SB Nation User Blog: HockeyJoe

View From The Links

HockeyJoe — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:08:02 -0000

I know it's been a while since I've visited here, and while I have been busy patting myself on the back for assisting everyone here in yelling loud enough to get Doug Risebrough fired, it's only fair that I start sniffing around a bit to see who can step in and help right the ship.

Of course, neide has been on the mark here with his potential GM profiles taking the time out to look at things logically and address how their résumés match up with what the Wild should be looking for.

The same can't be said of other folks in hockey media who are looking to hook their compatriots up with new jobs.

Go ahead, hire me... Please? I've got a couple rings!

I know that there's generally a Toronto slant on some news and, let's face it, when you've been as unsuccessful as the Maple Leafs have been over the last few years sometimes you just want to spread the misery around a bit.

After the jump, we'll take a look at the array of washed-up executive stars who are being mentioned to spread their special brand of Toronto misery around to Minnesota.

Damien Cox from the Toronto Star writes a delightful piece about how TSN and NBCs Pierre McGuire will be interviewing with Wild owner Craig Leipold and from there he throws around a few names, lay it on me Damien:

What's not clear is where McGuire, who is expected to be interviewed today or tomorrow by Minnesota owner Craig Leipold, rates on a list that is believed to include Pat Quinn, Chuck Fletcher, player agent Neil Sheehy and others. Former Maple Leaf GM John Ferguson is also expected to be interviewed.

If these are actually the other names on Craig Leipold's list, I'll fly out to Minnesota myself and help Wild fans burn their season tickets on Craig Leipold's front steps.

Cox proceeds to talk about why McGuire makes a great candidate for the Wild but makes sure to toe the line between full approval and potential disaster saying that going from TV to the front office is sometimes difficult:

Davidson, meanwhile, is a strong example of an accomplished broadcaster moving effectively into a NHL front office job. Dale Tallon, GM of the Chicago Blackhawks, is another.

Melrose, on the other hand, was a complete disaster as a head coach, and one can only imagine he would have been even worse as a GM. Cherry, meanwhile, was never again involved in the NHL after leaving Colorado 29 years ago, but his brief attempts to run and coach the Mississauga major junior franchise ended in near ruin.

So talking the game doesn't necessarily translate into a winner.

Gee, really?

Cox seems to forget that Melrose was a coach before he was on TV (remember Damien, the Kings beat the Leafs on the way to the Finals in 1993) and was the victim of some brutal front office mismanagement in Tampa Bay from "eccentric" ownership.

Is Pierre McGuire a real candidate here though? I know his name has been bandied about for the opening in Colorado as well, but I can't help but feel that these are just courtesy interviews, a warm up act if you will.

The thing about McGuire though, and the connection that Cox should've been making to Melrose instead of pussy-footing around it, is that McGuire has been out of hockey management since the early-to-mid 90s, the same amount of time Melrose was away from it before becoming the instant fall guy in Tampa Bay.

I know Pierre is a passionate guy about hockey and Lord knows he makes his feelings known about Canadian juniors players well known, but does that passion translate into office smarts and good decisions? It's tough to gauge that from my lofty armchair but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it doesn't.

After all, if hanging around the bench and locker rooms was a pre-requisite for becoming a general manager, why not hire the equipment manager to be his assistant? Come on, he's been there a while and knows the game too!

Sheesh.

As for the other guys on Cox's hit list, well, one out of four is OK, right?

Chuck Fletcher has been discussed here already by neide so I won't get into anything further about him. I think he's a guy that passes the sniff test simply because he's not named Doug Risebrough, but by that logic, we're all qualified for the position.

Neil Sheehy is an interesting name. By the way, who is Neil Sheehy?

Neil Sheehy is an agent and he's got a website. His most well-known client?

Jeff Finger.

Nevermind the immense conflicts of interest that would come up with having a general manager coming from the agents office (and Cox rightly pointed out a couple of situations where this has played out with Brian Lawton in Tampa and Mike Gillis in Vancouver) but something about this stinks to high heaven bringing in the guy responsible for getting Jeff Finger a ridiculous contract in the NHL based around little NHL experience.

The mind boggles over this. I don't care how many legends of hockey say nice things about Neil Sheehy, the fact that this is the first time I've heard about him getting mentioned as a GM candidate makes me wary, even moreso given Sheehy's connection with the Toronto media via Jeff Finger.

The suggestion of Pat Quinn makes me insane because as a general manager, Quinn hasn't been employed by an NHL team since before the game-altering lockout (Quinn was the Maple Leafs GM from 1999-2003) and knowing the brand of hockey Quinn wants to recruit for... That would leave me wondering why Jacques Lemaire would bolted town in the first place.

Then again, Quinn would end up coaching the team too so it's probably a moot point anyhow. Quinn has been engrossed in Canadian junior hockey since September and coached that squad to a gold medal in Ottawa this year, further cementing Quinn's legacy as a Canadian coaching hero.

I'm still waiting for Quinn's first award as a general manager.

Does he get credit for bringing the Maple Leafs out of obscurity in the late 90s in the spend-crazy NHL era? I guess, although judging him by the rosters he assembled while GM of the Maple Leafs from 1999-2003 I'd say he was better at overpaying for subpar or washed up talent.

Having Mats Sundin and the Grind Squad carry you doesn't really show much of a track record when we're looking for something comparable to today's NHL. Then again, the Wild are a team that's been Marian Gaborik and the Grind Squad, so perhaps the suggestion of Quinn is meant to say that Craig Leipold wants to stay the course.

God help us all.

As for John Ferguson... Well, have a look at what the guys at Pension Plan Puppets had to say about him and see if that sounds like anyone we know here:

You know who wasn't suitable to run an NHL team in the cap era? John Ferguson Jr. You know who gave away viable draft picks like candy for his entire tenure? John Ferguson Jr.

Now, I don't want to say that sounds like Doug Risebrough - but if someone gave me a nameless description of a general manager that read like that, you can bet your ass the first name I'd think of was "Doug Risebrough."

Why even mention someone like John Ferguson, Jr. for this position? I'd like to think that Craig Leipold would be smarter than that to even talk to a guy like that but perhaps the pool of qualified candidates is smaller than we think.

If that is the case, a new face isn't going to be helping a whole lot.

Then again, maybe Craig Leipold could just read this website and get some better ideas on where to snoop around for a qualified and hopeful person to become the next GM of the Wild. If Leipold has his ear to the ground and keeps hearing the names of Maple Leafs ghosts of the recent past, this team's immediate future is doomed. McGuire isn't the answer, Quinn isn't the answer, John Ferguson Jr. is a joke.

Keep looking Craig, the answer is out there - you just won't find it in a column by a "respected" journalist.

It's Official: AHL Phantoms move to Glens Falls, NY

HockeyJoe — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:59:36 -0000

It's Official: AHL Phantoms move to Glens Falls, NY

The AHL announces that the Flyers AHL affiliate Phantoms are officially headed to Glens Falls, NY.

Doug Risebrough Fired

HockeyJoe — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:29:45 -0000

Minnesota Wild Owner, Craig Leipold, announced today that the organization will not renew the contract of President and General Manager, Doug Risebrough, beyond the 2008-2009 season. "The entire Minnesota Wild organization is forever indebted to Doug for his substantial efforts in establishing this franchise’s solid foundation and winning tradition," said Leipold. "The positive impact of Doug’s service will be felt for many years to come. We wish Doug the very best." The search for a new General Manager will begin immediately. The first order of business for the incoming General Manager will be to select the Team’s next Head Coach. Until a replacement is found, Assistant General Manager Tom Lynn, will be acting-General Manager.

I don't know for sure what there was to agonize over, but this is a move that was necessary for the Wild to stop treading water. Now it's up to Craig Leipold to make the right choices to fill some very important spots.

According to two outside NHL sources, Wild GM Doug Risebrough has been fired by owner Craig Leipold. It is unconfirmed inside the organization.

Leipold was said to have agonized over the decision but decided, in the final analysis, that a change in direction was called for. - Russo

EDIT: 4:30 pm CDT

All from Russo

“I got a call from [assistant coach Mario Tremblay] and he told me this and I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ It was shocking, it was shocking. I never expected it. I never thought he’d be fired after I left,” former Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. “We tried to get this team better. What Craig thought was something different.
“Us, I thought we did some decent things there. We don’t know anymore what to think there. It just shows you the owner has a different perspective than a lot of people could go.” - Jacques Lemaire

Lemaire was unable to get in contact with Risebrough.

Lemaire, by the way, does not want the job.

From the Leipold conference call:

He made his decision a month ago.

He told Risebrough Tuesday, and he took it professionally.

The new GM will only be GM, and not GM and President

On whether Lemaire would have been fired if he didn’t quit, Leipold said he hasn’t thought about that because he always assumed Lemaire was leaving.

He has a little of former GM’s and bright stars he’s interested in. Candidates have solicited him already today via call and email.

Russo: "Wild's future is bleak"

HockeyJoe — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:42:18 -0000

Russo: "Wild's future is bleak"

Michael Russo sounds off about the Wild, their future and their current status as being boring.

Ouch.

View From The Frontier

HockeyJoe — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:39:13 -0000

I'll admit, it's been pretty easy for me to come here and prattle on endlessly about how this team has no future - about how they seemingly didn't get the memo about the rule reinforcements allowing offense to flourish after Gary's Temper Tantrum Over Money that killed an entire season.

After all, I'm just some jerk from New York that watches the Wild from a distance and without any emotional attachment whatsoever.

With that said, I've come to you today of all days to admit I've been dishonest with you all. I know that I've mocked and belittled Wild general manager Doug Risebrough whenever buddhafisch or neide have allowed me off of my leash to write here and some of you may have agreed with what I wrote and your rally cries urged me to feed the beast.

It's all a lie though.

I'm but a simple columnist. I'm here to spew forth with venom to feed the masses whether they like it or not, to say things I don't actually believe in that will help bring you all here.

The fact is, I've stood fast to one belief all season long for this Wild team and this organization:

I know, you're shocked. You're horrified. You're probably disgusted. After all, a lot of you Wild fans are debating whether or not you want to shell out the money to get Wild season tickets again next year and I can say without the shadow of a doubt in my mind...

That today's April 1st and even I can't keep that ruse going without laughing myself stupid.

The Wild had their chances to keep the flicker of hope alive if they could beat Vancouver.

Sports Club Stats made it clear that a Wild victory kept their playoff hopes "alive" at 28.6% with a win.

Instead, it's a loss and their chances sit at 8.4% of just making the playoffs with six games left.

Ouch.

The return of Marian Gaborik has helped add a nice offensive touch to a team that has missed his presence in the lineup terribly. Since returning on March 22nd, Gaborik has played in six games scoring five goals and adding three assists including his two goal, two assist beauty in a 6-2 win over the Islanders.

Oh what could have been Marian...

Then again, it's not fair that for the last seven years in Minnesota he's been the one who has had to carry the load offensively virtually alone.

I know, there's been Brian Rolston and Pavol Demitra there and even sometimes Pierre-Marc Bouchard but the consistent inconsistency for the Wild is that Marian Gaborik is the be-all, end-all for the offense and the team goes as he does.

When a fragile China Doll is the guy you absolutely MUST have in the lineup to win more often than not and he's not surrounded with anyone to support his game... What do you expect?

Instead, rightly and wrongly, Gaborik has been made the scapegoat for the front office's failures and now the Wild will head, seemingly, into a playoff-free offseason where both Risebrough and Gaborik may be out of options and may have to go through this same charade again next season.

Why? The small sample size that Gaborik is putting together at the end of the season won't net him the lucrative contract he's looking for to be paroled out of Minnesota and Risebrough is too lazy to look for a player outside of the organization to help his team score goals.

Never mind that some teams are going to have, potentially, some major moves to make which could mean some really solid scoring talent will need to find their way on to new teams. Things like this should make a GM's job a little easier if all they have to do is offer up the right money, right?

Oh... Right.

Risebrough, and seemingly owner Craig Leipold, like to pretend the Wild are poor and make no money. Craig Leipold seems to think he's still in Nashville where the team under his watch spent frugally, had a hard time filling the Gaylord/Sommet Center and took their sweet time making the playoffs with blue-collar spare parts team. They couldn't spend big money because they weren't making any money.

That's not the case in St. Paul. The Wild make plenty of money but act poor.

It's frustrating for this hockey fan to watch this because Minnesota hockey fans are some of the best in the world. I mean that, no April Fools gag here. You're all staunchly loyal and you give it your all for a team that tries very hard on the ice and an organization that doesn't try hard at all off of it.

You deserve better than this Minnesotans. It's time to start demanding better. This isn't the 80s anymore and these aren't the North Stars who struggled to fill a sub-par facility in Bloomington. These are the Minnesota Wild who pack in the Xcel night in and night out regardless of how the team is doing and this team isn't going anywhere because even these nimrods in the front office know a cash cow when they see it.

It's time to stop being treated like suckers. There's a line from a film that fits the situation here, from a fine anarchistic visionary of graphic novel fame:

"Governments should be afraid of their people."

Make your voices heard Wild fans.

View From The Frontier

HockeyJoe — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:18:46 -0000

I know that the NHL struggles in competing for television ratings with poker, but in my efforts to reach out to this apparently huge market of, ahem, sports enthusiasts - I'll use a metaphor to describe today's NHL trading deadline to them.

The "river" card is about to be revealed and it's time to decide if you want to stay in this hand and go for the big money or re-group and see what the future holds for you.

Is today the day that the preparations for the 2009-2010 begin and you fold or is it time to push all in and just go for it?

It's put up or shut up time for the Minnesota Wild and they may have made a huge tell about what they've got planned for today.

Easy money after the jump.

Doug Risebrough may have surprised everyone across the NHL by turning a hose on some of the sputtering rumors about goaltender Niklas Backstrom when he extended his contract for a very Giguere-like four years and $24 million.

Debate if you wish if this was the right move or not, but given Josh Harding's play of late some fans have been heard whispering about how dealing Backstrom off for what would, ideally, be a sweet trade package to a team desperate for some kind of goaltending help.

Instead by doing this now, Risebrough has tipped his hand.

Oh sure he's got a shiny potential trade piece for someone seeking a bargain-basement and oft-injured high scoring wing but the return on a deal for Gaborik would be brutal when compared to the type of talent Gaborik has. Worse yet, Gaborik is probably going to come back to Minnesota next season to prove that he can score and that charade gets to repeat itself again next year.

By extending Backstrom, Risebrough has taken his biggest and most marketable trading chip off the table. Nik Backstrom was Risebrough's piece to use to try and stock up the current roster with an extra scorer, or better yet, use Backstrom to help fill the minor league cupboard that he's neglected since the get-go.

That's right. Doug Risebrough has folded his hand and left the table to see what he's got left. There won't be a big splash move made by the Wild this year, not that that's any different than any other year previously, but there was hope this year - lots of hope!

There was hope that the Wild could rise from the muck of the Northwest Division and land a top three seed in the West. There was hope that Gaborik could lead them to the top of the mountain by scoring like the madman that he always has been. There was hope that it would all finally come together under Jacques Lemaire's tutelage.

Instead, Gaborik's injury woes wouldn't go away and somehow managed to get worse and the team couldn't score to save their lives. The barren wasteland that is the farm system reared its ugly head and when the team looked for anyone to help them step up, they just weren't there waiting for the call in Houston.

And now, today on Hockey Christmas, Doug Risebrough has already told everyone, whether he realizes it or not, that there is no Santa Claus and that if Santa did show up by 3:00 P.M. Eastern, he'd tell him to get lost because "that's not the kind of house we run here."

The goal in the Western Conference when you're one of the many teams duking it out for a playoff spot is try and find a way to stay in the hunt or to know best when to get out.

Minnesota is just one point up on the Blues yet still only three back of the final playoff spot and five points behind the sixth spot and the Blue Jackets. St. Louis may have gotten their notice to check out last night getting humbled by Detroit. Columbs improved their position while pretty much putting the final nail in Los Angeles' coffin.

Does Minnesota want it bad enough? Does Risebrough dare take a risk, somehow, and finds a way to bring in a scoring forward or two? Are any of the players currently on the roster appealing to anyone else in the league?

If history has taught us anything it's that Risebrough is more likely to stick with what he's got rather than rock the boat with 20 games to play and if he can land a depth forward at an acceptable cost, he'll do that rather than make a big splash and the contract extension to Backstrom sealed that fate.

Risebrough is no Phil Hellmuth nor is he Mike Matusow and he's certainly no professor at poker like Howard Lederer. Instead, he's left the table, cashed in his meager stack of chips and headed home to tell the kids to go to bed because he's got a fat guy in a red suit to chase off the property.

View From The Frontier

HockeyJoe — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:59:23 -0000

I'm going to keep it simple since I haven't been around here in a little while.

I could ask you to insert a joke about being bored with a boring team, but the Wild just lit up the Maple Leafs 6-1. I'll put that joke to bed for now.

What's got me though is the state of flux the front office of the Wild puts you fans in. It's maddening to see - let's recap the big ones:

We Love Gaborik!

Burn Mary-Ann At the Stake!

We have to get Backstrom re-signed now!

Trade him so we can get something in return!

I get it, you guys are frustrated that is only consistent at being inconsistent. I've got a new rallying cry for everyone though, and it's one that I know you can all support and it's one that you might start saying come this offseason or after the trade deadline, depending on how things go.

FIRE DOUG RISEBROUGH!

A lot of you have probably thought it and I know a lot of you have been thankful that the Wild have stayed competitive since their inception in the NHL.

That's all well and good but in the Western Conference, survival is only part of the game. The West is wide open for the playoffs. Fans from all over the place are in full panic stricken mode because one cold snap buries them in the standings when they know one hot streak can vault you into a spot where you can avoid Detroit and San Jose in the first round.

Here's where Risebrough and a lot of folks in the Wild front office differ on things.

Some teams look at the playoffs as a time where they can shake things up and make a name for themselves. The Sharks did it back in the mid-1990s as an expansion team when making it to the playoffs wasn't quite good enough. So they won the opening round a couple times as an upstart team. Now? Making it to the second round is a bitter pill to swallow because too many of their seasons have ended there.

The Wild front office and a lot of the fans still view making the playoffs as an accomplishment, something to hang a banner for. The Wild aren't a low-level NCAA team that's just happy to be there - at least they shouldn't view themselves that way. They're a professional organization whose ultimate goal is the Stanley Cup.

Under Doug Risebrough's watch, making the playoffs has been made the struggle and the accomplishment to hang the hat on. In a division that was ruled by the Avalanche for many seasons and is now left up for grabs, how have the Wild not stepped forward to seize the throne?

Easy. Risebrough treats the team like one scrounging for every penny, like they can't keep up with the big spending Joneses of the NHL. Someone forgot to tell Doug that those days are over and that overspending for mediocre talent in a cap era is a good way to put the team on the super highway to status quo. Someone should have Risebrough take a look at the crowds that come to Xcel each game too, the Wild front office crying about finances is bogus and all of you that spend your money on them know this.

Winning helps change the mindset in a city and with its players and when a team sets their goal as scraping by to make the playoffs each season...well, you can understand why top flight talent might look somewhere else than St. Paul, Minnesota.

I know folks are looking on envious at what Ken Holland does with the Detroit Red Wings and a lot of that is helped by incredible scouting and proclaiming each year that winning the Stanley Cup is the only satisfactory goal, and a goal that has been and can be attained with that team.

The Wild aren't an expansion team anymore and they've seen deep success in the playoffs once before. Was it luck that they made the Western Finals in 2003?

Correct answer is: It doesn't matter how they got there.

What matters is that they got there and weren't able to capitalize on that. They haven't been able to grow and gain from it and the same guy has been in charge of running the ship the whole time.

It's now more than five years since that appearance in the Conference Finals and how have the Wild done since then?

2003-2004: Missed Playoffs

2004-2005: No Season - Thanks Gary!

2005-2006: Missed Playoffs

2006-2007: Out in first round

2007-2008: Out in first round

The bar for success disappeared here and somehow the mindset of being an "expansion team" returned with it after the lockout.

How?

How did this happen?

The fans deserve better here and having Ebeneezer Risebrough mind the shop while others are able to build and grow and be shrewd yet brilliant is insulting.

Say it loud. Say it proud. Doug's got to go.

View From The Frontier

HockeyJoe — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 22:21:31 -0000

It appears that this is the end of the world as you know it and you don't feel fine.

All is lost and the glaring problems the team has had all along are rearing their ugly heads so much that even the biggest die-hard fans are taking issue with them.

Adding to that is the nonsense with Marian Gaborik. In fact, Jacques Lemaire hired a special assistant to deal with Gaborik personally, but Gaborik wanted no part of his treatment.

Unfortunately some of his "coaching methods" were adopted by the scoring forwards and...well, you see how that's worked out.

I know, I'm having some fun here and I hope you're laughing because this is not a good situation right now. Let's face it, when the management and players and coaches are all upset at the beat writer for being critical...well, that's just misappropriated anger.

If it takes the local writer to fire up the team...I just don't know what to say about that. If it works, give Russo the team MVP. Forget Koivu, forget Backstrom...it's all Russo that made it happen. The more realistic way to view this, though, is a team that's entirely too frustrated with themselves.

They know that scoring one or two goals a game isn't going to do much for them in the win column, they know that their most talented offensive player either can't or won't (his fault or management's fault is neither here nor there right now) be there more often than not to help them out.

There are some good young kids on this team, but most other teams allow these kids to buy their time in the AHL or on the third and fourth lines to get their feet wet. The Wild can't do that right now because of Gaborik's absence, because a lot of the kids in the minors haven't developed well, fast or at all so the one's that have have to come up and get the weight of the world put on their shoulders.

Is this Lemaire's problem? To a degree, sure, but he's making the best of what he's got to work with given the nightmare scenario that's playing out with Gaborik and the lack of true scoring talent that is developing within the system.

Is this Risebrough's problem? Abso-friggin-lutely it is. It's Tom Lynn's problem. It's Tom Thompson's problem. It's also big on Guy Lapointe, Barry MacKenzie and Blair Mackasey and their staff as well.

I know not everyone is going to have guys like they have in Detroit digging through the Scandanavian wilderness to find all the diamonds in the rough, but it can't be a lot to ask that these guys are able to root through Canadian juniors, American collegiate hockey and some of the European junior leagues to find better players to make this team win eventually.

After all, if the Wild aren't going to be factors in NHL free agent spending they damn well have to be better at scouting and development than everyone else if they're to become a perennial Stanley Cup threat.

That's not the case right now and it hasn't been the case at all in the last few years. That's the big problem here and that's the issue Craig Leipold is going to have to look deeper into.

Winning makes everything feel better and this team is a hot streak away from having much better standing in the West. The West is going to be this tight from here on out, or at least until teams decide they want to retreat to the back of the pack. Teams you thought were dead before won't be dead for long (Dallas) and teams that were knocking heads earlier have cooled off (present company directly included) to join in the rest of the clusterfark that the bottom half of the Western Conference has become.

If the goals start coming, this team will do just fine. No one in the Northwest Division is running away with anything. Sure, you can worry about Vancouver but their fall from grace will coincide with Jason LaBarbera getting starts in goal. They will be more of a pain in the ass with Mats Sundin teaming up with the creepy Swedish ginger twins, however. Calgary is an aberration, as is Colorado. Edmonton's scoring has to stay dormant or else the ghost of Roloson will haunt everyone.

Minnesota can't worry about where they are in the West - they just need to worry about their division and start beating all of them. For that to happen, they have to ask special assistant Coach Jack to unhook the rest of the forwards from his "Dream Machine" and maybe promote him to the front office.

View From The Frontier

HockeyJoe — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:48:18 -0000

I know we've been having some fun here with Marian Gaborik's situation. You know, with him being an apparent petulant child about his contract, his apparent wont to hit free agency at the end of the season, his supposed desire to just get out of Minnesota and shake off the shackles of Jacques Lemaire's system and become the scoring dream machine that most every expects that he would be just about anywhere else.

Most everyone has been more than happy to pack his bags, send him out of town and kick him in the ass on the way out.

I get that, I understand it and I even advocate feeling that way. After all, if a guy seems to not want to play for your team...why bother investing your time, emotion and care into what he's doing on the ice.

The pickle the Wild find themselves in, however, is that they desperately need him.

Reunited and it feels so...uneasy?

Marian Gaborik's first game back from injury, his third game of the season mind you, seemed to function as a "getting to know you" exercise through the first half of the game. Gaborik started off with Stephane Veilleux and James Sheppard as his linemates but by the third period, he was out there working his ways with the top unit of Mikko Koivu and Andrew Brunette.

The band was back together again and they picked right back up where they left off. Gaborik assisted on Brunette's goal in the second and scored one for himself on a pretty behind-the-net feed from Brunette in the third to tie the game at two.

Through much of the final 30 minutes of play, Gaborik got his legs back and then eventually his ideal linemates and the offensive attack and punch that Coach Lemaire has been asking to appear (mmm, irony) was there.

What I saw from Gaborik was the same Marian that thrilled and electrified the fans in seasons past. He was jumping in on the action, the cycle was working and most importantly, he was flying towards and all around the net. He was shooting often and not generally poor shots either, a problem the Wild were having in trying to deal with Calgary's stifiling manner of play. Let's face it, Mikka Kiprusoff isn't letting in too many soft shots from the blue line these days.

What Gaborik adds is a different element from the cycling and grinding it out offensive style we're used to seeing out of the Wild when they dig in in the offensive zone. Gaborik adds the element of surprise and a playmaking eye as well as an ability to make every shot an instant scoring chance. Given the Wild's offensive impotence during their losing streak, well, anything resembling a big time playmaker can help and it gets lost around here that that is precisely what Gaborik is.

This is what is going to drive you guys nuts. All while he's healthy, and it's certainly in his best interests to stay that way, you're going to need him and his offensive output as scoring one goal per game isn't getting it done no matter how good Nik Backstrom is in net.

I know it's going to hurt, and I know it's going to make you want to punch yourself in the face - but root hard for Gabbo and revel in his offensive skills, it's the breath of fresh air this team desperately needs.

View From The Frontier

HockeyJoe — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:26:02 -0000

Folks out East here might not realize it (Nick in New York excluded of course) but the Minnesota Wild just keep on winning. Folks here don't have much excuse for not seeing the Wild, they've been the Versus Network's prized pet the last month, and even a stinker of a game against Colorado may have tricked folks out this way that maybe, just maybe, these Minnesota guys can light it up whenever they want.

Well, I won't go and say that, that may have been the worst game the Wild played all year. Fortunately, the Wild followed that up with maybe their most sound and destructive game against St. Louis in a 4-0 shutout win.

Backstrom gets another shutout, Mikko Koivu continues to be the man and most notably to a mostly ignorant Eastern media... Jacques Lemaire is putting everyone on notice that he's still around, he's still preaching the same game he always has and he don't need no stinking superstar to make it happen.

The win over St. Louis, while not televised for most everyone outside of St. Louis and Minnesota, was a prime example of what the Wild want to do night in and night out. They want to shut you down. They want to frustrate you. They want to pepper your goaltender with a ton of shots. They want to punish you with the power play.

Yeah, I know, it was just St. Louis. That's fine, they stink. I get it.

The Wild needed that game regardless of who the opponent was. After the slopfest the game against Colorado was and how we're sure Jacques made everyone's life miserable in practice after that all up until the game with the Blues, another stinkbomb game would be enough to shake the team up a bit and it would certainly cause a metric ton of fretting and worrying around here.

I see things this way:

Arguably the team's best defenseman is playing at forward, that weakens things on the backend - the part of this team that has to play picture perfect each night. The Wild appear to have added two solid offensive-minded blueliners to help buoy the offense in Zidlicky and Bergeron. Oh sure, maybe you guys want Bergeron to shoot some more, just remember to be careful what you ask for.

Once Burns is allowed to go back to defense and things with the forwards start to show some consistency this team is going to make life in the Northwest Division very difficult for everyone else. Fact is, the other teams in the division look at Minnesota with envy and lust in their eyes.

They're envious of Nik Backstrom in Denver, Edmonton and especially right now in Vancouver. These teams would kill to have a stopper like Backstrom whose steadiness inability to get shaken off his game provide the "silence" in net the Wild need. Sure the season started off with folks wondering when or if Marian Gaborik was going to re-sign in Minnesota but now? Now it's time to change the tune:

Get Backstrom taken care of sooner than later.

The Canucks and Calgary Flames see Mikko Koivu and the Wild blue line corps and think, "Man, if we could get some of that the things we'd do..." You don't think the Flames would like a few more solid offensively sound defensemen to play with Dion Phaneuf? How about an incredible two-way forward like Mikko Koivu to go with Jarome Iginla? You think Mike Keenan wouldn't sell his mother to pirates to get Koivu? You're crazy.

When the Wild play their game soundly and the system is functioning the way Jacques designed it to, teams in the Western Conference are going to have a very hard time dealing with the Wild.

Jacques knows this all too well and while a 4-0 win over a mediocre Blues team might not register in anyone's mind it stands out to me. The Wild are going to be a huge burr in the ass for everyone in the West, especially the divisional mates.

You're all on notice now.