Random, Random, Random

Well, the Olympics are here. 

That means that the Wild news slows waaaaaaaaaaaaaay down.  At least for a few weeks. 

Day one of the Olympics brought exactly what was expected.  Team USA ground out a win over the Swiss, Team Canada overcame early jitters to dominate Norway and Russia overpowered Latvia. 

But, no Wild players played, so there’s really not much for me to talk about. 

Today, though, could be a different story.  At 2 p.m. Central time, the puck will drop on Finland’s first game of the tournament, which will see Mikko Koivu and Antti Miettinen take the ice for their home country, and Niklas Backstrom likely get some splinters backing up Miikka Kipprusoff. 

That leads me to the match up of the night.  The new versus the old.  Martin Havlat versus Marian waitheshurtagain?  Well.  Nevermind.  I guess the subtext to that matchup just won’t work here.  But in all seriousness, it should be one hell of a game, as it will be the first time that two of the teams considered medal contenders face off in this tournament. 

Now that I have that out of the way, it occurred to me that I never weighed in on my thoughts of the Wild’s big trade in the hours leading up to the trade freeze. 

Wow.  I mean, wow. 

Whether you like the trade or not, there’s one thing that you absolutely have got to admit.  Chuck Fletcher’s got balls.  I mean a biiiiiiig brass set. 

Personally, I love the trade. 

Fletcher managed to dump the Wild’s most unsightly contract (let’s be fair, Butch gets a free pass here until he’s had at least a full season under the new system) and picks up a solid top four NHL defenseman and he’s 23 years old?  What’s not to like? 

I’ve read the fan reactions to the trade a hundred times and it seems to be a 50-50 split.  Half love the trade, half hate it.  But, I’d be willing to assume that the half that hate it were also the half that were whining about Doug Risebrough never making any moves of significance at the trade deadline or never trying to improve the team or always know what’s best for the team. 

Again, personally, I love the trade, and here’s why. 

First, it saves the Wild some money.  It moves Johnsson’s contract before the Olympic Break, meaning that the Blackhawks, not the Wild, have to pay him for sitting on his duff doing nothing.  

Second, it moves an older player with an expiring contract for a younger player with a few years left without giving up anything.  Say what you will about Johnny and Barker, but they both have relatively the same skill set, though Barker seems more willing to throw his weight around. 

Third, it moves a prospect that, quite frankly, I haven’t been too impressed with.  I wasn’t the biggest fan of the team drafting Leddy, but I did my best to try to see it in a positive light.  The bottom line is, though, that Leddy’s development (as was the case with Kyle Okposo before him) had started to stall.  The U is known for a great many things, but their development of their players over the last few years has been much less than stellar.  The Wild recognized that and decided to take the devil they knew over the devil they didn’t, so to speak. 

Leddy could very well turn into a top flight defenseman down the road, but he’s still at least three to four years away from being an NHL player.  Barker, meanwhile, is just five years older than Leddy, has 201 NHL games under his belt and is ready now. 

Barker will help a powerplay that has been shaky, at best, this season and will give the Wild a third young defenseman that they can count on as part of their defensive core. 

Does Barker have many of the defensive shortcomings that Johnsson did? 

Absolutely. 

But the difference between the two is that Barker is young enough to have those bad habits broken by our defensive taskmaster, Mike Ramsey. 

Anywho…That’s all for now.  I swear I’m still working on the mailbag and will have it up sometime during this Olympic break.  If you want your questions answered, I’m still taking submissions so feel free to send them in!