GDT: 11/10/16 - Wild @ Penguiños - 6 PM CT / 2 AM Finland - FS-N

[Minnesota]

vs. ​

NHL.com

The Wild may have Erik Haula back in the fold; the injured center, who has missed the past seven games with a foot injury, practiced with the team on Wednesday in St. Paul before the flight to the Steel City.

How he feels Thursday morning after his first practice will decide whether he scratches in.

If he does, expect him to center the third line with Jason Zucker and Zack Mitchell, who was recalled from Iowa of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. If Mitchell plays, it would mark his NHL debut.

The Wild also recalled forward Christoph Bertschy and defenseman Mike Reilly from Iowa. Reilly is likely to re-join the lineup immediately and skated with Jared Spurgeon at practice.

Bertschy, along with Chris Stewart and Joel Eriksson Ek took alternating rushes on the fourth line on Wednesday; one of them will likely be the odd man out against the Penguins.

Pittsburgh, which is currently on a seven-game point streak (6-0-1), recalled forward Tom Sestito from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL on Wednesday, while optioning defenseman Chad Rehwedel.

Go Wild! ​

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[DANOZ28]

this will be a very tuff test for us , im not expecting a win.

 

[Engebretson]

Haula might be back?

 

[57special]

Unless our forwards show up and play with some fire we are going to get our butts kicked. We've been beaten by mediocre teams recently, in spite of our goalie playing great.

 

[Cherpak]

I think Boudreau has a pretty good record against the Pens. I don't expect this to be a cake walk by any means.

Looking forward to a good game and lets hope both teams suffer no injuries.

 

[gphr513]

Haula might be back?

I've pulled up that clip for Haula goals in the past, so I'm glad this exists

 

[Minnesota]

Cullen's got 9 points (3G, 6A) in 13 games.

Dude's 40.

 

[Engebretson]

I've pulled up that clip for Haula goals in the past, so I'm glad this exists

I also love that Buccigross loves tweeting about Haula too

 

[Aurinko]

When Haula gets the puck I focus. I've been missing that feeling :>

 

[Minnesota]

 

[Minnesota]

Swiss Miss and Prowler manning the popcorn machine tonight.

 

[melinko]

Surprised Bertschy is sitting, felt like he looked like one of the more dangerous players up from the AHL.

 

[BigT2002]

Cullen's got 9 points (3G, 6A) in 13 games.

Dude's 40.

Naturally Fletcher felt having him on the team would be a detriment. Even with hindsight it would have been nice to have him on this team with the injuries they've already suffered.

 

[57special]

Cullen's got 9 points (3G, 6A) in 13 games.

Dude's 40.

Happy for him.

And we couldn't use this guy?

 

[Sharppi]

Everyone is mad if we even plan to sign someone on the downside of their career, but good ****ing god if that 40 year old dude actually scores couple points "We should have signed him!"

I mean what the ****.

 

[Soldier13Fox]

Everyone is mad if we even plan to sign someone on the downside of their career, but good ****ing god if that 40 year old dude actually scores couple points "We should have signed him!"

I mean what the ****.

Sharppi for the win. But to be fair, even though he's on the downside of a career, I seem to recall a lot of Wild posters wanting him.

 

[MN_Gopher]

Happy for him.

And we couldn't use this guy?

Wish we had him 5 years ago.

 

[Nharris31]

Everyone is mad if we even plan to sign someone on the downside of their career, but good ****ing god if that 40 year old dude actually scores couple points "We should have signed him!"

I mean what the ****.

He would be better to have than Stewart.

 

[Engebretson]

Everyone is mad if we even plan to sign someone on the downside of their career, but good ****ing god if that 40 year old dude actually scores couple points "We should have signed him!"

I mean what the ****.

Russo reported this summer that Cullen really wanted to come back to the Wild in the offseason but Russo also said he got the feeling that Wild brass seemed to not value him very much. Cullen was basically waiting for one of Fletcher or Pittsburgh to make the call and the Penguins called first once they got their cap issues under control. Would've slotted in perfectly in the bottom six and can play PK pretty effectively while providing a steady veteran presence in the locker room.

So yeah, we basically could have gotten him for the price he signed with the Pens (I believe it was 1 year $1mil), but Fletcher wasn't interested.

 

[Minnesota]

Story of the game:

Boudreau said it’s imperative to stay out of the box tonight because Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are good. They make plays. They’re unpredictable. It’s not like your basic 1-3-1 power play. They get to move around. They’ve been allotted some versatility in what they want to do and then they use their God given skills. I never know if you’re going to see Malkin playing the point, playing down low, playing the half wall. Crosby plays both sides. Unpredictable. Now that Kessel’s there, he pretty play well plays the half wall on the other side, but they have like two half wall guys that are pretty good.”

If we're marching to the box, we're gonna lose.

Russo reported this summer that Cullen really wanted to come back to the Wild in the offseason but Russo also said he got the feeling that Wild brass seemed to not value him very much. Cullen was basically waiting for one of Fletcher or Pittsburgh to make the call and the Penguins called first once they got their cap issues under control. Would've slotted in perfectly in the bottom six and can play PK pretty effectively while providing a steady veteran presence in the locker room.

So yeah, we basically could have gotten him for the price he signed with the Pens (I believe it was 1 year $1mil), but Fletcher wasn't interested.

Yep.

I chatted with Matt Cullen about a ton of stuff this morning, stuff you’ll see in the paper the next few weeks. Remember, he wanted to sign with the Wild this past summer and potentially end his career at home, but the Wild couldn’t/didn’t make it work and he returned to Pittsburgh.

We really do need Stewart's size & physicality, though.

 

[gphr513]

Kinda bums me out about Cullen. Would've really liked to have him back, especially now, hearing that he wanted to come back.

 

[Minnesota]

Kinda bums me out about Cullen. Would've really liked to have him back, especially now, hearing that he wanted to come back.

Could have been close to his family... They could have come to all his home games... Cullen could have retired in Minnesota.

Oh well, it's a business.

 

[Vashanesh]

Story of the game:

We really do need Stewart's size & physicality, though.

We do if he uses it. But he's done his usual disappearing act the last handful of games.

The guy is a total non-factor right now.

 

[gphr513]

We do if he uses it. But he's done his usual disappearing act the last handful of games.

The guy is a total non-factor right now.

Well to be fair, he did just score against Boston right? It feels like forever ago, but it was only 3 games ago.

edit: ok, actually it was 5 games ago.

 

[57special]

Everyone is mad if we even plan to sign someone on the downside of their career, but good ****ing god if that 40 year old dude actually scores couple points "We should have signed him!"

I mean what the ****.

-we're talking about a one year contract for 1-1.5M, not a multi year contract for mega millions.
-Cullen just came off an excellent year which resulted in a Cup win.
- unlike most older layers, Cullen still has wheels
- He actually wanted to come here
- it's not like we are overflowing with talent on the forward line.


I'll admit, i am biased. Met the guy during the lockout at the local outdoor rink at a shinny game involving, among others, us two and our sons. Good guy.