Article: Iowa Wild's Woes Continue: Updates On Heidt, Jiricek and More

[Neil Urbanski]

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[AKwildkraken]

Great article on our AHL affiliate.  I love getting feedback on our prospects and the overall team perspective.  

I'd agree with your possible assumption with Juricek, as he probably has been told to work on certain things which could affect his overall play.  

Also, I would imagine that Heidt didn't have a lot of adversity in his youth hockey career as he was probably just flat out better than the competition.  Having to struggle normally humbles a person and effects confidence.  

I think we as fans get impatient with our prospects, which is understandable, but time does take time.  We have to remember that the A is a developmental league and at times can look ugly.  As long as the kids are getting better and making progress, I'm not overly concerned about their record.  

[MNCountryLife]

Interesting that David Spacek is the D-man Urbanski deems most NHL ready.  What I have seen from Carson Lambos (which isn't much) was positive.  I'm betting that Jiricek was told to make the easy plays.  His propensity is to always go risky when safety is the clear cut correct choice.  

Hmmm.  Hunt, Jiricek, Spacek and Lambos.  I'm guessing Bogo will retire after this season.  Spurgeon the next.  That will be 2 spots available for 4 guys vying for the job.  We may have trade bait for the TDL.  

Looks like we are already missing our 2nd round pick in 2026 and 2027.  Maybe trade them out and get our 2nd round picks back.... if we can't get a top 6 winger.

[TCMooch]

Stick a fork in Lambos?

[Quebec1648]

The Iowa Wild have a Drew Carrey lookalike as the coach, yet the play has been anything but entertaining. Either Brackett and Guerin are drafting bad players, or they are hiring the wrong people to develope them. It could also be a combination of both.

The Iowa Wild coach spent two years coaching the young Anaheim ducks team, but got fired after the team failed to make progress. The Ducks hired Quenville as the replacement, and now the Ducks are showing real progress and in first place in the Pacific division.

I was hoping the new Iowa Wild coach might be able to improve things, but apparently that has yet to happen. 

[Neil Urbanski]

2 hours ago, TCMooch said:

Stick a fork in Lambos?

I've never been sold on him as a prospect, and he's clearly fallen out of favor. Doesn't get any power play time and just makes some bad turnovers or decisions every game. I don't think he'll be with the organization next season. He has the tools, but there's just something missing. 

[Burnt Toast]

3 hours ago, Quebec1648 said:

but got fired after the team failed to make progress

Actually Cronin made progress with the Ducks getting them playing better and winning. Q was brought in as a longer term fit for the team. 

[Enforceror]

1 hour ago, Burnt Toast said:

Actually Cronin made progress with the Ducks getting them playing better and winning. Q was brought in as a longer term fit for the team. 

Do you think it was an "out of runway" situation or a lack of ability?

[AKwildkraken]

4 hours ago, Neil Urbanski said:

I've never been sold on him as a prospect, and he's clearly fallen out of favor. Doesn't get any power play time and just makes some bad turnovers or decisions every game. I don't think he'll be with the organization next season. He has the tools, but there's just something missing. 

Lambos was supposed to go higher in the draft, but fell down the board.  If I remember correctly, team Canada left him off the world Juniors roster and kinda hilighted a potential red flag with him.  Not sure exactly what it was, but like you said, it wasn't about the skills, it was something else.  

I can understand Lambos's frustration with the way things are working out with his path with the wild, but pouting about it isn't going to impress another team.  Being a first round pick might lead a player to think that he has a guaranteed path to the NHL, but we drafted Buium after him and also traded for Jiricek, leaving a logjam at the defense.  Hopefully he can figure it out.

[Pewterschmidt]

10 hours ago, Neil Urbanski said:

I've never been sold on him as a prospect, and he's clearly fallen out of favor. Doesn't get any power play time and just makes some bad turnovers or decisions every game. I don't think he'll be with the organization next season. He has the tools, but there's just something missing. 

Carson Lambos was selected in the 1st round, 26th overall, in the 2021 NHL Draft by the Minnesota Wild.
 

#Judd Brackett

[Burnt Toast]

7 hours ago, Enforceror said:

Do you think it was an "out of runway" situation or a lack of ability?

If you’re referring to Cronin I think it’s his style of coaching, which of course requires player buy in. He should help with Iowa. 

[Pewterschmidt]

GIGO: garbage in garbage out

[Enforceror]

It'd be interesting to map the correlation between winning AHL teams and their corresponding NHL team. I might look into that.

[Neil Urbanski]

50 minutes ago, Enforceror said:

It'd be interesting to map the correlation between winning AHL teams and their corresponding NHL team. I might look into that.

Here are a couple articles that dive into that a bit, though neither of them are perfect approaches, in my opinion. First one is from 2019, the other from 2012:

https://thehockeynews.com/news/news/does-a-calder-cup-victory-correlate-to-stanley-cup-success-for-nhl-clubs

https://theleafsnation.com/news/does-ahl-success-translate-into-nhl-success

[MrCheatachu]

55 minutes ago, Enforceror said:

It'd be interesting to map the correlation between winning AHL teams and their corresponding NHL team. I might look into that.

I would assume that the worse an NHL team is, the better their draft prospects are.  I would assume that if a team has emptied the cupboard to support a 'win now' mindset, their AHL affiliates would be pretty thin on prospects.

Might be interesting to see how the AHL team record correlates to something like the Athletics prospect pool rankings...

I'd also be curious to see the average age/AHL tenure of players vs. the AHL team's record.  You got to think that a team full of 'career AHL' players might be better than a team full of 'young prospects cracking into professional hockey' like Urbanski suggested was the case (i.e. Heidt vs. Gerry)

[MrCheatachu]

1 hour ago, Enforceror said:

It'd be interesting to map the correlation between winning AHL teams and their corresponding NHL team. I might look into that.

I peeked at Grand Rapids Griffins (16-1 record) and their top 4 in points are:

John Leonard (27yo): 26p

Dominik Shine (32yo): 18p

Sheldon Dries (31yo): 14p

Amadeus Lombardi (22yo): 14p

For contrast, the Iowa Wild only have  a single forward over 30 (Gerry), but the top two scorers are Gerry (10p) and a 29 year old NAK (9p)

 

There's probably a balance in there somewhere of having a roster loaded with  30 year olds who have 10 years of professional hockey but aren't going to make the leap, with loading a team up with early 20's guys and shattering their confidence getting beat on by 30 year old career AHLers...

[Imyourhuckleberry]

11 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

15 hours ago, Quebec1648 said:

but got fired after the team failed to make progress

Actually Cronin made progress with the Ducks getting them playing better and winning. Q was brought in as a longer term fit for the team. 

Agreed. The Ducks had a lot of youth on their roster last season and jumped from 59 points the prior year to 80 points last season. The continued upward trajectory this season might come from natural development of high level youth talent(after drafting top 10 players 7 years in a row), recently adding in Beckett Sennecke, more than the coaching change.

They didn't draft Cutter Gauthier, but they were able to trade one of those top 10 picks for him. They also traded for Chris Kreider back in June.

I suspect they would be competitive this season with either coach, but no doubt that Quenneville is a strong choice with a history of success.

[Teeroy]

IMO...These players down here in Iowa, or any AHL team, are here for development. Veterans non-withstanding. Would i like a Calder Cup team, sure...But it takes many things to fall perfectly in place for that. Constant player movement doesn't help us create line chemistry. Injuries too. They even shy away from promoting a ECHL player that's been performing well and instead sign some smuck to a PTO. There also needs to be 20 guys COMMITTED each night to be the very best they can be. Don't be out there doing figure 8's like your performing Holiday on Ice and whining about lack of PT opportunities available in the NHL....We've seen spurts of good play/players since 2013. From all teams!...So, record wise, i wouldn't read into it that much. Good players find away to "make it". Like I've said before, Jesper just needed a better D in front of him. And that's FIVE skaters not just 2 defensemen!!!...Manitoba in town this weekend🫰🫰Teeroy "Down on the Farm"

[Scalptrash]

Everything always points back to Billy, it's his show. The extended train wreck in Iowa doesn't bode well for St. Paul in the future.

[Neil Urbanski]

37 minutes ago, Teeroy said:

They even shy away from promoting a ECHL player that's been performing well 

They did just call up (former Gopher) Jaxon Nelson and for a few games, to be fair. They called up Jack O'Brien to a PTO outta ECHL Iowa too, but he didn't get into a game. 

[ArizonaWildFan]

1 hour ago, Teeroy said:

Teeroy "Down on the Farm"

Good stuff!

[Imyourhuckleberry]

1 hour ago, Teeroy said:

And that's FIVE skaters not just 2 defensemen!!!

Thanks for another perspective from someone who's paying closer attention to the Iowa Wild.  Do you have any thoughts on Lambos you might like to share?

[FredJohnson]

Thank you VERY much Neil for keeping us informed about the squad in Iowa. 

[mnfaninnc]

19 hours ago, Quebec1648 said:

The Iowa Wild coach spent two years coaching the young Anaheim ducks team, but got fired after the team failed to make progress. The Ducks hired Quenville as the replacement, and now the Ducks are showing real progress and in first place in the Pacific division.

I was hoping the new Iowa Wild coach might be able to improve things, but apparently that has yet to happen. 

So, where do we find a decent coach?

[mnfaninnc]

Neil this is really good insight. I'm really glad we have a writer looking at Iowa! I'd been asking for one for years. 

I'd like to know if Peart grew out any or if he still looks too little?

I'd like to know why they are playing so badly? Is it the new system, are they outmatched?