Minnesota Downs St. Louis in Shootout

I just can’t help it. I just can’t help shaking this feeling that we’re witness to something special right now.

Tonight, the Wild won yet another game that they really had no place winning. They never had a lead, up until the fourth round of the shootout, but they just didn’t give up – something that is a trait the team is going to need going forward.

Where to start with this one. Other than Jose Theodore not looking his best (especially in the shootout – I’ve got some opinions on that one, but they’re a bit too strong to share on this forum), the Wild looked good once again. Once again, Martin Havlat looked good. Brent Burns was solid, Brodziak is looking better and better (I can’t imagine what he’s going to look like when he gets someone on his line that can actually bury the puck) and Andrew Brunette continues to look like he could be the team MVP. Oh yeah, and Cal Clutterbuck continues to score.

Here are some of my thoughts on the game:

• Pierre-Marc Bouchard keeps looking better and better. He didn’t make it on the score sheet tonight, but he’s looking more comfortable out on the ice with and without the puck. It might not be this season, but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that next season he’s going to take off.
• Brodziak has three points in his last four games. Seriously, can you imagine what he would be doing if he had players on his line that could score? Don’t give me any answers about Havlat leading the team in goals either. If Guillaume Latendresse can come back with anywhere close to the form he showed at the beginning of the season, the Wild might have a 1A and 1B situation with their top two lines.
• Jose Theodore continues to drive me absolutely insane between the pipes. There are times he looks really dialed in and there are times when he looks absolutely listless and these times can come within ten seconds of one another. I understand that Richards thinks that the Wild need two goalies playing in order to succeed and, in some regards, that’s correct. But the Wild won’t be able to go far at all if they have to keep playing games like this, which is why they need to roll with Backstrom as much as possible.
• I loved the Wild’s tenacity tonight. Four times they fell behind tonight and all but the final time they tied the game back up in less than six minutes. This isn’t the old Wild team that would fall behind and pack it in. This is a team that is confident in itself – confident enough that they re-double their efforts after falling behind.
• Tomorrow night’s game is just going to be flat out nasty. 29 hits to 26 in favor of Minnesota tonight and neither team is going to have the time to forget this tilt. I wouldn’t go so far as to predict 350 penalty minutes, but it could be an exciting one to watch.

That’s all for this one, but check back tomorrow for our thoughts on tomorrow night’s game.

Gameday Thread – Game 54 – Wild @ Blues

The Wild roll into St. Louis just two points out of the final playoff spot and to say that this is a must win for Minnesota would not be an understatement. The Wild struggled last season in St. Louis, losing both games in the Blues’ barn and being outscored 4-1 during those two games and they’re going to have to find a way to reverse those fortunes tonight.

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NHL.com Preview

It’s not a preview, but…Youngblood’s blog from yesterday

Jeremy Rutherford’s preview article

And his matchup article

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Goaltending. That’s what this game is going to boil down to.

I could talk all day about how the Wild have to get on the board first. How they have to limit the Blues’ special teams chances. How they have to not get drawn into the chippy game that their tilts against St. Louis have tended to become. {Incidentally, how awesome would a playoff series between these two squads be? I feel like these two are just one playoff meeting away from truly hating one another.}

I could talk all day about that, but what it boils down to is going to be goaltending.

Both Backstrom and Theodore have struggled in St. Louis (and against the Blues, for that matter) of late and those are the two choices that the Wild are faced with. Theo will get the nod in tonight’s game, with Backs getting the nod tomorrow, but the Wild simply have to make sure that their goalies are protected – that they don’t have a ton of traffic out front, that they’re limiting the Blues’ chances and they’re giving Theo ample opportunities to see the puck before it gets to him.

Likewise, the Wild need to do all of this if they want to get to Jaroslav Halak.

If they can do this, things are going to go their way tonight.

The key player for the Wild tonight is going to be Matt Cullen. Cullen has nine points (2G, 7A) during his last eight games, during which Minnesota has gone 7-1-0 and he’s doing exactly what the Wild wanted him to do – flying around the ice and creating plays. Martin Havlat also has six points (4G, 2A) in his last seven games and Pierre-Marc Bouchard has eight (3G, 5A) in his last nine. It’s safe to say that these three are starting to mesh quite nicely with one another.

This is a huge game for the Wild and a must win, as I said earlier. The Wild sit two back from Calgary in the eighth spot and three from Anaheim in the seventh. The problem is that the two teams that they are chasing are just as hot as they are, making every game unbelievably important.

There is a silver lining, however.

Minnesota has at least two games in hand on every team from fourth to eighth in the West, including three on Calgary (who is two points ahead) and Phoenix (who is four). If Minnesota can keep playing like they’re playing now, they’ve got a very good shot at playing in the post season again this year.

The puck drops tonight at 7 p.m. CST and will be televised on KSTC.

Gameday Thread – Game 51 – Wild @ Avs

Minnesota rolls into Denver today to face the Colorado Avalanche in what will be the fourth meeting between these two teams and, boy, is it a big one.

Just one point separates these two teams in the standings and these are two teams that, in Twitter terms, are “trending” much differently. Minnesota has been making a surge up the standings lately, sitting just four points back from the fourth spot after winning five of their last six during which they’ve given up more than two goals just once (in their lone loss to San Jose during that span).

Meanwhile, Colorado has won just four of their last ten games and has cooled off quite a bit of late after a very hot December.

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NHL.com Game Preview

That’s the only preview you get right now. I’ll add more down the line if I’m able to.

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So, what’s going to be the key to this game?

Well, first of all, this is going to be a game where players such as Eric Nystrom and Brad Staubitz play just as big of a role as Mikko Koivu and Martin Havlat. The first three games of this season series have been intensely physical games (just ask Chris Stewart’s hand) and I’d expect no different from tonight’s tilt.

Now, whether or not that benefits the Wild is highly debatable.

Minnesota has both struggled and excelled in physical games this year (kind of a microcosm for their season, wouldn’t you say?). There are times when the physical nature of the game really spurs this team to another level, but there are also times when a physical hockey game gives them fits.

There is cause for hope, however, as Tuesday’s 1-0 win over the Kings was a pretty physical affair that saw the Wild hunker down, play tighter and ultimately not get intimidated as they have been known to do under Todd Richards. Plainly put, that could be a fairly good indication that this team has found its identity – or at least knows where to find it when the going gets tough.

Regardless of how physical this game is, however, this is going to be a big test for the Wild. One of my biggest criticisms of the Richards’ regime is that the team is just not consistent. In fact, they’ve been consistently inconsistent ever since Richards took over as head coach. What they’ve found of late, however, is that consistency. They’ve been able to string wins together. The important part now is maintaining that and making sure that when losses come, and they will come, they don’t allow a single loss to snowball into a three or four game losing streak.

They’ve got a two-game winning streak going and, heading on a two-game road swing against teams close to them in the standings, need to keep it going. No overtimes, no three-point games – they need to come out strong and confident and put these teams away.

But that’s more of a macro view of this road trip. The micro view of tonight’s game is simply this – they need their best players to be their best players. Against the Colorado Avalanche this season, their three best players (Havlat, Koivu, Burns) have combined for four assists and a minus-four rating in three games. Minnesota needs these three to step it up and take over the game like they’re capable of doing. At any given time, they can be the three best players on the ice against any team, and Minnesota needs a big game from them tonight to keep this streak going and to keep making up ground.

Now, in nets tonight for the Wild will be Jose Theodore, which I’m not sure I agree with as Niklas Backstrom is typically very good against the Avs, but the rationale behind this is to get Theodore going again, and it’s hard to argue that. Both goalies have been great at different times and I understand the desire to get Theo playing again and having both goalies ready to go. But come on – Backs has been hot lately. I’m not talking about just solid – he’s been on fire, and he’s a second-half goalie. Let him play. Give Theo a couple spot starts here and there, but Backstrom is a goalie that plays better the more he plays and the more action he sees. Let him play!

The only reason I can see behind not starting Backs is that they want to drum up trade interest in Theodore which, as Fletcher has intimated to Russo, is apparently not the case. But, Theodore is arguably their best bargaining chip right now on the trade block, as he has had a spectacular season and as the Wild could afford to part with him because of the strong play of Anton Khudobin.

In any event, Theo is getting the start tonight and my agreement with that is going to do nothing to change that fact.

So, puck heads, what do you think? What are your thoughts on tonight’s game? Let’s hear them!

Finally, the puck drops tonight at 8 p.m. CST and will be televised on FS-North.

Wild Down L.A. 1-0 in Shootout

Wow. What a game.

First and foremost, how great was Backstrom tonight? He literally saved the game at least five times that I counted, and that wasn’t counting his absolutely astounding skate save on Jack Johnson in the shootout. He stole this one from the Kings, tonight, and deserves every bit of praise he gets for this shutout.

The Wild, in this one, were good but not great. They played good enough not to lose the game, but didn’t play good enough to win (hence the shootout win). They came out of the gates looking pretty flat, but rebounded towards the end of the first period and kept the surge going for the rest of the game and, all things told, played what was one of their most consistent games of the season – they just didn’t have “the let down.”

It genuinely looked like the break did them good.

Here are some of my thoughts on the game:

• I really can’t say enough about Backs. He looked truly amazing tonight – much like his Vezina-finalist self. If the Wild are going to get into the playoffs, it’s going to be in large part due to the play of their goaltenders and tonight was a very good start.
• Andrew Brunette played in his 1,000^th career game and, if you didn’t know it by the time the game was over you weren’t paying attention. I think it was mentioned at least five times by the end of the first period. All kidding aside, though, congratulations to Bruno on a great career so far.
• There’s no way the Wild win this game without their defense. The Kings were credited with 27 shots on goal, they missed the net 16 times and had 25 attempts blocked. Twenty-five. To give you an idea of the magnitude of that, that’s 68 shots that the Kings fired towards the net. Even if they just hit the net on the 16 shots they missed with, this is an entirely different game.
• Martin Havlat’s average shift time was 1:01. Now, I’m going to chalk that up to power play time and his enormously long shift in overtime, but still – 1:01? That’s a good nine seconds longer than the closest player on the Wild and seven seconds longer than the closest player in the game. Seriously, Marty. Shorten your shifts!
• The eight minutes in penalty minutes of this game hid just how physical the game actually was. There were some good, clean hits being thrown around. Besides, it was a welcome change to the march to the box that had been typical for the Wild lately.
• With the way he’s been playing, it’s only a matter of time before Jared Spurgeon gets himself a goal. He looked great once again tonight and his play as well as the strong play of Clayton Stoner and Marco Scandella are making the Wild’s blue line awfully crowded in a hurry and might be making some players on the blue line expendable.
• I’m really impressed with the way that Pierre-Marc Bouchard has been handling things since his return. He’s being slotted in on just about every line but the top one in order to get him ice time and he’s not only not complaining, but filling in every single role that could be asked of him. He’s still working his way back from his horrible concussion, but every game that passes you can see that he’s slowly getting more and more comfortable on the ice and he’s slowly starting to return to his old self.
• The one complaint I have about this game tonight is that the Wild were absolutely putrid in the faceoff circle. Just 35 percent of the draws went the Wild’s way. That’s terrible and that has to be better if the Wild are going to be a contender this season.

Updated:Havlat and Burns Selected by Team Lidstrom

This is only going to be a brief post, as I’m doing some prep work for our live blog tonight, but here you go:

UPDATE: The players have been selected for the different skill events. Martin Havlat will participate in the shooting accuracy and skills challenge relay events, while Brent Burns will participate in the hardest shot. Both players will participate in the elimination shootout.

I’ve got to admit, I was a bit nervous about the draft. With Ryan Kesler being an alternate captain on Team Staal, I was worried that I might be forced to pull for a team that had Ryan Kesler on it, and I wasn’t sure how okay I was with that.

But, alas, my worry was all for naught as Brent Burns and Martin Havlat were selected in back-to-back picks by Team Lidstrom, joining what is looking to be quite the dominant team in this year’s All-Star Game.

If you want to see the complete rosters, click here, otherwise check back here tonight for all the live blog fun. Tonight, I’ll be joined by J.P. Hoornstra again, as well as Ms. Conduct, so enjoy!

Updated: Havlat Makes All-Star Roster

Update: Sorry for no game coverage last night. It was family night at Casa de Benzel, so the game was off all night. For those who don’t know, the Wild won 4-2 and skipped their obligatory losing streak after a winning streak.

Anyway, Martin Havlat was named to the All-Star roster yesterday — a well deserved honor — so congratulations to him and make sure to check back to Wild Nation for all of our coverage of All-Star weekend. You know what that means! Live blogs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with all of the usual crew.

With four players now out of the All-Star game either for personal issues or injury, the door has been left open for a replacement or two to come from the State of Hockey.

While I’d like to think it would be or two, I’m not here to make the case for Mikko Koivu – at least not this time. This time, I’d like to make the case for a second Wild player to join Brent Burns; that player being Martin Havlat.

For the majority of this season, Havlat has been the Wild’s steadiest player. He’s tied for 22^nd in the league in points and he’s leading the Wild in points, assists and game-winning goals.

If that isn’t enough to determine his value to the team, there’s the fact that Havlat has easily become the most dynamic player that the Wild have. His abilities with the puck are matched by almost no one on the Wild’s squad and, without him, there’s no doubt that the Wild would not be as close to the playoffs as they are.

We can safely assume that at least one (Mr. Zetterberg) has asked to be omitted from the selections for the game and I would wager that there is at least one more that has asked not to be a part of the festivities (I’d imagine two of those would be Teemu Selanne and Roberto Luongo).

There are five other players that are either tied or ahead of Havlat in points that were omitted from the rosters, all of whom I would guess might get passed over because their teams already have multiple participants. The Wild, meanwhile, have only Brent Burns as a participant and while I believe that Burnsie is very deserving of this honor, I was extremely surprised that Havlat wasn’t selected as well (especially over someone like Ales Hemsky).

Havlat deserves this honor. He’s set up and scored goals (and important ones) all season long for the Wild and he’s been one of many pleasant surprises that the team has had this year.

Is he more deserving than, say, Mike Richards or Dany Heatley? It’s hard to say. But, based on the league’s desire to see as many teams represented equally as possible, I’d say there’s a much better chance that he gets the nod.

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 200^th 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.

Game 40 – Wild Down Bruins

Don’t look now, but the Minnesota Wild are just two points from a tie for fifth in the West.

What’s even more impressive is how the Wild got there – with a buzzer-to-buzzer strong effort that saw them skate away with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins.

For those who missed the game, I’ll give you the quick skinny. Both teams played a great game and the game was 2-1 right up until the end, when the Wild buried an empty netter with the clock winding down.

Martin Havlat opened the scoring for the Wild in the second period, just seconds after a penalty that saw an irate Shawn Thornton head to the box. Steven Kampfer answered back for the Bruins just a few minutes later to tie up the game.

In the third, Cal Clutterbuck sniped Tukka Rask, glove-side high to give the Wild a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish and Mikko Koivu added his tenth of the season on an empty net tally with less than a minute left.

The bottom line with this game is that the Wild were finally the team that everyone hoped they would be. They fore checked, they back checked and they played with each other – trusted each other. This is a professional hockey team coming together right in front of our eyes.

Let’s see here, where to begin.

Jose Theodore was fantastic, stopping 35 shots and standing tall in net all night long. He didn’t make any spectacular saves but, then again, he didn’t have to. His positioning was dead on for most, if not all of the night, and he was a big reason why the team won.

But guess what? He wasn’t the only reason. In fact, he didn’t come anywhere close to stealing this game – he didn’t have to.

The Wild’s defense was nearly picture perfect, but their best players weren’t those on defense.

Martin Havlat played another great game. His power-play goal was a thing of beauty, showcasing his spectacular hands as he passed the puck off of the wall to himself, then dangled to the front of the net, but even more was his commitment to playing in all three zones. He was just as good in the neutral zone and in the defensive zone as he was in the offensive zone and he could easily have had a hat trick on the night, were it not for spectacular goaltending by Tukka Rask.

And Cal Clutterbuck? He’s just turning into another beast entirely, right in front of our eyes. He easily could have stayed as the one-dimensional pest – the player that chips in here and there, but whose main goal is to agitate – but right now, he’s becoming a player that can not only shut opposing teams down, but contribute offensively as well. A goal and an assist tonight, along with eight hits? Beautiful.

This is a Wild team that really is looking like they could be figuring it out. It’s hard to say if they’re for real yet, but the Wild look better than they have in years. Their real test will be the month of January, where they play the bulk of their games on the road. If they’re still in the hunt after this month, well, let’s just say that we could be watching the Wild play something other than golf at the end of this year.

Quick Thoughts on Last Night’s Game

Wow, was that a wild one last night (no pun intended).

I don’t have time to go into it fully, so I’ll just give you some quick hits that I thought from the game. Feel free to discuss below!

-          I know he made 39 saves, but Jose Theodore just didn’t impress me last night. He gave up bad rebounds and just looked off all night. A lot of it is the same complaint that I’ve had of Theodore all season, as well. He just looks too casual in net, almost as if he’s not even trying…And that’s the problem, is that you get the impression that he just doesn’t care.

• The enigma that is Martin Havlat continues. Havlat has looked fantastic all season long. Most games, he’s been the Wild’s best player. But last night, he looked lost and listless for most of the game and just wasn’t engaged all night long, as his minus-4 rating showed.
• But as poor as Havlat was, man was Koivu good. His four assists tied a career high and he dominated play all night long. He created plays and he was just plain strong everywhere one the ice.
• I’ve been extremely impressed with Pierre-Marc Bouchard since he returned from his concussion. He doesn’t look like he has any lingering after affects from the concussion and he’s actually playing like he was a few seasons ago. Butch has just eight points in 15 games, but he’s starting to find his legs and really get into it.
• It sounds like the Wild will be without Marek Zidlicky for a while and this could actually be a blessing in disguise for the Wild. Yes, Zidlicky has been one of the team’s best defensemen all year long, but this injury means more power play time for Brent Burns, who has been one of the Wild’s best players all year long. Burns is killing it right now and he’s on pace for a career season that is just head and shoulders above any that he’s only going to be getting more ice time with Zidlicky out.

That’s it for this time, but I’ll be back tomorrow with a little longer article looking at the state of the Wild in the new year.

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