Wild Stomp Flames; Backs Gets Shutout in Return
Well, as they say about the best laid plans, I had plans to have a nice write up about the game tonight…Buuuuuuuuuut…Yeah. We’ll just say that I just decided to give you my game notes instead. Enjoy and feel free to leave your comments on tonight’s game!
- Great effort by Brodziak on Havlat’s first period goal. No one but Havlat expected that puck to be coming to him and he just picked his spot and buried the puck past Kipper.
- How in the world was Brunette able to just camp in front of Kipper? There wasn’t a defenseman within a stick’s reach of him. You can’t have that, especially not short handed.
- Jared Spurgeon has been great in the last couple games. He’s making smart plays and he’s coming out of tough areas on the ice with the puck. He’s also got a great first pass out of the zone – something the Wild have sorely missed about not having Kim Johnsson in the line up.
- 200 games played for Cal Clutterbuck and 869 hits. Really? That’s absolutely ridiculous, especially for a player who isn’t the biggest player on the ice. It’s no wonder why he’s such a popular player.
- 471 straight games by Jay Bouwmeester. I wonder what Michael Peca would have to say about that?
- Unbelievably dangerous hit by Curtis Glencross on Clayton Stoner. Glencross got five for it and, honestly, Stoner’s lucky that he was able to turn his head to the side. Bush league hit by Glencross that, honestly, should be looked at by the league. You shouldn’t need any sort of reminder not to hit a player in the back in that sort of position.
- Maybe it’s a little cynical of me, but it isn’t really heartening that our second power-play unit has Kyle Brodziak and Cal Clutterbuck on it.
- The Wild had a five-minute power play that had a lot of pressure in the Calgary zone, but just couldn’t get anything going. That could easily be a shift in the momentum for the game.
- How much confidence does Richards have in Stoner and Zanon right now? They were matched up against Hall’s line in Edmonton and now they’re matched up against Iginla in Calgary. Great play by these two.
- Minnesota’s penalty kill looks good so far. We’re keeping players to the perimeter and, when we’re not able to, we’re clearing the puck away to the corner or down the ice.
- Cam Barker looks like he’s making the most of being inserted back into the line up. He’s not making stupid plays and his footwork is a lot better than it has looked in the past. He’s playing physical, he’s playing well positionally. Everything the Wild wanted from him.
- Great play by Jared Spurgeon to start the play that ultimately had Madden score. He won’t get an assist on that one, but his rush was what opened up the ice to give Madden the opening to score.
- It’s a nice luxury when you have two defensive pairings that you can count on to play big minutes against teams’ top lines. Both Stoner and Zanon and Schultz and Burns have been called on to play against the Flames’ top line and both pairings have done a great job of it.
- I don’t even know that Clutterbuck could believe that he scored his goal. He beat Kipper short side, over his blocker from the boards. So, yeah, it’s safe to say that he’s got a bit of an accurate shot.
- Flames pressuring in the third and the Wild look like they’re scrambling a bit. Half the period is over, but the Wild need to be careful not to sit back on their heels and watch their 4-0 lead.
- What an effort by Chuck Kobasew, diving backwards to slap the puck past Kipper as he sprawled to stop it. Yet another strong effort by a player on the Wild – something that’s really been emblematic of this team in this game.
- Havlat is just a master at stick handling in traffic. It’s absolutely ridiculous what he can do with the puck with players around, going over, under, through – everything he can to get the puck to the net.
- Great passing on Havlat’s second goal of the night. A beautiful tic-tac-toe play with a no-look pass from Cal Clutterbuck to Martin Havlat for Havlat’s 200th career goal and you’ve got to admire the way this line is meshing, especially in the absence of Havlat’s normal partner in crime, Guillaume Latendresse.
- There looks to be absolutely no pride by the Flames in this one. They just look like they’ve given up and packed it in after a pretty terrible performance by the team in the last half of the game.
- Great game by Niklas Backstrom, who gets a shutout in his first game back from injury. Absolutely terrific, doing exactly what Niklas Backstrom is expected to do – be a nice, stabilizing, calming factor in net.
- Havlat and Brodziak both had three point nights and that entire line looked great. It’s going to be hard to break them up when Latendresse gets healthy again.
- Minnesota has scored at least four in its last three games, out scoring their opponents 14-1 during that time. Not too shabby. There might be some hope for this team yet.
Gameday Thread: Game 43 – Wild @ Predators
Ask, and you shall receive. I’ve received e-mails asking for the Gameday Threads to return, so here you go – albeit in a slightly different format.
Instead of giving you the stats, line ups, etc, what I’ll be doing instead is giving you some “required reading” for the game and a little insight to boot.
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NHL.com Game Preview
Russo’s Pre-game Blog
PredsOnTheGlass’s Game Preview
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The Wild comes into tonight’s game after a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of the Dallas Stars that was, quite honestly, disappointing yet expected.
The Wild, on the short-end of a back-to-back stretch, looked flat and tired for most of the game; basically leaving this blogger to consider the game a throw-away game – one that would have been a huge momentum boost if they had won, but not one that should sap their confidence or their momentum having lost it.
The bad news is that the Wild come into tonight’s game facing a Nashville Predators team that has been very, very, good in their last five games (starting with their New Year’s Eve win over the Wild) and are facing a goalie that is averaging a goal-per-game in his last four starts. Not good news for a Wild team that struggles to score.
The good news, though, is that the Wild will be getting one of their best offensive threats back in Antti Miettinen after “Mittens” missed the last four games first with a charley horse, then with a stomach bug.
That means that Chuck Kobasew (who I think has been one of the Wild’s best players over the last handful of games) will be slotted down, likely onto Matt Cullen’s wing on the third line. This, in my opinion, is a huge bummer for Kobasew, who has been playing his best hockey in a Wild sweater. With four goals and five points in his last eight games, Kobasew looks like he’s started to find the touch that caused the Wild to trade for him last season and that confidence transferred over to the rest of his game.
But, such is life.
Miettinen is comfortable on Koivu’s right wing and Koivu is comfortable with Miettinen on his right wing, so that’s all she wrote.
The line to watch tonight, though, is going to be the trio of Martin Havlat, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Kyle Brodziak. Havlat, one of the more notable all star snubs in my opinion (I’ll get into that later tonight), has been one of, if not the best player on the team all season long and Bouchard has started to find his game after a nine-game stretch that saw him tally just two assists (he has a goal and three assists in his last six games). The line has been meshing very, very well, so it’s only a matter of time before they start to take off. But, I digress.
This game is as close to a must-win for the Wild as they could get right now. They’re just two points out of seventh and three out of fourth in the West and they’ve started to look like they’re getting it together on the ice. They played spectacular hockey against some great teams over the past few games and have won five of their last seven – they certainly have confidence and momentum. But this pivotal game could easily see them lose both if they come out flat and get behind.
With the way they’re playing right now, it’s not hard to picture the Wild playing in the playoffs this season – but, at the same time, it’s just as easy to picture inconsistency biting them in the rear end again. They have to find that consistency and stop losing streaks before they happen. If they can do that tonight, after a stinker of a game on Saturday, I’ll tell you this – they might be on to something.
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Congratulations to Brent Burns on his first career All Star Game selection. Check back later tonight for my thoughts on his selection, as well as the rest of the selections.
The Minnesota Wild Season in Review Part 4 of 5: The Management
Well, we’re just about there. The NHL Draft.
On Friday, the front offices from all 30 NHL teams will be together in one place for two straight days, drafting and wheeling and dealing.
They’ll be looking for the best fits for their organizations and, suffice it to say, this is as good a time as any for us to talk about the coaching and front office of the Wild this season.
Granted, this season wasn’t the easiest for either the management or the fans. The management (namely Todd Richards and Chuck Fletcher) had to deal with players that weren’t necessarily the right fit for their system while the fans had to suffer through a team that wasn’t necessarily playing at the top of their game because of this.
That being said, I have some strong opinions about this, so let’s get started.
Head Coach
If you’ve read anything I’ve written over this past season, you know that I was very underwhelmed with the first NHL season of Todd Richards.
Richards came to the Wild with a winning pedigree and a reputation of being a “winner.” He hadn’t missed the playoffs in his career and he was sold to fans as a coach that would make the team competitive right away.
What ended up happening, though, is that Richards just couldn’t get through to the team.
While it was expected that Richards would push the team hard during training camp and that pushing would allow the team to pick up his new, up-tempo system quicker, it was very apparent that the team was not comfortable with this system, even heading into the Olympic break.
Now, whether this is an indictment of Richards’ ability to get through to the team or just a matter of the conditioning of Jacques Lemaire not wearing off as quickly as they had hoped is a matter that is up for debate. My personal opinion, however, is that it was the former.
Richards often looked lost on the bench, especially early on in the season. He didn’t look like a man who had control of his players early on—he looked like a man who was searching for answers and finding none.
Maybe it’s because I was used to the demeanor of Lemaire, who typically wore his emotions on his sleeve, behind the bench but Richards’ cool and calm demeanor oftentimes came off as aloofness and confusion rather than someone who knew what to expect from his team.
To Richards’ credit, the team suffered through a rash of injuries this season that was fairly spectacular (to the tune of 300+ man games lost to injury) and he had to work with what he had, but I never got the feeling that he was quite in control of the team the way that a coach should be.
That being said, as the season progressed, Richards seemed to control the bench much better and get much more comfortable both being vocal with his players on the bench as well as with the referees.
As the team progressed and got more comfortable with Richards and his system, Richards got more comfortable behind the bench and it showed.
The biggest moment that, in my opinion, defined the beginning of his season was the Petr Sykora debacle.
Sykora came to Minnesota on the hopes that he would provide both goal scoring and a player to mix with newly acquired Martin Havlat but, for whatever reason, Sykora never really got that chance.
Now, to be fair to Richards, I don’t know the behind the scenes goings on of the team. Sykora could have been dragging down the locker room with his attitude or he could have not been putting forth the effort—I just don’t know. But, from my view point, Sykora was never given an ample chance to succeed with the Wild and it ended up costing the team a player that could have been a valuable goal scorer.
In all, Richards season was a fair representation of the Wild’s—a maddeningly inconsistent one. He improved as the season went on, which gives me hope for his future with the team, but he certainly needed to be better this season for the Wild to both understand and execute his system to the fullest.
Grade: C+
General Manager
The opposite of Richards, if you’ve read anything I’ve written this season you’ll know my opinion of Fletcher.
In short, he did a marvelous job with not a whole lot of assets to work with.
It started at the 2009 Entry Draft, where he wheeled and dealed, picking up more picks and also center Kyle Brodziak, who would turn into one of the team’s most reliable checkers and players this season.
Fletcher has been derided by many Wild fans for some of his moves (trading down to pick Nick Leddy, giving up too much for Chuck Kobasew) and, to their credit, the moves are moves that could easily be classified as questionable. Overall, however, Fletcher did a fantastic job.
While I won’t look at all of his moves this season, let’s look at a few.
Alexander Fallstrom, Craig Weller and a 2nd Round Choice in the 2011 NHL Draft for Chuck Kobasew
This is one of the more questionable trades that Fletcher made this season and the biggest thing that stands out in this one was the inclusion of either the 2nd round pick or Fallstrom.
Many thought that the inclusion of one or the other would have been enough, but the Wild were not dealing from a position of strength and were desperate to find another NHL-level player.
It remains to be seen what Fallstrom will develop into, or who the draft pick will turn into, but for what the team needed at that point in time it was a calculated risk, though not one I necessarily agree with.
Benoit Pouliot for Guillaume Latendresse
This trade could easily be one of the best trades of the season for both squads.
Both Pouliot and Latendresse were supremely talented players that desperately needed a change of scenery. Both were being knocked for having the same downfalls and both went to their new teams for a fresh start.
While I won’t speak of what Pouliot brought to Montreal, I will say that Latendresse flourished under his fresh start to the tune of 25 goals in 55 games.
While Latendresse’s season with Minnesota was far from perfect, he turned into an instant fan favorite and became the hard-hitting power forward that Minnesota had always lacked.
In other words, this trade was a tremendous coup for Fletcher and the Wild.
Kim Johnsson and Nick Leddy for Cam Barker
This trade is one that many people were concerned about, especially given that Leddy was just selected in this past draft in the first round.
Many thought that the trade of Leddy stunk of hypocrisy because of the high value that Fletcher placed both on draft picks as well as developing from within their own system, but the reality of the situation is that you have to give in order to get.
While the Blackhawks were able to shed Barker’s salary by taking on the expiring contract of Johnsson, they weren’t willing to just give Barker up for just that.
The reality of this, however, is the same as with the Kobasew trade. Fletcher gave up a valuable asset, Leddy, who is at least two or three years away from being a potential contributor on the team for one who is ready now.
On top of that, Barker’s youth is something that will be extremely useful for the Wild. At 23, he still has his best years ahead of him. He’s big, he’s physical and he has offensive tools and, while he isn’t the best skater, that can be taught.
The bottom line is that Fletcher gave up a player who is still three years away from being an NHL player for one who can help the team immediately.
The bottom line for Fletcher here is that his first season as a General Manager was a bit of a mixed bag.
He made some good trades and signings and he made some that might not have panned out as he would have liked.
In the end, however, his season was one that should give Wild fans a lot of hope. Unlike his predecessor, he is not content to sit around and maintain the status quo. He is going to do whatever he has to do to try to improve the team and that in and of itself is a welcome change for those used to the mindset of Doug Risebrough.
Grade: A-
Up Next: A look to the future
Gameday Thread – Game 39 – Wild @ Kings
It’s amazing how much difference a couple months time makes.
After a 3-9-0 start, the Wild were looking to be in the running for the Taylor Hall Sweepstakes. The turnaround that the team has made the season, however, has been nothing short of miraculous.
After their horrific start, the Wild are 16-7-3 and were 9-4-0 during the month of December and now are just four points back from the odds on favorite to win the Northwest Division this season, the Calgary Flames, and third place in the division.
More importantly, they are just four points back from a playoff spot.
The combination of new blood being injected into the system and the old blood learning the new system has proven to be a potent mix and the team is looking poised for a solid run at the Stanley Cup Playoffs after missing out last season.
They come into Los Angeles tonight with a record number of wins for the month of December and are looking to increase on that total against a very good and very surprising Los Angeles Kings team.
The Kings are third in the Pacific Division and fifth in the Western Conference despite slumping of late. A testament to how good the Pacific Division has gotten, the Kings dropped from first in the division to third after a stretch of two losses and eight games off in between.
Lineups
The Wild will be short one of their top checking players, as Chuck Kobasew is going to be on the shelf for about 4-to-6 weeks with a sprained MCL. While his injury will certainly hurt the team, it is possible that it may have opened up a spot for Petr Sykora to return to the lineup sooner than hoped.
Sykora is travelling with the team on their two-game road swing but has not yet gotten approval to play. If that changes, though, the Wild could see a big addition to their lineup.
Barring Sykora’s return, though, here are the forward lines for the Wild as predicted by Wild.com:
Brunette-Koivu-Miettinen
Nolan-Belanger-Clutterbuck
Latendresse-Ebbett-Havlat
Sheppard-Brodziak-Boogaard
Now, while Belanger’s line is listed as the team’s second line here, it’s important to note that the Kings will likely see a large dose of Ebbett’s line early and often. They have been one of the hotter lines on the team since Latendresse and Ebbett have both gotten healthy and that could bode well for the Wild. In addition, the injury to Kobasew might just give Sheppard yet another chance to prove himself. He’s played much better of late, but he needs to step his game up another level if he wants to continue to find playing time as players begin returning from injury.
On defense, Clayton Stoner has been an absolute revelation for the Wild and looks to have stolen John Scott’s spot from him. In his five games since being called up, Stoner has a pair of assists, an even rating, a couple fights and is averaging just under 13 minutes per game. His solid skating ability and his willingness to throw his body around has quickly endeared him to Wild fans.
Wild.com lists the defensive pairings as follows:
Zanon-Zidlicky
Stoner-Johnsson
Hnidy-Schultz
The one thing that I like the most about these pairings is that it gives the Wild a 100% legitimate shutdown pairing in Hnidy and Schultz. But what’s more is that the defensively responsible Stoner and Zanon give both Zidlicky and Johnsson chances to step up into the play a little bit more often—something that benefitted the Wild in their 4-3 defeat of the Blues on Saturday.
There was a break between the games, so in net we’re most likely going to see Niklas Backstrom again. Backstrom has been absolutely fantastic in his last eight games, with six wins and a 1.87 goals-against average.
What to Watch For
The Wild have forward on their team that is white hot right now, and he’s not who you’d think.
Guillaume Latendresse has notched four goals in his last four games and six in 13 games with the Wild. In addition, in those 13 games, the Wild is 11-2-0 and is 4-0-0 when he scores a goal.
You don’t believe me? Do the math yourself.
G-Lat has quickly become an important cog in the Wild’s offense and is continuing to get more and more ice time with Minnesota.
The other key is going to be Martin Havlat. He was largely invisible on Saturday night against St. Louis, but has really snapped out of his early season slump with nine points in his last eight games with a plus-six rating.
He is going to be very important to the continued success of the Wild and the continued success of both Latendresse and Ebbett. He has shown great chemistry with both and this looks to be as bona fide a second line as the Wild has had all season long.
If these three start clicking in a game, watch out…It can be scary good.
Key(s) to the Game
Shoot the puck.
Both teams have great records when outshooting their opponents and tonight should be no different.
For the Wild, LA’s Jonathan Quick is a goalie that thrives on confidence. If they can get to him early, they can have success. But Quick gets better as the game goes on and as he gets more confidence, so hitting him early and often will be paramount for a Wild win.
For the Wild, stopping Anze Kopitar will also be a huge task. Kopitar is one of two Kings players in double digits for goals this season and is the only one who is active (Jarrett Stoll is out with a groin injury). If the Wild can stop Kopitar, they’re that much closer to stopping the Kings.
Kopitar, however, is not the only player that the Wild need to focus on. Ryan Smyth quickly asserted his presence in the Kings’ lineup this season before getting injured and has since returned to the lineup and will provide a huge boost for a Kings team playing without Stoll and Justin Williams.
The puck drops tonight at 9:30 CST and will be broadcast on Fox Sports North.
Wild Newcomers Are Starting to Pay Dividends
Right now, it’s looking like Chuck Fletcher might deserve to be locked away for robbery.
Why, you ask?
Because, at this point, that’s what his additions of Chuck Kobasew, Guillaume Latendresse and Andrew Ebbett look like.
Okay. So maybe I’m going a touch strong on the hyperbole, but you can’t deny that the Wild’s newcomers have given the team quite the boost in the last few games.
Chuck Kobasew?
Well, the man with an uncanny resemblance to Brad Pitt got off to a slow start for the Wild with just a goal and two assists in his first nine games, not to mention a minus-2 rating. Since returning from his injury, however, Kobasew has three goals, all of which came as a hat-trick in the Wild’s post-turkey day feast against the Colorado Avalanche, a minus-1 rating and 15 shots. 15 shots in just four games, from a checker?
That sounds like someone who’s making a difference to me.
Then you’ve got G-Lat. Dubbed as such by Wild.com scribe Glen Andresen, I’ve decided to adopt the nickname for my own purposes because, quite honestly, just thinking about typing his name gives me carpal tunnel syndrome.
G-Lat was cast off from Montreal after tallying two goals and an assist in 23 games, including a minus-4 rating. For Minnesota? He’s equaled that output in just three games, with a plus-1 rating.
Not only that, but G-Lat has seemingly transformed from a lazy, uninspired shadow of a power forward to the energetic, physical mountain of a man that he was billed as coming into Montreal his rookie season. Not only that, but somewhere on the road between here and Montreal, he learned how to play defense.
And then there’s Andrew Ebbett. Mighty Mouse himself.
Proving that it is indeed possible to be smaller than Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Ebbett has provided an instant offensive spark to whatever line he’s been put on.
In his first game for the Wild, against Boston? Game-tying goal.
In the second of back-to-back games against Colorado? Game-winning shootout goal.
In Wednesday’s game against Nashville? Game-winning overtime goal.
Now that’s what I call coming through in the clutch.
Now I know what a lot of you are thinking.
For Kobasew, it was likely an aberration, right?
But consider that he has scored 20+ goals in three of the last four seasons. You simply just don’t forget how to score just because you come to a new team. He is capable of putting up goals—it’s just a matter of finding players that he meshes with.
For G-Lat, he’s just trying to impress his new team.
Maybe. I’m still going to hold my judgment on this one until his body of work is a little bigger. But honestly, everyone knew that he had talent. Everyone knew that he was capable of being a solid player in this league.
Consider his circumstances in Montreal. A Quebecois player, playing in Montreal? It takes a special kind of good to be able to withstand the pressure that comes with that. It takes a Maurice Richard-type of talent to be able to withstand that and, no matter how good G-Lat might be for Minnesota, no one will ever mistake him for The Rocket.
So maybe, just maybe he’s playing this way because the pressure is no longer on. His every move isn’t going to be critiqued in Minnesota (just every other move). Maybe, now that he’s free of the expectations that come along with a French-Canadian player in Montreal, he’ll emerge into the player he is capable of being.
But again, I’m going to hold my judgment until he has a larger body of work.
As for Ebbett?
Honestly, I can’t find any reason why anyone should be weary of his performance. Despite his size, the man has put up points at every single level. His last season at the University of Michigan? 14 goals, 42 points in 41 games. His last full season in the AHL? 18 goals, 72 poitns in 74 games. His first season with the Ducks? 8 goals, 32 points in 48 games.
He’s capable of scoring and, honestly, has seemed to be a cap casualty in both Anaheim and Chicago this season. But if he keeps playing this way, there’s no way he’s going to be one in Minnesota.
But to be honest, the biggest contribution that these players have brought to the team isn’t necessarily on the ice.
Yes, they’re helping the Wild win games. But what their additions have done is juiced the locker room, so to speak.
The Wild are 4-0-1 in their last five games and are playing their best hockey of the season. The energy that is flowing through this locker room right now is absolutely amazing.
The additions do two things.
First, it shows players in the locker room that they need to perform, otherwise they might be on their way out.
I can tell you that I was quite surprised when I pulled up TSN’s website and saw the article saying that Pouliot had been shipped off to Montreal.
Pouliot was playing the best hockey of his career and was starting to show signs of improvement on the ice. But it wasn’t enough for Fletcher. He saw an opportunity and took it and now Benny Pooh is a Canadien.
Second, it forces players to actually earn their jobs.
In Wednesday’s game, James Sheppard was scratched and not necessarily because of his play. Sheppard has been a force in the last couple games since he’s been slid over to the wing, but the Wild simply do not have the room for him in their lineup—especially not if they feel that it is necessary to skate Derek Boogaard.
The Wild have a full roster right now, and still have Petr Sykora and Pierre-Marc Bouchard on the IR. When those two players get healthy, who knows what’s going to happen.
Players are certainly going to have to start earning their keep.
Players like Sheppard and Boogaard, whose spots on the roster were once assured? They might not be any more. Or players like Martin Havlat who have been under-performing? They might not be assured a spot in the lineup on a nightly basis anymore.
The bottom line is that Chuck Fletcher is putting his stamp on this team and it’s already starting to pay dividends. As it stands now, not only are the Wild out of the cellar in the division and the conference—they’re just six points back from the seventh seed in the playoffs.
What this has done is sent a shot across the bow of all of the Nervous Nellies in the State of Hockey. It’s sent a message to all of the fans deriding Fletcher, claiming that he hasn’t done a good enough job of setting the team up for success.
It’s told them one thing: Patience is a virtue.
Kobasew to Wild — Good Move?
The Minnesota Wild have acquired forward Chuck Kobasew from the Boston Bruins in exchange for Craig Weller, Alex Fallstrom, and a second round pick in 2011, and I am just tickled pink about this trade.
In reading up about what the opinion on this trade was, I read a line that said the Wild were mortgaging the future, and I just about spit my soda out all over my keyboard.
With this trade, the Wild has effectively ended the Craig Weller experiment, dropping his $625,000 salary. They traded a second round pick in 2011. Two years down the road. General Manager Chuck Fletcher’s thought in this was that two years is more than ample time to regain a second round pick.
Given that the player and the pick were really a throw away, this trade essentially is Kobasew for Fallstrom.
Now, as has been mentioned, Fallstrom could certainly go on to become the next Tomas Holmstrom. But Fallstrom is, at the very least, three years away from even getting a pro contract. That doesn’t help a team getting very thin up front right now.
The bottom line is that this trade is a great one for the organization.
Did Fletcher overpay for Kobasew?
Absolutely. But he wasn’t dealing from a position of power. There was no way that Fletcher was going to make out like a bandit in any trade at this point in the season, and he knew it. All he could do is hope to mitigate his losses, which he did in a big way.
It was very apparent that Weller wasn’t going to be getting the call from the big squad anytime soon, especially not with Derek Boogaard and John Scott in the lineup. Weller was languishing down in Houston, and was a burden on the books.
A second round pick, two years down the road, isn’t something that Wild fans should fret over either. By the time the 2011 Entry Draft rolls around, the draft landscape will look much different than it does now, and I would imagine the Wild may have at least one pick in that round.
So, in the grand scheme of things, all the Wild really gave up was Fallstrom.
They didn’t lose Nick Leddy. They didn’t lose Tyler Cuma, or Marco Scandella, or Matt Hackett, or Cody Almond.
The team lost last year’s fourth round pick for a player that will be able to fill some gaping holes on our roster.
That, my friends, isn’t mortgaging the future.
That is shrewd management.
