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  • The Wild Are Where They Need To Be


    Image courtesy of Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
    Phillip Garrett

    The Minnesota Wild officially survived February, going 3-5-0. They started March with wins against the Boston Bruins and the Seattle Kraken. 

    Minnesota’s last two wins have been a major relief because it had only managed to win one out of four games after returning from the 4 Nations tournament. It also didn’t help that the Boston Bruins had criticized their medical staff.

    With Kirill Karpizov and Joel Eriksson Ek out for extended periods (again) and Jonas Brodin week-to-week, the Wild’s chances of having a stress-free final 20 games are slim. However, the Wild are where they need to be to find success; it’s just not evident yet.

    With their strong start to the season and two recent wins, the Wild have kept the Avalanche out of reach of the third spot in the Central. As of this writing, the Wild sit two points above Colorado with the same games played. With a good run of games, Minnesota can hold its spot in the standings, but it won’t be easy.

    The Avalanche are still an outstanding team, even without Mikko Rantanen. Still, Colorado has something the Wild lack right now: a superstar like Nathan MacKinnon

    However, the Wild may benefit from dropping in the standings. Minnesota is unlikely to exit the playoff picture, with the Vancouver Canucks and the St. Louis Blues being out of a wild-card spot with 67 and 66 points, respectively. While things could change, the Wild’s first-round matchup in the playoffs is likely to be the Dallas Stars or the Vegas Golden Knights.

    Screenshot 2025-03-06 at 4.09.07 PM.png

    Which is the lesser of two evils? 

    It’s hard to say, but the Golden Knights and the Stars are better teams than the Wild. 

    Still, the Wild have a long history with the Stars, so Dallas eliminating them in the first round again won't be great for morale. The Stars are also more challenging to score against than the Golden Knights; they sit 30th in goals against per game (GA/GP) with a 2.57 average. 

    Because of the Wild’s inability to score, they may want to play the Golden Knights in the first round. Therefore, dropping to the wild card may ultimately be advantageous.

    The Wild have only played the Golden Knights once this season, losing 3-2 on December 15. However, there is still a strong chance that Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek will be healthy in time for the playoffs, and Minnesota is good when they're fully healthy. I’m not saying it will be easy, especially since the Golden Knights are a favored team to win the Stanley Cup. Still, the Wild have found ways to win against good teams like the Washington Capitals, Edmonton Oilers, and Carolina Hurricanes.

    No matter who the Wild play, they need Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov back to generate enough offense to advance in the playoffs. With the Wild’s limited cap space, Minnesota's trade deadline will likely be uneventful. Even if the Wild are buyers at the deadline, there’s no magical trade that will solve scoring troubles. 

    To put it into perspective, Matt Boldy has finally passed an injured Kaprizov as the leading point scorer. Boldy has 53 points in 63 games, while Kaprizov has 52 in 37 games and hasn’t played since January. The Wild don’t have enough offense to cover for sloppy defense. However, we have started to see what the Wild will look like by the end of the season, and I like what I see.

    However, that doesn’t matter. Despite the Wild’s offensive struggles, they have found their play style with their new lines. They play close games, with the last two wins decided by a single goal. That is the best they’ll get with their current core, and it might be enough. The Wild need to win using defense and goaltending. 

    If the Wild can consistently keep the game close, they will always have a chance of winning. The team has all the pieces it needs, with players like Vinnie Histroza, Frederick Gaudreau, and Gustav Nyquist adding scoring depth. We have also seen Filip Gustavsson play confidently again, which must be a big part of this team's success.

    There might not be a perfect scenario for the Wild and their hopes for a deep playoff run. No matter the opponent, Minnesota must outwork them. Still, they have enough talent in place to advance for the first time since 2014-15.

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    Nelson fetched a stupid amount of return and seemingly wanted a ridiculous amount of money.  Some trades have been weird and desperate.

    I get that Khusnutdinov "could" be something, but the team as constructed is only going to go so far.

    There may be reasons two players were swapped for one: money or opportunity.  No real way to know until Khusnutdinov gets a new contract or we see who gets his spot in his absence.

     

     

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    1 minute ago, Citizen Strife said:

    There may be reasons two players were swapped for one: money or opportunity.  No real way to know until Khusnutdinov gets a new contract or we see who gets his spot in his absence.

    I cannot make sense of your logic here.

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    What I meant was who is going to take Khusnutdinov's spot going forward?  Hinostroza seems like he is signed till next year, but you would think there would be more.

    Unless they re-sign Nyquist for cheap, I don't know who Guerin has in mind at those last few forward spots.  Is Nyquist the Mojo replacement?  Yurov has seemed penciled in forever, but is that enough. Ohgren again maybe?

    I just don't know why they'd let go of Khusearly unless they have an off-season trade or signing in mind.

    Edited by Citizen Strife
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    As I was looking at the standings, something else jumped out at me: The Kings are going backward and not only are we looking at the Canucks and Flames, but they have a better shot at catching the Kings than us. That would be for position 6 or 8. Really, that puts us in a better position than I originally thought.

    Right now, St. Louis is the next best in the central, but I expect them to fade and Utah to take that spot. St. Louis just lost Parayko for the season.

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    This team has all the pieces it needs with Vinnie, Fred and nyquist? That’s some wishful thinking! Col has Nelson and the crazy Russian on 2 nd line . Dal has duchene , Marchment and whatever stud rookie they want on there 2nd line. Winnipeg has nino , perfetti , namistov  2nd line . La has  Danault , fiala , probably kuzmenko 2nd line.  Vegas has a proven big  second line.   
        2 ahlers an a 35 yr old middle six guy is all we need for secondary scoring. To funny.  The wild are one injury away from disaster. They have no center depth to make a run or can there little players take the abuse of the playoffs. They’ll be on the golf course quick once again. 

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    Quote

    With their strong start to the season and two recent wins, the Wild have kept the Avalanche out of reach of the third spot in the Central. As of this writing, the Wild sit two points above Colorado with the same games played. With a good run of games, Minnesota can hold its spot in the standings, but it won’t be easy.

    Semantics here, but "Out of reach" generally conveys some distance, unless one indicates "just out of reach".

    The Avalanche are currently even with the Wild in standings points and there's only a 1 game difference--Avalanche have played 1 more game now, so 3rd place doesn't seem to be far out of reach. If the Wild lose tonight, Colorado is ahead of them in the standings.

    Also, Necas has been significantly more productive than Rantanen since the trade even though ODC told me that Rantanen was far better.

     

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    1 minute ago, Dean said:

    This team has all the pieces it needs with Vinnie, Fred and nyquist? That’s some wishful thinking! Col has Nelson and the crazy Russian on 2 nd line . Dal has duchene , Marchment and whatever stud rookie they want on there 2nd line. Winnipeg has nino , perfetti , namistov  2nd line . La has  Danault , fiala , probably kuzmenko 2nd line.  Vegas has a proven big  second line.   
        2 ahlers an a 35 yr old middle six guy is all we need for secondary scoring. To funny.  The wild are one injury away from disaster. They have no center depth to make a run or can there little players take the abuse of the playoffs. They’ll be on the golf course quick once again. 

    What REALISTIC big swing could have been done? No way in hell we were getting Ranty. Nelson was a massive overpay by Colorado and was never a good option IMO.

    What injury could be any more disastrous than Kap, Ek and Brodin that would derail the Wild at this point? 

    The players are little? Well there ya go, we just traded for a 6'6 guy.

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    4 minutes ago, Dean said:

    The wild are one injury away from disaster. They have no center depth to make a run or can there little players take the abuse of the playoffs. They’ll be on the golf course quick once again.

    I like the optimism here. At least you think they'll be healthy enough for the golf course before the end of next month!

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    Also, most people would refer to this as 3rd best in goals against average rather than the 30th highest goals against out of 32 teams.

    Quote

    The Stars are also more challenging to score against than the Golden Knights; they sit 30th in goals against per game (GA/GP) with a 2.57 average.

    Feels like some chat bots are being used here from time to time.  Vegas is 7th in goals against average at 2.75, so they are not easy to score against either.

    If either Dallas or Vegas are healthy for the playoffs, they will be pretty tough to beat. Of course, one could say the same for the Wild, who have the potential to be much better than the current stats suggest, on both offense and defense, if they have all of their guys healthy for the playoffs for the 1st time in years.

     

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    Looks to me like both Dallas and Colorado are trying to make the conference finals based upon their moves. It would be ironic for them to face each other in the 1st round. 

    Ranty to Dallas for Stankoven and 2 1sts. Likely late 1sts. 

    Scott Laughton to Toronto for a 1st

    Brandon Tanev to 'Peg for 2nd rounder

    Luke Schenn to 'Peg for 2nd and 4th

    Kuzmenko to the Kings for a 3rd from Philly

    Beauvillier to the Caps from the Pens for a 2nd

    Lots of action going on around the league. Maybe next season Shooter will remember to keep a buffer so he can acquire if needed. 

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    And in a full MN flavor: Charlie Coyle to the Avs for Casey Mittlestadt. I thought that Boston loved Coyle and vice versa. There's a team not afraid to trade their home grown boys.

    Is Wyatt Johnston worth 5 x $8.4m? Dallas shelling out the cash as Ranty also got extended for 8 x $12m.

    Edited by mnfaninnc
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    6 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

    Is Wyatt Johnston worth 5 x $8.4m?

    I'm saying every bit of it, that was a heck of a bridge deal done by the Stars GM. 

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    1 minute ago, M_Nels said:

    I'm saying every bit of it, that was a heck of a bridge deal done by the Stars GM.

    So, do you say Johnston is better than Boldy or is that just the inflation part? Both deals end about the same time.

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    Marchand to the Panthers. Apparently the trade deadline at 3 pm is just like the voting booths. If you're in line (on the phone) by 3 pm, you're in. So we should have some late moving deals. Are the Wild one of them?

    Russo says no, they're done.

    Edited by mnfaninnc
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    6 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

    So, do you say Johnston is better than Boldy or is that just the inflation part? Both deals end about the same time.

    I wouldn't say he's much better than Boldy but he's not worse either. It's a bargain of a bridge with the cap going up like they say it's going to.

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    Johnston is better than bolds . He plays big bolds plays small . 
      I don’t get why the wild  won’t do anything to upgrade center. What free agents are they going to get next year? The big names are gone.  Two division rivals just cemented there playoff runs for next few years . We still think Rossi , Hartman , Fred  and ahler shore is center depth for a Stanley cup team. Ridiculous. 
       Dal has    Hintz , duchene, Harley , steel . Col  Nate m , Nelson, coyle and face off specialist drury. . Vegas.  Winnipeg , la , Edmonton all have legit center depth . We think another 4 th liner is the answer.  It isn’t this year or next. How are they going to upgrade center depth? The kids are nowhere close. The Russian hasn’t played in the nhl yet. Why would kappy sign here when he looks around the division. There are good gm s in our division and it isn’t our gm. Money is better in other states with no tax . We aren’t a destination our do we have anything close to cup contender. We are  as we always are pretenders.  Billys done great at keeping us mediocre.  

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    4 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

    Nelson fetched a stupid amount of return and seemingly wanted a ridiculous amount of money.  Some trades have been weird and desperate.

    I get that Khusnutdinov "could" be something, but the team as constructed is only going to go so far.

    There may be reasons two players were swapped for one: money or opportunity.  No real way to know until Khusnutdinov gets a new contract or we see who gets his spot in his absence.

     

     

    my only counter to this is we would be in the exact spot had we not traded for anyone and stood pat. neither Nyquist nor this boston dude is going to move the needle much. this is a move just for the sake of moving. to look busy. we were going to make PO either way. so now we got rid of few more picks and youth for nothing. results are the same. PO and out. we ain't winning a round.....and that was a must. if PO was more important (disagree - it had to be R1 victory) then he should have rewarded the team and players that got the team there and not sold them off for scraps. 

    before you say - lets make PO first....Faber, Boldy and Rossi and captain and all the other Billy Boys who are not injured (all of them) should be enough to not loose 20 games straight. otherwise there's a whole other issue there. but whatever - it's done. 

     

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    7 minutes ago, Dean said:

    Billys done great at keeping us mediocre.  

    I'd have to say Shooter has delivered on his promise. During the heavy buyout years he has promised us a competitive team. In 4 out of 5 years, he's delivered that, and last season injuries (much like this season) derailed the team. He did a good job in fixing that from happening again this season, and we've been just as challenged, maybe even more challenged with Kaprizov being out so long.

    I think the definition of mediocre would be ranked somewhere in the low 20s in points. We've been above that, but if the comparison you're making is we are not contenders, well, this is true and it was never suggested that we would be at this point in time. 

    Shooter's got his guys and mostly who he wants to go to battle with over the next 5 years. Now he has to fill in those gaps. I believe Yurov will get a shot at center, Buium and Jiricek at D and finally seeing The Wall up for a full season. I also think OgZ will be up for a full season. That's 5 rookies and not, exactly something you hang contender on. But, these guys will be pretty seasoned in professional hockey (except Buium). 

    I still think the future looks bright here. Now, as for Dallas and what they've got, I'm not so sure we're playing Dallas. To me, I think the Avs catch and pass us and we are headed for WC1. I believe the Kings, Flames, and Canucks are battling it out for spots 6 and 8. The Canucks sold, the Flames stood pat, and the Kings grabbed Kuzmenko. 

    Tonight is a big game. For us, it's a knock out game for the Canucks as we would position ourselves likely too far out to catch with 20 games left. It would be nice to hit 80 points early next week. Our team needs to play hard at home and figure that out to finish out the season. 

    If I were Shooter and Heinzy, I'd be sending scouts to view VGK quite a bit. And, if Shooter thinks VGK is our 1st round, then acquiring Breezers was a good, needed move. 

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    Fully healthy, does this look like our lines?

    • Zuccarello/Rossi/Kaprizov
    • Boldy/Ek/Nyquist
    • Trenin/Hartman/Foligno
    • Breezers/Freddy/Vinny
    • Johansson eating nachos

    Can that hang with Vegas?

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    4 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

    Fully healthy, does this look like our lines?

    • Zuccarello/Rossi/Kaprizov
    • Boldy/Ek/Nyquist
    • Trenin/Hartman/Foligno
    • Breezers/Freddy/Vinny
    • Johansson eating nachos

    Can that hang with Vegas?

    no my friend. 

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    3 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

    Fully healthy, does this look like our lines?

    • Zuccarello/Rossi/Kaprizov
    • Boldy/Ek/Nyquist
    • Trenin/Hartman/Foligno
    • Breezers/Freddy/Vinny
    • Johansson eating nachos

    Can that hang with Vegas?

    I was just thinking the same thing.  Hang with Vegas, absolutely.  Beat Vegas, maybe?  Win a series with a hot goalie? Possible.  

    But I don't think it makes them a better team than Vegas.  Our ok still sucks

     

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    4 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

    Fully healthy, does this look like our lines?

    • Zuccarello/Rossi/Kaprizov
    • Boldy/Ek/Nyquist
    • Trenin/Hartman/Foligno
    • Breezers/Freddy/Vinny
    • Johansson eating nachos

    Can that hang with Vegas?

    IF the Jojo-Freddy-Zucc line keeps playing like they did last game here's how I see it.

    • Boldy-Ek-Kap
    • Nyquist-Rossi-Moose
    • Zucc-Freddy-Jojo
    • Breezers-Hartman-Vinny

    As it stands right now if everyone was healthy this gives the most balance IMO.

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