Wilderness Walk: Ivan Lodnia leaves KHL for Iowa camp

That’s Wild

• A Minnesota Wild prospect that was enjoying some ice-time while the North American leagues were shut down, Ivan Lodnia is coming back and is expected at Iowa’s training camp that begins on Jan. 25. Through 27 games for Dinamo Minsk of the KHL, Lodnia had seven points.
• The announcement that everyone was waiting for finally happened yesterday, with the Wild announcing that Jared Spurgeon will take over the captaincy. [Hockey Wilderness]
• With the season just days away, we’re going through our new division rivals and looking at how they stack up against the Wild. First is the Anaheim Ducks, ew. [Hockey Wilderness]
• In case you missed it, we travelled back to 2003 and re-lived the grueling series against the Vancouver Canucks in all of its glory. [Hockey Wilderness]
• Russo details why the Wild chose Spurgeon as the franchise’s second full-time captain in its history. [The Athletic]

Off the trail...

• Dom is still cooking up his season previews and they are full of everything you need to make fun of other teams for being bad. [The Athletic]
• Los Angeles Kings’ Drew Doughty got really mad for reading that he’s not really that good.

• Chicago forward Dylan Strome has signed a two-year bridge deal with the team with a cap hit of $3-million. [Second City Hockey]
• More young players have signed more contracts, wow! The Pittsburgh Penguins and defenseman John Marino have agreed to a six-year deal that will have a $4.4-million AAV. [Pensburgh]
• Team Canada forward and Winnipeg Jets prospect Cole Perfetti discussed some important numbers and metrics during a short pre-game show this past weekend. Pretty cool.