Cold Hard Facts

I saw this segment on NHL Live yesterday, so I figured I would give this a try on here. This one is not pretty so please read with caution:

1. Guillaume Latendresse and Pierre Marc Bouchard will not return this year: Russo hinted at this the other day, I believe. But to expect either of these two players to return to action this year, is rather ridiculous. Both are battling concussion symptoms (Latendresse returned briefly in December, but had a relapse after throwing his body around too much), and as we all have seen, this takes a lot of time to recover from. The Wild have suffered greatly with both out of action due to the team’s lack of depth, and it will continue moving forward with both out of the lineup. So please don’t expect both to return at all this year…but one can hope right?

2. The Matt Cullen signing has failed: If hockey were a 2 month sport, Matt Cullen would Wild’s top scorer. But, unfortunately, it’s not. And Cullen has been abysmal in the months not named October or November in his two seasons in a Wild sweater. In 56 games this year Cullen has posted an 11-18-29 line, and is a -7 on the season as well. He is on pace to score around the same amount as he did in 10-11 (12-27-39 in 78 games). Cullen was brought in to add some offense and some depth to the power play. But he has done nothing to that extent (It pains me to watch him on the power play now). When you are being paid $3.5 million, you have to put up more than 39 points in a season. Too bad we have to endure one more year of this.

3. Time to resign Kyle Brodziak: Before injuries to Latendresse and Bouchard, Brodziak was playing unbelievable hockey. But, he has come back down to earth a bit, but nonetheless, it’s time to sign him to an extension. Brodziak has been the team’s best center at times (sorry Mikko) this year, and held sometime on the top line while Mikko Koivu was down with injury. He is a very valuable asset to this hockey team now and for the future, so locking him up should be a no brainer for GM Chuck Fletcher.

4. We still got the better of the Heatley-Havlat trade: Despite Heater’s slow production pace to start the year, he has picked it up as of late. He currently holds a line of 19-21-40 and has played in every game this season. Heatley still has a shot to hit the 30 goal mark this season (He needs to score 11 in the team’s final 26 games), something that has not been done since Marian Gaborik resided in St. Paul. Meanwhile, Havlat has seen injuries holding him back to just 26 games so far this year, and has produced horribly (2-13-15) on a very offensively gifted team. So if there is one thing Wild fans can hold their head up about this year, it’s this trade that landed us Dany Heatley.

5. This team will not make the playoffs: It can’t get much worse than this. This team was atop the NHL standings in mid December. But since, it’s been a train wreck. The team has lost all confidence in its ability to do anything. And it cost them their spot atop the NHL standings, the West, the division, and now it will cost them an appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It’s been a very painful couple of months for the State of Hockey, and it won’t get better until next season. The front office might as well admit defeat and start trading some players (Zidlicky, Zanon, Harding) and get something in return. In fact, at the rate their playing, they could end up with a top 5 pick in June’s entry draft. And what’s the harm in that?

A Cold Heater

In July, the Wild brought in Dany Heatley to score some goals. And here we are in December, and Heatley has still yet to truly catch fire. He is tied for second (With Cullen and Clutterbuck) on the team with 9 goals. But, he has not scored in a game since the 10th of December against Phoenix. So it makes one wonder, is Dany Heatley on the bad side of his prime years?

My answer for that is no. He is definitely not the same scorer he once was, but he still brings a lot to the team's top line. He still has very good speed. He still has a tremendous shot. And as the team's #1 go to guy, he will get every opportunity to get those goals he is being paid to get.

If you have been watching the Wild games during this wretched 5 game losing streak, Heatley has been getting great scoring chances. He gets good hard shots on net. But, the goaltenders have simply been better than him. Also take into effect, he has been without his linemate Mikko Koivu the past 3 games (will be 4 after tonight's game). Not to mention, the power play has suffered with all those injuries to the team's top forwards and defenseman this team has accumulated too.

Heatley hasn't been great, yet. But, I certainly feel like he hasn't had the best chances to catch fire yet. And once the team returns from injury, I will have no doubt that he can definitely catch fire and put up a 30 goal season. And if he falls short, he will still be better than the player we traded to get him, Martin Havlat. So we can appreciate that at the very least.

A New Face In The State Of Hockey: Dany Heatley

Since the departure of Marian Gaborik, the Wild have lacked a premier goal scorer on their squad. But on July 3rd, they solved that issue when they acquired F Dany Heatley from San Jose in exchange for F Martin Havlat. This coming just 10 days after the Wild acquired Heatley's teammate, Devin Setoguchi, from San Jose as well.

We all remember Heatley from his two seasons (1999-2001) in Madison, playing for the Badgers. There, he put up 52 goals in 77 games, before departing for the NHL (Atlanta Thrashers). And since his arrival in the NHL, he has been one of the best in the business, scoring 325 goals while adding 364 assists in his 669 career games. He possesses outstanding speed and a magnificent shot when he hits the ice. For proof of these skills, watch the following videos.





Heatley has also rarely been seen on the injured list, while just missing a handful of games in his 9 NHL seasons. The only exception to that was the tragic car accident he was in in September of 2003. He suffered a broken jaw, bruised lung, and torn knee ligaments. But Heatley returned to the lineup in January of the same season.

When Heatley was traded from Atlanta to Ottawa, the winger's career took off. His first two seasons with the Sens, Dany notched back to back 50 goals and 100 point seasons, while helping the Sens become a dominant force in the NHL (Ottawa made it to the Cup Finals in 06-07). And even when he was traded to San Jose, Heatley continued to average just under 40 goals per season.

Heatley also carries a 15-42-57 scoring line in his 68 career playoff games. His past playoff experience will be another valuable asset to the Wild going forward.

But last season, we saw Heatley have a down season. His numbers (26-38-64), were the lowest since his rookie season of 01-02. So that played a huge role in the fact the Wild traded for him and only gave up Havlat in return. But, as we found out, Heatley played most of last year while battling some nagging injuries. So, if he can be at 100% going forward, the Wild were the winners in this deal with San Jose.

The Wild finally got their goal scorer. And maybe now with a fresh start, Dany Heatley can go back and start terrorizing the rest of the league like he once did. He makes the Wild a great force to be reckoned with, when he steps on the ice. And I look forward to watching him for the next three seasons.



My final post in the New Face in the State of Hockey series, for this summer, will be on new head coach Mike Yeo. My previous posts had included: Darroll Powe, Mike Lundin, and Devin Setoguchi.

A Defining Offseason

Chuck Fletcher had his work cut out for him this offseason. The Wild were coming off a season that saw them finish 12^th in the Western Conference and sitting outside looking in on the playoffs for the third straight season. His team lacked speed, and quality scorers. There wasn’t a great free agent class out there to help him with that. And then his team lacked a head coach when he axed Todd Richards after two forgettable seasons behind the Wild bench.

So how did he go about fixing these issues? First order was his head coach. Many speculated that former Oilers bench boss Craig MacTavish was going to be the next head coach. But Fletcher made a bold move and hired 38 year old Mike Yeo, who had just finished his first season of coaching the Houston Aeros (The Wild’s minor league affiliate). The Aeros had finished their season with a 46-28-6 record, and made it all the way to the Calder Cup finals (Stanley Cup finals equivalent) before losing to the Binghamton Senators in 6 games. Yeo also spent 5 seasons as an assistant (2005-10) on the Pittsburgh Penguins (2009 Stanley Cup champs) before being hired as the Aeros coach last summer.

With the hiring of a new coach out of the way, the time came to focus on the on ice product. The first emphasis Fletcher wanted to put on that was through his minor league team. The team held the 10^th overall pick in the NHL draft, which was held in St. Paul. Then come draft night, the Wild selected Jonas Brodin (the 3^rd overall rated European skater), a 6’1” 172 lb defenseman from the Swedish Elite League with that 10^th pick. Brodin projects to be a solid two way defenseman for the future, so they made a very solid choice there. Then as most Wild fans had hit the exits after the team’s pick, Fletcher pulled off a big draft day trade sending all star defenseman Brent Burns to San Jose for forwards Devin Setoguchi and Charlie Coyle (SJ’s 1^st rd pick in ’10), and the 28^th overall pick in 2011. The Wild would go on to select Center Zack Phillips from the St. John Sea Dogs with that 28^th pick from San Jose. The Burns trade was met with great applause from Wild fans, including yours truly. The move gets the Wild a young scorer in Setoguchi (Who had just signed a 3 year extension a day before the draft), and some quality young forwards for their farm system.

But Fletcher did not stop there. He also acquired forward Darroll Powe from Philadelphia for a 3^rd round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft. The Wild went on to sign Powe, a very quick skater and outstanding penalty killer, to a three year deal worth $3.2 million. Again, a great move for Minnesota. Philly was a team that had a already reached the salary cap ceiling, and needed to make some moves, so Powe became one of many popular players to get shipped away.

Then on July 1^st, free agents became eligible to sign with other teams. That meant that players such as Andrew Brunette, Antti Miettinen, John Madden, and Chuck Kobasew would all be leaving. In fact, the only free agent the Wild signed this offseason was defenseman Mike Lundin (A Burnsville Native), who was signed to a one year deal worth $1 million. So it would appear that Fletcher will leave his defenseman core to Nick Schultz, Marek Zidlicky, Greg Zanon, and Clayton Stoner; and then let youngsters Marco Scandella, Jared Spurgeon, and Nate Prosser battle it out for the final roster spot next to Lundin.

Forward wise, the Wild were pretty set for the upcoming season. But then came perhaps the most surprising and most incredible move of them all. The Wild sent all star forward Martin Havlat to San Jose in exchange for forward and once 50 goal scorer, Dany Heatley. Again, the move was met with great enthusiasm from fans. This move gives the Wild the premier goal scorer they had been lacking since the departure of Marian Gaborik. The Wild have Heatley for three seasons and he will have a $7.5 million cap hit in each of those seasons. And not to long after, the Wild and San Jose met up again in a trade, as the Wild sent F James Sheppard to SJ for a 3rd pick in the 2013 NHL draft (They got back the pick they gave up for Powe, essentially).

It wasn’t the easiest offseason for Chuck Fletcher. But you have to believe that he passed with flying colors (Even with these great moves, the team is still $10 million under the cap). And perhaps in 10 years, we can look back here and say this was his defining offseason. He has shaped this team into the best one he has had in his three years, and is now closer than ever to having that that quick dynamic team he has been seeking when he took this job. He still has some work to do, but this is a much better team than we thought it would be. And will this team finally be the one, that puts his team into the postseason? I think it will.