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Hockey Wilderness

https://www.hockeywilderness.com/ | 324 entries published

A Minnesota Wild Blog that WON'T make you sick and kill you!

Latest Entries

The NHL's Playoff Format Is Already Becoming A Problem For The Wild

Before we go too deep, let’s get something clear. Outside of commissioner Gary Bettman and the Utah Mammoth, who could enjoy a cakewalk to the Western Conference Finals, everybody hates the NHL’s format for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Minnesota Wild have one of the strongest arguments agains...

about 15 hours ago | 0 reads

Should the Wild Extend Or Trade RFA Bobby Brink?

I’m sure, by now, that you’ve heard of Bobby Brink. He’s a Minnesota native, and he is NOT allowed to go to the box office. Apparently, everybody is supposed to feel really strongly about Bill Guerin forbidding Brink from spearheading friends-and-family ticket purchases. On top of that,...

about 17 hours ago | 0 reads

Jared Spurgeon Is the Wild's Quiet Heartbeat

Jared Spurgeon isn’t just the quiet heartbeat of the Minnesota Wild's blue line. He's one of the franchise’s defining figures, shaping the team’s identity on the ice and the organization's and community's culture away from it. Since arriving in Minnesota as an undersized, overlooked defenseman...

about 21 hours ago | 0 reads

Thank Goodness the Wild Won Last Night

That's Wild The Minnesota Wild were able to have a well-earned 4-3 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks (even if the score shouldn't have been that close) and after losing their previous three games to non-playoff teams, that was so desperately needed. Even if the puck bounced one single ot...

about 22 hours ago | 1 read

Yakov Trenin’s Physical Play Is Subtly Driving Winning For the Wild

Yakov Trenin’s league-leading physical play has become one of the Minnesota Wild’s most important competitive advantages, reshaping how opponents defend and freeing up space for Minnesota’s skill to shine. On paper, Trenin’s profile still looks like a classic checking forward, but the scale of...

1 day ago | 3 reads

St. Thomas and Augustana's Rapid Rise Highlights Minnesota's Talent Pipeline

Last Saturday’s CCHA semifinal game between St. Thomas and Augustana was exactly what you want a playoff game to be: intense, tight-checking, the need to battle for every puck and patch of open ice. A tightly-contested affair between two evenly matched, well-coached teams. This was a big-time h...

1 day ago | 2 reads

Wild In Must-Win Game Against Blackhawks

That's Wild The Minnesota Wild are in a slump and it's not just the fact that they have lost three straight games, but it's who they have lost those games against. After their dominant 5-0 win over the Mammoth, it has now been three straight losses against non-playoff teams -- and fairly bad...

2 days ago | 2 reads

The NHL Needs More Players Like Jared Spurgeon

The modern-day NHL can feel a bit cliché. In a league brimming with oversized players and nepo babies, the feel-good, “worked his way to the top” player is harder to find. Oftentimes, they seem to be relegated to the background to make way for the loud, over-the-top, lifelong celebrity-type players...

NHL

3 days ago | 1 read

Will the Wild's Inconsistency Cost Them In the Playoffs?

We’ve seen some of the most exciting moments in recent Minnesota Wild memory this season, from the Quinn Hughes trade to the great stretch in December. The Wild have beaten contenders like the Colorado Avalanche, the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Minnesota has had some high...

3 days ago | 1 read

Has Quinn Hughes Become the League's Best Defenseman?

Quinn Hughes is redefining what it means to be an NHL defenseman, and his latest milestone, 60 assists in 60 games, is the clearest evidence yet that he belongs at the top of the league's blue line hierarchy. By matching Hall of Famer Paul Coffey’s pace from the early 1990s, Hughes is staking a clai...

NHL

3 days ago | 0 reads

The David Jiricek Trade Was the Wild Losing On A Good Bet

The David Jiříček Trade Tree will never look good. The Columbus Blue Jackets have already gotten first-round goalie Pyotr Andreyanov out of the deal, with a second-rounder in 2027, and third- and fourth-round picks to play with in the 2026 Draft. They could either unearth quality players or cash in...

6 days ago | 1 read

Adding McCarron and Foligno Changed the Wild's Identity

The Minnesota Wild’s deadline swing for Michael McCarron and Nick Foligno is already reshaping their identity down the middle and along the walls. McCarron and Foligno give John Hynes exactly the kind of heavy, detail-driven hockey this group has been missing. When Bill Guerin traded a 2028 se...

6 days ago | 2 reads

Wild Fall Flat In Loss To Flyers

That's Wild Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy were able to get on the score sheet against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, but the Minnesota Wild succumbed to the shootout and only got one point out of the affair. [StarTribune] Unfortunately, to add to the loss, we couldn't see...

6 days ago | 4 reads

Do the Wild Have Enough Blueline Depth In Their System?

The trade deadline has come and gone, and the Wild organization looks quite a bit different at the NHL level now compared to a few weeks ago. Bill Guerin got the ball rolling early this year by acquiring superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes in a December blockbuster. That trade put the rest of the...

7 days ago | 3 reads

The Bobby Brink Trade Is Already Paying Off For The Wild

The Minnesota Wild’s trade for Bobby Brink is already paying off. His first goal in a Wild sweater against the Utah Mammoth was a perfect snapshot of what he brings: quick feet, slick hands, and a scorer's touch in tight spaces. The Wild traded 22-year-old defenseman David Jiricek in exch...

7 days ago | 2 reads

Matt Boldy Is Officially On 50/50 Watch

Before the start of the 2024-25 NHL season, Bill Guerin declared his belief that Matt Boldy could be a 50-goal/50-assist player. The breakout didn't arrive last year, despite the Minnesota Wild forward scoring a career-high 73 points. Still, the big, faster-than-you-think, skilled winger has always...

7 days ago | 4 reads

Wild's Bobby Brink Faces Former Team Almost Immediately

Reunions are always great after the trade deadline. Sometimes you have to wait until next season for a player to face their former team, or go and visit the city and play in front of fans that once supported them and cheered them on. Or, in the case of the Minnesota Wild's trade deadline acquisition...

7 days ago | 3 reads

The Wild Must Throw Danila Yurov Into the Deep End

There are 17 games left in the Minnesota Wild's season, and now that we're past the trade deadline, what we're seeing is what we're getting. Fortunately, that's a pretty damn good team. In the three games since the deadline, the Wild dispatched the Vegas Golden Knights with relative ease, played the...

8 days ago | 3 reads

The Wild Have Forward Talent Throughout the Organization

At 2:00 pm last Friday, all was quiet on the Central front. After another excruciating stretch of rumors, fantasies, and scenarios being frantically bandied about like a soccer ball in a U6 game, the trade deadline mercifully arrived. With the Minnesota Wild emerging as legitimate contenders this se...

8 days ago | 3 reads

The Wild Mishandled the Jiricek Trade From the Beginning

The David Jiricek saga with the Minnesota Wild is a textbook example of how to turn a premium-asset play into a poor trade and into broader mismanagement of organizational resources. When Minnesota acquired David Jiricek from the Columbus Blue Jackets in November 2024, they didn’t buy low; they...

8 days ago | 1 read

Wild Overpower Mammoth In Bobby Brink's Homecoming

That's Wild Kirill Kaprizov might have stole the spotlight with an unreal performance, but during Bobby Brink's homecoming game, his first since being traded to his Minnesota Wild, he got on the board and it was an incredible moment. Oh, and the Wild stomped all over the Utah Mammoth to the...

8 days ago | 3 reads

The Wild Still Face Long Odds To Win the Stanley Cup

The Colorado Avalanche edged the Minnesota Wild in a shootout on Sunday, tying the season series in a hard-fought road game for the Wild. Minnesota beat the Avs in a shootout during their first meeting, and each team has blown the other out this year. Colorado beat the Wild 5-1 in December; Mi...

9 days ago | 3 reads

The Iowa Wild Are Hungover From A Party They Weren't Invited To

The Iowa Wild were never supposed to be a juggernaut this season, but they also weren’t supposed to be this tough to watch every night. With losses piling up and a record that has them buried near the bottom of the AHL table, it's fair to ask how much of this is just a bad year in Des Moines and how...

NHL

9 days ago | 1 read

How Can the Wild Can Get the Most Out Of Michael McCarron?

The Minnesota Wild made some moves at the trade deadline, but ultimately didn’t produce the home run move many were forecasting or hoping for. However, Minnesota’s move to swap a second-round pick for bottom-six forward Michael McCarron has garnered a lot of attention. Unfortunately, that attention...

9 days ago | 3 reads

The Wild Are Elevating Their Play When It Matters Most

The Minnesota Wild have noticeably elevated their game against top-tier opponents over the past couple of weeks, and they’ve done it right as the playoff race has tightened around them. Minnesota has gone on a 9-2-2 run over its last 13, a stretch that includes a 5-2 road win in the league-lea...

10 days ago | 2 reads