EMERGENCY: Minnesota Wild’s Injury LIST GROWS—Will John Hynes Be FORCED to Shake Up Entire Lineup?

EMERGENCY: Minnesota Wild’s Injury LIST GROWS—Will John Hynes Be FORCED to Shake Up Entire Lineup?

On today’s episode of Lockdown Wild, the Wild beat Seattle last night 4 to one, but lost Matt Sigurella in the process. We’ll take a look at his injury timetable and why Vladimir Terosenko is going to have to prove his worth for the upcoming home. Hey, this is Matt Faldi and you’re listening to Locked on Wild. Hey, this is Marcus Fino and you’re listening to Locked on Wild. You’re Locked on Wild. Your daily podcast on the Minnesota Wild, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hello, I’m Seth Toppel. Welcome to Locked On, part of the Locked On Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. Locked on Wild is your daily Minnesota Wild podcast. We are your team each and every day and we thank you for making Lockdown Wild your first listen each and every day as well. Make sure you subscribe on all of your favorite audio platforms and follow us on YouTube so you don’t miss out on any new episodes throughout the week. Today’s episode of Locked Down Wild is brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. On today’s episode of Lockdown Wild, we will discuss the 4 to1 win over the Seattle Kraken that led to a Matt Zorello injury. We’ll talk about the Wild’s response to Zukarelloo getting knocked out of the game. We’ll also take a look at what the lineup looks like now that Zuckerello is likely going to miss at least a few games. We’ll update on other players who could be out of the lineup as well. and uh we’ll put the pieces together for a big matchup coming up on Thursday against the Dallas Stars. My name is Seth Toppel, host of Lockdown Wild, credentialed media member, and I have covered the Minnesota Wild for the last five seasons. Last night, the Minnesota Wild rallied to beat the Seattle Kraken by a score of 4 to one. Couple of empty net goals pushed a close game out of reach in the later stages, but there was way more that happened through the course of the game than simply a couple of goals to widen the margin at the end. The Minnesota Wild likely lost Matt Zurell for at least the next few games after a hit from Vince Dunn that knocked Zakarelloo to the ice, staggered him. He was woozy when he was taken to the uh first the bench, then down the tunnel. And the thing that stood out to me most, and this is it’s a similar situation, uh depending on who ends up being on the receiving end of hits like this. Now, I did see reaction from both sides of of the hit. Uh, I saw the discussion that Zukarella has got to keep his head up uh to anticipate a hit like that. Uh, didn’t seem like anything malicious from Vince Dunn, but at the end of the day for me, head contact is head contact. And if you’re going to light a guy up, go straight into the middle of his chest. Dun came in at an angle, ended up getting Zukarelloo in the head. Uh, kind of a a forearm on uh on jaw type hit. Zukarella immediately went down to the ice. Head hit the ice at a pretty good clip. Uh so Zukarella did not play for the rest of the game. Denilov at that immediate point in the game. Looked like he had uh a taste for blood. Uh ended up taking a double minor because he tried to get Vince Dunn to answer for the hit. Carrill Capri off as well was uh was seeing red like a uh like a bull uh trying to find the matador in his cape. Absolutely just blood lust in his eyes. Both of those guys wanted to make somebody atone for knocking Matt Sakarelloo out of the game. Ryan Hartman later in the game tried to get Vince Dunn to fight to answer for the hit. Vince Dunn would have no part of it. And Vince Dunn on the bigger side. Matt Sukarella certainly is not, but um you know that that was just one of many plays that looks like they had a bit of a pointed attempt on by the Seattle Kraken. And I’ll say this, I have always held the stance that if a player is going to take a penalty trying to call somebody to the mat for a hit, whether it be an egregious hit or even a even a close bang bang hit. We’ve seen we’ve seen many Wild players on the other end of that type of play to where they’ve been asked to kind of face the music, so to speak. I will never have issue with a Minnesota Wild player getting a roughing or instigator. I know instigator is more on the extreme case. I will never have a problem with a Minnesota Wild player trying to get some level of justice when a teammate gets knocked out of the game. I did not expect that to be from Denil Yurov in the slightest and uh the fact that it came from Yurov and Capri off both on the front end. Props to Ryan Hartman. But at the, you know, at the same time, you can ask a player or you can bluntly tell a player, hey, we’re going to go. If they elect to not fight, that’s on them. This happened uh a couple of years ago with Carell Capri off and the Winnipeg Jets. and Capri off got hit heavy. Matt Baldy tried uh and ended up having to go physically grab the asalent and try to get him back for the hit. Jake Middleton later in the game tried to get I forget which Winnipeg player it was tried later in the game to uh to get that player to fight and that player wouldn’t have any of it. That’s on them. that speaks to them and kind of where their situation is at. Um I I look more to seeing players actually trying to respond as opposed to what we’ve seen many times in that case where just nothing comes of it. And to the Jets to just further add to it, the next game that particular player was buried on the fourth line and played something like two minutes. So, the fact that Vince Dunn was not willing to go onto the stage to atone for that type of a hit, which again, it was a bang bang play. I don’t think there was anything malicious behind it, but at the same time, when it’s that close, when it’s that much of a bang bang play, I don’t fault Wild players whatsoever for taking exception to it. And I just look, I guess, to see what happens the next time these two teams square off, uh, to see what happens to, uh, to Vince Dunn because it’s it’s not over. It’s not settled. It’s the same thing that happened to Zachary Laroo with the, um, Nashville Predators. the Wild just circled the next game and said, “All right, you uh you didn’t atone for it this time. We’ll get you the next time.” So, this is far from over. It was uh it was a game that didn’t it wasn’t overtly physical, but it did have some physicality mixed in for sure. And after that play, the Wilds seemed to uh to develop a sense of being a little ticked off by uh that series of events, which led to them being able to take the lead and uh led to them being able to win the game. But obviously with not only the Zakarella injury, but the Middleton, Hartman, Sturm, and Baldi injuries, it was a game that extracted a heavy toll. And in addition to Marco Rossi and Vinnie Henestro being on the shelf right now, now it looks like your shelf’s going to get a little more full, which is not great. the the Wilds are continuing to be weighed down by the injuries in the lineup, but uh we’ll give you an update as to the status of particular players later in the show as we take a look at just, you know, what on earth is the lineup supposed to look like for this team now that particular players are out. Uh we will further discuss next some of what we saw throughout the game. Obviously with players getting knocked out, we saw a bunch of different line combinations, who popped, who didn’t. We’ll get you uh some thoughts on last night’s match up against the Seattle Kraken as we continue today’s episode of Lockown Wild after this. Today’s episode of Lockown Wild is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you are reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. My favorite part about NFL games, favorite way to get FanDuel involved is either the anytime touchdown for a particular player or the first half under. Think about it. Teams have the scripted plays in the first half. The scripted drives, unless they get completely blown up, the scripted drives usually take some time off the clock. You have teams then adjusting. Uh heck, the uh Minnesota Vikings game, a great example of that. The Vikings had a 14- nothing lead over the Commanders uh late in the first half. That two touchdowns on the board, that’s uh that’s a guaranteed winner just about every time NFL games are played. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. Welcome back to today’s edition of Locked on Wild. Once again, we thank you for making Lockown Wild your first listen each and every day and for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network. If you’re a true diehard Minnesota Wild fan, the Everyday All Access tier is built just for you. You’ll get one-on-one text access with me, all access episodes, and exclusive newsletter, and a 15% discount to the Locked On merch store. Head to lockdown wild.supcast.com to join the Everyday program and to unlock all access. You can also find the link in today’s show notes. I had a couple of thoughts from the game against the Seattle Kraken. uh a 4 to1 win for the Minnesota Wild. We saw a run of 24 straight penalty kills come to an end for the Minnesota Wild. This is the first time in at least three seasons that the Minnesota Wild have had a sub 80% penalty kill. Um it has not been since the uh 2020 2021 season that the Minnesota Wild had a penalty kill that high. They came close in 2122. Uh but they were not quite at that same level. But, uh, this year they, uh, they’ve put themselves in some, uh, rarified territory as the Wild’s currently 18th on the penalty kill, which doesn’t sound great, but the fact that it’s at 80.6% honestly is is just, it floores me. The fact that we finally have seemingly a uh, a steady penalty kill. If we look back at the last few seasons, the Wild were at 80.7 in the 2020 2021 season. Then in 2021 2022, they dropped to 76.7. They scored a million goals that season, so who cares? In 2022 2023, uh, the Wild actually had 82%. So, uh, I take back my previous statement, 2223, the last time the Wild were above 80% on the PK. Then the bottom fell out. 23 24 they were at 74.5% this uh past season they were at 72% and now this year they’re back up to uh 80%. However, Wild Power Play is trending in the exact opposite direction. They’re now down to 11th in the NHL in power play at 22.1%. They’re two for the last 22 on the power play and the movement has stagnated. The passing has amplified. The Wild just they’re waiting for too perfect in opportunity and it’s like you’re trying to bounce a rubber ball in between four stone pillars. It’s pretty easy to telegraph that if you’re an opponent. pretty easy to telegraph what the Wild are doing when there’s no movement involved on the power play. And I just want to I just want to throw out there because I have seen it suggested that the source of all of the Minnesota Wild’s issues on the power play stems from Vladimir Terasenko being pulled off the top power play unit. Uh if we go earlier to the season, Terasenko had four power play points in the month of October, two power play points in the month of November. So he’s got six total on the season. One power play goal and six power play points on the season. Well, let’s let’s go by month. Let’s just look let’s just look at um how that unit has performed on a month-by-month basis. So let’s start with October 1st and uh run that to October 31st. The Minnesota Wilds power play in that span uh 29.2% through the first month of the season. That was fourth best in the league over the uh the first month of the year. Now, let’s take a look at how things went in the month of November. Uh the Minnesota Wilds power play in that stretch, 18.6%. That was uh 12th best in the league. And how about how it has done so far in December? How’s the Wilds pen power play done since November 1st? November 1st to December 9th, they are 21st in the league at 16.1%. I mean, could it be that Vladimir Terosenko just unlocks all of the potential of this power play and when he’s not on the top unit, it’s impossible for them to perform. I guess it’s possible. I don’t find that likely. a power play unit that has Carell Capri off, Matt Sakurella, Matt Baldy, Juel Erikson as your four forwards and either Zeve Boyam or Brock Faber as your defenseman. I’m sorry, but that’s a unit that by that metric, they should be far better than they are. It comes down to effort. It comes down to effort and desire to move. desire to move around the zone and to actually make things happen as opposed to just trying to pinball your way to power play goals. Pinball is not going to get it done. Pinball is pinball. It’s not power play. So, that unit is in desperate need of something to happen. You know what? Go ahead. Put Terasenko on the top power play unit. I don’t care. But get it fixed. get it so that we have actually two semifunctional special teams units um as the uh the season unfolds. Uh the Minnesota Wild by the way 133 and two since November 1st and as points go they are third in the league in that span. They are two points behind Dallas, three points behind two points behind Colorado, three points behind Dallas. Couple of other observations that I had from the Seattle game. Uh the Baldi Ericen X Johansson line was the line that carried the day. Uh in the 10 minutes that that line played together, they had two goals, four. They um had an even shots on goals, 64, six against. They had a uh 61.3% expected goals. They had a 51 and a half percent Cory rate. All positive territory. And uh good to see because if Zuckerella is going to be out of the lineup, that’s going to be the line that is uh that’s going to be the one that is probably relied upon depending on how the rest of the top six looks. Uh, as far as the expected goals go amongst the line combinations, and we saw a ton of them because of the Zuckerello injury. Um, in the one uh the few that played long enough minutes to uh to actually be good, um, Capri off, Yurov, and Zukarella were off to a fantastic start uh before the Zukarella injury. Uh, Capri off Hartman and Terasenko got four minutes together. They had a 94.8% expected goals. That’s in four minutes. Uh, the other the Capri off Yurov Terasenko line, they played six minutes together and they got torched. They got cratered. They were responsible for five shots on goal against in the six minutes and just won four. expected goals percentage is 17.5%. So that will not be your top line. I can just about promise you that that will not be your topline combination while Matt Sigurella is out. We will talk about uh possibilities for those situations um in just a bit. This might have been one of the better games of the season for Juel Ericen. He was an absolute monster. He had a goal. He had two assists. uh he ended up in uh positive territory uh above 50% in the uh faceoff circle. Uh excuse me, right at 50. Uh just it it looked like somebody who was really eager to make an impact on both sides of the ice and he absolutely did. Uh other things that I like to see was Marcus Johansson snapping a little bit of a goal drought in the top six. Carrill Capri off snapping a gold drought himself. His play was much better. Hopefully by getting the empty netter at the end that will kind of get him going again. The Wilds they they cannot as currently constructed they cannot afford to have Carill or Matt Baldy go through extended stretches of quiet. You just you can’t have that. You got to have those guys active and involved every game and scoring in most as currently constructed. Uh as we get further into the month of December, we’ll start to take a look at some possibilities as far as the trade routes go. I just continue to think it’s way too early at this point. You’re not going to see any trades done until probably closer to Christmas or just after. Uh so until such point as we start to really hear things ramp up, the team that you have is the team that you’re going to be going to war with on a nightly basis. So we’ll uh we’ll keep an eye on that, of course, for you. And uh when we do get some some steam, some legitimate rumors, uh we’ll uh we’ll make sure to pass those along. I want to finish tonight’s show by taking a look at the injury situation. who is going to miss time, who is not going to miss time. The Wild got some really good news in one case. Um, as far as the injuries go. So, we’ll take a look at all the injury situations and where it leaves the lineup. What is the lineup going to look like for all the lineup heathens out there? Uh, we’ll discuss to finish today’s episode of Locked on Wild after this. Today’s episode of Locked on Wild is brought to you by Game Time. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. And with 48 teams for the first time ever, it’s going to be massive. But let’s be honest, getting tickets is usually the hardest part. That’s why the Game Time app is so clutch. Finally giving fans a real advantage when it comes to snagging seats. With Game Time, you can track price drops in real time, get alerts when great seats open, and buy tickets the moment they hit the app. It puts the power back in your hands. Makes and makes going to the World Cup realistic instead of impossible. Think about how many different venues are going to be used for the World Cup, many of which you probably have not had a chance to go to yet in person. This is where another key game time feature comes into play. The panoramic seat view will show you exactly what your sight lines are from your particular seat, which makes being a road fan no problem at all. So, take the guesswork out of buying World Cup tickets and every match, concert, or event with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, download the app, make an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket. Go. Game time. Final segment of today’s episode of Lockdown Wild. Once again, we thank you for making Lockdown Wild your first listen. each and every day. Apologies last night. Lost my internet, so we didn’t have a chance to uh get you Denny’s latest show, but fear not. Tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m., we’ll be ready to rock and Denny has trade targets as well as a look at what has gone wrong for the Minnesota Wild over the last handful of games. We’ll talk about the two and two road trip. Plenty on tap, so make sure to mark your calendar so you don’t miss out. 8:00 PM right here on YouTube for the latest show from Denny. Uh let’s talk about the lineup situation for the Minnesota Wild. Not ideal with, as mentioned, five different players exiting at various points due to injury. Let’s start off with the best news of the bunch. Matt Baldy, who left the game late after blocking a shot, is not expected to miss any time according to Michael Russo. not expected to miss any time due to that injury. Uh just took a uh a puck to the midsection. Probably had the breath knocked out of his lungs. Uh maybe a bruise. You never know. But the fact that he’s not going to miss any time is major cuz I I shudder to think at what the Minnesota Wild would look like without what Baldi has been able to do so far this season. As of now, the Wild are not sure how long Matt Sarello and Jake Middleton will be out. That’s the bummer is that it looks like those two will both miss uh some time. And uh I didn’t there wasn’t an official designation in either case, but feel pretty confident that Zuckerella’s was uh some level of a concussion. Uh Jake Middleton likely going to be the same thing. Uh but this comes after John Hines said that Zuckerella was okay after the um after the Seattle game. Um obviously with concussions though they come and go. So you can feel great one minute and you don’t feel good the next. So that’s a problem. Zukarella out of the lineup. You see what this offense turns into when he is uh is out. So that is concerning to say the least. Now Middleton as well, I know his numbers have been up and down this season and if we’re really looking into it, they were down last year as well, but still one of your bigger defenseman, one of your more physical defensemen. him not being in the lineup creates a problem because it leads to situations like we saw against Seattle, you know, where you have bigger players on the other team and you don’t really have anybody big enough to match. Marcus Felinino’s out right now, so you’re you’re down to pretty much Yakov Trenion and Zach Begoian and that’s it. So it just limits your ability to kind of keep the other players on the opposite team in check with how this roster is constructed. So, Middleton being out of the lineup, that is a problem as well. Did not see any updates on Ryan Hartman or Nico Sturm. That also creates some problems. Just think about the situation. If Hartman and Sturm were to miss a game, who in the blue blazes are you going to slot in as your centers? you’re gonna have to go Yakov Trenion and you’d probably honestly you’d probably have to give Matt Baldy a try. So hopefully I hopefully both are able to uh to stick in because if you miss if you’re missing one or two of those, especially Sturm and Hart and Hartman, that’s uh that’s a disaster. Uh so the injury situation just continues to be uh just hideous uh for this Minnesota Wild team. Now let’s pull Matt Darella out of the lineup and try to figure out what the lineup is going to look like. So you’ve got Carell Capri off. Danilov, Marcus Johansson, Julen, Matt Baldies are top six right now. you are in a situation where you are going to likely elevate either Liam Ogrren or Vladimir Terosenko to fill Zukarella’s spot. Not his spot in the lineup, his spot in the top six because I think with Zukarelloo out likely going to see Matt Baldy elevate up to the top line. um that that combination with Capri off Yurro and Terasenko they got they got torched defensively. Matt Baldy at least is a responsible enough defender to where he can bring some level of defense to that combination. So that means you’re probably looking at Vladimir Turoseno on the second line. And so for everybody in the Vladimir Terosenko fan club, are you paying attention? You’re going to get your opportunity to see Terasenko in the top six. And I hope for my sanity sake that the empty neter that he scored against the Seattle Kraken gets him going because I, as I have said many times, every day know my stance on this quite well. Vladimir Terasena was brought in for the sole express purpose to score goals. He was not brought in to be a checking forward. He was not brought in to be a primary assist or a secondary assist guy. He was brought in to be a goal scorer. Three goals in 23 games is not that that is an eightgoal pace for the season, which is worse than his pace from last year. So, do all of us a favor and take advantage of the opportunity in the top six. If you think he’s a top six guy, show it. I want this team to have roster conundrums because right now you’ve got the handful of guys that you are leaning on for all of the scoring and some other guys that are well you can get a couple of games of really good production here and then a 10ame stretch of nothing. You can’t have that many like that. So, this is this is likely going to be a shot for Vladimir Terosenko to show that he’s got something to give if he doesn’t take advantage of this. Michael Russo uh talking on the latest Fellowship of the Rink podcast. Michael Russo suggesting that there’s potential that the Wild just tell him to go home. You got to show something here. if he gets into the top six, take that opportunity and run with it because if he doesn’t, there’s not going to be another. So, I would guess that the lineup combinations will look like this. Capri off Yurov Baldi, Johansson E, Terasenko, Trenan, Sturm, and whoever the Wild call up to fill that spot. Probably pick probably Pitlick. But you’ve got you’re going to have two spots in the lineup that are really just filler spots. And then now the interesting thing will be what happens with Ryan Hartman who was on the fourth line playing center. That’s that’s the interesting one to watch. But the main point is the top six. I think Terasenko works his way back in. But he better produce. please. Team’s going to need it, especially with that game coming up on Thursday against Dallas. We’ll have a more comprehensive breakdown of that game for you coming up uh later this week. But uh that’s going to do it for today’s episode of Lockdown Wild. Once again, make sure to hit that like button on either YouTube or if you listen on any of the major audio platforms, feel free to leave us a fivestar review. Uh we certainly appreciate all the love and uh if you give us a five star, we’ll give you a shout out on the show. Make sure as well to check out the show notes for more information on the Everydayer All Access tier. Uh the Everydayer Club help uh designed for those fans who are truly diehards bringing you uh nonstop Minnesota Wild content and coverage. So, check out the show notes for more information on the All Access Insiders Club. Uh, we are going to continue. We’ll keep an eye on the injury situation, see if we get an update tomorrow on uh the Minnesota Wild Front. And when we do, of course, we’ll let you know exactly what’s going on. As we continue to keep you up to date every single day of the week, we’ve got new episodes every Monday through Friday as part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. We’re your team every day.

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