Minnesota Wild Offseason

            The Minnesota Wild had an extremely up and down season, well down and up would probably describe it better. The season started 7-12-2 including 0-8 on the road, then things turned around for a while where they went 13-4-1. Injuries started to set in and the season went downhill again. A 13-24-4 record in 38 road games led to an overall record of 38-36-8. I didn’t know what to expect coming into the 2010 season since a new coach was in place along with a new GM and the leading scorer in Wild history had been let go to the Rangers. I suppose an above .500 winning percentage 11 points out of a playoff spot is about as good as could have been expected.

            Injuries played a huge roll in the fall of the team in the second half of the season. In the last 10 games the Wild went 3-5-2, once it was official that they would not make the playoffs 9 players who played regularly were out of the lineup. Three Wild players have had surgery since the season ended, including 2 surgeries for leading scorer Mikko Koivu.  

            During the off season the team has a few things to address. First and foremost they need to find a pure goal scorer. The loss of Gaborik was huge to the franchise and no one that they were going to bring in was going to replace him. Koivu had another great season but is an all around player, not the goal scorer that they need. He had 22 goals and 49 assists in 80 games this season, the only change that would be nice to see for him is a plus/minus rating better then the -2 he had this past season. Bringing in Marty Havlat was supposed to help that but he only had 54 points this season, 23 off of his previous season with Chicago. Maybe another season with the same players and coaches will help him get back to where he was but his first season with the team just wasn’t enough. Guillaume Latendresse was probably the biggest surprise to come to the team this season; in 55 games with the Wild he had 25 goals and 12 assists. However, based on stats from the past it is hard to guess what he will provide next year. Latendresse had only 3 points in 23 games before coming to Minnesota this year but 26 points in 56 games the year before that.  Pierre-Marc Bouchard is another player they lost to injury this year he played only one game because of a concussion. The previous 2 seasons Bouchard had 63 and 46 points respectively. He needs to come back healthy and fill in the void that the Wild have at the center position, after Koivu the production falls of significantly. A goal scoring center would be the best addition, probably though a trade, if Bouchard cannot return and perhaps even if he does.

            A few other players/positions that I would like to see addressed are Owen Nolan and the backup goalie. I would love to see the Wild resign Nolan; I think he brings leadership and grit to a fairly young team with little to no playoff experience. I know he wants to have a chance to win the cup but I fully believe that if a few adjustments are made the Wild can make the playoffs. Owen could be the difference maker in the make or break situations for the Wild. As the Eastern Conference has proved so far year once you make the playoffs just about anything can happen. It will be interesting to see how management handles the backup goalie position will be as well. Josh Harding has been around the organization for 5 years with a majority of his 65 starts coming in the last 3 years. Although Minnesota has been known to trade away their starting goalies (Fernandez, Roloson) I cannot currently see them getting rid of Niklas Backstrom. Backstrom was not his usual self this season but still had solid numbers; 2.72 GAA and a .903 save percentage good for 26 wins over 58 starts. Harding is currently unsigned and would be nice to have back since most of the free agents this year seem to be due some big pay days. I would like to see them bring back, and would imagine that they will sign, either John Scott or Derek Boogaard. Cal Clutterbuck is a great agitator but not the intimidating force that is needed on the ice in certain situations. Neither of the big guys are point getters which is why only one or the other is needed.  

            Hopefully the team has a productive off season using a mix of their farm system and trades. They have a good competitive core that needs a few changes and could be competing not only for a playoff spot but for the Northwest division title.