Wilderness Walk: #RoyIsNotWah

There's a ton of stuff to read today!

Not only will there be tons of stuff to read in The Walk today, but there's also tons of stuff going on at Hockey Wilderness.

If you haven't checked out our podcast yet, you'll be able to listen to Episode 2 here, and Ger, Joe, Aaron, and I break down the playoff match-up with the Avs and Wild. It's a lot of fun, and I hope you all give it a chance. While you're listening to that, you can look at Ger's look at Kyle Brodziak, or fill out Aaron's Hockey Wilderness Bracket Challenge. Or both. Both would be great. And then you can check back later for plenty of stories from your favorite Hockey Wilderness writers throughout the day.

Avs fans- rejoice. Despite our editorial mandate to troll, I've no intention to troll you. I've no interest in mentioning

But I would like to mention a couple of tiny, indisputable facts. Enjoy.

Roy (pronounced phonetically) sure did a good job reversing the Avs' PDO!

Also, follow me. My Twitter link is right there, and I know you're reading this. So just follow me.

On to the Walk.

Wild News

Colorado-Wild playoffs matchup offers contrast in styles | Star Tribune- Russo notes some parallels to the Wild-Avs series from 11 years ago.

Wild notes: Veilleux, McLeod will renew their comical 2008 rivalry | Star Tribune- So, something funny happened once.

Granlund, Brodziak expected to play in Game 1 of Wild-Avs series Thursday | Russo's Rants | StarTribune.com- Granlund will return, in all likelihood, taking his place as second-line center.

Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper practices, but coaches aren't convinced he's ready - TwinCities.com- It would be nice if Darcy could be at the ready in case Bryz falters.

2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs Series Preview: Minnesota Wild vs. Colorado Avalanche | State of Hockey News- State of Hockey News also has visions of 2003 in his series preview.

The Team of 18,001: Regular Season Wrap-Up- Giles wraps up a sometimes frustrating, sometimes exciting, and often interesting regular season.

First Round Stanley Cup Playoff Series Preview - Colorado Avalanche vs Minnesota Wild- More Series Previewing! This one courtesy of The Hockey Writers.

Regressing Wife-Beater* News

Avalanche notes: Injury situation gets better | Star Tribune- Good. Ours has, too. Let's beat the Avs at full strength.

Get to Know the Colorado Avalanche--GPW Chats with Mile High Sticking- GPW has managed to not completely burn bridges with the Avalanche blogs.

5 Ingredients For the Avalanche to Bury the Wild in Round One- 1) Have a high PDO. 2) Power play stuff. 3) Get better defensemen. 4) Get better. 5) Don't unleash #AngryMikko.

Report: Duchene to miss at least first two games of Avalanche-Wild series | ProHockeyTalk- And probably more, his injury was supposed to last 4 weeks, and he was injured March 31st. The time-table may be accelerated due to the playoffs, but a Game 5 or 6 return is most likely.

Pressing question: Are the Avs for real? | ProHockeyTalk- I don't know. I'd guess not.

Off the Trail

Good-bye, NHL Regular Season!- Granltand- And hellooooooo, playoffs!

Predicting the outcomes of the Western Conference quarterfinals | Backhand Shelf | Blogs | theScore.com- And predict things, they did!

NHL 14 predicts Boston Bruins as Stanley Cup champs, which means it won't happen | Puck Daddy - Yahoo Sports- Good news for the Wild.

NHL’s new playoff format is all about gambling, isn’t it? | Puck Daddy - Yahoo Sports- The bracket format was actually really fun to fill out. You can, again, fill out our Hockey Wilderness SCP Bracket Challenge. Winner gets a free T-shirt. You guys wear clothes, right?

2014 Stanley Cup playoffs -- Burnside: 4 deadline deals with playoff payoff - ESPN- Matt Moulson is among those.

Boston Bruins top 2014 NHL playoff team power rankings - NHL - SI.com- The Wild are 7th in their conference.

Flyers give Andrew MacDonald 6-year, $30 million deal | Puck Daddy - Yahoo Sports- Ger is super depressed the Wild didn't get to hand this contract out.

NHL hit with third concussion lawsuit | ProHockeyTalk

Oates: Mike Green’s ‘an enigma’ | ProHockeyTalk- Oates is also about to be 'fired'.

Sorry, I Just Can't Help Myself