Ladies and gentlemen, it’s finally official.  The above link is the new web address for Wild Nation, as our friends at Hockey Primetime have graciously agreed to host the site on there. 

You’ll still be treated to the same poorly written, opinionated drivel on the Wild…It’ll just be on a shiny new site!

I look forward to seeing all of you there!

Goalie 
Niklas Backstrom
Josh Harding
Barry Brust
Anton Khudobin

LD-RD
Kim Johnsson-Brent Burns
Nick Schultz-Marek Zidlicky
Greg Zanon-Shane Hnidy
John Scott-Jaime Sifers
Tyler Cuma-Justin Falk
Clayton Stoner-Jamie Fraser
Marco Scandella-Maxim Noreau

LW-C-RW
Andrew Brunette-Mikko Koivu-Martin Havlat
Owen Nolan-James Sheppard-Pierre-Marc Bouchard (RW until training camp)
Antti Miettinen-Eric Belanger-Cal Clutterbuck
Colton Gillies-Kyle Brodziak-Derek Boogaard
Petr Kalus-Benoit Pouliot-Craig Weller
Robbie Earl-Morten Madsen-Danny Irmen
Matt Kassian-Cody Almond-Carson McMillan

First of all, if you haven’t checked out Mike Russo’s blog and you’re a Wild fan, shame on you.  It’s one of the best resources for all things Wild out there.  Click here to go there.  Bookmark it, scour it daily and above all thank him for his amazing coverage of the Wild!

Anyway, off my soapbox for the moment.

Looking at this depth chart, the thing that immediately jumps out at me is not the center position.  A lot has been made of our depth (or lack thereof) down the middle.  In looking at the team, however, we’ve got five potential pivots on our roster, and that’s not including Colton Gillies, Owen Nolan or Benoit Pouliot.  Throw those two into the mix and we could have as many as eight players on the opening day that could be capable of anchoring a line in the middle.

The thing that really jumps out at me is our lack of depth at left wing.  After Nolan, Andrew Brunette and Antti Miettinen, the talent level really drops off.  This isn’t a knock on Gillies; however, we have a serious lack of skill and depth on the left side and, honestly, on the wing in general. 

To no one’s surprise, I’m sure, is our talent on defense and in nets.  Our top-six defensemen could be the best top-six that the team has had.  The additions of Zanon and Hnidy give the team two reliable, physical anchors on the blueline and will force opposing teams to keep their heads up.  Meanwhile, expect Scott and Sifers to compete for the seventh spot in camp, most likely with Scott winning the battle.  That’s not to say, however, that our youth could not come in and surprise.  With Cuma, Falk, Stoner and Scandella in the wings, there is a good chance that Scott and Sifers may not be foregone conclusions at the 7 and 8 slot.  It will take a lot for any of these four to make the squad, however.  Of the four, Stoner probably has the best shot as this could be his make it or break it year, but make no mistake — the Wild’s top 7 are pretty much set.

Olvecky Signs in Nashville
Joel Ward, Ryan Jones and now Olvecky?  Those Tennessee boys sure do like Wild prospects. 

In all honesty, I think that Olvecky has a fantastic chance to make the Nashville squad next season right out of camp.  Olvecky is a big body with a lot of untapped talent to boot, and he performed admirably for the Wild in a limited role with the team in the handful of games he played for us last season.

He really started to come into his own last season and seems like he could be the type of player that Barry Trotz will really love.  For $600K and a two-way contract, I’d take Olvecky any day of the week.  A good depth pick up by the Preds.

Qualifying Offers Signed
The Wild had a few players of their own signed as well.

Restricted free agents Benoit Pouliot, Clayton Stoner, Danny Irmen and Robbie Earl all signed their qualifying offers and it seems as if the lot of them (with the exception of Pouliot) could see another year playing in the minors.  Earl and Irmen both have too many players in front of them to have a shot at making the squad (that is, barring a spectacular camp from either) and Stoner will have to do some serious damage in camp to work his way up the depth chart.

Injuries do happen, though, and we could very easily see one of them get a cup of coffee in the NHL and do what Cal Clutterbuck did last season and not let go.

In addition, Russo reports that the Wild could be close to signing Duncan Milroy and Joe DiSalvatore to plug some holes in their minor league system.

Fletcher Working Trade Market
There are a lot of people who are getting scared by the Wild’s seeming lack of movement this off season.

Those fans are the Chicken Littles of the fanbase.

While there are some quality players out there, there really aren’t any players that would meet any immediate needs for us.  I mentioned Mats Sundin, Robert Lang and Mike Comrie previously, but Sundin likely doesn’t have much more tread on his tires, Lang is rumored (or already has) to jump ship to the KHL and Comrie, well, let’s just say I don’t want to sign a player for his girlfriend.  In addition to those players, there are players such as Alex Tanguay and Petr Sykora left over.  Undoubtedly, these players could make an impact on the Wild roster, but would they really fit?

In the case of Tanguay, he’s a tremendous talent, but he’s also been pigeonholed as a playmaker — of which, the Wild have many.  Sykora would be a cheap, effective sniper, but do the Wild want to sink the money it would take to get him on an aging player?

Bottom line is that the best route for the team to improve, at this point, is the route that Fletcher is taking — trades.

There are many top flight forwards that have been presumed available via trade.  Phil Kessel of the Boston Bruins, Dany Heatley of the Ottawa Senators, Jonathan Cheechoo of the San Jose Sharks, even Chicago’s Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien and Patrick Kane have always been rumored to be available.

To be honest, the names remaining in free agency don’t even hold a candle to a lot of these names.  I’d much rather have a Kessel, Heatley, Sharp or Kane over any of those available — regardless of the assets we have to give up for them.

The bottom line is that the Wild are far from done, in my opinion.  But Fletcher has said all along that he’s not afraid to go late into the summer with a less than full roster to give himself the flexibility that he needs to get the players it takes to make this a winning team.

So…

Fear not Chicken Little.  The sky is not falling.  With a little patience, we could have a playoff team yet.

The NHL has released the schedules for the upcoming season today.  Here are some of the highlights for the Wild. 

• The Wild’s season opener will be on October 3, against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
• Their home opener will be against one of Chuck Fletcher’s former teams, the Anaheim Ducks, on October 6.
• The team starts the year with a very road-heavy schedule, playing nine of their first fourteen games on the road.
• The Wild play fifteen sets of back-to-back games.  In other words, 37% of their games are back-to-back sets.
• Marian Gaborik returns to Minnesota on October 30, while Jacques Lemaire returns on January 2.
• The team will play home-and-home series against Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Carolina.
• Three of the team’s last five games are on the road against Division Rivals.
• Todd Richards will return to San Jose on October 10, Martin Havlat will return to Chicago on October 26 and Chuck Fletcher will return to Pittsburgh on October 31.
• Training camp will open on September 13 and pre-season games will be announced at a later date.

Koivu’s spurning of the Wild screamed with a “big brother looking out for little brother” vibe and, honestly, it’s very hard to begrudge the elder Koivu brother for his reasoning.  But, missing out on the elder Koivu has left us with a very gaping hole in the middle of our line up that the Wild may now be filling from within.  Wild General Manager, Chuck Fletcher, has repeatedly stated that he would look within the organization to fill the second line center spot if Koivu was not landed, and he likely will.  You can hardly blame him for doing so either, as the remainder of the free agent crop down the middle is fairly thin.

First, you’ve got the NHL’s answer to Brett Favre in Mats Sundin.  Yes, he showed up looking more like Kyle Wellwood than his former self when he played with Vancouver, but once he got his legs under him, he was very silently effective.  The problem is, that I think he’s still on the phone with Domino’s trying to figure out what toppings he wants on his pizza for dinner last week.  Sundin’s best days are easily behind him and there’s no reason for the Wild to be barking up this tree.  Next, you’ve got the ageless Robert Lang who was quietly having a solid season for Montreal last season when his achilles tendon got sliced up by a skate blade.  Again, there’s no reason to take a waiver on a player who is coming off of an injury that could easily be a career altering injury for a player in his early 20′s, let alone late 30′s.  Following Lang is the enigmatic Mike Duff…I mean, Comrie.  Don’t get me wrong.  I would love to have Hillary Duff present for 41 Wild home games a year…But it’s just not going to happen.  No way, no how.  Fletch has already stated that Comrie wasn’t an option and, honestly, I don’t see the benefit of paying a guy upwards of $3M per year just because he’s got some nice arm candy coming along with him.

That leaves the Wild fairly scant for options on their second line.  Barring a trade, the Wild look more and more like they’re going to be content to go with the cards that they’ve been dealt.  That means one of the following for their second line center.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard - Bouchard will likely get another look at the pivot in Richards’ system.  It likely won’t be nearly as physically demanding as Lemaire’s center position was, so it could be a good fit for Butch.  The problem I have with this is that I very much enjoyed seeing Butch setting up on the sideboards as opposed to down low.  As a center, he would have to play down low much more and, despite having some of the best puck control in the game, I don’t think he’s got the physicality in his game to do so.

James Sheppard - Oh how I would love for this to actually be a working solution.  Of all our first round prospects, Sheppard has flashed the most potential.  Every once in a while, he would forget himself over the last couple seasons and attempt something absolutely brilliant with the puck.  Then, right in the middle of it, he would come to his senses and not finish the move.  Yes…That is a very great deal of snark coming from my direction, but it is well deserved.  Sheppard has the most untapped potential of any player on the Wild’s roster.  You can see that he’s got the talent — he’s just been afraid to use it.  This season could easily be a break out season for Shep and, if that happens, he’ll be squarely in the middle of the second line for us.

Owen Nolan - This one may be thinking outside of the box just a little, but Nolan was one of our most reliable in the face off circle last season.  Not only that…But, come on…He’s Owen Nolan for crying out loud!  If he wants to play center, he’ll play center.  All kidding aside, Nolan brings a lot of things to the ice that other people, quite simply, don’t.  Apart from the amazing amount of talent that he has, his intangibles are absolutely invaluable.  The Wild could certainly do a lot worse than having him anchoring our second line.  Besides…I hear that every night before he goes to bed, the boogyman checks his closet for Owen Nolan.

Kyle Brodziak – This could be a bit of a stretch, but if Brodziak has the upside that Fletcher and Richards seem to think he does, he could turn into a plesant surprise.  Fletcher said in acquiring him that he had an offensive upside, so if he gets with the right people, he could really flourish.

Benoit Pouliot - Good old Benny Poo.  To be honest, I was surprised that the Wild qualified him — but, I suppose he might warrent a chance in a system that allows him to use all of his offensive creativity.  If the Wild signs him to anymore than a 1-year deal, I’ll be very surprised, as it is most definitely put up or shut up time for Pouliot this season.  A solid performance could see him move steadily up the depth chart, while more invisible performances could see him sink slowly into obscurity

Gaborik-Gate 2009
Okay.  Let’s get one thing out here, right off the bat.  I’m glad that Marian Gaborik has taken his services to the Rangers.  I am very much looking forward to not seeing him in Iron Range Red again.  There was no doubt that the team was better with him on the ice than off — but the biggest problem remained that he was rarely on the ice over the past few seasons and, when he was, it was a crapshoot as to whether we’d get the 5-goal game Marian Gaborik or, as some Wild faithful have taken to calling him, Gho$t.

So the current drama of Gaborik (yes, we still are entrenched in drama surrounding him even though he’s gone) is that the Wild never offered him a contract.  Really?  Fans are really upset that Gaborik’s paper towel groin is heading to some of the worst ice in the NHL for 41 games a season?  The bottom line is this: the Wild had holes to fill and Gaborik would have had to take a paycut for them to do so.  That wasn’t going to happen.  Not with Ronnie $alcer running things and certainly not with Marian Gaborik’s inflated sense of self worth pedigree. 

The most important thing in the NHL right now is cap flexibility.  The Wild will have that.  Martin Havlat signed with us for less than he was being offered elsewhere.  That is the type of player we want — one who wants to be here.  Not a player who we have to trade away a top prospect and draft pick for his “best friend” to play here.  Not a player who won’t budge on his contract demands, despite claiming he wants to remain here.  That’s what’s important.

Havlat’s statement on his Twitter account that he won’t let Minnesota fans down is a statement that we as fans aren’t used to hearing from our superstars…And it’s about time the State of Hockey gets a superstar befitting of the State.  It wasn’t Marian Gaborik — but we’ll see if it will be Martin Havlat.

Per Mike Russo,

The Martin Havlat race is down to one team — the Minnesota Wild.  The Wild and Havlat’s agent have reportedly been working on the contract for hours now and it sounds like the contract, as it stands, is 6 years for $30M total.  If this is true, this is one heck of a negotiating job by Chuck Fletcher, because the Wild will have addressed two of their four needs, while spending under $7M.  In other words, leaving plenty of room to sign a second-line center AND another defenseman before the season starts.

While there are issues regarding Havlat’s durability, he played in 81 games last season and was an absolute revelation in the playoffs — at least until he ran into the shoulder of Niklas Kronwall.

I’m extremely excited about this, as I’ve always like Havlat and I hope that he finally has turned the corner in his injury issues and is ready to play in the State of Hockey!

Also, Russo reports that the Wild are pushing hard for Saku Koivu — No big surprise here, and I would expect the brothers to be playing together next season.

Does anyone else think this is either going to make Glen Sather look like a genius or an idiot?

Truth be told, I’m glad to be rid of the distraction that has been Marian Gaborik.  From his frequent injury troubles, to his often inflated contract demands, Gaborik has been nothing but a thorn in the Wild’s side over the last few seasons and, I am glad to say, that he is now the New York Rangers’ problem.

Truth be told, this could work out very, very well for the Rags.  When at his best, Gaborik is a dynamic winger that can score with the best of them.  The Rangers witnessed that first hand.  When at his worst, however, Gaborik is oftentimes invisible in all three zones.  The biggest problem with the enigma that is Marian Gaborik?  He’s at his worst more often than not — or at least he was with Minnesota.

Don’t get me wrong.  Marian Gaborik is a fantastic player and has the potential to be a star in this league.  But $7.5M for one extremely good season?  I don’t buy it, not one bit.  If he’s healthy (and he claims he is), he’ll notch 75-85 points for the Rangers…And I doubt he’ll get much more.  Don’t get me wrong…That’s fantastic.  It’s certainly something that the Wild could use on their roster.  But the problem is that now, he has no excuses.  He’s had surgery on both of his hips — that should take care of his groin.  He’s no longer playing under Jacques Lemaire — he can no longer fall back on a defensive system as a crutch.  He’s got support around him — Chris Drury and company should help him shoulder the load.

Will Gaborik flourish or wilt?

I, personally, think that he’s a 80-85 point player, not the 100+ point player everyone seems to think he is.

But I’ve been proved wrong before.

The Wild kicked off their free agency day with a whisper, rather than a bang.

They have shown a propensity over the last couple weeks to bring in players that are familiar with new coach Todd Richards (who I am very optimistic about, by the way) and this is no different.

The Wild used their first signing of the day, bringing in defenseman Greg Zanon, previously of Nashville.  Zanon, 29, is a defensive defenseman through and through.  Zanon played all 82 games for Nashville last season and had 237 blocked shots and 153 hits.  In other words, he’ll be manning the fifth/sixth defensive slot and spending a lot of time on the penalty kill for Minnesota.

I like this signing for the simple reason that I like the way that Zanon plays the game.  He is definitely not a signing that we would have seen in the Risebrough/Lemaire era, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Zanon is a rough and tumble d-man, of which we already have John Scott, but Zanon also is a much better skater than Scott.

Like any signing, time will tell how good this really is, but right now I think it’s an optimistic first signing for the Chuck Fletcher-era team.

All of this got me thinking.  The Wild has never really been the epitome of a “rugged” team, save for the playoffs two years ago when they had the Four Horsemen (Derek Boogaard, Aaron Voros, Todd Fedoruk and Chris Simon) on their roster.  But last season, who could have been considered the Wild’s “Most Rugged” players?  After some serious thought, here’s what I came up with:

5) Brent Burns - From his gap-toothed smile to his perpetual almost-beard, rugged is certainly a word that is befitting of the Wild’s brightest star on the blueline.  Burnsie does it all.  He hits, he scores, he plays good defense; and let’s be honest.  The man played the last six weeks of his season with a concussion.  That’s rugged.

4) Stephane Veilleux – The reisdent red-headed stepchild of the Wild has always been one to mix it up with anyone at any time.  He’s played through broken bones on his face on multiple occasions and is always front and center when the Wild’s checking line comes into the discussion.  One of the best checking line players the Wild has had, Veilleux will try to cash in on this ruggedness this summer.

3) Cal Clutterbuck - The new face of the Wild’s checking line certainly put on a show this last season.  Clutterbuck gained noteriety from his big hits, despite his small stature.  Throw in another perpetual chin growth and you’ve got one rugged player.  Besides…Anytime you anger Don Cherry to the point where he gives you a derogatory nickname, you must be doing something right.

2) Andrew Brunette - Truth be told, Brunette has never been known for his physical play, but he gets the nod over Clutterbuck here due to the fact that a) he looks like he’s one day of forgetting to shave away from joining Han Solo aboard the Millenium Falcon and b) he played the last three months of this season with a torn ACL.  Now that’s rugged.

1) Owen Nolan - We’ve got to give the nod to the Wild’s resident badass on this one.  You know a player commands fear and respect when he’s allowed to screen the goalie pretty much unimpeded, which Nolan did all season long.  On top of that, he is the only player on the Wild’s team that is allowed to break the gameday dress code because, quite simply, no one wants to tell him that he can’t; not to mention that he penciled himself into the line up this season, coming back early from an injury.  As Burns said about him in a session of Hockey Unplugged; you don’t want to mess with him.  He could firebomb your car.

Other News

• Wild prospect Cody Almond is playing in the Memorial Cup with the Kelowna Rockets.  Almond has been signed to an entry level deal and will play with the Aeros next season.  Mike Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune also pointed out that Almond takes nearly all of the big faceoffs for Kelowna, not to mention has got some great wheels on him and is a solid penalty killer.  Almond was second in playoff scoring in the WHL with 27 points in 22 games.
• The search for the next GM of the Wild continues.  For what it’s worth, my prediction for this is Pierre McGuire as GM and Pat Quinn as coach.  Second interviews should be wrapping up shortly, however, and we may have a new GM as soon as next week.
• The Aeros avoided elminiation by downing the Manitoba Moose in OT, 5-4.  The Aeros now trail 3-1 and will face elimination again in Game 5 in Houston.

According to Russo, the Wild have interviewed Ducks Assistant GM, David McNab.  The interview took place on Saturday.

This is an interesting selection for the Wild, namely because McNab is very keyed into the NCAA and has been instrumental in the Ducks’ wealth of quality collegiate players in their system.  In addition, Russo added that Paul Fenton, Mike Santos, Pat Quinn and Pierre McGuire have all interviewed for the position already and that Chuck Fletcher will be the next to interview, likely either today or Thursday.  He also mentioned that acting General Manager, Tom Lynn, will be the last to interview.

Russo also mentioned that this may not be the last round of interviews:

There also could be another round of interviews potentially. The Wild is doing none of the interviews at the arena, meaning there’s always a chance they bring some of the candidates back to tour the offices and arena.

That’s all for today.  If I have anything more, I’ll update as I hear it!

Chuck Fletcher: Pittsburgh’s Assistant GM has been considered the front runner for this position over the last week or so and is already well respected within the NHL.  At 41 years of age, he already has 16 years of experience under his belt with Florida, Anaheim and Pittsburgh and has worked alongside many of the NHL’s most respected executives.  He has obviously had a large hand in the resurgence of the Penguins over the last few years and, in all honesty, I think the job could be his to lose.  Reports say that Fletcher is to be in town later this week to interview.

Pierre McGuire: McGuire, while the unconventional choice, could bring an interesting viewpoint to the Wild’s front office.  He has long been looking to get into management in the NHL and I would think that you would be hard pressed to find anyone more knowledgable about the talent in the NHL than McGuire.  That said, he has absolutely zero experience with working with the cap.  He is the other of the two front runners for this job, but I think that the recent failings of Barry Melrose in Tampa (whether it was his fault or not) may cause Leipold to shy away on this one.  He is reportedly scheduled to interview tomorrow.

Pat Quinn: I’m not going to make any bones about it.  I love Pat Quinn.  I do think, however, that he’d make a better coach than a GM and he has been saying that he would like to get back into coaching.  He has family in Minnesota (Eden Prairie to be precise) and expressed immediate interest in both the GM and coaching position.  I honestly think that he will likely be the next coach if he is still available when the GM is hired.

Tom Lynn: Lynn is an obvious for consideration for this position, as he was Risebrough’s Assistant GM.  I have a hard time believing that Leipold will go with Lynn, however, as he has repeatedly said that he wanted a fresh look at the team; which I don’t believe Lynn would give.

Paul Fenton: I think Fenton could be the dark horse in all of this.  He and Leipold know each other well and he has certainly been successful in Nashville at helping mold a winning organization.  I would be surprised if Leipold goes with Fenton, but I also think it could certainly be a possibility.