Wednesday, July 16, 2008
An Off-Season Look at ... The Minnesota Wild
by Jes
Much to the joy of Canucks fans, the off-season has not been terribly kind to the Minnesota Wild.
Besides losing His Worship Pavol Demitra to free agency, the Wild also lost 2-way rock star Brian Rolston, as well as Branko Radivojevic.
Replacing them? An overpaid over-the-hill Owen Nolan.
Wow.
Let's check out the roster and salary commitments for the Wild as of right now.
Goaltending - Harding and Backstrom give the Wild a fairly strong pair for reasonable salary.
Defence - The strength of the Wild, with a noticeably pricey salary structure. Not a lot of good deals down here, but a group that possesses good mobility and puck moving. The Wild will obviously utilize their speed and passing to keep up a good transition game.
Forwards - The big weakness of the Wild, especially after the departures of Rolston and Demitra. The Wild have a few decent weapons, and little else. Nolan is a decent role player, and Parrish's offence has declined in his later career. Overall, this forward group won't put up many goals.
Never underestimate what Jacques Lemaire can do with a club, and we know the Wild will certainly be tough to play against. For sure, the Wild will be even more boring to watch on TV as Lemaire will have to tighten his system even further.
Right now, the Wild don't appear to be a playoff-bound club, despite what magic Lemaire can make. The Wild will certainly be a great team at preventing goals, but the lack of quality talent and lack of offence will ultimately kill this club.
Much to the joy of Canucks fans, the off-season has not been terribly kind to the Minnesota Wild.
Besides losing His Worship Pavol Demitra to free agency, the Wild also lost 2-way rock star Brian Rolston, as well as Branko Radivojevic.
Replacing them? An overpaid over-the-hill Owen Nolan.
Wow.
Let's check out the roster and salary commitments for the Wild as of right now.
Goaltending - Harding and Backstrom give the Wild a fairly strong pair for reasonable salary.
Defence - The strength of the Wild, with a noticeably pricey salary structure. Not a lot of good deals down here, but a group that possesses good mobility and puck moving. The Wild will obviously utilize their speed and passing to keep up a good transition game.
Forwards - The big weakness of the Wild, especially after the departures of Rolston and Demitra. The Wild have a few decent weapons, and little else. Nolan is a decent role player, and Parrish's offence has declined in his later career. Overall, this forward group won't put up many goals.
Never underestimate what Jacques Lemaire can do with a club, and we know the Wild will certainly be tough to play against. For sure, the Wild will be even more boring to watch on TV as Lemaire will have to tighten his system even further.
Right now, the Wild don't appear to be a playoff-bound club, despite what magic Lemaire can make. The Wild will certainly be a great team at preventing goals, but the lack of quality talent and lack of offence will ultimately kill this club.
Labels: Brian Rolston, Off-Season Analysis, Pavol Demitra, Wild
Comments:
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I will likely be posting this after every analysis you do Jes:
The Wild should sign Sundin!
LOL
Yeah, right...
Totally agree with just about everything you've said here. I think Johnsson is one of the most overpaid players in the league (see Jeff Finger).
The Wild should sign Sundin!
LOL
Yeah, right...
Totally agree with just about everything you've said here. I think Johnsson is one of the most overpaid players in the league (see Jeff Finger).
1) Predictions: More slumber-inducing Lemaire hockey in the land o lakes. Jacques will have his trap system down pat and the team will get by and make the playoffs despite Marian Gaborik missing 40+ games with a variety of injuries
@ FAUX - 2 minutes for boarding on Gaborik... Dude's a floater, but he's just sick of not being ALLOWED to play hockey... Injury? well, he's not a checking line player, not a defenceman and not really much of a physically imposing guy...lol... He's "brittle" perhaps. I'll bet that if he played anywhere else, he'd be healthier... Just sayin'...
I should clarify one thing, and I can't find any way to edit my last comment... Gaborik has even apologized to fans for his fantasy league value sucking... Obviously he will wait it out until his $7.5M are in the bank, then he'll get FA status (not sure if unrestricted, but if Minny goes the way I believe they will without him, it'll be a lot of draft picks with a LOT of high ones in there)... Let's see a big trade... Let's see something other than a Sundin headline...
(burps and goes to bed)
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