Hockey Wilderness 20 hours ago
Top 25 Under 25: Jordan Greenway slots in at #6
Photo by Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire via The 23-year-old hasn’t quite lived up to our expectations from a few years ago, but he’s more than deserving of this ranking. What’s that old adage about “you can’t teach size?” Let me introduce you to Jordan Greenway. Drafted by the Minnesota Wild in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft at 50th overall, Greenway hails from Canton, NY — about 30 miles away from the Canadian border. He played his minor hockey in the New York area, and was said to mirror his game after power forward Ryan Getzlaf. As a young kid, he was...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 27, 2020
NHL, NHLPA had silent week in negotiation stalemate
Photo by Graig Abel/World Cup of Hockey via Your daily dose of Wild news, along with other interesting stories from around the NHL. That’s Wild We’re closing in on the top slots on our Top 25 Under 25, but the most recent No. 7 ranking was for goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen. A shining light for the future of the Minnesota Wild’s crease. [Hockey Wilderness] In case you missed it, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler sat down with Wild prospect Adam Beckman while at Team Canada’s World Juniors camp. [The Athletic] Off the trail... Ahead of the Jan. 1 start date that the...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 26, 2020
Top 25 Under 25: Kaapo Kähkönen is #7 in his final year on the list
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire via The 24-year-old netminder made his NHL debut last season. At number seven, Kaapo Kähkönen is the highest ranked goalie on the list this year. The Iowa Wild’s top goaltender last year heads into the 2020-21 season with a brand new two-year deal. Drafted out of Finland, Kähkönen was billed as aggressive goalie with the type of frame that is normally coveted by NHL teams. At 6-foot-2 and 214 pounds, he’s got the height and size of a big-league goaltender. He excelled in Liiga, Finland’s top league, putting up strong...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 26, 2020
Connor McDavid lives in a murder house
Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Your daily dose of Wild news, along with other interesting stories from around the NHL. That’s Wild Fresh off his No. 9 ranking in our Top 25 Under 25, 19-year-old Adam Beckman sat down with The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler to give his story ahead of his time on Team Canada at the World Juniors. [The Athletic] At the eighth spot on our Top 25 Under 25 this year is the QMJHL’s top scorer not named Alexis Lafreniere, Alexander Khovanov. [Hockey Wilderness] Off the trail... When Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid is off the ice,...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 25, 2020
Top 25 Under 25: Alexander Khovanov hangs in there at #8
Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via The up-and-down Russian prospect is currently in the minor league of the KHL, but if he can keep his temper in check, he should still impress in the pros. While he may not be the Minnesota Wild’s number one Russian prospect, Alexander Khovanov has shown flashes of being a true blue-chip. But that doesn’t mean that he looks to be a home-run pick after being selected in the 3rd round. After another year marred by injuries, illness and consistency issues, Khovanov is truly a roller coaster of a prospect. When the Wild selected...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 25, 2020
Wilderness Walk: Fred Sasakamoose, trailblazer for Indigenous players in NHL, dies at 86
Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Your daily dose of Wild news, along with other interesting stories from around the NHL. That’s Wild Next on our Top 25 Under 25 list is the reigning CHL and WHL MVP, winger Adam Beckman. The 19-year-old is certainly appearing to be a third-round steal if he keeps up this progression. [Hockey Wilderness] In case you missed it, our pals at BC Interruption talked with Wild prospect Matt Boldy on his play at Boston College this season. [BC Interruption] Off the trail... Fred Sasakamoose, one of the first Indigenous players in the NHL,...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 24, 2020
Top 25 Under 25: CHL’s top scorer Adam Beckman slides in at #9
Photo by Alika Jenner/ After a breakout year in the WHL, the 2018 third-rounder cracks the top ten. There were a couple of lone bright spots during the ever so short tenure of former Minnesota Wild general manager Paul Fenton. The brightest seems to be the one-for-one trade that brought Kevin Fiala to the State of Hockey. But right behind that, many would argue the selection of Adam Beckman in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft would be the second best thing the franchise did while Fenton was at the helm. After 74 players were drafted ahead of him in the...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 24, 2020
Wilderness Walk: Who should be the next captain?
Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Your daily dose of Wild news, along with other interesting stories from around the NHL. That’s Wild Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin announced on Monday that the team will be naming a new captain before the start of the 2020-21 regular season. Will it be Zach Parise? Ryan Suter? Jared Spurgeon? Someone completely out of the blue? [Hockey Wilderness] Up next in our Top 25 Under 25 series is defenseman Calen Addison at No. 10, the offensively-gifted skater that was the main return for Jason Zucker from the Pittsburgh Penguins. [Hockey...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 23, 2020
New Wild captain to be named before next season
Photo by Erin Loughrey/NHLI via The Minnesota Wild will officially announce their second full-time captain in franchise history prior to the 2020-21 season. According to Tom Gulitti of NHL.com, Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin plans to name a new captain to replace our beloved Mikko Koivu before next season starts early in the new year. After holding the ‘C’ for 11 seasons, the Wild decided to let Koivu walk , as his contract expired this offseason — we will not be discussing where he is now, for the sake of everyone’s emotional health. The departure of the Finn...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 23, 2020
Top 25 Under 25: Calen Addison scores a spot in the top 10
Photo by Marissa Baecker/ The former Penguins prospect is out to prove he was much more than a throw-in for Jason Zucker. The Minnesota Wild’s strength has been it’s defense for the better part of the last decade, which has lead to a bit of a lack of defensive prospects in the pipeline. And it makes sense, because even if the front office hadn’t been trying to throw every single draft dart they had at finding a prolific goal or point scorer in the middle of the first round or later, any defensive prospect that was NHL-ready would be buried behind established...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 23, 2020
Lodnia playing in KHL ‘to make the NHL’
Photo by Vaughn Ridley/ Your daily dose of Wild news, along with other interesting stories from around the NHL. That’s Wild In case you missed it, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler wrote a fantastic piece with interviews from five difference North American prospects that went overseas to play while their continent is still in its offseason. Wild prospect Ivan Lodnia is one of them and he seems to be loving life in Belarus. [The Athletic] We’re still hung up about the recently released 31 “Reverse Retro” jerseys, so we made an official ranking of them. We have...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 20, 2020
Khusnutdinov, Firstov invited to Russia’s World Junior camp
Photo by Bruce Bennett/ Two Wild prospects with incredibly high ceilings are potentially playing for Team Russia at the 2021 World Juniors. Usually lost in the hustle and bustle of the first month of the NHL regular season, the training camps for the upcoming 2021 World Juniors are slowly leaking out. On Friday, Russia released their camp roster with two important names. Minnesota Wild prospects center Marat Khusnutdinov and winger Vladislav Firstov have been invited to Team Russia’s training camp prior to the winter tournament taking place in Edmonton,...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 20, 2020
Rossi tests positive for COVID-19, feeling better
Photo by Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire via The Minnesota Wild’s most recent first-round selection has tested positive for COVID-19 while playing in Swizerland. The National League, Switzerland’s top domestic division, is currently in the middle of a massive outbreak. Some teams have not played since last month, with multiple staff members and players testing positive. One of those teams is the ZSC Lions, and one of those players is Minnesota Wild top prospect Marco Rossi. Shared w/ permission: #MNWild Marco Rossi tested positive for COVID. He’s starting...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 20, 2020
Top 25 Under 25: Nico Sturm debuts at #11
Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports After a good first season of professional hockey, Sturm nearly snuck into the top ten of our list Every offseason there are always at least a handful of college free agents that are signed by NHL teams. Most of them don’t turn out to be much more than good minor-league players or depth forwards, but there are exceptions to the rule, and the 25-year-old Nico Sturm seems to be on his way to being one of those exceptions for the Minnesota Wild. After a very good junior season at Clarkson University where he recorded 45 points in 39...
Hockey Wilderness Nov 20, 2020
Wilderness Walk: Holtby stuck at border, due to tortoises
Photo by Elsa/ Your daily dose of Wild news, along with other interesting stories from around the NHL. That’s Wild In the next installation of our Top 25 Under 25 series, we have Brennan Menell, the offensively-gifted defenseman that’s over in the KHL for the next season. [Hockey Wilderness] The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler speaks with Wild prospect Ivan Lodnia (and four other North American prospects that went over to Europe in the fall offseason), to touch base with how he’s doing in the KHL. [The Athletic] Okay, seriously, did Zach Parise design a hat?...
