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 Sheppard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sheppard. Show all posts
Monday, September 12, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Waiting for the other shoe to drop
That's what Minnesota Wild fans are doing right now. Waiting. Waiting. And, more waiting.
While the rest of the NHL plays on in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Wild sit on the sidelines (or at the tee box), like 22 other NHL teams. Waiting for the right person to become available to be named the team's third head coach. Waiting for June 24th and 25th, when the NHL Amateur Draft takes place at the 'X'. Waiting for July 1st, the start of NHL Free Agency, when the Wild can shed themselves of more of the dead weight that permeated the 2010-2011 club, dragging Wild fans thru the 'March to Hell' stretch drive. When we can finally end the charade that has been the James Sheppard era (sorry, Russo, you and I disagree here. Shep needs a change of scenery. For his sake, and the sake of the club) and clear him off the books, once and for all.
When the Wild can also split up the 'Finnish Mafia' and say 'kiitos' and 'adios' to Antti Miettinen and his lack of goal-scoring ability. Artists with broad sides of barn paintings all over Minnesota, are weeping as the date approaches.
Although he should be offered a community job in the organization, Andrew Brunette's days on the Wild playing roster are, indeed, numbered.
Buh-Bye, Chuck Kobasew. Your presence these last two seasons are now costing us a top-40 draft pick. Hope all will be well, wherever you wind up.
Sorry, Josh Harding. You got caught up in a numbers game. You'll find a job somewhere. You're too young and too good to be cast aside, but the $$ money numbers caught up with you.
Also skee-daddling off the roster will be mid-season pick-up Jed Ortmeyer, the former Nashville Predator, who really wishes he was still on THAT roster right about now.
The Wild need to get more talent on the big league roster. Fast. Otherwise, there will be more than shoes dropping at 317 Washington St., St. Paul.
Maybe even a few heads.
While the rest of the NHL plays on in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Wild sit on the sidelines (or at the tee box), like 22 other NHL teams. Waiting for the right person to become available to be named the team's third head coach. Waiting for June 24th and 25th, when the NHL Amateur Draft takes place at the 'X'. Waiting for July 1st, the start of NHL Free Agency, when the Wild can shed themselves of more of the dead weight that permeated the 2010-2011 club, dragging Wild fans thru the 'March to Hell' stretch drive. When we can finally end the charade that has been the James Sheppard era (sorry, Russo, you and I disagree here. Shep needs a change of scenery. For his sake, and the sake of the club) and clear him off the books, once and for all.
When the Wild can also split up the 'Finnish Mafia' and say 'kiitos' and 'adios' to Antti Miettinen and his lack of goal-scoring ability. Artists with broad sides of barn paintings all over Minnesota, are weeping as the date approaches.
Although he should be offered a community job in the organization, Andrew Brunette's days on the Wild playing roster are, indeed, numbered.
Buh-Bye, Chuck Kobasew. Your presence these last two seasons are now costing us a top-40 draft pick. Hope all will be well, wherever you wind up.
Sorry, Josh Harding. You got caught up in a numbers game. You'll find a job somewhere. You're too young and too good to be cast aside, but the $$ money numbers caught up with you.
Also skee-daddling off the roster will be mid-season pick-up Jed Ortmeyer, the former Nashville Predator, who really wishes he was still on THAT roster right about now.
The Wild need to get more talent on the big league roster. Fast. Otherwise, there will be more than shoes dropping at 317 Washington St., St. Paul.
Maybe even a few heads.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Wild about...apathy
Indifference from players, fans of Minnesota Wild alike as April looms
You know it's bad when...your home fans even stop booing. When the paying customers see that the team has given up. Waived the flag of surrender. Quit. (Sorry, Andrew Brunette, but they have.)Stopped playing like these same fans saw they could just a few short weeks ago. When the Wild were in fifth place in the NHL's Western Conference, one point from a home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And then, and then...
...they rolled over, and they died.
The Wild are 0-7-1 in their last eight games, following an 0-4 road trip and an 0-3-1 home stand where they were out-scored 22-8 in the four games, puncuated by a blowout (8-1 to Montreal, who hasn't won since, BTW), a shut-out (3-0 to Toronto), and by flatout giving up (an embarrassing 6-3 loss to St. Louis, a team which the Wild put out of playoff contention last month on Hockey Day Minnesota).
Wretched doesn't begin to describe the type of play the Wild are exhibiting in front of their fan base right now. The indifference that this team is showing their followers is indeed epic. No jump whatsoever. No pride in receiving an NHL paycheck every two weeks. Not even caring enough to play for each other, even when the head coach, the embattled Todd Richards, is screaming at you during a time-out on the Wild bench.
Even when the puck lay 8 feet from the St. Louis goal, and three Wild players surrounded the puck, NO ONE went for the puck. That is what the Wild have become; the de facto laughingstock of the NHL. Indeed, the Wild are so up against the salary cap, that they will have to jettison some of their current players to have any salary-cap room for next fall. But who will they be playing in front of next September when pre-season begins?
The season-ticket fanbase, the cornerstone of any pro sports franchise, is tired of the blowouts, shut outs, and projects (like James Sheppard) who never seem to pan out. They are fed up with the losing, the lack of progress, and the flat-out giving up. The Wild need an infusion of talent -- real, honest-to-God talent, not more 'character guys' who are 'good in the room'. They need to shed themselves of the 5 unrestricted free agents, and a good amount of the other 'dead weight' this team currently houses on their roster, and get some real talent in here. Talent that can finish. Talent that can score. Talent that can step in and play at the NHL level. Not more third-and-fourth line 'grinders' who are bargain-basement 'projects', who may (or, may not) wind up becoming 'lifers' in the AHL, occasionally coming up for a 'cuppa coffee' in the big leagues.
If the Wild fail to blow it up, and do relatively little between the end of the season (April 10th, sadly) and next September's start of the pre-season, the fans will stay away from the Xcel Energy Center in droves. The Wild sales and marketiung staff will have their hands more than full, trying to get discretionary entertainment dollars out of an already skeptical fan base. And no amount of 'free food' offers, arena give-aways or 'special nights' will help change their minds.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Minnesota Wild: Poultry Farm
Laying more eggs than a poultry operation, Wild back out of playoff contention
It's true, blogosphere. You really won't have the Minnesota Wild to kick around this spring in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They'll all be out on golf courses across North America, enjoying the sun, thinking 'what might have been', had they just gone out in March and played like they actually wanted to be participating in the NHL's post-season. Because, with 10 games left in the season of 2010-2011, this team has spit the bit more than a $10 claimer at the horse track.
Since we last got together, the Wild have been outscored 12-8 in losing three straight (two in regulation) to Vancouver, San Jose and the previously-thought-hapless Columbus Blue Jackets. After yesterday's embarrassing 5-4 OT loss at home, however, the Wild are no better than some of the NHL's worst, as their 2-6-2 record in their last 10 games would imply. In fact, that embarrassing record is the second-worst in the League, only ahead of the already-imploded Colorado Avalanche, who wrote the season off weeks ago. Even the Edmonton Oilers, the team who everyone saw as two easy points thru most of the season, are better than the Wild as the season wanes.
Yes, the Wild need scoring. Desperately. Their lack of offensive punch is something the team's management and staff will have to address throughout the off-season. As cash-strapped against the cap as the Wild are, however, some familiar names on the current Wild roster will have to pack up and move on come the summertime.
A lot of people are targeting the Wild's top two defensemen, Brent Burns and Nick Schultz, as candidates for relocation in the summer of 2011. But, as valuable an asset that these two are together, might it be better for the success of the club, long-term, to break them up and get some offense in to take the pressure off them this summer?
The obvious answer is to not sign any of your unrestricted free agents this summer, namely forwards Antti Miettinen, Chuck Kobasew, and Andrew Brunette, goaltender Josh Harding, and the ultimate first-round-bust, James Sheppard. These five players must be shown the door (you could bring Brunette back if the price is right, tho) in no uncertain terms. Cam Barker must find a new home.
The roster must be overhauled. NOW. This off-season. The current make-up of the Wild roster is unworkable, as this team has lost its' way so bad, they'll never see the forest for the trees. Their 1-7-2 record so far this season against the bottom eight teams in the Eastern Conference, is proof positive that the Wild are just like every other Minnesota sports team; that is, they play up -- or, down -- to the level of their opposition (except, of course, when they face Detroit or Dallas, where they almost always lose).
So, while the rest of the NHL goes onto the post-season, the Wild get ready for the next thing on the team's agenda: tee times.
Because, for this bunch of turkeys, the season is indeed over.
It's true, blogosphere. You really won't have the Minnesota Wild to kick around this spring in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They'll all be out on golf courses across North America, enjoying the sun, thinking 'what might have been', had they just gone out in March and played like they actually wanted to be participating in the NHL's post-season. Because, with 10 games left in the season of 2010-2011, this team has spit the bit more than a $10 claimer at the horse track.
Since we last got together, the Wild have been outscored 12-8 in losing three straight (two in regulation) to Vancouver, San Jose and the previously-thought-hapless Columbus Blue Jackets. After yesterday's embarrassing 5-4 OT loss at home, however, the Wild are no better than some of the NHL's worst, as their 2-6-2 record in their last 10 games would imply. In fact, that embarrassing record is the second-worst in the League, only ahead of the already-imploded Colorado Avalanche, who wrote the season off weeks ago. Even the Edmonton Oilers, the team who everyone saw as two easy points thru most of the season, are better than the Wild as the season wanes.
Yes, the Wild need scoring. Desperately. Their lack of offensive punch is something the team's management and staff will have to address throughout the off-season. As cash-strapped against the cap as the Wild are, however, some familiar names on the current Wild roster will have to pack up and move on come the summertime.
A lot of people are targeting the Wild's top two defensemen, Brent Burns and Nick Schultz, as candidates for relocation in the summer of 2011. But, as valuable an asset that these two are together, might it be better for the success of the club, long-term, to break them up and get some offense in to take the pressure off them this summer?
The obvious answer is to not sign any of your unrestricted free agents this summer, namely forwards Antti Miettinen, Chuck Kobasew, and Andrew Brunette, goaltender Josh Harding, and the ultimate first-round-bust, James Sheppard. These five players must be shown the door (you could bring Brunette back if the price is right, tho) in no uncertain terms. Cam Barker must find a new home.
The roster must be overhauled. NOW. This off-season. The current make-up of the Wild roster is unworkable, as this team has lost its' way so bad, they'll never see the forest for the trees. Their 1-7-2 record so far this season against the bottom eight teams in the Eastern Conference, is proof positive that the Wild are just like every other Minnesota sports team; that is, they play up -- or, down -- to the level of their opposition (except, of course, when they face Detroit or Dallas, where they almost always lose).
So, while the rest of the NHL goes onto the post-season, the Wild get ready for the next thing on the team's agenda: tee times.
Because, for this bunch of turkeys, the season is indeed over.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Brand New Year, Same Old Wild Problems
New Year's. Time to re-start everything. Time to turn the calendar over, and renew your committment to making your life better in the New Year,
Oh, how I really wish the Minnesota Wild would follow that philosophy.
The fact of the matter is that despite their recent success (two wins vs. Calgary, wins vs. Colorado and San Jose in the last two weeks), this Wild team is, at best, a .500 hockey club. A testament to middling performance. A team which, if this season so far were made into a commercial, would come out like the Education Minnesota union ad during the elections -- "Mediocrity, Mediocrity, ME-DI-OCRITY!"
The reality is that until the Wild can once again upgrade their forwards to a level of, say, a St. Louis, or the LA Kings, or even this afternoon's opponents, the formerly-lowly Phoenix Coyotes, the Wild will be mired with a Calgary Flames team which is on the verge of a total rebuild, and the near-perpetual bottom feeders, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Edmonton Oilers, teams who are destined to be cannon fodder for the likes of the Detroits and Chicagos of the Western Conference.
How bad are the Wild viewed, especially away from Minnesota?
CBC's Pierre LeBrun, with Kelly Hrudey commenting on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday night from Pittsburgh's Heinz Field, where they were doing the Washington-Pittsburgh Winter Classic, came out and said that the Wild are 'not a sexy team' right now, and do not even deserve hosting the Winter Classic (although they wouldn't have had the warm weather problems they did in the Steel City yesterday). He also said that Philadelphia (home of Comcast, who will purchase NBC from GE later this month) and Colorado (who's Invesco Field at Mile High would be an 80,000-seat bonanza, for a game vs. either the Detroit Red Wings or the Dallas Stars) are the current front-runners for the 2012 game, a game which the Wild ownership covets dearly.
LeBrun's comments should have been viewed as an alarm bell, ringing throughout 317 Washington Street in Downtown St. Paul. It's time to get serious as to what direction the Wild need to go in to get where they really need to be -- the Stanley Cup Playoffs -- and soon.
They have to get involved this season at the trade deadline. And at the rate this team is going, they certainly would not be construed as 'buyers'. No way. They need to unload salary, and quickly. Antti Miettinen, Andrew Brunette, Chuck Kobasew all need to be shown the proverbial door. Two other Wild players -- John Madden and Jose Theodore -- are also unrestricted free agents at the end of this season. But there are two Wild players who's output underscores the fact they need a change of scenery.
Cam Barker and James Sheppard, your taxis are waiting to take you to the airport. One-way.
Sheppard, injured in pre-training-camp while ATV'ing in Colorado, needs a new start. Somewhere else. The second biggest draft day bust in Wild history (behind A. J. Thelen), the only thing Shep is doing right now for the Wild, is dragging down the team's salary cap to zero. They won't get anything out of him this season. Anything you get in return for him, (even a used puck bag), should be considered a plus for the Wild. Just get his name off the books.
Barker, acquired in the Kim Johnsson-Nick Leddy trade from Chicago, has probably been the single biggest stalagmite since Martin Skoula departed after the 2008-09 season. He doesn't hit. He doesn't check. Quite frankly, other than take up space on the roster, he really doesn't do much of anything, which is evident in his -12 plus/minus rating, worse than the rest of the Wild defense combined.
And who(m)ever told the Wild forwards that the fans don't want 'garbage' goals at home? The way that this team doesn't score, we fans can't be begging for the 'pretty' goal. Beggars can't be choosers. The Wild faithful will take goals, any way the Wild can deliver them.
Let's hope the New Year will right the Wild's ship of state. Because, the dinghy is still leaking...
Oh, how I really wish the Minnesota Wild would follow that philosophy.
The fact of the matter is that despite their recent success (two wins vs. Calgary, wins vs. Colorado and San Jose in the last two weeks), this Wild team is, at best, a .500 hockey club. A testament to middling performance. A team which, if this season so far were made into a commercial, would come out like the Education Minnesota union ad during the elections -- "Mediocrity, Mediocrity, ME-DI-OCRITY!"
The reality is that until the Wild can once again upgrade their forwards to a level of, say, a St. Louis, or the LA Kings, or even this afternoon's opponents, the formerly-lowly Phoenix Coyotes, the Wild will be mired with a Calgary Flames team which is on the verge of a total rebuild, and the near-perpetual bottom feeders, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Edmonton Oilers, teams who are destined to be cannon fodder for the likes of the Detroits and Chicagos of the Western Conference.
How bad are the Wild viewed, especially away from Minnesota?
CBC's Pierre LeBrun, with Kelly Hrudey commenting on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday night from Pittsburgh's Heinz Field, where they were doing the Washington-Pittsburgh Winter Classic, came out and said that the Wild are 'not a sexy team' right now, and do not even deserve hosting the Winter Classic (although they wouldn't have had the warm weather problems they did in the Steel City yesterday). He also said that Philadelphia (home of Comcast, who will purchase NBC from GE later this month) and Colorado (who's Invesco Field at Mile High would be an 80,000-seat bonanza, for a game vs. either the Detroit Red Wings or the Dallas Stars) are the current front-runners for the 2012 game, a game which the Wild ownership covets dearly.
LeBrun's comments should have been viewed as an alarm bell, ringing throughout 317 Washington Street in Downtown St. Paul. It's time to get serious as to what direction the Wild need to go in to get where they really need to be -- the Stanley Cup Playoffs -- and soon.
They have to get involved this season at the trade deadline. And at the rate this team is going, they certainly would not be construed as 'buyers'. No way. They need to unload salary, and quickly. Antti Miettinen, Andrew Brunette, Chuck Kobasew all need to be shown the proverbial door. Two other Wild players -- John Madden and Jose Theodore -- are also unrestricted free agents at the end of this season. But there are two Wild players who's output underscores the fact they need a change of scenery.
Cam Barker and James Sheppard, your taxis are waiting to take you to the airport. One-way.
Sheppard, injured in pre-training-camp while ATV'ing in Colorado, needs a new start. Somewhere else. The second biggest draft day bust in Wild history (behind A. J. Thelen), the only thing Shep is doing right now for the Wild, is dragging down the team's salary cap to zero. They won't get anything out of him this season. Anything you get in return for him, (even a used puck bag), should be considered a plus for the Wild. Just get his name off the books.
Barker, acquired in the Kim Johnsson-Nick Leddy trade from Chicago, has probably been the single biggest stalagmite since Martin Skoula departed after the 2008-09 season. He doesn't hit. He doesn't check. Quite frankly, other than take up space on the roster, he really doesn't do much of anything, which is evident in his -12 plus/minus rating, worse than the rest of the Wild defense combined.
And who(m)ever told the Wild forwards that the fans don't want 'garbage' goals at home? The way that this team doesn't score, we fans can't be begging for the 'pretty' goal. Beggars can't be choosers. The Wild faithful will take goals, any way the Wild can deliver them.
Let's hope the New Year will right the Wild's ship of state. Because, the dinghy is still leaking...
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)
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Sheppard out 3-4 Months after ATV accident: Are we surprised?
We should have known something like this was going to happen to James Sheppard, the tough-luck champion of the Minnesota Wild.
Sheppard was riding an ATV near Vail, Colorado late Saturday, when he ran into a tree while avoiding a truck while on a wilderness journey with his left kneecap, fracturing his patella, according to a team statement released late Tuesday afternoon. Already nearing the chopping block with the team for his poor play, since his being chosen as the team's No. 1 draft choice in 2006, the 22-year-old Nova Scotia native now faces the daunting task of rehabbing his knee following the surgery, while his 4th-line center spot is occupied by rookie Casey Wellman and/or vet Kyle Brodziak.
The timeline for Sheppard's rehab is 3-4 months, just in time for the Wild to possibly trade him at the trade deadline near the end of February. The Wild will be in New York at that time on a two-game road trip, at the Islanders on March 1, and at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers on March 2.
-- WRT
Sheppard was riding an ATV near Vail, Colorado late Saturday, when he ran into a tree while avoiding a truck while on a wilderness journey with his left kneecap, fracturing his patella, according to a team statement released late Tuesday afternoon. Already nearing the chopping block with the team for his poor play, since his being chosen as the team's No. 1 draft choice in 2006, the 22-year-old Nova Scotia native now faces the daunting task of rehabbing his knee following the surgery, while his 4th-line center spot is occupied by rookie Casey Wellman and/or vet Kyle Brodziak.
The timeline for Sheppard's rehab is 3-4 months, just in time for the Wild to possibly trade him at the trade deadline near the end of February. The Wild will be in New York at that time on a two-game road trip, at the Islanders on March 1, and at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers on March 2.
-- WRT
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
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The storm passes...and nothing changes
I'd like to think I know some things about NHL hockey after watching it for over 40 years.
I know that free agency cannot be looked upon as a catch-all panacea for what ails your team. (See 'Rangers, New York' for many, many examples of this.)
I know that the amateur draft is a bigger crapshoot than a drunken tour thru a Vegas casino. You are betting your future on a bunch of 18-year-old kids, who have barely proved anything (especially those who have not gone thru the Canadian Juniors system, such as Minnesota high school kids and Europeans, who have barely begun to go thru the process in their own countries.)
I know that one of the toughest things that NHL teams have to face in this era of 'cost containment' (Commissioner Bettman's words, not mine) is the decline in gate attendance (teams in certain markets are having difficulty selling tickets, even in Northern markets). Overall, the NHL will show you whatever statistics to refute that; but the reality is that in most NHL markets -- especially those outside the Dominion of Canada -- there just aren't as many fannies in the seats these days. And that directly hurts the bottom line. Most southern teams (outside of California) are facing this reality these days. With the NHL unable to reach any terms on a long-term USA TV deal (either on over-the-air broadcast or on cable) there will be no financial help from the TV side, either.
So where does this leave the Minnesota Wild going into Thursday's start of free agency?
In this blogger's opinion, not in a very good place.
The options for free agency are limited, as long as albatross contracts, such as those of Mark Parrish, Marek Zidlicky and the injured-for-15-months Pierre-Marc Bouchard are still on the Wild's payroll, not to mention the club's continued insistence on keeping the likes of first-round draft uber-bust James Sheppard (and his new one-year, $800K contract) on the roster.
The Wild still need to re-sign two restricted free agents (Guillaume Latendresse, Josh Harding), the six players drafted Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles at the entry draft, and add help, especially at the center position, a position where the League as a whole is perilously thin. The Wild need forwards, especially centers. Now. They really cannot afford to wait until a better crop of free agents comes in, next season or any season after that.
Picking from this season's crop of UFA's is like going thru the thrift store after a three-day clearance sale. There really isn't a lot out there. It's definitely a seller's market, especially if you are a center or can play center, especially on the power play. The reality is that the best time to get better quickly is in free agency, and everyone knows it. That is where the lack of draft picks for the Wild over nine of the last 10 seasons comes in.
Doug Risebrough's legacy -- trading draft picks for virtually nothing, year after year -- is now really coming back to hurt the Wild, as the cupboards are so bare, they have no assets to trade for anyone of value right now. The lack of quality picks from 2004-2009 (players that are NHL-ready immediately after the draft) now really comes back to hurt the franchise, as the picks of the likes of A.J. Thelen, Benoit "B-b-b-Benny" Pouliot and James Sheppard are now seen, as three of the worst NHL first-round draft selections in the 2000's. Thelen never dressed in Iron Range Red, and Pouliot and Sheppard never should have. Pouliot was pawned off on Bob Gainey and the Montreal Canadiens, in the trade steal of the year for Latendresse, while Sheppard played sparingly as other, younger, more talented players stepped in and stepped up, while Sheppard was frequently relegated to operating the Martin Skoula Memorial Popcorn Machine in the Al Shaver press box at the 'X'.
So what, then? What do the Wild do to better themselves this summer?
A few comments from one blogger:
1. Fish or cut bait with Bouchard. Don't try to drag this saga out into the regular season. Retirement should be the only option for this guy NOW. He is never coming back to play hockey, at least on the same level as he did prior to getting his clock cleaned March 25, 2009 on Long Island (a game I was in attendance at, BTW), so the time has finally come to cut the ties, set 'Butch' adrift, and free up about $4.5M in cap space.
2. Matt Cullen? No thanks. The ex-Carolina Hurricane (and four other NHL organizations), St. Cloud State Husky and Moorhead Spud is indeed out there, but I don't think he would be comfortable in Minnesota. The expectations would be set way too high, the pressure would be too great to excel with no help around you, and when you have a 90-year-old sportswriter (Sid) trying to glom onto you at every single opportunity, how can you play at a productive level?
3. Trade Zidlicky before his new, no-trade contract goes into effect July 1. For what offense he brings to the blue line, the fact of the matter is he is a defensive liability of the first order, and is nowhere worthy of his new, $4M, 3-year chokehold of a contract thru 2012-13. Like Filip Kuba, Martin Skoula and Kim Johnsson before him, Zidlicky is another Euro-defenseman who is over-paid, over-rated, and over here ... on the Wild roster.
4. Someone in the Koivu household tell Saku that the Wild is his brother's team, and that he would be a big, big help to his little brother if he signed with the Wild. With both Koivu brothers on the roster, team discipline would be at an all-time high. And after the way last season disintegrated (remember the two games at Detroit? The games at home against lowly Atlanta and Florida?) there definitely is some discipline needed from within the roster itself.
Free Agency begins Thursday. What happens then? Who knows?
--WRT
I know that free agency cannot be looked upon as a catch-all panacea for what ails your team. (See 'Rangers, New York' for many, many examples of this.)
I know that the amateur draft is a bigger crapshoot than a drunken tour thru a Vegas casino. You are betting your future on a bunch of 18-year-old kids, who have barely proved anything (especially those who have not gone thru the Canadian Juniors system, such as Minnesota high school kids and Europeans, who have barely begun to go thru the process in their own countries.)
I know that one of the toughest things that NHL teams have to face in this era of 'cost containment' (Commissioner Bettman's words, not mine) is the decline in gate attendance (teams in certain markets are having difficulty selling tickets, even in Northern markets). Overall, the NHL will show you whatever statistics to refute that; but the reality is that in most NHL markets -- especially those outside the Dominion of Canada -- there just aren't as many fannies in the seats these days. And that directly hurts the bottom line. Most southern teams (outside of California) are facing this reality these days. With the NHL unable to reach any terms on a long-term USA TV deal (either on over-the-air broadcast or on cable) there will be no financial help from the TV side, either.
So where does this leave the Minnesota Wild going into Thursday's start of free agency?
In this blogger's opinion, not in a very good place.
The options for free agency are limited, as long as albatross contracts, such as those of Mark Parrish, Marek Zidlicky and the injured-for-15-months Pierre-Marc Bouchard are still on the Wild's payroll, not to mention the club's continued insistence on keeping the likes of first-round draft uber-bust James Sheppard (and his new one-year, $800K contract) on the roster.
The Wild still need to re-sign two restricted free agents (Guillaume Latendresse, Josh Harding), the six players drafted Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles at the entry draft, and add help, especially at the center position, a position where the League as a whole is perilously thin. The Wild need forwards, especially centers. Now. They really cannot afford to wait until a better crop of free agents comes in, next season or any season after that.
Picking from this season's crop of UFA's is like going thru the thrift store after a three-day clearance sale. There really isn't a lot out there. It's definitely a seller's market, especially if you are a center or can play center, especially on the power play. The reality is that the best time to get better quickly is in free agency, and everyone knows it. That is where the lack of draft picks for the Wild over nine of the last 10 seasons comes in.
Doug Risebrough's legacy -- trading draft picks for virtually nothing, year after year -- is now really coming back to hurt the Wild, as the cupboards are so bare, they have no assets to trade for anyone of value right now. The lack of quality picks from 2004-2009 (players that are NHL-ready immediately after the draft) now really comes back to hurt the franchise, as the picks of the likes of A.J. Thelen, Benoit "B-b-b-Benny" Pouliot and James Sheppard are now seen, as three of the worst NHL first-round draft selections in the 2000's. Thelen never dressed in Iron Range Red, and Pouliot and Sheppard never should have. Pouliot was pawned off on Bob Gainey and the Montreal Canadiens, in the trade steal of the year for Latendresse, while Sheppard played sparingly as other, younger, more talented players stepped in and stepped up, while Sheppard was frequently relegated to operating the Martin Skoula Memorial Popcorn Machine in the Al Shaver press box at the 'X'.
So what, then? What do the Wild do to better themselves this summer?
A few comments from one blogger:
1. Fish or cut bait with Bouchard. Don't try to drag this saga out into the regular season. Retirement should be the only option for this guy NOW. He is never coming back to play hockey, at least on the same level as he did prior to getting his clock cleaned March 25, 2009 on Long Island (a game I was in attendance at, BTW), so the time has finally come to cut the ties, set 'Butch' adrift, and free up about $4.5M in cap space.
2. Matt Cullen? No thanks. The ex-Carolina Hurricane (and four other NHL organizations), St. Cloud State Husky and Moorhead Spud is indeed out there, but I don't think he would be comfortable in Minnesota. The expectations would be set way too high, the pressure would be too great to excel with no help around you, and when you have a 90-year-old sportswriter (Sid) trying to glom onto you at every single opportunity, how can you play at a productive level?
3. Trade Zidlicky before his new, no-trade contract goes into effect July 1. For what offense he brings to the blue line, the fact of the matter is he is a defensive liability of the first order, and is nowhere worthy of his new, $4M, 3-year chokehold of a contract thru 2012-13. Like Filip Kuba, Martin Skoula and Kim Johnsson before him, Zidlicky is another Euro-defenseman who is over-paid, over-rated, and over here ... on the Wild roster.
4. Someone in the Koivu household tell Saku that the Wild is his brother's team, and that he would be a big, big help to his little brother if he signed with the Wild. With both Koivu brothers on the roster, team discipline would be at an all-time high. And after the way last season disintegrated (remember the two games at Detroit? The games at home against lowly Atlanta and Florida?) there definitely is some discipline needed from within the roster itself.
Free Agency begins Thursday. What happens then? Who knows?
--WRT
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Wild, Flames play woeful game; Wild win 2-1 in SO
Final road game of the season...and it looked (and played) like it
The Minnesota Wild, in their final road game of 2009-10, did what many said they would never do - win all three games in the same season in the Pengrowth Saddledome - as the Wild doused the Calgary Flames 2-1 in the shootout, as Brent Burns and Antti Miettinen both scored on Mikka Kiprusoff to seal the fate of the Flames, in their last home game before 19,289 bummed patrons.
In the first period, the only goal was a Chuck Kobasew deflection of a Casey Wellman shot after Burns set the play up by driving well into the Calgary zone, then passed to Wellman whose slapper was deflected by Kobasew past Kiprusoff to make it 1-0 Minnesota.
The second period was a very plodding, slow, torturous affair, the only action being the Nigel Dawes rebound goal after Niklas Backstrom made a great save on Dawes' first shot. The Wild had several power play opportunities, but no such luck for the Wild.
In the third period, the highlight was the shot by Calgary's David Moss which caught Niklas Backstrom up high. Backstrom was replaced by Wade Dubielewicz, the ex-Islander signed as a backup earlier this season who had been called up solely because Anton Khudobin, the goalie in their system they wanted to use, lost his passport at the AHL All-Star Game and has yet to replace it thru the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington; as such, he cannot cross the USA/Canada border. James Sheppard also suffered a knee injury late in the third period after being checked into the boards by Robyn Regehr.
OT was as uninspired as the rest of the game. Not much to say about that, either.
Let's all end this season at the Next Game: vs. Dallas, Saturday, April 10, 7:00 PM, Xcel Energy Center. (Wild TV: FSNorth; Stars' TV: FSSW; XM Radio, Ch. 237)
-- WRT
The Minnesota Wild, in their final road game of 2009-10, did what many said they would never do - win all three games in the same season in the Pengrowth Saddledome - as the Wild doused the Calgary Flames 2-1 in the shootout, as Brent Burns and Antti Miettinen both scored on Mikka Kiprusoff to seal the fate of the Flames, in their last home game before 19,289 bummed patrons.
In the first period, the only goal was a Chuck Kobasew deflection of a Casey Wellman shot after Burns set the play up by driving well into the Calgary zone, then passed to Wellman whose slapper was deflected by Kobasew past Kiprusoff to make it 1-0 Minnesota.
The second period was a very plodding, slow, torturous affair, the only action being the Nigel Dawes rebound goal after Niklas Backstrom made a great save on Dawes' first shot. The Wild had several power play opportunities, but no such luck for the Wild.
In the third period, the highlight was the shot by Calgary's David Moss which caught Niklas Backstrom up high. Backstrom was replaced by Wade Dubielewicz, the ex-Islander signed as a backup earlier this season who had been called up solely because Anton Khudobin, the goalie in their system they wanted to use, lost his passport at the AHL All-Star Game and has yet to replace it thru the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington; as such, he cannot cross the USA/Canada border. James Sheppard also suffered a knee injury late in the third period after being checked into the boards by Robyn Regehr.
OT was as uninspired as the rest of the game. Not much to say about that, either.
Let's all end this season at the Next Game: vs. Dallas, Saturday, April 10, 7:00 PM, Xcel Energy Center. (Wild TV: FSNorth; Stars' TV: FSSW; XM Radio, Ch. 237)
-- WRT
Friday, March 19, 2010
Wild Death Spiral Watch: Wild blow two-goal lead; Jackets win 4-2
Who declared it 'Rick Nash Night' at Nationwide?
The Minnesota Wild's salute to the 'Bataan Death March' went thru Mid-Ohio Friday night, as the Wild managed to stave off victory, as two goals scored 27 seconds apart in the latter half of the third period, propelled the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-2 victory over the moribund Wild Friday night, in front of 16,419 at Nationwide Arena.
Rick Nash scored the game winner, and an empty net goal at the end of the game to lead the Jackets, who end the season series 2-2 against the Wild, each team winning its' games at home. Nash's empty netter was his 30th of the season.
Mikko Koivu did accomplish his 20th goal of the season in the first period to open the scoring for Minnesota, who have now lost 4 of their last 6 games away from St. Paul.
It was also the NHL debuts for two Wild rookies: forward Casey Wellman, who added an assist to Minnesota's second goal as he split the Jackets' defense, stole the puck and then passed to Chuck Kobasew for the tally. But after then, the Wild stopped working. Stopped skating, Stopped everything.
And then, there was defenseman Justin Falk, who left the game after a concussion shot to the head delivered by Columbus' Andrew Murray at 4:27 of the second period, for which absolutely no penalty was called by either referee, Brad Watson or Stephane Auger. The referees also missed R. J. Umberger's goaltender interference with Josh Harding on Columbus' second goal, as Umberger backed into the blue crease area (as confirmed by TV replay,) as Kris Russell took the shot while the Wild were being called for a James Sheppard penalty.
The future does, indeed, look bleak for the local sextet, as the most points after tonight they could earn is 96. 95 points are what most experts figure will be the playoff 'magic number', so does the march to the 'Tragic Number' begin Sunday afternoon? We will see what happens in the Next Game: vs. Calgary, Sunday March 21, 2:00 PM Central (1:00 PM Mountain) Time, Xcel Energy Center. (Wild TV: FSNorth (in HD); Flames' TV: Rogers SportsNet-West; XM Radio, Ch. 206)
-- WRT
P.S.: Would the party who commented in last night's blog about going to Philadelphia please re-comment your e-mail address? I lost it this evening. Sorry. -- WRT
The Minnesota Wild's salute to the 'Bataan Death March' went thru Mid-Ohio Friday night, as the Wild managed to stave off victory, as two goals scored 27 seconds apart in the latter half of the third period, propelled the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-2 victory over the moribund Wild Friday night, in front of 16,419 at Nationwide Arena.
Rick Nash scored the game winner, and an empty net goal at the end of the game to lead the Jackets, who end the season series 2-2 against the Wild, each team winning its' games at home. Nash's empty netter was his 30th of the season.
Mikko Koivu did accomplish his 20th goal of the season in the first period to open the scoring for Minnesota, who have now lost 4 of their last 6 games away from St. Paul.
It was also the NHL debuts for two Wild rookies: forward Casey Wellman, who added an assist to Minnesota's second goal as he split the Jackets' defense, stole the puck and then passed to Chuck Kobasew for the tally. But after then, the Wild stopped working. Stopped skating, Stopped everything.
And then, there was defenseman Justin Falk, who left the game after a concussion shot to the head delivered by Columbus' Andrew Murray at 4:27 of the second period, for which absolutely no penalty was called by either referee, Brad Watson or Stephane Auger. The referees also missed R. J. Umberger's goaltender interference with Josh Harding on Columbus' second goal, as Umberger backed into the blue crease area (as confirmed by TV replay,) as Kris Russell took the shot while the Wild were being called for a James Sheppard penalty.
The future does, indeed, look bleak for the local sextet, as the most points after tonight they could earn is 96. 95 points are what most experts figure will be the playoff 'magic number', so does the march to the 'Tragic Number' begin Sunday afternoon? We will see what happens in the Next Game: vs. Calgary, Sunday March 21, 2:00 PM Central (1:00 PM Mountain) Time, Xcel Energy Center. (Wild TV: FSNorth (in HD); Flames' TV: Rogers SportsNet-West; XM Radio, Ch. 206)
-- WRT
P.S.: Would the party who commented in last night's blog about going to Philadelphia please re-comment your e-mail address? I lost it this evening. Sorry. -- WRT
Friday, December 11, 2009
Torched! Havlat, Shep beat the 'Dome, Wild douse Flames in OT
And just like that, the Saddledome curse for the Wild is history.
Martin Havlat's give-and-go goal with Marek Zidlicky gave the Minnesota Wild a very well-deserved 2-1 overtime victory over the Calgary Flames and the 'C of Red' Friday night, in front of the usual 19,289 at the Pengrowth Saddledome.
Havlat's goal, his first since returning from a hamstring injury, capped off a wild night, one which the Flames fans probably had never before seen, as the Wild peppered Mikka Kiprusoff with 46 shots, the second-most in Wild team history on the road.
The James Sheppard era continued as the former first-rounder took a Shane Hnidy rebound, and flipped it over a prone Kiprusoff to tie the game at 1-1 and send it to the extra session. But, this was not your Wild overtimes of the past. Unlike previous seasons, when Jacques Lemaire would have sat back and held out for the shootout, this group was aggressive, taking chances (especially late in the 3rd period) and kept the Flames bottled up in their half of the ice a good part of the evening. The Flames, for their part, seemed not to get anything sustained going the first 45 minutes of the contest.
Even Derek Boogaard had a victory tonight, as his fourth punch in his second period fight with Calgary's Bryan McGratton sent the ex-Ottawa Senator directly to Dream Street, with a right that connected flush with McGratton's left cheekbone.
The Wild, now 3-1 on this five-game Western swing, could possibly move into third place in the Northwest Division if they can be victorious in their Next Game: at Vancouver, Saturday, Dec. 12 (tomorrow), 9 PM Central (7 PM Pacific) Time, GM Place. (Wild TV: FSNorth; CBC 'Hockey Night in Canada' in HD (doubleheader game); XM NHL Home Ice, Ch. 204)
-- WRT
Martin Havlat's give-and-go goal with Marek Zidlicky gave the Minnesota Wild a very well-deserved 2-1 overtime victory over the Calgary Flames and the 'C of Red' Friday night, in front of the usual 19,289 at the Pengrowth Saddledome.
Havlat's goal, his first since returning from a hamstring injury, capped off a wild night, one which the Flames fans probably had never before seen, as the Wild peppered Mikka Kiprusoff with 46 shots, the second-most in Wild team history on the road.
The James Sheppard era continued as the former first-rounder took a Shane Hnidy rebound, and flipped it over a prone Kiprusoff to tie the game at 1-1 and send it to the extra session. But, this was not your Wild overtimes of the past. Unlike previous seasons, when Jacques Lemaire would have sat back and held out for the shootout, this group was aggressive, taking chances (especially late in the 3rd period) and kept the Flames bottled up in their half of the ice a good part of the evening. The Flames, for their part, seemed not to get anything sustained going the first 45 minutes of the contest.
Even Derek Boogaard had a victory tonight, as his fourth punch in his second period fight with Calgary's Bryan McGratton sent the ex-Ottawa Senator directly to Dream Street, with a right that connected flush with McGratton's left cheekbone.
The Wild, now 3-1 on this five-game Western swing, could possibly move into third place in the Northwest Division if they can be victorious in their Next Game: at Vancouver, Saturday, Dec. 12 (tomorrow), 9 PM Central (7 PM Pacific) Time, GM Place. (Wild TV: FSNorth; CBC 'Hockey Night in Canada' in HD (doubleheader game); XM NHL Home Ice, Ch. 204)
-- WRT
Monday, December 7, 2009
Snooze to Lose II: Wild shutout, lose 2-0 in the desert
For the first half of Monday night's game at Jobing.com Arena, you could have virtually heard a pin drop. It was, indeed, THAT boring. And that boredom spelled the end of the Wild's 5-game winning streak.
For the second half, the Phoenix Coyotes made sure that the Minnesota Wild stayed that way, as the Wild sleep-walked their way to a 2-0 loss in front of 8,981 announced (actual attendance? Who really knows?) hardy souls on a rainy night in the Valley of the Sun.
Ex-Predator Scottie Upshall and ex-Canuck Taylor Pyatt scored for the 'Yotes 44 seconds apart in the second period, both gift goals due to Minnesota mistakes (by Eric Belanger and Shane Hnidy, respectively) which built the 2-0 lead after the second period.
In the third, the Coyotes played the Dave Tippett trap game to perfection for over 14 minutes, as the Wild were held to just two shots on goal in that time frame. The frustration continued thru the rest of the game, as goalie Ilya Bryzgalov and the Phoenix defense shut down the Wild, as their 5-game win streak went by the wayside. As the game ended, a melee ensued with James Sheppard the recipient of a few punches by Phoenix' Vernon Fiddler. Both received 5-minute fighting majors (huh?) for the end-of-game scrum.
Anyhow, the road trip continues with the Next Game vs. Colorado, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 8:00 PM Central (7:00 PM Mountain) Time, Pepsi Center. (TV: Versus (Wild viewing parties at Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants for those of you who do not get Versus, info at Wild.com); XM Radio, Ch. 238)
-- WRT
For the second half, the Phoenix Coyotes made sure that the Minnesota Wild stayed that way, as the Wild sleep-walked their way to a 2-0 loss in front of 8,981 announced (actual attendance? Who really knows?) hardy souls on a rainy night in the Valley of the Sun.
Ex-Predator Scottie Upshall and ex-Canuck Taylor Pyatt scored for the 'Yotes 44 seconds apart in the second period, both gift goals due to Minnesota mistakes (by Eric Belanger and Shane Hnidy, respectively) which built the 2-0 lead after the second period.
In the third, the Coyotes played the Dave Tippett trap game to perfection for over 14 minutes, as the Wild were held to just two shots on goal in that time frame. The frustration continued thru the rest of the game, as goalie Ilya Bryzgalov and the Phoenix defense shut down the Wild, as their 5-game win streak went by the wayside. As the game ended, a melee ensued with James Sheppard the recipient of a few punches by Phoenix' Vernon Fiddler. Both received 5-minute fighting majors (huh?) for the end-of-game scrum.
Anyhow, the road trip continues with the Next Game vs. Colorado, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 8:00 PM Central (7:00 PM Mountain) Time, Pepsi Center. (TV: Versus (Wild viewing parties at Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants for those of you who do not get Versus, info at Wild.com); XM Radio, Ch. 238)
-- WRT
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Fives are Wild in Nashville as Wild win 5th straight
By Wild Road Tripper
Remember the last Minnesota Wild five-game road trip? Remember how bad that trip started out, and how bad it finished??
Those days were banished, possibly for good tonight in Nashville, where the Wild spotted the Nashville Predators the first goal, then came roaring back by scoring the next five straight, en route to a 5-3 Wild victory, their fifth in a row, at Sommet Center in front of 13,145 mostly stunned patrons. The victory marked the third straight game in which the Wild scored five goals, a team record.
Ten different Wild players tallied points in the game, led by Andrew Brunette's goal and assist, and Martin Havlat's two assists. Even the enforcer got in on the act, as Derek Boogaard assisted on Andrew Ebbett's first period goal, a goal which tied the game at one all late in the first period. James Sheppard scored his first goal since last March 28th, and Antti Miettinen extended his goal scoring run to six in 6 games as the contest became the domain of the Wild. The victory was the second of the season for Josh Harding, who made 26 saves. It is the Wild's fifth straight win, their longest winning streak since October of 2007; the Wild now have 29 points, good for 13th place in the Western Conference, one point ahead of Edmonton, who also won on Saturday.
Dan Ellis started in goal for Nashville, but was replaced by Pekka Rinne for the third period, as the Wild outshot the Preds 39-29. Nashville, with the loss, now is tied for 7th place with Dallas, a 3-2 shootout loser to Edmonton on Saturday. The Preds also wore their newly-released third jerseys for the second time at home tonight. They are 0-2 in the new duds.
The Wild may be able to enjoy the victory for a while tonight, as they travel to the Valley of the Sun for the Next Game: vs. Phoenix, Monday, Dec. 7, 8:00 PM Central (7:00 PM Mountain) Time, Jobing.com Arena. Wild TV: FSNorth (includes FSWisconsin); Coyotes TV: FSArizona (both feeds in HD); XM Radio: Ch. 238)
Remember the last Minnesota Wild five-game road trip? Remember how bad that trip started out, and how bad it finished??
Those days were banished, possibly for good tonight in Nashville, where the Wild spotted the Nashville Predators the first goal, then came roaring back by scoring the next five straight, en route to a 5-3 Wild victory, their fifth in a row, at Sommet Center in front of 13,145 mostly stunned patrons. The victory marked the third straight game in which the Wild scored five goals, a team record.
Ten different Wild players tallied points in the game, led by Andrew Brunette's goal and assist, and Martin Havlat's two assists. Even the enforcer got in on the act, as Derek Boogaard assisted on Andrew Ebbett's first period goal, a goal which tied the game at one all late in the first period. James Sheppard scored his first goal since last March 28th, and Antti Miettinen extended his goal scoring run to six in 6 games as the contest became the domain of the Wild. The victory was the second of the season for Josh Harding, who made 26 saves. It is the Wild's fifth straight win, their longest winning streak since October of 2007; the Wild now have 29 points, good for 13th place in the Western Conference, one point ahead of Edmonton, who also won on Saturday.
Dan Ellis started in goal for Nashville, but was replaced by Pekka Rinne for the third period, as the Wild outshot the Preds 39-29. Nashville, with the loss, now is tied for 7th place with Dallas, a 3-2 shootout loser to Edmonton on Saturday. The Preds also wore their newly-released third jerseys for the second time at home tonight. They are 0-2 in the new duds.
The Wild may be able to enjoy the victory for a while tonight, as they travel to the Valley of the Sun for the Next Game: vs. Phoenix, Monday, Dec. 7, 8:00 PM Central (7:00 PM Mountain) Time, Jobing.com Arena. Wild TV: FSNorth (includes FSWisconsin); Coyotes TV: FSArizona (both feeds in HD); XM Radio: Ch. 238)
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