http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy?author=Harrison+Mooney

Harrison Mooney is now writing for Yahoo Sports' much acclaimed Puck Daddy and while I have enjoyed reading most of his posts thus far, I can't help but think after reading his preview of the Wild that he is seriously overrating Brent Burns.

Now I for one am going to miss Brent Burns, entertaining/exciting player who had some serious ups and downs. On the one hand, he was dynamic offensively. However, I think his defense and overall decision making was always suspect. Mooney claims that without Burns, the Wild are doomed to be the worst team in the West this upcoming season. He further states that without Burns' outlet passes, the offense will struggle more than it did last season. Again, I think this is highly overrating Burns. Am I concerned about the breakout, sure, but I would be pretty much just as concerned if Burns was still on the team and I'll continue to be concerned until Scandella and Brodin are skating full-time for this team. But Mooney pretty much is claiming that without Burns, there will be no defense at all and Backstrom will be facing 50+ shots a night stopping none of them.

Then there is his critique of the Seto and Heater trades. Frankly, I for one never believed Burns was resigning so might as well trade him for a profit, and three first rounders are a profit. As for Havlat for Heater, Havlat never fit here really and hopefully Heater does. At the very least, Heater is going to shoot the puck while Havlat is going to continue to pass on wide open nets. I'll take this trade any day of the week since we already have at least three other pass happy players.

Mooney finishes his article by stating the Wild will finish at or near the bottom of the conference. Sure it can happen, but with teams like Edmonton, Dallas, Calgary, Columbus (not buying the hype there until I see it) in the same conference, I don't see Minnesota finishing last.

But then again, what should we expect from a writer for a Vancouver Canucks blog?

So what does the rest of the Wilderness make of this absurd article?