Wild start 16 game-in-30-day marathon tonight vs. Jets: Another goalie in their future?
Venerable Minneapolis Star-Tribune beat writer Michael Russo likes to use the term, 'meaty', when the Minnesota Wild face a particularly tough stretch of their schedule. Now, he's used it for years, and normally, he's pretty much spot on when he's used it.
So, in that respect, the next 30 days are, indeed, four weeks of 'meaty' games for the Wild, as they delve headlong back into Western Conference play after mostly feasting on the weaker Eastern Conference for the last 2 1/2 weeks.
And, they do so, at least for the time being, without one key cog in their lineup; goaltender Niklas Backstrom, whose concussion is the aftermath of Toronto's Nazem Kadri going Hanson brothers on Backstrom during the first period of Wednesday's 3-2 Wild victory, over the otherwise hapless Maple Leafs at Xcel Energy Center. (Nice forearm shiv there, Nazem. I see Colton Orr has taught you well.)
The fact is that as long as Josh Harding can hold up physically, the Wild should at least stay in most games in the next month; after all, they have the fourth best record in the Central division, which has proven to be the NHL's toughest, up to this point. But what recourse do the Wild have should Harding go down again, like he has each of the last two seasons?
They have to sign another goaltender, and soon. They cannot depend on their Iowa Wild tandem (Johan Gustafsson, Darcy Kuemper) to play full-time backup; the revolving door on I-35 between Des Moines and St. Paul can only go so fast. The name most mentioned is ex-Wild (and Canadiens, Avalanche, Capitals, Panthers) keeper Jose Theodore, who reportedly is working out near his South Florida home.
With four back-to-backs in the next four weeks (including two in a nine-day stretch), two home and away, two with both games away, the Wild's schedule gets ridiculously tough going into the next few weeks. Three games vs. Central co-leader Colorado, two games vs. Winnipeg, two vs. San Jose, and single games against Montreal, Ottawa, St. Louis, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Chicago, Columbus, Anaheim, Vancouver, and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
This is a schedule that would decimate most clubs, especially when 10 of the 16 games are away from St. Paul, where the Wild have become the most dominant team in the NHL. The only home blemish in regulation time is the 'Monday Night Massacre', the Oct. 28 nationally-televised 5-1 drubbing by the Chicago Blackhawks, the game after the Wild went into Chicago's United Center and routed the 'Hawks 5-2 two nights earlier.
It will be a real test for the Wild to go from a speed game (vs. Colorado), to an almost brutal game vs. Philadelphia, back to a speed game vs. Chicago, to a control game vs. Columbus, and so on. Different teams will present different challenges for the Wild, be it P.K. Subban, Eric Karlsson, David Backes and T.J. Oshie, Mike Smith, or 'Jumbo Joe' (Thornton) and 'Little Joe' (Pavelski) with San Jose.
As versatile as the Wild have had to become so far, they bettter start honing their game. Very much so, and quickly. As the Western Conference is prepping to leave the Wild in their dust, the Wild need to amass a large number of victories in this next 16 games -- in my opinion, nothing less than 11-5-0 (22 points) will do -- which means they need to win all their home games during this stretch, and be at least .500 on the road.
Should the Wild still be in contention by the Christmas three-day holiday break, four of the first five games after the break will be in the 'friendly confines' of the 'X' -- and a good way to start the New Year.
But, until that time, the schedule is, indeed, 'meaty'. So enjoy the banquet, Wild fans. Or at least try to.
Showing posts with label StarTribune. Show all posts
Showing posts with label StarTribune. Show all posts
Sunday, November 17, 2013
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
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
NHL hits new low, restricts player-parent road trips
League says 'Thank Yous' by teams, players possibly violates salary cap
By Wild Road Tripper
In an opinion almost bordering on the absurd, the National Hockey League has deemed player-parent road trips, where the team pays for hotels, meals and brings Dad or Mom (or other relative, for those players whose parents are deceased) along on a road trip, may be a violation of the league-imposed salary cap. The league, thru Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, has deemed trips of more than two games (three days) length, possibly violates the salary cap, saying that it is a 'player benefit', (game tickets, hotel rooms, meals and city tours are paid for by the club), which could lead to salary-cap violations.
The opinion was published in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in Wednesday's editions, the day after the Minnesota Wild completed their second father-son road trip in three seasons.
Wild Road Tripper sez:
This is a classic reason why the NHL is penny-wise and pound-foolish. By the time your average NHL player makes it to the 'big club' level, their parents have logged somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-70,000 miles, having subjugated their professional careers, personal lives and the rest of their families (for those who don't have other kids in hockey), in order to meet the ever-growing demands of playing at the elite levels needed, in order to hone the skills necessary to compete at the top levels. They also have invested somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000-200,000 in their child for hockey equipment, ice time, travel and medical expenses as well. This money provides the base which supports the system which feeds the NHL.
Bringing the parents along is actually great public relations. It shows that the players are not just automotons, that they have families just like we fans do. Families who have put up with a hell of a lot of B.S., in order to have their kids at the pro hockey level. Their sacrifice and their efforts to support their kids (even as adults) should be celebrated, especially when someone else (i.e., the NHL teams) are willing to pay for it. It may take different forms, especially in markets (Phoenix, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose) where hockey and cold weather don't necessarily mix. To limit how each club can take the parents is absolutely ridiculous. Next thing we know, the NHL will arbitrarily limit where they can go (e.g., you may NOT take them to Toronto or Montreal, but you MAY take them to Nashville, Atlanta or Florida only, but never in December, January or February.)
Another great move by the master of 'great moves', NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. He can't even announce this himself; they drag out the hired hand, Bill Daly, in order to do it. Does the cowardice run that deep in the League offices?
I really wonder. So do player parents.
By Wild Road Tripper
In an opinion almost bordering on the absurd, the National Hockey League has deemed player-parent road trips, where the team pays for hotels, meals and brings Dad or Mom (or other relative, for those players whose parents are deceased) along on a road trip, may be a violation of the league-imposed salary cap. The league, thru Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, has deemed trips of more than two games (three days) length, possibly violates the salary cap, saying that it is a 'player benefit', (game tickets, hotel rooms, meals and city tours are paid for by the club), which could lead to salary-cap violations.
The opinion was published in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in Wednesday's editions, the day after the Minnesota Wild completed their second father-son road trip in three seasons.
Wild Road Tripper sez:
This is a classic reason why the NHL is penny-wise and pound-foolish. By the time your average NHL player makes it to the 'big club' level, their parents have logged somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-70,000 miles, having subjugated their professional careers, personal lives and the rest of their families (for those who don't have other kids in hockey), in order to meet the ever-growing demands of playing at the elite levels needed, in order to hone the skills necessary to compete at the top levels. They also have invested somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000-200,000 in their child for hockey equipment, ice time, travel and medical expenses as well. This money provides the base which supports the system which feeds the NHL.
Bringing the parents along is actually great public relations. It shows that the players are not just automotons, that they have families just like we fans do. Families who have put up with a hell of a lot of B.S., in order to have their kids at the pro hockey level. Their sacrifice and their efforts to support their kids (even as adults) should be celebrated, especially when someone else (i.e., the NHL teams) are willing to pay for it. It may take different forms, especially in markets (Phoenix, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose) where hockey and cold weather don't necessarily mix. To limit how each club can take the parents is absolutely ridiculous. Next thing we know, the NHL will arbitrarily limit where they can go (e.g., you may NOT take them to Toronto or Montreal, but you MAY take them to Nashville, Atlanta or Florida only, but never in December, January or February.)
Another great move by the master of 'great moves', NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. He can't even announce this himself; they drag out the hired hand, Bill Daly, in order to do it. Does the cowardice run that deep in the League offices?
I really wonder. So do player parents.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Russo to 'Russoville': Come back to the Strib blog
Michael Russo, Minneapolis StarTribune Wild beat writer, who most of us read like a religion (and, shame on you if you don't...you're missing out on a lot of Grade 'A' Wild info), announced on his blog this afternoon that there will be changes made, in order to repair the fracture in the relationship between the newspaper and its' readership, which came about as a result of a change in format of the Star-Trib's Wild blogsite. I'll let 'the Don' himself tell it:
"Just an update on the new blog format, couple changes you may have noticed and should be noticing in the near future, according to the in-house folks at the Strib:
1. The commenting system has been revamped, meaning there should no longer be delays and comments should all be on one page.
2. And this is the big one, We're in the process of changing the design and display of the blog fronts. We'll now show the entire blog post. It will mimic the old blog experience and make the blog fronts much more visual.
Any feedback once the changes are all in place, please feel free to let me know. But these will hopefully be significant improvements, so if you've taken your blog conversation elsewhere, come back and give us a try."
There have been several sites online (none of which will be mentioned here) that the old blog community, dubbed 'Russoville', migrated to after the demise of the old message boards, which occured shortly after the start of the current season. Despite the warnings from the readership prior to the change, the newspaper's I.T. department charged into the new format, which is similar to the format of the paper's 'AccessVikings.com' website.
The newspaper is currently part of MediaGroup, although an independent group, led by Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and Minnesota financier Vance Opperman, have reportedly entered a bid to buy a minority interest in the paper. The paper filed for bankruptcy in January.
-- WRT
"Just an update on the new blog format, couple changes you may have noticed and should be noticing in the near future, according to the in-house folks at the Strib:
1. The commenting system has been revamped, meaning there should no longer be delays and comments should all be on one page.
2. And this is the big one, We're in the process of changing the design and display of the blog fronts. We'll now show the entire blog post. It will mimic the old blog experience and make the blog fronts much more visual.
Any feedback once the changes are all in place, please feel free to let me know. But these will hopefully be significant improvements, so if you've taken your blog conversation elsewhere, come back and give us a try."
There have been several sites online (none of which will be mentioned here) that the old blog community, dubbed 'Russoville', migrated to after the demise of the old message boards, which occured shortly after the start of the current season. Despite the warnings from the readership prior to the change, the newspaper's I.T. department charged into the new format, which is similar to the format of the paper's 'AccessVikings.com' website.
The newspaper is currently part of MediaGroup, although an independent group, led by Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor and Minnesota financier Vance Opperman, have reportedly entered a bid to buy a minority interest in the paper. The paper filed for bankruptcy in January.
-- WRT
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