Article: Can Danila Yurov Be An Ace Up the Wild's Sleeve In the Playoffs?

[mnfaninnc]

Not just that, but Riley Heidt added an apple in a 5-2 lost to Portland, and Kalem Parker had a goal as Calgary takes a 2-0 lead. 

Yurov's team is down 3-0 and plays tomorrow in an elimination game. If they are eliminated, then contract termination watch starts. 

But we can't move on without talking about Zeev. What a game last night, as Zeev picked up 2 goals, 1 assist (for not doing much of anything) where 1 goal was called back due to an offsides call that happened well before the play.

BC ran at Buium all game to try and throw him off, but it didn't work. Buium gave some back too, especially to Perrault, and afterward they hugged in the line shake. To me, this was more important than the points scored. Buium does not appear to be a people mover, but he is more than willing to compete, shove, and body out people when necessary. He also logs a lot of ice time, even more since DU is down to 5 defenders. 

I've watched him now for 2 games and this much I can say: He is much more offensively gifted than Faber is, however he is a slight bit below where I saw Faber in his last season with the Gophers in his skating. Up the ice it's very similar, skating backward, his gaps aren't nearly as wide as Faber's were. Faber just took care of more ice. Now, that could be the competency of his partner.

To me, this game was played at a pretty fast pace, a notch below NHL level, probably above an AHL level. I think Buium can make the jump and immediately be an upgrade on the 3rd pairing. Until he gets his feet under him, though, he will need a bit of sheltered minutes, but those minutes could be pretty good minutes. 

I also stand by my recommendation to sign Matt Davis. He's a lefty and undrafted. At 23, he can continue playing goal and who knows what we have. It appears to me like he's got a bit of a clutch gene, and those guys are really nice to have. 

Honestly, I don't really like BC. I'm glad they lost. It was nice to see Perrault and Leonard shut down. I found them to be a cocky bunch and an easy team to root against. I'm certainly hoping the Gophers can retool and develop a powerhouse team. That 1st round elimination has got to really piss them off, though, Motzko has a history of some early exits. 

Conclusion: Things are going pretty well down on the farm.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Russo update in the Athletic following the Denver game.

Quote

After the University of Denver beat Boston College on Sunday to advance to the Frozen Four on April 10 and 12 in St. Louis, the soonest the Wild would be able to sign defenseman Zeev Buium is April 11. They play in Calgary on April 11 and in Vancouver on April 12. So most likely, he’d join the team in St. Paul after the Frozen Four and potentially play in the April 15 regular-season finale against the Anaheim Ducks.

I was surprised to hear the ESPN announcer's actually comment after the game that Guerin might be disappointed with the result because they thought he'd like to get Buium added to the Wild ASAP. While they were joking about it, it was still something I wasn't expecting from a national broadcast.

The Athletic comments also suggested Yurov was unlikely to be added to the Wild, partly due to limited cap space and the thought that they would prioritize adding Buium over Yurov. Clearly Yurov being under contract through May, and just recently coming back from surgery, is a major difference as well.

Edited Monday at 06:24 PM by Imyourhuckleberry
Added Yurov note.

[Thatoneguy]

At this point, bringing any players in and burning a year off their contract is borderline pointless. I have a better chance of winning the powerball twice in a row than this team has a chance of making it past 5 games into the playoffs. 

Adding a rookie will not overcome the severe lack of heart this team has been playing with.  Part of me hopes this team doesn't even make the playoffs, at least we don't have to watch them get embarrassed yet again. 

[RedLake]

PP1 Skol Buuim

[Willy the poor boy]

8 hours ago, Protec said:

Yurov is a few goals away from leading his team. Overall points are down from that season but he's played nearly fifty games. By the time playoffs end for him, I don't think he's showing up to boost the Wild. Zeev either. 

Don't get the cart ahead of the horse. MN's off-season is what I'm interested to see. 

There down 0-3  and facing elimination. But I've heard the plan is he won't be coming to the States until summer, so I don't think it matters if they get eliminated sooner than later.

[Willy the poor boy]

9 hours ago, Fezig said:

Here's what needs to happen. Stop talking about the playoffs like it's a sure thing. 

Easy! Easy!

[Imyourhuckleberry]

9 hours ago, Fezig said:

Here's what needs to happen. Stop talking about the playoffs like it's a sure thing. One of the teams trailing us could easily go on a .700 win percentage and as we've seen, piling up several losses over eight games is very achievable with this team.

I don't think anyone is talking about it like it's a sure thing, only a high probability. The Wild have won around 50% of available points without Kaprizov. They are presumably getting him and Eriksson Ek back for the last 4 games, if not 5.

If the Wild simply win 4 of the remaining 8 games, Calgary would need to win 80% of their remaining games in order to pass the Wild. While Calgary has some easy games on their schedule, they also play in Colorado tonight, have 2 games remaining against Vegas, and a game against the Wild where the Wild presumably have Kaprizov and JEE back. I'm not sure Calgary will win more than 1 of those games, let alone all other 6 games on their schedule.

If you could wager against the Wild making the playoffs today, you would get a sizeable payout for that bet actually winning. Vancouver has a tougher path than Calgary. If the Wild don't grab multiple points on this East coast trip, then the odds of them missing would certainly increase, but the teams they are facing aren't dominating competition like the Blues are.

If the Wild show up ready to play and knock off the Devils this time, their path to playoff hockey gets a lot easier.

[Fezig]

14 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I don't think anyone is talking about it like it's a sure thing, only a high probability. The Wild have won around 50% of available points without Kaprizov. They are presumably getting him and Eriksson Ek back for the last 4 games, if not 5.

If the Wild simply win 4 of the remaining 8 games, Calgary would need to win 80% of their remaining games in order to pass the Wild. While Calgary has some easy games on their schedule, they also play in Colorado tonight, have 2 games remaining against Vegas, and a game against the Wild where the Wild presumably have Kaprizov and JEE back. I'm not sure Calgary will win more than 1 of those games, let alone all other 6 games on their schedule.

If you could wager against the Wild making the playoffs today, you would get a sizeable payout for that bet actually winning. Vancouver has a tougher path than Calgary. If the Wild don't grab multiple points on this East coast trip, then the odds of them missing would certainly increase, but the teams they are facing aren't dominating competition like the Blues are.

If the Wild show up ready to play and knock off the Devils this time, their path to playoff hockey gets a lot easier.

That's a lot of if's. I know one thing. We're in MN and if a professional franchise is capable of disappointing a fan base you can rest assured it will most likely happen. 

Calgary 2 pts last night, MN 1. 

There are many who would say that's being negative, so let me put it this way for them: If a fella get's left at the alter too many times, he'll still appreciate a pretty girl by looking, but he won't risk getting ditched again.

[RedLake]

I could see both Kap and Ek getting injured when we play Calgary. They will be gunning us with there north to south heavy hitting team. Rossi will get absolutely ran against Calgary.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

2 hours ago, Fezig said:

We're in MN and if a professional franchise is capable of disappointing a fan base you can rest assured it will most likely happen. 

Calgary 2 pts last night, MN 1. 

I'm not suggesting the Wild are going on a deep playoff run. The odds are simply in their favor for collecting another 8 points and making it incredibly difficult for Calgary to pass them, but if you want to wager money on a team with a -23 goal differential passing the Wild, anyone is free to do that.

Looking at upcoming games, the Rangers and Islanders have both lost more games than they've won. Dallas is always a challenge for the Wild, but the Wild face Anaheim and San Jose after Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek are expected back.

Games 80 & 81 in Calgary and Vancouver could be pivotal, but I'd favor the Wild with all of their regulars back in the lineup. We'll see how it plays out for the Wild with their 5th least challenging remaining schedule in the league based upon opponent winning percentages. Certainly possible they miss the playoffs, but I wouldn't bet on that happening.

If the Wild collect 6 points in their last 7 games, Calgary would need to go at least 6-2-1 to pass them. Obviously, it gets much more challenging for Calgary if the Wild get 8+ points in this stretch, which I believe is more likely.

[Tony Abbott]

On 3/30/2025 at 10:42 AM, mnhockeyfan03 said:

Please don’t burn a year of Yurov or Zeev this year.  We are going no where.  It’s not worth it.  It’s better to keep the cap savings for a extra year 

Since the piece came out, it looks like they won't be able to sign Yurov, but when he signs next year, he'll only be able to have a two-year ELC, so it wouldn't matter if they had burned a year or not.

[Tony Abbott]

^ As for Zeev, they're gonna burn the year whether he plays or not (like Matt Boldy did). Burning the year is done because of leverage to the player -- they could just go back for another season... or two, and become a free agent. Burning the year is a small price to pay to get them into the fold. 

[Enforceror]

6 hours ago, Tony Abbott said:

Since the piece came out, it looks like they won't be able to sign Yurov, but when he signs next year, he'll only be able to have a two-year ELC, so it wouldn't matter if they had burned a year or not.

For any who care, Metallurg pulled off the win today. Still down 3-1 in the series. Nothing on the board for Yurov.

[RedLake]

Kaprizov, EK, Buuim  and Yurov would get alot of Mn Wild AHLers off the ice 

[LittleBallofHate]

22 hours ago, Tony Abbott said:

^ As for Zeev, they're gonna burn the year whether he plays or not (like Matt Boldy did). Burning the year is done because of leverage to the player -- they could just go back for another season... or two, and become a free agent. Burning the year is a small price to pay to get them into the fold. 

Good point. Forgot about this whole deal. Hard agree, burn the year for "winner's insurance".

It becomes more apparent that Zeev has that subjective winner's vibe - as I have commented before.. He tends to be a key player on several championship teams, so yes, a prospect is still just a prospect but the elusive key winning player has a much higher chance of being something. Yurov has some of this too, just to a lesser extent because Zeev has had more opportunity to show-out consistently on several different teams now.

Excited for the future, but if they make the playoffs currently, they will probably be squashed by being a single-line team again. Who knows, if our high-end players return with their' asses on fire & play out of their minds, then maybe that gives a major boost to all the AHL-grade guys that have been "holding the fort". Hard for me to say how demoralized they have been without the usual leadership, or if this is just an over-performing team showing a quality difference now that other more talented teams are starting to fire up for the postseason.

I'm a big "play the rookies" kind of guy. Especially when you are giving EXTENDED auditions to AHL grinders/vets: Merrill, Bogo, Gaunce, Shore (some of that cast has finally changed, thank goodness). Of course, the one that was really bothering me was Jiricek, but injury now, so whatever. Hopefully, my hunger to "see some ceilings" instead of known plugger floors is filled next year.