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 @StateOfStats, and his prediction bot @Computron_NHL. You can find Tony on Twitter @OhHiTony.

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!

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 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!

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 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!

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 Adidas jerseys
• Favorite Pringles Flavors
• An intriguing Would You Rather

And much more!

You can support the podcast by subscribing on your preferred podcast app, taking a few moments of time to leave us an iTunes Review, and telling your friends about our show. Thanks for your support, and we'll see you next week!

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 and review us on iTunes- the 5th star is our favorite. Let your friends know about us, too! We really appreciate that.

We'll see you next week!

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 trade talks
• The Wild's over-attachment to their roster in general
• We go over Minnnesota's protection list
• How Jason Pominville's (probable) refusal to waive his No-Move Clause hurts the team
• Why Pominville's refusal to waive is perfectly reasonable
• Could Erik Haula be the perfect player for Vegas to claim?
• Were the Wild right to expose Eric Staal?
• Minnesota choosing Jonas Brodin over Matt Dumba
• Can the Wild still bribe Vegas to avoid snagging one of their prized defensemen?
• What's the best-case scenario for Minnesota
• Oh, yeah! The NHL Entry Draft is also this week!

And much 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 and review us on iTunes- the 5th star is our favorite. Let your friends know about us, too! We really appreciate that.

We'll see you next week!

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
  • Which teams are in a bad spot?
  • Potential buyouts on the horizon
  • Who decides to protect 7 forwards/3 defensemen, and who decides to protect 8 skaters
  • The goalies potentially available to Vegas
  • Can the Golden Knights build a good, young defensive core?
  • The barren wasteland known as "The Available Forwards"
  • Post-hype sleepers Vegas could scoop up
  • Tony and Joe pronounce names badly!
  • They also argue about Nail Yakupov!
  • And of course, how will the Wild handle expansion? And who would Vegas want?
• Jason Pominville's NMC drama
• A glimpse at the Wild's new sweaters
• The guys discuss their favorite candy bars
• Who would pick the warm-up music in case Dumba leaves?
• A ton of Pokemon questions
• 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 and review us on iTunes- the 5th star is our favorite. Let your friends know about us, too! We really appreciate that.

We'll see you next week!

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 could be a coup for Minnesota
• Could the Wild find a superstar in Jonathan Drouin?
• Why Matt Duchene might be the best fit for the Wild
• Hot Dogs vs. Hamburgers
• Hamburgers vs. Bratwursts
• Our top breakfast cereals

And much, much more!

If you want to support our show, a great way to start is to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app. Sharing your love of the HWP with your friends is always encouraged. And finally, you can take a couple of minutes to leave us a review on iTunes. 

Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week!

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 leave us an iTunes review! Make sure to check out all our work at Hockey Wilderness!

We'll see you soon!

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 our show on your favorite podcast platform. We're on iTunes, Stitcher, I Heart Radio, Podcast Addict- all your favorites and more!

Please take a few minutes to leave us an iTunes review! It takes just minutes, but it helps more people find our show. Speaking of which, a great way to have more people find out about us is you telling them! Let your friends know about your favorite Wild podcast!

That's all for this week, we'll be back soon!