By: Bryan Vickroy
Saturday evening marked the end of a brutal 2009-2010 campaign for the Minnesota Wild. Fitting that the team would be upstaged again by something bigger and better than itself, the final game of Mike Modano’s career (more on that here), in a season where the Wild proved that they are not yet functional, despite the loyalty of the team of 18,000. A season of transition, change, flames, and mangled bodies came mercifully to a close, leaving almost more questions than answers from the season before.
A new GM, a new coach, a new scoring superstar, and expectations all colluded early in the season to achieve less than stunning results, starting with an abysmal road record. Concussions and injuries paid a toll on the roster and scoring punch throughout the year. However the up tempo changes led to the exact same number of goals as last year, a lot more goals given up, a league worst 13 shorthanded goals, and the same results: early tee times and no playoffs.
The Wild are mired in mediocrity on the roster, and have way too much cap room tied up next year with too many questions, and not a lot of help in the cupboard. GM Chuck Fletcher has shown an ability to maneuver and shake up the roster, but some of those moves have hit (Guillaume Latendresse), missed (Chuck Kobasew) or swapped experience for youth (Cam Barker). Changes are coming; built will they be enough to get this team back on the right track?
Even worse, the talent coming up, despite the excellent signing of Casey Wellman, is minimal at best, even being ranked 30th by some of the evaluators. The failure of James Sheppard and sparkplug Cal Clutterbuck are both restricted free agents. Martin Havlat is already pouting. There are two starter quality goalies in net, yet neither can stay healthy. And the worst possible doomsday scenario of all could occur: Derek Boogard is an unrestricted free agent, and could sign elsewhere, taking his entertainment and two year undefeated streak with him. The salaries are out of proportion to the talent actually shown or even thought existent. Even letting some players go, more than half of the cap space is already allotted for next season. Not a lot of maneuvering room for a team that needs a lot of work.
On the bright side, the team will host the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. If they’re lucky, they’ll be holding the first pick again, something of a déjà vu considering the biggest storyline of the evening. For more on that go here