The good lads of Los Angeles were just too good. Well actually, it was McDavid and Zibanejad that beat us. In the last article, those two were identified as the players to stop. The team could not get it done. The first four games of the series each game was decided by a single goal. It was a very tight series until then. Could have gone either way. But then game 5 happened and the dam broke. The Wild received a major spanking. 

"Series was over at that point" said an anonymous player. "Nobody wants to admit it, but the guys in the room knew it. Coaches knew it. Pretty sure the GM knew it too." 

Game 6 obviously didn't go too well and the Wild were eliminated.

"There's obviously some luck involved. Look at game 1. We lost 6 players in that game. Morrissey was out for the series as well. 7 total regulars. Take a look a few games after, Morrissey magically is able to play with a heroic recovery and Pettersson goes down for months. I don't want to blame injuries. Every team has injuries. We literally got 0 minutes with a full lineup these playoffs. Sometimes it happens this way. I'd still prefer this over what happened in 21-22."

The Kings have since been eliminated by the Canucks. A heavy favourite all season to win it all.

The Wild are going to take some time off before starting to do research for the draft. The team has their 1st although it will be a later one. They also have their 2nd as well as Colorado's 2nd. The team will also look to shake things up with the roster. "I wouldn't expect everybody under contract for next year to still be here by the time the season starts. Maybe the draft is a good time to shake things up a bit. We'll see"

____________________________

Article: 34/5

'Show me the money' bonus: $7,250,000 / $10,000,000