Luke Kunin News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/luke-kunin/ Minnesota sports, but different Wed, 07 Oct 2020 17:41:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=32,height=32,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cropped-cropped-MSF-favicon-1.jpg Luke Kunin News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/luke-kunin/ 32 32 Blockbuster Billy Trades Away Luke Kunin and Drafts Two More Projected Studs https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-wild/blockbuster-billy-trades-away-luke-kunin-and-drafts-two-more-projected-studs/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-wild/blockbuster-billy-trades-away-luke-kunin-and-drafts-two-more-projected-studs/#respond Wed, 07 Oct 2020 17:38:04 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=30325

Welcome to a new and refreshing world for the Minnesota Wild. Yesterday, Bill Guerin and Co waited patiently at pick #9 of the 2020 NHL Draft and it paid off when the drafted Austrian (C) Marco Rossi, who many see as the steal of the first round.

Day 2 brought fireworks before it even got started. Billy wanted an old confidant to come help lead a young team and the Nashville Predators wanted Luke Kunin. So, the Wild traded the latter and brought back (32 yr-old) Nick Bonino and an extra 2nd round pick in return (which they’ve already used wisely — keep reading).

Nick Bonino is a proven commodity around the NHL and someone who Billy Guerin trusts, from their time together in Pittsburgh. Kunin had been a bit of a disappointment but clearly still held some value. If the Wild didn’t see him as a good fit for what they are trying to build, now was the perfect time to make a deal. If you care about “Z-Score”, then this trade will make sense to you.

The Wild used that extra second round pick on another Russian (and center), Marat Khusnutdinov, who currently plays center in the KHL. Jake Jansen has him as his 20th overall prospect in the entire draft. There’s no other league I feel more confident in picking players from, than the KHL. If youngsters can play there, then there’s a good chance they’ll transition to the NHL successfully too, especially on a team that is already laced with others Russians to help them feel comfortable.

Marek has the rest of this season, and then one more, under KHL contract. According to Russo, he’s excited to come over.

Bill Guerin and his newly acquired right-hand draft guru, Judd Bracket, used their 3rd pick of the 2020 draft (#39 overall) on yet another prospect who many are labeling, ‘a steal’. This time, it was defenseman, Ryan O’Rourke, who Michael Russo pins as a future captain-type player with a major mean streak. That’s a side of the game the Minnesota Wild have noticeably lacked for a long time. I love the piece HockeyWriters.com did on O’Rourke being the steal of the draft (see excerpt below).

Now a little perspective. That smile was a noteworthy thing. Up to that point in the interview, his answers were short and straight to the point. But as soon as we started talking about NHL defensemen and who he models himself after, the mood changed. It was something he takes a lot of pride in.

His answer? Duncan Keith.

I then made an observation to O’Rourke after he mentioned Keith. I said to him you really seem to thrive when you play that in your face style. It was at that point his smile got even bigger. It was then that I knew this player was going to be a pain at the next level in the best way possible.

Whoever drafts O’Rourke is going to get a dependable defenseman who will have no trouble causing headaches for the opposition. But then if his team has the puck, there’s a good chance he’s involved in the scoring. He’s a two-way defenseman that in my mind is not getting nearly enough attention.

Mark Scheig – HockeyWriters.com

There’s no guarantee that any of these moves or draft picks will work out but, in reality, there never is. The Minnesota Wild hired Bill Guerin as general manager, who then surrounded himself with hockey people that are well-respected around the NHL, including someone like Judd Bracket.

When you make highly-coveted (Guerin was) front office hires, you have to trust them to make the right decisions and, from all early signs, Billy has been very smart and strategic about his 2020 bold offseason maneuvers.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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After a dominating Game 1 win The Minnesota Wild fell flat in Game 2 of their qualifying round series against Vancouver. The Canucks evened the series at one game apiece with a 4-3 win. The Wild looked flat, Alex Stalock struggled and an abysmal power play all led to the Wild being overmatched. If not for Kevin Fiala the Wild would have been laughed off the ice. The overall game can be summed up by the performance of Ryan Donato, who looked completely lost.

UGLY EARLY

The Canucks got the scoring started before before anyone was settled in, taking a 1-0 lead 24 seconds into the game. The Wild definitely didn’t appear ready for the game.

The Wild tied the score with time winding down in the second period, getting a shorthanded goal from Luke Kunin to even things at 1-1.

Vancouver dominated the second period, scoring twice to push the lead to 3-1. The first goal came from J.T. Miller.

Vancouver made it 3-1 on a goal from Brock Boeser that snuck by Stalock as he swung left to play the initial shot.

Vancouver wasn’t done there. They increased the lead to 4-1 in the third with a goal from Bo Horvat.

FIALA CATCHES FIRE

The Wild did get another goal late in the third as Kevin Fiala scored his second goal of the series.

Fiala added another goal with seven seconds left to get the Wild within one at 4-3, but that was as close as the Wild would get.

PITIFUL POWER PLAY

The Wild went 0-6 on the Power Play. Any time they had an opportunity with an extra skater they just seemed tentative. It drives me absolutely bonkers with a team spends most of their advantage simply passing the puck. SHOOT IT!

STALOCK STRUGGLES

Alex Stalock was masterful in Game 1 but Vancouver had his number in Game 2. The goalie position was one spot heading into the series that the Canucks had an advantage. The Wild will need Stalock or whoever else starts in Game 3 to be way .

PLEASE WIN SOME FACEOFFS

The Wild won 25 of 68 faceoffs on the night. That became painfully clear as the game wore on, every faceoff win for the Canucks prevented the Wild from sustaining any time in the Canucks zone. The Wild will absolutely have to get that fixed heading into Game 3.

EVASON ADJUSTMENTS?

All eyes will be on Dean Evason to see what sort of adjustments he makes now that the series is tied 1-1. Will Devan Dubnyk get the start? Are the line combinations going to be juggled? Will Evason stay the course and not make any changes? These are all the types of gambles that can put you in a 1-2 hole if not answered correctly.

The Wild will try to regain the lead in the series Thursday at 1:30 pm CT. You read that right, a game that starts in the afternoon!

Report Cards (via Jake Jensen)

Seth Toupal | Minnesota Sports Fan

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