The Daily Clutter for Tuesday, January 16th, 2024 – Issue #16

What is The Daily Clutter? 

It’s pretty simple. The Clutter is us but it’s also the news about Minnesota hockey & hockey in general and we want to Bring The Clutter to you, our fans or The ClutterPuckers, daily!

Alright! What do we have for today’s Clutter? The ranking of best under-23 players & prospects, does the media know more than the teams they cover? even in Canada?, Trade Deadline stuff how crazy it is how confidence flips a switch to help teams and the Minnesota Wild win!

We might sprinkle in some other fun things, too. 

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Ranking the top NHL players and prospects under 23: Connor Bedard leads the list – The Athletic

It’s always fun to see how your favorite team’s players & prospects rank in these lists and how many they get on the list. The Minnesota Wild have 9 players on this list of 169 players:

Tier 4
NHL All-Star
11. F Matt Boldy (NHL)

Tier 6
Top of the lineup player
30. D Brock Faber

Tier 6
Top of the lineup player
30. D Brock Faber (NHL)

Tier 7
Bubble top and middle of the lineup player
54. F Danila Yurov (KHL)
56. G Jesper Wallstedt (AHL)
58. F Marco Rossi (NHL)

Tier 8
Middle of the lineup player
125. F Caeden Bankier (AHL)
129. F Liam Ohgren (SHL)
143. F Charlie Stramel (NCAA)
169. F Marat Khusnatdinov (KHL)

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How Canucks’ management sticking to their guns despite media pressure is paying off

Jason Brough and Mike Halford praise the Vancouver Canucks’ management for how Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin proved doubters wrong by not folding to the pressure of the media and sticking to their guns when it came to retooling the team.

I just found this headline to be kind of stupid because has any team changed anything they’ve ever done due to “media pressure?” I haven’t read the article because of how stupid that is. I might post something later but… I doubt it. It’s actually a video so I listened to it and it was just as stupid.

Why would a team care what the media thinks or says or wants or anything? Thank you for promoting the team but we’re good on how to run the team. If you have anyone in the organization who needs help in deciding what they need to do to improve the team, they probably shouldn’t be there in the first place.

It is Canada and a lot of the media could be former players so they might have an idea what they’re talking about but that doesn’t change anything about it. Teams hire people to do the job because they’re qualified to do it. How many of the people were even paying attention to any of the media? 

Here’s another thing. Current Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet hasn’t even been there for a full year or a full season since he was hired on January 23rd, 2023. So… why would he change anything until his system and the structure and the culture were in place and then see how it goes for at least a full season?

WOW! This is so ridiculous! Does the media in Canada really think that much of themselves? That they could do a better job and they won’t give a coach even a full season to evaluate the team? That’s just sad but… come to think of it, that’s kind of how it goes in Minnesota too except the media aren’t former players, they’re idiot media personalities saying stupid things to get clicks and that is why I don’t listen or read it anymore.

Here’s a crazy idea. If you think you’re that good and can do it yourself, stop talking about it and go do it! Or, in other words…

BRING THE CLUTTER!!!

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The Trade Deadline isn’t until March 8th but teams are starting to figure out what they need to go on the long ‘Cup run!

The NHL Trade Deadline is still 52 days away on March 8th but every team is figuring out what they need and/or what future assets they can get for their players.

Since Tampa Bay Lightning F Steven Stamkos is an impending free agent, there have been rumors that he might be moved but Lightning GM Julien BriseBois squashed that today by saying Stamkos ‘is not getting traded’ That’s interesting because if the Bolts, who the Minnesota Wild play tomorrow night, are currently in the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference which would make you think they would be open to trading him if they were going to miss the playoffs. It’s also interesting because it must mean that they think they will be able to re-sign him or they’ll just let him go to free agency as one of the most important players in that franchise’s history.

Five teams that could define the NHL trade market in 2024 from SportsNet

In more Trade Deadline news, SportsNet gives us 5 teams they think could define the 2024 Trade Deadline. They list the Colombus Blue Jackets, the Vancouver Canucks (Canuckleheads!), the Calgary Flames, the Anaheim Ducks and the Ottawa Senators.

It’s usually fun to look at who your team might be able to go get but unfortunately, this season, the Minnesota Wild will likely not be active unless they can someone create some cap spaces by assisting on a couple of trades like they did last season. They simply have no cap room though so they probably can’t even do that!

You still have to wonder if Billy G has anything up his sleeve because he believes in his team and we’ve seen him go get help for them at the Trade Deadline every season since he’s been here.

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Minnesota Wild
The Record: 18-20-5 (W-L-OTL); 41 points, 7th in NHL’s Central Division 

2023-24 Minnesota Wild Schedule and Results
from
Hockey Reference

The Minnesota Wild snapped their 4-game losing streak and are now 2-7-1 in their last 10 games after 11-3-0 after the change to coach John Hynes. It just goes to show how much confidence plays into winning. That’s not the surprise for us. The surprise is how often teams of professional players lose confidence and doubt rises in their games even though they are in the NHL and getting paid to play a game. They’re getting paid to play a game & they’re getting paid a lot more than most people to do it!

They had the players-only meeting and played a great game last night in a 5-0 win against a New York Islanders team that is also trying to get back into the race for the postseason. 

Subscribe to The Athletic – It’s worth it! They have a deal for $1.99/month right now!

From the article above from Joe Smith, Senior Writer for the Wild & the NHL from The Athletic:

Minnesota Wild fans let their reeling team have it Saturday night, booing the players off the ice after an embarrassing 6-0 loss to the Arizona Coyotes.

Then the players let each other hear it, airing out their issues in a long postgame meeting. The doors to their dressing room were closed for 22 minutes following the final horn. Former Wild defenseman Matt Dumba had already showered, changed, met up with family and made it to the Coyotes bus by then.

This wasn’t the first players-only meeting, and judging by how the year has gone, it won’t be the last.

The Wild have hit rock bottom a few times, but this might be a new low, the team having lost eight out of its last nine. In what leaders called a pivotal stretch of the season, the Wild have tallied three points out of their last 18 possible, with their last regulation win Dec. 27.

This group has been battered with injuries in the past month. A bunch of guys have been sick recently.

But right now they look like a team that’s lost its identity, or at least lost its confidence, a stark contrast from the 11-3 run to start John Hynes’ tenure.

“Sometimes you go through a stretch like this where you feel like nothing works,” Zuccarello said. “That’s why you have to believe in each other, give each other confidence. That’s the only way to get out of it.

“We’ll see Monday who is showing up or not.”

The Wild have done plenty of talking this season, from the three players-only meetings to president and GM Bill Guerin giving the group a “kick-in-the-ass” ripfest on the eve of its Sweden Global Series trip in mid-November. They’ve already got one coach fired in Dean Evason, let go on Nov. 27 after a seven-game losing streak.

The Wild need to back up that talk with action before their season is a lost cause. We’re almost there now, with Minnesota eight points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, with the Oilers holding three games in hand and on a 10-game winning streak.”

It’s crazy to think they just decided they need to start winning and playing with confidence. As a group, they knew they had to start winning & do it immediately or this season could very easily be over. They did it last night with a 5-0 win to help G Marc-Andre Fleury earn his 552nd career win to take sole possession of 2nd place for All-Time Wins in the National Hockey League. It was also his 74th career shutout.

The big question now is… Can they keep playing that well? Do they do the same things they did last night in Tampa Bay on Wednesday night, just decide to play with confidence and play their game of aggressive hockey?

We’ll find out at 6 pm on Wednesday night on ESPN+/Hulu! 

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Minnesota Gophers

Cinematic Recap:
Gopher Men’s Hockey Sweeps Robert Morris

Are the Minnesota Gophers heating up at the right time? They’ve won 3 out of 4 since the holiday break. Or is it because those were non-conference games?

They have 12 games remaining, 6 at home & 6 on the road and all 12 of those games are conference games so will they be able to keep rolling on Friday & Saturday against the Ohio State Buckeyes? Both games are at 7 pm. Friday night’s game is on FOX9 and Saturday’s game will be on the BIG Ten Network.

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If you’ve missed or want to read older issues of The Daily Clutter:

Daily Clutter – Issue #1

The Daily Clutter for Monday, January 1st, 2024 - Issue #1

Daily Clutter – Issue #2

The Daily Clutter for January 2nd, 2024 - Issue #2

Daily Clutter – Issue #3

Daily Clutter – Issue #4

Daily Clutter – Issue #5

Daily Clutter – Issue #6

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Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn

AND…as always…

Posted in News/Transactions, Hockey In Minnesota, Minnesota Wild, NHL Hockey, Wild Prospects | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Daily Clutter for Saturday, January 6th, 2024 – Issue #6

The Daily Clutter for Saturday, January 6th, 2024 - Issue #6

What is The Daily Clutter? 

It’s pretty simple. The Clutter is us but it’s also the news about Minnesota hockey & hockey in general and we want to Bring The Clutter to you, our fans AKA The ClutterPuckers, daily! We have to live up to our slogan Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way!

We might sprinkle in some other fun things, too. 

What do we have today? Who Won GOLD, a big NHL injury will likely affect who wins the Best Rookie trophy, can the Minnesota Wild survive through all of these injuries?, & the Minnesota women’s professional hockey team shattered the attendance record for women’s hockey!

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Who Won GOLD?

Team USA & Team Sweden battled for World Junior supremacy yesterday in Sweden. Let’s see who came out on top!

If, for some reason, you weren’t able to see the game & still don’t know who won, you can watch the entire game here!

Quick recap coming soon!!!

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Conner Bedard hit Hard!

Big injury as Calder Trophy* favorite F Connor Bedard was hit by New Jersey Devils D Brendan Smith and he immediately left the ice and didn’t return.
*That’s the trophy for Rookie of the Year if you didn’t know.

This is the best video we could find on it but we recommend muting the audio & there’s no need to watch any further than when Bedard walks down the tunnel.

Chicago Blackhawks & rookie phenom F Connor Bedard was carrying the puck into the offensive zone with some speed. He had to make a move to get around New Jersey Devils F Dawson Mercer but that move caused the puck to roll off of his stick so he had to take his eye off of the defense to find the puck &, specifically, Devils D Brendan Smith who had intentions to play the body. Dawson Mercer’s stick check went between Bedard’s legs and caused him to lose his balance too so Bedard losing the puck & his balance didn’t allow him time to prepare for the oncoming body check even if that was just to make a slight move to evade most of the contact. Because of that, Brendan Smith’s shoulder ended up hitting Bedard’s head causing him to go down to the ice and he immediately grabbed at his face.

One scary thing to look at is how close Bedard’s skate comes to Brendan Smith’s face. It’s probably more than a foot away but did Smith think, “RELIGIOUS POOP!!! That was close!!!”

More on the Bedard Hit & a discussion on what the NHL should do about these hits if they won’t be called

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These Injuries are Wild, maybe too Wild!

Wild’s Bill Guerin on rash of injuries to key players: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’ – The Athletic

“If you include the $14.7 million of dead space they entered the season with, the Wild will be icing a team Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning minus $50.9 million worth of players. According to PuckPedia, the Wild have so many call-ups that they only have $1.28 million left of the $6 million cushion they received to exceed the cap ceiling by placing Brodin on LTIR.”

How many NHL teams could sustain losing their top 2 forwards (Kirill Kaprizov & Mats Zuccarello), top 2 defensemen (Jared Spurgeon & Jonas Brodin), and their starting goaltender (Filip Gustavsson) in a matter of days and all of those injuries ending up week-to-week if not longer? And we didn’t even mention Marcus Foligno. Well… now we have.

“See? No monster in here… well… now there is.!”

That would be…

Edmonton Oilers: 
McDavid & Draisaitl, Bouchard & Ekholm, & Skinner

Toronto Maple Leafs:
Matthews & Nylander, Rielly & McCabe

Vegas Golden Knights:
Eichel & Stone, Theodore & Pietrangelo, & Thompson

Pittsburgh Penguins:
Crosby & Malkin &/or Guentzel, Letang & Pettersson, & Jarry

Colorado Avalanche:
MacKinnon & Rantanen, Makar & Toews, & Georgiev

Winnipeg Jets
Scheifele & Ehlers (or a healthy Conner), Morrissey & Pionk, & Hellebuyck

Boston Bruins:
Pastrnak & Marchand, McAvoy & Lindholm & Ullmark

Vancouver Canucks:
Miller & Pettersson/Boeser, Hughes & Hronek, & Demko

Just to name a few!

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The State of Hockey Showed Up & Set an Attendance Record for Women’s Pro Hockey

Minnesota broke the record by 4,998 people!

The previous record of 8,318 was set 4 days ago in Ottawa! Sorry, Canada! If it helps Minnesota is the closest you can get to Canada, so there is that!

Most hockey fans, especially male hockey fans, scoffed at the women averaging 4,000 fans per game in Minnesota. That is still yet to be determined but one thing they’ve done that will help them is they avoided having their home games on nights when there are a lot of Minnesota girls high school hockey games. They also have no games on Fridays and all weekend games are afternoon games to avoid most state college hockey games so we’ll see if they can average 4,000 for the season. They covered 3+ with 13,000+ in game 1!

PWHL Minnesota’s 2024 Home Schedule

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Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on 
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn

AND…as always…

Posted in News/Transactions, Hockey In Minnesota, Minnesota Wild, NHL Hockey | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild Recap at the Dallas Stars – January 10th, 2024

The Minnesota Wild were looking to snap their 4-game losing streak and their 5-game losing streak to the Dallas Stars* and this is the last regular-season game so it’s now or wait until the postseason or next season. 
*Look at that stupid Dallas Stars logo! Uhh… NORM GREEN STILL SUCKS!!! At least it’s not glowing in the dark! Oh No! Good Lord! You didn’t think it could get worse, did you? Well, there it is! Come On, Wild! Don’t get swept by the Dallas Stars! BRING THE CLUTTER like we know you can!

The Minnesota Wild had a secret weapon though! It was the NHL Debut for G Jesper Wallstedt, the Minnesota Wild’s top prospect & their Goalie of the future! He’s played for the Minnesota Wild’s minor-league club, the AHL’s Iowa Wild, for the past two seasons. He was just named to the AHL All-Star Classic today along with teammate F Nic Petan

Really? You’re going to highlight a Texas Star

Here’s how G Jesper Wallstedt’s 2023-24 season has gone down in Iowa so far. In the AHL this season, he was 14th in Goals Against Average, 10th in Save Percentage & tied for 5th in wins with 11. Here are his game logs and totals, including what he’s done at home, on the road, in wins, in losses and how he did over a 14-game span from November 2nd to December 15th:

Jesper’s WallStats! HA! See what I did there? Do you see it? 
Do NOT make me explain it to you! It’s okay. I’m okay. I’ll be alright! JESPER!!!

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

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Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Wild projected lineup

Forwards
Matt Boldy — Joel Eriksson Ek — Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson — Marco Rossi — Ryan Hartman
Marcus Foligno — Frederick Gaudreau — Pat Maroon
Brandon Duhaime — Connor Dewar — Adam Raska

Defensemen
Jake Middleton — Brock Faber
Alex Goligoski — Zach Bogosian
Jon Merrill — Dakota Mermis

Goalies
Jesper Wallstedt
Marc-Andre Fleury

Scratched:
Daemon Hunt, Nic Petan
Injured:
Filip Gustavsson (lower body), Kirill Kaprizov (upper body), Vinni Lettieri (lower body), Jared Spurgeon (lower body)

Status Report

Foligno and Johansson each is a game-time decision because of illness, Wild coach John Hynes said. … Wallstedt will start and make his NHL debut.

Dallas Stars

Stars projected lineup

Forwards
Jason Robertson — Roope Hintz — Joe Pavelski
Jamie Benn — Wyatt Johnston — Evgenii Dadonov
Mason Marchment — Matt Duchene — Tyler Seguin
Craig Smith — Radek Faksa — Sam Steel

Defensemen
Ryan Suter — Thomas Harley
Esa Lindell — Jani Hakanpaa
Joel Hanley — Nils Lundkvist

Goalies
Scott Wedgewood
Matt Murray

Scratched:
Ty Dellandrea, Nils Lundkvist
Injured:
Jake Oettinger (lower body), Miro Heiskanen (lower body)

Status Report

Murray was recalled from Texas of the American Hockey League on Wednesday and is expected to back up Wedgewood, who will start for the 12th time in 13 games.

Game Recap

1st Period

Did Minnesota Wild Fs Marcus Foligno & Marcus Johansson play?…

Yes for both & Nic Petan was also in the lineup so no Adam Raska.

It took 9: for the first whistle and that whistle was for a Minnesota penalty for tripping at center ice after he tried to knock the puck out of the air and missed then tried again and his stick went into the feet of a Dallas player so… another stick penalty. 

Dallas had almost 2 minutes of extra-attacker time on the delayed penalty. 

The Minnesota Wild killed it off and had a good response with some time in the Dallas zone. 

Foligno probably should’ve shot this puck…

Dallas scored off a flip play but it was challenged for offsides and overturned.

  • Should these be automatically reviewed? It wasn’t that close and the Wild had to challenge it to get it overturned. Where was the linesman? Not on that line, apparently!

Minnesota Wild F Mats Zuccarello tried a cross-ice pass on the neutral zone and it was intercepted and quickly turned into a 2-on-1 by Joe Pavelski and he just shot it past G Jesper Wallstedt!

16:45 – Goal – Dallas – Joe Pavelski – Unassisted 

  • Jesper Wallstedt is the 150th goaltender to be scored on by Joe Pavelski. That is 2nd to someone named Alex, who has scored on 172 goalies!

Minnesota Wild 0 | 1 Dallas Stars

Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno had a chance right after the ensuing faceoff but missed the net.

Shots were 10-5 in favor of Dallas & the Minnesota Wild didn’t have a shot for the last (?)

2nd Period

4:28 – Goal – Dallas – Matt Duchene from Ryan Suter & Nils Lundkvist

A wicked bounce came out in front of the net right to Dallas F Matt Duchene and he may have scored because he didn’t get all of it so it deflected up & over Minnesota Wild G Jesper Wallstedt.

Minnesota Wild 0 | 2 Dallas Stars

Why does the Dallas arena make the backup goalie sit in the hallway to the locker room? Is there really not enough room on the bench? That’s weird and stupid and it seems amazing that is even a problem.

The Minnesota Wild got another good chance and Brock Faber hit the crossbar.

Leaving the Dallas zone beside Dallas F Jason Robertson, Minnesota Wild F Matt Boldy tried to get to the other side of Robertson and he maybe fell but Jason Robertson’s left glove hit him in the face. The official called penalties on both players, Interference on Matt Boldy & Embellishment on Jason Robertson.

Minnesota Wild D Dakota Mermis is hooked in the neutral zone by Dallas F Mason Marchment but there’s no call then Dallas went the other way when Mermis’ shot missed the net and the puck is sent to Marchment for a 2-on-1 and for some reason Wild D Alex Goligoski goes to Marchment so all he has to do is pass it to F Roope Hintz and it’s 3-0.

Minnesota Wild 0 | 3 Dallas Stars

Is that a penalty? Dakota Mermis may grab Marchment’s stick but the stick is still there so is the official saying him holding the stick is canceling out the hook? Or should they just call both? How often have Minnesota Wild fans seen a stick in the midsection called even if it’s barely there? What about the call in the Finland vs USA game in the World Juniors? Does every official not make that call or just some of them? If it’s just some of them, that’s a problem. Each official should know what each penalty is and call it accordingly. They shouldn’t have different ideas of what each penalty is. Hooking is not an “up to the discretion of the official” penalty. 

This is exactly why officials should have to do a postgame press conference! “Why didn’t you call that a hooking penalty in the 2nd period?” It’d be nice to hear why wouldn’t it?

The frustration is building on the Wild as Brock Faber snapped his stick on the boards after the 3rd goal!

Brock Faber got a Delay of Game penalty after trying to clear the defensive zone.

3rd Period

Down 3 going into the 3rd period, how will the Minnesota Wild play in the 3rd. Who’s going to get something going for them? Throw a big hit? Start a fight? Get the forecheck going? Score a goal, maybe?

4:22 – Goal – Minnesota – Matt Boldy from Brock Faber & Joel Eriksson Ek

Brock Faber got the puck at the right side of the blue line and walked towards the middle and threw the puck at the net and may have gone off of Matt Boldy’s rear end! Hey, they don’t ask how! They ask how many & that’s Matt Boldy’s 14th goal of the season!

Minnesota Wild 1 | 3 Dallas Stars

Get the Mo-mentum and Let’s Go, Boys!!!

Rossi off the post a couple of minutes later! OHHH!!! We have LIFE, ‘PUCKERS!!!

2 minutes or so later, that life was quieted when the Minnesota Wild were too aggressive and Jason Robertson had the puck on a 2-on-1 and wired it past Wallstedt for another 3-goal lead!

81 seconds later, 5-1 Dallas.

Dallas then got a Delay of Game penalty then a tripping penalty so the Minnesota Wild had a 5-on-3 and they scored on a backdoor feed to Ryan Hartman from Mats Zuccarello to make it 5-2!

Broadcast analyst & former NHL goalie Darren Pang was talking about his first game in the NHL which was against the Minnesota North Stars. He allowed a goal on the first shot to D Curt Giles and said Steve Payne scored twice in a 4-1 loss. He was playing for the Chicago Blackhawks. The goal by the Blackhawks was scored by another NHL analyst, Eddie Olczyk. That game was on February 22nd, 1985. The Minnesota goalie was Don Beaupre. The other North Stars goal was by Bo Berglund who I don’t remember. The assists were from D Gordie Roberts & Fs Dennis Maruk, Dirk Graham, Dino Ciccarelli, Bo Berglund, Brian Bellows & Keith Acton.

Goals from Tyler Seguin & Sam Steel made it 7-2 and the Minnesota Wild were once again embarrassed by a Dallas Stars team!

That was ugly like the other 2 games against Dallas. The Minnesota Wild would probably like to play them again this season only because that would mean they made the playoffs.

It was pretty much complete domination by Dallas. The Wild played better in the 3rd and had 14 shots but they left their young goalie out to dry for most of those goals. 

The big question is how will they respond when they take the ice again at home against the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night!

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Final

Shift Chart

We applaud you if you read this far & give you a standing ovation if you watched the high… lowlights! That’s Bringing the Clutter! Hopefully, you liked the intro because the rest of it was pretty sad! We could give you a 30-day pass to The Athletic if you want it. Email us at ClutterPuck@gmail.com!

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn

AND…as always…

Posted in Wild Game Recaps, NHL Hockey | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Daily Clutter for Friday, January 5th, 2024 – Issue #5

What is The Daily Clutter? 

It’s pretty simple. We’re going to send out a daily post to update our fans, The ClutterPuckers, on anything Minnesota Hockey (or hockey in general.) We might sprinkle in some other fun things, too. 

TGIF, ‘Puckers!!!

We’ll try to keep it relatively light, today so you can read then relax and go out and have some fun on a Friday night! Team USA went for GOLD vs Team Sweden at the World Junior Championships, former Wild F Jason Zucker was suspended and some talk about the Center position!

Oh, and Jackie Redmond, a host & reporter for the NHL Network, now has her own YouTube show called The Jackie Redmond Show! The people who come up with the names of these shows do excellent work, huh? Haha! Keep it simple!

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Who doesn’t love Gold?

“It’s Golden”

Team USA vs Team Sweden TODAY for 2024 IIHF WJC bragging rights!

Obviously, this is a huge game so we’ll do a recap tomorrow but…

We will say these teams have battled each other for a few years…

From The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler:


Here’s the article but, ***SPOILER ALERT***, it reveals who won!

 You don’t really think about how much these players have played each other over the years but it makes sense and it definitely makes for great hockey!

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Jason Zucker Suspended for Boarding Nick Cousins

That headline could be confusing if Cousins’ first name isn’t included! 

It seems like we could say “another day, another questionable hit in the NHL” nowadays. Former Minnesota Wild & current Arizona Coyotes’ F Jason Zucker was Suspended Three Games For Boarding Florida Panthers F Nick Cousins after Cousins hit his teammate Jusso Valimaki in the head with an elbow as he was falling to his knees.

Jason Zucker didn’t like the hit so he responded right away and retaliation was likely on his mind so he didn’t think about the safety of Nick Cousins and where he was on the ice. He also rises into the hit to make it a harder hit. 

Nick Cousins wasn’t given a penalty for his hit. Well, that is unless you count Zucker’s hit that put his head into the glass and put him in concussion protocol and no, it’s not okay to retaliate that way. Should Cousins have been assessed a penalty, too? His elbow hits Valimaki in the head but he doesn’t have much time to see Valimaki drop to his knees to try to keep the puck in the zone but the puck isn’t there yet either. Cousins did put his stick up to try to get a piece of the puck then ran into Valimaki so there isn’t a penalty there.

In the NHL Player Safety Video announcing the suspension, the announcer said, “…Zucker insists this play was not done in retribution…” That’s hard to believe because it looks like that’s 100% what it is.

What do you think, ‘Puckers?

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Front & Center…

How do teams improve at the center position?

If you were hoping the Minnesota Wild or any team could help their center position through free agency, this list should squash that. The “Marquee Names” section only has one name and that’s Calgary Flames F Elias Lindholm. Why do you think that is? 

Teams do not allow good centers to get to free agency!!! You either have to trade for them or draft them and either way is difficult because you’re projecting what a player will turn into in 2-3 years if not more. Will they develop as they move up to the higher levels of hockey? How will they adjust when they have some adversity and the game gets more difficult because the players around them are a lot better & are not just in their age group anymore? This is why the scouts & general managers making the picks want to see what they’re made of, see how they compete & how hard they work on & off the ice, and find out what kind of person & teammate they are. All of them have a ton of talent but talent can probably get you on the ice but it’s going to take some hard work to keep you there.

Elias Lindholm did have an 82-point (& 42-goal) season in 2021-22 so maybe there’s something there but that went down to 64 points (22 G) in ‘22-’23 & 26 (8 G) so far this season in 41 games. Is part of that because he’s in Calgary and they’ve struggled in those seasons? For sure but that’s also part of why it’s so difficult to find centers in the NHL right now.

One name we’re going to keep an eye on is F Alex Wennberg. He makes us think of F Jonathan Drouin, who struggled after basically forcing his way out of Tampa Bay and to Montreal 8 years ago and has found some success with the Colorado Avalanche this season to the tune of 21 points (9 goals) in 39 games. You’re probably saying, “21 points? Big deal!” Well…18 of those points (8 goals) are from the last 24 games and they also include 7 points (3 G) on the power play. He was one guy we wanted to the Minnesota Wild to try to sign in the offseason. He signed for just $825K so the 28-year-old is setting himself up for a pretty good payday in July!

We aren’t surprised that he signed with a team that has all of the pieces to win it all either!

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How can you not love Jackie Redmond?

Mariners great Edgar Martínez hits these questions out of the park!
The Jackie Redmond Show debuted from the Winter Classic

If you aren’t familiar with NHL Network host & reporter Jackie Redmond, she does an excellent job covering the NHL there and for TNT. That is surely a big reason why they are giving her her own show on YouTube!

Also, she will be covering the Minnesota Wild when they play the Dallas Stars in Dallas on Wednesday, January 10th on TNT & MAX at 6:30 pm.

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Minnesota Wild

The Record: 16-17-4 (W-L-OTL); 36 points, 7th in NHL’s Central Division 

The Minnesota Wild lost 4-1 against Tampa Bay last night as their losing streak extended to 4 games. They’ll try to snap it tomorrow night in Columbus.

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Thanks for Reading!!! 

If you missed any of the Daily Clutter Issues, Here you go:

Daily Clutter – Issue #1

The Daily Clutter for Monday, January 1st, 2024 - Issue #1

Daily Clutter – Issue #2

The Daily Clutter for January 2nd, 2024 - Issue #2

Daily Clutter – Issue #3

Daily Clutter – Issue #4

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The Daily Clutter for Thursday, January 4th, 2024 – Issue #4

What is The Daily Clutter? 

It’s pretty simple. We’re going to send out a daily post to update our fans, The ClutterPuckers, on anything Minnesota Hockey or hockey in general and we might sprinkle in some other fun things, too.

If you didn’t see the SPOILER ALERT for the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championships above, we will be covering who won today’s two Semifinal games between Sweden 🇸🇪 & Czechia 🇨🇿 and USA 🇺🇸 & Finland 🇫🇮 but we’ll put it at the bottom because we feel like we’ve seen every possible way to find out a score before watching the game and we know how much that sucks! 

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Minnesota Wild
The Record: 16-16-4 (W-L-OTL); 36 points, 7th in NHL’s Central Division

2023-24 Minnesota Wild Schedule and Results
5 Points out of the final playoff spot since Arizona would win the Tiebreakers

NHL Hockey Standings
(Tiebreaker Rules at the Bottom of the Page)

And… there are 4 other teams the Wild have to pass to get to Arizona anyway so, bottom line, they just need to worry about their game right now and not even look at the standings Winning cures everything!

Tonight’s opponent is the Tampa Bay Lightning and, for the most part, they are in the same spot as the Wild. They are also a few points out of a playoff spot after a pretty rocky start to the season. They were 10-9-5 through November but they had a better month of December when they went 8-6-0 and now they are 1 point behind the New Jersey Devils for the final playoff spot.

Team Minnesota of the PWHL

With over 7,000 tickets sold already, will PWHL Minnesota set a new women’s hockey attendance record in their home opener on Saturday?

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SPOILER ALERT!

It’s World Junior TIME!!!

Alright. This is it! We’re discussing the SEMIFINALS of the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championships so if, for some reason, you still haven’t watched the games from today, you should stop reading and watch NOW!

Also, if you haven’t watched them, what are you waiting for and why are you reading this right now? Oh, and THANK YOU for reading The Daily Clutter! The digital paper boy needs to save up for a new bike!!!

We were writing so we missed most of the Sweden vs Czechia game: 

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Then we had to start watching the USA vs Finland Semifinal late then fast-forward when we could to catch up.

Maybe the preliminary round didn’t prove too to be much of a challenge and Latvia wasn’t too much of a tough game in the quarterfinals where they won 7-2 but Team USA wasn’t great in the 1st period and ended up down 2-0 to Finland. T he two goals were not on the goalie.  The first goal was a bad turnover in front of the USA net on a play that should’ve been easy to avoid. 

USA & Minnesota Gopher D Sam Rinzel played a puck on his backhand by just tapping the puck in front of him to start breaking out of the zone but Finland F Tommi Mannisto poke-checked the puck away from & through the legs of Rinzel & towards the net then took a shot that Team USA G Trey Augustine saved but the puck still got through and behind him but it hit the post and just laid in the crease, “just lying there” and Finland F Oiva Keskinen got to it first to tap it into the empty net for an early 1-0 lead! Wow!

Sam Rinzel had a lot of options to play this differently and the one he chose was the worst one. First of all, he’s the last man back & as a defender closest to his goalie, he should know that. Second of all, you usually want to get the puck to your forehand as soon as possible because you can make a stronger play on your forehand than your backhand. He could’ve & probably should’ve turned to protect the puck with his body or moved his feet before the puck got to him so he would be on his forehand so he could’ve sent the puck around the weak side corner, passed the puck to his teammate at the weak side far boards, chipped the puck off the glass to get it out of the zone, flipped it out into the neutral zone. 

The worst option was to carelessly tap the puck with his backhand so the puck was no longer on his stick and skate in the direction of the oncoming forechecking Finnish player. It’s a learning moment in a huge game. Will it be a moment he looks back on as a terrible memory that caused a big loss in a World Junior Championship Semifinal or will it just be a bad play in a big game that he will learn from in a film session as Team USA prepares to play Sweden in the Gold Medal game tomorrow? Time will tell. These are young players who are still learning the game at a higher level. Failure is a great teacher but it’s not always your favorite teacher.

Come Back… See Here?

Breakdown of Finland's 1st goal - 2024 WJC Semifinal - January 4th, 2024
“If I had known what I’d known now… I never would’ve played so nonchalant”

A little less than 11 minutes later, Team Finland struck again when Minnesota Wild prospect F Rasmus Kumpaleinen tipped in a shot from the right point from Arttu Karki to make it 2-0 Finland. It was another goal the US goalie could do very little to stop. Tips are really difficult to judge let alone not knowing if a shot is going to get tipped to begin with then add that there was a mass of humanity in front of him… DON’T BE A GOALIE, kids! 😬

Team USA obviously knew they were going to have to make some adjustments to get back in the game. Adjust they did & they got to their game quickly in the 2nd period and didn’t really let up for the rest of the game. Broadcast analyst Dave Starman said it well, “Sometimes having an intermission when your team is on a roll is the worst thing that can happen. It looks like Finland left their game in the locker room.” 

Even though Team USA got back to their game, Finland G Niklas Kokko was playing very well as he had stopped 18 shots up until about the 8-minute mark of the 2nd period. Team USA took the shutout away when F Jimmy Snuggerud scored off a one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle to cut the deficit in half and make it a game again with 27:50 remaining in regulation to tie the game &/or take a lead! Oh yeah, that Snuggerud guy, he’s a Minnesota Gopher & one of us, too!

4 minutes later in the offensive zone, USA F Ryan Leonard (#9) came out of the left corner with the puck but lost control of the puck and it went back to USA D Ryan Chesley (#71) just to the right of the middle of the blue line and he just sent it wide right off the back boards. USA F Gabe Perrault (#34) got to it first while USA F Will Smith (#6) was battling for position in front of the net and went to go around the net. Finland D Joona Vaisanen was covering him but Smith skated so close to the net that Vaisanen couldn’t follow him. Smith continued around the net to get open for a backdoor pass. Vaisanen looked back at Perrault and realized he better get to Smith but he had to skate in front of his goalie who had gone down thinking a shot was coming but it was a pass instead of a shot. Vaisan appeared to get a piece of the pass but Smith was still able to catch it and shoot it into a gaping net and…

THIS… GAME… WAS… TIED!!!

The teams traded chances through the rest of the 2nd and 3/4ths of the 3rd period then we had to work at 3 pm. That meant I had to leave the house around 2:40 pm and we don’t get the NHL Network at work so… I had to watch my DVR recording of it about an hour later to watch the last 8 minutes of regulation.

Controversy entered the game when Finland D Kasper Kilonummi put his stick in a USA F Frank Nazur’s (#91) midsection and got part of his stick (& leg) to slow him down & make him trip just enough for the official to call him for hooking. It looks like a terrible call and you can “call it what you want” but the easy way to stop getting called for hooking is to not put your stick up in a player’s midsection or on their hands. It’s really that simple. When will the players realize that and do it? Who knows because they just keep doing it at all levels of the game.

That call loomed large because Team USA scored the go-ahead goal when USA F Cutter Gauthier (#19) took a shot from just above the right faceoff dot with USA captain F Rutger McGroarty screening the goaltender and he beat him on the short side in the upper right corner.

Team USA took a hooking penalty 40 seconds later to put Finland on the power play but the US penalty kill took care of business and they’ll get to play for gold tomorrow at 12:30 pm on the NHL Network.

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Highlights HERE:

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