With NHL trade deadline looming, should Wild buy or sell?

Left wing Sean Bergenheim’s one goal in a Wild sweater was his lone point in 20 combined regular and postseason games after Minnesota acquired him and a seventh-round pick from the Florida Panthers on Feb. 24, 2015 in exchange for a third-round pick the Panthers used to select Gopher forward Rem Pitlick. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Minnesota’s regime of Chuck Fletcher and Brent Flahr have never shied away from adding at the deadline. Last year, the team mortgaged two of their top 2017 draft picks to land Martin Hanzal. While in past years they’ve acquired such players like Matt Moulson, Sean Bergenheim, Ilya Bryzgalov and Jason Pominville. Probably the team’s best move – which wasn’t necessarily at the deadline – was when they acquired Devan Dubnyk from Arizona for a third-round pick and Dubnyk turned out to be a franchise goaltender, with two All-Star appearances since.

With just 26 games remaining in the regular season as of Feb.14 and the Wild in a dog fight for a playoff spot, Minnesota is in peculiar spot. On one hand, the team is in the midst of playing their best hockey of the season. Since the new year, Minnesota has just three regulation losses – 10-3-3 – while posting the best record on home ice – 20-4-2 – in the NHL.

Yet, the team has been so hot-and-cold this season, it’s tough to buy in to their recent sample size of success. They blew a 3-0 lead to the worst team in the league, the Arizona Coyotes, in a Feb. 8 loss and nearly suffered the same fate to the New York Rangers on Feb 13. Although they’ve been phenomenal on home ice, recent road performances against Dallas, Pittsburgh and Colorado in the same stretch leaves you wondering if this current group can make a deep run in the postseason.

Here are three options for the Wild to consider by the time the NHL trade deadline hits on Feb. 28.

1. Stand pat

If I was running the Wild, I would not make any significant moves this month. After suffering a barrage of injuries at the beginning of the season to core players, Minnesota is finally healthy outside of defenseman Jonas Brodin who will be out until March. The team is playing its best hockey of the season and with all the draft picks Minnesota has forfeited over the years, there’s not exactly a lot of future assets for Minnesota to package in a trade.

Dubnyk is playing well, the power play is turning around and players like Zach Parise and Charlie Coyle have had an uptick in their play, which the team desperately needs. Combine that with a generally weak market, it really doesn’t make much sense for the Wild to make add anything at the deadline.

2. Clear some salary cap

Rumors are swirling ahead of this month’s trade deadline about a potential return to Pittsburgh for Wild center Matt Cullen. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins

It wouldn’t shock me, however, to see the Wild sell a regular in the lineup for more draft picks and salary cap relief heading into the offseason. With Jason Zucker and Matt Dumba approaching big pay days this summer, Minnesota will need all the cap space they can get. Trading a player like Tyler Ennis could be beneficial for the Wild. Ennis, who was the key piece in a trade with Buffalo last summer that sent Marco Scandella and Pominville to the Sabres, has been disappointment statistically in his first season with the Wild.

Ennis has just 15 points (seven goals and eight assists) in 54 games this season while averaging just under 12 minutes a game. He has a cap hit of $4.6 million this season and is on the books next season for the same amount of dough. If Minnesota is able to obtain a mid-to-low-round pick for Ennis, that would be a win for the franchise in the longterm. The Wild just can not afford to pay a forward nearly $5 million a season to be a 20-point producer in the regular season. Plus, Ennis’ contract could be attractive to a team that’s trying to get the salary cap floor.

Other veterans like Matt Cullen and Chris Stewart have also been scratched on more than one occasion over the last few month. Both players will be free agents this summer and there’s even been some speculation that Cullen could return to the Penguins, according to to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

3. Get ready for the kids

If the Wild were to move on from Ennis and/or Cullen that would obviously create a void in the lineup which would be an ideal time for young top-tier prospects to get some legitimate playing time such as former first-round picks Joel Eriksson Ek and Luke Kunin. There’s no doubt the organization thinks highly of them and obviously the hope is that one day they will be contributors in the lineup. In addition, Wild prospect Jordan Greenway of Boston University,  currently with Team USA in the Pyeongchang Winter Games, could very well sign with the Wild when the college hockey season ends.

Sure the idea of Dion Phaneuf, Rick Nash or a even a Marian Gaborik reunion sounds like a fun idea, it just doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards for the Wild this season.

If they’re going to make a run at the Stanley Cup, it will likely be with the same core group of players that’s help the State of Hockey’s NHL team reach the postseason in five consecutive seasons.

The post Trade Deadline Primer appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Josh Harding suspended indefinitely.

The Minnesota Wild announced late Thursday night that the team and goaltender Darcy Kuemper have agreed to terms on a two-year contract. The one-way deal, first reported via Twitter by TSN’s Bob McKenzie, is worth $2.5 million overall and pays Kuemper $1 million this season and $1.5 million in 2015-16.

Earlier in the day, according to the Minneapolis StarTribune’s Michael Russo, Wild GM Chuck Fletcher made the decision to suspend injured goaltender Josh Harding due to the nature of his off-ice injury. Harding, who reportedly broke his right foot kicking a wall during an altercation with a teammate, will not be paid during his indefinite injury absence and his salary will not count against the team’s salary cap. Kuemper, on the other hand, will be paid and possibly more than he otherwise would have.

Kuemper appeared destined to be a training camp holdout with each side digging its heels in over the type of contract the Wild’s sixth-round selection (No. 161 overall) in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft would sign. Minnesota had been offering a two-way contract meaning Kuemper would earn less playing for the Wild’s AHL affiliate in Iowa than he would in St. Paul. Kuemper and his agent felt the 6-foot-5, 205-pound Saskatoon, Sask. native had done enough in his 32 overall NHL appearances with the Wild (13-10-4 with a 2.37 GAA, a .915 SV%) to earn a one-way deal and the guaranteed NHL salary it represented.

But with Kuemper not requiring waivers to be sent down at this stage of his young career, the two-way offer made perfect sense to GM Chuck Fletcher considering both Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding were expected to arrive at training camp healthy. Harding’s injury, however, necessitated a change of plan despite the Wild’s signing of free-agent Ilya Bryzgalov to a professional tryout contract.

Kuemper, 24, went 12-8-4 with a 2.43 goals-against average (GAA), a .915 save percentage (SV%) and two shutouts in 26 regular season games with Minnesota in 2013-14. He set franchise records for a rookie goaltender in wins, shutouts and consecutive starts with 16 (1/12/14-3/8/14).

He ranked second in starts, tied for third in shutouts, fourth in SV% and tied for fourth in wins and GAA amongst rookie goalies that appeared in at least 10 games last season. Kuemper was named the NHL Third Star of the Week on March 3 after going 3-0-0 with a .970 GAA, .960 SV% and a shutout in three starts.

Kuemper went 3-1-1 with a 2.03 GAA, a .913 SV% and one shutout in six playoff contests for Minnesota. He stopped all 22 shots faced in a 1-0 overtime win in Game 3 against Colorado on April 21, 2014, the first playoff shutout in franchise history.

Wild players and coaches skate together for the first time this season tomorrow with the first group taking the ice at 8:30 a.m. at Xcel Energy Center.

The post Wild, Kuemper Agree to Terms appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

 Harding, Kuemper out, Bryzgalov back in as Wild goalie saga continues.

It has been just over four months since the Minnesota Wild left the Xcel Energy Center ice stunned by an unfortunate bounce and the greatness that is Patrick Kane. While changes have since been made, one thing in particular remarkably remains the same.

The Wild opens training camp on Friday with shiny new acquisition Thomas Vanek skating with his new teammates—officially—for the first time. But Vanek will not be sharing the ice with goaltenders Josh Harding and Darcy Kuemper as coach Mike Yeo and his staff begin the process of assembling the 2014-15 roster.

That roster may yet include goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov who was victimized by Kane’s Game 5 overtime winner which was thought to have ended Bryz’s Wild career after 21 combined regular season and playoff appearances.

Wild G Darcy Kuemper makes one of his 27 saves in a 3-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Sat. March 22. (MHM Photo/ Jeff Wegge)

But with Darcy Kuemper in the midst of his second lengthy contract battle in as many negotiations with the team and Josh Harding suddenly sidelined indefinitely with a fractured right foot suffered under mysterious circumstances, the Wild’s goaltending, once again, had all the depth of a kiddie pool.

The Minneapolis StarTribune’s Michael Russo reported late Wednesday afternoon that Bryzgalov had accepted a professional tryout contract offer from Minnesota and will arrive on Thursday. This, of course, came as little surprise considering the way Bryz has spent the offseason openly lobbying for a return to the Wild and raving about the organization.

Wild goaltender Josh Harding makes a save in shutting out New Jersey on Nov. 3, 2013 in St. Paul, Minn. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Bryzgalov, a trade-deadline acquisition last spring, is now in line to back up de facto No. 1 netminder Niklas Backstrom, who at 36-years-old is coming off abdominal and hip surgeries which ended his injury-marred 2013-14 season.  Veteran John Curry and prospect Johan Gustafsson are also expected to compete but the job is essentially Bryzgalov’s to lose pending any progress between the Wild and Kuemper’s camp.

In addition to Vanek, Minnesota’s now 57-man training camp roster features the return of former Wild forward Cody Almond vying for a spot among a much deeper corps of forwards than he skated with in playing 25 games over parts of three seasons from 2009-2012. Vanek, Zach Parise, Jason Pominville, Mikael Granlund, and Charlie Coyle are more than a cut above Antti Miettinen, Guillaume Latendresse and Devin Setoguchi.

Look for Almond to compete with Jason Zucker and Stephane Veilleux for the final two forward spots on the roster unless a young prospect emerges.

Local notables up front include Jordan Schroeder, the former Gopher drafted by Vancouver in the first round (No. 22 overall) in 2009 and Rosemount’s Ryan Walters, a UFA who played for Dean Blais at Nebraska Omaha and earned his invitation with six points (3 g, 3 a) in the 2014 Prospect Tournament in Traverse, City, Mich.

The blue line competition is far more interesting with up to six players in contention for what likely are just two open spots. The battle between Christian Folin, John Blum, Justin Falk, Stu Bickel, Matt Dumba and Gustav Olofsson will be something to keep an eye on as we progress through camp and the preseason games. Any or all of them could easily see at least some NHL action this season.

Players on the roster when Kane scored his series-clinching goal but have since departed include the likes of Dany Heatly (Anaheim), Matt Moulson (Buffalo), Cody McCormick (Buffalo), Nate Prosser (St. Louis), Mike Rupp (UFA) and Clayton Stoner (Anaheim). The physical roles McCormick and Stoner played, particularly at the end of the season, will be the toughest for the Wild to fill.

The Wild’s practices on Saturday, Sept. 20 will be open to the public. Fans can enter through Gate 1 beginning at 8:30 a.m. with practices running until 1 p.m. Concessions will be available. Regular season single-game tickets also go on sale that morning at 10 a.m. exclusively at the Xcel Energy Center box office with web availability on the Wild’s web site and Ticketmaster locations beginning at noon.

The pressure is on for Niklas Backstrom to remain healthy this season. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

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Patrick Kane’s opportunistic Game 6 OT winner ends Minnesota’s season

SAINT PAUL—The look on their faces said it all.

Minnesota Wild players wore a blended expression of shock and dismay as they recounted the evening’s events leading up to Chicago’s Patrick Kane ending Game 6, and their season, with a goal at 9:42 of overtime on  Tuesday night in front of 19,396 mostly stunned onlookers at Xcel Energy Center.

What appeared to be a harmless dump in by Chicago’s Brent Seabrook in overtime became disastrous when the puck deflected off one of the stanchions keeping the rink’s glass in place and bounced into the slot. While Wild defenseman Ryan Suter tied up the Hawks’ Peter Regin, but the trailing Kane corralled the puck and made a nifty forehand-backhand move before roofing a shot behind Minnesota goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov who finished with 25 saves.

Suter said what was on everyone’s mind after the game: it’s too bad such a well-played game ended in such a manner.

“But that’s why you play the games because you never know what’s going to happen,” Suter added.

“I thought we played a pretty good game,” Wild forward Zach Parise said. “Other than capitalizing on some chances we played pretty solid.”

To a man, Wild players spoke about opportunities missed and feelings of emptiness and did so with good reason as the Wild actually outplayed the Blackhawks much of the night. But Minnesota’s magic ride to within sight of the Western Conference Finals, however, was derailed by a pair of untimely bounces in its defensive zone and several more on the other end.

“I thought we had our chances and that’s why it really sucks right now,” Wild captain Mikko Koivu said. “It’s been a great run, it’s been the best time of my NHL career and when it ends like that it’s an empty feeling right now.”

Goalposts, thwarted breakaways, wasted power plays and Chicago goalie Corey Crawford’s 34 saves conspired to hand Minnesota its first and only loss of the 2014 postseason. Crawford was strong in his return to Minnesota after shaky performances in Games 3 and 4, particularly on a second-period breakaway in which he stopped not just one, but two consecutive Justin Fontaine attempts.

“It hurts to lose,” Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. “We really believed we were capable of doing more than just winning this game tonight.”

The Hawks struck first when Kris Versteeg’s sharp-angle shot bounced off traffic in front of the crease and past Bryzgalov just 1:58 into the contest. Versteeg muscled the puck away from Wild defenseman Keith Ballard in the right corner and threw the puck to the net for first goal of the playoffs.

But Erik Haula scored the Wild’s lone goal for the second time in as many games when he used his speed to split Chicago defensemen Johnny Oduya and Niklas Hjalmarsson, beating both to the puck on his way to scoring his third of the series and fourth of the postseason at 2:29 of the second.

But Crawford would surrender no more and the Hawks got the one bounce they needed to advance to the Western Conference Finals where they will face the winner of the series between Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks.

“There’s always one team that’s happy at the end of a season, there’s one team that has a successful season,” Parise said. “We did a lot of good things to get to where we are but it’s disappointing to be ending right now.”

The post Hawks Bounce Wild From Playoffs appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Toews, Bickell lead Chicago over Minnesota and into series’ driver’s seat.

As Minnesota returns home from Chicago after falling 2-1 to the Blackhawks in Game 5 Sunday night at the United Center, the Wild cannot look back at its missed opportunities in the loss … primarily due to the view-concealing wall firmly pressed against their backs.

The Wild played a solid opening 20 minutes to carry a 1-0 lead into the second period in their quest to give themselves a chance to close out the series in Tuesday’s Game 6 in St. Paul. But Wild killer Bryan Bickell scored midway through the second and Hawks captain Jonathan Toews scored his fourth game winner of the postseason early in the third to lift Chicago over Minnesota and take a 3-2 series lead, pushing the Wild to the brink of elimination.

The must-win is not unfamiliar to the Wild as Tuesday’s elimination game will be the Wild’s third of the postseason after winning games 6 and 7 against Colorado in round one. But that was against the up-and-coming Avalanche, not the defending Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks, a far more daunting task to say the least.

Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford found the home crowd more to his liking and rebounded from a pair of subpar performances at Xcel Energy Center to make 27 saves in the win. A couple of first-period goal post shots off the sticks of Minnesota’s Charlie Coyle and Justin Fontaine were also quite helpful.

Ilya Bryzgalov kept the Wild in it, in his own unique and heart-stopping way, with 26 saves of his own as the Blackhawks got off a series high 28 shots. While he got away with a few mistakes through the game, neither Chicago goal could be pinned on him.

Chicago tied it at 9:18 of the second on Bickell’s power-play goal with Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin off for hooking. Bickell had set a screen for Patrick Kane when Kane’s shot hit Bickell near a sensitive area, dropped to the ice and bounced over Bryzgalov’s right pad to make it 1-1 after two periods.

Entering the contest, second round teams were 19-0 when scoring first but someone clearly forgot to tell Toews. After Bryzgalov stopped Patrick Sharp’s initial shot, the bouncing puck was settled by Marian Hossa and fed to Toews who scored his fifth of the playoffs just 4:33 into the third.

The Wild made their push over the final 15:27, even outshooting the Blackhawks 14-7 in the final period, but Crawford stopped everything including attempts by Ryan Suter, Nino Niederreiter, and Zach Parise in the waning moments.

Former Gopher Erik Haula continued to shine for Minnesota in his rookie season and put his team on the board late in the first period.

Haula picked up a Jared Spurgeon pass in the Wild’s zone, blew by Kane and around Duncan Keith in the neutral zone and fired a shot from the top of the circles which Crawford stopped. But the speedy Haula followed his shot, beating Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook to his own rebound for his third goal of the playoffs.

Tuesday’s Game 6 is scheduled for 8 p.m. and can be seen, once again, on CNBC.

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Matt Cooke’s return sparks 4-2 Game 4 win over Hawks, guarantees at least one more home game. 

SAINT PAUL—The Xcel Energy Center will host at least one more Stanley Cup Playoff game this postseason.

The Minnesota Wild ensured that on Friday night with a thrilling 4-2 Game 4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in front of 19,405 screaming faithful in St. Paul. The series is now tied 2-2 as the teams head back to Chicago for Sunday’s Game 5.

Ilya Bryzgalov, who made 18 saves in winning his second straight start, was not especially strong on goals by Patrick Sharp and Michal Handzus in the first two periods. But he finished strong with a huge right pad save on a Sharp breakaway late in the second followed by another big stop on Jeremy Morin in the third.

Chicago’s Corey Crawford finished with 27 saves and never looked comfortable in his crease, although that may have had something to do with the deafening sound of the home crowd repeatedly chanting his name in mocking fashion.

Sparked by the return of forward Matt Cooke from his recent suspension, Minnesota outshot the Blackhawks 31-20 and won for the fifth straight time at home this postseason, outscoring opponents 16-5 in the process.

“He’s a playoff performer,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “He was brought in here to do a lot of things and help you get to the playoffs, but the experience that he has, the way that first goal was created, that’s what we’re looking for.”

Cooke, whose knee-to-knee hit on Colorado’s Tyson Barrie in Game 3 of the Wild’s first-round series against Colorado cost him seven games, set up Justin Fontaine’s first career postseason goal to open the game’s scoring at 7:24 of the first period.

“He’s a playoff performer,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “He was brought in here to do a lot of things and help you get to the playoffs, but the experience he has, the way that first goal was created, that’s what we’re looking for.”

The physical winger played nearly 16 minutes in his return and led the team with five hits and three blocked shots. Cooke indicated his energy level should not be surprising.

“I should have fresh legs,” Cooke joked, referring to his layoff. “So I’ve got to go out there and lead the way and hopefully my energy is contagious and I felt like we were ready to go tonight right off the drop of the puck.”

Cooke delivered his first hit 20 seconds into his first shift and appeared to pick up right where he left off. He said his focus during the suspension was on making sure he was ready to step right back into the lineup and contribute for his teammates who, by beating Colorado without him, gave him the chance to play again this season.

“They helped me a lot and I wanted to go out and return the favor,” he said. “Part of that was me staying ready. So I think that going out and having the energy that I had, and being ready, I felt that right off the get go that I was in game shape. That benefited me a lot.”

Wild captain Mikko Koivu said the team took note of Cooke’s effort.

“He’s been there, he knows what it takes to win,” Koivu said. “It’s not easy to come out after seven games. Great effort by him to go out there and lead by example.”

Jason Pominville, Nino Niederreiter and Jared Spurgeon also scored for Minnesota and the Wild continued to stymie the high-flying Hawks offensively in limiting them to 20 shots on goal. Minnesota has held Chicago to 22 shots or less in each game of the series but allowed just two goals at home after surrendering nine in Chicago in Games 1 and 2.

“We’re always making them come through five guys, and that gets frustrating,” Zach Parise said. “We’ve been on the other side of that and it’s tough to play against a team like that. I think we’re working hard, we’re making it tough and we’re just playing a good defensive game.”

That defensive game has cut down on the transition goals the Blackhawks capitalized on at home, something Minnesota will have to continue to limit to have any chance of stealing a road game and advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

“The first two games there was a lot of things that we were doing that were similar to what we’ve been doing at home, but it was just making that one big mistake,” Yeo said. “What we’ve been trying to do, what we’ve been trying to build on is the things that we’ve been doing well but limit the mistakes that we’re making and our guys have been doing a good job.”

The Wild and Blackhawks square off in Game 5 at 8 p.m. CT on Sunday night in Chicago on CNBC.

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The Wild must at least contain Nathan MacKinnon and company to get back in the series at home.

Ten months ago the Colorado Avalanche were faced with the most delicious dilemma a National Hockey League team could have thrust upon them. Seated at a table in Newark’s Prudential Center on June 30, the Avs brass had their choice of any draft-declared prospect on the planet as possessor’s of the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.

Conventional wisdom at the time said the choice was between flashy Halifax Mooseheads forward Nathan MacKinnon and Portland Winterhawks defensive phenom Seth Jones.

The Avalanche, at least in the short term, made the right decision.

Jones is sitting at home after a respectable 25-point season—to go with a minus-23 plus/minus rating—for the Nashville Predators, a non-playoff team. MacKinnon, on the other hand, is destroying Minnesota with seven points (1-6–7) and is a plus-5 in leading Colorado to a 2-0 lead in its first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Wild.

MacKinnon notched a goal and three assists on Saturday night in the Avs 4-2 win over the Wild in game two after a three assist performance in the series opener. His combination of speed, skill, and rink awareness has given Minnesota fits in the Mile-High City this week.

Through two playoff games MacKinnon has already accumulated one ninth of his 82-game regular season numbers (24-39–63). But he is far from doing it alone.

The chemistry between MacKinnon and linemates Gabriel Landeskog and Paul Stastny was explosive throughout the night, repeatedly pinning the Wild deep in their zone with power-play efficiency at even strength. The trio combined for a pair of pretty Landeskog goals in the second period, each set up by spot on behind-the-back passes, first by MacKinnon then by Stastny and Colorado led 3-1 after 40 minutes.

“Whether you score or not, you can still create momentum down in their zone and making sure we’re not in our end,” Landeskog said. “My line certainly made some nice plays tonight.”

“That line was on fire tonight, they played really well,” Colorado coach Patrick Roy said. “Landy (Landeskog), Pauly (Stastny) and Nate, they had an outstanding game.”

Wild starting goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, although helpless on both plays, was mercifully lifted by coach Mike Yeo after Landeskog’s second goal at 11:59 after allowing three goals on 14 shots. He was replaced by Darcy Keumper who stepped onto game ice for the first time since March 27 and stopped all 14 shots he faced the rest of the way.

But if his teammates can’t find a way to limit the MacKinnon line’s speed on the rush and take away its space, Kuemper could channel his inner Patrick Roy and even that couldn’t earn the Wild a return trip to Denver. The three head to Minnesota for Monday’s third game having compiled an astounding 17 points (6-10–17) in just two games.

Is that sustainable? So far, the Wild have yet to demonstrate it isn’t but they said the right things after the game.

“For me, I think you see, we’re backing up a little bit too much as far as I’m concerned right now,” Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. “We’re allowing them to build speed, so we’ve got to do a better job.”

“We are going to have to be harder on them and be a little more physical on them, take away time and space and you know, we didn’t do as great a job as we wanted to tonight,” Wild defenseman Marco Scandella said. “I feel like they are getting a lot of speed in the neutral zone and we got to find a way to slow it down.”

Minnesota was the beneficiary of an early power play just 1:07 in when Colorado’s Cody McLeod took a run at Jonas Brodin long after the Wild defenseman released the puck. Despite buzzing the Avalanche net for nearly the full two minutes, the Wild came up empty on four shots and had at least that many blocked.

But just 1:11 after McLeod was released, Wild captain Mikko Koivu busted up the left wing boards and into the Colorado zone before feeding the puck to the crease where it deflected off the net-crashing Charlie Coyle behind Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov for a 1-0 Minnesota lead. Varlamov finished with 30 saves on the night.

Coyle’s goal gave the Wild a 7-2 lead in shots on goal through just 4:18 of play but Minnesota’s grip on the game began to loosen shortly thereafter.

The Avs bounced pack two minutes later on an eye-opening goal by MacKinnon.  The 18-year-old Halifax, Nova Scotia native flew into Wild zone and took Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon out of his skates with a nifty lateral fake and ripped a wrist shot past Bryzgalov’s blocker to knot the game at 1-1.

“I wanted to kind of shake to the middle and I kind of jumped to the outside,” MacKinnon said. “I didn’t know I’d have that much room. Obviously, I’m pretty fortunate that he bit on it I guess and I just fired it at the net and it went in.”

“I thought, after they scored their first goal, that certainly gave them momentum and I thought that we got on our heels a little bit from that time,” Yeo said.

Eleven seconds after Ryan Suter was assessed a cross checking penalty with 1:30 to play, Minnesota drew within one when Scandella jumped into the rush and rerouted a Koivu pass between Varmalov’s legs. The shorthanded goal is the sixth such tally in Wild history.

But Colorado sealed its win with 15 seconds on the clock and, fittingly, it was Stastny depositing the puck into an empty net after receiving it from MacKinnon who could have put the puck away himself just as easily as he appears to be putting away the Wild’s season.

The post Unstoppable? appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Minnesota clinches playoff berth with 4-3 win over Boston

SAINT PAUL – An anti-climatic entrance to the second season wasn’t the whole story Tuesday for the Minnesota Wild in front of 18,893 fans on Fan Appreciation Night at Xcel Energy Center. Not even close.

That it’s not is the bigger story.

Despite Boston getting two power play goals, including Loui Eriksson’s go-ahead one late in the second, Ryan Suter’s goal with 1:05 remaining in regulation tied the game at 3 and Jason Pominville scored twice beforehand in a 4-3 shootout win over the Bruins.

“We talked about the resiliency of our group this morning and that was another good example of it right there,” a joyous Minnesota head coach Mike Yeo said after the game.

The two points were enough for the Wild to make the postseason for the second consecutive year and clinch the first Western Conference wild card spot.

The berth was no surprise, however. Needing a single point or a win by either Columbus or Nashville for its fifth trip to the postseason in franchise history, Minnesota got the good news during the second intermission following Blue Jacket Ryan Johansen’s overtime winner against Phoenix.

“Yeosie told us after the second that we were in the playoffs, but I think for us it was more about us being in on our own terms,” said Suter, whose team was trailing for all but 1:55. “I thought we went out and played a good third period … we came back and fought, Bryz played great in net.”

At that point in the game the Wild trailed Boston 3-2 despite Yeo’s team not being able to have gotten off to a better start. Following a Milan Lucic penalty 41 seconds into the game, Pominville got Minnesota on the board 1:05 into the game with a slap shot that beat Bruins goalie Tuuka Rask on the power play.

It wasn’t to last, though. The Bruins, missing Jarome Iginla and David Krejci, came back with a power play goal by Reilly Smith to snap Ilya Bryzgalov’s 145:15 shutout streak spanning parts of four games on the first Boston shot. Patrice Bergeron made it 2-1 10:28 into the first before Pominville scored his second, and 29^th goal of the season, 28 seconds later.

“We did a good job staying even-keeled and not getting frustrated when times were tough,” said Pominville, who finished the night with three points and the team scoring lead with 57.

Minnesota, playing its third game in four nights, did not back down even when knowing it was in the playoffs. That’s been the way the team has played lately, going 5-0-1 over the last six games. Passes that came easy to the Bruins in the first period were stopped and Rask, who made 21 saves, was forced to make a couple of his best late.

However, Pominville, who wasn’t able to celebrate last year when Minnesota clinched a playoff berth on the final game of the season, started the scoring play that Suter finished for his eighth goal of the season.

That seemed to spark the Wild. Minnesota nearly ended the game in overtime with Massachusetts native Charlie Coyle and Matt Moulson both coming close in an exciting overtime that featured everything besides a winning goal.

Bryzgalov, who made 21 saves and hasn’t lost in regulation since Jan. 24, stopped all three Boston shooters. Rask couldn’t get a glove on Mikko Koivu’s patented shootout backhand for the only scoring in the skill competition.

The Wild still have two regular-season games against St. Louis and the Predators, but all eyes turn to a postseason which will begin next week against an opponent to be determined.

At the same time, it is entering the playoffs on a high note. Missing Mikael Granlund and having Brzygalov, the team’s fourth goalie in net this season may not be the best case scenario, but right now the 33 year-old Russian goaltender producing. So are the top players at this point in April.

“As much as we want to get to the playoffs, that’s important of course, but we want to build our game right now,” Yeo said. “I said at the time I’m glad we’re playing teams like Boston and Pittsburgh and LA and all these teams that give us a glimpse. If we want to have a chance, we’re going to have to beat good teams and we’re going to have to be at our best. We’ve put ourselves in a position where we know what our game is and there’s confidence in it.

“Like I said, I think we’re ready for the playoffs.”

But Tuesday’s shootout win remains a celebration prior to the postseason,which saw the Wild lose in the opening round to eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago in five games. It’s a celebration, one which Minnesota blasted Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” in the locker room; a song the team played during its first win of the year back in October. It has to be, as Parise said after the game, “getting ready for the second season is going to be a lot of fun.”

The post Wild Get in on Their Own Terms appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Dynamic duo of Craig Leipold and Chuck Fletcher combine to build a contender in Minnesota.

They are the NHL’s version of Bonnie and Clyde, Starsky and Hutch and Penn and Teller, all rolled into one. Part good guys, part bad guys and a whole lot of magician.

Wild Owner Craig Leipold and General Manager Chuck Fletcher have wheeled, dealed, and in some ways stealed (yes, I know the proper word is stolen – but it had to rhyme) their way into being a contender in the NHL. The latest moves at this years NHL deadline were just another example.

Lets look back at what they have done in the past two years. July of 2012, they sign arguably two of the biggest stars in the game Zach Parise and Ryan Suter—virtual no brainers, as long as a team could find the cash and/or convince the tandem to work out a deal so that they could play together. The move proves to be brilliant in two ways: They have been everything a team could hope for on the ice, and players want to play with them.

Which leads me to the Wild’s second great move, bringing in Jason Pominville at last year’s trade deadline? He had 9 goals in 10 games last season and he’s already got 46 points this year. It was a risky move for Minnesota because they shipped out young talent. For Pominville it was a chance to leave the hockey “black hole” that is Buffalo to come play with guys like Parise and Suter in Minnesota.

But those moves weren’t enough for the Wild brass. Simply making the playoffs wasn’t good enough—which is exactly the way it should be! Leipold and Fletcher run the Wild in a way any fan should appreciate. They know that the product on the ice, for the most part, is dictated by how much you pay for players.

Yes, drafting good players and bringing them up through the system is the best way, but unless you have a draft pick in the top 10 picks, the chances of getting the next Sidney Crosby, John Tavares or Nate MacKinnon are slim. You can take a chance on a few guys in later rounds and hope they pan out, but guys like former St. Cloud State Husky Ryan Malone, (4^th round 1999), Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg (7^th round 1999) or Philadelphia’s Max Talbot (8^th round 2002) don’t come along that often.

Which brings us back to what Leipold and Fletcher are attempting to do here in Minnesota: Refusing to give up and refusing to believe that this state is not a winning hockey state.

Niklas Backstrom is shutdown and Josh Harding is ill?

No problem, go out and deal for Ilya Bryzgalov.

Scoring punch lacking a little bit?

Fleece Buffalo one more time and deal for Matt Moulson.

And once again it’s working. Other than the fact that I have to believe everyone in Buffalo hates Minnesota for the talent they’ve literally stolen away in the last two seasons.

Bryzgalov was not brought in to be the next Vezina Trophy winner. He is here to back up the young and talented Darcy Kuemper when he needs it. Yeah, Bryz got lit up in his Wild debut, but give him a little time to adjust.

The fact is he got the team some points in the game that ended as a shootout loss and that is all that you want from a back up. You hope for more, but as long as he can keep the train on the tracks while Kid Kuemper gets a much-deserved night off, well than anything more is gravy.

The deal for Matt Moulson was even better. Moulson is a three-time 30 goal scorer (all done with the Islanders, no less) who has toiled away his career with the Isles and Buffalo. About the only two teams worse to play for would be the (Former) Atlanta Thrashers or Siberia of the KHL (and yes, they have a team).

It was somewhat known that Moulson didn’t love Buffalo, but still to be able trade for him what Minnesota did was almost criminal. The other two players in the deal were pretty much a clean swap, so they essentially traded two second round picks to Buffalo for Moulson’s services for the rest of the season at a very reasonable price.

How good was this deal? As much as a day before the deadline, the organization wasn’t totally sure it would even get done.

As we love to say in Minnesota, the pieces are in place for the Wild – and kudos to the organization for doing so. In any professional sports league there are more ‘wait and see’ folks than there are ‘lets get it done now’ people.

Be happy Wild fans your management is a card-carrying member of the latter. A card they have been maxing out getting this organization to where they want it to be. All of which will be worth it if the Wild now does what Fletcher and Leipold believe they have built it to do, make a playoff run.

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