Hockey Wilderness Podcast- A Minnesota Wild Podcast

It's back and bigger than ever! With less than 24 hours until the puck drops to open the Minnesota Wild season, the Hockey Wilderness Podcast wants to make sure you are ready to go! We assembled a team of 16 hockey experts to weigh in on how they think Minnesota's season will play out. How many points will they get? Can they make the Stanley Cup Final? Who will put Minnesota on their back? Find out that- as well as everyone's hottest bold prediction! Here are each of our guests, and where you can find them online! Joe Bouley (Hockey Wilderness, 2:27) Dustin Nelson (Minnesota Hockey Magazine, 7:50) Panda Pete (Twins and Losses, 22:15) Giles Ferrell (Zone Coverage, 29:50) Jessi Pierce (USA Hockey, NHL.com, 38:14) Chris Boyd (HW, 42:00) Derek Felska (Crease and Assist, 46:00) Shayna Goldman (Hockey Graphs, 1:01:20) Luke “Evolving Wild” S. (Hockey Graphs, 1:06:39) Ben Remington (Zone Coverage, 1:14:33) Heather Rule (Zone Coverage, 1:24:43) Bob Spencer (Hashtag Hockey, 1:36:52) Derek Peterson (The Athletic MN, 2:0

We're less than a week from the season, but there's other huge news afoot in Minnesota. Our local baseball club is going to make the playoffs this week. So Tony and Joe brought in our friend Panda Pete from the Twins and Losses podcast to try and do the impossible: Cover the Wild, Twins, and leave some room for breakfast talk.  Strap in, this episode is a monster. Topics include: Re-litigating last week's Appetizer Draft Reviewing last week's Training Camp Cuts Defending Carson Soucy from Tony Could Zach Parise hit the LTIR? Weighing the pros and cons of the Wild's roster bubble Craig Leipold's Stanley Cup or Bust comments What should Wild fans' expectations be? The Twins finally returning to the postseason Who was the Real MVP for the Twins this season? Joe Mauer's resurgence Previewing the one-game playoff Who should the Twins be hoping to face in the ALDS? Should we bet big money on a World Series appearance? Saying goodbye to Glen Perkins Drafting breakfast foods Should you ever eat hash browns with ket

The preseason is still dragging along, but we have a special guest to help us get through it! Not anyone you haven't heard before, mind you, but still extremely special. Joe Bouley returns to the co-host's chair, and he sat down with Tony Abbott to discuss the preseason, jerseys, and a lot more!  Topics include: Reviewing the Wild's new jerseys in action Will the "M" logo be the next 3rd jersey? Ranking the Wild's home jerseys Checking in on the position battles Parise's back is back at practice Referees are calling more slashing penalties... is that good? Did the Minnesota Wild get better or worse in the offseason? Will the Iowa Wild be any good this year? Our favorite alcoholic beverages Marshmallow roasting tips The cap implications of Parise's health problems Is Chris Stewart on the hot seat? How's Alex Stalock doing? Podcasting tips Our appetizer draft... Who will come out on top?! And much more! If you want to support the podcast, you can subscribe to us on your favorite podcasting app, tell your frie

The Minnesota Wild are back, and so is the Hockey Wilderness Podcast! We try getting back in shape during training camp, and we've recruited Derek from The Athletic MIN to help! Derek and Tony sit down to discuss all the recent happenings with the Minnesota Wild, including: The Minnesota Twins sniffing a playoff spot Why Byron Buxton is a good baseball boy Marcus Foligno's new contract Foligno's spot in the lineup Zach Parise's back issues Daniel Winnik signed to a Professional Tryout contract Is Chris Stewart in jeopardy of getting cut? The Wild at Traverse City Mikko Koivu's extension Why Koivu criticism is overblown Why Luke Kunin should start the season on the top line Kevin Gorg's chance of getting a statue at the Xcel Energy Center And much more! If you want to support the podcast, you can subscribe to us on your favorite podcasting app, tell your friends about our show, and take a few minutes to leave us an iTunes review! We appreciate any support! We'll see you soon!

We promised a second August show, and we delivered! It helps that Minnesota did their part to create buzz by signing hometown hero Matt Cullen to be their fourth-line center. To discuss that and more, Tony sat down with Derek, who you may know as @StateOfStats on Twitter.  Topics discussed: Matt Cullen's signing in Minnesota Where Cullen fits in on the depth chart Can Cullen succeed outside of Pittsburgh? Can he fix the Wild's penalty kill? The Wild's forward lineup being set Will the Wild give Marcus Foligno 3 years on his next deal? Minnesota's surprisingly high showing on Corey Pronman's prospect rankings Minnesota's severe lack of prospect death Kirill Kaprizov's amazing skill Kirill Kaprizov's not-so-amazing chances of coming to North America soon Luke Kunin vs. Joel Eriksson Ek Jordan Greenway's status as a top prospect Re-visiting the Alex Tuch trade Summer beers What our last meals would be Whether Minnesota can re-sign Mikael Granlund at the end of his contract And more Follow Derek on Twitter @Sta

After a month-long absence due to lack of news, the Hockey Wilderness Podcast re-convened when the Minnesota Wild all but ended their offseason. Their two big restricted free agents signed this week, with Nino Niederreiter taking home a 5-year, $26.25M contract, whereas Granlund re-upped for 3-years, $17.25M.  Tony and Joe sat down on Wednesday night to discuss these moves, answer your mailbag questions, and do a Sandwich Draft. Enjoy! Topics include: Nate Prosser heading to St. Louis Nino Niederreiter's new contract Whether Nino's long-term deal will mean more ice time Saying (again) that Nino is a first-line talent Can Nino accomplish the 30-goal season he wants? Breaking down the Granlund extension Why weren't the Wild willing to commit to Granlund long-term? What kind of player will Granlund be going forward? Grading the Wild's offseason Will Kirill Kaprizov or Jordan Greenway see time with the Wild? We draft our favorite sandwiches. Who will be the first pick??? and more! If you want to support the pod

Last week, we bemoaned the lack of movement happening with the roster. My, how things change in a week. The Minnesota Wild made their big move, shipping out Marco Scandella and Jason Pominville for Tyler Ennis and Marcus Foligno. It's a big trade that we have a lot of opinions about. Listen to those. You'll also want to hear about all of Minnesota's Free Agents, especially because you've not heard of a bunch of these guys.  So here we go. Topics include: The Scandella/Pominville trade How that trade freed up much less cap space than most think Playing Captain Hindsight with a Scandella trade The inherent risk of Ennis Why Foligno might not be that bad Why Scandella got less value than expected Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund filing for arbitration Breaking down the Wild's free agents Suggesting names for the remaining needs for Minnesota Departing Wild free agents Why Dallas is scary again Connor McDavid's $100 million deal And more! If you want to support the podcast, you can subscribe to us on your

The Minnesota Wild had a quiet NHL Draft, completely void of the big trades we'd thought they might make- and certainly not the types of deals other teams swung at the Draft.  Tony sat down on Wednesday night to recap the Draft weekend, set the stage for Free Agency, and answer a ton of your questions about jerseys, potential trades, and more! Topics included: The Jordan Schroeder trade and it's intriguing return Bob Woods taking over for Scott Stevens Ivan Lodnia and Mason Shaw bringing skill, but no size Recapping the rest of the Wild's draft Discussing the lack of trades for the Wild Are the Wolves now a more interesting team than the Wild? Looking over the Wild's not-great free agent options Assessing the new-look Wild jerseys Why hoodies are superior to jerseys Will the Wild avoid Cap Recapture with Zach Parise and Ryan Suter? Could a Nino Niederreiter or Mikael Granlund trade be beneficial? Matt Cullen's free agent status Tony's ideal free agent signing Best trade of the offseason Best and worst of the

Expansion is finally over, and we can all finally move on with our lives! But before we fully cast our attention to NHL Draft Weekend, we decided to do a mid-week podcast to assess the impact and fallout of the Expansion Draft. Our good friend Dustin Nelson joins the podcast to discuss that and more! Topics include: The awful NHL Awards Mikko Koivu losing the Selke "The Pledge" Whether Vegas used their leverage well enough Does this new team even want to be competitive? Whether the current Golden Knights will be there in 3 years Why Erik Haula was a best-case scenario for the Wild in Expansion How Minnesota's depth may have helped them at the Draft Will Alex Tuch be a major loss for Minnesota? Reigniting the rumored Alex Galchenyuk talks Can anyone pry the Wild away from Jonas Brodin or Matt Dumba? Drooling over the near-impossible possibility of a Minnesota-Toronto trade And more! If you want to support the show, please subscribe on your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to take a few moments to go rate

It's here! After months of speculation, of trade rumors, of positioning and jockeying to preserve as many players for the Expansion Draft, the day has finally arrived for GMs to put their cards on the table and decide who they don't want the Vegas Golden Knights to swipe from their rosters. The Minnesota Wild were no exception, and they had to make some incredibly difficult decisions as to who to protect, and who to expose. Tony and Joe sat down right after those decisions were made public to discuss them at length. Topics include: The Minnesota Wild's massive trade this week! How will Tyler Graovac's loss impact the roster? The Minnesota Wild finishing in second for the Jonathan Drouin Sweepstakes Drouin's contract, and whether we'd want to take a risk on that Minnesota's trade rumors with Montreal The (apparently very real) steam surrounding flipping Scandella for Galchenyuk Would losing both Brodin and Scandella really be as bad as the Wild think? Why the Wild's "kids" should stop being seen as kids in tr

We're now a week away from the Expansion Draft, and things are heating up! We assume. No doubt the Wild's front office is working hard behind the scenes to sort things out, but the actual news getting out there is at a crawl. But don't worry! Even with a light news week for the State of Hockey, we still bring it in a jam-packed episode. Because there's something about expansion we've yet to discuss. What are the Vegas Golden Knights going to look like, anyway? To find out, Joe and Tony decided to do an Expansion Mock Draft. Joe played GM for the Eastern Conference, Tony the Western, each deciding who to protect for their respective teams. Then, they each played Vegas, picking from the players the other left exposed. Once you get through the episode, you'll see a team that might well resemble what the Golden Knights will look like in their first season. Topics include: Pittsburgh winning the Stanley Cup Nashville's electric atmosphere Matt Cullen's victory lap Jake Guentzel's ascension Expansion Mock Draft W

We're back, and it's trade season. The Expansion Draft draws even nearer, which means the Minnesota Wild will want to be doing some shuffling before that time comes. To prepare for this, Tony sat down with Alec Schmidt, and the two ranked the Minnesota Wild's most tradeable assets, then looked around the league for trade targets.  Topics included: How Nashville managed to win without tanking Building through trades Why Chuck Fletcher hasn't been able to pull off a franchise-changing trade Would other teams really value a Jonas Brodin? How Mikko Koivu's trade value is higher than we think Why Alec is on #TeamExposeStaal Should the Wild sell high on Charlie Coyle? Is Matt Dumba the Wild's most coveted (moveable) asset? How Nino Niederreiter is valuable even during slumps Who is Minnesota's most valuable asset? Do the Wild need Jordan Eberle? Is Alex Galchenyuk the center they need? How the #3 Overall pick could solve the Wild's expansion woes Should Minnesota take a gamble on Sam Bennett? How Derek Stepan coul

This is it. The big one. With Las Vegas conducting their expansion draft in just 3 weeks' time, it's time to give it our full attention. Barry joined Tony on Tuesday night, and they sat down to break down the Wild's options. Who should they protect??? Find out! Topics include: Scott Stevens' surprise resignation What a $77 million salary cap could mean to Minnesota More Kirill Kaprizov KHL rumors Could Minnesota be on on Dallas #3 overall draft pick? Erik Haula on the outside, looking in Should Jason Pominville agree to waive his no-movement clause? Debating the value of Mikael Granlund vs. Nino Niederreiter Should Zucker be a no-brainer to protect? Charlie Coyle at a crossroads Can the Wild afford to lose Eric Staal? Could Gustav Olofsson be a dark horse for Vegas? Did Marco Scandella raise his stock enough to be taken or protected? Jonas Brodin's reliability vs. Matt Dumba's upside And more! If you want to support our show, subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app, tell your friends about us and leav

With the expansion draft a month away, the hot stove is finally starting to heat up! But guess what? Minnesota has a first-place team to talk about. So Tony and Joe sat down to chat with our good buddy Panda Pete of the Twins and Losses Supershow to discuss the Minnesota Twins' surprising start! We then talk about the Minnesota Wild and 90s music. Topics include: What's causing the Twins' hot start? Are the Twinkies ahead of schedule? Miguel Sano coming into his own Concerns about Byron Buxton Ervin Santana's hot start Jose Berrios' 2017 debut Looking at the Alex Ovechkin hate- Is any of it justified? Tony says something really dumb about Ovechkin Nino Niederreiter trade rumors Protect, Expose, Trade: Nino, Jason Zucker, Charlie Coyle Protect, Expose, Trade: Matt Dumba, Jonas Brodin, Marco Scandella Singing the praises of coleslaw 90s Album Draft- Tony, Pete, and Joe draft their favorite albums in the 90s And much more! If you want to show the Hockey Wilderness Podcast some love, start by subscribing to ou

Guess who's back? Back again? Bouley's back. Tell a friend. With Joe back on the podcast, we talk about cleanout day, Mike Yeo, Miguel Sano and more! Topics include: Fawning over Miguel Sano Joe's thoughts on the series Joe and Tony argue over Mike Yeo Mikael Granlund's broken hand Random surgeries Kirill Kaprizov's new Russian team Which 3 Wild players we'd build around Blowing up the core Trade partners within the division Twin Cities play by play options Is fountain Coke the best Coke? Our least favorite fanbases Best video game systems The Draft Lottery The underrated greatness of Blake Wheeler And more! If you want to support our show, make sure to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app. We also appreciate iTunes reviews, and you sharing us with your friends. We'll be back next week!

Well, the Minnesota Wild's season ended not with a bang, but a hot goalie. The Wild were eliminated by the Blues in just 5 games. It's not a fun time to be a Wild fan, but it's time to take a quick look back at the series, and then look ahead to the summer. To help do that, we brought in Matthew Coller of ESPN and ESPN 1500. Matthew joins the show to discuss what went wrong, what's still good, and what's needed going forward. Topics include: Oh, my God. Are we talking about the Vikings??? THE VIKINGS?????? How weird it was that Jake Allen stole the series without looking all that superhuman What the Blues did right in defending the Wild Whether the Wild played into the Blues' hands, or if they did the right thing Did Boudreau do anything different in the postseason? Chuck Fletcher's end-of-season press conference Who could even fill the missing "SUPERSTAR" role for the Wild? Why trading Mikael Granlund could maybe be a good idea Matthew weighs in on the expansion draft Thanks to Matthew for joining the show

It's crunch time for the Minnesota Wild. Time for them to show what they're made of, and all that stuff. Maybe something about grit. I don't know. Playing the right way probably would help. What the hell am I even saying right now? Anyway, Minnesota is fighting for their playoff lives after going down 3-0 in the series to start. A win on Wednesday bought them some time, but they still need to win 3 straight against a goalie that has pretty much slammed the door on the Wild this series.  Tony sat down on Thursday night to talk about where things went wrong, the reasons Minnesota has for hope, and answers a ton of mailbag questions. Topics include: A quick rundown of the series Stupid Jake Allen How the Wild out-played St. Louis Devan Dubnyk's strong series Why Tony is confident Minnesota can pull off the "Reverse Sweep" Is Mike Yeo really coaching well this series? Minnesota's Black Aces- should any of them play? Mikko Koivu's Selke nomination Who should Koivu run in Game 5? Tony argues passionately against f

It's Playoff Season, and we're #COMM17TED to bringing you the best playoff preview we possibly can here at the Hockey Wilderness Podcast! The Wild will be facing the Blues, and Tim and Tyler from Beyond Checkerdome stopped by to give us a breakdown from the St. Louis perspective. Then, Tony talked to Joe Bouley, and they looked at the series from the Wild side of things. Topics included: How St. Louis overcame the loss of 3 key players What Mike Yeo has done for the Blues How a coaching change resurrected Jake Allen's season How St. Louis' identity changed from the last playoff match-up Who is scary besides Vladimir Tarasenko? Can Allen or Devan Dubnyk become "playoff goalies"? Is Minnesota the ideal match-up for the Blues? Who is the player St. Louis most needs to shut down? Minnesota's massive depth advantage Does Mike Yeo's return make us nervous? Why Yeo will need to change up his style to beat Minnesota The Wild's transition game Goalie troubles with the Wild X-Factors for the Wild this series Our Pred

It's over! The long grind of the 82-game season is finally over, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs are finally here. We'll get into the Wild vs. Blues match-up in the next couple of days, but first we wanted to put a wrap on the regular season. Joe and Barry sat down with Tony to recap the season, revisit our Opening Night Predictions, and chat about who the Minnesota Wild's MVP was. Topics included: The Wild earning a franchise-best 106 points. Does that mean anything to us? Jason Zucker's return, Carly Aplin dominating Twitter Jared Spurgeon's injury Mikko Koivu, Devan Dubnyk, and Mikael Granlund getting rest Charlie Coyle's streaky af season Eric Staal exceeding everyone's wildest expectations Looking back at how crazy we thought the idea of a Granlund breakout year was Devan Dubnyk squandering his Vezina lead  Checking in on the blue line's development What stopped Jason Zucker and Nino Niederreiter from getting into the Wild MVP conversation Why Mikko Koivu deserves some love The Wild's sudden spike in posse

The Minnesota Wild are finally starting to come out of their brutal March slump. This past week saw Minnesota claim 5 of an available 8 points (Hey, it's a start) as the Wild are looking to get momentum heading into the playoffs. Which are a week away, you guys! So, to get our podcasting game right for the postseason, we brought in long-time Hockey Wilderness writer Chris Boyd for this episode, PLUS Todd Milewski, the Badger Hockey beat writer for the Wisconsin State Journal. Topics included: Alexander Ovechkin's Hat Trick of Terror Nino Niederreiter busting out of his slump Alex Stalock's great debut and subsequent demotion The return of Joel "Eazy E" Eriksson Ek Eric Staal's Masterson nomination, and a few other Staal tangents Changes coming to Minnesota's sweaters Finding out about the tenacious Luke Kunin Why Minnesota slumps hard every year Will Darcy Kuemper ever start another meaningful game for Minnesota? Who will have more wins in April: The Wild or Twins? Does regular season momentum matter in the