I haven’t heard a national pundit say a word about Crosby wearing the forest green, iron range red and harvest gold of the Minnesota Wild. Even though there is a compelling case to be made that the future Hall of Famer would be a great fit in Minnesota.

OK, I know what you’re saying. No way, no how. Crosby isn’t going to waive the full no-move clause he received in the two-year, $17.4 million contract he signed in September to remain with the Pittsburgh Penguins through the 2026-27 season. Maybe you’re right. Crosby could have walked as a free agent after this season but elected to stick with the franchise that made him the first-overall pick in the 2005 NHL Draft.

So, why is anyone talking about the 37-year-old future Hall of Famer waiving his no move? Because the relationship between Crosby and the Penguins — and a few other star players — no longer makes sense unless it’s solely based on stubbornness and sentimentality.

Penguins needs a rebuild – without Crosby
Crosby played a key role in the Penguins winning three Stanley Cups, and the franchise made 16 consecutive postseason appearances after missing in his rookie season. But Pittsburgh hasn’t been to the playoffs in the past two years and is on track to make it three in a row this season.

This isn’t a case where the Penguins are a hot streak or one addition away from turning it around. Pittsburgh is sitting at 7-10-4 through 21 games, giving them 18 points, and is a minus-26 in goal differential. The Penguins are 2-3-3 in their past eight games, losing twice in overtime and once in a shootout. There also was an 0-5-1 stretch last month that ended with a 5-3 loss to the Wild in Pittsburgh.

Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas needs to begin a significant rebuild as soon as possible and the list of veterans on his roster should make that possible. Dubas already dealt Jake Guentzel to Carolina last season and moved Lars Eller to Washington for two draft picks last week.

Penguins center Sidney Crosby on the ice in a game against the Minnesota Wild on March 31, 2022 at Xcel Energy Center. Crosby has scored more than 1,600 points in nearly 1,300 career NHL games, all played for Pittsburgh. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

But, for now, Crosby is off limits, and so is 38-year-old center Evgeni Malkin, who has spent all 19 of his seasons in Pittsburgh and has a full no-trade clause. Crosby and Malkin want to finish their NHL careers where they started, but will that remain the case?

There’s something very noble about spending your entire career in one place, but even Wayne Gretzky was traded twice in his NHL career and signed his last contract (with the New York Rangers) as a free agent.

Crosby, 37, still has plenty to offer as evidenced by his team-leading 20 points (seven goals and 13 assists) in 21 games this season. Crosby agreeing to waive his no-move clause could be a major benefit to the Penguins and himself. Interest would be high and this improved Wild team would make sense for a few reasons.

Crosby to the Wild would be a smooth transition
The Wild are off to a fantastic start this season under coach John Hynes. Their 4-2 win in St. Louis on Tuesday gave them 27 points, putting them behind only Winnipeg (32 points) and tied with Washington for second place in the NHL. Crosby would be welcomed by any team, but his transition to Minnesota would be nearly seamless.

There are two reasons for this: 1) Wild general manager Bill Guerin won the second and final Stanley Cup of his career as a teammate of Crosby’s with the Penguins in 2009 after being acquired that March from the New York Islanders. 2) Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and Crosby were teammates in Pittsburgh for 12 seasons and remain close friends. They were a part of three Stanley Cup winning teams during that time.

Crosby and veteran defenseman Kris Letang stayed on the ice at PPG Paints Arena as fans chanted Fleury’s name and gave him an ovation following the Wild’s victory in Pittsburgh on Oct. 29. Fleury remains one of the most popular players in Penguins history, and fans wanted to show their love for him after what was expected to be the final start of his career in that city.

“I can try my hardest, try to bring (Crosby) here,” Fleury said during a recent appearance on the Bardown Beauties podcast with Jessi Pierce and Kirsten Krull. “But I don’t think he’s going to budge. … He doesn’t like change much.”

That’s a shame.

The NHL trade deadline isn’t until March 7, so there’s time for Crosby to change his mind about staying put. There are also scenarios, given the potential timing of the trade, and the return to Pittsburgh, under which Guerin could swing a deal that could work financially. The Avalanche, by the way, currently have less salary cap room than the Wild.

Of course, the Penguins wouldn’t give away Crosby. They likely would ask for center Marco Rossi and/or top prospects. ESPN recently ranked the Wild fourth in their NHL future power rankings based in part on the quality of their prospects. The ask might be too much, but Guerin knows more than anyone what Crosby brings on the ice and to the room.

Is Crosby to Minnesota, or anywhere else, likely? Probably not. But if he does decide to chase another Cup, doing it with his buddy, Fleury, would make a lot of sense.

The post Zulgad: Crosby To The Wild? appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

It’s been a good first 10 games of the 2024-25 campaign for the Wild. Here are five rules recapping their latest win:

1. The number of the night was seven.

Things started on a good note when St. Paul’s own, and Major League Baseball Hall of Fame catcher, Joe Mauer helped lead the “Let’s Play Hockey!” call alongside his twin daughters. Mauer, sports fans know, wore the jersey number 7 during his entire baseball career as a Minnesota Twin. That retired number seven is now hanging over Target Field.

Perhaps it was fitting when another Minnesota kid, Brock Faber, scored a goal early in the third period to break a 1-1 tie. Faber also wears No. 7.

“There seemed to be a little bit of a screen,” Faber said. “I just tried to put it on net, really.”

But the most eye-popping stats of the night having to do with the number seven came from – who else? – Kirill Kaprizov as he continues his hot start to the season. He scored a pair of goals and added a crafty assist for a three-point night. The tallies bumped his points streak to seven consecutive games. He also has recorded multiple points in seven consecutive games this season, which is a new franchise record.

Oh, and the Wild have seven victories, too.

2. NHL scoring leader – that’s right – Kirill Kaprizov lived up to his “Kirill the thrill” nickname.

Kaprizov’s first goal Friday gave the Wild the lead for good a few minutes into the third period for a 3-2 game. He followed later with an empty-netter.

Kaprizov leads the NHL in scoring with seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points in the season’s first 10 games. It’s unprecedented for the Wild to have such a dominating points producer. A fact not lost on his teammate, and Minnesota native, Faber.

“I’m from Minnesota, you know,” Faber told the media after Friday’s game. “Obviously, you guys all see how good he is on the ice, how well he’s playing. Such a complete game.”

With his latest efforts Friday, Kaprizov is the first player in Wild history to become the fastest to reach 20 points in a season. The game was also the 35th of his career scoring three points, which passes Mikko Koivu for the most in franchise history, according to NHL Stats.

Only three active players have scored at least 21 points through 10 games in a season: Kaprizov, and Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl (23 points in 2021-22 and 21 points in 2022-23) and Connor McDavid (22 points in 2022-23 and 2021-22).

Marco Rossi recorded an assist and two shots on goal in Friday’s game against Tampa Bay. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

3. Watch out for… multiple pucks?

A bit of an odd sequence about halfway through the game: There were two pucks on the ice during play. Marco Rossi went into the Tampa Bay zone on a breakaway and fired the puck on net. As he skated around the back of the net, he picked up a puck that was sitting behind the cage and put it into the goal on a wraparound. But that wasn’t the puck he had on his stick a few seconds before. The puck was being played up the ice.

It was a confusing moment as some fans in the arena cheered seeing a puck in the goal. Officials went over to the penalty boxes to look at the play. There was no goal awarded on the play, rightfully so.

Wild coach John Hynes hadn’t seen anything like that before.

“Never. Never,” Hynes said. “It’s funny because when the puck went in… I didn’t know what everyone was cheering about, because I was following the real puck.

4. Special teams could haunt. But they didn’t.

All three Tampa Bay goals came with an extra attacker on the ice. The Wild got caught with a too many men penalty late in the first period, which led to the Lightning’s first power-play goal with 45 seconds left in the period. Goalie Filip Gustavsson made a sprawling save initially, but the puck popped right out to Brayden Point for his seventh (there’s that number again) goal of the season and a 1-0 lead at intermission.

The Lightning tied the game in the third period with another power-play goal, going 2-for-4 with the man advantage on the night. Tampa Bay pulled goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy with a few minutes left in regulation and capitalized with the extra skater to make it a 4-3 game with 2 minutes, 26 seconds left in the game.

The Wild power play, meanwhile, went 0-for-2 on Friday.

“I think the positive side of that is, again, we won a game where we didn’t win the special teams battle,” Hynes said. “But our objective every night is to make sure that we do win the special teams battle. Because that, lots of times, could turn a game.”

It was the first time this season that the Wild’s penalty kill surrendered two goals in a game. Coming into the game, the Wild were 5-for-17 on the kill, ranking 28th in the NHL at 70.6%.

5. Jake Guentzel cashed in on the #OneOfUs narrative.

The Woodbury/Hill-Murray product had a nice homecoming visit when he tied the game 2-2 with nine seconds left in a Lightning power play. With 13:37 left in the third period. The first-line left-winger is among the team’s scoring leaders with five goals and seven assists so far this season.

Guentzel now has 15 points (6-9—15) in 14 career games against the Wild.

The post Rink Rule: Lightning vs. Wild appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

UNO’s Frozen Four bandwagon has room and a Minnesota accent

The 2015 NCAA men’s hockey tournament was not kind to schools based in the Land of 10,000 Lakes despite its members comprising 25 percent of the 16-team field. On successive days March 27-28, Minnesota, Minnesota State, Minnesota-Duluth and St. Cloud State’s bids to reach the Frozen Four in Boston each came to an abrupt and unceremonious end.

Although this marks the first Frozen Four without a Minnesota school since the forgettable 2010 Ford Field debacle (are you with me, Wisconsin fans?), fear not, as the State of Hockey will not go unrepresented in Beantown.

For those still reeling from the sting of elimination looking for a reason to watch the TD Garden party with Barry Melrose on mute, I submit to you: The University of Nebraska Omaha Mavericks.

A contingent of eight Minnesota-bred players, coached by International Falls native, and former Gopher, Dean Blais, traveled to Boston this week as members of the Mavericks.

Duluth’s Jake Randolph, Tanner Lane of Detroit Lakes, Eden Prairie’s Luc Snuggerud, Avery Peterson of Grand Rapids, Woodbury’s Jake Guentzel, Rochester’s Tyler Vesel, Lakeville’s Justin Parizek and Matt Youso from International Falls made the trip to Massachusetts. In addition, Blais is assisted by former Minnesota State star and head coach Troy Jutting from Richfield.

To be fair, seven Minnesotans dot North Dakota’s Frozen Four roster but crafting a compelling argument convincing Minnesotans to rally around a UND title bid is akin to attempting to coerce a Yankee fan to cheer for the Red Sox in October.

Nebraska Omaha’s Minnesotans have been anything but bit players, mind you, with four of UNO’s top six goal scorers and five of its top seven point producers calling Minnesota home. At the top of that list is Guentzel , an All-NCHC Honorable Mention honoree who leads the Mavericks with 38 points on 13 goals and 25 assists in 35 games.

Blais, who won two NCAA titles (1997 and 2000) in 10 seasons with North Dakota, said when diving into Minnesota’s deep talent pool he seeks a specific type of player.

“If they don’t look like they have the passion for the game and they’ve got a history of having to motivate them with a cattle prod, those aren’t the type of players that will play for me,” Blais punned. “The players here that are Minnesota products have always wanted to do anything they can to win.

“And you check the guys on our roster and they all kind of fit that mold.”

Boston bound

The Mavericks (20-12-6, 12-10-4 NCHC) finished third in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference regular season standings but were swept at home in the first round of the NCHC playoffs by St. Cloud State. Despite sitting out the NCHC’s Frozen Faceoff at Target Center, UNO received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Regional in South Bend, Ind.

“It was really a time for us to get back to work and get everyone healthy and kind of regain our confidence and go back to the fundamentals we’ve been working on all year,” Parizek, a sophomore forward, said about the two week layoff between games. “Obviously, it paid off in South Bend and we’ve got to take it to the Frozen Four.”

After dispatching Harvard 4-1 in the first round, only No. 16 seed R.I.T., upset winners over top-seeded Minnesota State, stood in the way of the Mavericks’ first trip to the Frozen Four. The teams played a scoreless first two periods but UNO scored four times in the third for a historic 4-0 win.

Although just five of Randolph’s 26 points are goals, the freshman’s fifth turned out to be the game winner in the third period against Tigers and currently stands as, arguably, the most important tally in program history.

“It was kind of shocking, I mean, I usually don’t score a goal like that,” Randolph said of his one-timer from above the circles. “Usually if I’m scoring a goal it’s around the net getting knocked down. It was special; I’ll definitely never forget it. It’s definitely my most favorite goal to date.”

Snuggerud , an NCHC All-Rookie Team selection, and Parizek assisted on Randolph’s goal while Snuggerud helped out on Parizek’s goal later in the period, as did Guentzel who finished the regional-clinching win with a pair of assists.

“It seemed like everything was clicking once we got that first one and that’s going to be important, too, in these next games is just trying to score that first goal,” Randolph said.

Family Ties

UNO’s Jake Guentzel, a sophomore from Woodbury, Minn., leads the Mavericks in scoring with 38 points heading into the Frozen Four. (MHM file photo / Jordan Doffing)

Heading into the postseason, Guentzel wasn’t even the best bet in his family to reach the national semifinals. His father Mike is Don Lucia’s long-time assistant at Minnesota and briefly assisted Blais at UNO (2010-11).

“He’s the biggest influence on my life,” said Guentzel, an All-State performer as a junior at Hill-Murray. “He’s been there since day one and without him I have no idea where I’d be in hockey or in life. He teaches me all of the little things to be successful and I’m very fortunate to have someone like him.”

The Gophers, fresh off sweeping the Big Ten’s regular season and tournament titles, were viewed as more likely to reach their 22^nd Frozen Four than the Mavericks were to make their first appearance in three trips to the NCAA Tournament (2006 and 2010). But Minnesota-Duluth eliminated the Gophers in the tournament opener for both teams.

“If we both would have made Boston, that would’ve been pretty special,” Guentzel said. “It would’ve been a cool moment to share with him but he’ll be there supporting me so it’ll be pretty special to see him there.”

Guentzel’s brothers Gabe (Colorado College) and Ryan (Notre Dame) also played Division I hockey with Ryan reaching the Frozen Four in St. Paul with the Irish in 2011.

Randolph, son of legendary Duluth East coach Mike, is also a product of a successful coaching pedigree and says no one knows his game more than his dad.

“I talk to him every day, whether it’s texting him over the phone or calling him for an hour, and we’ll just talk hockey,” Randolph said. “He watches every single game and tells me what I need to do and what I can improve on and makes sure I never get satisfied.

“I’m really lucky to have him in my corner.”

Home away from home

Like many of his teammates Randolph was also fortunate to have some familiar faces in his corner when he arrived on campus last summer. Having grown up playing either with or against one another on elite level teams throughout their youth and high school careers, the Minnesota kids, for the most part, weren’t complete strangers prior to landing in Omaha.

Nebraska Omaha’s Justin Parizek (25) and Jake Randolph (13) celebrate Parizek’s goal against Minnesota-Duluth during a game in November. (Photo by Michelle Bishop / Special to MHM)

“I remember seeing in the summer how many Minnesota guys we actually have, which is odd for a Nebraska Omaha team,” Randolph said. “Guys like Parizek and Guentzel helped me a lot in my transition. It’s been fun with them.”

“I knew Randolph from Duluth East and I knew Tyler [Vassel] from Rochester and we all knew each other,” said Parizek who rooms with Youso. “So, I mean, you kind of become friends right off the bat just being all from Minnesota.”

While their allegiance is clearly to the team as a whole, the players acknowledged a special bond with their Minnesota brethren, especially when early March rolls around.

“I would say I hang out with pretty much any of my teammates, that means if they’re from Minnesota, California or Canadian,” Parizek said. “But it’s been really nice to have a lot of Minnesota guys on the same team because, obviously, you’ve got a lot of familiar things to talk about and when the state tournament’s going on, the rest of the team’s telling us to shut up.”

“We were talking about [the state tournament] for a couple weeks leading up to it and guys from out of Minnesota just could not stand it,” Randolph said. “They could not stand hearing the talk about the tourney because they just don’t understand how special that was to us and how cool of a venue it is.”

Guentzel, Parizek and Randolph each said they’ve been blown away by the outpouring of support they’ve received from back home leading up to and since their regional win. The college hockey prognosticators have not been nearly as kind, however, but the Mavericks don’t mind a bit and look forward to continuing their bracket-busting run.

“Nobody’s picked us all year and we like it, it’s motivated us,” Randolph said. “Nobody’s going to pick us against Providence either, that’s just how it goes. We’ve embraced that role all year and we love it.

“We just laugh it off and prove them wrong.”

When Guentzel takes the ice in Boston this week, sage advice from his father will accompany him.

“You can’t be tight and nervous, you’ve got to have fun and just make the most of the opportunity,” Guentzel said. “Obviously, it doesn’t happen very often and we’re just so close right now, so why not finish it off.”

The post Let’s go … Mavs? appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.