Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Columbus Blue Jackets – October 10th, 2024

Posted on October 11, 2024 by Robb

The Minnesota Wild began season 24 tonight at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

We just published our Season Preview so check that out if you have the time and let us know what you think!

2024-25 Minnesota Wild Season Preview – Identity Restored

Or is this a better cover:

2024-25 Minnesota Wild Season Preview - Identity Restored

Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

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Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Columbus Blue Jackets - October 10th, 2024

Status Report

D Declan Chisholm was out with an illness. The Wild recalled Daemon Hunt, a defenseman, and reassigned goalie Jesper Wallstedt to Iowa of the American Hockey League on Thursday.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus Blue Jackets Lineup at the Minnesota Wild - October 10th, 2024

Status Report

Jenner, a forward, had surgery on his shoulder Wednesday and is out indefinitely.

Game Recap

There was a tribute and 13 seconds of silence for the late Johnny & Matthew Gaudreau before the game began:

1st Period

Minnesota Wild F Matt Boldy, who was injured in the 1st preseason game (?) had a breakaway early in the 1st period but Columbus D Zach Werenski caught him and we thought he slashed his stick over the top but there wasn’t a call and if there wasn’t a call, it must not have been a penalty, right? 

Minnesota Wild D Brock Faber had the puck on an offensive rush, got twisted with a Columbus defender as he tried to get the puck back to Marcus Foligno and then collided with his teammate, F Marcus Foligno, falling awkwardly into the corner boards. He got up and skated gingerly off the ice. That didn’t look good but he returned and looked no worse for the wear.

Minnesota Wild F Jakub Lauko, acquired from Boston for F Vinni Lettieri, made a rush up the ice and fired a backhand that may have missed the net but he showed good speed and hands. That trade has looked good since the second it happened! 

17 minutes and 40 seconds or so into the 3rd, the Minnesota Wild were on the power play and, as it expired, Matt Boldy was in the right corner beneath the goal line when he received the puck from linemate Marcus Johansson and he skated out to the right half-wall as he surveyed his options then he fired a quick wrist shot while Joel Eriksson Ek was being a nuisance in front of the net and the shot went upper right for the 1st Minnesota Wild goal of the season.

2:09 – Goal – Minnesota – Matt Boldy (1) from Marcus Johansson (1) & Jonas Brodin (1)

Columbus 0 | 1 Minnesota

2nd Period

The Blue Jackets scored 2 minutes into the 2nd to tie the game at 1 on a goal that happened because of at least 2 deflections. A Columbus shot went wide into the right corner & around to the right half-wall & Cole Sillinger beat Wild D Jake Middleton to the loose puck then curled around to the top of the faceoff circle. Wild F Kirill Kaprizov was coming to defend him & to try to take the puck. Sillinger tried a pass to the left point but it went off of Kaprizov’s left skate to the front of the net right to Columbus F Kent Johnson who had his back to the net but he caught the puck with his stick and made a turnaround shot on net. Wild D Jared Spurgeon saw what he was doing so he extended his right leg out to try to block the shot but it ended up deflecting off of Spurgeon’s leg and went up into the left corner of the net.

You know it went off of Spurgeon because of his reaction and because Wild G Filip Gustavsson moved to stop a low shot to the far side.

18:00 – Goal – Columbus – Kent Johnson (1) from Cole Sillinger (1) & Damon Severson (1)

Deflections are tough because they cause the defense to scramble to find the puck, allowing the offense to find open ice for a pass or a rebound off the goalie. Jake Middleton may have been able to end the play by moving his feet to get better position on Sillinger so he could either take the puck from him or get physical with him to force a turnover or a loose puck, especially since he was skating away from the net or with his back to the net. 

Columbus 1 | Minnesota 1

About 8 minutes of playing time later, Columbus had some offensive zone time and the puck came back to Damon Severson at the right or right-middle of the blue line & as he was getting ready to shoot, F James Van Riemsdyk was coming out to the front of the net to screen the goalie. As he skated through the crease to get in front of Wild G Filip Gustavsson, he was so close to him that Gustavsson could not play his position and fell trying to make the save to his right. The official was right there but he signaled a good goal. Wild coach John Hynes challenged for Goaltender Interference and it took 5+ minutes to look at the play and overturn the call on the ice. NO GOAL!!!*
*It’s ridiculous why this goal isn’t called No Goal due to goaltender interference! More about it in our Game Notes article coming soon!

We couldn’t find any video of this but it’s at the 4:07 mark of the highlight video embedded at the end of the article.

Goaltender Interference during the game between the Minnesota Wild & the Columbus Blue Jackets? Isn't it obvious?
You see the puck right in front of the player in front of the net as well as the contact he’s making with Wild G Filip Gustavsson

We did find this explanation on the NHL’s website:

Coach’s Challenge for Goaltender Interference - CBJ @ MIN – 1024 of the 2nd Period

Explanation: Video review determined that Columbus’ James van Riemsdyk made contact with goaltender Filip Gustavsson’s pad that impaired his ability to play his position prior to the goal. The decision was made in accordance with Rule 69.1 which states, in part, that “Goals should be disallowed only if: (1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal.”

6 minutes later, the Wild used their forecheck to perfection but Columbus helped out with some weird decisions and soft plays. Blue Jackets D Jack Johnson, in the defensive zone, held the puck then tried to skate away from Marcus Johansson instead of just passing it off the boards right away to his defensive partner who could then make a play to break out of the zone. Instead he passed it to his partner late so he had to just send it up the boards. Wild D Jake Middleton pinched to get to the puck first which he did but he either missed it or slowed it down because he knew Matt Boldy was behind him & James Van Riemsdyk was already pressuring him. Columbus F Adam Fantilli tried to chip the puck past Boldy but he missed it completely and took a huge turn to get back into the play. That forced D Erik Gudbranson to defend Boldy so he passed the puck to Marcus Johansson who was open because Gudranson left him so Jack Johnson, with his stick in the air, went to Johansson which left Joel Eriksson Ek open in the slot and he sniped it into the upper left corner to get the Wild their 1-goal lead back.

3:25 – Goal – Minnesota –  Joel Eriksson Ek (1) from Marcus Johansson (1) & Matt Boldy (1)

Columbus 1 | Minnesota 2

Late in the period, Wild F Marco Rossi got a puck at the right half-wall and made a quick backhand pass to Kirill Kaprizov in front of the net for a good scoring chance. With them still being relatively new teammates, we wonder if Kirill didn’t expect that pass because he had to make a turnaround shot which isn’t usually the greatest shot.

3rd Period

About halfway through the 3rd period, the Minnesota Wild were on a power play and they worked the passing to perfection as Boldy fed Mats Zuccarello for a quick catch & shoot but may have been a catch & pass because the puck deflected off of Jack Johnson’s stick and off the inside of Columbus G Elvis Merzlikens right leg and into the net. “Thank you very much!.” in an Elvis voice and dance.

10:02 – Goal – Minnesota –  Mats Zuccarello (1) from Matt Boldy (2) & Kirill Kaprizov (1)  

Columbus 1 | Minnesota 3

The Wild looked like they had this game won as they kept the forecheck going & were all over them but D Jake Middleton got a delay of game penalty when he accidentally shot the puck over the glass and out of play with

It took Columbus just 16 seconds to score on a one-timer from D Zach Werenski. The face-off ended up going beneath the goal line to Wild G Filip Gustavsson’s right and all 4 Wild penalty killers were there trying to win the puck against 3 Blue Jackets. The puck came around the opposite corner where Columbus F Kent Johnson corralled it and skated across the top of the zone then fed Yegor Chinakhov at the left point and he quickly sent it over to Werenski for a one-timer from the top of the right circle and the low shot may have deflected off Jonas Brodin’s stick to beat Gustavsson and bring the game within a goal with 2:54 remaining in regulation.

10:02 – Goal – Columbus –  Zach Werenski (1) from Yegor Chinakhov (1) & Kent Johnson (1)  

Columbus 2 | Minnesota 3

Wild F Marcus Foligno gave both of his linemates breakaways in the 3rd but neither of them capitalized on those chances.

The Wild had to battle through until the end and make some key defensive plays and blocked shots to make sure…

Game 1 Was GAME WON!!!

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Final

Columbus Blue Jackets 2 | 3 Minnesota Wild

Shift Chart

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Next up: 

vs the Seattle Kraken on Saturday at 7 pm on Bally Sports North!

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Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on 

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring the Clutter Every Day in Every Way!
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2024-25 Minnesota Wild Season Preview – Identity Restored

Posted on October 10, 2024 by Robb
2024-25 Minnesota Wild Season Preview - Identity Restored

In their current state of cap penalties, the Minnesota Wild have to play a certain way, or to their identity, to win. That identity is outworking all their opponents in every aspect of the game. They can’t let up at any point in the game. They can’t relax. The term used very often by Wild coaches and front office staff is “hard to play against.” They have to play that way because, 

“Gentleman… you don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone.”

That’s been the thought about the Wild for a long time and most of their existence but we might be just a season away from adding $14M of “talent.” That doesn’t help them now, though, does it? Nope! Absolutely Not!

Identity Definition - being who or what a person or this is

That’s okay. You have to play hard to win in the NHL. There are no easy games if you’re trying to win. (Ahem, tankers!) Another saying about talent is…

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard!”

The Minnesota Wild missed the playoffs by 11 points but last season we saw a John Hynes-coached Wild team can win games and they were doing it with a depleted lineup due to injuries. When John Hynes took over as head coach last season (November 27th) to the end of the regular season (April 18th), the Minnesota Wild were the 13th-best team. Other ranks from that time span: 

Goals For (15th), Goals Against (13th), Power Play % (9th), Penalty Kill % (22nd) & Face-Off Win % (23rd):

Minnesota Wild Rankings from November 28th, 2023 thru April 18th, 2024 with John Hynes as Head Coach

In those same stats through the first 19 games under Coach Dean Evason, they were the worst team by wins, 30th in points and:

Goals For (28th), Goals Against (28th), Power Play % (24th), Penalty Kill % (32nd or Last) & Face-Off Win % (29th)

Now compare the first 19 games with the last 63 games:

First 19 – Record: 5-10-4 (W-L-OTL) – 14 pts:
Goals For (28th), Goals Against (28th), Power Play % (24th), Penalty Kill % (32nd or Last) & Face-Off Win % (29th)

Final 63 games – Record: 34-23-6 (W-L-OTL) – 74 pts:
Goals For (15th), Goals Against (13th), Power Play % (9th), Penalty Kill % (22nd) & Face-Off Win % (23rd)

That’s a pretty big turnaround so the big question is, with a full offseason for John Hynes to implement his system, get players back healthy again & players improving in the offseason off of the frustration of a season gone bad, can they make it to The Dance and see what happens once they get there?

There’s still a lot of work to do but we think they are a playoff contender and we know GM Bill Guerin will help his team get better at the trade deadline to give them an extra push to make the dance as long and fun as possible.

SOLD at the Deadline

The Minnesota Wild sold a lot of Wild identity-type players at last season’s trade deadline. They traded F Brandon Duhaime (to COL for a ‘26 3rd-round pick), F Connor Dewar (to TOR for a ‘26 4th-round pick & F Dmitry Ovchinnikov (now a Free Agent)) & F Pat “It was” Maroon* (to BOS for F Luke Toporowski (on SOIR**) & a ‘26 6th-round pick). 
*One of those players was injured… “It was Maroon” and he only played the last two regular season games for Boston so he wouldn’t have been a factor for the Wild had he not been traded. 
**Season-Opening Injured Reserve (Lower-Body Injury)

The Minnesota Wild were 24-17-2 from John Hynes first game as head coach until the Wild sold at the Trade Deadline. That’s 50 points in 43 games which is 1.16 pts per game or 95 points in 82 games.

They were 10-6-4* after the Trade Deadline which is 23 points in 20 games (1.15 pts per game or 94 points in 82 games.
*This includes the Overtime game where the Wild pulled their goalie to try to get the 2nd point then allowed an Empty-Net Goal (ENG) so they forfeited the 1 point they would’ve received for an Overtime Loss.

Those trades made it difficult for the Wild down the stretch of last season because they weren’t as hard to play against. Talent is great and every team needs it but you also need those 3rd & 4th-line players because they can make it hard on other teams top lines (or “Talent” lines) to be effective. 

New & Later

The injuries and deadline moves from the 2023-24 season dictated the offseason for the Minnesota Wild. They had to restore their identity by getting players to help them get back to being a team that makes the game difficult for every opponent. They also had to add depth & preferably veteran depth to help push everyone to improve their games and to fill in if/when injuries happen this season.

The first move of the offseason happened on May 31st when assistant coach & “one of us” Darby Hendrickson was relieved of his coaching duties. He was hired 21 days later by Nashville to be an assistant coach of former teammate Andrew Brunette. The Wild hired Jack Capuano to replace Darby.

The first player move of the offseason saw Minnesota Wild General Manager (GM) Bill Guerin made a hockey trade with New Jersey that was also a change-of-scenery trade when he sent F Adam Beckman to NJ for F Graeme Clarke. They’re both goal-scorers who haven’t received a real shot in the NHL. 

8 days later, they made another trade when they sent F Vinni Lettieri with a ‘24 4th-round pick to the Boston Bruins for F Jakub Lauko & a ‘24 4th-round pick. This could turn out to be a great move in what was most likely a move Boston made to free up some money to sign G Jeremy Swayman.

The Big Move happened on July 1st when the Wild used the majority of their available cap space to sign F Yakov Trenin to a 4-year/$14M contract ($3.5M AAV). He’s a bottom-6 forward/center who was brought in because he Brings Clutter with physicality, the forecheck and good defense like a Joel Eriksson Ek with less offense but the offense could be because he’s not playing or never has played in a top-6 role. Some reporters thought the Wild were going to pursue a top-6 forward in the offseason but 

The Wild also signed 8 players to two-way deals that have already played in the NHL but have yet to get a decent shot at staying there. These players are hungry for that chance:

Forwards: 

Travis Boyd (former Gopher), Brendan Gaunce, Reese Johnson, Ben Jones & Devin Shore

Defence:
Joseph Cecconi & Cameron Crotty

Goalies:
Troy Grosenick (already out for the season with a torn ACL)

Travis Boyd spent most of his time in the NHL since the 2018-19 season (288 games) while playing just 6 games in the AHL during that time. He scored 77 points in 172 games for Arizona the last 3 seasons with 35 of the points being goals. He had 64 goals & 96 points in 148 games in his 4-year career with the Minnesota Gophers.

The age-range of these players is 25 to 31 years old and only one of them hasn’t made their NHL debut yet (Cecconi) so you know they will be working their butts off to be the first player called up when its needed.This will hopefully allow for a better season for the Wild’s minor league club, the Iowa Wild.

Marco Goal-O!!!

The Wild need several things to happen for them to compete for the Cup this season. They need a bunch of veteran players to return to form (Foligno, Hartman, Gaudreau, Johansson, Spurgeon, etc…) and they need a couple players to have breakout seasons and one of them should be Marco Rossi. He had 21 goals last season but we think this kid is just getting started. Did he hear the trade rumors? He for sure knows he’s going to be a Restricted Free Agent after this season but we think he’s just motivated to win. If you want proof of that, he decided it was best to skip the qualifiers for the World Championship and playing for his country Austria in Europe and come to Minnesota in mid-August to continue his training with the team.

He stayed in Minnesota last offseason and finished with 41 points, finished 6th in the Calder Trophy voting for Best Rookie and made the All-Rookie 1st team.

It also looks like he’ll start the season between Zuccarello & Kaprizov.

Take More Steps

A better season from D Brock Faber who probably should’ve won the Calder Trophy isn’t hard to envision because he’s already so good and he’s young so you expect him to keep learning what he can & can’t do.

Others who could surprise: Liam Ohgren after making the team out of camp, Marat Khusnutdinov after acclimating himself to the NHL in the last 16 games of last season (scored 3 of his 4 points in the last 6 games of the season) and most likely being told to take more chances offensively by the coaches &/or the GM.

And… we really like Jakub Lauko to have a breakout season because of how good he looked in the preseason. We know he’ll hit and be a part of that “hard to play against” mantra the Wild are trying to get back to but he also showed some offensive flair that maybe he wasn’t able to show as a Boston Bruin.

To be a Special Team, your Special Teams have to be… uhh… Special 

The Wild had an outstanding Power Play last season and we expect that to continue if not become even better this season. The Penalty Kill was not good and was a major contribution that led to “Killing” their chances of making the playoffs. That will have to get fixed so the Wild hired Jack Capuano as an assistant coach and he’ll help run the Penalty Kill with Pat Dwyer. This is also something new forward Yakov Trenin specializes in so he will help too.

It’s pretty difficult to change your system once the season started and the Wild had the 10th best penalty kill during the 2022-23 season but ended up with the 3rd worst PK last season so they’ve worked on it and hope to make it a big part of their success this season. Oh, the Captian D Jared Spurgeon being back healthy will also help the kill.

3-Headed Goalie?

The Minnesota Wild will start the season with 3 goalies on the roster. Filip Gustavsson & Marc-Andre Fleury will return but they’ll be joined by young prospect & who the Wild believe is their goalie of the future, Jesper Wallstedt (\YEHS-puhr WAHL-steht\). 

Jesper has been kicking at the NHL can for a couple of seasons and made his NHL 

debut last season when they started him against Dallas in early January and the Stars scored 7 on him. He returned in April for two starts, won them both and earned his 1st NHL Shutout at Chicago on April 7th.

It will be interesting to see how the Minnesota Wild do this because there will be times when one goalie could get on a roll and get a string of consecutive starts so the other two will just be ready. There will also be times when the schedule doesn’t work well for 3 goalies. Jesper Wallstedt is exempt from waivers so he can be sent down and recalled from Iowa without the Wild risking losing him.

The major reason for this is the Minnesota Wild feel Jesper has shown he’s ready to get more NHL starts and they want to find out what they have in him. He also gets to learn from a future Hall of Fame goaltender in Marc-Andre Fleury.

We’ll see how it goes. The schedule starts with 2 home games and then a 7-game road trip so the Wild have already sent Wallstedt down to Iowa and recalled D Daemon Hunt. 

The Iowa Wild start their season on Saturday & the Wild will be playing their 2nd game so this allows Jesper to start the game in Iowa to get some playing time.

Time to Get WILD!!!

A lot of things have to go right for the Minnesota Wild to make the playoffs and make a run but they had a strong camp and the players were disappointed with last season and want this season to be different.

Will it happen? There is no way to know until we…

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Drop the ClutterPuck 
on the 2024-25 NHL Season!

––––– CP –––––

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on 

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring the Clutter Every Day in Every Way!
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Minnesota Gophers Recap at the St. Cloud State Huskies – October 5th, 2024

Posted on October 7, 2024 by Robb
Minnesota Gophers Recap at the St. Cloud State Huskies - October 5th, 2024

The Minnesota Gophers started their 2024-25 season with an exhibition game against their in-state & former WCHA Conference rival, the St. Cloud State Huskies. 

The broadcast analyst was former St. Cloud Stat D Geno Parrish, with whom I once played pickup hockey back in my HockeyGiant days. I had a high-ankle sprain and was very hesitant to play because I didn’t want to hurt it more and was told by a co-worker that I was “being a pussy” because of it. I don’t remember if I played that time or the next time but Geno was also there because another co-worker knew & invited him. I remember being in front of the net and Geno was winding up for a slap shot and it was coming right at my foot so I screamed, “NOOOOO!” It didn’t hit me though. PHEW!

Geno is the older brother of F Mark Parrish who played 12 years in the NHL including 2 seasons with the Minnesota Wild.

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

Minnesota Gophers

Minnesota Gophers Projected Lines at the St. Cloud State Huskies

St. Cloud State Huskies

St. Cloud State Huskies Projected Lines vs the Minnesota Gophers - October 5th, 2024

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Alright! Let’s get to the game, ‘Puckers!

Drop the College ClutterPuck!!!

There wasn’t any audio to start the game on Fox9+ so I guess that makes it Fox9-? It’s an exhibition so… practice for everyone then? The commercials work, of course. Ughh! Streaming is having a great start to the season! Did they prep the cords for the cold 🥶? Is it the guy from Airplane the Movie unplugging it just to be funny…

Airplane! Unplugging the lights!

Then they returned from the commercial and we missed the first 45 seconds of the game! Geez!

12:18 mark – Gopher D Mike Koster made a nice move to get to the net for a scoring chance then got cross-checked right in front of the official but there was no call.

Now even the commercials don’t have audio! That’s an improvement, though!

Minnesota Gophers scoreless after the 1st period.

Breakaway for Verner Miettinen starts the scoring with St. Cloud State early in the second period.

Gophers responded when Gopher F Connor Kurth got to a loose puck in the St. Cloud offensive zone first and both Huskies D-men went to Kirth which left F Aaron Huglen open for a quick shot that beat the goalie to the upper right corner to tie the game at 1.

The Gophers went up 2-1 on a Jimmy Snuggerud goal that also went to the upper right corner and the Huskies were puck-watching on that one.

They called a double-minor on the Huskies when the same player took a tripping & a cross-checking penalty on the same player in about 5 seconds. That’s unusual. Exhibition call, maybe?

Gophers scored on the 1st power play on a Ryan Chesley point shot. 3-1 Gophs!

Maybe due to technical difficulties, the Minnesota Gophers Men’s Hockey Twitter account combined the last 3 goals into one video.

The 4th goal was scored off a point shot from D Mike Koster and it appeared to go bar down on the Power Play to make it 4-1 Minnesota!

And, the 5th Minnesota Gophers goal was scored by freshman forward August Falloon on a great feed from F Connor Kurth (his 2nd assist of the game) after the Huskies defenseman turned over the puck at the blueline trying to find it in his feet.

Minnesota Gophers win 5-1 at the St. Cloud State Huskies.

Here’s the recap from the Gophers:

‘U’ Skates by Huskies, 5-1, in Saturday Exhibition

And a highlight reel from YouTube that looks like it’s just all of the highlights above with the St. Cloud State goal added in:

Game Notes

Some notes we had from watching the game.
There are a lot of new faces on the roster and we aren’t familiar with any of them:

Forwards:
9 August Falloon – Freshman
14 Becketter Hendrickson – Freshman
72 Erik Påhlsson – Freshman
74 Brodie Ziemer – Freshman
91 Matthew Wood – Junior

Defense:
3 John Whipple – Freshman
10 Max Rud – Sophomore
33 Axel Begley – Sophomore
55 Leo Gruba – Freshman

Goalies:
29 Nathan Airey – Sophomore
30 Zach Wiese – Junior
31 Liam Souliere – Senior
35 Matt Bryant – Junior

That’s 13 new players* on a 27-man roster. That’s nearly half the team! 
*6 Freshmen, 3 Sophomores, 3 Juniors & 1 Senior

  • Gophers number 91 – F Matthew Wood has good size and uses it to protect the puck well.
  • Gophers number 72 – F Eric Påulson has speed & hands
  • The Gophers played 2 goalies, Nathan Airey & Liam Souliere; the Huskies played 3 goalies (1 each period)
  • The Huskies were puck-watching a lot but got better in the 3rd period
  • The Gophers somewhat dominated the game. Do they have more talent? They are ranked 6th while the Huskies were ranked 16th in USCHO’s college hockey poll.

Next up:  

The Minnesota Gophers will host the 2024 Ice Breaker Tournament in Las Vegas next Friday & Saturday. They’ll play Air Force on Friday night at 9:30 pm & play the winner of the UMass/Omaha game on Saturday night at 9:30 pm. There isn’t any television coverage currently listed for either game. We’ll update if that changes.

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Thanks for Reading!!!

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on 

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

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The Daily Clutter for Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 – Issue #66

Posted on March 7, 2024 by Robb

What is The Daily Clutter? 

It’s pretty simple. The Clutter is us but it’s also the news about Minnesota hockey & hockey in general and we want to Bring The Clutter to you, our fans or The ClutterPuckers, daily!

Maybe we’ll sprinkle in some fun things, too. 

Today… we have the beginning of the Minnesota State High School League Boy’s Hockey Tournament more commonly known as, The Tourney! The NHL Trade Deadline is at 2 pm CST on Friday, March 8th & the Wild signed a young man & an old man.

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The Minnesota High School Hockey Tournament Is BACK!!!


The legend that is the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament started today with the single-A bracket while the double-AA bracket begins tomorrow at 11 am. If you’re a hockey fan & want to see the future of hockey in Minnesota & in college & professional hockey, there might not be any better place to do it than the Xcel Energy Center from March 6th to March 9th. 4 games of hockey for three days then 2 championship games on Saturday.

Here are the 2024 Tourney’s Brackets: 

Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament – Single-A

Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament – Double-AA

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The NHL Trade Deadline has Arrived

2024 NHL Trade Deadline

The entire National Hockey League is on the phone either trying to get better to win The Cup or getting as much as possible for their players so they can eventually be one of those teams trying to get the final piece for their team to win The Cup.

It’s a crazy time for fans, front offices and, more than anyone else, the players. It’s usually exciting for fans because their team is acquiring what they think will be a piece or two to get them over the hump to go on a run for the Cup or your team is acquiring an exciting prospect or a pick that will turn into an exciting prospect.

It has to be difficult for the players though. Just think of being at your current job but for the last month or so, 31 other cities in your employer’s company were doing all they can to get better or get as much as they can get for the best employees because it hasn’t been a great year. 

Maybe you’ve been there for many years but your contract is up after this year. You might have a say in where you can or can’t go because of that but not complete control so you’re not sure if you’re going to have to uproot your family and move them across the country or to Canada. Or you might have to just go and work until the year is over and you can then decide where you want to sign a new contract.

Or maybe you’re fresh out of college at your first job & you didn’t know much about this “transfer deadline” situation so when a manager comes up to you because he/she needs to talk to you about something, you’re shocked when you’re told you’re being transferred to:

  • Chicago –  They don’t treat their employees very well & their latest hotshot employee slipped & broke his jaw so he hasn’t been able to work for 6 weeks but they’re very good at being terrible so they can get better younger employees so maybe it’s a good place to grow & success is not that far away.
  • Arizona – They don’t have a lot of office space. Everyone has to have a mullet haircut for some reason, “Did you say mullet?” Employees go there to get more opportunities and then get sent to a better branch after they’ve run with the opportunity they were given & they believe they can help them move up in the industry.
  • San Jose – You’ve heard they are Sharks but they’re apparently vegetarian Sharks so nobody is afraid of them taking their customers and they just seem to not be able to figure out how to beat the competition and get going in a positive direction. 
  • Ottawa – Otta-what? Yep. You’re going to Canada and it’s not Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg or Edmonton. It’s Ottawa. Sure, it’s the capital of the country but they’ve had problems figuring out how to grow, develop & succeed consistently. Your first questions are, “What is a Tkachuk?” & “What is Stützle?”
  • Buffalo – Oooh… New York. Kind of but you’re closer to Canada than the city so nice they named it twice. You find out they haven’t been in the top half of the industry for 13 years and, for some reason, a lot of the employees are still angry with the Dallas branch because they think they cheated to achieve the goal of top branch back in 1999. A former employee named Ruff won’t let it go as he keeps saying, “No GOAL!”
  • Minnesota – You’ve heard the state and the people are nice but this branch apparently found a loophole to be able to sign a couple of employees to long deals so the head of employment made it so you’re stuck with those contracts no matter what so this branch is hampered with the constraints of having about 20% less money to use to improve their standing. They have some really good employees and they’re a good group but the thought is until those money constraints expire after nest year, they can’t keep up with the top half of the industry.

Crazy, right? And we didn’t even mention Columbus & their crazy manager who was asking employees to show him pictures to see if they had good friends or something. It doesn’t matter now. He was fired.

It’s a good thing you can’t be traded, huh?

More Trade Deadline… 

A Crying Flame 

Calgary Flames G Jacob Markstrom has a No-Move Clause (NMC) in his contract and there was a rumor he was going to be traded to New Jersey but Calgary decided they wanted to keep him since they got back in the playoff hunt with a few wins against Boston, Jersey & the Islanders. They then lost 3 straight including 2 at home against San Jose & Detroit. Then they won 5 straight agaisnt Winnipeg, Boston, Edmonton, LA & Pittsburgh but lost to Seattle.

Markstrom thought the rumors could’ve been handled “different from up top” and apparently he thinks he shouldn’t have been told or didn’t need to be told about the possibility of being traded. To that, we say, “What a whiner!” Maybe he should’ve told them how he wanted the “rumors” to be handled because we see plenty of trades nowadays that players hear about from social media before the GM tells them & one would think every player is happy to have updates on what’s going on unless they tell the GM, “I don’t want to hear about anything until something is done.” Especially since he has a NO MOVE CLAUSE!* But, he’s also a goalie and they all seem to be a little… uhh… different.

*If you aren’t familiar with what a No-Move Clause is:

CapFriendly - What is a No-Move Clause
If you remove the “e” in Clause, it means Santa doesn’t have to move or hasn’t moved & Mrs. Claus is none too happy about it! 🤣

Minnesota Wild
The Record: 29-27-6 (W-L-OTL), 64 points  

2023-24 Minnesota Wild Schedule and Results

NHL Hockey Standings
6th in NHL’s Central Division

The Minnesota Wild are now 9 points out of a playoff spot. They have 20 games remaining or 40 points available to them to continue their quest to get to Dance with the Cup! “Dance with the Cup?… What the hell does that mean?”* If you don’t know what that means, you need more Clutter in your life! Come on, now!

*It means to make the playoffs for a chance at winning the Stanley Cup. Not a Stanley Cup:

a Stanley Cup Tumbler

THE STANLEY CUP:

Heavenly music plays as The Cup is shown! Is that the Holy Grail? YES! It Is!

A lot of Minnesota Wild fans have already given up on them for this season because they are 9 points out. Those fans also Need More Clutter. We don’t understand that mentality and here’s why. If your favorite team is still competing their butts off to win & they still have a chance to make the playoffs, why would you give up on them? “Well… they should see what they have for the future with the prospects that are in the minors.” Prospects have to force their way into being an NHL player. They need to know nothing is going to be given to them. That way they know they have to keep working their butts off to get a chance to play in the best hockey league in the world. What GM is saying, “You know what? Let’s give “insert name here” a chance… just because?” Not one of them.

Wild Trade Activity?

Will the Wild acquire someone in the next 3 days before the 2 pm CST deadline on Friday? It’s hard to know and we’re not big on rumors because they’re rumors. They don’t mean anything. It does sound like it’s more likely they might trade a or both Deweys, Fs Brandon Duhaime &/or Connor Dewar. Duhaime is an Unrestricted Free Agent after this season & he’s a player with Clutter that playoff teams love to have as those grinder type physical players can make an impact in the playoffs. Dewar is the same kind of player.

Injured F Pat Maroon could be traded too. He’s won 3 Stanley Cups (not the ones with the straws) & that experience is also something GMs want on or for their teams to get them over the hump.

The Minnesota Wild probably won’t make a big blockbuster move but who knows, right? Billy G knows. That’s it! We’ll see what happens. Bill Guerin wants to win and he has won so he knows what it takes & we’re sure he’d love to help his team and despite what Wild Beat Writer Michael Russo from The Athletic says above, we don’t think he’s given up on his team. It’s been a weird season filled with a crazy amount of injuries but they are still alive.

Will Toronto Acquire a Goalie at the Deadline?

To us, that is one of the biggest questions of the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline. Teams that win The Stanley Cup need a goalie that can be a major part of why they win and we don’t think Toronto has had that for a long time & it’s unbelievable that they haven’t gone out and acquired an unquestioned number 1 goalie.

For the last several seasons, they have relied on goalies that they hope can come back from an or multiple injuries (I Wish You Would), a reclamation project (a former number 1 goalie who hasn’t been up to that status for a while), or a young prospect that has yet to establish himself in the best league in the world. This is why it’s so amazing they haven’t done anything to improve possibly the most important position in the game.

We assume they won’t do anything to change it but this is the first trade deadline for their current GM, Brad Treliving, so… maybe this year will be different. 

Signing in the Wild

Also, on Monday the Minnesota Wild re-signed D Zach Bogosian to a 2-year/$2.5M ($1.25M Average Annual Value (AAV)) extension. This is a good signing because Bogo has fit in well with the Wild and he was already living in Minnesota in the offseason so it was an easy transition and he has rejuvenated his career after being with the Tampa Bay Lightning to start the season and not playing very often.

With the Wild:

He’s also averaging 17:36 of ice time. 

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If you missed any of the Daily Clutter Issues, Here you go:

Daily Clutter – Issue #1

Daily Clutter – Issue #2

Daily Clutter – Issue #3

Daily Clutter – Issue #4

Daily Clutter – Issue #5

Daily Clutter – Issue #6

Daily Clutter – Issue #16

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on 

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

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

Minnesota Wild Recap at the Nashville Predators – February 29th, 2024

Posted on March 1, 2024 by Robb

The Minnesota Wild are in a playoff push, so every game is the biggest game of the season. Is it a little bigger against a division opponent & a team they’re battling for the final playoff spot? Yes, but it shouldn’t change their game one bit. The Nashville Predators had won 6 straight but they were 1-3 in the 4 games before that so the Minnesota Wild have a better record over their last 10 games at 7-2-1 (W-L-OTL).

The Preds play a similar game to the Wild, relying on defense and goaltending while bringing a very physical element to force turnovers & create offense because there isn’t a ton of offensive firepower on their roster.

It’s Leap Day so did the Minnesota Wild take a leap forward in their battle for a spot in the postseason dance?

2023-24 Minnesota Wild Schedule and Results
Record: 28-23-6 (62 points)

NHL Hockey Standings
6th in NHL Central Division

NHL Western Conference Wild Card Standings before the games on February 29th, 2024
NHL Western Conference Wild Card Standings before the games on February 29th, 2024

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

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Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild Lineup at the Nashville Predators - February 29th, 2024
Nashville Predators Lineup vs the Minnesota Wild - February 29th, 2024

Game Recap

1st Period

This game started with Nashville having the better of the play for the first few minutes but the Wild then had a good few minutes as well and you could tell right away that both teams knew how big the points were in this game.

A little more than halfway through the period, Minnesota Wild Fs Brandon Duhaime & Ryan Hartman did a little give & go play so Duhaime carried the puck into the offensive zone & made a quick toe-drag to snapshot that fooled Nashville Predators G Jussi Saros enough that he couldn’t catch it and the rebound came out to Wild F Connor Dewar’s feet so he corralled it quickly and took a low shot to the left of the net that snuck past Saros’ extended right pad.

9:51 – Goal – Minnesota – Connor Dewar (9) from Brandon Duhaime (4) & Ryan Hartman (18)

Minnesota Wild 1 | 0 Nashville Predators

The Wild had another good shift immediately following the goal but the puck squirted out on the half wall which allowed Nashville to get out of the zone. They chipped it through the neutral & F Colton Sissons took it into the offensive zone 1-on-4 but he was able to keep possession and send the puck back up left boards where Yakov Trenin passed it back to D Roman Josi and he was able to walk the puck backward to the far side then get around to the right side of the net & throw it in front. Yakov Trenin went to the net after he passed the puck to Josi and the big forward was being defended by Wild F Marco Rossi so he had a good position when Josi sent it to the front of the net. The puck went off of Trenin’s right skate and into the net for a quick response to a goal against and a tie game.

10:40 – Goal – Nashville – Yakov Trenin (10) from Roman Josi (44)

Minnesota Wild 1 | 1 Nashville Predators

Wild F Marco Rossi has to do a better job of taking Trenin’s stick away there even though he’s 5 inches & 19 pounds lighter than the big Russian forward.

The Predators won the ensuing faceoff and the puck was either tipped on a dump attempt or it was a pass that was deflected to Wild D Declan Chisholm and he tried to make a quick pass to F Freddy Gaudreau but Nashville F Cole Smith intercepted the pass. Wild D Jonas Brodin knocked it away but the puck was just loose while going towards the Wild’s net. Nobody ever seemed to get a piece of it so the puck got to the left side of the net where Smith was able to take a swipe at it and it went in the net for 2 goals in 8 seconds and a 1-0 lead quickly changing to a 2-1 deficit.

10:48 – Goal – Nashville – Cole Smith (8) Unassisted

Minnesota Wild 1 | 2 Nashville Predators

2nd Period

Minnesota Wild fans were saying “I Wish You Would” come back & we know they had the ability to do it so we’ll see if they can flick the switch & get some pucks past Nashville G Jussi Saros.

92 seconds into the period, Wild D Declan Chisholm sent the puck around the left corner behind his own net to defensive partner Jonas Brodin for what would’ve been an easy breakout but he couldn’t handle the puck next to the boards so it was turned over then a breakout turns into Wild players scrambling to cover the play and Roman Josi got wide open & had enough time & space to wait out Wild G Filip Gustavsson and when he got to around the goal line, he was either trying to put the puck off of Gus or just throwing it in front of the net. It went off Gus’ blocker & into the net. Would the pass even have connected if it didn’t go off Gustavsson’s blocker? Who knows?

The Wild just didn’t look like they wanted to engage 100% with Nashville. There were too many weak reaches on poke checks. GO GET THE PUCK! 

Minnesota Wild 1 | 4 Nashville Predators

Roughly 6:30 later, almost the exact play happened as Nashville’s 4th goal. Chisholm wrapped the puck around the left corner behind the net and Brodin couldn’t handle the pass so turnover…

Minnesota Wild 1 | 5 Nashville Predators

And some puck-watching about 6 minutes later…

Minnesota Wild 1 | 6 Nashville Predators

Well, that certainly wasn’t the Leap we were expecting to see. That was tough to watch and not the Minnesota Wild we’ve come to expect since the All-Star break. The details on defense weren’t there. There wasn’t enough “want to” for the majority of the game. It’s sad with how much was on the line but teams come out flat and don’t play well sometimes.

One thing that is a big mystery is why the Minnesota Wild have played so poorly against their division. Tonight’s loss made them 5-10-0 against the Central Division.

The Minnesota Wild vs the Central Division in the 2023-24 season
Outscored 19-5 vs Dallas & 13-7 vs Winnipeg!

11 or half of their 22 remaining games are against their division. They are 2-2-0  since the All-Star break against their division but they’re going to have to win 7-8 of those games, right?

The 2023-24 Minnesota Wild Schedule vs the Central Division - 11 games left and they have to win a lot of them!

––––– CP –––––

Final

Game Summary - Minnesota Wild at the Nashville Predators - February 29th, 2024
Game Summary – Minnesota Wild at the Nashville Predators – February 29th, 2024

Shift Chart

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Next up: 

Saturday at 5 pm, the Minnesota Wild will be in St. Louis to battle the Blues in another big game. We’ll see how they respond after this game.

See you tomorrow night, ‘Puckers!

––––– CP –––––

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring the Clutter Every Day in Every Way!
Posted in News/Transactions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment