Wild atop the Northwest despite themselves

It’s not always pretty, but this team has learned the most important thing that any team just learning to walk (like the Wild are) has to do.

They’ve learned how to win.

Thanks to some spectacular goaltending, the Wild is returning to the Twin Cities with six out of a possible ten points and they’re riding high. What’s even more encouraging is that, in every win, the Wild scored three or more goals. In fact, in their wins, the Wild outscored their opponents 10-4.

Of course, in their two losses, they were outscored 8-3, but we’re focusing on the positives here.

I’ll be honest here, my faith in the team wavered after the debacle inLos Angeles. The Wild responded in a big way, though. They came out strong in Anaheim, and even though their legs caught up to them (they really looked like a team that had played the night before in the last two periods), they got out of Dodge with a huge rebound win. Two days later, in Columbus, they looked like a team that had just travelled across three time zones. They got flat out dominated in the first period, but rebounded and scored four goals over the last two periods and really snuck out ofColumbuswith a win.

But they got the win, and that’s the important thing here.

The problem behind this, though, is that the Wild is still having problems scoring. Of the 10 goals they scored, just one was an empty-netter, but the Wild’s top line is just not clicking and a big reason why is a seeming reluctance to shoot the puck.

Dany Heatley, one of the Wild’s leading scorers, is on pace for 237 shots right now, which would be the fourth lowest total of his career. (For comparison’s sake, his two 50-goal seasons in Ottawa, he had 300 and 310 shots respectively.) He’s on pace for 23 goals and 50 points, both of which would be career lows for seasons in which he plays 70 or more games. Even his 9.6% shooting percentage is 2.4 percent lower than his career low.

Meanwhile, Mikko Koivu has an abysmal 2.5% shooting percentage and is on pace for 46 points, which would be his lowest total in a 60-plus game season since his rookie season (he had 42 points in his injury shortened season in 2007-08).

In other words, the chemistry experiment with the Wild’s top line is failing, miserably.

For all intents and purposes, these two players should be enjoying huge years playing together. Koivu has long been thought of as a solid playmaker, while Heatley is undoubtedly an elite sniper, but they’re just not clicking.

The addition of Guillaume Latendresse to the line helped. Latendresse’s size helped create space for the two men and allowed them to play the position that they’re used to (i.e. not camping Heatley in front of the net, but putting him at where he can utilize his shot), but with Latendresse out, the line has gone back to being stagnant.

Now, the fix is a lot harder this season than it might be in future seasons when the Wild has a little more talent in their bottom-six players (for example, after Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle and so on are in the system), but this season it’s showing the distinct lack of depth that the Wild have at the NHL level and it’s a serious cause for concern.

I know, I know. I said I was going to look at the positive, but this is just too glaring to ignore.

The Wild are winning on the backs of their second line and their role players. Quite simply, their best players aren’t their best players right now, and there’s no easy fix.

But I don’t want to take away from the optimism of the situation. In fact, I’m using this instance to try to add to it.

The Wild are top in the Northwest Division and their top line isn’t playing well.

The Wild are tied for third in the league right now (after all the tiebreakers, they get bumped down to fifth, but still), and their best players aren’t playing like their best players.

Now, Mike Yeo is too good of a coach for this lull from the top line to last forever. So, if the Wild are getting these sort of results without a huge contribution from their best players, what can fans expect to see from the team once players like Heatley and Koivu start heating up?

We’ll be back tomorrow with that schedule we promised you and a look at the Avs game. Until then!

Gameday Thread: @ Vancouver

This could be a tough one for the Wild. Mikko Koivu, Greg Zanon and Guillaume Latendresse are all questionable for the game tonight, all for various injuries.

Koivu, obviously, is because of the stitches he received after catching Dany Heatley’s skate in his face. Zanon is because of a groin injury and Latendresse is because he aggravated his left hip (the surgically repaired one).

If I were a betting man, I’d say that Koivu will be in and Zanon will be out (which means that Justin Falk will get his first action of the season). As for Latendresse, I’d imagine it will be a game time decision. He had surgery on the hip in question during the off season, so he’s likely going to be cautious with it, but I can’t imagine that he won’t go unless the pain is pretty debilitating.

It will be interesting to see the line up decision if Latendresse can’t go, though. Do the Wild dress Nick Johnson for a little more skill? Or Matt Kassian for a little more toughness?

Either way, the tilts with Vancouver are always highly spirited, so we can expect more of the same today.

Keys to the Game

• Special Teams. I feel like a broken record here, but the Wild’s special teams have been absolutely horrific lately. In Edmonton, their power play wasn’t the momentum killer that it has been this season and their PK looked pretty good, but they’ve got to maintain that. They need a goal on the power play like the Cookie Monster needs a cookie – that’s bad, folks.
• Come Out Strong. The Wild can get away with slow starts against the likes of Edmonton, but a slow start today will doom them. As Mike Yeo said, “We can’t just come out and test the waters.” Gametime in the NHL is a sink-or-swim scenario. The Wild just need to jump in the deep end and hope they can swim.
• Put the Puck in the Net. It seems elementary, but there’s no reason that this line up should be struggling to score. The top line alone should be lights out but, as of yet, they haven’t. The scoring chances are there, the Wild just need to start burying the puck.
• Stay Away From the Funny Stuff. With players like Ryan Kesler and Alexandre Burrows, the Canucks have the ability to annoy people into slews of penalties. Especially with their special teams struggling, the Wild need to stay away from that. Play hard, hit hard and avoid the extracurricular junk.

Burning Questions

Who starts in net for the Wild? This is a big game for the team and Backstrom is coming off of a strong, strong start inEdmonton. Given that the Canucks are starting Schneider today, it’s going to be a game time decision inVancouver, but it might just be Harding getting the nod since the Wild will be facing a back up.

How healthy will the Wild be? Koivu, Zanon and Latendresse are all gametime decisions. If any of the three are out, the Wild have a rough go of it. If all three are out? Yikes.

Can Heatley keep it going? Heater got on the board with a timely goal inEdmonton. Can he use that momentum to get on track this season? We’ve got to hope.

Can the defense contain Vancouver? The Sedins, Mikael Samuelsson, Kesler, Burrows, Higgins. The Canucks can hurt you so many different ways, it’s going to be a task for the Wild’s defensemen to keep them under wraps.

The puck drops today at 3 pm on FSN and the NHL Network.

Koivu not that good? A defense of the captain.

Earlier today, Wild Puck Banter posted a blog saying that, basically, “Mikko Koivu might not be as good as we think he is.”

Now, I’ve been one of the first to say that Koivu might not be captain material and I’ve also been hard on the Wild’s captain in the past, but saying that he might not be as good as we think he is solely because he’s having a rough start to the season?

Well, that’s just a bit knee-jerky, don’t you think?

Look, I’m not as delusional as to think that Koivu is going to be a 90-point player. He’s not going to be a 40-goal scorer and, with a good season, might even struggle to get to 30. Anyone who thought he could is just that – delusional.

It’s not that Koivu doesn’t have the talent. He does. It’s because he’s not suited to be a top line center. It’s not his game.

Koivu is a two-way center. He backchecks hard and he’s not willing to sacrifice defense for his own statistics. That’s his game. That’s what he does best.

Is he a true, first-line center? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean that he’s not talented enough to. The past three seasons, he’s scored 67, 71 and 62 points alongside what I think many will agree were subpar linemates (hey, I love Andrew Brunette as much as the next guy, but a top-line player he’s not). Then, all of a sudden he’s not that good because he’s struggled with top flight linemates?

I’ll let you in on a secret: All three of them have struggled.

This isn’t a case of Koivu not being that good. This is a case of simple chemistry. Koivu is still learning how to play with Heatley and Setoguchi – two players he’s not familiar with and has never played with before. Look at Brunette and Antti Miettinen. Koivu was familiar with Brunette already and Miettinen was a good friend of Mikko’s. It’s not like there was a lot of growing to do between the three.

Now Koivu is faced with new linemates, he’s struggling not because he’s not that good, but because he’s not familiar with them.

Wild fans need to be patient. The chemistry will come, but the expectations have been so inflated this season (I’ve jumped on that bandwagon too) that everyone is expecting the top line to have 30 goals apiece by this point.

So let’s just temper these expectations a bit and realize that Koivu is a good player, off to a slow start.

Wild down Jackets 4-2 in home opener

It was exactly what everyone hoped it would be. The Wild came out and, despite being outshot, dominated most of the play en route to a 4-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets to stretch their home opener record to 10-0-1 (the one being a tie) and their streak in home openers to ten wins.

The Wild started this one quick with a beautiful breakout pass from Guillaume Latendresse to Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who just feathered the puck up to Matt Cullen, who promptly buried it for the 1-0 lead, and they would never look back. A power-play goal by Marco Scandella (his first NHL goal) and a power-play marker by Dany Heatley (not his first NHL goal, but a sick goal nonetheless) would give the Wild a commanding three goal lead midway through the third.

Derek Dorsett would close the gap to two with a gritty, hard nosed goal in the crease, but Devin Setoguchi would give the Wild a three-goal advantage again with a blistering one-timer from the slot just under a minute later. Maksim Mayorov would close out the scoring in the latter part of the third period but, by that point, the game seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

So, the first game is in the books. How did the Wild look?

Well, it took a while, but they look like they “get it,” so to speak. The biggest thing was that they buy into the system that Mike Yeo has put in front of them and, for the most part, they look like they did. They forechecked hard, they possessed the puck (even when they weren’t getting a ton of offense out of it) and they kept the play in front of them. In fact, the only two goals came from when they let the play get in close to Backstrom. They even kept their foot on the gas for most of the game.

If I’m nitpicking, the one thing I will say is that the last half of the third period was the Wild’s second period in this one. The Jackets started looking tired and, instead of putting their foot down and trying to get one more, they seemed to be content with just sitting back and coasting to the win, and that’s part of where the Jackets’ second goal came from.

In any event, some thoughts:

• Marco Scandella looked really good tonight. I mean, really good. As in, he could potentially make everyone forget about Brent Burns this season if he keeps playing like that. He made great decisions with the puck, he jumped into the play, he was aggressive, he was positionally sound and he played mistake-free hockey. He’s going to be a good one, folks.
• Brett Bulmer had a rough first game, but he showed flashes. He made a couple key mistakes, but that’s to be expected of a 19-year-old rookie. He made a couple key plays, though, including one strong forecheck that led to a drawn penalty that then led to a power-play goal.
• Have I mentioned that I absolutely love the Wild’s first line? They’re dynamic, they’re fast, they hit…They do everything they’re supposed to do. In fact, Koivu was so shocked by some of the set ups he got that he just didn’t know what to do. That will come in time, but these three are going to be good.
• Backstrom looked absolutely outstanding. He looked like the Backstrom that Wild fans got accustomed to seeing, not the goaltender that they saw over the last couple years. He made some huge saves and he was right where he needed to be all the time.
• I’m not sure exactly what happened, but from all the angles I saw it looked like Pierre-Marc Bouchard just flat out two-handed Matt Calvert in the mug. It might have rode up Calvert’s stick, but either way Butch has got to be more conscious of where his stick is. He’s responsible for his stick regardless of what Calvert does, and he’s got to take care of that. I sincerely hope he doesn’t get a call from the Shana-hammer, but I’m worried that he might.

Heatley scores twice; Wild win in OT

Wow. What a thriller and what a debut for the Wild’s shiny new first line.

Both Mikko Koivu and Dany Heatley had three points (Koivu three assists and Heatley two goals and an assist) and Devin Setoguchi had two points (a goal and an assist) to lead the Wild to a 4-3 overtime victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in an affair that became highly spirited thanks to a checking from behind major and misconduct by Brad Staubitz.

Things boiled over at the end of regulation when Cal Clutterbuck leveled Fedor Tyutin with a clean check that led to retaliatory

penalties by James Wisniewski and Cody Bass that gave the Wild a power play heading into overtime, where Heatley tipped home the game winner.

So, here are some of my thoughts on the game:

• I wouldn’t be surprised to see a suspension heading Brad Staubitz’s way after that hit on Cody Bass. Bass was okay, but you just can’t do that and Staubitz should have known better.
• How about that debut of the first line? If this is any indication, we could be looking at big years for all three. Heatley was a force all over the ice, and his hockey sense and Koivu’s meshed really well, which sounds odd but they worked very well with one another.
• I liked what I saw from Phillips, Foucault and Bulmer too. All three worked their rear ends off, which helped contribute to the Wild’s first goal.
• Scandella had a rough game, though he wasn’t downright bad. He made a few rookie mistakes out there, a couple of which led to turnovers. Overall, though, the defense was pretty solid once again save for a couple instances.
• Harding looked good, if a bit tentative at times. It sounds strange, but in a game where he gave up three goals, there really wasn’t anything you could definitively say he could have done better.

Heatley was the star of the game

And what of my pre-game questions?

How will Yeo’s chemistry experiment go with the de facto first line of the team? Will Setoguchi, Heatley and Koivu mesh well? A combined three goals and five assists say a resounding yes.

Foucault, Phillips and Bulmer are all getting another look. Will they impress again? Again, the answer would be less despite not a whole lot of ice time. Phillips and Foucault each had a point and the line had four shots on goal. All-in-all, a good day at the office.

How much will Harding play? Will he get the full two periods tonight to see where his knee is at? Well, I was definitely off. He played the whole schabang and he looked pretty good doing so.

Scandella, Prosser and Chay Genoway are all getting another look. How will they fare? For the most part, they were good. I would say Prosser had the best game of the three, but all three were solid overall.

Can the Wild finally put everything together and outshoot their opponent now that they have their big firepower in the line up? Not yet. Maybe with a full line up?

Can the Wild contain the Jackets’ big line of Prospal/Nash/Carter? Two assists for Carter were all that got tallied, so I’d say they did the job.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back tomorrow with a brief gameday thread for the afternoon game from Pittsburgh.

Photos courtesy of Getty Images

Player Profile: Mikko Koivu

Mikko Koivu

Born – 3/12/1982
Position – C
Ht – 6’2”
Wt – 200
Shoots – Left

The Skinny
The Wild’s captain is most definitely the heart and soul of the franchise at this point.

He’s the definition of a two-way forward, scoring at least 60 points in each of his last three seasons, without sacrificing play in his own zone to do so. Indeed, many believe that Koivu could be an elite offensive player if he focused a little less on the defensive zone and maybe cheated a little more towards playing offense.

Koivu’s response likely had Jacques Lemaire beaming with joy when he offered a resounding, “No,” when asked about it.

Koivu’s captaincy has been questioned by a few (myself included), but there’s no doubt that, as Koivu goes, so goes the team. His size and skill give him the ability to absolutely dominate a game down low, while his speed gives him the ability to beat many a defender to the outside.

The problem in the last few seasons has been that he hasn’t had too many elite offensive players to ply his trade with. Antti Miettinen was as inconsistent as they come and, while I love Andrew Brunette, he’s more of a complementary player than a star.

That Koivu put up decent numbers while playing with less than ideal line mates is a testament to his talent.

This Season
This season, Koivu won’t have any lack of talent to play with him.

Towards the end of last year, Koivu played with Pierre-Marc Bouchard as a line mate and found immediate chemistry with the diminutive play maker – a player who has elite talent but, again, has never really had elite line mates – and the duo will likely have every opportunity to succeed as part of a first line that will include Dany Heatley.

Playing with a player the likes of Heatley, I would expect a career season for Koivu – at least on the assist side.

The question for Koivu, this season, will be “Can he lead the team?”

Last season, many of the questions surrounding his ability to lead the team was due to an attitude that some saw as a little less than perfect.

To put it bluntly, he was a little cranky.

He seemed to butt heads with fellow teammate Martin Havlat, he was sometimes less than pleased with the media – basically, he was a bit standoffish.

That’s not necessarily what you want from your captain but, in his defense, he wanted to win and the way that the team performed the last couple season under his captaincy was probably ten times more frustrating to him than it was to everyone watching the team.

This season, there is a sense of excitement surrounding the team that hasn’t been present for a while. If Koivu can help bring the locker room together and help this team solidify its chemistry, there’s no doubt that this could be a successful season for both the captain and the team.

Prediction
The Hockey News predicted Koivu at 66 points (20+46=66) but I think that is a very conservative estimate. If Koivu was able to break 60 points three straight seasons with the line mates he had, I have no doubt that he’s going to have a big season this year.

My prediction for Koivu’s season this year is:

81 GP, 25 G, 53 A, 78 PTS

Catching Up – Trade Deadline, Blackhawks, Isles, Gillies and Rangers

Sorry about the lack of blogs over the last few days, but it’s been super crazy in Casa de Benzel. Anywho, a lot has gone on over the past few days for the Wild, so here’s three blogs shoved together into one gigantic mish mash of ideas bouncing around in my head.

The Trade Deadline
This has been beaten to death already, so I’m not going to dwell on it too long, but here’s my take on the Wild’s deadline.

First, was I disappointed that the team didn’t make a move for someone like Weiss or Penner? Yeah. I’m not going to lie, I was very disappointed.

BUT

I can totally understand why no move was made.

The asking prices at the deadline are starting to border on ridiculous. I mean, seriously. Is Dustin Penner really worth a top prospect and two picks? We’re talking about a guy who has scored more than 50 points once in his career.

Sorry, but I don’t buy it.

I’d rather see the Wild roll with what they’ve got than mortgage the farm to get a mediocre player (which is exactly what the Kings did).

If the Wild had a wealth of prospects in their system, maybe – but the fact remains that they don’t.

That’s the key to becoming a team that’s consistently good like the Red Wings. You build from within. Is it frustrating this season? Absolutely. We were one terrific scorer away from being a huge force.

But look at next season. You want offense? We’ve got Mikael Granlund coming in next season, not to mention Mikko Lehtonen, who has already expressed interest in coming over to play.

We’re starting to build from within, which is exactly why doing nothing of note at the trade deadline was a smart move from an organizational stand point. Besides, every single person that was complaining about the Wild doing nothing – I guarantee that each one of those people would be complaining if the Wild overpaid for a player like Penner also.

Blackhawks @ Wild
There’s not really much to say about this game that hasn’t already been said.

There was the obvious letdown from the Wild not doing anything at the deadline, but that doesn’t excuse the Wild’s lack of effort. They were just flat, flat, flat until Martin Havlat broke through in the third.

And then their power play came out and shot them in the foot (something that has been a growing trend in the past few weeks).

Looking at the game, the Wild were outmatched from the get-go, especially in their own zone. The ‘Hawks are a team that the Wild have a hard time hanging with when Minnesota is on but, when they’re not, it’s downright brutal.

The worst part was their last power play. You had the idea that something was going to go wrong as soon as the Wild drew that penalty. Their PP had been brutal all night long and their final PP was no different. They actually had some good looks on their final power play, but a brain fart by Pierre-Marc Bouchard that saw him sprawl out to try to keep the puck in the zone saw this one lead to the back breaking goal.

They just lacked jump in this one and, in a game where they were severely out-skilled, they needed that jump to have a shot.

Wild @ Islanders
This one was just abso-freaking-lutely brutal.

I mean, from top to bottom brutal.

No effort, no cohesion, no goaltending – nothing. There’s not much to say other than that.

Backstrom was awful, so was Brodziak and most of the Wild’s defense. But that’s not what’s being talked about. What’s being talked about is…

Trevor Gillies Hit
The game back after a nine-game suspension and Trevor Gillies goes out and does this.

You’ve all seen the hit by now, so I won’t belabor the point by embedding it, but I’m having a hard time with this simply because I find myself in agreement with Mike Milbury.

Trevor Gillies has absolutely no place being in this league. The guy is a glorified door man. How many times has he played more than six minutes this season?

Twice.

How many times has he played less than two?

15, including one game where he played nine seconds. Nine.

You can’t tell me this guy is on the team for any other reason than to hurt people, and that is absolutely despicable.

You can debate the two hits all you want. Sure, Clutterbuck’s hit was an illegal hit, but it wasn’t a suspendable hit, or even a hit that deserved a major. Gillies, on the other hand, came in elbow up and sandwiched Clutterbuck’s head between his elbow and the glass.

Should Clutterbuck have pulled up and maybe not finished his check for once? Probably. But that certainly doesn’t excuse what Gillies did. Especially not in the case of a guy who had just missed nine games for head hunting.

Yes, Clutterbuck runs around. Yes, some of his hits might even border on being a touch late. But the difference is that Clutterbuck has respect for the people that he’s hitting. Rarely will you see him lay a dirty hit on a player like he did in this instance, and even rarer will you see a player not get up because of one of his hits. He might be a nuisance to other teams, he might run around and yap, his hits might be a bit late occasionally, but he does not hit dirty, contrary to what many may think. He just hits hard.

There is absolutely no defense or excuse for what Gillies did. The guy is 6’3”, 227 and he is leaving his feet to check a guy that’s 5’11”, 213. Gillies has four inches and 16 pounds on Clutterbuck. He doesn’t need to leave his feet to lay a good, solid check on him. Yet he did. He left his feet, he raised his elbows and he targeted Clutterbuck’s head. Don’t give me any of this “no intent to injure” business. That’s about as large of an intent to injure as you can get.

Now, if he weren’t just coming off of a nine-game suspenson for doing the exact same thing, I’d say he should get maybe two or three games. But his nine-game suspension obviously didn’t take the first time around.

Maybe a 15-game suspension will.

Wild @ Rangers
Now that I’m off my soap box, here’s some quick thoughts on last night’s game against the Rags.

I only caught the first period live, the rest I had to catch on DVR, and I won’t lie; I was considering skipping the rest of the game after catching the first.

They looked awful. And by awful, I mean just as bad as they did against the Isles. They couldn’t get anything going, their legs weren’t there, they had no jump in our steps. They just looked plain bad.

But something happened between the first and second periods. Something must have been said by someone, whether it was one of the team’s elder statesmen or the coaching staff, I don’t know. But someone said something that lit a fire under the team.

Sure, they got outshot 17 to 8 and 16 to 8 in the second and third periods respectively, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

The effort was there again. They were driving to the net, they were getting to the hard areas on the ice and they were creating chances and, once again, they proved you don’t need to take 40 shots to score three goals.

Heck, they didn’t even need 20.

The line of Brodziak, Havlat and Bouchard had a nice game and rebounded well from their stinker of a performance on Wednesday. The line combined for two goals and five points and, to be honest, I think we have our top line right there. Sure, Brodziak isn’t a top flight center, but he’s the type of center that I think players like Bouchard and Havlat need. Neither Butch nor Havlat are the most physical players on the planet, so they need a grinder on their line to help do the dirty work and that’s exactly what Brodziak excels at. (Incidentally, with this team playing so well, I’d almost say move Mittens off of the Koivu line when G-Lat comes back – give Bruno and Koivu a guy who can actually bury the puck on their line.)

Casey Wellman was great. He was exactly what the Wild needed. His speed created a lot of chances and he was in the right place at the right time for his beautiful goal to make it 2-1. He played just nine minutes, but he made an impact in those nine minutes.

Brent Burns and Nick Schultz were great on the blue line, as was Clayton Stoner. I continue to be impressed by the way the defense has turned around this season after their horrid performance last season. Sure, the Rangers got 40 shots, but the defense did a great job of clearing the shooting lanes so that Theodore could see the puck and clearing away any rebounds.

Speaking of Theodore, he really stole this game. It could have easily been 5-3 or 6-3 in a hurry, but because of Theo the Wild snuck out of that first period with just one goal against and regrouped in a big way. I love Backstrom, but I’d have a hard time going away from Theo after this one. If I’m Richards (and there’s likely a very good reason why I’m not him or in his position), I’d start Theo on Sunday against the Sabres. He’s the hot hand and, if nothing else, it could give Backs some motivation to go out and improve in his next outing.

That’s all I’ve got for this one. Because of the Sunday game, likely no game preview but I should have a gamer up.

Laterz!

Gameday Thread – Game 61 – Wild @ Kings

I think we’ve finally established that this team is for real. You don’t get to fifth in the playoff race, regardless of how tight that race is, without being for real.

So here’s the catch, though. The Wild now have three games coming up, including back-to-back games tonight and tomorrow, all against teams within two points of them in the standings.

Oh yeah, and they won’t have Mikko Koivu or Kyle Brodziak for at least tonight’s game.

Tonight, the Wild take on the Los Angeles Kings, tomorrow they take on the Anaheim Ducks, then Monday they’re back home for the Chicago Blackhawks.

All within two points of them in the standings.

Suffice it to say that these next three games are big. Like, King Kong big.

* * * * *

NHL.com’s Game Preview

Russo’s Brodziak Update

Wild.com Gameday

LA Kings Insider Update

* * * * *

Persevere
The key to tonight’s game for the Wild is going to be perseverance. They’re down two centers, missing Kyle Brodziak and Mikko Koivu for tonight’s game. That’s two of their key penalty killers, two of their key offensive cogs and two of their key face off men.

John Madden and Matt Cullen? Prepare to get a lot of work in tonight.

Cody Almond and Jed Ortmeyer? Prepare to get a lot more work than you thought.

Basically, the Wild just have to make it through. They have to just keep on keeping on right now, because their little mini-road swing just got a heck of a lot harder.

This is a Wild team whose confidence is sky high right now and why shouldn’t it be? They’re 5-2-1 over their last eight games. They have a goaltender who is on top of his game and they’re playing some of the best hockey we’ve seen them play in quite a while.

But this latest problem is proof that something needs to give.

Lack of Depth
Brodziak’s absence has highlighted just how paper thin this roster is right now, especially up the middle.

While some teams are able to cope without their two of their top centermen, the Wild simply don’t have the organizational depth right now to do so. For all intents and purposes right now, Ortmeyer is a body. He’s a body with NHL experience, yes, but there’s no one in their right mind who thinks that he’s going to be able to replace what Brodziak brought to the table – especially over the last handful of games.

Tighten Up
So the Wild are going to need to tighten up.

It’s a tired adage of how you play a road game, but it’s effective nonetheless.

Minnesota cannot get into a track meet today. They can’t hope to have their offense beat the Kings – at least not in a wide-open, high scoring game.

Instead, they need to dig in, lock up that neutral zone and wait for their opportunity to strike. In other words, they need to ask themselves “What Would Jacques Do?”

That’s going to be the key to their success tonight. The Kings have too many offensive weapons for the Wild to go blow-for-blow with them and come out smelling like roses. The Wild, instead, needs to get down and dirty. They need to grind and grind and grind some more until the cracks in the Kings’ armor begins to show.

Then they counter-attack and capitalize on the Kings’ mistakes.

This is a difficult game, yes. But it’s also winnable if the Wild play a smart road game.

The puck drops tonight at 9:30 p.m. and is televised on Fox Sports North.

Wild Lose Koivu; Replacement Comes With No Easy Answers

Well, here we are. The one player that the Wild couldn’t afford to lose and they’ve gone ahead and lost him.

From what I understand, Minnesota’s captain was hit in the hand while blocking a shot in last night’s 5-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks and injured his finger – bad. Like might need surgery bad.

I won’t lie, this is a catastrophe for the Wild. Not only was Koivu their captain, their heart and soul leader in the locker room, but he’s also the number one center on a team without a solid number two.

Maybe, in the best case scenario, Matt Cullen or Pierre-Marc Bouchard could step up and fill the void, but would they be able to bring to the first line what Koivu could? They’re the best internal scenarios, and even then they’re not the greatest options.

I may be preaching to the choir here, but the Wild now need to make a trade before the deadline if Koivu is going to be out for an extended period of time.

But who do they go after? The West is so freaking tight right now, who could the Wild realistically make a trade with?

They could maybe target Koivu the other or Todd Marchant from Anaheim, but Anaheim is just one point ahead of the Wild in the standings. Do you think they’re going to help Minnesota out?

The same goes for Calgary, L.A. and Dallas. All teams that the Wild are chasing in the standings. Even San Jose and Nashville probably aren’t realistic possibilities. Neither are Phoenix, Vancouver or Detroit.

If the bottom falls out on Chicago or Columbus, they might consider a trade, same goes with St. Louis. The most likely options are Colorado or Edmonton, but there aren’t really any players on either team that would fit the bill that wouldn’t be part of the team’s rebuilding efforts.

The bottom line is, if the Wild want to make a move anywhere it’s going to be in the East.

But who?

Buffalo? Maybe Tim Connolly fits the bill, but with the Sabres making a playoff push there’s a good chance they’ll want Connolly to be at the center of that.

Florida? Stephen Weiss would be a good move for the Wild, but he hasn’t shown any indication that he wants out of Florida and he has a NMC.

Toronto? They could maybe get Mikhail Grabovski, but I doubt he’ll come cheap. Same with Clarke MacArthur.

The bottom line is that the Wild are going to need to pony up something good in order to get something good. They may even need to overpay. Likely a roster player, a prospect and/or a pick. But who do they move?

Andrew Brunette? Not likely. While he might have the most value, there’s no way that he’s going to be moved. He’s too valuable to the team.

John Madden? He’s got experience and he could be valuable to a team making a playoff push, meaning he’s likely going to be too valuable for the Wild to give up.

There’s been rumblings of Martin Havlat being moved, but that’s just not going to happen. NMC not withstanding, Havlat is the Wild’s biggest offensive threat. He won’t go anywhere.

No, the best players the Wild have to be moved that they’ll consider moving at this point are likely Cam Barker and Antti Miettinen. While both have value to the team at this point, both are essentially replaceable.

Basically, the pickings are slim and the players we would be able to give up are even slimmer, but the Wild need to make some sort of move in order to keep up with the Western Conference.

Wild Beat Ducks; Maybe Lose Koivu for Season

What a win that was. A costly win, but a win nonetheless.

I’m only going to focus on the game briefly, because I’m going to have another blog coming up about where the Wild is at without Mikko Koivu now, so let’s get to it.

The Wild played a terrific game last night against the Ducks, rebounding from a slow start that saw Corey Perry get a beautiful tip-in goal and turning it on to score five unanswered goals to turn away the Ducks 5-1.

Let’s see here. I don’t want to just run down the action, so here are some quick thoughts:

• As I mentioned, the Wild will be without Koivu, who injured his hand blocking a shot in the first. Russo said that it sounds like it’s a finger injury, one bad enough that could require surgery, so it’s basically wait-and-see time for the Wild’s captain. According to Fletcher, an update won’t come until Monday at the earliest, so we can expect Mikko to be out for Sunday’s day game against Detroit at the very least.
• How good was Kyle Brodziak last night? Brodziak was essentially filling in as the Wild’s number one center with Koivu out and played a good chunk of ice time and responded in a big way. All three of his points were on absolutely beautiful plays and Brodziak was on all night long. My personal favorite was his assist on Martin Havlat’s goal in the third period that was just a gorgeously executed touch pass back to Havlat who had fed the puck to Brodziak. I really can’t say enough good stuff about his game. He really answered the bell after being called upon to help fill the void left by Koivu’s absence.
• I’ve really been impressed with Cam Barker lately. The last couple weeks, he’s been really engaged in the game both physically and mentally. He’s been physical, he’s been smart and he’s making the right plays at the right time and not really taking stupid penalties. Last night was more of the same and he’s making Todd Richards’ decision very hard about who to sit with Zidlicky back in the line up (though I’m guessing Spurgeon will draw the short straw for the time being.)
• Backstrom looked back on his game again after giving up three goals on not too many shots against the Canucks. I don’t know what it is, but Backstrom seems to just have those games every once in a while and if that’s the price we have to pay to have him be as dazzling as he was last night, I’ll gladly take it.
• You may not have noticed, but Pierre-Marc Bouchard has been really good lately. He’s doing all of the things that the Wild have expected him to do. He’s creating plays, he’s controlling the puck and he’s even shooting more often. It’s going to be a long road back before he’s as good as he was before his concussion, but he’s at least on the right track.

That’s it for the gamer. Stay tuned on the options for the Wild as they (possibly) go forward without Koivu.

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