Hockey Wilderness
A Minnesota Wild Blog that WON'T make you sick and kill you!
Total reads
2,400
This week
2
Rank
#98 of 373
Published
578 posts
Most read posts
Featured on Sportsblogs
Run this blog? Add the badge to your site to show readers you're featured — it links back to this page.
Latest Entries
Michael McCarron Filled A Void All Winning Teams Have
The Minnesota Wild must re-sign Michael McCarron because he fills a specific void that winning teams almost always have: a big, physical, reliable depth forward who can handle tough minutes. Since arriving in Minnesota, McCarron has fit the team's fourth-line identity almost perfectly. He brin...
The Wild's Offseason Might Be More About Bait Than "The Big Fish"
Imagine, if you will: After a long, grueling season, the Minnesota Wild enjoyed a day out on the lake. Most of the Wild players had gathered for some relaxation on a beautiful spring day, but general manager Bill Guerin walked right past them, jumped in his boat, and headed out to do some fish...
One Bold Prediction Has the Wild Landing Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews
The Minnesota Wild might be big-game hunting. Everything general manager Bill Guerin is saying about how nobody is untouchable and even Wayne Gretzky got traded, just shows that he's trying to make a big swing or two, in addition to the massive swing he took by trading for Quinn Hughes earlier this...
Could Nico Hischier Be Minnesota’s Missing Piece?
Now that the Minnesota Wild’s rollercoaster playoff run has come to an end, it’s time for the organization to look towards the offseason. The team made tangible strides, but it’s clear they still don’t quite measure up to the upper echelon of NHL contenders. This year’s free agent class is relativel...
Serious Questions Need to Be Asked About the Wild After Their Collapse
That's Wild There are some serious questions that have to be asked about the Minnesota Wild after their playoff disappointment. Sure, they won a series against their division rival Dallas Stars, but then they ran into the Colorado Avalanche and instead of standing up to give them a fight, wi...
8 Things We Learned From the 2025-26 Minnesota Wild
For 11 years, Minnesota Wild fans have watched their team exit the first round in what seems like every possible way. But then on a Thursday in April, in Game 6 against Dallas, the drought was over. The curse was broken. All it took was a blockbuster December trade, a couple of Kirill Kaprizov recor...
Jake Middleton Has Gone From Mr. Irrelevant To A Top-4 Defender
Jake Middleton isn't a household name; in fact, his name nearly went unannounced during the 2014 NHL draft. If he were an NFL football player, he would have been "Mr. Irrelevant", which is given to those who are selected with the last pick in a given draft. But Middleton’s career has shaped up to be...
Bill Guerin Should Feel Pressure This Offseason
That's Wild The Minnesota Wild won a playoff series and that's all fine and dandy, but to what end? Now, GM Bill Guerin needs to face the music and really commit to this team. Getting Quinn Hughes signed to a contract extension is the top priority, but one thing that is desperately needed is...
The Wild's Draft Will Be About Adding Another Layer To the Foundation
The Minnesota Wild enter this year's NHL draft with what should be a clear strategy: stay patient, trust the scouting staff, and add more pieces to a prospect pool that already has real NHL value. Rather than chasing headlines or forcing a move for the sake of it, the Wild appear focused on using th...
What Are the Wild's Offseason Priorities?
The Minnesota Wild enter the offseason with real momentum, but also a clear to-do list. After a strong 2025-26 season, the organization has moved closer to contender status. Still, it needs the right mix of roster upgrades, contract stability, and long-term planning to take the next step. GM Bill Gu...
The Wild Players Are Human Beings First
The season for the Minnesota Wild has come to a close, and, as usual, there are always people who immediately want to demand that players spend their off-season doing nothing but training for the next season. There is this idea that a professional athlete, especially one whose team didn’t do w...
The Wild Are Shifting From Survival Mode To Whatever Comes Next
The Minnesota Wild’s season ended the hardest possible way: With a Game 5 loss in Denver that officially closed the book on their playoff run. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead, the Wild gave it back and fell 4-3 to the Colorado Avalanche in overtime. It was a collapse that cost them the game and sent...
Quinn Hughes Proved He'll Be Worth Every Cent
The only thing that can stop the Minnesota Wild from paying Quinn Hughes a ton of money this offseason is himself. The Wild have already gone all-in on Hughes, unloading a ton of young talent to land him from the Vancouver Canucks, even with no guarantee that he'd extend with his new team. Hughes ha...
How Do the Wild Pick Up the Pieces After Losing To the Avs?
The more things change for the Minnesota Wild, the more they stay the same. Despite this loss coming in the second round rather than the first, the Stanley Cup won’t be paraded down West 7th in St. Paul for the 25th consecutive year. The Wild lost 4-3 in overtime to the Colorado Avalanche in De...
The Minnesota Wild Are the Titanic
John Hynes’ line about the Minnesota Wild making a conscious choice not to play the way they needed to when they no-showed against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 4 will ring in people’s heads throughout the offseason. How could the Wild, a meaningful underdog, just take Game 4 off as the home team i...
Bill Guerin's Next Assignment Has A Familiar Feel
Bill Guerin had a problem. He had star power with incredible players like Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy, Brock Faber, and others. His team had depth in net. On paper, he had everything he needed to go all the way. But as talent-laden as Team USA was, Team Canada was still a heavy favorite for the 20...
Wild Completely Gave Up And Got Knocked Out of the Playoffs
You expected some fight for the rest of the game. Just a little bit of something going their way to prevent catastrophe, but no. The Minnesota Wild laid down and relaxed for most of Game 5 and were quickly eliminated in ruthless fashion by the Colorado Avalanche and their season is over. The Wi...
What Do the Wild Need To Change With Season On the Brink?
If there’s one good thing about where the Minnesota Wild stand after four games in their second-round series against the Colorado Avalanche, it’s that there are no more narratives to create about what comes next. No more ambiguity, no more grey area. Not for tonight. Not for this game. Such is life...
The Wild Have Shown They Can Flip the Script
The Minnesota Wild took a rough loss to the Colorado Avalanche last night, but the series is far from finished. After grinding through a demanding postseason and showing they can play with one of the league’s elite teams, the Wild now find themselves in a familiar playoff spot: Their backs are again...
Wild Players Know They Have A Tough Job Ahead Of Them
That's Wild With Game 5 coming up and the potential to be knocked out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs once again, if they lose to the Colorado Avalanche in Denver, the Minnesota Wild know they have a tough job ahead of them. To force a Game 6 back in St. Paul, multiple things need to come to fru...
Danila Yurov Must Take Lessons From His Test Run
Game 4 contained multitudes for Danila Yurov. After being blanked on the scoresheet for his first six games, Grand Casino finally got to explode with Daniel Flores' iconic saxophone solo. At the end of it, the crowd shouted, "Danila!" The "Tequila" bit is the standard celebration of a Yurov goal, an...
Will This Wild Season Be Viewed As A Success?
For a moment, you could let yourself believe that the Minnesota Wild were going to upset the Colorado Avalanche. They pounded them into submission in Game 3. They had found a blueprint! No series is over until the home team loses. Well, the Wild lost at home on Monday night. John Hynes’ “T...
Brent Burns Launched Into Superstardom With the Minnesota Wild
June 21, 2003. The first day of the 2003 NHL entry draft. Prospects from across the globe are waiting patiently for a team to call their names, which will determine their future destinations. Sitting amongst the wave of young hockey players inside the Gaylord Entertainment Centre in Nashville, Tenn....
Michael McCarron Calls Josh Manson 'A Dirty Player'
That's Wild Minnesota Wild forward Michael McCarron called Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson "a dirty player" after their collision in Game 4 that ended up with Manson butt-ending his stick in McCarron's face. “He’s a dirty player. He’s always been,” McCarron said. “Not very well-respected.”...
The Wild Let Their Star Goalie Down In Game 4
In any fair world, Jesper Wallstedt would have left the ice to a serenade of "WAL-LY!" chants. The Great Wall of St. Paul played perhaps the best game of his career in Game 3, and was trending toward repeating the feat in Game 4. The Minnesota Wild put the entire game on the 23-year-old...
Displaying items 76-100 of 578 in total