A Minnesota Wild Blog that WON'T make you sick and kill you!
The Minnesota Wild suffered a little bit of a disheartening defeat against the New Jersey Devils, but now get the chance to reverse it against a massively underperforming Winnipeg Jets team Thursday. Somehow, the Wild have already faced this Jets team three times this season and in the middle o...
about 2 months ago | 13 reads
Yakov Trenin and Marcus Foligno have brought back an edge to the Minnesota Wild, and they have made life much easier for their linemates. Their physicality doesn’t just fire up the crowd or pad the hit totals. It literally opens up ice, widens lanes, and buys time for Minnesota’s skill to take over....
about 2 months ago | 9 reads
Moving Matt Boldy to first-line center would be a swing for upside that fits both his evolving game and the Wild’s roster realities. It would also create an opportunity to exploit a trade market where impact wingers are far more prevalent and simply easier to find than true top-six centers. Fr...
about 2 months ago | 7 reads
Last spring, the Minnesota Wild may have had their best chance to advance past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2014-15. The Wild seized momentum early in the series, jumping out to a 2-1 lead. While they lost three straight games to book their early tee times, there were sev...
about 2 months ago | 4 reads
Marcus Johansson made headlines recently when he stated his desire to play for Team Sweden at the 2026 Olympic Games. Of course, most players have the ultimate goal of representing their country in best-on-best international competition. That isn't news. What made Johansson's bid for Team Swed...
about 2 months ago | 4 reads
Daemon Hunt has earned the right to start over David Jiricek for the Minnesota Wild because his current form, underlying profile, and fit with the team’s needs all point in the same direction. He helps them win right now in ways Jiricek has not yet consistently shown at the NHL level. Recent us...
about 2 months ago | 3 reads
That's Wild For the first time, Minnesota Wild fans got to experience the "Hughes Bowl" on Monday night. Quinn Hughes played host in St. Paul to his brothers Jack and Luke coming up with the rest of the New Jersey Devils to face one another for the first time since the blockbuster trade. How...
about 2 months ago | 9 reads
There's no more ambiguity with the direction of the Minnesota Wild. They are buyers at the trade deadline because they should be buyers. Sure, the Colorado Avalanche are the superteam of the West, but the Wild entered Sunday tied for the second-most points in the NHL. They have Kirill Kaprizov...
about 2 months ago | 2 reads
Ryder Ritchie’s transition from junior hockey to Boston University has been anything but simple, forcing him to confront shortcomings in his game that the WHL never really exposed. He must sharpen and test the same instincts that made him a productive player in Medicine Hat, and rebuild them against...
about 2 months ago | 2 reads
“The Wave” is a fun, crowd participation, bonding experience at a professional sports event, right? Everyone is watching to make sure they time it right. When it gets to your section, you stand up, put your arms in the air, and usually yell “woo!” Sometimes it dies, and sometimes it gets going,...
about 2 months ago | 3 reads
Kirill Kaprizov went from driving an early Hart-caliber pace last season before his lower-body injury to opening this year below his usual scoring clip. The contrast between those stretches tells a story about expectations, health, and how much weight rests on his shoulders in Minnesota. The u...
about 2 months ago | 6 reads
Aron Kiviharju, a 2024 fourth-round draft pick of the Minnesota Wild, was in the Twin Cities for the past few weeks as he captained Team Finland to a third consecutive appearance in the medal round. It was Kiviharju’s second year as captain of the Finnish squad. While they were disappointed wi...
2 months ago | 2 reads
The Minnesota Wild should be extremely careful about moving on from Charlie Stramel, because big, right-shot centers with his blend of size, physical edge, and growing offensive game are exactly the kind of premium asset this organization has struggled to find and develop. The Wild could move on fro...
2 months ago | 6 reads
David Jiricek has turned from an exciting prospect into what Midwesterners politely call “interesting.” Well, that's not quite fair. Minnesota-"interesting" usually translates to awful, I hate it, never show me this again, please. Jiricek is more of a mix of confusing and polarizing. That's le...
2 months ago | 4 reads
That's Wild Because of the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championships taking place in Minnesota, the Wild have been on a very long road trip and still are on the very same road trip that started 12 days ago in Winnipeg. It has been a difficult trip -- maybe not for the actual record, since the Wi...
2 months ago | 5 reads
Remember that fleeting moment last year when the Minnesota Wild were up 2-1 on the Vegas Golden Knights in the playoffs? The Wild stole Game 2, 5-2, in Vegas and returned to St. Paul with home-ice advantage. Minnesota took Game 3, 5-2, at the X. Visions of escaping the first round for the first...
2 months ago | 5 reads
The 50th edition of the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships concluded at Grand Casino Arena on Monday, with Sweden taking home the gold medal with a 4-2 victory over Czechia. The game capped off a remarkable 11-day tournament that featured ten teams, 29 games, and some of the world’s best hockey p...
2 months ago | 5 reads
Nazem Kadri’s play-driving, edge, and center depth would fit exactly what the Minnesota Wild need. His current production and faceoff workload in Calgary also underline that he can still handle tough minutes down the middle. Danila Yurov has shored up some of the issues down the middle, but his play...
2 months ago | 10 reads
David Jiricek has been caught in the middle a little bit. When the Minnesota Wild traded a boatload of draft picks and a defenseman (that they eventually got back, in Daemon Hunt) for the former sixth-overall pick, he was seen as more of an instant answer for some offense from the blue line for the...
2 months ago | 5 reads
The Minnesota Wild have played 11 games with Quinn Hughes in the lineup, and they have to be loving what they see. The team has used the boost to go 7-1-3 in that span, which has allowed them to draw even with the Dallas Stars in the Central Division standings. They may be 11 points behind the super...
2 months ago | 7 reads
One year ago, David Jiricek was the Minnesota Wild’s blockbuster addition. The Wild acquired the sixth overall pick in the 2022 draft in a massive trade that sent Daemon Hunt, a 2025 first-round pick, 2026 third and fourth-round picks, and a 2027 second-round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets....
2 months ago | 6 reads
It's not often that you're facing the same team in the same arena for back-to-back games but the way the schedule has been laid out for the Minnesota Wild has them hanging around Los Angeles and facing the Kings once again on Monday night. The first game ended up being a 5-4 shootout loss for the Wi...
2 months ago | 9 reads
At least once a season, a discourse on wearing hockey jerseys emerges on social media. Who “can” or “should” wear jerseys? Where are they appropriate to wear? Is there a rhyme or reason to it? Without getting into the specifics, some people have very specific and annoying ideas on who is “allo...
2 months ago | 7 reads
The NHL has the best players in the world, so what gives Quinn Hughes the ability to break out so much better and rank in the top 10? At any level of hockey, you need time and space to make plays, and players have almost none of that in the NHL. Hughes stands out for both his ability to create time...
2 months ago | 5 reads
As the calendar flips to 2026, the hockey world is eagerly awaiting the rosters for next month's Olympic Games. While fans in Minnesota are getting a taste of international hockey with the World Juniors, that's nothing compared to what's on deck. With the NHL finally back in the Games after a 12-yea...
2 months ago | 6 reads