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Wild v. Leafs In Early Season East-West Showdown

December 4, 2021, 11:59 AM ET [9 Comments]
Dan Wallace
Minnesota Wild Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Two of the NHL's best will face off tonight in St. Paul as the Wild play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It will be an early season heavy weight battle between two teams that share the same goal. That is to erase the playoff failures of years past and make a run at the Holy Grail.

The one difference of course is that the Leafs are the darlings of every Canadian well at least the ones outside of the other six Canadian NHL markets. They have been chasing the elusive Cup since they last won it way back in 1967. The Wild have only been existence since 2000.

Both teams have gone the route of cast-off goaltenders to carry the load with the Wild signing Cam Talbot to a very reasonable 3-year deal prior to last season to replace the aging Devan Dubnyk. Toronto made an under the radar trade with Los Angeles to acquire Jack Campbell, the former 1st (2010, #11 overall Dallas) who had never lived up to his pre-draft billing.

Campbell and Talbot have taken the crease of their respective teams and never looked back. They have made it an easy decision for the coaches to insert them with confidence nearly every night.

Obviously the Leafs have supreme top end talent with Auston Matthews, John Taveras, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander to go along with the solid goaltending and tremendous defense. The Wild have Kirill Kaprizov leading the way but the supporting cast of Joel Eriksson Ek, Ryan Hartman, and Marcus Foligno don't carry the flashy names but in the Wild formula they are equally as valuable.

The one name I left out was that of Kevin Fiala who is still stuck on just two goals and although the chances are there on a nightly basis he needs to start scoring goals and soon.

The real separation the Wild have shown with the majority of their opponents so far this season has been with their depth scoring as well as the play of the fourth line every night and nearly every shift. Nico Sturm, Nick Bjugstad, and Brandon Duhaime have been arguably one if the NHL's best fourth lines and very reliable for Dean Evason at any time during games.

It is just another regular season game, but it does have the feel of a measuring stick, and don't just think that is the case for the Wild, because it is just that for the Leafs as well. That in itself tells you just how far the Wild have come in a very short period of time under Bill Guerin's watch...

It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
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