Third Worst in the West?

by BReynolds on Jul 10, 2009 1:48 PM CDT Comment 10 comments

H/T to Andrew over at The Third Intermission for bringing this to light.

Seems ESPN has decided to show its face in the hockey world. In the article, Terri Frei says the Wild will finish 13th in the West. Well outside of the playoffs. Here is his take on the situation:

Jacques Lemaire realized he had worn out his welcome and departed, and still-settling-in owner Craig Leipold fired general manager Doug Risebrough. Rather than recycle, Leipold has brought in Chuck Fletcher, most recently the Penguins' assistant GM, as GM, and San Jose assistant Todd Richards as coach. With AHL head coaching in the Pens' organization on his résumé, Richards is more new wave than old school. There were a lot of nights when I left the arena after watching the Wild, shaking my head and wondering how many goals a healthy Marian Gaborikwould score if turned loose. He might be (and even stay healthy), but not with the Wild. In this economy and with all the other options for hockey interest in Minnesota, one more nonplayoff season will put the Wild's sellout streak at risk.

While Frei is a respected member of the hockey media, I am going to call shenanigans on this one.

Who cares what a healthy Marian Gaborikcan do. He is a Ranger now. Not that it matters much, since he was barely a member of the Wild. Fletcher replaced Gaborik with a prolific scorer in Martin Havlat. A player that led his team in scoring, and would have led the Wild in goals, assists, and points if he had been on the squad last season. That is an upgrade, not a downgrade.

On defense, Fletcher jettisoned the human pylon Martin Skoula, the only man more entertaining, in that painful kind of way, than the Three Stooges. Gone also is Marc-Andre Bergeron, who played minutes only when there was little or no chance of him screwing anything up. In their places are Greg Zannon and Shane Hnidy. Tow defensive minded d-men. They were needed to be able to unleash the talents of Brent Burns, Kim Johnnson, and hopefully, Marek Zidlicky. Bringing in two guys that have shown they have a nose for keeping the puck out of the net allows the guys who have a nose for putting the puck in the net to do so.

Every move made so far has been a positive one. Fletcher missed out on a number two center, but the summer is young. They also need a second scoring winger to take the pressure off of the top line.

All in all, the team has gotten better. Are they Cup contenders? No. Not yet. I see no reason to lump them in with Colorado and Phoenix though, either. My guess is that Fletcher is not done yet, and this article is extremely premature. I think the Wild can make the playoffs, but I don't think they go very far just yet. One more off season, and maybe. But 13th in the West? A bit cynical.

What say you Wilderness? As the Wild sit right now, adjusting for filling out the roster, where do they finish the season?

-Buddha

0 recs | Comment 10 comments | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Psst

(Zanon has one N, not two.)

Also, it’s tough to predict until we see how the players adjust to Richards’ style and system, but as of right now I’d say they’re not a playoff team.

Also also – and I didn’t read the article – Frei saying they’ll be 13th isn’t necessarily just a knock against the Wild but also possibly a comment on how other non-playoff teams improved – Edmonton has a real NHL goalie now, the Kings made a splash of sorts with Smyth, Nashville is planning on Rinne’s continued improvement and a healthy Sullivan all year, Dallas should have Morrow back…so until we know how the Wild will play, I don’t think 13th is out of the realm of possibility. I also don’t think a playoff spot is out of reach either.

I’m on record saying I like what the Wild has done in free agency, but it can be argued the moves they’ve made are lateral or sideways upgrades. I like Havlat and Zanon, but I’m not a fan of the “Havlat was healthy last year so that means he’s already an upgrade over Gaborik” argument. Maybe Havlat plays only 63 games in 09-10 while Gaborik plays 79, and maybe those 63 games aren’t enough.

If Havlat goes down, this team could be toast since there aren’t many other scoring options for what is supposedly an “up-tempo” system. If Fletcher is able to bring in other players who can score, things might be better.

if if if if.

I lost track of the point I was making, Bre, so I’ll stop now.

by KiPA on Jul 10, 2009 4:19 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Frei has Edmonton

Finishing in 12th. Nashville at 11, and LA at 10. Can;t argue with his top4 – Detroit, Chicago, San Jose, Calgary. Vancouver at 5? Nah. They’ve done nothing, except lose Sundin. They’re moves have been 100% lateral.

I don’t know. Wild finished 9th in the conference without Gaborik. Would expect them do at least that with a healthy scorer.

And I’ll spell Zanon how ever I want. He works for me now. ;-)

http://www.hockeywilderness.com

by BReynolds on Jul 10, 2009 4:41 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ehh

Vancouver also signed Samuelsson, but maybe he’ll suck now that he’s not a Red Wing any more. Losing Ohlund will hurt but Luongo’s still around and they were one of the hottest teams in the league. Who would finish ahead of them? Anaheim? I’m curious who’s going to play defense for them.

The Wild finished ninth playing a system that stresses defense. Now the philosophy is changing and they don’t yet have the personnel to play more up-tempo. The ironic thing is they might be better defensively with Zanon and Hnidy instead of Skoula and Bergeron.

It really depends how they adjust. There’s bound to be growing pains. If they catch on quick, sure they can be a playoff team. If they’re slow learners, hope for a high draft pick.

by KiPA on Jul 10, 2009 5:00 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wild will finish 3rd or 4th

almost the same team in a more offensive style of play…Give us the Stanley cup if we somehow manage to trade for Dany Heatley.

by TonyO on Jul 10, 2009 5:50 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Wow

That’s a bit optimistic my friend. I’d say that the personnel has them fighting for playoff spots 7/8. However, it’s WAY too early to see how they are going to be, since we have no idea how this team will play under the new style, or really what that new style is.

Proprietor of Hockey Wilderness - We take Minnesota hockey WAY too seriously.

by nathaneide on Jul 10, 2009 10:31 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I disagree with KipA. After Chi, SJ, Cgy and detroit in that order ;), the race is wide open.
The following 8 should contest for 4 open spots. (The order of analysis is not my ranking order)

Anaheim- very good top 2 lines and 1 pairing D after that nothing much

Dallas- Very OKish D. Lack a true #1 D-man and PP Q-back. Niskanen should improve. Forward depth with vet-youth combination is great

Vancouver- Completely agree with Buddha(i will like to know why u r nicknamed that). They havent improved and look for Burrows and Kesler to be not as good. Luongo is well luongo

CBJ- same as Dallas. Also Mason can have ‘Price-like’ year. Forwards will be good. Brassard , Nash and Voracek should have better years and Pahlsson will be a good checker.

St. Louis- Though their D will be better with EJ and E Brewer back, but again suspect goaltending and sophomore slumps can hit them. But with coming back of Kariya will help their fwds corps. .

Edmonton- Many underperforming. top 6 forwards Lack of more than one 1st line player, sniper and a checking line center. D is great and Goaltending looks stable.

LA: Departure of quincey will hurt. JJ needs to get better and Doughty too is still very young. Again questionable and streaky goaltending. Forwards lines are well balanced with skill-grit and youth-vet combination.

Minny: healthy Havlat will be the key. Still lack secondary scoring. Lot depends on Sheppard’s development. PMB too will have to be better. D is balanced and look for Burns to be better.

I think after the above 8 the following will be last three.

Nashville: Ageing forwards and streaky goaltending. Good but even younger D-corps. could surprise. But i doubt it

Pheonix: Boom/Bust. Decent goalie. Fwds should improve. Suspect Defense and lats face it bad coach. Expect them to be bottom feeders.

Colorado: Are upto the cap. Suspect goaltending. Massive overpayed yet underperfroming D. Bottom dwellers.

by SumOil on Jul 11, 2009 6:34 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Two words....

…The Mic. If “The Mic” Owen Nolan can stay healthy, the Wild will be a playoff team. I would hope that Todd Richards would have had enough sense to have already had a “C” permantly sewn onto the front of the No. 9 Jersey, since it is his team now, along with "A"s Nolan’s and Burns’ jersey’s, because as these three go, so does this team. The health of all three is paramount to the 2010 Wild campaign, but the most concerning to me is Nolan, given his style of play and age, He’s older than me and I can’t even keep up at BIG anymore, even considering Burnsie’s concussion issues. It was no coincidence that Nolan missed a significant amount of time during the BIG SLIDE of December, of course it didn’t help that Kimmie was “Captain”. If all three of these guys play 70 or more games each the Wild make the playoffs.

by W1ldfan on Jul 11, 2009 10:42 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

No one really knows

So, after reading most of the posts, everyone seems to have a great idea one way or the other about how the wild will play based upon other seasons. One thing no one is mentioning, MN has never had an offensive system, alot of our offensive minded players will probably be more productive in a system that doesnt have their hands tied. Do I think players like Koivu and PMB can put up numbers like Gabby did? No. But I think we all deserve to see what our “talent” can do when they have the opportunity.

by Mediumb11c on Jul 12, 2009 12:51 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

If JL were coaching next season,

I think most fans would think the current lineup would be a playoff team, given a generally healthy run of play. Heck, they were awfully close last year with a lot of injury problems. In Zanon and Hnidy, the Wild have two more solid defensive D-men. Havlat is as close to Gaborik in risk/reward as a person can get… with the possible exception being that Havlat is something more of complete player but with not quite as high an offensive upside.

There are two real wild cards right now. 1. Fletcher is in the process of remaking the roster. This is very much a work in progress. We don’t yet know if more moves will be made before this season starts. The current roster has something of a “We can play with this is we have too.” feel about it. 2. Todd Richards and a new system will undoubtedly bring up and down performances as players/coaches adjust. There will also be the growing pains of trying to plug in players to perform what roles they can in the new system, good fits and not.

So, could the Wild be 13th in the West this year? They certainly could be. They could be as good as 7/8 on their own merits depending on how quickly adjustments are made and if Sheppard steps up, PMB and Burns return to form or get better, Havlat plays most of the games, and numerous other little intangibles.

by Krotz the Wall on Jul 13, 2009 11:42 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Minny: healthy Havlat will be the key. Still lack secondary scoring. Lot depends on Sheppard’s development. PMB too will have to be better. D is balanced and look for Burns to be better

I would feel a lot better if Sheppard and PMB were being shipped elsewhere for maybe a big name free agent.

by Eric B on Jul 13, 2009 9:53 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs