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  • Vladislav Firstov Coming To Iowa

    Image courtesy of © Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
    Thomas Williams

    By Thomas Williams -

    One of the more interesting Minnesota Wild prospects is coming back to North America to continue his development.

    Winger Vladislav Firstov, a second-round pick from the 2019 NHL Draft, has officially been reassigned to the AHL's Iowa Wild after his season over in the KHL finished.

     

    Before heading back to his native country, Firstov signed an Entry-Level Deal with the Wild, so he was technically just loaned out to the Russian league for him to get into the professional game after finishing three years at the University of Connecticut.

    Smattered throughout his transition from leagues, Firstov did actually appear for the AHL Wild for a handful of games in two different seasons. During those nine total games, the young winger accrued two assists.

    Firstov might not grab the attention like a Marco Rossi, Marat Khusnutdinov, or an incoming Danila Yurov, but he could be a nice offensive depth piece on a competitive Wild team. 

    That's Wild

    • The Wild have an opportunity to be everyone's favorite team down the last stretch of the regular season.[Hockey Wilderness]
    • What might end up killing the Wild's season is just how poorly they have been against fellow Central Division teams. [The Hockey News]

    Off the trail...

    • One of the teams battling with the Wild for a playoff spot are the Los Angeles Kings and they are "really engaged" in the late-season collision. [NHL dot com]
    • The PWHL game between Ottawa and Boston that happened at Detroit's Little Caesar's Arena broke the United States record for attendance for a professional women's hockey game.[Daily Faceoff]
    • Five players whose roles have lessened due to trade deadline acquisitions. [The Hockey News]
    By Thomas Williams  

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    Protec

    Get this guy into some NHL games. Make the playoffs or not with the audition force. They'll be hungry. NoJo sucks. Fred, needs a retreat to the woods of North Quebec for awhile.

    I'd be plugging in Beckman and Firstov now. Putting Gaudreau & Johannsson in the press box will probably help everyone right now.

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    mnfaninnc
    3 hours ago, Protec said:

    Get this guy into some NHL games. Make the playoffs or not with the audition force. They'll be hungry. NoJo sucks. Fred, needs a retreat to the woods of North Quebec for awhile.

    I'd be plugging in Beckman and Firstov now. Putting Gaudreau & Johannsson in the press box will probably help everyone right now.

    I'm absolutely with you on this. Put in the hungry guys!

    What is curious about this is how Firstov got loaned to the K. Was he disgruntled or homesick? With him coming back to even play in the A, it sounds like he was homesick!

    This is good news for the Wild. My hope is that he pots a hat trick in his 1st game earning a callup to the N. I'm also hoping he's north of 200 lbs. by now and would love to see someone try to knock him off the puck only to figure out they just hit a brick wall and bounced off of him!

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    FredJohnson
    11 hours ago, Protec said:

    Fred, needs a retreat to the woods of North Quebec for awhile.

    LTIR him! FFS Vegas puts guys on LTIR for a hangnail why can't we?

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    mnfaninnc

    Looking for news? Kumpulainen signed his ELC. His team is among the top in the OHL, so I'd expect a good long playoff run. Kumpulainen has been a PPG player scoring goals for Oshawa. Elite Prospects lists him at 6'2" 194 lbs. Somehow, I remember him measuring more than that at last year's draft.

    He's only 18, but has a body ready to compete in the A. He spent 1 year in Canadian jrs., so I'm not sure on the rules here. As an International Player, he could play underaged in the A, but since he played a year in Canada, I don't know if that changes his status. 

    If I were Guerin, I think I'd want him in Iowa. I believe as a 19 year old, his contract would slide a year, and I think Iowa could use all the help it can get. Kumpulainen has got to take strength seriously, I don't know how much weight he'd need to gain but converting the weight into muscle would be the thing I'd concentrate on. It'd be nice to have a guy who can just muscle his way around the rink! 

    I'd also work on a little boxing for fitness. I'm not saying he'll be a thug, but I am saying he'll need to protect himself. At any rate, boxing is a good workout and should he decide he needs to use the training on the ice, at least he'd be ready. I would imagine that a guy that big will need to show that he can handle himself in the A.

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    Protec
    17 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

    I'd also work on a little boxing for fitness. I'm not saying he'll be a thug, but I am saying he'll need to protect himself. At any rate, boxing is a good workout and should he decide he needs to use the training on the ice, at least he'd be ready.

    Yes! Turn him into Rempe-lainen. Get him on the Hendricks/McLeod grit-injections. More big bodies.

    #beefngrit

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    TheGoosesAreLooses

    Anyone else a little disappointed they are letting Petrovsky walk? I thought he looked amazing at world juniors and am surprised the Wild don't see a future there. Would love a little insight if anyone has some?

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    mnfaninnc
    11 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

    Anyone else a little disappointed they are letting Petrovsky walk? I thought he looked amazing at world juniors and am surprised the Wild don't see a future there. Would love a little insight if anyone has some?

    Is this true, or just a not yet? Source?

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    mnfaninnc

    Here is the quote:

    Quote

    With these two prospects added to the pipeline, reading the tea leaves, it is sounding like the Wild won’t be signing 2022 sixth-round pick Servac Petrovsky by the June 1 deadline. If not, he’d be draft eligible again in June, but it sounds like he has some options overseas.

    Petrovsky has 49 points in 54 games for Owen Sound this season and had five goals and nine points for Slovakia in the World Junior Championship.

    This comes from Russo. I'm not sure how much I trust the reading of tea leaves, but, why wouldn't you give Petrovsky a chance on an ELC to prove what he can do? Do we have a problem with contract numbers (50)? Is there no room with 2 teams in Iowa? This seems like a waste of resources....unless Petrovsky doesn't want to sign with the Wild?

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    bisopher
    6 hours ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

    Anyone else a little disappointed they are letting Petrovsky walk? I thought he looked amazing at world juniors and am surprised the Wild don't see a future there. Would love a little insight if anyone has some?

    The Wild are going to regret that decision, mark my words. Whatever "options overseas" he has don't matter; the other NHL GMs saw what we saw, and he'll be a 4th or at worst 5th rounder for someone else in June.

    "Stealing" a capable player with a low draft pick (like Kaprizov, but at a lower level) doesn't matter if you ignore his development and let another team draft him and reap the benefits. 

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    bisopher
    6 hours ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

    Anyone else a little disappointed they are letting Petrovsky walk? I thought he looked amazing at world juniors and am surprised the Wild don't see a future there. Would love a little insight if anyone has some?

    The Wild are going to regret that decision, mark my words. Whatever "options overseas" he has don't matter; the other NHL GMs saw what we saw, and he'll be a 4th or at worst 5th rounder for someone else in June.

    "Stealing" a capable player with a low draft pick (like Kaprizov, but at a lower level) doesn't matter if you ignore his development and let another team draft him and reap the benefits. 

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