Opening Day Eve — What’s Under the Tree?

It’s Opening Night Eve for the Wild, and it’s looking a lot like Christmas Eve.  We’ve got the presents sitting underneath the tree, wrapped up beautifully with a bow on the top, and we’re left spending all day anticipating what they’re going to turn into. 

I’m going to be brutally honest here.  I’m a Minnesota sports fan.  I’m bitterly used to disappointment. 

But this season, for whatever reason, I’m cautiously optimistic.

For whatever reason, I’m cautiously optimistic that the small box sitting to the side of the tree might be keys to a new car as opposed to a set of cuff links.  I’m cautiously optimistic that the shirt-sized box might just be a couple new video games as opposed to a dress shirt. 

There is a lot of cause for both optimism and trepidation this season with the Wild.  The team’s average age is roughly 28 years old.  Consider, though, that they have gray beards Andrew Brunette and Owen Nolan on the roster, and you start to see the picture.  We have an exceedingly young team.  Seven of our players are 25 or younger and all of those seven players will play a large role as to whether or not our team succeeds.  

That said, here are some of my predictions for the Wild this season. 

Breakout Player: James Sheppard.  Shep is finally in a role where he will get to play the type of game he’s comfortable with.  He has no more excuses and he has had a very impressive pre-season.  Playing on a line with Antti Miettinen and Cal Clutterbuck, they have found a little chemistry and Sheppard finally looks like he’s comfortable in his role with the team.  He is definitely capable of putting up big numbers, but I would say that anything less than a 20-goal, 50-point season would be considered a disappointment for this youngster this season. 

Biggest Surprise: Benoit Pouliot.  A few weeks back, I posted an article ragging on Benny Poo, saying that it was time for the team to cut bait.  I’ve reconsidered my stance since then, and I think that Pouliot could thrive for us under the right circumstances.  He still takes shifts off every once in a while and he still has a lot that he needs to work on and to learn to be an effective, every day player in this league, but the flashes he has shown this pre-season have been far bigger flashes than in previous years.  He could be poised to try to make an impact on the team, especially knowing that it is likely do-or-die time for him. 

Best Addition(s): Greg Zanon and Shane Hnidy.  I know what you’re thinking.  “But Blake, what about Martin Havlat?  What about Petr Sykora?”  Don’t get me wrong.  Havlat and Sykora are going to do great things with this team this season.  They’re huge additions and they’re going to help us in many different ways.  But Zanon and Hnidy give us a blueline that is distinctly different than it was last season.  Last season, our blueline was a point machine.  Behind Marek Zidlicky and Marc-Andre Bergeron, our blueline could put up points like nothing else.  But our defensemen lacked grit and in a big way.  Adding Zanon and Hnidy, along with keeping Scott and Sifers on the roster, should give us some much needed grit on our blueline and help protect Niklas Backstrom a bit more. 

Key to Success: Staying healthy.  This may sound like a no-brainer, but the injury bug has hit Minnesota hard over the last few years.  This pre season was no different.  This is definitely a team that can make some noise if they stay healthy.  If they don’t, however, we could be looking at a frustrating season much like last year.  A healthy Martin Havlat and Petry Sykora should easily replace the void (or lack thereof) left by Marian Gaborik’s departure.  Our full line up is certainly capable of beating any team in the league — it’s just a matter of staying healthy now. 

Mike Russo of the Star-Tribune has predicted that the Wild will miss the playoffs this season, finishing much as they did last season, and it’s hard to fault him on that.  The top five spots in the West are fairly easy to predict — it’s the bottom three in the playoff picture that will cause problems.  Anyone in the bottom of the conference (yes, even Phoenix) is capable of making a push for the playoffs.  I’m not going to waver with my prediction that the Wild will make the playoffs this season and, while I think that the Northwest will be a close division again, I think that the Wild are going to be firmly entrenched in second in our division. 

But it’s almost time to drop the puck on this season for the Wild.  Christmas Day for Wild fans is almost here!