Dan Wallace: Walker Up, Goligoski On LTIR

I wish that I didn’t watch this. You can say MAF was shaky but they let the Kings get open in the middle of the ice far too often. Gus is likely to have some regression from his great season. Walker was invisible. Rough night.Hopefully, they can get untracked but they have weaknesses.

The Wild could tighten things up when Spurgeon comes back if they can stay healthy overall. I’d like to see Rossi get what Steel and Gaudreau got with Kirill and Zucc. You can see he’s stronger and more confident. Rossi created so many chances for Foligno against MTL. Foligno is great defensively and Freddie is solid defensively but they don’t do Rossi any favors on the offensive side.

I'm in complete agreement about Rossi deserving some run with KK and Zucc. And I think a line of Foligno/Hartman/Gaudreau would be an excellent shutdown defensive line, that can chip in a little on the scoring side. Rossi has shown he is stronger on the puck and it's very noticeable. My only hear of a Zucc/Rossi/KK line is that they would get beat up pretty bad on the ice. They would HAVE to carry the puck into the offensive zone, no dump and chase for them. The other 2 lines can run that, but the kind of skill that line would have should never let the puck off of their sticks unless passing to each other.

It's nice to see Faber getting so involved offensively and not letting the defensive side of his game lapse at the same time. Once Spurgeon is back to play with Middleton, Faber and Brodin NEED to be back together. Just kind of scary that the Wild's best 3rd pairing would be Addison and Mermis. Not much size there.

Going to be a long season, boys. Wonder what management is going to do at the trade deadline...

I see Daemon Hunt is being called up now. Could this be the end of John Merrill? I doubt it, but depending on how Hunt plays (if he even gets into a game), this could be a sign of Guerin starting the youth movement. But the more I think about it, I doubt that as well. If it was, Beckman would have been called up instead of Lettieri. I think Beckman should have come up and slotted into Boldy's spot. I'm not really sure on Maroon moving into that spot.

Dan finally giving in to Wild mediocrity. No blog in two weeks….
Hard to blame you, this team is a hot mess. Defensively awful. Time to start drafting and acquiring some big bodied d men with speed. This d corps diminutive and slow.

Not to mention stupid

Dan finally giving in to Wild mediocrity. No blog in two weeks….
Hard to blame you, this team is a hot mess. Defensively awful. Time to start drafting and acquiring some big bodied d men with speed. This d corps diminutive and slow.

Not to mention stupid
- MnGump

I think they have those d men in Iowa right now Gump. Yeah, there isn't any giant thumpers that are 6'3", 240lbs, but there is some size in Iowa right now. I see that they have changed Daemon Hunt's size from 6'1" to 5'11" now. So maybe I am wrong about the size in the minors, but I don't think so.

The Wild are supposed to be in the top 1-2 for prospects. How many of those will be top 6 forwards or top 4 D men? The Wild have too many players slotted wrong due to not addressing roster construction properly. Hartman is a middle 6, Gaudreau is a 4th liner, Goligoski and Merrill are AHL level. Middleton is playing like a 3rd pair D man. All these long term NTC don’t help either. Gaudreau and Foligno should have gotten 2 years like Zucc. It looks like if this continues, Guerin will have to fire Evason. They need a new special teams coach. Leaving guys wide open in the middle resulting in 2 PP goals is inexcusable. The time and space they allowed Philly looked like they thought they had to be in a different zip code. Play the kids. They’re not going anywhere. All the vets have secured contracts and they look complacent.

While the Wild may not be a Cup favorite, currently they sit only 4 points behind division leading Colorado. That's 4 points playing without Spurgeon yet and most of the games without Boldy. No doubt adding Spurgeon and Boldy to the line up makes a difference. Still a long ways to go however one could argue they are performing pretty well without those two players.

So, out goes Calen Addison (thank goodness) and in comes Zach Bogosian. Somewhat of an improvement. Guerin doing what he can with the cap pickle he placed the team in. I liked him about 9 years ago. Not sure how much he will bring, but at least he has size, which the Wild D is sorely lacking.

So, out goes Calen Addison (thank goodness) and in comes Zach Bogosian. Somewhat of an improvement. Guerin doing what he can with the cap pickle he placed the team in. I liked him about 9 years ago. Not sure how much he will bring, but at least he has size, which the Wild D is sorely lacking.
- Gusrichards

Did Dan quit?

So, out goes Calen Addison (thank goodness) and in comes Zach Bogosian. Somewhat of an improvement. Guerin doing what he can with the cap pickle he placed the team in. I liked him about 9 years ago. Not sure how much he will bring, but at least he has size, which the Wild D is sorely lacking.
- Gusrichards

Thank god Addison gone…. One of Billy’s bad moves omitted

Yeah, I can wondering about Dan as well. But I don't know if I would call that trade of Zucker for Galchenyuk, Addison and a 1st Rd pick a bad move. The Wild weren't doing anything, so they got something for Zucker. And that, I think, was Wallstedt with that 1st Rd pick. Galchenyuk came over to help Pitt get rid of him. And as much as Addison was basically terrible defensively, he did fill a spot at a cheap price when it could have been another defender that was just as bad, but more expensive as that person could have more time in the NHL.

With all that being said, glad to see that Mermis has held his own with the Wild. He's not going to an all-star or anything like that. But he, at minimum, as been steady. And bringing in Bogo might help Hunt develop a little more. Bogo is defensive dman, which Hunt is as well. So he might be able to teach Hunt a few tricks.

What's kind of scary right now is the Iowa team. It's all lifetime AHLers that are the top scoring options there right now. Beckman is 4th in scoring. I think all the players that are the future of the Wild have not made it to Iowa yet, besides O'Rourke and Lambos. I can say that I have been to a couple of UMD Bulldog games (last weeks Saturday night tie with the Gophers, was a fun game to be at) and I really like what I see from Aaron Pionk. He is still just learning how to be a defenseman (just started playing that a year or 2 ago), but has good pedigree with his brother Neal with the Jets.

Wow, this team sucks…

Thanks for the heads up Dan, a so long and/or farewell blog seemed appropriate… not that there’s much of interest to blog about lately.

Ok, Evason out, Hynes in. Wild win. How long will the shock of a new coach last? I was out watching my 3 nieces play last night (2 had 2 goals each, the 3rd was the goalie...squirt hockey). And the real scary thing...I have been paying more attention to the Timberwolves than I have the Wild lately. Still prefer hockey miles more than basketball...but it's kind of nice to watch a winning team.

With that said, I have liked what little I have seen of Rossi skating with KK and Zucc. And we should all hope that the breakaway goal by Boldy last night will open the flood gates for him. So who drops to the 4th line once Hartman is back? Is it Maroon or Gaudreau?

And I sure hope Dan's disappearance is not because of a health issue. If he just decided to walk away because he couldn't write about the Wild anymore, that is completely understandable.

Ok, Evason out, Hynes in. Wild win. How long will the shock of a new coach last? I was out watching my 3 nieces play last night (2 had 2 goals each, the 3rd was the goalie...squirt hockey). And the real scary thing...I have been paying more attention to the Timberwolves than I have the Wild lately. Still prefer hockey miles more than basketball...but it's kind of nice to watch a winning team.

With that said, I have liked what little I have seen of Rossi skating with KK and Zucc. And we should all hope that the breakaway goal by Boldy last night will open the flood gates for him. So who drops to the 4th line once Hartman is back? Is it Maroon or Gaudreau?

And I sure hope Dan's disappearance is not because of a health issue. If he just decided to walk away because he couldn't write about the Wild anymore, that is completely understandable.
- Gusrichards

I don’t think Evason was the problem. It’s Billy trying to take focus off the fact that this squad over achieved last season. Evason is a winning coach. Despite the post season lack of success. Hell that goes all the way back to Richards.

I don’t think Evason was the problem. It’s Billy trying to take focus off the fact that this squad over achieved last season. Evason is a winning coach. Despite the post season lack of success. Hell that goes all the way back to Richards.
- MnGump

OMG! Invoking the name of Todd Richards! Isn't that against the law here in Minnesota?

Well, 3 games, 3 wins...scoring margins of 13 goals for, 3 goals against. I know 3 games is nowhere near enough time to make assumptions of a team, in any sport. But of the 2 games I have seen sing Hynes was hired, I've noticed #97 is skating a little better, Boldy doesn't appear to be gripping his stick as hard, Gus and Flower are standing on their heads. I know that Evason had moved Rossi between Zucc and KK, but it finally looks like it is clicking. There was even been 3 PP goals scored over the last 2 games. I know I have to temper what I am saying though, as the last 3 games have been against teams that are at the bottom with the Wild. But the positive spin from that is that the Wild ARE beating the bottom teams. The real test comes from games over the next 3 weeks where they play Vancouver and Boston twice each. If they can at least split 2-2 in those 4 games and have a record of 7-3 or better over those next 10 games...then I will say Evason had something to do with it....or at least the players had stopped listening to Evason.

Over 4 months without a minny blog. How can HB continue to exist when half the damn teams in the league are absent bloggers???? Season ticket holders must be almost non existent by now

Over 4 months without a minny blog. How can HB continue to exist when half the damn teams in the league are absent bloggers???? Season ticket holders must be almost non existent by now
- MnGump

Yeah, I check here on a daily basis, but leave disappointed. I would love to take over the writing for the Wild, but just don't have the time that it needs dedicated to it.

Yeah, I check here on a daily basis, but leave disappointed. I would love to take over the writing for the Wild, but just don't have the time that it needs dedicated to it.
- Gusrichards

Hey Gus, I think the rest of the Wild fans that were left are now on hockey wilderness blog… I know soda popinski is there…

Hey Gus, I think the rest of the Wild fans that were left are now on hockey wilderness blog… I know soda popinski is there…
- MnGump

Thanks Gump, headed their now to check out.