wicked deflection as Greenway was near the faceoff dot and skating towards the half-wall so it deflected like 10-15 feet backward but, bounces are part of the game, good & bad.

The Wild didn’t let that stop them as they tied it up again just 2:54 later on Jared Spurgeon’s slapper from the right dot that went far side past Oilers G Mikko Koskinen.

That’s Wild Alberta natives 2, the team from Alberta 3 if you’re keeping track.

So, a HUGE 3rd period began with the game knotted at 3 goals each. The Wild got an early power play and got some great scoring chances but couldn’t capitalize on them but they were playing a solid game and adjusting to the Oilers top line & that Draisaitl (#29 – 97 points (35 G, 62 A)) guy, blocking a lot of shots and getting good goaltending from G Alex Stalock.

They were also shooting the puck. Something Coach Dean Evason asked them to do. They finished with 39 shots on goal and a great example of getting pucks to the net was the Wild’s 4th goal and Jared Spurgeon’s 2nd of the game. Ryan Suter brought the puck in on the right side and quickly passed it off to Zach Parise then continued into the zone to give Zach a passing option. Zach had to curl back towards the boards to protect the puck and then backhanded it into the corner to Suter. Jared took advantage of the space on the left side of the zone and Suter found him but passed it in front of him forcing Spurgeon to go to his backhand and he just threw the puck at the net and it went off of Oilers D Adam Larsson’s stick and into the net for a 4-3 Wild lead! See….Get Pucks to the Net, boys!!!

The Wild got another power play with 8:20 left and had some chances to double their lead but didn’t so the Oilers had 6+ minutes to tie the game then Spurgeon put his stick into the skates of Oilers F Caleb Jones and ended up tripping him with 3:49 left in regulation.

The Wild’s Penalty Kill has been much improved in the last handful of games because they are doing the things they need to do to kill said penalties. Most of that is blocking shots but it’s also working together and communicating. As the power play wound down, the puck was passed back to the point but Spurgeon came out of the box fast to break up the play and the loose puck went to Eric Staal who fed Spurgeon for the easy empty-net goal for his 1st Career Hat Trick and only the Wild’s 2nd Hat Trick from a Defenseman.

So…for the record! That’s Wild Alberta natives 4, Team from Alberta 3! Soucy 1 & Spurgeon doing a trick with a hat! It was a treat seeing that trick!

What a huge win! This team doesn’t give up and the 3 days off has served them well as the Coach has stressed accountability and communication.

Next up: St. Louis Blues at the X on Sunday at 6:30pm on the NHL on NBC Sports.

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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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