This Friday, the Minnesota Wild officially report for the start of training camp. And, after this summer, this is the best thing that could happen for all parties involved -- players, staff, and most importantly, the fans.
This has not been a good off-season for the sport of hockey. Far from it. It has been, literally, the deadliest single off-season in the history of the sport. 48 players have died since the end of the last season, including 45 as a result of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl charter plane crash in Russia last week.
Two Wild alumni -- Derek Boogaard and Pavol Demitra -- were amongst those whose lives were ended all too soon during the summer. Boogaard's death is the tip of a very large and deadly iceberg, that of the pain endured every day by NHL players, who want to keep playing even when their bodies say they should retire to their favorite off-ice activity.
The fact is, however, that life goes on for the rest of us, even when the world stops for others. The fact is that even after the pain suffered though the summer, after the deaths of Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak -- all for different reasons, in different locations, at different times -- hockey goes on. People still want the game to go on. The players still want to play. The fans still want to see hockey on the ice. They still want to cheer for their team, and boo the opposition.
The fans are excited right now. Hope springs eternal, never more so than going into the start of training camp this weekend. The dramatically 'new and improved' Wild, led by Mikko Koivu, now more than ever, now with some actual first-line offensive help in Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi.
Finally shorn of the dead weight of Cam Barker, Antti Miettinen, and James Sheppard -- three players Wild fans learned the hard way to loathe, especially over the last two seasons, as the team's fortunes soured under another now-ex-Wild, coach Todd Richards -- replaced with the coach of the Houston Aeros, Mike Yeo, who took his team to the AHL's Calder Cup finals.
It's a lot for a dedicated fan to handle, all these changes in the sport that they love; for the casual fan, maybe it will be a bit confusing, especially in the pre-season, as the rosters will not be set until later in camp, after everyone has received a good look. Newer players, such as Colton Gillies, Jordan Henry, Mike Lundin, Darroll Powe, and Marco Scandella will become the basis of the Wild's third and fourth lines and third defensive pairing, a virtual 'quantum leap' ahead of last season's patchwork quilt of players shoring up the top two lines.
For those top two lines, the results of the massive overhaul, orchestrated by GM Chuck Fletcher means that the offense, anemic by any sport's standards, should fire on all cylinders most of the time this season, injuries not withstanding. The Wild's top 4 defensemen are finally worthy of being at least occasionally mentioned as top 4 defensemen, as the slackers and the deadbeats have been purged from the ranks of the roster. Lean and mean, Guillaume Latendresse cannot be called 'Minnesota Fats' any more. Matt Cullen can return to his natural center position, feeding Latendresse and Pierre-Marc Bouchard as the Wild's second line.
Yes, Wild fans, hope springs eternal at this time of year. Of course, no one in the NHL has played a game yet. Right now, the Islanders are just as good as the Canucks. (Well, maybe not, but go with it.)
After all, that's why we fans want them to play the games...
Showing posts with label Nystrom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nystrom. Show all posts
Monday, September 12, 2011
Sunday, December 5, 2010
How long...will this keep goin' on?
Like the old song, we ask this question of Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher:
'How long...will this keep goin' on?'
The Wild enter this week with a morbid 1-5-2 record since the OT win in Detroit on Nov. 19th (and 3-7-2 in their last 12 since the Atlanta disaster on Nov. 11, the date I have been using for the last month to show the ineptitude of this Wild club).
Yes, there is reason for optimism (Martin Havlat's sudden upsurge, the return of Pierre-Marc Bouchard, the continued goaltending of 'Backodore') despite the number of bad goals against them lately, most as a result of inopportune screening by the Wild defense.
But, therein lies the rub. The problems of the Wild, as many of them as there are, in my opinion:
1. Not enough shots on net. You don't win if you don't score, and you don't score if you don't shoot. You shouldn't have 13-15,000 people at the 'X' screaming 'SHOOT!!!' and then still wind up passing it...to the boards, because the forward moved to set up for a shot. I've seen this all too often this season. And the next time I see no one in front of the net, when the puck is ready to come out from behind the goal, I may just be besides myself.
2. Too many players are moving too slow. Granted, some of this is due to age (Andrew Brunette, as an example), but a lot of it is players taking the night off, for whatever reason. The first line (Brunette, Mikko Koivu, Antti Miettinen) especially has looked slow and erratic the last two weeks. None of those three wish to go after a puck in the corners. The lack of speed and/or urgency in their game has cost the Wild dearly, as they either get penalized after they get caught, the Wild generate no offense, or at worst, the Wild give up yet another easy goal.
3. Someone want to shake up the third line? The John Madden-Eric Nystrom combination is getting beat up fast, especially when the Wild are shorthanded (they are both -11 as of now). This is where Miettinen should reside, until either he is traded or the unrestricted free agent-to-be is allowed to go elsewhere. The fact of the matter is that the third line needs help, and right now they're not getting it.
4. I'll say it: Cam Barker is a STIFF. How can you be that well paid, and yet that much of a lumbering oaf on skates? This week, rookie Jared Spurgeon has been paired with the Human Pylon II, which has made on-ice life very difficult for the young defenseman, who some have called 'minnow'. Barker, a -9 as of today, has really worn out his welcome with his passive-non-aggressive play, and his standing at the blue line, too inept to do anything, allowing opposing forwards to spring free for breakaways.
5. We fans all love the shot-blocking exploits of Greg Zanon. However, maybe, just maybe, sometimes the right play doesn't always mean sacrificing the body to block the puck. Especially when your defensive partner (Marek Zidlicky) is on the ice more for offense, than defense.
Zanon is a good defenseman. He deserves to be a top-4 on any NHL club. Zidlicky, for all his known problems, is actually having his best season as a member of the Wild. Maybe not statistically, but in overall play, he has never been better. Any defensive pairing works better when both members are upright and skating. Zanon has been getting caught out of position way-y-y too often, then tries to make up for it by blocking shots. If the Wild are to get better, they must play better positional hockey. Starting with the No. 2 defensive pairing.
The Wild now have four days off until their Thursday night game at Phoenix, against a Coyotes team who came into St. Paul, and exposed every weakness of the Wild in one pathetic evening of puck. After that, the Wild make their annual December visit to Southern California, two arenas (STAPLES Center, Honda Center) which the Wild have not fared well in over the last few seasons.
Will the winds of change blow thru St. Paul this week? The best answer is...'we'll see'.
'How long...will this keep goin' on?'
The Wild enter this week with a morbid 1-5-2 record since the OT win in Detroit on Nov. 19th (and 3-7-2 in their last 12 since the Atlanta disaster on Nov. 11, the date I have been using for the last month to show the ineptitude of this Wild club).
Yes, there is reason for optimism (Martin Havlat's sudden upsurge, the return of Pierre-Marc Bouchard, the continued goaltending of 'Backodore') despite the number of bad goals against them lately, most as a result of inopportune screening by the Wild defense.
But, therein lies the rub. The problems of the Wild, as many of them as there are, in my opinion:
1. Not enough shots on net. You don't win if you don't score, and you don't score if you don't shoot. You shouldn't have 13-15,000 people at the 'X' screaming 'SHOOT!!!' and then still wind up passing it...to the boards, because the forward moved to set up for a shot. I've seen this all too often this season. And the next time I see no one in front of the net, when the puck is ready to come out from behind the goal, I may just be besides myself.
2. Too many players are moving too slow. Granted, some of this is due to age (Andrew Brunette, as an example), but a lot of it is players taking the night off, for whatever reason. The first line (Brunette, Mikko Koivu, Antti Miettinen) especially has looked slow and erratic the last two weeks. None of those three wish to go after a puck in the corners. The lack of speed and/or urgency in their game has cost the Wild dearly, as they either get penalized after they get caught, the Wild generate no offense, or at worst, the Wild give up yet another easy goal.
3. Someone want to shake up the third line? The John Madden-Eric Nystrom combination is getting beat up fast, especially when the Wild are shorthanded (they are both -11 as of now). This is where Miettinen should reside, until either he is traded or the unrestricted free agent-to-be is allowed to go elsewhere. The fact of the matter is that the third line needs help, and right now they're not getting it.
4. I'll say it: Cam Barker is a STIFF. How can you be that well paid, and yet that much of a lumbering oaf on skates? This week, rookie Jared Spurgeon has been paired with the Human Pylon II, which has made on-ice life very difficult for the young defenseman, who some have called 'minnow'. Barker, a -9 as of today, has really worn out his welcome with his passive-non-aggressive play, and his standing at the blue line, too inept to do anything, allowing opposing forwards to spring free for breakaways.
5. We fans all love the shot-blocking exploits of Greg Zanon. However, maybe, just maybe, sometimes the right play doesn't always mean sacrificing the body to block the puck. Especially when your defensive partner (Marek Zidlicky) is on the ice more for offense, than defense.
Zanon is a good defenseman. He deserves to be a top-4 on any NHL club. Zidlicky, for all his known problems, is actually having his best season as a member of the Wild. Maybe not statistically, but in overall play, he has never been better. Any defensive pairing works better when both members are upright and skating. Zanon has been getting caught out of position way-y-y too often, then tries to make up for it by blocking shots. If the Wild are to get better, they must play better positional hockey. Starting with the No. 2 defensive pairing.
The Wild now have four days off until their Thursday night game at Phoenix, against a Coyotes team who came into St. Paul, and exposed every weakness of the Wild in one pathetic evening of puck. After that, the Wild make their annual December visit to Southern California, two arenas (STAPLES Center, Honda Center) which the Wild have not fared well in over the last few seasons.
Will the winds of change blow thru St. Paul this week? The best answer is...'we'll see'.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Finland VII: Anticipation...it's making me wait...
(In this seventh installment of my blog series leading up to NHL Premiere 2010, featuring the Minnesota Wild in Helsinki, Finland, we look at the season ahead, and also a few updates on other items, from earlier installments of this series.)
Well, folks, in less than three weeks the Great Adventure will indeed begin. And, there is a calm optimism in the WRT household. I am optimistic that all the planning, the research, the investigating, the hours at the computer will have all been worth it. My wife continues to say that she hopes her husband will come back to her, after the Great Adventure is over.
Her husband does, too, let me tell you. After this, all other road trips will seem extremely tame. Even the one to Detroit later this season. Tame, tame, tame, almost to the point of being boring. But, let's look ahead to the question of the day:
Where will the Minnesota Wild end up this season?
Wild fans are a hopelessly optimistic bunch, especially after the free agent signings of Moorhead native Matt Cullen, ex-Blackhawk (and NJ Devil) John Madden, and the second-generation grit of Eric Nystrom show the way to an upgraded roster, where a lot of the dead weight that ex-GM Doug Risebrough saddled the franchise with has now been swept away, and shown the door.
Granted, two fan favorites -- Owen Nolan, a.k.a. 'Cowboy' and 'the Irish God of War', or 'IGoW', and enforcer extraordinare Derek Boogaard -- were released; Boogaard winding up with DR in Gotham with the NY Rangers, Nolan still waiting for a call from one of the California clubs (he lives in San Jose, where he co-owns a restaurant) as his career winds down. Ex-SJ Shark Brad Staubitz now fills the 'enforcer' role with the Wild, but at least he can score a goal now and then, something which finally caught up with the likeable Boogaard, as no one was willing to even fight him, making his roster spot even more vulnerable. Boogaard's new $1.65M/season contract was too much for the Wild, who are now within $2.9 million of the NHL's salary cap, and that's including the contract of Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who will attempt to return from his concussion first suffered March 25, 2009 at Nassau Coliseum, in a 6-3 victory against the lowly Islanders.
The right shoulder and right knee of captain Mikko Koivu, both of which required surgery following the season are both at 100%, and the young man who some Wild fans have dubbed, 'the Franchise', is ready for a return to his homeland next month, with about 23 of his closest friends, including new Wild assistant coach Darby Hendrickson, who leaves the Fox Sports North studios (where he was in-studio co-host, on Wild and Gopher hockey telecasts) for the bench, where he will be a 'younger influence' on the roster, a different voice that has recently played the game in this modern era. How this will sit with some of the more tenured players on the Wild roster, such as Andrew Brunette, Nick Schultz and Brent Burns, who actually played with Darby when he was a grinder with the Wild, is yet to be determined.
Optimism runs high amongst Minnesota hockey fans right now, But there has yet to be played even a pre-season game, and not even an official practice has been held. Of course, optimism runs high...as nothing has been decided, save for the fact that James Sheppard, the favorite whipping boy for many Wild fans, will not be playing hockey until after the New Year, due to an ill-advised turn on an ATV in Colorado, during a break in pre-season workouts. Most Wild fans see this unfortunate turn of events for the former first-round pick, as another reason he should be shown the door, as soon as they can find a taker for his 'services'.
My view: After the Finland trip, 8 of their next 10 games will be at home. They must rack up regulation-time wins early, to get a leg up on the rest of the West, as 13 of the following 21 (and 22 of the following 37 games) will be on the road.
This team cannot afford another disasterous start, like last season's losing eight of their first nine debacle. Should they survive the first half of the season, the second half should be an easier half, with all but 5 games played after the All-Star game being within the Western Conference.
This team cannot afford to have long losing streaks. Their talent level is not that of even the now-gutted Chicago Blackhawks, nor San Jose, nor even Detroit, as elderly as that roster looks on paper. Vancouver, everyone's darling pick for the top spot in the West? Nah. Not even close. Maybe not even Calgary or Colorado, who surprised many in hockey and made the playoffs last season, a season which was supposedly a 'rebuilding' year.
They need to score more, especially in regulation. They need to not give up multiple goals in short defensive lapses, especially on the road against divisional opponents (games in Calgary come to mind when I say that). The synergy that was the Guillaume Latendresse-Martin Havlat pairing from last season, needs to be fed from the center position this season. Often. And in bunches.
Had the Wild been able to start the season in December last season, instead of October, they might have just made the playoffs, as banged up as the roster was going into the last weeks of the season, had they not had the disasterous start that this team did last year. This cannot happen again, and the club's hierarchy KNOWS it. The hockey minds know it.
Again, optimism reigns supreme. With that, in my opinion, the Wild will wind up as a playoff team in April. Probably no better than a No. 7 seed, which will probably mean a first round match-up against either of the top two teams in the West (San Jose or Vancouver), neither of which will allow the Wild to go farther than the first round in the playoffs.
But, considering the fact that less than two years ago, this team was totally in shambles, the first round is an achieveable goal, I believe, for this group of Wild players. You have to walk before you can run, and running with the big boys in the West is the immediate goal of this franchise. Reserving the right to change my mind...
...let's see what they can do.
As promised, some updates from earlier in the series:
Seems we've booked onto the 'party cruise' from Stockholm to Turku. The Viking Line ferry boat is known throughout Scandinavia as a 'booze cruise' (those of you who've sailed on the Duluth harbor tours know what I speak of; only this one is a LOT longer). The competing Silja Line ferry, as I said in Part IV of this series, is booked out on a charter that night, as a fund-raiser (presumably) for the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra. Several people have come to me telling me they can't even remember their crossing, due to all the liquor consumed on the ships.
(And, of course, there will be us, still trying to get over jet lag...)
Laundry update: There is no guest laundry at the hotel in Helsinki, so now our question is: Do we get laundry done professionally in Helsinki, Russo-style, by sending out the wet wash? Or, do we ship a box of clean clothes over to Finland, and that same box (with dirty clothes and some papers) back to the USA? Or, do we take some laundry soap with us, and rinse the stuff out in the bathroom sink? What do we do? (We don't want to offend anyone while in Europe...)
(to be continued)
Well, folks, in less than three weeks the Great Adventure will indeed begin. And, there is a calm optimism in the WRT household. I am optimistic that all the planning, the research, the investigating, the hours at the computer will have all been worth it. My wife continues to say that she hopes her husband will come back to her, after the Great Adventure is over.
Her husband does, too, let me tell you. After this, all other road trips will seem extremely tame. Even the one to Detroit later this season. Tame, tame, tame, almost to the point of being boring. But, let's look ahead to the question of the day:
Where will the Minnesota Wild end up this season?
Wild fans are a hopelessly optimistic bunch, especially after the free agent signings of Moorhead native Matt Cullen, ex-Blackhawk (and NJ Devil) John Madden, and the second-generation grit of Eric Nystrom show the way to an upgraded roster, where a lot of the dead weight that ex-GM Doug Risebrough saddled the franchise with has now been swept away, and shown the door.
Granted, two fan favorites -- Owen Nolan, a.k.a. 'Cowboy' and 'the Irish God of War', or 'IGoW', and enforcer extraordinare Derek Boogaard -- were released; Boogaard winding up with DR in Gotham with the NY Rangers, Nolan still waiting for a call from one of the California clubs (he lives in San Jose, where he co-owns a restaurant) as his career winds down. Ex-SJ Shark Brad Staubitz now fills the 'enforcer' role with the Wild, but at least he can score a goal now and then, something which finally caught up with the likeable Boogaard, as no one was willing to even fight him, making his roster spot even more vulnerable. Boogaard's new $1.65M/season contract was too much for the Wild, who are now within $2.9 million of the NHL's salary cap, and that's including the contract of Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who will attempt to return from his concussion first suffered March 25, 2009 at Nassau Coliseum, in a 6-3 victory against the lowly Islanders.
The right shoulder and right knee of captain Mikko Koivu, both of which required surgery following the season are both at 100%, and the young man who some Wild fans have dubbed, 'the Franchise', is ready for a return to his homeland next month, with about 23 of his closest friends, including new Wild assistant coach Darby Hendrickson, who leaves the Fox Sports North studios (where he was in-studio co-host, on Wild and Gopher hockey telecasts) for the bench, where he will be a 'younger influence' on the roster, a different voice that has recently played the game in this modern era. How this will sit with some of the more tenured players on the Wild roster, such as Andrew Brunette, Nick Schultz and Brent Burns, who actually played with Darby when he was a grinder with the Wild, is yet to be determined.
Optimism runs high amongst Minnesota hockey fans right now, But there has yet to be played even a pre-season game, and not even an official practice has been held. Of course, optimism runs high...as nothing has been decided, save for the fact that James Sheppard, the favorite whipping boy for many Wild fans, will not be playing hockey until after the New Year, due to an ill-advised turn on an ATV in Colorado, during a break in pre-season workouts. Most Wild fans see this unfortunate turn of events for the former first-round pick, as another reason he should be shown the door, as soon as they can find a taker for his 'services'.
My view: After the Finland trip, 8 of their next 10 games will be at home. They must rack up regulation-time wins early, to get a leg up on the rest of the West, as 13 of the following 21 (and 22 of the following 37 games) will be on the road.
This team cannot afford another disasterous start, like last season's losing eight of their first nine debacle. Should they survive the first half of the season, the second half should be an easier half, with all but 5 games played after the All-Star game being within the Western Conference.
This team cannot afford to have long losing streaks. Their talent level is not that of even the now-gutted Chicago Blackhawks, nor San Jose, nor even Detroit, as elderly as that roster looks on paper. Vancouver, everyone's darling pick for the top spot in the West? Nah. Not even close. Maybe not even Calgary or Colorado, who surprised many in hockey and made the playoffs last season, a season which was supposedly a 'rebuilding' year.
They need to score more, especially in regulation. They need to not give up multiple goals in short defensive lapses, especially on the road against divisional opponents (games in Calgary come to mind when I say that). The synergy that was the Guillaume Latendresse-Martin Havlat pairing from last season, needs to be fed from the center position this season. Often. And in bunches.
Had the Wild been able to start the season in December last season, instead of October, they might have just made the playoffs, as banged up as the roster was going into the last weeks of the season, had they not had the disasterous start that this team did last year. This cannot happen again, and the club's hierarchy KNOWS it. The hockey minds know it.
Again, optimism reigns supreme. With that, in my opinion, the Wild will wind up as a playoff team in April. Probably no better than a No. 7 seed, which will probably mean a first round match-up against either of the top two teams in the West (San Jose or Vancouver), neither of which will allow the Wild to go farther than the first round in the playoffs.
But, considering the fact that less than two years ago, this team was totally in shambles, the first round is an achieveable goal, I believe, for this group of Wild players. You have to walk before you can run, and running with the big boys in the West is the immediate goal of this franchise. Reserving the right to change my mind...
...let's see what they can do.
As promised, some updates from earlier in the series:
Seems we've booked onto the 'party cruise' from Stockholm to Turku. The Viking Line ferry boat is known throughout Scandinavia as a 'booze cruise' (those of you who've sailed on the Duluth harbor tours know what I speak of; only this one is a LOT longer). The competing Silja Line ferry, as I said in Part IV of this series, is booked out on a charter that night, as a fund-raiser (presumably) for the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra. Several people have come to me telling me they can't even remember their crossing, due to all the liquor consumed on the ships.
(And, of course, there will be us, still trying to get over jet lag...)
Laundry update: There is no guest laundry at the hotel in Helsinki, so now our question is: Do we get laundry done professionally in Helsinki, Russo-style, by sending out the wet wash? Or, do we ship a box of clean clothes over to Finland, and that same box (with dirty clothes and some papers) back to the USA? Or, do we take some laundry soap with us, and rinse the stuff out in the bathroom sink? What do we do? (We don't want to offend anyone while in Europe...)
(to be continued)
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Centers of attention
Well, folks, Chuck Fletcher and the Minnesota Wild staff said they would go out and get some help at center, the on-ice position of greatest need. The result after two days of free agency:
Mission. Accomplished.
The signing of ex-Ottawa Senator Matt Cullen (who actually won the Stanley Cup when he was with the Carolina Hurricanes, in 2007) and ex-Texas Star Warren Peters (for depth) signify that the further erosion of the center position will not be allowed to happen.
(Sorry about that, Doug Risebrough.)
And for those of you that feel that the Wild lacked 'grit' at the end of last season, let's introduce some second-generation 'grit', namely Eric Nystrom, the son of ex-NY Islander great Bob Nystrom, he of the four Stanley Cup winning Islander teams of the 1970's. Nystrom was signed as a 'depth forward', hopefully to play alongside Cal Clutterbuck and, hopefully, rookie Casey Wellman at fourth line center (although some, including Michael Russo, hockey scribe extraordinaire at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, think that James Sheppard will be the fourth-line center coming out of training camp.)
(And before some of you complain, I do apologize in advance for putting the names of 'Russo' and 'Sheppard' in the same sentence. One is no way in the league of the other. We all know that.)
Granted, some of the best Wild 'additions' were, in fact, 'additions by subtraction', as a good deal of the Wild's accumulated 'dead weight' are no longer on the roster, as Derek Boogaard now can honestly say, 'I am a Ranger', no thanks to his greedy, selfish ol' buddy, Marian Gaborik, who helped lure Boogaard to Manhattan after the Rangers' previous goon, Jody Shelley, signed a multi-year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers, who are indeed re-creating the 'Broad Street Bullies' of the mid-1970's at the south end of SEPTA's Broad Street Subway.
For those of you who participated last season in the 'Big John Scott' drinking game, we hope you enjoyed yourselves, as Scott signed a two-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks on Day 1 of free agency.
Owen Nolan? Still out there, but rumor has it he may go to the Washington Capitals or any of the three California teams (Nolan just built a new house near San Jose, where he has business interests; Nolan was a Shark for 11 seasons).
Andrew Ebbett signed with the Phoenix Coyotes, so now Ed Jovanovski now owes Ebbett dinner for butt-ending Ebbett last season during a Wild-Coyotes game in Glendale. Just make sure the dinner isn't at Whataburger, OK?
Robbie Earl? Still available. Don't hesitate, don't everyone push all at once, now...
Granted, most Wild fans are waiting for the first-round draft choice of this season, 18-year-old Finnish SM-liiga wunderkind Mikael Granlund, already playing at the top level of one of Europe's top leagues, to start paying dividends after 2010-11, where he will remain with his Finnish Helsinki team for one more season, then come across the North Atlantic and probably compete right away for the third center position (unless the Wild manage to trade way one or both of their top centers.)
And then, there's the Pierre Marc-Bouchard saga to deal with. Will he be able to return from a severe concussion which has kept him out for all (except one game) of last season and the last three weeks of 2008-09? Even if he comes back, at what level will he be able to safely operate at? He will always have the fear of one more good bell ringing ending certainly his hockey career, and possibly his life. You have to ask yourself: at what point is it really WORTH it to continue playing hockey?
PMB comes with a very hefty $4.08M cap hit. The only way the Wild get out from under that permanently is for PMB to voluntarily retire. We know he really doesn't want to do that. He may, however, have no choice if his concussion symptoms continue. There is a long-term injured reserve exception to the salary cap, but the minute PMB steps back on the ice in a game situation, the LTIR is lifted, and the Wild are that much more over the salary cap.
So how are the Wild doing? Like all NHL teams, July is the time your team gets better. But, so does everyone else. The amount of dead weight around the League in general you would think would push those on the lower end of the scales to get better faster. Some will retire (Keith Tkaczuk, as example); some will play elsewhere (Martin Skoula signing with the KHL Avangard Omsk, for one. There are others. I'm just happy that Skoula will not be over here anymore) and some will just sit at home, waiting for the phone to ring...
--WRT
Mission. Accomplished.
The signing of ex-Ottawa Senator Matt Cullen (who actually won the Stanley Cup when he was with the Carolina Hurricanes, in 2007) and ex-Texas Star Warren Peters (for depth) signify that the further erosion of the center position will not be allowed to happen.
(Sorry about that, Doug Risebrough.)
And for those of you that feel that the Wild lacked 'grit' at the end of last season, let's introduce some second-generation 'grit', namely Eric Nystrom, the son of ex-NY Islander great Bob Nystrom, he of the four Stanley Cup winning Islander teams of the 1970's. Nystrom was signed as a 'depth forward', hopefully to play alongside Cal Clutterbuck and, hopefully, rookie Casey Wellman at fourth line center (although some, including Michael Russo, hockey scribe extraordinaire at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, think that James Sheppard will be the fourth-line center coming out of training camp.)
(And before some of you complain, I do apologize in advance for putting the names of 'Russo' and 'Sheppard' in the same sentence. One is no way in the league of the other. We all know that.)
Granted, some of the best Wild 'additions' were, in fact, 'additions by subtraction', as a good deal of the Wild's accumulated 'dead weight' are no longer on the roster, as Derek Boogaard now can honestly say, 'I am a Ranger', no thanks to his greedy, selfish ol' buddy, Marian Gaborik, who helped lure Boogaard to Manhattan after the Rangers' previous goon, Jody Shelley, signed a multi-year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers, who are indeed re-creating the 'Broad Street Bullies' of the mid-1970's at the south end of SEPTA's Broad Street Subway.
For those of you who participated last season in the 'Big John Scott' drinking game, we hope you enjoyed yourselves, as Scott signed a two-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks on Day 1 of free agency.
Owen Nolan? Still out there, but rumor has it he may go to the Washington Capitals or any of the three California teams (Nolan just built a new house near San Jose, where he has business interests; Nolan was a Shark for 11 seasons).
Andrew Ebbett signed with the Phoenix Coyotes, so now Ed Jovanovski now owes Ebbett dinner for butt-ending Ebbett last season during a Wild-Coyotes game in Glendale. Just make sure the dinner isn't at Whataburger, OK?
Robbie Earl? Still available. Don't hesitate, don't everyone push all at once, now...
Granted, most Wild fans are waiting for the first-round draft choice of this season, 18-year-old Finnish SM-liiga wunderkind Mikael Granlund, already playing at the top level of one of Europe's top leagues, to start paying dividends after 2010-11, where he will remain with his Finnish Helsinki team for one more season, then come across the North Atlantic and probably compete right away for the third center position (unless the Wild manage to trade way one or both of their top centers.)
And then, there's the Pierre Marc-Bouchard saga to deal with. Will he be able to return from a severe concussion which has kept him out for all (except one game) of last season and the last three weeks of 2008-09? Even if he comes back, at what level will he be able to safely operate at? He will always have the fear of one more good bell ringing ending certainly his hockey career, and possibly his life. You have to ask yourself: at what point is it really WORTH it to continue playing hockey?
PMB comes with a very hefty $4.08M cap hit. The only way the Wild get out from under that permanently is for PMB to voluntarily retire. We know he really doesn't want to do that. He may, however, have no choice if his concussion symptoms continue. There is a long-term injured reserve exception to the salary cap, but the minute PMB steps back on the ice in a game situation, the LTIR is lifted, and the Wild are that much more over the salary cap.
So how are the Wild doing? Like all NHL teams, July is the time your team gets better. But, so does everyone else. The amount of dead weight around the League in general you would think would push those on the lower end of the scales to get better faster. Some will retire (Keith Tkaczuk, as example); some will play elsewhere (Martin Skoula signing with the KHL Avangard Omsk, for one. There are others. I'm just happy that Skoula will not be over here anymore) and some will just sit at home, waiting for the phone to ring...
--WRT
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