The Wild got some good news from one of their injured players. Or did they? Wild perimeter player  forward Pierre-Marc Bouchard said he is working out again and getting ready for training camp to begin. Below is The paragraph from Michael Russo's article does concern me though.

"I still have symptoms here and there, some pressure in the head, but it's not too bad. I'm trying to pace myself on the ice and in the gym, but my goal is to be ready for training camp [Sept. 17]."

That paragraph leads me to believe that  Pierre-Marc Bouchard is not all the way back from his concussion and could become a drooling vegetable with one vicious dirty hit to the head. Now every time Steve Ott or some other head hunting hack is on the ice, Wild fans will have to worry about Bouchard. 

Pierre-Marc Bouchard has an expensive contract $4,080,000 a season and Wild fans are holding out hope that Bouchard can resemble the player that got (13g-50a-63pts)during the 2007-2008 season.

Cross posted at Goon's World.

Disclaimer: Before you jump all over me this is the first part of 2 articles looking at why the Wild will finish last and why they'll finish first.

Last season the Wild finished 13th, and only the Oilers kept them out of last in the Northwest division. So was last year an aberration or was it the start of a downward trend for the Wild?

Let's start by looking at the coaching. There is no doubt that Jacques Lemaire made average talent look great. It was his coaching and his system that kept the Wild in contention every year and masked the many bad decisions made by former GM Doug Risebrough. In his place the Wild brought in rookie coach Todd Richards. Richards who worked with GM Chuck Fletcher in Pittsburgh was the perfect choice to implement the style of play Fletcher desired, however the results were far less than perfect. In his first season at the helm Richards often looked lost. The Wild's dismal road record reflected that. Even in the great comeback game against Chicago, Richards admitted that he "forgot" he had Owen Nolan, who has been successful in the shootout. His handling of Petr Sykora also raises serious questions. While not every coach and player will mesh, and no one knows for certain what all was going on behind the scenes, Richards shares at least some of the blame for that signing not working out. So can Richards improve in year 2? The easy answer is yes because he can't get much worse. But, he will need a big improvement if the Wild are to compete.

Next let's take a look at the Top 6. Russo has his depth chart as follows:

Brunette-Koivu-Bouchard

Latendresse-Cullen-Havlat

Mikko Koivu is a rock. He has been healthy and has improved every season, with 07-8 when his leg was broken by Mattias Ohlund, being the only exception. However to his left and right are some big question marks. Andrew Brunette is 37, but has aged like fine wine, and speed has never been a part of his game anyway. But every year he gets closer to the end of his career and at some point his game will suffer, could this be that year? On the other side is Bouchard. Butch missed all but 1 game last season and while the indication is that he will be back there is no guarantee he will return to form. And, even when healthy Butch was often criticized by Lemaire for not showing up every game. If he is gone who takes his spot? Miettinen? Mittens is great for 20 goals in 15 games, but is useless the rest of the season.

It is hoped that the addition of Cullen to the 2nd line will help the already productive pairing of Latendresse and Havlat get even better. Cullen has been solid  and played in 81 games last season but missed 36 games over the previous 2 seasons and is not getting any younger. Havlat had 77 points 2 seasons ago but only 18 goals and 54 points last year. Health has always been an issue with him. Latendresse was one of the highlights of last season scoring 25 goals in 55 games for the Wild. But can he match and exceed that this season? History is not on his side and seems likely his stats will slide this year and pick up again next year when he is in his contract year.

The bottom six might be the area of biggest improvement for the WIld. Clutterbuck, Kobasew, Miettinen, and Sheppard will be joined by newcomers Madden, Nystrom, and Staubitz. Youngster Wellman will also be fighting for a spot. It will be interesting to see what these lines can do without having to carry Boogaard.

The defense is pretty much the same as last year which doesn't bode well for the Wild. The only changes will be having Barker for a full season and the youngster/yet to be signed player that replaces Hnidy. Burns was terrible at times last year. Barker and Zidlicky have to step up on the powerplay without hurting the team defensively. Schultz looked out of place last season and it will be interesting to see if the coaching staff continues to push him into the more offensive role or allows him to play the defensive role he's been successful with. There are still a lot of question marks on defense for a team that gave up a lot of goals last season.

Goaltending, which had always been a strength, took a step back last season. This was not unexpected with the new style. However the combination of the new style with the defense often hanging him out to dry led to a drop from a .923 sv% to .903. Backstrom is too competitive to have another bad season, but if the defense in front of him doesn't improve, there may not be much he can do. Harding, for now, returns as the backup. He had good and bad moments last season, but will be an UFA next summer. The extra motivation could push him to a better season.

Summary- Last season the Wild went in with a lot of questions: How will they adapt to the new style? Can Havlat replace Gaborik? Can PMB be the 2nd line C? Will Backstrom be as good with Lemaire's style? This season there seems to be just as many questions: How will Wild do in year 2 of the new style? Can Havlat bounce back from his bad year? Can PMB be the 1st line RW? Will PMB play at all? Can Backstrom bounce back from his bad season? Can Burns and the rest of the D bounce back? For the Wild to be competitive the answer to all those questions has to be on the positive side, and that just isn't likely. Some players may improve, but others will take a step back. Overall there are just too many questions to believe the Wild will finish anywhere but the bottom of the league. Really only another terrible season by Edmonton will keep them out of the cellar.

Come check us out at Twins fever.  the site for all Twins Fever and Minnesota Sports fans alike.  from the Twins, Vikes, Gophers, Wild, Wolves, Lynx and much more.  you name it.  So why not come check us out at Twins fever.com.  you be glad you did. 

I did downsize the forums,  so it look much better now then it did a bit ago.  so come check us out.

http://twinsfever.com/forum/index.php

In reading James Mirtle's article on Arbitrator Richard Bloch's ruling in favor of the NHL against the NHLPA and Ilya Kovalchuk, something stuck out to me:

Bloch also noted that several other long-term contracts are under investigation for circumvention, listing deals given to Vancouver Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo, Boston Bruins centre Marc Savard, Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Chris Pronger and Chicago Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa as raising similar red flags to Kovalchuk’s rejected contract.

The Arbitrator in this case was hired to rule solely on Kovalchuk. So then why is he commenting on other contracts? What you are about to read is simply my logical resoning of why. Note I have no inside information and this is all purely speculative.

Going before the arbitrator, each side is going to present its case. The NHL would presumably argue that the contract violates the spirit of the CBA. The NHLPA's response would be to point out other contracts approved by the NHL as precedent setting. The burden would then be on the NHL to prove that the Kovalchuk contract is somehow worse than the other deals. Instead of doing this it seems the NHL instead decided to argue that those contracts are under investigation too. While the media hoopla will be around the idea that other contracts could be nullified, the real travesty here is that the arbitrator ruled NOT on the precedent set by the NHL, but instead on what that they said they will do. I can see no other reason he would bring up other contracts in his decision. That is like a guy getting busted for drugs telling the judge he planned to get clean the next week and the judge letting him go free. The arbitrator should rule solely on the case at hand with the precedents set, not on what the NHL might do in the future. And in this case I believe he not only made the wrong decision, but made it for the wrong reasons.

I am happy to relay the news that arbitrator Richard Bloch has sided with the NHL and rejected Ilya Kovalchuk's 17-year deal with New Jersey today.  His reasoning was that this contract deliberately circumvented the salary cap.  I know this doesn't really affect the Wild directly, but I just wanted to get the Wilderness' reaction to this decision today and how people think things will progress from this point for our favorite hockey soap opera.

Twins Fever

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First time FanPoster, long time commenter!  I needed some advice about the Wild for Fantasy Hockey. 

I'm currently in a keeper league and I wanted to know who the dedicated followers of Hockey Wilderness think will be the Top 5 prospects for the Wild organization.  I'm looking for the prospects who are not only the most talented, but are the closest to cracking the Wild's lineup in the near future.

Let me know what you think!

Hello Wilderness! In the interest of the Minnesota hockey community, I just wanted to place a quick post about the upcoming Minnesota Warriors hockey team. The team is comprised of wounded and disabled veterans from Minnesota. We are affiliated with USA Warriors Ice Hockey and USA Hockey. Practices start in October, and we look forward to playing some good old fashioned hockey throughout the year. If you know anyone who may be interested in playing, or supporting the team in other ways, please visit mnwarriors.com. Thanks!

Hey all, 

I'm a big Penguins fan, but I've taken quite an interest in the recent Koivu signing. I stumbled upon the reaction over at behind the net, so I figured I'd check out Koivu's stats and see what he was all about. It turns out that he plays tough minutes everywhere on the ice, and still comes out with some killer numbers. 

I then saw a fanpost at Japers Rink that was comparing Nicklas Backstrom's contract to Mikko's. When I said that Koivu might be equal to Backstrom, well...you can imagine the reaction. My questions to you guys are: What do you think of Koivu? Is he an elite player? Is he underrated because he doesn't get the benefit of circumstance like others, or am I just crazy?

As I am sure many of you Wild fans are aware of, there will always be a link between Minnesota hockey fans and Dallas hockey fans over the North Stars / Stars franchise.  Most Stars fans in Big D (and obviously outside of Texas of course) like to acknowledge that the team did have a fairly rich and lengthy history in Minnesota.

On Sunday, we at Defending Big D put together a top five list of the greatest Stars of all-time .. Three of which were former North Stars - if you have a moment to spare, feel free to come on by, check out the list and share with us any of your opinions!