Two weeks ago things were looking good for the State of Hockey with a return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs appearing imminent for the Wild. Fast forward to today after four straight losses by a 15-4 margin and the home team is 6 pts out of the 8 spot with 11 games to play.
At this point it would take a lot of help and a minor miracle for the Wild to get into the playoffs. Don' t get me wrong I am not a fatalist, I am a realist however and things are not in our favor. It has been done by teams in similiar situations before, in fact our own Mn Twins were 7 1/2 games out at the beginning of September 2009 and the division appeared to belong to the Tigers. Then the Twins tied the Tigers on the last day of the regular season forcing a game 163, which went on to become an instant MLB Classic, and the Twins won the division. Do I think the Wild will follow in the Twins footsteps, simply put....NO!
There are too many things going against the Wild right now and they are reeling, the biggest factor is constant injuries to key players. When you are constantly losing guys on a daily basis you can not build chemistry and cohesiveness even if you have had it before. Also too many young guys are being thrown into the fire at the same time and they have got to feel like yo-yo's the way the injury bug has been biting the team. They've had to constantly go back and forth between the Wild & Aeros not having a chance to get comfortable with the team.
The team is heading in the right direction though and I think year 2 under Richards & Fletcher has shown some marked improvement and guys are starting to buy into the system. Having said that the Wild are in DESPERATE need of guys that can score and take the pressure off the D and Backstrom. We need guys that are good with the puck in open ice, we have too many guys with a similiar style game right now.
One thing that is puzzling is the goaltending situation and it appears we will be losing a couple of nice assets with nothing in return. Backstrom is obviously the number one goaltender for the Wild and going into the year Harding was a solid number two goalie. Then Harding gets hurt early on forcing the Wild to pick up Jose Theodore who for some reason was unsigned. Theodore was awesome for the Wild this year and with Harding not yet ready to return at the trade deadline the Wild failed to move him instead moving Aeros goalie Anton Khudobin. Now it appears Harding is ready to come back off IR and we will have 3 goalies. To top that off Chuck Fletcher just signed German goalie Endras to a 2011-2012 contract.
A plethora of goalies yet a goalscorer not to be found? If anything is to change in 2011-2012 we have to move beyond this clogging the middle mentality, we need to skate & score!! We need puckhandlers, faceoff men, guys that are good on the boards. There is enough dead weight to create openings and trades are a viable option for more flexibility even if we have to give up a prized player or two..
I love the Wild and will enjoy the rest of the 2010-2011 season with hope of things to come in 2011-2012.
Let's Go Wild!!
VOYAGEUR COUNTRY-ALONG THE BOARDS:Fans perspective and analysis from the state of hockey covering the Minnesota Wild, Gophers and the state high school hockey tournaments. Also other favorites such as the Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning, and San Jose Sharks. Occasional opinions of rivals old and new like the Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver Canucks, and Dallas Stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment