What to make of all this...

A column of opinion...by the Wild Road Tripper


Petr Sykora: Gone.

Robbie Earl: Doin' the Limbo.

Brent Burns: No more bells a-ringin'.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard: 'The Bells of St. Mary's', still playing in his noggin.

and, needed for Chuck Fletcher: Tums, Maalox, and Rolaids. (Nobody can take just one.)

Such is the current state of the Minnesota Wild, whose up-and-down season takes more roller coasters than Cedar Point Amusement Parks can offer up. Lose 2, win 2, lose 4, win 4, lose 3, and the ride just keeps on rolling. The question is asked: are the Wild going to be buyers at the trade deadline? Or are they sellers, with eight (count 'em: 8) potential unrestricted free agents (assuming someone either takes Sykora on waivers, or he is outright released)?

And, what other moves do the Wild have in store? I just got done watching a Washington Capitals team, who could REALLY use a big body as a 'rent-an-enforcer' for the upcoming playoffs, especially against another team I saw tonight, the Ottawa Senators. Yeah, those guys. Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Neil & Co. That bunch. How about the Rangers? The Flyers, with Daniel Carcillo and 'Stompin' Chris Pronger on their roster: The second coming of the Broad Street Bullies? The Canadiens and their 'pint-sized' lineup? Brian Burke and the Leafs? Buffalo Sabres?

And what about the West? Everyone needs someone to protect their skill guys in the playoffs. Detroit? Chicago? Phoenix? They all need some beef to protect all that cheese in the lineups.

It's less than 30 days from the mandated Olympic break, when the NHL grinds to a screeching halt for 16 days while the best players compete for their home countries. Dressing rooms are closed Feb. 15-23, and re-open Feb. 24. The trade deadline is March 3rd at 3 PM, Eastern Time. So, in closing, may I put the question out for discussion:

Are the Minnesota Wild buyers? Or are they sellers? Hmmm...

Dallas strikes back as Stars beat Wild

No Brenden Morrow? No problem. No Jere Lehtinen? No problem. Marty Turco not starting in goal? Fuhgeddaboutit.

The Dallas Stars made up for their suburban cousins -- the Cowboys -- and actually beat a team from Minnesota Monday night, in this case the Minnesota Wild, by a score of 4-3 at American Airlines Center.

The game was yet another evening where the Wild failed to fully show up as the Stars sent waves of forwards at starting goaltender Niklas Backstrom, who was mercifully pulled after the fourth Dallas goal at the 13:37 mark of the second period. Josh Harding came in, and had to try and clean up the mess, made all that much difficult after he was sat on by Dallas' Steve Ott near the end of the second period.

The Wild's anemic offense was supposed to be helped by the addition of Petr Sykora on the wing, but he was relegated to third-line duty (with Andrew Ebbett and Cal Clutterbuck) most of the evening, not the kind of return either the veteran or his Twitter-feeding agent, Allan Walsh, were hoping for. Walsh had been conducting a Twitter campaign to get his client back in the Minnesota lineup, after Sykora was cleared to play following a concussion, suffered in November. Antti Miettinen scored twice for the Wild (one in the second period, once again in the third) to make it somewhat close, but the deceiving nature of the night was underscored after Mikko Koivu scored to make it close, as close was all they would get tonight.

Brad Richards had three assists to lead the Stars, who won their 11th straight game at home vs. the Wild, going back to 2003. The Wild are scheduled to play the Stars again in Dallas, on Feb. 2, again in a nationally-cablecast (might as well be cable only; ask a DirecTV subscriber who is a hockey fan) game on Versus. The loss is the fourth straight for the Wild against a Pacific Division club as well, and will knock them down to no better than 12th in the NHL's Western Conference.

The Wild will now take a full two days off (for the first time in nearly two weeks) until the NEXT GAME: vs. Detroit, Thursday, Jan. 21, 7:00 PM Central (8:00 PM Eastern) Time, Xcel Energy Center. (Wild TV: KSTC-45; Detroit TV: FSDetroit (in HD); XM Radio, Ch. 238)

-- WRT

Wild at the Quarter pole

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

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

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

HIS-tory.

-- WRT