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

[Teeroy]

3 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

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?

I'm just not seeing the progress. I am seeing the same mistakes and being out of position. He's not lacking in ice time but others seem to be standing out much like Neil notices.

[Enforceror]

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

So, where do we find a decent coach?

I heard Deboer is looking for a job 

[Neil Urbanski]

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

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? 

Thank you for reading, as always. 

I don't think there's a size issue with Peart. Obviously he can't do things a 6'2", 215lb guy could do, but he handles himself alright. I think it's more his puck management and positioning/reads that need work. 

For what it's worth, I don't think they play badly a lot of nights, but when they fall behind, they deflate easily, and they can't score their way back into games. Like last night...they came out flying against Milwaukee, were all over them, but couldn't score. You could just see the energy leaving them, like "here we go again."

I don't think it's a systems issue, either. From what I can tell, it's basically the same system the NHL Wild play. It's only 20 games into Cronin's tenure, too, so he deserves some runway, I think. He is known as a development coach from his previous AHL experience.

I'd like to see more consistency with lines too, even if it's just keeping compatible pairs together, like Heidt with Olausson. That's life in the minor leagues to some extent, w/ guys shuffling in and out of the lineup and the NHL club having a lot of injuries, as the Wild have in recent years, but I think routine is important for young players, too, especially when so much is new. 

Lastly, they don't have a lot of "AHL skill." Guys like Kyle Rau, Sam Anas, Nic Petan, Cal O'Reilly, etc., who can bring regular offense, a responsible game, and play well with a good young player that is going to make some mistakes. 

But, I see players getting better. Haight, Ohgren, Bankier, Spacek, Wallstedt, progressed nicely while there over the past couple of seasons. Some prospects haven't panned out, that's always going to be the case.

[1Brotherbill]

On 12/3/2025 at 3:20 PM, MNCountryLife said:

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.

It is possible Spurgeon leaves after this season via trade.  But even if he stays I doubt that Iowa will produce a replacement for Bogo or Spurgeon.  I have a feeling they will try one more time with Jiricek and if it doesn't work he will be left to go somewhere else on a RFA deal.  I also think they will qualify Spacek and Lambos as well.  Might as well try and get something out of the three of them. 

[1Brotherbill]

11 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

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

#Judd Brackett

Not that the Wild have a great track record with players below 15 in the first round but I give this one a pass with the Covid year.  The year before his draft year he was considered top 5.  Then Covid hit and he played 5 games total in like three countries and there was nothing available on his development.  And we all know how the Wild like the falling draft stock guy.  

[1Brotherbill]

A few things about this article. One is the bright spot is someone who can't skate and can't score in Bankier, LOL.  

But reality is AHL franchises are after thoughts for teams that are considered contenders.  I doubt Colorado even know who their AHL team is.  That roster is filled with people that they have traded for over the years.  Their top prospects end up playing for other teams because they are used as trade parts.  

Basically everyone listed in this article should be traded for an upgrade to the NHL roster.  The fanbase can wish and hope that one of them will become a top line star but we all know that they all will be considered a bottom of the roster player.  

[Pewterschmidt]

41 minutes ago, 1Brotherbill said:

The year before his draft year he was considered top 5.

Was this from Scott wheeler?

if lamb chops were an nhl’r missing a few games in his draft year wouldn’t keep him out of the league 4 yrs later   It’s another first round klank off the upright by Brackett   

 

[1Brotherbill]

2 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Was this from Scott wheeler?

if lamb chops were an nhl’r missing a few games in his draft year wouldn’t keep him out of the league 4 yrs later   It’s another first round klank off the upright by Brackett   

 

Top 15 he is all right.  Below that he has a difficult time finding a good player.  Must be the options available that he has a problem with. 

Whomever is running the scouting in Dallas needs to come to Minnesota.  Because they find top six talent every year drafting at terrible spots.  

[Pewterschmidt]

7 hours ago, 1Brotherbill said:

Top 15 he is all right.  Below that he has a difficult time finding a good player.

Memo to Brackett:

[Imyourhuckleberry]

14 hours ago, 1Brotherbill said:

Whomever is running the scouting in Dallas needs to come to Minnesota.  Because they find top six talent every year drafting at terrible spots.  

Perhaps Adam Benak can turn into that guy?

Lambos has certainly been a disappointing development. Maybe he can still be a late bloomer, but certainly doesn't sound like a top 4 future for him.

[Beast]

The whole top farm system in the NHL thing is sure drying up pretty quickly.

Ohgren might be a fine player, but the hopes were higher for him.  Jiricek looks like a bust compared to expectations.  Buium looks pretty good, but certainly isn’t a Makar (common comparison).  Yurok looks OK, but has certainly come to earth from his prospect status heights breaking records in the K. There’s no real potential star player or high volume scorer and many of them are undersized (Benak, Kiviharju.)

Not bad by any means.  But it’s starting to look more like a middle of the road system than a top 3.  Would look a heck of a lot better with Perrault, who we passed on but is a top 10 global prospect right now by some, top 15 by pretty much everyone.  Or Calum Ritchie, who is in the same range (top 20).  I still can’t get over that we could have had one of those two, and potentially Stramel in the 2nd.  It hurts my soul.  Especially for a team perpetually in need of a skilled two-way center (Ritchie).

To those saying that’s hindsight, it’s not.  Many were pounding the table for one of those two at our pick.  Hopefully Bracket is right.  It would be looking real bad right now if Stramel didn’t show improvement with Mich St.

Edited Friday at 09:37 PM by Beast

[Pewterschmidt]

1 hour ago, Beast said:

The whole top farm system in the NHL thing is sure drying up pretty quickly.

Ohgren might be a fine player, but the hopes were higher for him.  Jiricek looks like a bust compared to expectations.  Buium looks pretty good, but certainly isn’t a Makar (common comparison).  Yurok looks OK, but has certainly come to earth from his prospect status heights breaking records in the K. There’s no real potential star player or high volume scorer and many of them are undersized (Benak, Kiviharju.)

Not bad by any means.  But it’s starting to look more like a middle of the road system than a top 3.  Would look a heck of a lot better with Perrault, who we passed on but is a top 10 global prospect right now by some, top 15 by pretty much everyone.  Or Calum Ritchie, who is in the same range (top 20).  I still can’t get over that we could have had one of those two, and potentially Stramel in the 2nd.  It hurts my soul.  Especially for a team perpetually in need of a skilled two-way center (Ritchie).

To those saying that’s hindsight, it’s not.  Many were pounding the table for one of those two at our pick.  Hopefully Bracket is right.  It would be looking real bad right now if Stramel didn’t show improvement with Mich St.

Great post Beast.  Agree with all the shades of gray you’ve referenced.  None of this is black and white when projecting a prospects future.  One I’ll agree less with you on is Z Boo.  I think we’re all gonna be happy watching him evolve over coming years.  Next Makar?  Maybe not but Mak Daddy is on nhl d-man Mount Rushmore after only a few years so that’s ok 

[NoJoSux]

Matthew Knies scored another high-level, NHL goal yesterday. 

Brackett picked Peart, maybe because he is a Rush fan, who knows. 

Josh Doan or Knies would be much better players for MN now than, Ogie, Lambos, or Peart currently. Jiricek is now on his second club who has him in the AHL while Rinzel looks pretty good in Chicago. Snuggie, like Jackson Blake has an NHL pedigree and is in MN's backyard but Brackett likes the far-away, pipe-dream prospects. 

Flahr, and Brackett both got lucky on a few but mostly miss the best players. Wallstedt appears to be a good one, otherwise it's a hype-fest and the passing of time has shown MN's drafting is average at best. Opportunity squandered and futures fizzling...

[WIWild]

thought this might interest some...was 'surfing' Amazon last night and came across an Iowa Wild game. Later found it wasn't live, but was from just 11/28. Peeked a bit more and it was on the FloHockey 'channel' on Amazon. Interesting to watch. Nobody's play jumped out at me saying we needed to call them up immediately. But for those that want to watch hockey, this is one way - just not live (AFAIK).

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Stamel's Michigan State team got shutout 3-0 against Michael Hage and the Michigan Wolverines on Friday night.  We'll see if Saturday night goes better.

According to Google AI, if interested, "The teams have another game tonight (Saturday, December 6, 2025), part of their series, and fans can watch on Peacock or B1G Network and catch up on highlights on mlive.com."