Being Wrong About Filip Gustavsson

 

Back in October, right at the start of the 2022-2023 NHL season, I wrote about Filip Gustavsson, his joining the Wild, and whether or not there was going to be a possible back-up goalie controversy here in Minnesota (you can read it here).

 Well, I will admit I was completely wrong about a possible back-up goalie controversy here with the Wild. In my previous post, I did mention the plan was to have Jesper Wallstedt play in Iowa in tandem with Zane McIntyre to get acclimated to the North American rinks and give him at least one full season there.

Filip Gustavsson in net for the Minnesota Wild

Now…back to Gustavsson. Like I stated previously, I didn’t know much about him before this season with him having spent the past two years either with Ottawa or with their farm team and that my first real good look at him in net for the Wild came when he was in net for a preseason game against Chicago. I did get to see him play in person back on January 4 against the Tampa Bay Lightning where he ended up leaving the game during the third period due to an illness (which Wild coach Dean Evason later stated that it was a stomach bug). Gustavsson ended up getting the win, having been the goaltender of record in the Wild’s 5-1 win that night.

Since then, I’ve been able to watch Gus in net for the Wild a lot more and all I can say is “WOW” with the way he has been playing in net as of late. He was just named the NHL’s Third Star of the week having won both of his starts against the Islanders on Feb. 28^th and shutting out Calgary on March 4. He went 2-0-0, with a 0.48 GAA, and .986 SV%. He stopped 70 out of 71 shots he faced and he recorded his second shutout of the season. He’s 16-4-2 since Nov. 19^th, posting a 1.68 GAA, .942 SV% and two shutouts, leading the NHL in GAA and SV% in that span. He has since recorded third shutout of the season on March 7 against Calgary, even though the Wild lost in a shootout.

Filip Gustavsson reaching out to make a save

  Gustavsson has played a huge role in the Wild’s    streak right now that has them in second place in    the Central division and two points behind Dallas    (83 points). Dallas currently leads the division        with a 35-17-13 record. 

   

 

 

In my previous post, I asked if there was a possible back-up goalie controversy and if Jesper Wallstedt might see any time in the NHL season. Well, there’s no back-up goalie controversy. The plan is for Wallstedt to “bake” down in Iowa. Gustavsson has been pretty hot as of late and has been playing “lights out” in the net for Minnesota. 

 As far as the trade goes that brought Gustavsson to Minnesota for Cam Talbot going to Ottawa, Minnesota definitely won that trade.

Sources:

Filip Gustavsson Named NHL's Third Star of the Week (wild.com/nhl.com) 

Ryan Reeves now a member of the Minnesota Wild—that was something I was NOT expecting…

I was in the middle of a meeting on Zoom on Wednesday when I received a notification from the Wild app on my phone that Ryan Reaves was now a member of the Minnesota Wild via a trade with the New York Rangers receiving a fifth round pick in the 2025 NHL draft. I immediately did a double take. I was shocked.

If you’re a Wild fan, you remember the fight between Reaves and now-teammate Marcus Foligno from the Wild’s home opener against Reaves’ now former team, the New York Rangers. A little over a month later, they are now teammates. In Reaves’ debut with the Wild vs Toronto, they were actually linemates---and I liked it! (I watched the game on TV on Friday, so I have yet to see this in person.) 

The infamous pic from the Marcus Foligno-Ryan Reaves
bout from the Wild's home opener on October 13
(photo courtesy of Aaron Lavinsky/AP)

Shortly after the trade, Reaves was asked if there was any awkwardness for him now that he’s teammates with Foligno and Reaves replied:

 “Never…I’ve always had respect for him. He plays hard. He plays the right way. He doesn’t do anything dirty. He sticks up for his teammates. He answers the bell when he has to. That’s a guy I’ve always respected. No hard feelings.”

Reaves went on to say that he did get a        text message from Foligno shortly after the trade was made official stating they’d be meeting on better terms. Reaves replied with “it was never and terms. It was just business.”

Wild Head Coach Dean Evason was asked about Ryan Reaves during his post-game press conference Wednesday night after the Wild beat up on the Winnipeg Jets 6-1. Evason stated that even though he hadn’t spoken with Reaves yet, he knew Reaves was on his way to the Twin Cities so that he could practice with the team the next day. (Reaves made his debut with his new team when the Wild faced Toronto the day after Thanksgiving).

According to nhl.com and Bardown Beauty’s Jessi Pierce, the cheers were loud when Reaves was introduced in the starting lineup for the game against Toronto.

Tweet courtesy of Jessi Pierce (@jessi_pierce) 

The trade worked out for all sides involved. Reaves had been a healthy scratch for seven of the last eight games he was with the Rangers. There are reports Reaves actually requested the trade based off of his lack of playing time. With Reaves joining the Wild line up, that frees up Marcus Foligno from having to play the “enforcer” role and focus more on his game. Wild General Manager Bill Guerin believes he can help the team rediscover their hard-forechecking identity, along with bringing an energy they definitely need. Reaves stated to the The Athletic before flying here to the Twin Cities:

 “…I bring energy, I bring physical play, I bring swagger. I look forward to bringing that in Minny. I’m excited. They had a good run last year. They’re a good team. Just fell short.” 

I don't know about you, but I think the Minnesota Wild are happy to have Ryan Reaves in a Wild uniform.... 

Sources:

Wild add Ryan Reaves, then take a big step toward finding their identity

Rangers trade Ryan Reaves to Wild: Why the forward is a good fit for Minnesota

Jessi Pierce on twitter

Matt Dumba in a contract year—how much longer will he be with the Minnesota Wild?

 

It’s well known Matt Dumba is entering the last year of a 5-year, $30 million contract with the only team he’s been with—the Minnesota Wild. He signed that contract after coming off of a season where he scored 50 points during the 2017-18 season (when Paul Fenton was the Wild’s GM). There were some pretty high hopes for Dumba when he signed that contract—where that 50 point (14 G, 36 A) season was a springboard to him becoming a strong offensive defenseman….

Well, that really hasn’t happened. 

Matt Dumba (photo courtesy of Jess Star/The Hockey Writers)

Since he was injured in a fight with Matthew Tkachuck back in December 2018 and missed more than half of the 2018-19 season recovering from a chest injury and surgery. Ever since, he’s missed time pretty much every season since and he hasn’t put up more than 30 points since.  (He did have 7 goals and 20 assists in 57 games last season).

Ever since he’s been with the Wild (he was drafted by the team as the 7^th overall pick in the 2012 NHL draft), Dumba has always been the subject of potential trade rumors. He was an exposed defenseman in the 2017 expansion draft for the Vegas Golden Knights. He wasn’t chosen by the team when Chuck Fletcher traded Alex Tuch in a side deal that included the Knights picking Erik Haula. Dumba wasn’t exposed as an option for the Kraken during the 2021 expansion draft (the Kraken ended up taking Carson Soucy from the Wild).

(photo courtesy of Icon Sportswire)

I think the Wild may actually try to move on from Dumba. The salary cap issue doesn’t help, either. The Wild already have a projected $66.3 million invested in 13 players for the 2023-24 season and the salary cap for next season is only going to increase by $1 million to $83.5 million. Then Matt Boldy, Sam Steel, and Filip Gustavsson are all restricted free agents at the end of this season. Depending on how all three perform this season, they could be looking at some pay increases. Dumba will be an unrestricted free agent and I don’t see him taking a pay cut to stay here.

I got the chance to ask Michael Russo from The Athletic at a recording of the Worst Seats in the House podcast recently about if the 6'0", 183 lb defenseman will be with the team at the end of the season. Russo did state he believes this is it for Dumba with the Wild. He believes Dumba will either be traded or he’ll walk.

There is a quote from The Athletic about a trade possibly involving Dumba:

 

“And finally, if the Wild fall out of contention this season, pending UFA blueliner Matt Dumba most likely will be trade bait. He has a 10-team no-trade list. He might be part of trade discussions even if the Wild stay in the playoff race, as part of a hockey trade to augment the Minnesota roster.”

 

He’s also hasn’t been playing all that great for someone who is in a contract year. Wild Head Coach Dean Evason recently demoted Dumba to the third defensive pairing with Jon Merrill. That may have provided some sort of a spark for Dumba—along with the rest of the defensive core.

With his being a contract year, Dumba really needs to step up and improve his game if he thinks he may get a pay raise after this season. It’s clear that he hasn’t been the same since that fight with Matthew Tkachuk four years ago. It’s going to be interesting to see how this whole thing plays out. The Wild also have a good pool of defense prospects (like Ben Faber) who could make the jump to the NHL line up, making Dumba expendable. 

The days of Matt Dumba in a Wild sweater are definitely numbered…how he leaves, remains to be seen.

 

Sources:

Worst Seats in the House, Episode "Back at Tuttles" (https://talknorth.com/worst-seats/)

Wild reportedly could trade Dumba, even if team is winning

Who is Filip Gustavsson? Is there going to be a possible back-up goalie controversy in Minnesota?

 

When Cam Talbot was traded to the Ottawa Senators back in July, I wasn’t exactly surprised that happened. However, when it was announced the Wild were getting goalie Filip Gustavsson in return. My first thought was “who is he?”

To be honest with you, I never really heard of Gustavsson until he was traded. So, who is Filip Gustavsson?

Well, he’s a 24-year-old Skelleftea, Sweden native who split time between Ottawa and their AHL affiliate Belleville. Last season with Ottawa in 18 games, Gustavsson posted a 5-12-1 record to go along with a 3.55 GAA and .892 save percentage. He also appeared in 20 games in Belleville, going 11-6-1 with a 2.50 GAA, .915 save percentage, and 2 shutouts. He’s a former second round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins (2016) and also spent time with the Swedish Junior National team (2016 bronze medal 2016 IIHF World Under-18 and 2018 silver medal 2018 IIHF World Juniors).

Filip Gustavsson during a preseason game

I will admit that I didn’t get to see Gustavsson when he was in net when the Senators came to town last season. In that game, So, my first chance to see him in net was when the Wild faced the Blackhawks on Thursday (October 6).  In my opinion, he looked good in net. He stopped 25 out of 26 shots. The one goal he let in would be considered a softy, otherwise he was solid in the net for the Wild.

When the puck drops for real on October 13, Gustavsson will be the #2 goalie behind Marc-Andre Fleury.

Now, the question is how long do you keep Jesper Wallstedt in Iowa? First, Wild GM Bill Guerin has said he’s not going to rush the teenage goalie’s development. I think that’s a smart move for now as he gets adjusted to the North American rinks. Even Wallstedt knows this is going to be an adjustment as he gets used to the rinks here. He even stated so in a recent quote after a Wild practice:

“The angles are different here from back home, on the smaller ice. But I think I just have to keep improving my speed and my lateral movements on the ice and on my feet and become faster every day. Just try to improve the reading for the game and try to see plays happen before they do.”

It’s a smart move on Guerin’s part to have Wallstedt be down in Iowa, considering that he’s only 19 (he’ll turn 20 in November) and this is going to be his first season here in North America. He’ll split time in Iowa with former University of North Dakota goalie Zane McIntyre, who signed with the Iowa Wild in January.

Jesper Wallstedt during training camp
with the Minnesota Wild

As far as a back-up goalie controversy? I really don’t see one. If Fleury or Gustavsson were to get injured (hopefully that does NOT happen), the next to be called up to the Wild would probably be Zane McIntyre. McIntyre’s last appearance in the NHL came with the Boston Bruins back during the 2016-17 season where he appeared in at least eight games.

I believe the Wild are going to give Wallstedt at least a full year in Iowa and let him develop. He very well could end up being in a Minnesota Wild uniform full time next year—depending how Gustavsson plays this year, with this being a contract year for him.

Filip Gustavsson is the #2 goalie for at least this year.

Sources:

Wild’s Jesper Wallstedt impressing in first camp, but don’t expect a fast track (Michael Russo, The Athletic, Sept. 27, 2002)

Jesper Wallstedt

Updates on Previous Posts

 

Mike Milbury out at NBC Sports…

 Back in August, I posted an article about Mike Milbury and how “he needs to go” after his controversial comments about women (read article here). On January 11, NBC Sports announced Milbury will not be returning for the 2021 NHL season. NBC Sports also announced Mike Babcock will be joining the broadcast team. I don’t think that was a smart move by NBC.

The reason why I say that is that Mike Babcock has been known to be verbally abusive towards players during his tenure with the Detroit Red Wings. Both Chris Chelios and Brendan Shanahan have stated how Babcock had been verbally abusive towards players—with Chelios giving an example of an incident involving Babcock and Johan Franzen during a game and Franzen ended up confirming the incident did take place in a response to CBC (read full article here.) What was NBC thinking when they decided to bring Babcock on? Did they not learn anything after the backlash of Milbury’s derogatory comments about women (among other comments about two NHL players)? Apparently not. I’m not a fan of Babcock as a coach. How long is it going to be before Babcock makes similar remarks to the ones that got Milbury in trouble and what NBC is going to do? Only time will tell on that one…

And no, I’m not impressed with Mike Babcock on NHL on NBC either.  I would rather watch Pierre McGuire than Mike Babcock at this point…

Then, on January 22, NBC Sports announced that its NBCSN cable channel will be shutting down at the end of 2021 and their sports programming is going to be moved to USA Network and to NBC’s Peacock streaming service. That will make things interesting since the NHL’s current TV deal with NBC in the United States ends at the end of the 2021-2022 season…

The Goaltending situation with the Wild…

The Wild’s season opened on January 14^th and as expected, Cam Talbot is the Wild’s starting goalie with Kaapo Kahkonen and the #2 goalie. With Alex Stalock now out indefinitely, we’re going to see Kahkonen get starts for the Wild due to the condensed 56 game schedule. So far, he’s 3-3-0 with a 2.86 GAA and .903 SV%. Are we going to see Stalock at all this season? At this point, who knows. There is no indication on how long he is going to be out for (article on situation with Stalock is here) or even what his injury is.

So, for the time being, the Wild are going with the tandem of Talbot and Kahkonen…and I’m perfectly okay with that.

Marco Rossi may NOT be in a Wild Uniform this season…

 After Austria’s dismal performance in the World Juniors tournament in Edmonton, Marco Rossi looked all set to join the Minnesota Wild, the team that drafted him with the 9^th overall pick. (My post introducing him is here).

Well, Wild fans are going to have to wait longer to see Rossi in a Wild uniform. Wild fans waited for FIVE years before Kirill Kaprizov joined the team, so we’re used to waiting.

Shortly after joining the Wild in Saint Paul, Rossi was put on injured reserve with an “upper body injury.” Granted, we all know Austria had a dismal performance in the World Juniors, and before that, he only appeared in one game with the ZSC Lions in Switzerland before a league-wide outbreak happened. On January 29, it was announced that Rossi was heading home to Austria for six weeks. I certainly was stratching my head, thinking what exactly is going on. Then the Wild announced the next day that his “upper body injury” was actually complications from having COVID-19 back in November.

Say what? Let me get this straight—Rossi had COVID back in November. He was then cleared by Zurich and then Team Austria to play in the World Juniors in December? That doesn’t seem right and a couple of weeks ago it now comes out he’s had complications? So, why the rush to get him to play? I know he was probably the biggest name on Team Austria and that the World Juniors would have given North American hockey fans a good look at him. Seriously, couldn’t this kid get some time off to rest and recover?

Rossi is supposed to return to Saint Paul some time in March. All I have to say is let this kid get some rest and time off to fully recover. There is NO rush to get him in a Wild uniform in this condensed season

Sources:

Hockey Wilderness: https://www.hockeywilderness.com/2021/1/29/22256584/minnesota-wild-marco-rossi-injury-austria-center-covid-19

Jared Spurgeon—the new Minnesota Wild Captain

When it was announced that the Wild were moving on and not re-signing Mikko Koivu (who signed a one year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets in October), the question arose on who was going to replace Koivu as captain. Koivu was the first, full-time captain of the Wild starting in 2010 (for the first nine seasons, the captaincy was rotated on a monthly basis).

That question was answered when the Wild opened training camp on January 4^th. The new (and second full time) captain of the Wild was announced to be Jared Spurgeon. As a Wild fan, I think Spurgeon was a good choice to be named captain.

The "Spurgeon General," Jared Spurgeon

Jake Jenson from minnyice.com stated this perfectly about Spurgeon and I couldn’t agree more:

 “Everybody loves Spurg! No matter where you go, I find it highly unlikely to ever come across a person that doesn’t enjoy being around Spurgeon. He’s just one of those guys that has an aura about him where he sheds light and positivity everywhere he goes. That’s someone you want to be the face of your franchise...Whether it’s coaches, teammates, player personnel… even opposing players, Spurgeon has the respect of absolutely everyone on the ice. Respect is a hugely important trait for a captain to have…You have to be liked to lead. And Spurgeon is absolutely adored in the Wild locker room. By everyone.”

Spurgeon is one of those guys in the locker room who goes out of their way to make new players feel welcome. He reached out to Kirill Kaprizov after he finally signed with the Wild through Instagram (along with Marcus Foligno). He is also one of those guys who plays and "leaves it all out on the ice." He doesn't have to say much, but you know he can be counted on.

Spurgeon’s going into his 11^th season with the Wild. For those who don’t know, Spurgeon was not drafted by the Wild. No, he was originally drafted back in 2008 by the New York Islanders (156^th pick overall). He was never signed by the Islanders and was invited to participate in the Wild’s training camp to start the 2010-11 season. Obviously, from there, the rest is history...and has made an immediate impact on the Wild. 

In his previous ten seasons with the Wild, Spurgeon has scored 82 goals and has 198 assists (280 points) while averaging about 22 minutes a game in 653 career games. 

Some may ask why didn't the captaincy go to Zach Parise--since he's a Minnesota native and has been an alternate captain since he joined the team back in 2012? I'm fine with Parise not being named captain, considering that there was speculation that he didn't want to be a part of any kind of rebuild the Wild may undertake. There was also a possibility that he could have been traded to the Islanders, but that deal never materialized. 

Jared Spurgeon being named captain makes sense because he's been with the team the longest (after Mikko Koivu finished his career with the Wild). He's a fan favorite. He's liked and respected by coaches, teammates, and opposing players.  

The "Spurgeon General" has been promoted...

Sources:

https://minnyice.com/why-jared-spurgeon-will-be-the-next-captain-of-the-wild/

Alex Stalock’s injury. What is going on? What does that mean for the goaltending situation for the Wild?

  

It was announced back on December 16, the Wild were signing goaltender Andrew Hammond to a two-way contract and Wild goalie Alex Stalock was going to be out indefinitely with what is being called an “upper-body” injury.

Alex Stalock

 With Stalock out, what does that mean for the   goaltender situation? For starters, the Wild had   the following goalies on the training camp   roster when training camp started on January   4^th at TRIA rink: Cam Talbot, Andrew   Hammond, Dereck Baribeau, Kaapo Kahkonen,   and Hunter Jones.

 What does that mean for goalies when the Wild   season starts on January 14^th? From what I   saw before the news of Stalock’s injury, Cam Talbot was going to be the starting goalie with Stalock being the back up. The plan was also going to include getting Kahkonen time in as the back up to get him some more games at the NHL level. There is the possibility that Kahkonen will be the #2 goalie behind Talbot. Now, with this 56-game season, the Wild are going to have a LOT of back-to-back games. Whomever the #2 goalie is going to be, they are going to get some NHL starts so that Talbot doesn’t get worn out. There are three other goalies right now vying for that #2 spot...

Kaapo Kahkonen 

If you don’t recall last season for Kahkonen with the Iowa Wild, he won 25 games (with 7 of those being shutouts) and posted a 2.07 GAA and .927 SV %. Those stats were good enough for him to be named the AHL goalie of the year. In the five career NHL games he has played in (all with the Minnesota Wild), he posted a 3-1 record with a 2.96 GAA and .913 SV%.

The big question is how long is Stalock going to be out for with this “upper-body” injury? Not much has been disclosed about the injury or how serious it is. Could he possibly miss the entire season as a result? The answer to that question remains to be seen.

Personally, I would like to see Kahkonen get some more time with the Minnesota Wild. I didn’t see him play at all when he did (partly because I was traveling for work last season). I would like to see what he can do in between the pipes for the Wild. 

Are we going to see any kind of a season for the NHL this year?

 

Two weeks ago, I wrote my last piece about what should the NHL do about the 2020-21 season. I also discussed this very topic when I made my debut on The Soda Pod podcast on November 29h.. This first week of December is basically going to be “do-or-die” for both sides to get a deal done so that the season could potentially start on January 1, like the NHL has been eyeing.

 Since November 29, I’ve seen everything ranging from another *GASP* lockout to the season possibly starting in mid-February. There had been reports that both sides (NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Don Fehr) had not spoken for over a week. I had been seeing so much out there that I had to rewrite this post twice…

During that time, players were traveling to their team cities. There was the whole thing on social media about new Vancouver Canucks goalie Braden Holtby needing U.S. Federal paperwork to bring his two tortoises across the border into Canada (read about it here)

 

Kirill Kaprizov skating at the
Wild's practice
facility (courtesy of the Minnesota Wild)

Now, I’m rewriting this for a third time with the news that the NHL and the NHLPA are looking at starting on January 13 with a 56 game season. The divisions for this season have been redone apparently to reduce traveling (as usual, the Wild got the short end of that stick with being in a division with Anaheim, Vancouver, Los Angeles, San Jose, Vegas, Dallas, and Colorado).  According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, training camps could open as early as January 1. From what I’ve seen from the Minnesota Wild’s social media, players have already been skating at their practice facility in downtown St. Paul (yes, including Kirill Kaprizov!) 

There are still some other items to be worked out and the NHL board of governors are meeting soon (December 9^th I believe via conference call).

 As of right now, it looks like we’re going to have a NHL season for 2020-21!

 And this hockey fan is excited!!

Does Victor Rask have a future with the Minnesota Wild?

 

Ever since Victor Rask was traded to the Wild in January 2019 in exchange for Nino Niederreiter, Rask has been either on the fourth line or a healthy scratch. In 66 games with the Wild, Rask has only racked up 7 goals and 9 assists (16 points).

Remember, Paul Fenton was the Wild’s general manager at the time the trade was made. This particular trade is looking to be one of the worst trades in the history of the Minnesota Wild. The question here is saving $1.25 million on the cap worth it (Niederreiter’s salary was $5.25 million/year). Fenton traded for a player who missed significant time (including training camp) before the trade was made due to having surgery on his hand after he sliced part of his hand in a kitchen incident. There were rumors that Fenton didn’t even send a scout to watch Rask play in person nor did Fenton even talk with Eric Staal, who played with Rask in Carolina for two seasons. In addition to the rumors about Fenton not scouting Rask, there were rumblings that the Hurricanes were going to buy Rask out of his contract before the trade.

What was Paul Fenton’s thinking on that—to trade for a player without doing any scouting? (This trade was among the list of reasons why Fenton was eventually fired after the 2018-19 season). There really hasn’t been much value to having Rask on the roster.

Rask is not that impressive of a player. As previously stated, he’s only appeared in 66 games with the Wild so far and has only racked up 16 points (7 goals and 9 assists). He’s not that great of a skater—which has been evident when watching him play. If you look at his career stats, he’s a career -27 (405 career games with 70 goals and 109 assists). For the Wild, this trade has basically been a bust.

Where does Rask fit into the Wild line up? Or does he? As of the time I was writing this article, the Wild currently have six centers (including Rask). With the additions of Nick Bonino, Nick Bjugstad, and Marcus Johansson, along with Joel Ericsson Ek and Nico Strum already on the roster. Rask isn’t close to being a top center-which the Wild desperately need. In my opinion (and I am not a coach or general manager at all), there should be some effort to move Rask. I don’t believe the current NHL CBA allows for restructuring of contracts.

What are the options with Victor Rask at this point?

• Buy out the remaining two years of his contract. This is one option; however, it’s a costly one. Rask has two years remaining on a 6-year, $24 million contract he signed after the 2015-16 season (when Ron Francis was the GM of the Hurricanes). The trade to the Wild also occurred before his trade clause went into effect, which the Wild are not honoring. Right now, Rask has a cap hit of $4 million for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. IF the Wild were to buy out those two remaining years, Rask would have a cap hit of $1.33 million through the 2023-24 season.  Would the Wild be able to afford that cap hit to free up a roster spot?

• Trade Rask. This could be considered a daunting task, considering Rask’s salary and lack of offensive production throughout his NHL career (405 career games with 70 goals and 109 assists). Can the Wild find a willing trade partner or is there a possibility that Rask would have to be part of a trade package? How much salary is the Wild going to have to retain? It’s going to be interesting to see if (current) Wild GM Bill Guerin can pull off trading Rask.

• Keep Rask until his contract expires. Are the Wild willing do that, especially at $4 million a year for the next two seasons? Right now, he’s still on the roster. But where does he fit in with the Wild having a total of six centers on their roster? Rask is not one of those players who can be moved over to a wing spot and depending on other factors, he could be spending a lot of time in the press box as a healthy scratch-albeit an expensive one. 

Time will tell what happens with Victor Rask and the Minnesota Wild. One thing is for certain is that the Wild should try to find a way to move on from this bad trade and cut their losses in a way that will help the Wild.

Sources:

https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/the-ugly-shocking-details-of-fenton-s-firing-in-minnesota 

1.    https://thehockeywriters.com/hurricanes-wild-niederreiter-rask-trade-revisited/

https://zonecoverage.com/2020/wild/revisiting-paul-fentons-2019-trades/

https://www.nhl.com/player/victor-rask-8476437

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Rossi, the Minnesota Wild’s 2020 First Round Draft Pick

 

With the ninth overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, the Minnesota Wild selected Marco Rossi, a 5’9” center who spent last season with the Ottawa 67’s—amassing 39 goals, 81 assists (120 pts) with a +69 in 56 games—where he won the CHL scoring title and was named the league’s most outstanding player.

The Athletic’s Corey Pronman had this to say about the Wild selecting Rossi:

“In Rossi, the Wild get one of the best players in junior hockey last season. He’s a player with tremendous skill and a high compete level. He’s undersized and a good, not great skater. But the skill and compete level are so good that I think he can become a low-end, first-line center in the NHL who can play on both special teams. He becomes a very important part of the Wild’s future and gives them much needed young depth at center.”

 

Drafting Rossi in the first round also helps address a serious need by the Minnesota Wild—by eventually having a true first line center. I previously stated in my article posted on September 19 (here) that the Wild have not had a true first line center in quite some time (or for as long as the team has been in existence).  Along with the Wild moving on from now-former captain Mikko Koivu and Eric Staal having been traded to Buffalo, there are two center slots that now need to be filled (which I will address is a future post).

 
I will admit I didn’t know much about Marco Rossi before the draft tonight, but after the Wild selected him in the first round—I looked up videos of him on YouTube and I will admit I was impressed with what I saw in two highlight videos—which are posted at the end of this article Yes, Rossi’s only 5’9”, but he has some amazing stick handling skills. However, from what I have read so far and the videos I’ve seen, Rossi is a player Wild fans can get excited over. Hockeywilderness.com had this comment about Rossi:

 

“The Wild take the gift that was dropped right into their lap. Rossi has elite positional awareness that makes up for his 5-foot-9 frame. You don’t score points in the OHL being bad.”

 

Even as I was writing this and still trying to research Rossi, Scott Wheeler from The Athletic posted his take on the winners and losers from the first round of this draft. He had the Wild ranked first with the selection of Marco Rossi and basically stated that he (Rossi) is ready to play in the NHL.

Well, welcome to the State of Hockey, Marco Rossi.

Can you imagine a line with Rossi at center and Kirill Kaprizov at right wing? 

As I stated earlier, here are links to two of the highlight videos of Marco Rossi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRWA90nw4IM&ab_channel=WolfHockey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwHAaUFuDIQ&ab_channel=OntarioHockeyLeague

Sources:

Corey Pronman, The Athletic. https://theathletic.com/2089449/2020/10/06/nhl-draft-2020-live-first-round-updates-and-analysis/

Hockeywilderness.com https://www.hockeywilderness.com/2020/10/6/21504816/2020-nhl-minnesota-wild-draft-tracker?fbclid=IwAR2fwzItMAUl9vnjbXpP_VAt6JS2nmKWiPHIPnPusf4nffEY1g_0mVkOIXA

Scott Wheeler, The Athletic https://theathletic.com/2068998/2020/10/07/nhl-draft-winners-and-losers-ranking-every-teams-first-round/?source=twittered

Devan Dubnyk’s time in Minnesota has come to an end with trade to San Jose Sharks

 

I mentioned in my last blog post (here) that one of the big needs Wild GM Bill Guerin needs to address happened to be goaltending and what could possibly happen with Devan Dubnyk.

Well, one day before the first round of the NHL Draft, Guerin traded Devan Dubnyk to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a fifth round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. The Wild will also be retaining $1.25 million in salary and about a $2.7 million cap hit for the upcoming season (which would be the last year of Dubnyk’s six-year contract with the team). The trade actually saves the Wild some money instead of buying out the final year of the contract (which would have cost the Wild approximately $1.67 million in cash spread out over two years, about a $2.7 million cap hit next season, and about an $830,000 cap hit for the 2021-22 season). The question has been asked on whether or not the Wild need to move on from Dubnyk, and that question has been answered with Guerin making the trade.

Dubnyk made the following statement following the trade during an interview:

“It’s been a stressful week, obviously, when you find out,”…”But the conversations I’ve had, mainly with (Sharks general manager) Doug Wilson and the staff and also just hearing from anyone who’s been involved with the Sharks, you just hear nothing but good things. The more we spoke with Doug and other people, the more comfortable we were. We realize this is an extremely exciting opportunity with a great organization and so, the further this went down the road, the more excited we got about it. We were certainly antsy waiting for it to become official today, but we’re very, very excited about it.” (October 5, 2020, nhl.com)

San Jose will be the fifth team for Dubnyk in his career, in which he is 247-195-52 with a 2.58 GAA, .915 SV%, and 32 career shutouts in 520 career NHL games. He also won the Bill Masterton trophy, finished third in voting for the Vezina Trophy and fourth for the Hart Trophy, along with being named to the NHL’s Second All-Star Team—all in 2015. Dubnyk is coming off a rough 2019-20 season that saw him missing time due to a medical situation with his wife and losing the starting role to Alex Stalock. In the 30 games he played in, he went 12-15-2 with a 3.35 GAA and .890 SV%. With this trade, the Sharks will be going with a goalie tandem of Martin Jones and Dubnyk.

So, where does that trade leave the Wild as far as goaltending? The Wild still have Alex Stalock under contract and Kaapo Kahkonen with the Iowa Wild. Free agency starts on October 9 and there are some big goalie names in free agency—i.e. Thomas Greiss (Islanders), Cam Talbot (Flames), and Anton Khudobin (Stars, and who also sent time with the Wild) to name a few.

Between the draft (rounds 2-7 will be taking place on Oct. 7^th) and free agency, Guerin has options for goaltending. It will be interesting to see what transpires and what Guerin is going to do to further address the goaltending situation.

Update:

I previously stated the 2020-21 season was going to tentatively start sometime in December 2020. The NHL stated today that they have a target start date of January 1 for the upcoming season. Whether this upcoming season is going to be a full 82 game season or a shortened season remains to be seen.

Sources:

Michael Russo, The Athletic. https://theathletic.com/2110741/2020/10/05/devan-dubnyk-trade-wild-sharks-draft-picks/?redirected=1

NHL.com (October 5, 2020) https://www.nhl.com/news/wild-trade-goalie-devan-dubnyk-to-sharks/c-319304716?tid=278542340

 

 

What should the Wild address this offseason between the draft and free agency?

 

Since my last post and writing this article, it was confirmed by the Wild that Mikko Koivu’s time with the Wild are done and he will not be re-signed to another contract.

.Bill Guerin has a lot to deal with in his first full offseason as General Manager. In the twelve months that Guerin has been in the role, he’s already made some changes—i.e. firing Bruce Boudreau and trading Jason Zucker to the Penguins. 

The Wild have two big needs that Guerin needs to address this offseason. The first is the fact the Wild have not had a true first line center in quite some time (or for as long as the team has been in existence).  It’s been confirmed the Wild are moving on from Mikko Koivu, with the additions of Nick Bjugstad and Marcus Johansson (who is going to be tried at center this coming season, even though he’s listed as a left wing). There are questions about Nick Bjugstad going to be healthy for the upcoming season, as he’s coming off of back surgery. With both Koivu and Staal both gone from the Wild, there is a big hole at center. Joel Eriksson-Ek and Luke Kunin have both spent time at center for the Wild. Nico Strum is another name being tossed around to be in at center (he’s split time this past season between Iowa and Minnesota). Alex Galchenyuk has also spent time at center, but he’s a free agent and whether or not he’s going to re-sign with the Wild remains to be seen. Galchenyuk is also coming off one of the worst seasons of his career (2018-19 when he was with Arizona before he was traded to Pittsburgh as part of the Phil Kessel deal).  What Guerin does regarding this need will be interesting in both the upcoming draft and free agency that will taking place in October.

The second big need the Wild need to address is goaltending. It’s no secret that Devan Dubnyk is coming off a pretty rough 2019-20 season that saw him missing a month due to a medical emergency with his wife, missing some time in January due to the medical situation with his wife, and eventually losing the starting goalie role to Alex Stalock. In the 30 games he was in last season, he went 12-15-2 with a 3.35 GAA and .890 SV%. He didn’t start any of the games in the qualifying round against Vancouver when play resumed in August. He is entering the final year of his 6 year, $21 million contract that he signed after the 2014-15 season. That was the season where he won the Masterton Trophy and was a finalist for the Vezina trophy. Guerin made the following statement during his season wrap up:

“I was disappointed in the goaltending this year…Al (Stalock) had a tremendous year and Devan (Dubnyk) had an off year and it needs to be better. That’s just the way it is. If I told you anything different, I’d be lying to you. It was not a strong point for us.” (Judd Zuglad, Skor North, 8/10/2020)  

How the goaltending situation is going to be addressed is going to be interesting. Does Guerin stick with the Dubnyk-Stalock tandom in this up-coming season, hoping Dubnyk can rebound off of a bad year? How does Kaapo Kahkonen fit into the goalie equation? Kahkonen is coming off of a season with the Iowa Wild having won 25 games (7 of those being shutouts) with a 2.07 GAA and a .927 SV%--which was good enough for him to be named the AHL Goalie of the Year. 

There are some big goalie names who are going to be free agents come October—Braden Holtby (Capitals), Thomas Greiss (Islanders), Anton Khudobin (Stars, and who was with the Wild), and Cam Talbot (Flames), just to name a few. Along with the upcoming draft, Guerin has to seriously look at the options out there. Could Dubnyk be traded? That is a possibility, along with possibly the Wild buying out the final year of his contract.

It is going to be an interesting off-season for Guerin and from the looks of it, Wild owner Craig Leopold is giving Guerin the go-ahead to make the moves Guerin thinks is necessary to get the Wild to eventually become a contender.

 

Upcoming Dates:

NHL Draft: Round 1 will take place on October 6, Rounds 2-7 will take place on October 7.

Free Agency: NHL Free Agency will open at 12 PM ET on October 9.

Tentative Start of the 2020-21 season: December 2020

Sources:

Michael Russo, The Athletic. https://theathletic.com/2019645/2020/08/24/examining-the-wilds-options-what-to-do-about-a-complicated-goalie-situation/ (8/24/2020)

Judd Zulgad, Skor North, https://www.skornorth.com/2020/08/pulling-no-punches-wild-gm-bill-guerin-makes-it-clear-that-goaltending-changes-are-on-the-way/ (8/10/2020)

Is Mikko Koivu’s career finished in Minnesota?

 **Update** 

After I posted the original article, the Wild are expected to move on from Mikko Koivu. According to an article by The Athletic's Michael Russo (link to here), Koivu was informed during his end of the season exit meeting with GM Bill Guerin. Russo stated Koivu has been informing those closest to him that his playing days with the Wild are over. 

With the 2019-2020 season over for the Minnesota Wild after they didn’t make it past the round-robin play in and into the Stanley Cup playoffs, there are questions about the roster and what moves is General Manager Bill Guerin going to make in the off season. 

One of the big questions this off-season is whether or not Mikko Koivu’s career as a member of the Wild is over. Koivu turned 37 back on March 12.

Koivu’s career with the Wild started in the 2005-06 season. He was drafted in the first round by the team in 2001 (sixth overall). After fifteen seasons, Koivu is the team leader in the following categories (information courtesy of wild.com):

• NHL games played (1,028--all played with the Minnesota Wild)
• Points (729)
• Assists (704)
• Plus/Minus (+70)
• Shots (2,270)

Koivu is second all time in goals scored (205) and power play goals (60). He is the only permanent captain in team history (he was named captain on October 20, 2009).He is also the first in franchise history to have played 1000 career NHL games and with the same team.

Now, with the 2019-2020 season over, Koivu’s contract with the Wild has now ended. He is basically a free agent (even though free agency won’t begin until October 9). Whether or not Koivu returns for another season in a Wild sweater also depends on what Wild GM Bill Guerin is able to with free agency (this will be Guerin’s first full offseason as GM). 

If Koivu re-signs with the team, what would his role be? According to Michael Russo from The Athletic, Koivu would more than likely playing center on the fourth line with probably no power play time. It was a role that he transitioned to during the second half of the season and remained in during the playoffs.

Depending on free-agency at this point, what are the possibilities for Koivu? The first possibility is that Koivu re-signs with the Wild in a short term deal that is team-friendly so that he could retire as a member of the Wild. He didn’t waive his no-trade clause at the trade deadline so he could remain with the team. The other possibility is that he may have some options if he decides to pursue free agency or sign with his hometown team TPS Turku in the Finnish Elite League.

What the future brings for Mikko Koivu remains to be seen. Koivu still needs to meet with Guerin and he does need some time to think about his future. 

Sources:

Michael Russo, The Athletic (8/9/2020) https://theathletic.com/1984520/2020/08/09/mikko-koivu-wild-retirement-was-that-it-captain/

https://www.hockeywilderness.com/2020/3/16/21180704/minnesota-wild-mikko-koivu-retirement-new-contract-speculation-covid-19-coronavirus

Michael Russo, The Athletic (9/9/2020) https://theathletic.com/2052864/2020/09/09/wild-offseason-update-mikko-koivu-contract-future-trade-buyout-options/

The Wild made coaching changes…now, what about the roster?

New Minnesota Wild Head Coach Bruce Boudreau

Now that the Minnesota Wild have their coaching staff in place, with the hiring of Bruce Boudreau as the new head coach. John Anderson and Scott Stevens were hired on as assistant coaches. Darby Hendrickson remains as the only assistant coach from Mike Yeo’s staff, along with goaltending coach Bob Mason (who has been with the team for the Wild’s entire existence).

The big question now is what moves are the Wild going to make in order to improve their roster? With the 2016 NHL Draft starting Friday in Buffalo and free agency starting at midnight on July 1^st  (general managers meetings are either currently going on or start on June 22), Chuck Fletcher is going to be closely watched on what moves he makes (and which ones he doesn’t).

Let’s start off with the draft. 

This year, the Wild have only four draft picks. Yes, that is correct. Minnesota currently holds the 15^th pick overall (first round). The Wild don’t have a draft pick again until the fourth round (at 106^th overall) with another two picks remaining in the 7^th round (at 196^th and 204^th overall respectively). That’s not a whole lot to build on. Chuck Fletcher traded a few draft picks away last season for upcoming drafts for basically rent-a-players (a couple of them who were busts for the Wild). I think I just saw recently that what would have been the Wild’s third round draft pick has changed teams at least 5 times already—most recently this week. (Fletcher also stated in a press conference yesterday that he’s not looking at trading for any draft picks.)

Tom Powers said on Monday, “…With the cupboard of their American League farm club now containing nothing but ant bait, the Wild need to get busy on improving their personnel.” That’s not good. (Wild must improve roster or expect miracle from Boudreau, twincities.com)

(Joel Eriksson Ek, who was the Wild’s first round draft pick last year, will be playing in Sweden this upcoming season with Färjestad of the SHL).

What about free agency?

The salary cap for the 2016-17 season has been announced at being $73 million (up only $1.6 million from last season). The Wild currently have approximately $9.2 million available in cap space, according to www.spotrac.com. That’s not a whole lot.

The Wild’s list of unrestricted free agents are forwards David Jones (acquired via trade from Calgary), Jarrett Stoll and Chris Porter (both claimed off of waivers last season), Ryan Carter, and Justin Fontaine. Out of those five, the possibility of any of those being re-signed remains to be seen. 

Darcy Kuemper will become a restricted free agent again on July 1st (and could become an unrestricted free agent after the 2016-17 season), along with forwards Zac Dalpe and Jordan Schroeder (whom the Wild are expected to tend offers to). There have been reports as of late that Darcy Kuemper could possibly be moved (via trade). 

It's going to be a very interesting part of the off-season these next couple of weeks. What Chuck Fletcher does (and doesn't do) is going to be very interesting...and could potentially cause new coach Boudreau, along with Wild fans), some serious headaches this upcoming season...