Skip to main content

Hockey Wilderness

https://www.hockeywilderness.com/ | 303 entries published

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

Latest Entries

David Kampf Isn't A Marco Rossi Replacement

Marco Rossi has been sidelined by a lower-body injury, according to a report from The Athletic’s Michael Russo. As a result, Russo and I must (separately) write about David Kampf. It would be one thing to write about Kampf joining a team other than the Minnesota Wild. Kampf is a solid role pla...

NHL

4 months ago | 5 reads

Make-or-Break Stretch Coming for Minnesota Wild

It's no secret that the Minnesota Wild are not having the best first month of the season. They might have recently started to get out of a season-destroying skid with earning nine of the 12 points available to them in the last six games, but that still leaves them at NHL .500 and out of the playoff...

4 months ago | 6 reads

Can A Healthy Wild Team Get More Out Of Vladimir Tarasenko?

In life, sometimes someone gives you something for free just to get it off their hands. On the surface, it looked like a tremendous deal. A low-risk, high-reward deal that has no real downside. The Minnesota Wild pulled off such a trade on the eve of free agency, when they accepted a trade with...

4 months ago | 5 reads

Is Jordan Kyrou A Big Enough Fish For the Wild To Reel In?

Since before the summer, the NHL has been waiting for the next big name to shake loose. The Minnesota Wild are, finally, no exception. But just as they regained their flexibility to make moves, the trade market dried up. There were no Matthew Tkachuks or Mikko Rantanens ripe for the plucking. There...

4 months ago | 3 reads

Macklin Celebrini Embarrasses Wild in 2-1 Loss

That's Wild Macklin Celebrini and his band of San Jose Sharks came to town and just made the Minnesota Wild look a little silly. Despite outshooting them by a substantial margin and having chances that they never really connected on, the Sharks walked over the Wild to earn a 2-1 overtime win...

4 months ago | 16 reads

Filip Gustavsson's Season Is Still On Track

When Filip Gustavsson signed his five-year, $34 million extension before the season started, the Minnesota Wild's plans didn't actually change all that much. The Wild may have secured a starting-caliber goalie for the long term, but there was plenty of room for Goalie of the Future candidate Jesper...

4 months ago | 7 reads

Where Does Brock Faber Stands In Team USA’s Olympic Picture?

Hockey fans around the world rejoiced last season when the 4 Nations Face-Off showcased international best-on-best hockey for the first time in nearly a decade. While the event was a smash hit, it was only a prelude to the real main event — the Winter Olympic Games. With national teams finalizi...

NHL

4 months ago | 8 reads

Where Does Brock Faber Stand In Team USA’s Olympic Picture?

Hockey fans around the world rejoiced last season when the 4 Nations Face-Off showcased international best-on-best hockey for the first time in nearly a decade. While the event was a smash hit, it was only a prelude to the real main event — the Winter Olympic Games. With national teams finalizi...

NHL

4 months ago | 2 reads

Wild Reportedly Looking to Trade For Key Forward

That's Wild The Minnesota Wild are a team that want to get better and aren't fine with just being near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. Even before the season, it was clear that they wanted to add a scorer of some sort but now that they're desperate for more of an offensive pu...

4 months ago | 8 reads

The Buium-Hunt Pairing Could Transform the Wild Blue Line

Rookie defenseman Zeev Buium has hit the ground running in his first NHL season, displaying the skating, creativity, and playmaking skills that make him one of the best prospects in hockey. The 19-year-old phenom has nine points in his first 16 games, which is tied for third in rookie scoring and 20...

NHL

4 months ago | 2 reads

Marco Rossi Is Continuing His Climb To Top-Line Center Status

Marco Rossi came into this season with something to prove for the third year in a row. In take two of his rookie season, he proved that he could stick as an NHL player. Last year, he proved that he could be a top-six player... or, so he thought. After a postseason where he was stuck on the Min...

NHL

4 months ago | 2 reads

What Does Mats Zuccarello Bring To Save the Wild's Season?

If you're a Minnesota Wild fan who hit the snooze button on the start of the season, let's catch you up: The Wild are tied with the San Jose Sharks for 13th in the Western Conference because they can't score. Their scoring is bad. Real bad. They have 20 5-on-5 goals in 15 games, tied with the...

4 months ago | 12 reads

Wild Humbled Further With 4-3 Loss to Hurricanes

That's Wild It seemed like no matter what the Minnesota Wild were able to throw in the direction of the Carolina Hurricanes during their collision on Thursday night, the home team was able to solve it and throw it right back at them. In the 4-3 loss that has now earned them a 5-7-3 record fo...

4 months ago | 6 reads

The Wild's Youth Movement Has Reached An Awkward Stage

The Minnesota Wild are not where they expected to be right now. Eleven months ago, they were one of the best teams in the NHL and had their eyes on a deep playoff run. Even though they lost in the first round of the playoffs the following spring, general manager Bill Guerin felt comfortable en...

4 months ago | 10 reads

The Wild Are Witnessing A Marcus Johansson Renaissance

The Minnesota Wild woke up on the Wednesday after their overtime victory over the Nashville Predators still in desperate need of saving their season. Two straight wins in the books are nice, but Minnesota is still three points back of a playoff spot, needing to jump at least three teams to secure a...

4 months ago | 4 reads

The Wild Should Benefit From Positive Regression Soon

For a team with the Minnesota Wild’s skill and talent, it’s hard to be this bad for this long. As it stands, the Wild are the third-worst team in the Western Conference at 5-6-3. It’s a far cry from their pace of play last season, when they were leading the NHL in points at the start of December....

4 months ago | 4 reads

Wild Score Controversial Overtime Game-Winner vs. Predators

The Minnesota Wild are at the center of a hockey conversation and it's not for a good reason. During their Tuesday night matchup against the Nashville Predators, Wild winger Marcus Johansson scored one of the most controversial goals in recent memory. As the finisher of an impressive passing pl...

4 months ago | 8 reads

The Wild Don't Have Many Options For A Roster Shakeup

The Minnesota Wild's Saturday night win over the Vancouver Canucks was necessary to turn down the heat. Losing eight of nine games, including the first four of a six-game homestand, was threatening to boil over. But the win just lifted the pot from the flame for two days. A loss tonight against the...

4 months ago | 9 reads

Marco Rossi Is Quietly Becoming the Wild’s Brightest Spot

With the Minnesota Wild in seventh place in their division after going 2-5-3 in their last ten games, there’s a lot to criticize about the way they have started the season. Brock Faber is having issues, Father Time might finally be catching up to Jared Spurgeon, and so on. In all the doom and...

4 months ago | 4 reads

Are the Minnesota Wild Back on Track? (Podcast)

The guys get back together to discuss all things Minnesota Wild including, the state of the team, Yurov's benching, Zuccy return, and what it could mean for the Wild moving forward. Leave any comments or questions below and we'll address them in the next episode!

4 months ago | 7 reads

Bill Guerin Should Install Himself As the Next Wild Head Coach

Bill Guerin didn’t want to blame Dean Evason when he fired him after a seven-game losing streak during the Minnesota Wild’s 5-10-4 start in 2023. "It had just gotten to that point where almost no matter what they did, the guys were having a hard time executing and generating offense," Guerin s...

4 months ago | 11 reads

Wild Finally Win a Game, Snap Losing Streak

That's Wild The Minnesota Wild are not going to lose every game for the rest of the season! Thanks to the Vancouver Canucks having their own massive problems, the Wild snapped a five-game losing streak after taking on the team from up north at home over the weekend. [Pioneer Press] And...

4 months ago | 13 reads