Remember in that 1990's movie "Jingle All The Way" where Arnold Schwarzenegger was a Minnesota-native trying desperately to find a Turboman doll for his son for Christmas in order to one up neighbor Phil Hartman? Well, I suppose the Minnesota Wild were in the same boat this off-season in the busy Northwest Division.Following the somewhat surprising retirement of head coach Jacques Lemaire (psych) and firing of GM Doug Riseborough it was clear that the Minnesota Wild, known for their overwhelmingly boring defensive trap style of play, were heading in a new direction.
Honestly, who could blame them? It's not often that you finish second in goals against in the National Hockey League and tops in your conference and miss the playoffs. The Wild's apathetic offense essentially left Vezina-nominee Niklas Backstrom out to dry night in and night out, and the ironic part was that Backstrom actually stood up to the challenge admirably.
Although the Wild were just one year removed from their Northwest Division title, the 2008-09 club just didn't seem to have the same killer instinct. Most notably, players such as Pierre-Marc Bouchard struggled to achieve the same success from the year before while key offensive weapons Marian Gaborik and Brent Burns both missed highly significant amounts of time with injuries.
Marian Gaborik, the franchise's all time leader in goals, assists and points was held to just 17 games in 2008-09 but made great use of his ice time with 23 points and a +3. However, despite his contributions to the franchise since day one of their existence a decision was made and Gaborik was let go into the free agent class of 2009. This move seemingly made sense at the same time, until the Wild found their hopeful replacement for Gaborik within hours.
Martin Havlat, the former Chicago Blackhawk and 77-point man last season for the surging 'Hawks was signed to a six year deal that paid him 30 million dollars in total. It makes sense right, they're replacing the injury prone Marian Gaborik with an even more injury prone winger..wait, what?
Now a Ranger, the oft-injured Gaborik has played in just 207 games since the 2005-06 season (an average of 51.x games a season), but seems like a seasoned veteran compared to Havlat's 190 over that same span. Despite both players producing relatively good numbers when healthy, the concept of being healthy has been for the most part very elusive and hard to find.
Other additions to the Wild include Bruins defensemen Shane Hnidy, who's coming off a respectable season as the club's seventh defensemen. The "Sheriff" finished with 12 points and +6 for the Northeast Division winning Boston Bruins.
Heading into a new season with a new, faster tempo under new coach Todd Richards, the Wild line-up should go as follows.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard - Mikko Koivu - Martin Havlat
Andrew Brunette - Eric Belanger - Antti Miettinen
Owen Nolan - James Sheppard - Kyle Brodziak
Cal Clutterbuck - Derek Boogard - Benoit Pouliot
Extra Skater: Craig Weller
Brent Burns - Marek Zidlicky
Greg Zanon - Kim Johnsson
Nick Schultz - Shane Hnidy
Extra Skater: John Scott
Niklas Backstrom
Josh Harding
I'm a big fan of the top line, top defensive pairing and goaltender, but after that it gets very questionable when it comes to what you're going to get as far as production.
Players To Watch: Can James Sheppard avoid another rough season and begin to develop into the promising center that the Wild need to anchor their second line? Can Martin Havlat put together a second straight fully healthy season for the first time in well, his career?
Prediction: 3rd in Northwest Division. 9th in Western Conference.
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