No, this was not an encore performance from Mason Kraft and the Moorhead Spuds boys’ hockey team.

This was the Minnesota Wild getting out to the fastest goal-scoring start at home in franchise history when they jumped all over the Seattle Kraken following an 8:52 p.m. puck drop Wednesday night at Xcel Energy Center. The end result was a 4-0 win.

Here are five rules from the Wild’s second consecutive win on home ice:

1. The Wild scored goals in a 1:42 span, also the second-fastest three goals to start a game in franchise history.

The floodgates opened early for the Wild, the same team that’s had trouble scoring goals across its last dozen or so games. It hadn’t scored a first-period goal in six games, let alone pumping in multiple goals in quick succession. The Wild scored the trio of goals in a span of 1 minute, 42 seconds. That prompted Seattle (30-35-5) to call a timeout and calm things down at the 4:29 mark of the game.

“The plan was to try to come out right away, get everyone involved, and that was a really good start for us,” said Wild forward Ryan Hartman.  

The fastest three goals for the Wild came Jan. 14, 2017 in Dallas when they scored three in four minutes.

The Wild also became the fastest team to score three goals to start a game this season in the NHL. The previous mark was the Detroit Red Wings scoring three by the 5:06 mark on Feb. 23.

The Wild also scored at least three goals in back-to-back games. The last time that happened was sandwiched around the break in February with a 6-3 win against the New York Islanders on Feb. 8 and then a 4-3 overtime victory in Detroit right after the break on Feb. 22.

2. Hartman scored first, Matt Boldy broke out of his slump, Liam Ohgren scored his second of the season.

First, it was Hartman tallying his second goal in as many games. He slid perfectly into the slot, accepted the puck and fired it into the net only 2 minutes, 47 seconds into the game. It’s his ninth goal of the season and third since returning from his eight-game suspension.

Matt Boldy scored an unassisted tally just 1 minute, 12 seconds later to break his 11-game goal drought.

“It’s always fun to score,” Boldy said. “I was happy to see one go in, for sure. Some relief.

“I think the more you build it up, the more stress you create about yourself. You try to stay away from it and keep if off your mind.”

He also added an empty-netter, which gave him 23 goals for the season and putting him into a tie for the team goals lead with the injured Kirill Kaprizov.

Liam Ohgren, playing his first Wild game since Feb. 28 at Colorado, made it 3-0 at the 4:29 mark of the game. It’s the third goal of his NHL career and first at Xcel Energy Center. He’s spent the majority of the season in Iowa, but he also recognized how much it helped when the team got out to such a quick lead.

“When that happens, you’re always on a roll, and you always want more,” Ohgren said. “That’s what keeps the guys going. It was fun.”

3. The game was pretty quiet after the first five minutes.

Unlike the Stillwater vs. Moorhead boys’ state championship game that turned into an exciting 7-6 win for the Spuds, the similarities to the Wild game ended at that 4:29 mark in the first period.

Any late-arriving fans to the late-evening puck drop missed all the action. Beyond the three quick goals, there wasn’t much in the way of excitement. The Wild couldn’t generate much of anything on two first-period power plays. They also went cold in the shots-on-goal department in the final minutes of the opening period and didn’t register a shot in the second until just after the first TV timeout.

The Wild successfully killed off a penalty in the first minute of the second period, going 11-for-12 across the last five games.

Also on the defensive end, Filip Gustavsson made 34 saves in net for his 27th win of the season and fifth shutout. The victory was the Wild’s sixth shutout this season. Gustavsson is 5-2-1 with an NHL-leading .944 save percentage in March.

Wild coach John Hynes likes the consistency he’s seeing from Gustavsson lately.

“It seems like he’s mentally alert and physically he feels good,” Hynes said. “That’s what I like.

“Naturally, the game forces you to be completely engaged and intense, and I thought in tonight’s game he was there when we needed him because we didn’t play a perfect game, but even though we were up with a lead I thought when they had some looks he was sharp and that to me was a really good game by him and then I think it shows you where his mental focus is.

4. The Wild can’t make it through the game without another player getting injured.

The news wasn’t all good on the Wild front. Marco Rossi left the game early in the second period when he took a Boldy shot off his leg. The team announced in the second period that Rossi wouldn’t return after sustaining the lower-body injury. Hynes didn’t have an update on Rossi after the game.

“Hopefully he’s okay, and it’s nothing serious,” Hartman said.

The Wild were already shorthanded (what else is new?) to start the night with Marcus Foligno missing his second straight game with day-to-day status. Marcus Johansson also missed Wednesday because of illness. Ohgren found out he was playing when he got to the rink pregame.

Add Rossi to the mix, and that brings the Wild’s list of players not suiting up quite lengthy:

Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jonas Brodin, Foligno, Johansson and Rossi. It’s another blow for Rossi, whose goal slump reached 11 games including Wednesday.

5. That’s back-to-back Wild wins on home ice for the first time since early February.

The Wild have been a better road team all season, with a 22-10-3 record. Home ice has not been their advantage, for whatever reason. They’ve hovered around the .500 mark at home and have also put up some real lackluster efforts. They were just booed off the ice Saturday in a 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, after all.

But the win against the Kraken improved the Wild’s mark at Xcel Energy Center to 17-15-2, and 3-2-1 on the seven-game homestand that wraps up Saturday afternoon against Buffalo. Coupled with the team’s 3-1 win over Los Angeles on Monday, the Wild won back-to-back home games for the first time since Feb. 6 and Feb. 8 against Carolina and the Islanders.

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No, not “booze,” although that was perhaps a pregame (and postgame) focus for many Minnesota Wild fans taking part in St. Patrick’s Day weekend festivities on West Seventh Street in downtown St. Paul.

First, fans directed boos at the scoreboard Saturday when the starting lineup for the visiting St. Louis Blues was announced, notably when former Wild defenseman Ryan Suter’s name came up. Then Wild fans – among the 800th sellout crowd at Xcel Energy Center – let the boos rain down when the Blues went up 3-0 on the Wild in the second period.

The Wild got on the board 25 seconds later, but it was an overall lackluster and sloppy effort from Minnesota as it fell 5-1. The loss dropped the Wild to 1-2-1 on this seven-game homestand and 3-6-1 in the last 10 games.

March Madness? More like March Sadness for Wild fans this season.  

“We definitely need more jam in our game, especially at this time of year,” said defenseman Jake Middleton, who scored the Wild’s lone goal Saturday. “We were just kind of waiting, I thought.”

Waiting for a hero to save them? No, Chad Kroeger. Middleton said they’re waiting for the next guy on the team to score. But it takes a team effort.

The Wild are obviously missing its superstar Kirill Kaprizov, who’s played only three games since Dec. 23 and is out for an unknown timetable with a lower-body injury that required surgery. Jonas Brodin and Joel Eriksson Ek are out injured, too.

“The guys we got in the lineup, we just got to figure out a way to bring it every night and compete,” Middleton said. “I think we have more than we had tonight.”

But in its most grueling part of the schedule late in the season, the Wild are floundering and failing to put pucks in the net. Getting a goal a game as a team isn’t going to cut it (that 1-0 victory, no doubt a solid win, March 2 in Boston aside).

Next man up?
Earlier in the season, the Wild preached the cliché of a “next-man-up mentality” when they were consistently shorthanded in the lineup because of injuries. They’ve had their fair share up and down the roster since October. For a while, the Wild weathered that storm by getting wins, points and goal production from guys not named Kaprizov.

It’s just not happening lately. In six of the last 10 games, the Wild have scored only one goal through regulation time. They’re 2-4 in those games. There’s the 1-0 victory against the Bruins and a 2-1 shootout victory against Colorado on March 11.

The Wild had to rally for a pair of third-period goals Thursday against the New York Rangers, or it would have been four consecutive games with just one goal. That Rangers prevailed 3-2 in overtime. Marcus Johnasson scored in that game, marking his first goal since Jan. 7. The Wild played strong defensively in that game, leading coach John Hynes to give his players credit in his postgame comments Thursday.

“I think we’re playing extremely hard and strong attention to detail, playing the way you really need to win this time of year there,” Hynes said, after the loss to the Rangers. “They’re highly competitive games.”

Top-line drought
But despite the playoff-type atmosphere that some of these games take on, there are other goal droughts on the team. Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello have played on the first line with center Marco Rossi. They’re just not producing.

Boldy hasn’t scored since just after the break in the Feb. 22 game at Detroit, a 4-3 overtime victory for the Wild. That’s zero goals in 10 games for him, and only five assists. He still leads the team this season with 21 goals and 55 points.  

Rossi’s goal drought pushed to nine games after Saturday, with only three assists in that span. He had the overtime winner in Detroit in that Feb. 22 game. The Wild had just 18 shots on goal Saturday, one each for Boldy and Rossi.

Zuccarello snapped a 10-game goalless streak with a goal Feb. 28 at Colorado. He has three goals and two assists across his last eight games.

“That’s no secret that we’re struggling to score goals as of late,” Zuccarello said. “We got to find a way to do it. They score on their chances, and we don’t.”

Zuccarello also acknowledged that losing 5-1 at home is not acceptable, adding “everyone in here knows it’s embarrassing for us to play like that, but what are we going to say? You’ve got to take it on the chin right now, and it’s not good enough.”

The Wild have consistently been a better road team this season, going just 15-15-2 at home. They’ve had some rough losses, lopsided ones, on home ice this season. A 7-1 loss to Edmonton on Dec. 12 that started a five-game homestand. A 6-1 loss to Florida later in that same home stretch. Another 6-1 loss vs. Colorado on Jan. 9.

The 5-1 loss Saturday could be added to the list, though this one comes when the Wild are playing nearly every other day throughout a busy month of March.

“It’s a competitive time of the year,” Hynes said. “Tonight, I thought there (were) some certain circumstances in the game where I think our attention to detail wasn’t where it needed to be.

“We didn’t have it tonight. … We’re in a tight race. Our team reacts, responds, works, competes all the time.”

The Wild have 79 points and are still in the first Wild Card spot for the postseason.

The Wild have another shot to right the ship, which keeps taking on water at Xcel Energy center this season, on Monday when Los Angeles visits.

“We’ve got to continue to have the belief that it’ll come,” said defenseman Zach Bogosian. “You know, we’ve had our share of looks in these past few games. Unfortunately, they’re not going in right now. But we have to continue to keep directing pucks at their net and you know eventually they’ll go in.”

The post Wild Scoring Woes appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

But Kaprizov did not join his teammates five days later as they reconvened to travel to Dallas for a game that night. Kaprizov had been battling a lower-body injury and the decision was made to shut him down before it got worse.

The Wild suffered another significant loss on New Year’s Eve when defenseman Jared Spurgeon was taken out by a slew foot from Nashville rookie Zachary L’Heureux and had to be helped off the ice.

The Wild had gone 1-1 in their first two games without Kaprizov and beat the Predators after Spurgeon’s lower-body injury. The Wild then went on the road and won back-to-back games against two very good teams in Washington and Carolina before returning to Xcel Energy Center for a 6-4 victory over the Blues.

That put the Wild at 5-1-0 without Kaprizov and 3-0 without Spurgeon. It was the latest impressive accomplishment by a team that had exceeded nearly everyone’s expectations, and had the Wild only two points behind Central Division-leading Winnipeg.

Blue-line depth being tested
But that Blues win came at a steep price. Defenseman Brock Faber took an elbow to the head from the Blues’ Jake Neighbours early in the game and played only five more shifts before leaving. Defenseman Jonas Brodin saw additional time with the minutes-eating Faber out and logged a career-high 33 minutes, 2 seconds. It was late in the game that Brodin remained on the ice for 2:41 and blocked three shots. One of them came off the stick of the Blues’ Colton Parayko and left Brodin hobbling.

He downplayed it after the game but hasn’t played since. Neither has Faber. Not surprisingly, the Wild hasn’t been the same since.

A 6-1 loss to Colorado at home was followed by a 3-1 victory at San Jose. Last Sunday, the Wild lost 4-1 at Vegas and then blew a 2-0 lead in a 5-3 loss on Wednesday to the Edmonton Oilers in St. Paul. The Wild lost second-line winger Marcus Johansson to a concussion in that one when he took an elbow to the head from Oilers superstar Connor McDavid.

There will be no case made that anyone should feel bad for the Wild. Every team loses key players to injury and must find a way to overcome it or get buried in the standings. Wild players have walked the fine line of acknowledging the magnitude of not having Kaprizov and three top defensemen, but not trying to hide behind that as an excuse for now being seven points behind the first-place Jets, only one point ahead of third-place Dallas and three up on the Avalanche.

It’s clear that John Hynes has established what he wants the message to be from his locker room. The Wild coach is very skillful at avoiding any criticism of his players but making it clear there is a standard they are expected to meet.

What’s difficult is judging which players are struggling and which are simply being asked to do more than they are capable of because of the hit to the depth chart. There also are players who are thriving, such as center Marco Rossi. Rossi has been paired with Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello on the Wild’s first line and has five goals and 11 points in those 10 games.

Causes for concern? 
As important as Kaprizov is to the Wild, they lost only one game without him but have now dropped three of four without Brodin and Faber. Not surprisingly, goalie Filip Gustavsson hasn’t looked anything like the guy who spent much of the first half of the season near the top of the NHL in goals-against average and save percentage.

Gustavsson registered a 21-save shutout against Carolina in the last full game that Brodin and Faber played. He was lifted in the second period of the Wild’s come-from-behind victory over the Blues after giving up four goals on 18 shots. Gustavsson has given up 15 goals in his past three starts (all losses) for an ugly .850 save percentage. If you include the Blues game, Gustavsson has surrendered 19 goals in four games for an .839 save percentage. His save percentage has gone from .926 to .914 in that time.

Cause for concern or an inevitability when guys like Zach Bogosian, Declan Chisholm Travis Dermott, Jon Merrill and rookie David Jiricek are forced to play elevated minutes because of key losses?

There are a couple of pieces of good news for the Wild. The first is that Kaprizov, Faber and Spurgeon all practiced on Friday, and bottom six forward Jakob Lauko (lower body) could be ready to return from a 13-game absence Saturday against Nashville. Brodin doesn’t appear as close, but the return of Kaprizov, Faber and Spurgeon would provide a huge boost.

The other thing the Wild have going for them is their fantastic start to the season. They went 5-1-1 on a seven-game road trip in October and had 44 points through their first 30 games.

Their start didn’t assure the Wild of a playoff berth, but it gave them a nice head start on making it. Given the current state of their roster, those early-season points might be what get the Wild into the postseason.

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Minnesota, already leading the St. Louis Blues 2-0 after getting two goals in the opening 2 minutes, 12 seconds, lost one of its best defensemen when Brock Faber departed halfway through the first period because of an upper-body injury. The Blues took advantage.

Pavel Buchnevich beat Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson at 13:26 of the first. St. Louis’ Jordan Kyrou, Jake Neighbours and Robert Thomas scored early in the second to chase Gustavsson and quiet the building.

A year ago, that would have been it for the Wild.

Already without superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov (lower body) and defenseman Jared Spurgeon (lower body), the loss of Faber and the four Blues goals would have been the perfect excuse to give up.

The Wild did the opposite.

Players stepped up
Joel Eriksson Ek, who missed 11 games earlier this season because of injury, scored before the second period ended. Defenseman Jake Middleton, returning from an 11-game absence, tied the score 1:16 into the third period and Matt Boldy scored off a Mats Zuccarello pass less than two minutes later to give the Wild the lead.

Marcus Johansson added an empty-net goal to end a three-minute sequence in which Johansson, Eriksson Ek, Ryan Hartman and defensemen Zach Bogosian and Jonas Brodin had to stay on the ice because of multiple icings but managed to fight their fatigue, block numerous shots and hold off the Blues for a 6-4 victory.

Their willingness to continue to battle in front of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was one of the team’s most impressive stretches of hockey this season.

“A year ago this time, we probably didn’t have players step up the way they’ve stepped up this year,” coach John Hynes said. “That’s a credit to the players. The players are really playing hard for each other, for the team and doing what’s required to win, whether that’s blocking a shot or trying to score a goal or playing a 50-50 shift, whatever that is. The guys are committed to playing the right way for each other, and we’re finding ways to win.”

The victory over the Blues was just the latest test of the Wild’s resolve. The challenges began with a seven-game trip early in the season. in which Minnesota went 5-1-1. The Wild were 20-6-4 on Dec. 15 when they lost the first of four in a row, including a 6-1 home loss to Florida and a 5-0 defeat in Winnipeg. The Wild didn’t fold and, instead, won their next game over Chicago before starting the Christmas break.

The Wild returned without Kaprizov, who was tied for second in the NHL in goals (23) and eighth in points (50) at the time. Center Marco Rossi, Boldy and Zuccarello have played on the top line without their Russian star and the team has gone 5-1. The Wild will take a four-game winning streak into Thursday night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche at Xcel Energy Center. That includes impressive wins last week in Washington and Carolina.

The Wild (26-11-4) are at the halfway mark of their season and are two points behind the first-place Jets in the Central Division. They are an incredible 15-3-3 on the road, leaving room for improvement on an 11-8-1 mark in downtown St. Paul. Last season at this time, the Wild were in the midst of a four-game losing streak and were 17-19-5.

Headed in right direction with Hynes
The roster is largely the same, but the mindset and resilience make this a very different team. Hynes has plenty to do with that. He took over after Dean Evason was fired 19 games into last season, but didn’t get the chance to put all of his systems and philosophy into place until training camp opened in September.

It didn’t hurt that many Wild players were embarrassed by how easy they were to play against and the fact they missed the postseason.

What the Wild are doing isn’t easy. Being willing to block shots earns the appreciation of teammates, but it also takes a toll. Brodin was limping as he came into the Wild’s main locker room late Tuesday to talk to the media. He was smiling and said he was fine, but logging 33:02 of ice time isn’t a recipe to feel your best.

That is how games are won, and many Wild teams haven’t been willing to pay that price. This doesn’t mean the season is a success. There are still 41 games remaining and the intensity will grow as the season progresses.

Then you have the postseason, in which time and space disappear and sacrificing one’s body and playing through injury becomes the expectation. The Wild, who missed the playoffs for only the second time in 12 seasons last spring, haven’t advanced past the first round since the 2014-15 season.

That will be the real test for a franchise that hasn’t been to the Western Conference finals since 2003. Until the Wild wins a round, or two, there will be a healthy amount of skepticism about how different this team really is. The good news is it appears Hynes has things heading in the right direction.

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The post Halfway Mark appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The reason?

Far too many forwards haven’t provided enough, especially with center Joel Eriksson Ek out the past 10 games because of a lower-body injury. Eriksson Ek is the Wild’s best center and his loss is a big one, but that doesn’t mean everyone who isn’t on the first line has permission to disappear.

Yet, that’s what has happened.

Boldy’s slumping – again
The biggest disappointment is winger Matt Boldy, who had 11 goals and 22 points in the first 20 games of the season. Boldy is one of the Wild’s most important and dynamic players and has the ability to drive a line from the wing. But since his great start, he has two goals and eight points in 15 games and has had goalless stretches of six, three and five games.

Boldy has been playing on second line with Marcus Johansson on the other wing. Ryan Hartman was elevated to second line center after Marco Rossi was moved to the first line to replace the injured Eriksson Ek. Hartman’s struggles became such that he was recently demoted to third line right winger as Freddy Gaudreau was elevated to second line center.

During a four-game stretch earlier in December, Boldy took six minor penalties, getting called for a minor in four consecutive games. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Boldy, 23, has had these types of slumps before, but in his fourth season these extended droughts should be a thing of the past for a player who has been named to the U.S. team for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

When Boldy is going well, he plays an aggressive game, using his 6-foot-1, 200-pound frame to his advantage. When Boldy isn’t going well, he stops moving his feet and takes penalties because he’s reaching with his stick.

That’s been the Boldy we’ve seen far too much of in recent games, and that needs to change when the Wild come back from its break with a game on Friday night in Dallas. If Eriksson Ek has returned and Rossi is back to center the second line, that would be great, but Boldy’s lack of production can not be excused because another player is injured.

Hartman, and others, aren’t producing either
That gets us to Hartman and a cold spell that has turned frigid. Hartman hasn’t scored a goal since Nov. 19 at St. Louis. He has no goals and two assists in his past 17 games and has only four goals and seven points in 30 games this season. Hartman, 30, was signed to a three-year, $12 million contract at the start of last season and is playing like a guy who belongs in the press box, only the Wild doesn’t have enough depth to put him there for a game or two.

Boldy and Hartman are only two who belong on the list of disappointments in a season that started out so well for the Wild. Winger Johansson, who somehow never gets demoted from the second line, has one goal and six points in 15 games. Gaudreau, who is an extremely hard worker but belongs in the bottom six, has two goals and three points in his past 16 games and no points since being promoted to the second line.

There are guys on the third line who could be providing more, but you probably get the point. The Wild have had some key guys out of the lineup, including Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jake Middleton, but if this team is going to make the playoffs it is imperative that others contribute.

Ryan Hartman, pictured here playing against the Chicago Blackhawks in a preseason game, only has four goals so far this season. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

It was a pleasant surprise that the Wild got such a good game out of its fourth line of Devin Shore, Ben Jones and Yakov Trenin against the Blackhawks. That line and the first line of Kirill Kaprizov, Rossi and Mats Zuccarello were the team’s best two units.

Two of the Wild’s four goals came from defensemen Jared Spurgeon and Brock Faber, and Marcus Foligno’s goal into an empty net and was his first in 16 games.

Kaprizov’s 23 goals are tied for second in the NHL, but he can’t do it by himself. Rossi has five goals and eight points in 10 games since moving to the first line and Zuccarello has one goal and five points in six games since returning from a lower-body injury.

So how does Hynes get more production from all of his lines — especially the second one?

“I think this is a break at a key time for us and I give the players a lot of credit,” he said. “We’ve been going at max capacity and really dialed in from training camp until now and there’s been way more success than there has been failure. But I also think that guys have really pushed and guys have produced at certain times. It’s important for our group now to be able to get away from it for a few days, come off a win in a game that we played well and then now it’s come back and then we just reset and get moving forward. I think that’s something that everybody needs.”

If that isn’t the answer, the Wild’s fantastic start to the season could be for naught.

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The post Lack Of Production appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The Matt Boldy performance that stood out the most last season wasn’t his two-goal, three-point performances in wins at Calgary and Columbus. It wasn’t the 18 goals and 48 points he posted after the New Year. It wasn’t the success he found playing on the Wild’s top line with Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek.

Rather, it was one with zero positive moments: His complete no-show in a 2-1 victory on Feb. 7 in Chicago.

The Wild had just returned from their bye week, but Boldy remained on vacation. It was the type of performance Boldy can’t have and the Wild can’t afford. An off night? Sure. But this checked-out version of the winger had to be considered an embarrassment by a team that had seen enough positives to sign him to a seven-year, $49 million contract in January 2023.

It was suggested on a Wild-related podcast — you might be familiar with “Judd’s Hockey Show” on SKOR North — that Boldy should have spent the next game watching from the press box. A reminder that deciding not to show up for a game wouldn’t be tolerated.

Wild coach John Hynes, who had taken over for Dean Evason in late November after a 5-10-4 start, had other ideas. He put Boldy back on the ice two nights later and was rewarded with a goal and an assist in a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Matt Boldy creates a scoring chance against Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord on Oct. 12. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

This was the version of Boldy the Wild expect to see on a nightly basis and one they have seen far more of since that game at United Center.

Boldy, who has a goal and an assist on the Wild’s top power-play unit, made his prettiest pass of the season on Ryan Hartman’s goal Saturday in the third period. He took a pass from Johansson behind the net, drew defenseman Will Borgen toward him, then made a no-look pass from his backhand into the slot, past the Kraken’s Shane Wright and right onto Hartman’s stick for a snap shot that beat goalie Joey Daccord.

Matt Boldy came oh-so-close to scoring the overtime winner against Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord on Oct. 12. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

“I just want to win,” Boldy said after Thursday’s game. “I think everyone in this locker room wants to win. We’re so close. We all get along so well. (We’re) competitive and we didn’t have the year we expected last year, so all of us in here just want to win games and have a successful year.”

The more Boldy contributes as he did in the first two games, the more likely that is to happen.

Hynes and general manager Bill Guerin have both talked about their expectations for Boldy, and Hynes is eventually planning to play him on a penalty kill that was among the NHL’s worst last season and has given up two goals on five chances this season.

Boldy had a career-high 31 goals in 81 games in 2022-23 and last season had 29 goals and a career-high 69 points in 75 games. He has the talent to score 40 or more goals and some expect that to happen in his fourth NHL season.

That isn’t always easy because Boldy needs to play a physical style that includes taking punishment and winning puck battles. The fact he has the ability to make highly skilled plays once the puck is on his stick is what makes him such a threat.

“He’s got everything,” Johansson said. “He’s got the work ethic and the skill and the compete.He’s just got everything. He’s the goal scorer, he’s a passer. … There’s no ceiling for that guy. He can be as good as he wants.”

That starts with the realization that what happened last February in Chicago can never happen again.

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The post Be Boldy appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

1. It was a night to celebrate round-number milestones.

Once the puck dropped between Seattle and Minnesota, multiple players checked off round-number milestones. Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek played in his 500th NHL game, though he was limited to 11 shifts and 11:44 of ice time (more on that later). Wild winger Marcus Foligno laced up his skates for game No. 800. Both were recognized at the first TV timeout with graphics on the videoboard and applause from the crowd.

Marc-Andre Fleury started in net for the Wild, marking his 21st season in the NHL. According to Minnesota Wild PR, Fleury is tied for second all-time in seasons played by a goaltender. Only Martin Brodeur played more (22 seasons).

The first goal for each team on Saturday marked milestones, too. Mats Zuccarello scored his 200th NHL goal, and Seattle’s Jordan Eberle scored No. 300; he later scored No. 301.

2. Matt Boldy has no-look-pass skills.

Matt Boldy scored a career-high 69 points last season, a year after he put up a career-high 31 goals in 2022-23. Boldy’s production can be streaky at times, but when he’s on, he’s one of the most skilled and talented forwards on the Wild’s roster.

The 23-year-old dazzled with a beautiful no-look pass in the third period against Seattle in what the Wild hoped would stand as the game-winning goal. With Ryan Hartman coming into the slot, Boldy was behind the net with the puck. He fed the puck behind his back out front to Hartman for the quick goal.

In a similar flashy fashion, Boldy also scored the first goal of the 2024-25 Wild season late in the first period against Columbus on Thursday night. He turned and fired the puck from the circles for a blind shot. Boldy, who missed all the preseason games with an injury, skates on the second line with Johansson and Eriksson Ek.

After the season opener, Johansson spoke highly of Boldy’s talents.

“I think he’s got everything,” Johansson said. “He’s got the work ethic and skill. The compete. He’s just got everything. He’s a goal scorer, he’s a passer. Like I said, there’s no ceiling for that guy. He can be as good as he wants.”

3. The middle of the second period included an elbow to the face (no penalty) and a questionable tripping penalty which led to a power-play goal for Seattle.

The Wild had a 2-1 lead early in the second period. But close to the midway point in the contest, things shifted and turned into a back-and-forth affair. First, Eriksson Ek was blatantly elbowed in the face along the glass by Adam Larsson. No whistle, no penalty. Seconds later, defenseman Jonas Brodin and Brandon Tanev got tangled up near the benches. Brodin went down on what appeared to be a trip by Tanev. Instead, officials called Brodin for a tripping penalty. The Wild – and their fans – were not pleased.

Marcus Foligno drives the net against Seattle Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord on Oct. 12. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

The irate vibes continued when the Kraken tied the game 2-2 on the ensuing power play. A long shot from Andre Burakovsky deflected in off of Eberle’s leg for a backdoor goal. Officials looked at the video to see if he kicked the puck into the net but determined it was a good goal.

From there, the hits started flying, too, as physical play turned up a notch. Johansson was hit at center ice and hobbled toward the bench and down the tunnel. But he returned soon after and played the rest of the game. Meanwhile, Foligno and Yakov Trenin started cracking hits on the Kraken. Foligno finished with a game-high seven hits, while Trenin registered three.

“Unfortunately, that swing in the game right there allowed them to get back into it,” said Wild coach John Hynes, of Seattle tying the game. “I liked the way that we responded back from that. I thought when things got a little bit physical, I really liked our response to that.”

Eriksson Ek left the ice and returned briefly in the third period wearing a full face shield. But he essentially missed the rest of the game. Sunday ahead of the team’s game in Winnipeg, the Wild announced that Eriksson Ek didn’t travel with the team and sustained a broken nose in Saturday’s game. He’s expected to be back for Tuesday’s game in St. Louis.

4. Kirill Kaprizov registers his first multi-point game of the season.

On opening night when the Wild’s top line was relatively quiet, Kirill Kaprizov recorded an assist on the team’s third goal. But Saturday? Kaprizov had a three-point night – and nearly made it four points if his buzzer-beater attempt at the end of the first period had gotten to the net a tad sooner.

Kirill Kaprizov had a three-point night against Seattle. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

To start, Kaprizov had a perfect feed from behind the net out front to his buddy Zuccarello streaking to the slot. That made it 1-0 Wild. With 14 seconds to play in the first period, with the same score, Kaprizov drew a tripping penalty behind the Kraken net. With only a few seconds on the power play before intermission, Kaprizov took a shot that found the back of the net as time expired. It looked like Kaprizov knew that the puck was only a second late. Video replays confirmed that the puck didn’t cross the goal line until after the period ended.

A buzz-kill instead of a buzzer-beater. But the Wild scored on that same power play anyway, early in the second period with Kaprizov getting an assist on Boldy’s second goal of the season. Kaprizov’s first goal of the season gave the Wild a 3-2 lead early in the third period when he tipped in a Marco Rossi long-range shot in front of the net.
Kaprizov scored at least three points in 11 games last season on his way to 46 goals and 96 points.

5. Wild couldn’t hold three leads.

The Wild held a 2-0 lead 66 seconds into the second period. But from there, Seattle always had a response, and it usually didn’t take long. Just 40 seconds after that Boldy power-play goal for the two-goal lead, the Kraken crashed the net and jammed away at the puck in the crease until it snuck by Fleury. Eberle got credit for the 300th goal of his NHL career.

Seattle tied the game three times to eventually force overtime and a shootout. Kaprizov gave the Wild a 3-2 lead early in the third period, but the Kraken again answered quickly with a goal from Tye Kartye one minute, six seconds later. Boldy’s no-look pass to Hartman put the Wild ahead again, a lead they held onto for a few minutes before the Kraken buried a puck on a delayed penalty to tie the game 4-4 with 3:26 remaining in regulation.

The Wild had their chances in overtime, too. Boldy just missed a shot in tight near the goal. Rossi went to the net and was denied. In the shootout, Zuccarello scored first, but Kaprizov hit the pipe and Boldy fired the puck over the top of the net, which sealed the victory for Seattle, who went 2-for-2 in the shootout with Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eberle scoring.

The Wild never trailed in Saturday’s game against the Kraken, until the final shootout goal scored by Eberle, the third time on the night when he put the puck in the net.

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

Brandon Saad’s goal at 2 minutes, 5 seconds of overtime Saturday lifted the St. Louis Blues to a 5-4 victory that put another dagger into the Wild’s playoff hopes and caused Wild goalie Fleury to shatter his stick on the crossbar.

Fleury’s immediate frustration was understandable given the Wild missed out on a key second point in the playoff race and put Fleury’s 17-year streak of being in the postseason in serious jeopardy. But only Fleury knows if the moment of frustration also existed because the certain first-ballot Hall of Famer is set to call it a career after 20 seasons.

The future of the 39-year-old is one of many questions that exist for the Wild as a disappointing season winds down. Let’s examine them.

Will Marc-Andre Fleury stay with the Wild next season, or will he retire? (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Fleury’s future
Fleury opened the season expecting to be the backup to Filip Gustavsson, who received a three-year, $11.25 million contract after putting together a very impressive first season in Minnesota in 2023-24.

But Gustavsson hasn’t been the same, and while Fleury is no longer in his prime, he has taken over as coach John Hynes’ top choice in goal as the Wild tried to get themselves into a wild card spot late in the season.

Fleury, who is making $3.5 million in the final season of his contract, has had a memorable season. He played in his 1,000th career game — a remarkable number for a goalie in today’s NHL — and moved past Patrick Roy into second place on the all-time wins list in January with 552.

No one would blame Fleury if he walked away after the season, but is that what he wants? Fleury is among nicest guys in the NHL, but don’t mistake having good manners for lacking a competitive fire. Following the loss to the Blues, Fleury sat at his locker answering questions, but after the media left, he didn’t move. Fleury sat staring straight ahead reliving the game.

He certainly didn’t look like a guy who wanted to go out this way.

So how does Fleury stick around, if that’s what he wants? Fleury could have been traded to a contender at the NHL trade deadline but told general manager Bill Guerin he wanted to remain in Minnesota. So if he does keep playing, there’s a chance he will want to stay put.

Guerin could make that work by looking to move Gustavsson this offseason as the Wild plans to hand the starting job to 2021 first-round pick Jesper Wallstedt, who has spent the past two seasons with the Wild’s AHL affiliate in Iowa. Fleury would be the ideal goalie partner to guide Wallstedt through his rookie season.

This much is certain: You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone with the Wild who wouldn’t want Fleury back.

Freddy Gaudreau hasn’t been the same player since former Wild coach Dean Evason was fired in November. (MHM Photo Rick Olson)

What changes will/could Guerin make?
It’s been well-documented that Guerin has tied his own hands by giving contract extensions, and some form of no-trade protection, to veteran forwards such as Marcus Foligno, Freddy Gaudreau, Ryan Hartman, Marcus Johansson and Zuccarello.

But it’s also difficult to believe that all of them will be on the ice for the Wild when training camp opens in the fall. Former coach Dean Evason was a big fan of Gaudreau’s, but with Evason having been fired in late November, Gaudreau’s play has gone off a cliff. Johansson impressed in his second stint with the Wild when he was acquired last season, but the security of a contract extension has caused him to return to being a skilled player who is happy to stay on the outside of the ice and cash a check every other week.

Foligno isn’t the type of guy Guerin would want to move, and Hartman would be fine in a bottom-six role. Zuccarello is an interesting case because the 36-year-old still possesses talent and is one of Kirill Kaprizov’s best friends.

But Zuccarello was atrocious in the Wild’s loss to the Blues on March 23 and was on the ice for the Blues’ go-ahead goal in the third period and then the overtime winner. It doesn’t take a genius to see the end is near for him.

It wouldn’t be surprising if Guerin tries to find a way to part with Gaudreau and/or Johansson this offseason. The Wild’s hope on Zuccarello would be for him to request a trade to a team that might have a chance to win a Cup in 2025. A return to the New York Rangers would be ideal for all parties involved.

Jared Spurgeon was limited to only 16 games this season and underwent hip surgery earlier this year. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

What is Jared Spurgeon’s future?
Wild captain Jared Spurgeon has undergone separate surgeries on his hip and back but is expected to be back by the start of training camp. That’s the good news. There’s also a reality to this situation.

Spurgeon had a remarkable 13-year run with the Wild before being limited to only 16 games this season. Spurgeon will turn 35 late next November and is listed at 5-foot-9, 166 pounds. He might not be that tall or that heavy.

What we do know is that it shouldn’t be assumed the defenseman will return as the same player who had scored double-digit goals in six of eight seasons before this one. The good news is that Brock Faber has had an incredible rookie season and should be considered the team’s No. 1 defenseman heading into 2024-25.

Jonas Brodin also remains a steady and valuable presence on the blue line. Both Faber and Brodin are outstanding skaters. This should enable Spurgeon to return with less pressure and a smaller role than he had entering this season.

But defensemen don’t have the luxury of trying to avoid the physical game and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the smaller Spurgeon had all the years of wear and tear take a toll on his body. How much of a toll? We’ll find out when Spurgeon takes the ice next fall.

The post Wild Questions appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Safe to say, things didn’t go as planned.

Maroon departed Minnesota on Friday in one of three trades that didn’t signal a fire sale as much as a soft surrender in a disappointing season. Guerin dealt Brandon Duhaime to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, getting a 2026 third-round pick for a bottom-six winger who will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.

Maroon, who remains sidelined following back surgery in early February and is expected back near the end of March, was shipped to Boston for a conditional 2026 draft pick (he has to play in a playoff game for the Wild to get it) and minor league forward Luke Toporowski.

Guerin’s final deal sent bottom-six center Connor Dewar, a pending restricted free agent, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 2026 fourth-round draft pick and minor leaguer Dmitry Ovchinnikov. Dewar, Duhaime and Maroon had combined for 18 goals and 38 points and Duhaime had only four goals and eight points in 62 games.

The departures, especially those of Dewy 1 (Duhaime) and Dewy 2 (Dewar), were because Guerin didn’t plan to bring back Duhaime and he also wanted to clear room on the roster for guys like Russian forward Marat Khusnutdinov, who left his KHL team and reportedly will join the Wild in the coming days.

“It’s not great,” Guerin told the Athletic, of being a seller. “To be honest with you, it’s not great. You say goodbye to some guys you really care about and did great things. They played hard for us, and they sacrificed a lot. So to just move guys, it’s not great. I’d rather add. But we’re just not there.”

He’s right about that.

Contract extensions handcuff trades
The Wild’s win over bottom-feeder Arizona on Thursday, which followed a victory over bottom-feeder San Jose on Sunday, put Minnesota seven points out of a wild card spot in the Western Conference with 19 games remaining in the regular season.

What was interesting about Guerin’s comments on being a seller was the fact he could have put himself in a position to make more trades, if not for some decisions made last spring and summer. That was when Guerin decided to give out contract extensions to five veterans.

That list included forwards Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman, Marcus Johansson and Freddy Gaudreau, who not only got extensions but also have trade protection in their deals. All five wouldn’t have been shopped, but a couple certainly would have been prime candidates to move to a Cup contender.

Guerin added to the list of veterans to get extensions this week by signing 33-year-old defenseman Zach Bogosian to a two-year, $2.5 million contract. This one reportedly did not come with any type of protection from being dealt.

It will be interesting to see if Guerin attempts to move off any of the above forwards this offseason as he prepares for one more season of salary cap issues caused by the 2021 buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter’s contracts. Johansson, who is injured, and Gaudreau have had very disappointing seasons and, in Gaudreau’s case, he has a 15-team no-trade list so he could be moved.

Those who wanted to see Guerin hit a reset of any sort had the Wild’s recent skid to thank. Minnesota lost five times in an eight-game stretch, including three in a row.

“We’re not in the best spot, but that doesn’t change anything,” Guerin told The Athletic. “I still expect the team to push for the playoffs and I still expect that type of effort every single night. But again, on the flip side, it’s my job to think about down the road as well.”

Right now, down the road is all that should matter to the Wild’s decisionmakers.

The post Wild Trades appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The Wild’s 5-10-4 start had gotten coach Dean Evason fired and now Minnesota was in a 1-7-1 slide that dropped it from being on the verge of a playoff spot to again looking like a team that could begin booking tee times for April.

Guerin, though, claimed he wasn’t giving up hope.

“If you look at our roster like when we are healthy,” he said, “I think it’s a good team. I want to keep the expectations high. … I expect us to compete for a playoff spot.”

Guerin’s competitive nature certainly played a role in his continued confidence, but you had to wonder if his real motivation was making sure the guys in his locker room wouldn’t feel as if he was punting on the season.

That’s exactly what he should do.

The word associated with this is tanking, but that’s such an ugly term. It insinuates an entire team is giving up and, as we know, most coaches and players are too competitive to do this. A more palatable word would be acceptance.

Accepting that even if you sneak into the playoffs, you aren’t getting out of the first round and accepting that an already bright future could get brighter by adding draft picks before the March 8 trade deadline, while also potentially putting yourself in the NHL draft lottery. (Eleven of the 16 teams that miss the playoffs are eligible for the first pick in the draft.)

The two things that should influence Guerin’s thinking are:

1) The depth this team has built up through the draft in recent years. Jesper Wallstedt, the team’s top goalie prospect, has been up a few times this season but is likely to take over as the Wild’s top goalie in 2024-25. Russian Marat Khusnutdinov, a speedy two-way center and forwards Liam Ohgren (Sweden) and Danila Yurov (Russia) are included in a prospect pool that has been replenished in recent years. That doesn’t include rookies Marco Rossi and Brock Faber, the latter of whom is a candidate for the Calder Trophy.

2) Next season will be the final one in which the Wild will carry a combined $14.7 million in dead salary-cap money because of the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. That figure will drop to $1.7 million in 2025-26, meaning that team will have plenty of space to pursue a free agent as well as offer star winger Kirill Kaprizov a long-term extension.

Marco Rossi is part of the Wild’s bright future, and he’s already left a positive mark on the NHL club. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

This plan might not appeal to owner Craig Leipold, who lives and dies with every game and wants his team to be competitive, in part because of the extra cash generated by even a few home playoff games, but Guerin has an opportunity he should embrace.

Wild has plenty no-move, no-trade protection players
The elephant in the room when it comes to the Wild’s potential trade candidates is the fact that in today’s NHL far too many players are afforded either no-move or no-trade protection that gives them a say in whether they want to uproot themselves and their families and go elsewhere to chase a Stanley Cup.

The Wild’s roster has nine players with some type of no-trade protection: Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno, Frederick Gaudreau, Marcus Johansson, Ryan Hartman, Pat Maroon, Jonas Brodin, Alex Goligoski and Zach Bogosian. Foligno, Johansson, Hartman, Brodin and Goligoski have complete protection.

There are some guys who aren’t going to be shopped, even though they don’t have no-trade clauses, including Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek. Perhaps the most interesting chip on whom Guerin could take bids is goalie Filip Gustavsson.

Gustavsson has had an up-and-down season, but the 25-year-old could be very appealing to a contender. He’s in the first season of a three-year, $11.25 million contract he signed in July, meaning his average annual salary is a very reasonable $3.75 million per. Teams that could be in the market for a goaltender include Carolina, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles and New Jersey.

Guerin’s ability to create a bidding war among those teams could make what seems like a difficult decision (trading Gustavsson) too lucrative not to do. If there’s internal confidence that Wallstedt will be ready to take over as the Wild’s top goalie next season, getting a first-round pick and needing to find another goalie for next season could be the prudent plan. And that’s assuming Marc-Andre Fleury does not return.

It was interesting that before the game against the Islanders — one the Wild won 5-0 en route to going on a 4-1 run — Guerin did not close the door on making moves at the deadline, if things were not on the right track.

The fact the Wild then lost back-to-back home games against Western Conference rivals Nashville and Anaheim, the latter of which is a bottom feeder, should have given Guerin a push in the right direction entering a 10-day break for the bye and the All-Star Game.

“I don’t think I can sit here right now and say, ‘If it goes sideways, we’re going to do X, Y and Z,'” Guerin said in mid-January. “But we could.”

Actually, the word “could” needs to be amended to “should” because while there is hope for the future of the Wild, the present isn’t worth preserving.

The post Time To Punt appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.