Dan Wallace: Talbot Gets the Nod In AZ Rematch

Did anyone hear what Walz said during the Friday night broadcast on FSN? Wow! It was at the 7 minute mark of the 3rd period when Walz announced that the Wild have two Superstars!!!!! He didn't mention who they were but I believe he was talking about Fiala and Kiprizov. On Monday night he announced to the FSN viewers that he NEVER uses the word superstar but felt that Fiala was officially a superstar In his view. We shall see If WW gets out over his skies tonight.

Did anyone hear what Walz said during the Friday night broadcast on FSN? Wow! It was at the 7 minute mark of the 3rd period when Walz announced that the Wild have two Superstars!!!!! He didn't mention who they were but I believe he was talking about Fiala and Kiprizov. On Monday night he announced to the FSN viewers that he NEVER uses the word superstar but felt that Fiala was officially a superstar In his view. We shall see If WW gets out over his skies tonight.
- Shady1962

Not sure if you heard WW make the comparison of Kaprizov and Zuccarello to one #99 and #17 during last night's game as well. Just may be a little overzealous but in his defense the Wild have never had skill like Kaprizov even remotely since their inception back in 2000.

I'm starting to fall off of the Fiala bandwagon. He is talented player, that's for sure. But I think he has started pouting because of the instant success of

Watching the PP right now in the 2nd period at the 7 minute mark. Just watched Dumba and Spurgeon run right into each other while trying to carry the puck in.

And playing Rask with Zuccarello and Kaprizov has got to stop. He just isn't imaginative to be playing with those 2. Shady, I agree with you that it would be nice to be seeing Rossi in between those 2 this year, just not going to happen. And watching Sturm and his failed attmept to skate out of the zone with the puck on the PK, only to have it stripped away from him is making me rethink the idea of Sturm centering MZ and KK. Maybe that is where Hartman should be once he comes back.

And this PP is ugly. Not just this one that is going on right now, but the PP in general.

I appreciated Foligno's class for obligingly fighting Hayden and not taking him out behind the woodshed but staged fighting has to go. It's freaking embarrassing! Don't get me wrong I'm a hockey guy and violence Is my favorite color.

Hunt and Soucy are not going to be apart of the Wild future and based on that fact I don't see any reason why Addison can't get some guarded minutes against teams like Anaheim, LA, Arizona.

Hunt and Soucy are not going to be apart of the Wild future and based on that fact I don't see any reason why Addison can't get some guarded minutes against teams like Anaheim, LA, Arizona.
- Shady1962

I hate agreeing with this, because Soucy is a UMD alum and Hunt is a cheap 7th Dman, but I think you are correct Shady. Hunt might stay around, because he is relatively cheap. But Soucy is too up and down in his consistency.

Coyotes just scored their 4th goal. Since the end of the 1st period, the Wild have looked lost.

The Wild are now 11 and 5 against teams that will not make the playoffs and they are 2 and 4 against teams that will make the playoffs. So the way I see It Minnesota Is right on track, Remember that we are In a rebuild, Remember that we have the right people running the rebuild, And remember how freaking fun they are to watch, As far as tonight goes well my dad used to say that life Is a go cart race and sometimes we run Into the hay bails. FYI. The Wild will play the Blues 8 times between March 25th and May 1st.

The Wild are now 11 and 5 against teams that will not make the playoffs and they are 2 and 4 against teams that will make the playoffs. So the way I see It Minnesota Is right on track, Remember that we are In a rebuild, Remember that we have the right people running the rebuild, And remember how freaking fun they are to watch, As far as tonight goes well my dad used to say that life Is a go cart race and sometimes we run Into the hay bails. FYI. The Wild will play the Blues 8 times between March 25th and May 1st.
- Shady1962

Been thinking on this since reading it. Yeah, the Wild are basically in a rebuild, but some things might be making it a rebuild that happens faster then normal. I am really starting to think it was a blessing in dsiguise that Dubnyk was so terrible last year. That gave Kahkonen a few more chances last year to see the speed and play of the NHL. I'm not ready just yet to crown Kahkonen the #1 goalie, but in this small sample so far, it's starting to look good. He's young enough that he can still continue to improve his game for the next 3 years or so, that is going to be a very good thing for the Wild. Kaprizov appears to be everything as advertised and more. Fiala seems to have regressed a tad this year, but he is pretty streaky also.

And if there is continued improvement from the likes of Boldy, Rossi, Khusnutdinov, Nesterenko, Beckman, Lodnia, Dewar and Shaw, it doesn't look all that bad. I actually hoping we actually get to see the 2 local guys that were 7th Rd draft picks in Nick Swaney (UMD) and Sam Hentges (St. Cloud).