Your daily dose of Wild news, along with other interesting stories from around the NHL.
The Minnesota Wild are in a precarious spot and the final remaining games of the regular season might actually be exciting.
Typically, we’re treated to gassed teams just wanting to either be in the postseason already or be home. But now, there are things to play for and with nine games left, the Central Division is still wide open. It is a three-way race between the Colorado Avalanche (92 points, 10 games remaining), the Dallas Stars (92 points, nine games remaining), and the Wild (93 points, nine games remaining). It is tight.
And realistically, there is a benefit beyond just winning the division and getting to hang a banner in the rafters of your arena. Those three teams would probably much rather face the Seattle Kraken and their absolutely terrible goaltending in the first round, compared to facing each other. For the Wild, this means avoiding the reigning Cup champs and potentially exiting early once again.
What about the remaining schedule though? Well, the Wild have it worse than the Stars or Avs. Six of their remaining nine games are against current playoff teams, and even the other three include tough teams like the St. Louis Blues and Nashville Predators. The points without Kirill Kaprizov have been earned well so far, but squeaking out wins against the Flyers and Blackhawks doesn’t give us a lot of confidence going forward.
We will be crossing our fingers for the next three weeks.
That’s Wild
- Filip Gustavsson has been incredible this season, but he praised the Wild’s defense for helping him become so comfortable and have fun in his first season in St. Paul. [Hockey Wilderness]
- Speaking of young Swedish netminders, Jesper Wallstedt improved his conditioning and it has helped him greatly this season in Iowa. [10K Rinks]
- The Minnesota Whitecaps come up short in the Isobel Cup Final, losing 4-3 in overtime to the Toronto Six. They held a 3-2 lead after Jonna Albers scored her fifth goal in three playoff games, but unfortunately couldn’t stave off the comeback. [StarTribune]
- Among observations made by The Athletic, it was reported that the Wild met with top-tier college free agent Jason Polin on Sunday, as one of the teams heavily interested in the goal-scoring winger. [The Athletic]
- The Wild have a path to win the Western Conference. [ESPN]
Off the trail…
- Jack Eichel has loved his time as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, capped off by his recent hat trick. [Yahoo Sports]
- John Tortorella tells Philadelphia Flyers fans to stop sending him mail about tanking. [CBS Sports]
- The Vancouver Canucks have won three straight games and things are looking good under this new regime, but it means the dream of Connor Bedard coming home is dying. [Sportsnet]