Old Man and the 'C' combine for Wild win

By Wild Road Tripper

The oldest member of the Minnesota Wild, 37-year-old Owen Nolan, and the Captain of the Wild, Mikko Koivu, teamed up tonight at Xcel Energy Center to sink the New York Islanders 3-2 as the Wild ended a 4-game losing streak. Nolan's two goals, his 5th and 6th of the season, started and ended the Wild scoring, while Koivu's 6th of the year, on a close-in shot beat Isles backup goalie Martin Biron. Nolan's 6th goal of the year propelled the Wild's record against the Eastern Conference to a respectable 4-1-2 after seven games against the other conference.

Nolan's first goal was a sharp-angle shot from the goal line which beat Biron 11:44 into the game. Nolan's last goal looked as if even he was surprised on, as Eric Belanger set him up by deftly passing the puck to an all-alone 'Irish God of War' in front of Biron, who put the winner away with just 1:07 remaining in the contest, to run the Wild's home record to 6-3 after 9 home games.

Niklas Backstrom made 29 saves (only 5 in the 3rd period), as did Biron for the Isles, as they drop to 3-5-5 on the road for the year. Jon Sim scored his 2nd goal of the season and assisted on Josh Bailey's fourth tally as the Isles took a 2-1 lead into the third period. Then the Wild took the game away from the Islanders as the pressure was indeed put on as the period waned.

A barely-sold-out crowd of 18,118 (54 over the 'X' 's seated capacity) cheered, well, wildly as the Wild ran their record to 8-11-2, 18 points, good for 14th place in the Western Conference, one point of cellar-dweller Anaheim, who was idle on Friday night.

The Wild return to action on Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve, as the Boston Bruins come to town for a 7:00 PM start (Wild TV: KSTC-45. Boston TV: NESN. XM Radio: Ch. 238) in a game which will, once again, feature the Wild's new green third jerseys.

'Our worst performance of the season'

So said Minnesota Wild head coach Todd Richards after Wednesday night's lacklustre 3-2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes, a loss so bad, other NHL teams now mark the Wild down as their get-well tonic.

Only 18,110 were issued tickets to see this exhibition of insipid hockey, as the Wild came back twice from one-goal deficits, only to have the Coyotes score the game winner only 19 seconds after Antti Miettinen tied the game at 2-2, when Scottie Upshall, former Nashville Predator who moved west in last summer's free agency, bit the hand that once fed him (Craig Leipold, Wild owner) by putting a high wrist shot over the glove shoulder of Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom. The aggressive forecheck of the Coyotes also kept Minnesota pinned in their own zone a good part of the night, as the Wild dropped their fourth straight decision in the last 7 days (0-2-2) and their November record drops to 2-3-2 with 4 games left to play in the month.

The Wild now face the New York Islanders on Friday night, in another matchup featuring a Minnesotan (Kyle Okposo) versus the team from his home state.

Wild at the Quarter pole

OK, so after ¼ of the 2009-2010 NHL season has been played, what do we have?

1. 7 of the 16 teams who made last year's playoffs would be out today, if the season ended now.
2. Six points separate first from eighth place in the Eastern Conference, the same number which separates second from tenth place in the Western Conference.
3. The Minnesota Wild coming off a combined road record of 2-9-2 after two killer road trips (one road trip five games, the other four games) in a span of five weeks.
4. Six of the next 10 games for the Wild are against teams who are currently in the playoffs, if the season ended today. Two of the other 4 games are against teams who made the playoffs last season.
5. The jury is still out on Wild Head Coach Todd Richards and his new 'system' of more offense. Although they actually show signs of doing it the way it's drawn up at times, there are still lapses, such as the third period of last week's game at Tampa Bay, and the first 25 minutes of the game at Carolina last Sunday, a game played so badly, that in that period they allowed a team, who lost 14 games in a row, to get up by three goals. Twice.
6. The question still exists of whether or not the Wild will be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline following the 17-day Olympic break Feb. 14-March 3. And just whom do you trade, anyhow? Those players with expiring contracts only? Or, do you blow the whole thing to Hell and start over? Who gets to pick and choose who stays, and who goes?
7. It is only a matter of time before the Wild's sellout streak is over; it may even happen before Thanksgiving, as the team plays two opponents who are not really strong draws league-wide (Phoenix, NY Islanders) and a third opponent (Boston) who's major calling card, at least in Minnesota, is no longer with the club (Phil Kessel, now a Toronto Maple Leaf.)
8. What about the Wild defense? Brent Burns is having an up-and-down season, at best: Nick Schultz, after some horrid nights early on, is slowly adjusting to the new style; Greg Zanon and Shane Hnidy are still getting used to playing with their new teammates; Marek Zidlicky still takes the dumb penalty at the wrong time, still gets caught out of position frequently and makes it harder for other defensemen to do their job; and Kim Johnsson, shoulder injury (or higher up, depending on who you listen to) still isn't the same defenseman he was last season.
9. Injuries to forwards have plagued the Wild this last six weeks as well. Four of the top six forwards (Petr Sykora, Martin Havlat, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Andrew Brunette) were out at one time or another. Throw in the pre-season woes of Brunette and Mikko Koivu, and you have a recipe for disaster, as no one knows much about who they're playing alongside.
10. Although one of the brightest spots has been the goaltending of Niklas Backstrom, the lack of defense in front of him means he has seen a lot of rubber already, and we still have 60 + games left to play.

Although the Wild are far from out of the playoff race (it's way too early in the season to even start that talk for any team), they are inching precipitously close to the edge of the proverbial cliff. If they go over, they're like a bad Michael Jackson record.

HIS-tory.

-- WRT

Why I relaunched M & G

Welcome to the relaunched version of Mileposts and Goalposts!

While there are some minor changes, the largest immediate change here will be the splitting of M & G and the new, more transportation-focused Along the Right of Way (http://alongtherightofway.blogspot.com), which will primarily have the transit/transportation articles which were formerly mixed in with the hockey-related blogs, on the old M & G.

Here are a few reasons I relaunched Mileposts and Goalposts:

1. Not that I didn't enjoy my 20 months at Hitting the Post (I did), but I have been thinking about this since last summer. Since then, Nick Henry, HTP's creative force, who I was asked to fill in for, now has more time to spend on that blog. Three voices on one blog is a lot, especially when two of them are doing nearly daily posting.

2. I have an admission to make. I am a control freak.

I have wanted to have more control over what I put out than what HTP allowed. Not that the HTP format is a bad one, but it is very constraining at times, especially when you think that you have a lot to say. M & G will be my own blog, my own thing, done my way. You, the reader, will determine what you like and/or dislike. (And, I hope you join in and let me know what you like and dislike.)

3. There are a lot of Minnesota Wild-based blogs out there. Maybe not as many as some clubs(Original Six clubs, Vancouver, the Alberta teams) but more than most U.S.-based NHL teams. To be heard in this 'sea of me's', you have to come from somewhere different. I am hoping that the fact that I see the Wild in person up to 50 games a year gives me an edge over other blogs.

4. Some of the things I did at 'HTP' will come over here, such as the Wild post-game summary (although sometimes, this will be the next day; I need to get to sleep sooner after most Wild games), 'This 'n' That', and some new stuff as well, which I will develop in the next few months.

I hope you enjoy the ride! And, if there some things that get lost in the transition, we apologize in advance for forgetting them.

Wild Road Tripper
Creator and Publisher

Minnesota Wild: Out of the Abyss (H)

After a 7-games-in-11-days run, the Minnesota Wild have earned a few days off. The Wild came through that stretch with a respectable 4 wins, 3 losses, and have finally reached double-digits in points. Granted, that and $2 will only get you a small Pike Place blend at Starbucks, but as disasterous as October was for the local six, to pull out of it as they have provides that glimmer of hope for the rest of the season.

Granted, we are still not talking playoff hope. No. Not at all. The hope we are talking about is simply respectability, as the Wild continues to rebuild the organization after the disasater which was left behind following the sacking of Doug Risebrough earlier this year.

There are nine potential free agents in 2010, none the least of which will be defensemen Kim Johnsson and Marek Zidlicky, and forwards Owen Nolan, Eric Belanger, Petr Sykora and Derek Boogaard, all of whom could be used as trade bait to free up cap space for younger, faster, stronger, and smarter players.

What am I getting at? Yeah, let's speak to that. The Wild have a lot of dead weight to unload. Granted, it takes two to tango, so someone needs to step up and say they want one of the above mentioned players. The most talked about (at least here in Minnesota) are Johnsson (currently injured, yet another concussion, although the Wild are loathe to admit it), Zidlicky and Boogaard.

Granted, we are not even 1/4 of the way into the 2009-10 season. But '3-buck Chuck' Fletcher is waiting for your call. Any or all of these players are available...If, the price is right!

Seriously, NHL teams, up against a shrinking salary cap, need to shed dead weight as a whole. There are too many players on 3rd & 4th lines making too much money for doing too little. And now, no thanks to DR, the Wild have little money left to trade salaries to upgrade the talent pool. Few draft picks, thanks again to Dougie and his 'I'll give you a 3rd round pick for a 4th line forward' draft strategy.

So, here we are, Wild fans. They're running what they brung. It's just what they brung isn't getting the job done. Yes, they have finally put three solid periods together, but it took them seven weeks to do so. Granted, there is no way you put in a new offense overnight, but this team has dug itself such a hole, there may be no way that they dig themselves out. So we go back to the 'who wants 'em?' question again.

The winter, to say the least, will be an interesting transition period for the Wild. We'll all find out, together.

Chicago fallout; Time to get crackin' (M)

First things first.

I am officially pissed off at the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).

After a rainy, cold, disasterous day yesterday, a group of five Minnesota Wild fans (myself and my wife included) were waiting for the #19 United Center Express bus yesterday, late in Chicago's hideous rush hour. We waited, and waited, and waited...for the bus that NEVER CAME, even though the schedule (last printed in 2006-07; go to http://www.transitchicago.com/ to see it) says it was supposed to, confirmed by employees at two separate North Michigan Avenue hotels.

Seems that the CTA truncated the route (for budgetary reasons), so that if you are staying in Chicago's Near North hotel district, you take any bus southbound on Michigan to Randolph, and transfer there to the express bus for last night's Wild-Blackhawks tilt at the UC. Of course, no signs at any of the stops no longer served by that route (the bus formerly started southbound on Michigan at Superior) and no way to ask anyone (most of the drivers don't know that schedule, either) to figure that out.

In our case, the CTA lost out on five fares thanks to that momentous decision. I wonder how many other visiting fans are in the same boat? And how many more will be, until the CTA puts out a new schedule with the new, truncated routing on it?

I've officially complained (via e-mail) to the CTA. Let's see what their excuse for not informing anyone (or, updating the schedules) will be.

And now that we've tried to straighten out part of Chicago's transit morass, can we do the same with the Wild?

This team is in deep, serious trouble. Most Wild fans knew that the team would be taking a step backwards this season; who knew, however, that this squad would be on its' way to the worst season (from a wins-losses-points standpoint) in franchise history?

If the current Wild trend continues, the Wild could win a total of 24 games, and maybe come up with 60 points. The current record for fewest points in a season is 68 in 2000-01.

No offense to speak of, precious little defense, no real hitting (except by Clutterbuck and, occasionally, Scott) and no support for the goaltending. This team could be down there in the NY Islanders category of all-time worst NHL teams by the end of the '09-10 season. They are already one road loss from being the second-worst team all-time in road history (only the '92-93 Ottawa Senators, the original expansion year for that club, is worse) and their 356-game sellout steak is in dire jeopardy (It almost ended last Saturday, as less than 100 over seated capacity saw the Wild defeat Carolina 3-2 in OT.)

The management needs to do something soon to at least stabilize the ship of state. Too many players look as if they are going thru the motions out there nowdays. Too many players are acting as if they know more about the game than they really do. Arrogance, dissention, lackadaisical attitudes, lack of effort, all that is rearing its' ugly head amongst those in St. Paul right about now. Even sniping at the press corps is in vogue. Time for a holiday fire sale?

And then, there's the Mikko Koivu bobblehead doll, $25 worth of hockey kitsch that really looks out of place when a team is going this poorly. (BTW: Weren't the Chicago White Sox in last place when 'Disco Demolition Night' took place??) I'm not sure that anyone who really isn't a Mikko fan will buy the thing...

More later.

WRT

Did Wild fans really need to worry about...

...Mikko Koivu as the team's first-ever permanent captain?

Nah. No way.

Granted, Andrew Brunette has indeed been the good soldier, and there are others (Owen Nolan, Martin Havlat, Greg Zanon) who have held leadership roles with their former teams (Calgary, Chicago and Nashville, respectively.)

But there really is only one player whom Wild fans recognize as, 'the Franchise', and that is the 27-year-old 'little' brother of Anaheim Duck (and ex-Montreal Canadien) Saku Koivu, himself a former captain of Les Habitants.

The announcement came at a news conference following practice Tuesday. The Wild face the first-place Colorado Avalanche Wednesday night in St. Paul, the first home game in two weeks. The Wild play 4 of their next 6 games at home.