The State of Hockey... In the State of Hockey (Week Five Edition)

I'm not going to lie… I so desperately wanted six points last week, but despite my screaming of encouragement at the Wild on my television during the team's fourth game in six days, it wasn't going to will their tired legs to pull off a win in Chicago.

The Wild turned in a 2-1-1 record during the brutal four-game week, scoring five points in the standings. The result is one that we can all live with and ultimately feel good about, so how about five takeaways for this week's edition of "The State of Hockey… In The State of Hockey." Please try to enjoy.

-I am having an internal (now external...) crisis. After fifteen games into the 2024-25 season, it has become entirely crystal to me that this team has depth. I would put our top two offensive lines against any top two in hockey. Then, taking a look at the names on the last two lines… Hartman, Gaudreau, Lauko, Khusnutdinov, Trenin, and Foligno… we have some hard-nosed guys that will usually not hurt you and will sometimes add some offense into the mix. Our defensive pairings are good at this point, and when you have Jon Merrill and Declan Chisholm as the alternatives as the sixth defenseman (I prefer Chisholm), there is a bit of depth. So, this begs the question… How do we have depth with $14.7 million in dead cap space? Of course, we have not been beset with major injuries thus far, and when the minor variety has hit the Wild, we have been able to plug in an adequate replacement. Take when Spurgeon missed time and Chisholm and Merrill filled in together... Would I want to run with this for an entire season? Oh my no, but we can get through a few games without it hurting too severely, and Daemon Hunt can fill in if you need another blueliner for a stint. On offense, pulling Liam Öhgren up again isn't too bad for a backup plan, seeing he just had a hat trick for Iowa a few nights back. At age 31, Travis Boyd is playing point-per-game hockey in Iowa this season and has appeared in 296 NHL games during his career. What about Michael Milne? So what to make of this? Has Bill Guerin pulled off a super cool secret magic trick? There is a lot to unpack… but the first step was admitting I had a crisis and was struggling...

-Mentioning our top two lines earlier… I wonder if Coach Hynes has pondered moving someone like Hartman up to the second line to replace Marcus Johansson. Perhaps this could make the second line a bit more potent, as Hartman had some great production when playing with more elite offensive talents. With Freddy Gaudreau's game coming back to life as of late, would pairing a speedier Johannson give it more of a bump? I am pulling for Freddy here… mostly because it is helping the Wild be successful, but also because I was of the opinion that Gaudreau's career was teetering… in a very bad way.

-Since getting lit up by the Kings, Filip Gustavsson put together two more than solid efforts. His play in goal in Anaheim helped the Wild coast to an easy victory, and he was instrumental in keeping the Blackhawks at bay long enough to allow the team to escape with a point. So… if we were to plot out Gustavsson's consistency, it would look something like the "economic cycle" line graph from high school economics. With that thought in mind, day-to-day talk with other Wild fans in my household has garnered two nicknames to indicate where Gus is in his hockey cycle. Things are going poorly; Filip is referred to as "No Mi Gustavsson" (little Spanish twist… "No Mi Gusta" translates to "I Don't Like"). When Gustavsson's play is on point, the Wild goalie is called "Gustavo Fring" (Breaking Bad's polite, soft-spoken, but insanely cold-blooded restauranteur/drug lord). I just hope Gustavo Fring visits more frequently going forward, but I have no tangible control over this.

-Remember the ESPN Top-100 NHL Player Rankings for the 2024-25 season…? I do… and I finally feel now is the opportune time for me to voice my concern over their shoddy work putting Kirill Kaprizov entirely too low on the list and discounting the Minnesota Wild as a whole. A group of 50 ESPN broadcasters, analysts, reporters, and editors undervalued "The Thrill," to say the least, placing him at seventeenth. Then they dared to put only one additional Wild player on the list (Brock Faber at #53). The Nashville Predators placed six on what I call ESPN's Uniformed Silly Half-Pretend List of Hockey Guys, and the Dallas Stars had five. Heck, the Chicago Blackhawks equaled the Wild's representation. I remember I used to actually watch SportsCenter… and now I don't. Do these "experts" actually watch the entire NHL, or are they just watching old YouTube highlights of Wayne Gretzky with a couple of Connor McDavid clips mixed in?

-In beautiful and scenic Des Moines, Iowa, a particular goalie is beginning to bring me a tinge of worry. Jesper Wallstedt is struggling in net for the AHL's Iowa Wild. In seven games this season, the highly touted prospect sits with a record of 2-4-1, a 3.89 GAA, and a .869 save percentage. A far cry from where we thought Wallstedt might be at this point in the season, it is even further from Bill Guerin's big-time talk about carrying three goalies. You have to believe what Jesper perceived might be happening at this point, and what the reality is could be messing with his head, but are his issues more about the lack of a solid defense in front of him in Iowa? Is the process of getting the rust off due to a relatively low amount of ice time in the preseason holding him back?

Results From Week Four Predictions

Prediction #1: The Wild will win three of their four games this week. I see the Kings winning in St. Paul and playing back-to-back in California (and a rested Ducks team) will make for a challenge. Perhaps it will play out differently, but I don't see us losing twice.

Result: Wrong… I honestly thought the catch game of the road trip would be in Anaheim after playing the night before in San Jose. While the Wild were busy winning both in Cali, I had the belief my prediction was a lock, and losing in Chicago wasn't even on my radar. Fast forward to Sunday (the third game in four days), and it immediately became apparent that this was indeed the catch game. I then turned my hopes to the Wild getting out of United Center with at least a point.

Prediction #2: Jake Middleton will not have a +/- game under zero all week.

Result: Correct… Middleton had two even games sandwiching a +1 and a +3, raising his +/- season total to +13, pushing him deeper and deeper into my Minnesota Wild Circle of Trust. I think he is kicking around signing a lease there and sticking around for a bit.

Prediction #3: Marc-André Fleury will pick up career win 564 in goal at some point this week.

Result: Correct… Fleury won #564 in San Jose Thursday, saving 24 shots on 26 attempts. Both goals scored on Marc-André were by none other than teenager Mackin Celebrini. There is a considerable age gap here, as Fleury had already won seventeen NHL games before Celebrini's birth.

Prediction #4: Jonas Brodin still won't score his first goal of the season.

Result: Wrong… Brodin had to go ahead and score his first goal of the season in San Jose, but it was a beautiful snipe… so I am mostly cool with getting this one wrong.

Prediction #5: Jake Middleton becomes the next Wild player to break the ten-point barrier for the season.

Result: Pending… Middleton sits at nine points for the season… so does Brock Faber. No other players broke the ten-point plateau, so there is still hope for this one.

A 2-2 performance isn't making too big of a statement after being a braggart about my keen prediction abilities at the conclusion of last week. An overall season total of 13-6 is worthy of high praise, but with the Middleton prediction still pending, getting it wrong would give me my first under .500 week. That kind of thing is grounds for dismissal from almost any predictor-making body in the land.

Next Week's Five Predictions…

-We are winning both games this week, including the Wild reintroducing themselves to the Stars in spectacular fashion.

-Mats Zuccarello gets back above a point-per-game pace.

-Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) used the power of the Internet to post on X special secret information bestowed upon him by hockey powers that Gustavsson was tapped to be in net versus the Habs on Thursday. Seems reliable… So, I proclaim that Gustavo Fring (good Gus) will show up at the Xcel Energy Center and hold the away team from Montreal to one or fewer goals en route to his ninth win of the 2024-25 campaign.

-Yakov Trenin at least doubles his points total for the season (he currently sits at one).

-Brock Faber ends the week at a +10 for the season.