Hockey Wilderness Feb 19, 2019
Wild vs Ducks Gamethread
MINNESOTA WILD Jason Zucker - Eric Staal - Charlie Coyle Zach Parise - Mikael Granlund - Luke Kunin Jordan Greenway - Joel Eriksson Ek - Marcus Foligno Brad Hunt - Eric Fehr - Pontus Aberg Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon Jonas Brodin - Greg Pateryn Nick Seeler - Anthony Bitetto Devan Dubnyk Alex Stalock ANAHEIM DUCKS Rickard Rakell - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry Max Jones - Adam Henrique - Troy Terry Devin Shore - Derek Grant - Jakob Silfverberg Nick Ritchie - Ryan Kesler - Carter Rowney Hampus Lindholm - Josh Manson Cam Fowler - Michael Del Zotto Jaycob Menga - Brandon Montour Ryan...
Hockey Wilderness Feb 2, 2019
Wild rally for point, but fall to Blackhawks in overtime
Victor Rask tied the game for Minnesota in the closing minutes, but penalties would ultimately doom the Wild against Chicago. Yes! No! No! Yes! No! Yes! No! Not Kane… Phew! Ok, good. NOT TOEWS! NO! YEEESSS! No! No! NOOOOOOOOO! …And that pretty much sums up Minnesota’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. With both teams on the second of back-to-backs with travel, it was a contest of enormous momentum swings in both directions. The first period belonged mostly to Minnesota, the second to Chicago, and the third was split between the two sides. Ryan Suter was in...
Hockey Wilderness Jan 31, 2019
Mid-Season Grades: The Ambiguously Formidable Duo
Nothing changes when Suter and Spurgeon pair up. They shut it down on the blue line and continue to be rock solid. Continuing with the mid-season grades, we now start to look at our defensive pairings. The top pairing of course, Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon. To start the season, this was not the case. In an effort to try and bring some balance on the back end, Bruce Boudreau decided to start the season with Matt Dumba and Suter together, leaving Jonas Brodin and Spurgeon as the second paring. Not bad, given what we were seeing from Dumba to start the season. But alas, the Wild went to...
Hockey Wilderness Jan 24, 2019
Wilderness Walk: (Two) Point Break
Wild dominate Colorado prior to eight day break, plus NHL news and notes Enjoy that win, Wild fans, because we won’t see another one for a while. That’s not a portent of poor play - it’s just that the Wild get an eight-day extended break due to the All-Star Game and the bye week system the NHL has developed for it’s teams. Minnesota won’t play again until February, when they will face division rivals Dallas and Chicago in a back-to-back on February 1st and 2nd. Check out Joe’s game recap for the highlights, but Eric Staal, Charlie Coyle and Ryan Suter were by far the stars of...
Minneapolis Star-Tribune Jan 23, 2019
Want the Wild to rebuild and start over? It's harder -- and riskier -- than you might think
The Wild will have a week off for the All-Star break starting Thursday and will arrive at the unofficial midpoint (50 games played is not half of 82) in a familiar position. The Wild is very much in the mix for a playoff spot — a little better than a coin flip, depending on where you look at probabilities — but Minnesota clearly isn't one of the NHL's very best teams. Top 16? Possibly. Top five? No chance. This middle ground has defined much of the last seven seasons (counting this one) since the signing of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to matching $98 million contracts in 2012. And as years...
