Her Wild Side combines hockey knowledge with a side of vibe checks. The weekly show will have game breakdowns, any topical news about the MN Wild, and fun things going on surrounding Wild's social media. This show aims to be informative while also sparking good conversation about the Wild and hockey in general without having to keep everything serious.
Hello,
welcome to Her Wild Side Hockey Podcast.
My name is Miki and I'm your hostess here,
aka I am Hockey She Wrote
on social media.
So here we are.
I did not realize that it
has been 10 days since I
recorded a podcast.
That is way longer than I usually do.
And I can tell you why.
It's because I have been
watching hockey basically
nonstop because between
playoffs and the IIHF World
Men's Championships,
there's just hockey on all the time.
I even went so far as to
actually pay for a month of
Sling TV so I could
actually watch NHL Network.
Usually I just use all of my
family's logins for things.
So you know what?
It's like that's a big step for me.
It's a big step.
If you are watching me on video,
you will notice that I do
not have my green screen
background like I normally do.
And that is because I'm
slowly transitioning into a
different sort of podcast.
I don't know if I want to say studio.
I mentioned that my husband
got me a new computer.
And part of that is because
I have been hijacking his
office two to three times a week to
during the NHL season to
record a podcast during
work hours because that's
also when my children are gone at school.
And I think he's just tired of it.
So, which I can't blame him.
I really can't blame him.
So I need to kind of figure
out what I'm going to do about that.
I've actually considered.
Oh, I forgot the camera's backwards,
folks.
I just used the wrong hand
to gesture towards my
background where my
brother's jerseys live.
I've actually considered
somehow taking at least
some of these upstairs to
my bedroom because that's
where my desk is,
where I do some work sometimes.
But once again,
there are like 152 jerseys
on that rack and it takes a lot to move.
So I'm definitely not moving
the entire thing.
And my bedroom is also not that big.
So we will figure something out.
But until then,
I'm just kind of figuring
out what I want to do.
I need to figure out...
Logistics, just logistics of things.
So, yeah, that's where I'm at.
It is currently May 17th, Friday.
We are in the afternoon.
My children will be coming
home from school soon,
which is why I was like, hi,
get out of your office.
I need to record because I
have lots of thoughts.
And I actually stopped watching the USA,
Team USA against Poland right now.
I actually was like, you know what?
I just...
need to go record I can't
continue watching this uh
because if I i mean we'll
get into worlds a little
more in like a little later
in the podcast but let me
just say that I'm actually
pulling for team sweden
like sure rah rah usa let's
go but um team sweden is
where my heart's at uh so
let's talk about playoffs first
We have had some incredible hockey lately.
Some just absolutely incredible.
Yesterday specifically,
between Worlds and playoffs,
we had the Rangers come back,
score four in the third
period to win the series
over the Hurricanes.
That was insane.
When they scored that last,
that empty net goal right at the end,
I like actually yelled.
I like actually yelled an obscenity.
Because what?
Now, when I'm watching playoffs,
my kids are always like,
which team are you cheering for?
And with the exception of like,
I'm actually cheering for the Canucks.
Most of these games,
I don't really have much
skin in the game.
Rangers, okay.
Hurricanes, okay.
I think I actually picked
the Hurricanes in my brackets.
But at the same time, it's like, okay,
if the Rangers went on,
I like Matt Rempe.
I can usually find at least
a handful of players on
each team that I can root for,
even if I don't want to
root for the team.
So,
I've decided that Rumpy is who I'm
cheering for.
Just because... I was going
to say he's calmed it down
in the fighting.
And he has,
mostly because no one wants to
get hurt in the playoffs.
But I don't know.
I think he's funny.
But anyway,
that Rangers comeback was just
blowing my mind.
And then in the
Boston-Florida game the other day,
first of all,
both of the coaches were just,
like someone said on Twitter,
they were just both having a normal one.
They were just... But Boston's coach,
Jim Montgomery,
was accusing one of the
Florida players of diving.
And he did the most
incredible kind of charades
acting of diving that I have ever seen.
He like put his whole self
in it to try and get across his point.
And you know what?
We all got his point and the
refs did not care.
They were like,
but as a wild fan from last season,
I have a very tenuous
relationship with the,
When diving is not called as a penalty.
And I actually... And now I
can't remember.
Now that I'm, of course, here recording.
I can remember there was a
player called for
embellishment the other day.
And that was like, holy moly,
the world is ending.
But last season, last playoff season, when,
you know, we're up against the Stars.
And obviously,
that's a very contentious series.
And those games are always, like,
super fraught and tense.
Um...
was definitely at least some
diving going on and it was
never called and then the
wild kept getting in
trouble for saying there
was diving and dallas
didn't get any trouble so
I'm just like I'm always
very like it's like marcus
felino was kicked out
wrongfully even.
And then, you know,
for saying there's dive, I mean, okay,
I'm going to move on
because otherwise I'll rant
about this for a while.
But anyway, the playoffs never disappoint.
They are, even when they're not exciting,
they're exciting.
You know what I mean?
Again,
my kids don't really understand why
I'm watching if I don't
have a team I'm cheering for
like the ones that I'm not
cheering for my daughter
has decided that she is
also going to cheer for the
canucks only because I said
that I'm cheering for the
canucks uh but otherwise
they're just like I don't
get why you're why you're doing this
But that's OK.
Let's move on.
This is normally the point
in my little show here that
I would plug in some kind
of a commercial.
But we are currently kind of
revamping a few partnerships.
I'm going to be getting some
cool affiliate codes for a few products,
a few brands and stuff.
And that's very cool.
It's just not quite set yet.
So I'm going to kind of skip
my first little commercial
break that I normally do.
And we're going to go
straight into worlds
because that is the other
thing that has been occupying my time.
uh there have been times
where I am watching one
game on tv and the other
game on my computer because
why they don't have both
games going on tv on
american tv I will not
understand like I want to
watch other teams I don't
want to just watch america
like I said I am pulling
for team sweden all the way
probably because that is if
you we had to pick one of
the country's teams to be
team wild that's team wow
they have five wild players
And I love them.
Okay, but so like I said,
I just left watching the USA-Poland game.
USA is doing... They're not terrible.
They're also not great.
They're just very kind of
middle of the track,
which in a way makes sense
because the NHL playoffs
are still going on.
Obviously, a lot of
you know,
American players or even Canadian
players are still playing
in the NHL right now.
But one thing that has been
really nice to see is Matt Boldy.
He has put up
before this game he's put up
six points he had three
goals three assists and two
of the goals and one assist
came all from the game
yesterday all in one period
he hopefully is kind of
ironing out his consistency
problem because the biggest
issue with his game this
past year and I know it
bugged a lot of people was
his consistency
he was either on a scoring tear,
just absolutely dominating,
or he just could not get
anything in the net.
So the consistency is what
he needs and what we all want to see.
And hopefully this
experience is helping to
kind of iron that out
because he has been fairly
consistent throughout the games.
You know,
there's still plenty of time to
go in Worlds,
and we'll have to see how else he does.
But he has just been,
even when he's not scoring,
he is making really good scoring chances,
really good plays.
It's been nice to see that
coming from him.
Austria is also doing really well.
They are, like, okay,
not if you look point-wise
in the standings.
They're not doing super great.
I think they're, what, in...
There's A and B. I think
they're in group A. I'm
trying to remember.
No,
they're in the same group as USA and
USA is in B. So they must be in B. Anyway,
they're like second,
third from the bottom in that group.
But if you have been watching their games,
they have been doing amazing.
They have been taking these
teams that are much tougher,
have way more high level
players and have been
Maybe not winning,
but pushing them right to the brink.
I mean, really making it tough for them.
And you have to remember
that the only NHL player
from Austria right now is Marco Rossi.
And he has been a big part
of why Austria is doing so well.
He has really kind of been
an engine helping to drive the team.
He's not the only one.
There are definitely other players,
but he is doing everything
that he needs to do.
He is pushing.
He is being physical,
just like we saw him this year.
He is scoring.
He is making plays physically.
so much fun to watch because again,
Austria,
Marco Rossi is the only Austrian
NHL player currently.
And that doesn't mean that
the other players are bad,
but that just means you
kind of see the level of, you know,
most of the other players,
teams have at least a
handful of nhl players
right um I would say I
don't think there's any
from kazakhstan um but even
like chechya has a few um
slovakia has a few uh just
but marco ross is the only
one and to have austria
been doing that well is
just really fun to see they beat
finland yesterday I always
have to think because I've
been watching so many
worlds games I can't
remember who played who um
they beat finland yesterday
for the first time in world
history austria did and
that was the game so this
was right before that
amazing rangers game
austria they entered the
third period with nothing
zero points um I believe
finland had two they had
yes they'd already scored two um
Austria scored.
And then with like a minute left,
Marco Rossi scored to tie it up.
And it was so close.
Everyone's like, OK, buckle up.
We're going to overtime.
Like, this is really cool.
What like what a fun game this has been.
Now, obviously,
Worlds has kind of the same
scoring system as the PWHL,
where if you win in regulation,
you get three points.
If you win in overtime,
you only get two points.
So you want to win in
regulation if at all possible.
It was definitely going to overtime.
It just, it had to,
there was a minute left.
They had a face off with
like 10 seconds left.
Somehow Austria scored with one 10th
of a second left.
I was trying to explain to
my kids how short amount of
time that actually is.
Like I got out my little
stopwatch on my phone and I showed them,
I cannot even press start
and stop in less than 10,
one 10th of a second.
Like it was just over that.
But I was like,
that is how close they were to the end.
So good.
So good.
Amazing,
amazing hockey is happening right now.
And I hope all of you are
able to watch at least some
of it or at least the highlights.
Because this is what we live for.
Like hockey fans,
this is what you live for.
So like I said,
I am Team Sweden all the way.
Probably because my absolute fave,
Julie Erickson Eck,
is playing for Sweden.
There.
There we go.
Julek Sinek is playing for
Sweden and he is getting so
much love from the commentators.
And I'm just loving it because, again,
he is a player that is so
criminally underrated and
not even underrated.
The commentator that was
talking about this was
actually saying this and they said,
you know, he's not underrated.
Like other players know how
good he is and how tough he is.
What he is, is he is underappreciated.
And that is so spot on
because that's the problem.
People who don't know hockey
or who don't really, I don't know,
don't scrutinize hockey.
Don't watch it super closely.
I don't know how to describe it,
but they don't understand.
Julie Erickson Eck is not a
name that you're going to
like pull out of thin air and be like,
yeah,
he's a good player unless you pay
attention to the wild.
And I believe John Hines
actually said something
like that along the lines
of that during the exit
interviews after the season was over.
That he did not really know
how good Eck was until he
came behind the bench.
And then watching him...
night in, night out, every day at practice,
you see just how amazing he actually is.
But so to hear these national broad,
you know, international actually,
broadcasters talking about
how good he is and giving
him all of the respect that
he is due has just warmed my heart.
It has warmed my little stone cold heart.
it's not stone cold.
I'm absolutely a bubbly positive person.
So I don't know why I said that,
but it has been amazing.
Um, and I mean, the,
the one bad part is that obviously, um,
playing against him.
The other, you know,
USA playing against him.
That was tough because it's
just he and Matt Boldy were,
I just dropped my husband's headphones.
Sorry.
They were just going at it
because you had to know
that Boldy was probably just like, damn,
like I want to do this all the time.
Like he just makes me so mad
at practice sometimes if
I'm up against them.
And so also in Sweden, we are able to see,
Gusbus and Wallstead in the net.
Gustafsson looks good, you guys.
I talked about before how I
think Worlds is going to do
so much good for Gustafsson.
Because...
Normally, when he goes back home to Sweden,
he lives like in northern Sweden,
somewhere that's a little more like rural,
a little less populated.
And he has talked about how
he doesn't really get a
rank to skate at until
later in the offseason.
Um,
so kind of a big chunk of the beginning
of off season,
he just has to do off ice training,
which he does, you know,
like he's still training.
He's just not able to get on
the ice and do the things
that he needs to do.
So having him kind of extend his,
the amount of off season
where he has access to a rink,
not just access,
but like obviously practicing with other,
um, high level NHL level players, um,
is really good for him.
And that can maybe help him
find some of the more
consistency that he needs work on that.
Um, the mental game that he has to play,
um,
I just I think he's been
looking really good.
I think he I believe he has
started in that two games.
It's it's Gustafson,
Volstead and then Erson.
They've all kind of been
played pretty regularly, I think.
Well, I think Volstead maybe only once,
but both Gustafson and
Erson seem to be kind of in
and out starting.
So it's been really nice to
see him in a different
setting and to be playing well.
And that goes also for Marcus Johansson.
JoJo had a rough year.
I'm not going to say it was good.
What I'm going to say,
so this is something that
Anthony LaPanta has been saying,
and I absolutely agree, which is that,
first of all,
Marcus Johansson this year
had about the same kind of
numbers that he normally does.
And I'm talking points-wise, I guess.
Again, I'm not a huge stat head.
Because I did have a
follower point out that his
points per game was lower than average.
So I'll give him that.
That his points per game
were lower than average,
even if his point total was about normal.
But I also agree when
LaPanta says that the
contract that Joe Hansen was signed to
for the amount of points he
normally puts up, it's a good contract.
I believe he makes two million a year,
I want to say.
And if he is going to
consistently put up 20 to
30 points a year, that's okay.
I have kind of speculated if
maybe part of the problem
with Johansson this year
was that he was playing a
lot up the lineup when he
shouldn't have because
Of all the injuries,
there wasn't really anyone
else to sub in.
Now,
I'm sure someone out there is going to
be like, oh,
but you could have put this
guy up on second line and
could have done this and that.
And yeah, could you have?
Sure.
But that's not how it works in the NHL.
That's not how it works.
You're not just going to
take a fourth liner and
drop him in on the second
line unless you are really pressed.
And you know what?
Honestly,
I think at least one game where
there were so many people out,
I think Duhame actually did
skate second line.
So did it happen?
Yes.
But I'm saying that's why he
was consistently there.
I think having him on the third line,
I think...
he would fit in a lot more
there and you know next
year yeah that's probably
where he's going to be with
all the young guys coming
um all the rookies that are
coming up we've got who's
nadinov coming back we've
got ogren coming back um
you're always staying in
russia as far as we know he
signed another one year
deal um well someone
missing uh riley height
they're gonna try and give
such like a huge
opportunity for him to make
that starting lineup like opening night
So I think if he is a little
bit lower down the lineup,
I think it would not be as big of a deal.
But, you know,
I just I hate hearing people
complain about, oh, well,
he's scoring at Worlds.
Why didn't he do that in Minnesota?
And it's like, OK, he did.
He was just very inconsistent.
But you know what?
That is that's how he plays.
And was he amazing when he
was traded here and he just
clicked with Boldy in the playoffs?
Yes.
But that was not normal Jojo.
Yeah.
It's just that was the last
time we saw him was when he
was so spectacular.
So that was like cemented in your brain.
And so that's what you
thought back to you.
But that's not his normal plan.
Okay.
I'm also going to...
You know what?
I need to drink some Diet Dr. Pepper.
This is not sponsored, obviously.
But if you want to sponsor me,
I'm going to play a little
ad read for ESPN Plus quickly.
It's just one minute.
If you would, please just, you know,
listen along for the minute
it takes to play while I
have a little Diet Dr. Pepper.
I would appreciate it.
And I'll see you in a minute.
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Welcome back.
One thing that I've been
thinking about while I'm
watching Worlds is that this year,
I think the Wild not making
the playoffs was probably
one of the best things that
could happen to them.
And here's why.
I think number one,
this is a wake up call because they did.
They had a lot of.
I don't know,
just a lot going against them in general.
The salary cap, injuries, you know,
just the timing of things.
All sorts of things against them.
And they pushed.
At the very end, they were trying.
And did they play crappy?
Yes,
but there were definitely players that
were trying so hard and
they were just doing what they could.
But number one,
I think it's a wake-up call.
uh, number two,
I think having some of
these players go play in
worlds is better for them
than playing in the playoffs.
And here's the thing, playoffs,
you are putting your body on the line.
Um, we all know the stories.
We know the stories about
the injuries and Matthew
could Chuck playing with, you know,
what like broken ribs and a
broken collarbone and like
all this crap where it's just like, no,
no.
Um,
But in Worlds,
you're not going to push through that.
If someone gets injured in Worlds,
they're done.
They're not going to push through.
Do they want to win Worlds?
Of course they do.
But it's not the Stanley Cup.
It is different.
And it is not as physical.
They're not fighting.
And they're not... This is not like a...
we need to play to the death
for the Stanley Cup.
This is like,
we are going to play our hardest.
We're going to play, you know,
we're going to do,
we're going to do the hits
that we normally do, but it's just,
it's a different level of intensity.
And I think that is going to
benefit the players that are there.
I think it's also good for
some of these players to
play with other teammates, you know?
So Matt Boldy,
He's playing with, you know,
two completely different
line mates than he would
normally and succeeding.
You know, it's been him and, oops, sorry,
that's my go to the bus stop alarm,
but that's okay.
It has been Will.
Bowley has been playing with
Johnny Goudreau and Brock
Nelson on the top line for USA.
And maybe having different
players is helping him,
kind of forcing him to find
some consistency in his game.
I wonder, again, for Gustafsson,
I wonder if playing a net
behind the Swedish team versus the Wild,
and in a different sort of structure,
a different tournament, a different thing,
you know?
I wonder if maybe there's
just less of a level of
kind of mental... I'm losing words now.
like his mental health can
be better because it is not
as big of a deal, I guess.
That's not quite as
eloquently as I wanted to put it.
But just he's able to kind
of take a breath.
It's not all on him.
You know,
he has another two other
goaltenders that can come in,
can also play.
He knows he doesn't have to
start every game.
There's not that stress.
I think part of the problem
with Gustafson this year,
and I think this is obvious,
is the stress of basically
being told you're playing
to show us that you're the A,
that you are the starter,
that you are part of the
future of this club, right?
And having to put that
mantle on and go to work
knowing that you're a goalie tandem with
The best,
most storied goaltender of
current NHL times.
That's a lot to ask.
Because while Marc-Andre
Fleury also struggled this season...
He is still Flurry and he is
still amazing.
And he kind of popped back to himself.
And so having telling
Gustafson that like you
have to beat out Flurry for this,
I think that's got to be hard.
So I think Worlds is just
this totally other level.
And I'm hoping that this
will kind of help some of the issues.
I have a few other just
little blurby things.
So first of all, Vladislav, first off,
his contract,
he was put on unconditional
waivers so that the
Minnesota Wild could
terminate his contract.
Uh, so first off, if you don't remember,
he was playing in Iowa and
then he was like, uh, I have this, well,
everyone kind of thought he was just like,
peace out.
But he did have a really
good opportunity to go play
in the KHL for a coach that
was very successful.
Very had a really good, long history,
great hockey player.
And it was just a really
good opportunity that first
off could not turn down.
So he went and did that.
Now,
when his KHL club was out of the playoffs,
kind of like how they did
with Kuznetdinov,
he came back and went to Iowa.
Played with them until the
end of the season.
It's obvious, though, that he...
was looking to see if he
could kind of find a way to
play up to minnesota and
when that didn't happen
he's like you know what I
just I have a better
opportunity in the khl I
don't I'm not gonna sit
here and keep playing in
iowa and I don't blame him
you know I think it's
different when it comes to
russian players to uh the
khl in general khl is a a great league
So to have... It's the same
with Danil Yurov.
Having him decide to stay
one more year in the KHL
versus coming to the United
States makes sense because
in the United States,
he's not going to get that
opportunity with Minnesota
like he should because of
salary cap issues and all
the current contracts that
Minnesota has on the books.
So it makes sense for him to
stay in Russia.
And for first off, he just...
he didn't get that chance.
And so you know what?
If he liked his situation in the KHL,
I don't blame him.
I really don't.
I think it's totally
different when you're
talking about prospects
from Russia versus
prospects from other places like Europe.
Kaelin Addison and Conor
Dewar are back in Minnesota
for the offseason.
And I think that's great.
I think it's so much fun
that people who come to Minnesota,
I'm talking about players, obviously,
genuinely enjoy being here
um I well we know it was
very hard for kaylin
addison to leave and you
know it had to be hard
especially going to a team
that was tanking um
And he said before he even left,
or maybe it was right when
the first game he was back in Minnesota,
he said, like,
I kept my place in Minnesota.
I'm going to come back for the offseason.
And it's so fun to see that
he kept his word.
And then Connor Dewar,
I do think that Dewar was
really excited to go play for Toronto.
I mean, that was, you know,
kind of his childhood team.
He was excited to put on
that blue uniform.
You could see that he was
genuinely happy to be there.
At the same time,
I think he also had those
feelings of not wanting to
leave Minnesota.
When they interviewed him about leaving,
he said that when that deadline hit,
I think it's 1 o'clock
Central Time on trade deadline day.
When it got past 1,
he said that he thought to himself,
I made it.
And the way he phrased it
made it just sound like heartbreaking.
Like, I survived.
And then he got the call.
And again, I think going to Toronto,
I think that's what made it fun for him.
I kind of wonder what his
thoughts would be if he
went anywhere else.
Because I look at Brandon Duhame.
And again,
I think Duhame is playing really
well in Colorado.
I think he is excited to go
as far as he can in the playoffs.
But I also think that he was
not happy to leave Minnesota.
I mean,
it's kind of like those just those
two feelings at the same time.
I don't know if any of you
watch Daniel Tiger with
your children or not.
I'm all you can watch
cartoons if you want.
They have a whole episode
about how you can feel two
feelings at the same time.
And I really think that
Duhame is going through it
because I think that he is
genuinely sad and also
really excited at the same time.
Yeah.
One thing the world's have
that I would love to have
implemented in the NHL is the ref cam.
There's one ref.
I think it's just one,
maybe two that has a little
tiny camera on the top of his helmet.
And then they, everyone,
someone will show like the
goal call from it or something.
And it's just so funny.
And just like the funniest viewpoint.
I'm all about it.
Um, I was going to talk about,
this is getting really long
cause I haven't podcasted in 10 days.
Um,
I was going to talk about Harrison
Butker and his stupid ass speech,
but I'm not going to cause
we all know how I'm going
to feel about it.
And let me just say that
he's a complete asshole and
I hope you all know that.
Um,
One last thing that is just
going to kind of brighten
up our little day here is
Connor Ingram won the Bill
Masterson award,
which is for the player who
has gone through the most.
like a bad situation, I guess I'll say.
So like the Minnesota Wild
had nominated Michael Rossi
because obviously he went
through COVID-19 and
myocarditis along COVID.
He lost a whole year and he
really did battle back through it.
And I thought that he was a
very good nominee for it.
But
Connor Ingram ended up winning.
Ingram is the goalie in what
is now the Utah Hockey Club.
And I just saw a quote from
him that just made me love him even more.
First of all,
he's very open about his
struggle with undiagnosed OCD.
And he got help.
He sought out help.
And now he's been very open about it,
which is something you
don't always see in the NHL,
being open about mental health.
But just my favorite thing
was he was giving an
interview and he said
something about going on a
grippy sock vacation,
which means going to the mental ward.
And I just, you know what?
Thanks, Connor.
That was good.
I like that.
Anyway,
I'm going to stop rambling and I
will be back sooner than 10
days from now because I
want to talk about a new
project that I'm doing and
I was going to talk about it now,
but I have been recording
for 35 minutes and you're
probably sick of me.
So anyway, I will see you all later.
Thank you for being here.
As always,
there are links for everything
and anything you might want
in the show notes.
All right.
I will see you all later.