Jacques Lemaire Talks About The Lack Of Wild Goals

See, even he is puzzled as to why this team can't find twine. 

Wild take on the Hurricanes (4-2-3, 2nd in the Metropolitan Division) tonight at 7:00, where they try and go TWO consecutive games with scoring multiple goals.

Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

Wild All Time Top 10: #2-Mikko Koivu

Mikko Koivu

Seasons With The Wild: 7

Goals: 108

Assists: 253

Points: 361

Following their inaugural season, the Wild held the 6th pick in the 2001 Entry Draft. With that 6th pick, the Wild chose TPS forward Mikko Koivu. And the Wild struck gold when they drafted Saku's younger brother (Kudos to Tampa Bay, Florida and Anaheim for drafting Alexandr Svitov, Stephen Weiss, and Stanislav Chistov respectively ahead of the Wild drafting Koivu).

It took him 5 years before he finally made it to the Wild, but once he made it, it became very clear why the Wild drafted Koivu.

Koivu uses his elite vision and hands to set up the guys on his wing to score. He is a pass first guy, but when the situation calls for it, he can make a nice highlight goal himself. Unluckily for Koivu, he has spent most of his years, playing without a great forward on his wing (Until Heatley joined him last year), so his stats have really yet to fully get to where they can be.

(I didnt need to put this video in here, but Greenlay's pylon comment is awesome)

But more importantly, Koivu has been a tremendous team leader. He was named team captain a couple of times under the Jacques Lemaire system, but then in 2009, he was named the first permanent captain in team history. It is a position he still holds to this day, and will more than likely not lose it for as long as he plays in Minnesota.

In the 2008 playoffs, Koivu stepped up and scored 4 goals, in the team's 6 games played, including a go ahead goal with just under 2 minutes left in Game 2. But, since then, the Wild have yet to return to the playoffs (Ironically, most of that time has been under Koivu's captaincy). But give him another chance, and he will shine in the Stanley Cup Playoffs again.

Mikko Koivu, comes in at #2 in Wild history, in terms of the best player. But, he is the greatest leader this team has ever had.

Come Back tomorrow and see who comes in at #1
#2-Mikko Koivu
#3-Wes Walz
#4-Andrew Brunette
#5-Brian Rolston
#6-Pierre-Marc Bouchard
#7-Niklas Backstrom
#8-Brent Burns
#9-Pavol Demitra
#10-Dwayne Roloson/Manny Fernandez



Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

Wild All Time Top 10: #3-Wes Walz

Wes Walz

Seasons With The Wild: 7

Goals: 82

Assists: 100

Points: 182

Following a 2 game stint with Detroit in 95-96, Wes Walz decided to take his hockey talents overseas. He bounced around in Europe for the next 5 seasons. But then in 2000, the NHL expanded by 2 teams, and Walz was given a chance to play in the NHL again with the Minnesota Wild.

Walz had a very quick turn around, making the transition back to the NHL very easy for him, scoring 18 goals in the Wild's inaugural season (The 18 goals was tied for the team lead with Marian Gaborik and Darby Hendrickson).

But, it wasn't being a goal scorer that made Walz a player the Wild kept around. It was his great defensive skills, as he was constantly being matched up with the opposing team's top line, and continually shut them down. Walz also was on the team's top penalty kill line, leading one of the league's top PK units during his run here.

During the Wild's improbable run to the conference finals in the 03 playoffs, Walz stepped up in a big way, scoring 7 goals and 6 assists, in addition to being on the ice with the likes of Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund.

After 6 full seasons with the Wild, Walz took a leave of absence in the 7th season after playing 11 games. After a month of being off the grid, the 37 year old Walz, returned to St. Paul and announced his retirement from hockey.

Walz has been one of the more popular players in team history (A recent HW post suggests #37 should be retired), despite the fact you rarely found him on the scoresheet. So that truly goes to show, how good he was defensively.

Because an entire fan base saw it, and still to this day, loves him for it.

Check back tomorrow and see who comes in at #2!
#3-Wes Walz
#4-Andrew Brunette
#5-Brian Rolston
#6-Pierre-Marc Bouchard
#7-Niklas Backstrom
#8-Brent Burns
#9-Pavol Demitra
#10-Dwayne Roloson/Manny Fernandez


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

Wild All Time Top 10: #5-Brian Rolston

Brian Rolston

Seasons With The Wild: 3

Goals: 96

Assists: 106

Points: 202

In July of 2004, Doug Risebrough signed 31 year old Brian Rolston to a 4 year contract, to help boost a stale Wild offense. He was coming off a season in Boston, where he scored just 19 goals and 29 assists, but at that point, he was better than any in house option they had.

Unfortunately for Rolston and the Wild, the 04-05 season was lost to a lockout, as well as a year of that contract he had just signed.

But once the puck dropped again, the Wild had found a second line scorer they sorely needed.

In his 3 seasons in Minnesota, Rolston tallied at least 31 goals, and set a career high in goals, assists, and points in 05-06, when he scored 34-45-79 to lead the Wild in scoring that year.

Rolston was a good skater, but what set him apart from the league, was his slapshot. Rolston would use it in any situation, whether it was a penalty shot, or in a shootout. No goalie in the league stood a chance against Brian Rolston's slapshot.

He was also a team leader, being named the team captain a handful of times during his tenure here (Back then, the captaincy was handed out on a monthly basis under Jacques Lemaire). He was instrumental in leading the team to the playoffs twice, and the team's lone division title in 07-08.

Even though he only played 3 seasons here, Brian Rolston made a tremendous impact to the team on the ice. After his tenure ended in Minnesota, Rolston has played for 3 other teams (Devils, Islanders, and Bruins), and he has yet to show anything close to what he was here in the State of Hockey. So we hope he can say that his best years, were his years with the Wild. Because all of us Wild fans should feel that way...

Check back tomorrow and see who comes in at #4!
#5-Brian Rolston
#6-Pierre-Marc Bouchard
#7-Niklas Backstrom
#8-Brent Burns
#9-Pavol Demitra
#10-Dwayne Roloson/Manny Fernandez


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell