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  • Wild Out West Facing Mediocre Kraken Team

    Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
    Thomas Williams

    By Thomas Williams -

    That's Wild

    Before their grinding 1-0 win over the Boston Bruins, the Minnesota Wild were not having a fun time. Without Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek, it felt like the dynamism and heartbeat of the team was missing. But, maybe tonight there can be a quick change of direction as the Wild visit a downtrodden Seattle Kraken team.

    The Kraken were expected to do a little bit more, improving from their disappointing campaign last season but with a 26-31-4 record and 4-6-1 record in their last 11 games, it sure looks like they will just continue being one of the bottom teams in the NHL. Can the Wild take advantage of this? Or will it be just two mediocre teams with some young talent, bashing their heads together to a 3-2 win one way or the other?

    • The Wild made their first splash around the trade deadline over the weekend and acquired winger Gustav Nyquist. But, considering he is a 35-year-old who is not having a good season, there might have been better options out there. [Hockey Wilderness]
    • Some of the consensus is that the Wild were desperate. They needed help badly without their two key players, so they went out and got a guy they are familiar with. They didn't need to do that. [Hockey Wilderness]
    • But, Nyquist did make a solid impression in his second Wild debut. [The Hockey News]

    Off the trail...

    • Six trades that the staff over at ESPN want to see before the trade deadline on Friday. [ESPN]
    • Newly acquired netminder Spencer Knight made 41 saves in his debut for the Chicago Blackhawks. [TheScore]
    By Thomas Williams  

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    mnfaninnc

    Hoping for a win tonight, but will probably watch tomorrow, yikes, 10pm games are tough.

    I did see something last week while looking at MaRat's contract. It's a $925k contract, but this season he has an $850k performance bonuses clause in his deal. To me, performance clauses should be done at the end of the season and not count against current cap, but I believe his cap number is $1.3m this season, not the $925k reported. So, sending him down to the minors probably clicks off a little more cap. 

    From an organizational perspective, I believe it's time that we see Jiricek full time in the Wild lineup, and I think we should be parting ways with both Dermott and Merrill. While Merrill is, well, Merrill, you know what you're getting. I think we'd be better off bringing up the young guys for the rest of the season, really, meaning both Lambos and Jiricek. Both of them would add much more than Merrill is able to give. I do believe that putting those guys in and dropping off Merrill and Dermott will be a wash in the cap. 

    But, if I were trying to prepare for the playoffs, we already saw 2 years ago that Merrill could not keep pace with the Stars and was scratched for a young Faber who could. I believe both Jiricek and Lambos can keep up. Lambos would need to practice and play against NHL talent for the next step in his progression. Maybe he's still in the A next season, but it is time for him to get a nice long breakfast, not just a cup of coffee. 

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    Will D. Ness

    I think there is a good possibility Buium will replace Merrill this year on the 3rd pairing.  I'm hoping he can pull off a Faber and shine.

    I don't think they will do the same for Jiricek as Bogo is still playing ok and Jiricek is still pretty raw.

    Dermott is already back in Edmonton.

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