The Wild have announced that they have entered into an agreement with the Iowa Heartlanders of the ECHL. The expansion Heartlanders will play in Coralville, IA in the brand new Xtream Arena.

Having the Iowa Wild in Des Moines and now their ECHL affiliate located in Iowa makes logistics that much easier for player movement between the clubs. It also will help with the growth of the game in Iowa as well.

We have nothing new to report on the Wild offense season pressing issues but it is becoming much clearer with every game that we see Alex Tuch leading the Golden Knights on their playoff run, that giving Seattle anything more than the one asset they will take is, or should not even be an option.

We can only look back and wonder what if Tuch was centering for Kaprizov and/or Fiala. That decision seemed to be the right one at the time as Tuch was an unproven commodity, but the scouting reports all pointed to Tuch being an impact NHLer.

That ship has sailed though and the Wild have another set of decisions to make to ensure that the team continues to rise and that the cornerstone of the franchise, Kirill Kaprizov is provided with the talent to ensure that he remains a a Minnesota Wild for the foreseeable future and beyond.

So will either of Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, or Mats Zuccarello waive their no move to allow Guerin the flexibility to keep his roster intact?

Does Guerin make a significant deal to improve the center position by moving an asset or two?

We have asked these questions over and over numerous times and the day that the rubber hits the road is coming faster now and we know Guerin and his executive team are exploring every option.

That said, they cannot go into this season with a piecemeal first and second line center, that is the fact regardless of what Guerin said in his year end wrap.

Kaprizov wants to play with a real top flight center and despite his tremendously productive rookie season, it would have been far better if he had a true playmaker feeding him the biscuit. He knows that and the message is clear from the Wild's top talent, he wants a commitment from Guerin on just that.

Summer of Wild...

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