Minnesota Wild
The Wild round out our little week of competition checks. The Wild won the NW this season, mostly on the strength of their defense. The Wild allowed just 218 goals - 2nd in the division (and just 1 less than the Avs). Offensively, the Wild scored 223 - 4th in the division.
The goals may not come any easier next year. Minnesota lost 2 of its top 4 scorers in Pavol Demitra and Brian Rolston. Personally, I think Demitra and his stick-kissing act is getting a bit long in the tooth, but I’m a big Rolston fan. The Wild also lost Branko Radivojevic and Chris Simon to Russia while Aaron Voros and Todd Fedoruk went to teams who are unfamiliar with this strange game of hockey. To replace all those warm bodies, the Wild signed old friend Andrew Brunette, older friend Owen Nolan, non-friend Antti Miettenan and some dude named Craig Weller. Somehow, the Wild managed to replace a bunch of crud with…a bunch of crud.
On defense, though, the Wild got it right. They dumped Keith Carney (who was, for some unknown reason, making over $2 million a year), Sean Hill and Peteri Nummelin and replaced them with Marc-Andre Bergeron and Marek Zidlicky. Both newcomers have offensive skills and, I think, will make an already top-notch unit that much better. I don’t think a couple of injuries will cripple this squad next year like it did this spring.
NikBackstrom and Josh Harding will return and, coupled with that awesome group of blueliners, the Wild should still be competitive no matter how lame their offense will be.
while they’re certainly a huge upgrade offensively on the blue line, the ugly underside of MAB and MZ acquisitions is that they’re tiny and terrible defenders. I hope the Avs take advantage of this.
the Wild are probably on the decline a little too, like the Avs and Flames. I can’t believe how poor they look at center after Koivu (and he’s just a good player, not a great one). Are they really going to have their top 2 lines centered by Bouchard and Koivu AGAIN? Maybe they’re counting on Sheppard? crazy.
“while they’re certainly a huge upgrade offensively on the blue line, the ugly underside of MAB and MZ acquisitions is that they’re tiny and terrible defenders. I hope the Avs take advantage of this.”
sure, but with Burns, Johnsson, Foster and Schultz the new guys shouldn’t have to be out there enough to be taken advantage of. in theory, anyway
true. Burns and Johnsson log 28 a game, right? Easy to hide those 2 behind that, much like the wangs and Lidstrom.
it’s weird, but the Wild have 2 of the young players in the NW I want on the Avs the most — Burns and Koivu. I know there’s better players, but hey, I really like their games.
not weird at all. For me it’s Burns and Foster.
I think the Wild are in decent shape, if not pretty good. Demitra hasn’t been quite the same player he was in LA for years now and though they lost Rolston, picking up Brunette won’t hurt their offense. They won’t be a juggernaut up front with an explosive offense but that’s never been their game.
What should carry the Wild is the emerging cast of blueline studs. Brent Burns is becomming a monster, a real game changer. Foster and Schultz aren’t bad either and each of these guys are in their mid 20’s when most defensemen tend to blossom. The Wild D could become quite a force in the next season or two. The goaltending situation appears to be in good hands with Backstrom and Harding, who may take over sooner rather than later.
This is a fast team that relies on strong positional play. They buy into the team concept and that should keep them in the upper half of the NHL even if they do struggle to score at times.
Minny vs Vancouver is going to be a real barn burner of a game.
Great review David. I agree with you on each point. I am bored with Demitra and Carney and Hill. And while I agree the Wild will need to find some offense (same story every year) to replace Rolston, I wasn’t very impressed with some of his practice ethic. He spearheaded the movement to have “optional” practices down the stretch last year. IMHO, that’s not a great way to prepare.
The D should be better, and I think they’ll be in the thick of it, and should make the playoffs.