WILD WEDNESDAY - The Wild Are Back!
THE WILD ARE BACK!
Everything that was going awry for The Wild has taken a turn for the better as they are now on a 3-game winning streak after beating Florida, Carolina and Washington. I know it is only three games, but how things were going not long ago, we have to celebrate it!
If there was an award for the most unpredictable team, the Wild would win it without a doubt. It seems when everyone thinks they are buried as a team, they rise from the dead and shock us all... It just seems to be in this franchise’s DNA.
Just a few weeks ago, a little more than 50% of the Wild’s cap space was out on the IR, but almost everyone has returned to the lineup, except Jared Spurgeon, Connor Dewar and Marc-André Fleury. Spurgeon will miss the remainder of the season and Dewar and Fleury’s timetables are unknown.
The Wild’s top players are to thank for the recent success as they have been playing exceptionally well. Joel Eriksson Ek has five goals and five assists in the last five games. Kirill Kaprizov has 17 points in the last 11 games, and Brock Faber now has a five-game point streak, setting a franchise record for a rookie defenseman. The team is now showing what they are capable of when almost fully healthy.
Not So Special Teams Showing Improvement
The Wild’s penalty kill used to be nightmare inducing, but it has been nearly perfect lately. The PK is 11/12 in the last three games. Ryan Hartman is the new addition on the second unit after Dewar was injured early in the second period against Florida Friday night. The Wild’s PK is still the second to worst in the league at 72.8% just above San Jose’s, but that could change in no time if they continue this hot streak.
The powerplay has also improved after going 5/6 against Florida, tying a franchise record. It appeared they went back to their old ways of passing around the perimeter in Tuesday night’s game against Washington as they only went 1/4 on the powerplay. Hopefully, they can find the magic they had in Florida where they had a shoot-first mentality.
Hard Times for the Great 8
A year ago, the question was when Alex Ovechkin would pass Wayne Gretzky’s record for most goals scored, but now it is IF he will, as he has only scored a mere 8 goals this season. Ovechkin usually has no issue lighting up the Xcel Energy Center, but that was far from the case in Tuesday night’s game. For the first time ever in the 13 games Ovechkin has played at the X, he did not record a single point and was held to only three shots on goal. In the previous 12 games, he had 25 points (15 goals, 10 assists).
Granted, Ovechkin has been battling an injury the last couple weeks, but unfortunately, he is not getting any younger. He is 38 years old and still 64 goals away from passing Gretzky’s record of 894 career goals. He may just have to pull a Gordie Howe and play into his 50’s at this rate.
There are Good Trades... and Then There are Great Trades
The trade that sent Kevin Fiala to LA in June of 2022 may go down as one of the greatest trades of all time. The Wild received some heavy backlash during this time for not paying Fiala as he was a fan favorite, especially among the ladies. Have you seen those eyes?
The Wild simply could not afford Fiala’s $7.875 million AAV that the Kings were able to give him with the financial pressure of the Parise and Suter buyouts. The fans had no idea the Wild would reap benefits so quickly with this trade. The Wild acquired Brock Faber, potentially the Wild’s top defenseman for the next 10+ years that could one day wear the ‘C.’ Faber currently has 4 goals and 24 assists this season, with eight of those points being in the last five games. He is currently one of the favorites to win the Calder Cup alongside Marco Rossi now that Connor Bedard will miss at least another six weeks with a fractured jaw he sustained on Jan. 5.
The trade does not stop there either. The Wild also received LA’s 19th overall pick in the 2022 draft where they selected, Liam Öhgren, a rising center that is coming off being the captain of the Swedish World Juniors team. Hopefully, he can turn into a solid NHL caliber center, which Lord knows the Wild have needed for some time.
So, the Wild scored two potential leading stars for the price of one. I do not think the Kings would have made this trade if they knew how Faber was going to perform in his first season. Although, I will say Fiala can pull off those god-awful tinman helmets better than most.
Seven’s a Crowd
The Wild now face Nashville tomorrow night and Anaheim on Saturday for their final two games before the All-Star break. With Tuesday’s win, they are only four points out of the last playoff spot in the west that Nashville holds and six points out of the first wild card spot held by LA. Unfortunately, it appears there will be seven teams fighting for those last two spots as the top three teams in the Central and Pacific seem to be pulling away. The Wild will be fighting alongside Nashville, Arizona, St. Louis, Seattle, Calgary and LA and unless there is an epic collapse from any of the top three teams in both divisions, it will not be easy.
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