Minnesota Wild: Thoughts on Day 1 in Traverse City

Day 1 in Traverse City is in the books. The Minnesota Wild prospects defeated the Detroit Red Wings prospects 4-2. We’ll be following the tournament as best we can to give some quick takeaways on the Wild prospects after each game.

The Minnesota Wild prospects never trailed in the game, and were led by 2 point performances from Jordan Greenway, Ivan Lodnia, and Gerry Fitzgerald. Here’s my impression on how each performed:

Jordan Greenway

The 2015 2nd round pick got to taste NHL playoff action last season, and it showed with how great he looked compared to everyone else on the ice on Day 1 in Traverse City.

Greenway could easily take charge of the game while he was on the ice, and looked mostly unchallenged against these young prospects.

He finished with 2 assists, both on plays where Detroit focused too much attention on him. He was able to remain composed, and found his teammates sneaking into the slot unmarked on very similar plays for both goals.

Ivan Lodnia

The 2017 3rd rounder posted a goal and an assist in the game, but by the end of it I was still left unimpressed. He has the skill, there’s no questioning that as both his points were strong plays by him.

He made some poor choices with the puck in the third period, resulting in bad turnovers during offensive zone time, that had me questioning his hockey vision. I’ll be watching him closely to see if that was a one period anomaly or something to be concerned about.

Gerry Fitzgerald

The 25 year old Iowa Wild signee, and former Bemidji State Beaver was the biggest surprise in this game. He did not look out of place playing alongside Greenway, which is a big thing for an undrafted invitee, earning 1 goal and 1 assist.

He looked very comfortable playing off-puck on the power play, and scored his goal doing exactly that just as the penalty expired. He could be one to watch in this tournament, and may be able to gain some attention in the AHL this year.

I also learned an interesting tidbit, that Fitzgerald is one of a set of triplets that played together at Bemidji State, and was also a child actor in the lead role of the Baby Geniuses movie back in 1999 and the sequel, Superbabies, in 2004.

Additional Notes:

Kaapo Kahkonen looked solid in the start with 28 saves. He was not challenged much, and seemed to be positioned well. The first goal was a hard one-timer on the power play he had no chance on. The second goal was a hard wrist shot from the point, through a screen, that went crossbar down and in, again no chance for Kahkonen.

Dmitri Sokolov looks like a steal as a 2016 7th rounder. He was impressive on the power play, quarterbacking the offense on the side boards through most of the 3rd period power play time. His goal was on the power play in the 1st, but actually came on the rush rather than a set play.

2018 3rd rounder Connor Dewar took a big clean hit early in the second period, camp invitee Josh Thrower tried to stand up for his teammate but instead took an unnecessary penalty for throwing his gloves off when the Red Wing player wanted no part of a fight.

Speaking of Dewar, he and invitee Zeb Knutson played the primary penalty kill roll admirably going 7 for 8 on the night. They also generated quite a few rushes shorthanded to give the team a boost in a penalty ridden 2nd period.

Detroit Red Wings 2018 1st Round Pick Filip Zadina looked like the real deal, he was the best player on the ice for Detroit and hammered home his team’s first goal. He was also on the ice and involved in the second goal, though he wasn’t credited with a point for it.

2018 5th round pick Damien Giroux added the empty net goal for the Minnesota Wild in the final minute to put the game away. Saturday is Game 2 where the Minnesota Wild will play the New York Rangers prospects at 5:30pm CST, looking to stay undefeated in the tournament.