Something SPECIAL is happening in Minnesota…

Something SPECIAL is happening in Minnesota…

Something special is happening right now with the Minnesota Wild. After a dominant performance by rookie goalender Yes Wald setting records, this Minnesota team is proving to the rest of the NHL exactly why they should be terrified of what is happening. Plus, we’re going to give you an update on the trade front around the wild as they’ve been linked to a perfect player. We’re going to break down all this and so much more in this episode. So Jarius, let’s just go straight into it. Where we know the Minnesota Wild came off a one to nothing win versus the Edmonton Oiler, a team that just made the Stanley Cup finals twice in a row. With this, they bumped up to third in the NHL in the standings. Listen, I want to say, by the way, that central division is disgusting just looking at this. But I think we need to go straight into the biggest story happening right now, and that is the wall of St. Paul with Walstead. He becomes the first goalie in 61 years that has went in with five shutouts at the time of his 10th career win. It doesn’t stop there where he becomes the first rookie goalender to have four shutouts in a sixgame span since 1938. What we are seeing right now is absolutely mind-blowing. This feels like a video game numbers. You can see three shutouts over the last five. at 951 in a shootout win versus the Colorado Avalanche. Darius, I just want to know what is your thoughts on Wallstead leading the NHL in not only shut out save percentage and goals against average, but just overall play of what we’re seeing from this guy. Yeah, he’s got a 944 save percentage rocking right now. He’s been unbelievable. If you’re hovering around a 950, uh you are an unbelievable goalender with where we’re seeing league averages go to at this point because scoring is up around the league the last couple years. So, it’s hovering around like 900. So, this guy has been unbelievable. Of course, you spent some time in the NHL before, but this is his first full season, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the Minnesota Wild. Good luck making the playoffs if you’re in the Central Division because you’re going to have to do so through the wild card because the top three teams in the Central are the top three teams in the entire league. You can see his stats here. He has played in the NHL in the past, but again, the last couple years, just here and there, now first full season in the league. And you know when I said it couldn’t have come at a better time, Gustoson is not playing that well this year. He’s been kind of so so for the team and he had a really good year last year and we know that he is a good goalender, but this couldn’t have come at a better time for the team. You’re getting great goalending uh you know besides Gustoson where you know eventually Gustoson could get going. So they’re in a really good spot here. Top three in the central division as well. Some of your best players are playing very well. But man, the rookie goalender looks really good right now. And I think it’s an exciting time to be a Wild fan because there’s so many exciting things about this team and you’re getting some fantastic goalending. And not only that, Mark, he’s making some big saves. Like you can look at all the analytics and the stats. He’s making some big timely saves as you can see here against the Oilers. Shutting out and I know the Oilers haven’t been great that this year so far, but shutting out a team that has Conor McDavid on dry cidle and even Jack Lazovvic has been very good this year. So shutting down that offense, I think is super impressive. And I think the big thing is, listen, with the goalenders, we know right now Walt said is going in and stealing the show. The 944 save percentage of 174 goals against average. Seeing the 8-0 record, he’s actually one of three rookie goalenders ever start a season with a point streak with 80 and2. We know right now he’s got a point in all 10 starts. Darius, I know we talked about this and I see a lot of fans talking about the fact that people feel like maybe Esper should come in and take that starting role to get majority of the games. We’re seeing what he’s doing. I mean, looking at the numbers alone over the last five, but in my opinion, listen, you have two great goalenders. Yes, Gus might not be playing as good as we see Wallstead right now, but I think with this team, what they’re doing right now, we see the 17 games for August with the 7-7 record, 30 losses with a 9006 saber center. Listen, over 900 is great right now. We see a lot of goalies sub 800. I mean, the Oilers are what, sub 700 it feels like, but this is a team that has two goalenders. Would you shake this up? Maybe give Walsh to the starts, or do you think keeping what they’re doing because it’s working is what they need to continue? Well, in theory, keeping what you’re doing together makes sense, right? To to go into the future and into the rest of the season, that would make sense. But to me, I think you give them the starters role at this point. playoffs are a different animal. If they end up making the playoffs, which it looks like they will, maybe you give it back to Gustoson because it’s a different animal. You want that experience. It’s it’s tough to navigate those games sometimes and and the momentum shifts and swings in the playoffs. So, I can understand that in terms of a rookie goalender, but Mark, you brought it up at the beginning of this video. You know, some of the things he’s doing in terms of shutouts and what he’s doing in the first 10 games of his career. I mean, he’s doing things that we haven’t seen since goalenders were wearing equipment that’s worse than your ball hockey equipment or street hockey equipment that you wore in the early 2000s, right? Like this is this is insane. These are insane numbers. He’s putting up uh shutouts. He’s keeping his team in games. And keep in mind, a lot of these games where he is getting shutouts, they’re tight games. They’re scoring empty netters. One- nothing wins, right? Like you’re not getting that much offense, but your goalender is winning you these games. So to me, he’s going to be your goalender of the future. Of course, he’s only 23 years old. He just turned 23. So, I think you do give him that position now. Rock with him. He’s feeling it. Of course, his stats are going to dip, right? Because you’re not sheltering him. You’re not protecting him. They’re going to dip a little bit, but run with him. He’s feeling good right now. We can talk in the playoffs what that looks like. Maybe you go back to Gusto if you feel more comfortable with him in those, you know, situations. But for me, I I think you do give him the rock. And I think the big thing is even looking at this, the games versus the Edmonton Oiler, a team that made the Stanley Cup finals twice, the Colorado Avalanche with one regulation loss, the President’s Trophy winners last year in the Winnipeg Jets. We see Carolina, a team that is top five in the standings and the Anaheim Ducks that are currently top or close to top of the Pacific division. He is taking on some opponents that a lot of goenders wouldn’t be able to hold against and we’re seeing these numbers between them. I also want to give a shout out from Russo himself, even saying that Broaddin has been outstanding at 32 years old, his 14th season with the Wild. He’s been elite defensively. I believe it was nine points over the stretch of his first couple games. But Darius, I just want to look at this team as a whole. And listen, fans, go and leave your comments on what your thoughts on the goending, the team as a whole. But with this team right now, we’re seeing performances and dominant performances from absolutely everyone. Listen, Krill 31 points. We know this is going to happen. and Matt Baldy, someone that’s underrated from other fan bases, but we know this guy is outstanding. What is your thoughts on this team? A team right now that doesn’t even have Marco Rossi as he’s out with injury. What is your thoughts on just the overall scheme of this team and how they’re building something? It looks good. And I, you know, I’ll get to goending last because we have been talking about it, you know, the whole video so far. But I do believe everything goes through your goalender. But I mean, you have the scoring right now. Capri off’s locked up. So, you’re feeling good about that. Matt Bald, he’s having an unbelievable season as well. You have Brock Faber, who’s the future of this team, you know, on the back end. Uh, a couple other guys, like you mentioned, Broaddin’s playing very well. You have so many good pieces, I think, and depth, uh, that when you eventually do make the playoffs, because this team, you know, I don’t know if they stick around in the third spot. I would imagine that they do, but, you know, you make the playoffs, uh, even in the wild card, you know, you’re looking pretty good. You got a lot of depth. You also have experience in the lineup. So, uh, they’re looking very good right now. now. And then in terms of the goalending, they have two very good goalenders. And again, Gustoson hasn’t been, you know, as good as we’ve seen him so far this year. He hasn’t necessarily been like horrible. We’ve seen worse in the league this year, but you have two really solid goalenders. One who’s been unbelievable, of course. And everything goes through your goalender. If you have confidence that your goalender is going to make that save, he’s going to get shut outs, all of that stuff, and he’s playing well, the team is going to play that much better because of it. So, for those reasons, I’m feeling really good about the Wild. And I think it all starts honestly with the goalending. We’re seeing something very special here. And I think the big thing is, listen, Bill is going to be buying this year. We know this team is a bit of a wagon at the moment. And I want to go into this report from pure LeBron among the teams that I believe have inquired, what is the Wild? They’ve been looking for top six help with this team. And this is speaking on Kefir Sherwood of the Vancouver Conucks. Now listen, Sherwood’s off to an incredible start for the year. 12 goals in 27 games. He’s actually second in the NHL in hits behind someone that fans might know, and that is Trenan. So listen, Darius, I want your thoughts quickly on this. What do you think about this Wild team going out to buy? And do you think Kefir Sherwood with 12 goals, redot, and a hitter could fit in the system? Yeah, I think that Kefir, this guy’s a weird scenario for me because I think he fits in with any team that’s looking to go on a run, right? This is a guy who can chip in. We’re seeing with the Vancouver Conucks right now, you know, uh, 20 something games into the season, 27 games into the season that, you know, he can throw the body. We know that second in hits, he threw an insane amount of hits last season as well. We know that’s kind of what his thing is. But again, he can chip in in terms of goal scoring, point production as well, right? His salary is going to get a significant increase in his salary. Keep that in mind, too. And that’s kind of why the Conucks want to trade, you know, get rid of him. Not necessarily get rid of him, but move off of him and and get some assets in return. I think that he can help any team. And if you’re a team in the Wild that has scoring, you have good defense, right? you’re solid, you’re hard to play against, and you have the two best checkers in the entire league. It’s going to be hard to beat that team. And I think the big thing is too, listen, going out to get Kef for Sherwood, you don’t need to hurt your contracts because the big thing is 1.5 on the books. Yes, he will be a UFA at the end of the year, but like you said, you have Kefir Sherwood that would join this group as the second leading hitter in the NHL. He only set the record for most hits in the NHL history just last season. I think this is the year the Minnesota Wild are going to look at all options. You’re going to have Rossi back at some point. You’re going to look to add to this team, but looking at the roster in itself, this already looks outstanding. This is with Z Boy not even hitting his bull potentially yet. Fans, what is your thoughts on this? Are you as fired up with what’s happening in Minnesota? Let us know all your thoughts down in the comments. While you’re down there, also hit that subscribe button. It’s completely free if you want to stay up to date with Minnesota Wild content, plus the rest of the NHL because that’s fun to listen to as well. But I’ve been your host Mark with my co-host series and take care wild fans.

The Minnesota Wild continue to dominate the NHL as Jesper Wallstedt sets multiple records, surpassing records from 60 years ago and key players in Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Jonas Brodin lead the way with Bill Guerin being linked to Kiefer Sherwood. Mark Pye and Darius Domingues break down all this and more on this episode of Hat Trick HQ.

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