The State of Hockey... In the State of Hockey (Week Two Edition)
Seven reflection points on the Wild from the season's second week, plus predictions for the coming week.
The State of Hockey’s golden boys, the Minnesota Wild, had a phenomenal second week of regular season. Picking up two wins, the Wild defeated both the St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets on the road, and the Wild finished the week with four points as they continue their early-season road trip.
With the team scoring seven goals for the week, we will have an equivalent number of takeaways for this week's edition of "State of Hockey... In the State of Hockey.”
-Filip Gustavsson has found his groove in-between the pipes again. His season stats are off the charts (1.49 gga; .950% SV%) and he only surrendered two goals in both games combined and sported a remarkable .962 SV% for the week. Add in his first goalie goal (and the first in Minnesota Wild history), it makes total sense he was the NHL’s “Third Star” of the week. His start of the season is nothing less than tremendously exciting.
-Jacob Middleton is currently tied for third in the NHL in blocks, with nineteen for the season. I am still concerned about the longevity of his contract with the Wild, but this stat is encouraging. He has been remarkably durable during his time in Minnesota, so that is in the plus column when discussing him. It will take maintaining his current pace with blocks and adding a few more hits, all while continuing to avoid a negative +/- for me to completely buy into his current contract. But I am warming to it a bit.
-The Wild currently have only accumulated 24 total penalty minutes up to this point this season, breaking down to an average of 4.8 penalty minutes per game. After finishing the 2023-24 season with an average of 11.4 penalty minutes per game, untimely and often idiotic penalties cost the Wild games throughout the season. With a current penalty kill percentage of 75.0%, which needs to improve, keeping the penalty minutes down like the team has thus far is a move in the right direction.
-The Wild has not trailed in regulation so far in this young season, a total of fifteen periods. That makes the 3-0-2 record hurt a bit. Looking back, the Winnipeg loss in OT doesn’t hurt as much as the Seattle Kraken getting the best of us in a game I feel we controlled. It’s early in the season, but with all the competitive teams in Western Conference, could that missed point come back to haunt us?
-Jesper Wallstedt will turn 22 in a couple of weeks. The way that Filip Gustavsson has been playing, combined with this being Marc-André Fleury’s last NHL season, giving Wallstedt the bulk of his minutes in Iowa (mixed with some timely games with Minnesota) is the best course of action for Jesper’s development. The new two-year extension he recently signed, which begins next season, was great for the organization and Wallstedt. Spending another year in the AHL preparing to be a full-time NHL’er is going to serve Wallstedt well in the future. The fans in Des Moines need to truly appreciate seeing Jesper play in Iowa.
-Wild GM Bill Guerin must have an extension for Marco Rossi at the top of his “To-Do” list. The progress in Marco’s game since his bout with COVID and his demotion to Iowa after a poor start to the 2022-23 season is significant. What is not to love about Rossi being on the top line with Zuccy and Krill? Combined with the Wild’s second line (Boldy/Eriksson Ek/Johansson), I would put the combined top lines of Minnesota up against any other franchise.
-As much as it hurts to have Captain Jared Spurgeon injured and unavailable again this season, does anyone else get the feeling that there is enough leadership throughout this roster that it doesn’t hurt the team as it did last season? Don’t get me wrong… I want Spurgeon back in the mix, but we certainly don’t look anything close to lost without him.
Results From Week One Predictions
Prediction #1: The Wild will win both of the week's games (10/15 @ St. Louis and 10/19 @ Columbus) on the road and double their season's point total.
Result: Correct… The Wild defeated the Blues 4-1 in St. Louis and the Blue Jackets 3-1 in Columbus, and looked great in both games. Great beginning to this monster road trip.
Prediction #2: Matt Boldy will finish the week on a continued 100-point season pace.Matt
Result: Wrong… Boldy fell off the 100-point pace as he was held to one point in the Wild’s two games. He is now on a 98.4 pace…
Prediction #3: Johnny Stache will still be the proud owner of a positive plus/minus rating.
Result: Correct… After falling back to even during the Blues game, The Stacheman had an assist against the Blue Jackets and is currently back at a +1 plus/minus rating.
Prediction #4: Marcus Foligno will engage in his first fight of the year.
Result: Wrong… We must be seeing a kinder and gentler Foligno this season. There has to be some angst and fury brewing inside Marcus… right?
Prediction #5: Kaprizoz/Zuccy hook up for at least two scores during the week.
Result: Correct… At least that is what I am going with… Zuccy and Kirill assisted on Rossi’s goal against the Blues and Kaprizov had an assist on Zuccy’s goal in Columbus.
So… 3-2 for the week, so I am well on my way to becoming a fantastic maker of predictions!
Next Week’s Five Predictions…
-The Wild will come out of the three road games (Lightning/Panthers/Flyers) this week with at least four points.
-Liam Ohgren will score his first point of the season this week,
-Matt Boldy will get back on the right side of the 100-point-pace with some stellar play this week.
-The Wild’s power play scores at least twice during the three contests of the week.
-Kaprizov ends the week with at least five points.