Season Review: Minnesota Wild

Well, now that people are talking playoffs, I will be reviewing the seasons of teams as they're either eliminated from the playoffs or eliminated from playoff contention before the end of the season. Obviously, the last team reviewed will be the one that wins the Cup.

Now the fourth team to be eliminated from playoff contention: The Minnesota Wild.

Season expectations: Well before the season began, GM Doug Risebrough was fired, coach Jacques Lemaire resigned, and fragile superstar Marian Gaborik decided to take a pay increase by playing with the NY Rangers. Despite the shake up though the team did figure to have a good nucleus of forwards, not to mention two of the stronger goaltenders in the league, so to expect them to reach the playoffs was not unfathomable.

My prediction: I predicted they would have finished second in the division and fifth in the Western Conference.

The truth: The team was statistically eliminated from playoff contention as of Friday.

What went wrong?: You mean besides watching Gaborik break 80 points and maintain a positive plus/minus rating on an underachieving Rangers team?

A lot of the same things that went wrong for the teams that preceded them.

Injuries kept Pierre-Marc Bouchard out for all but one game this season. Very seldom can a team lose a top-six forward without replacing him and expect the results to be favorable. Brent Burns suffered through injuries this season as well and watched himself have a second consecutive campaign where he didn't quite live up to his first overall draft label. Both Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding had issues that kept them out from playing and it's gotten so bad for Harding that it looks like he'll be out for the remainder of the season to address concerns with his hip. Best summarized, when Martin Havlat looks to be one of your healthiest forwards, you know injuries are a concern!

Another factor in their less-than-stellar season had to do with the coaching change. That's not to say Todd Richards is a bad coach but rather to say that the team went almost overnight from being a defense-first style of team to an open-attack style of team. Sure guys like Mikko Koivu, Antti Miettinen, Andrew Brunette, and Marek Zidlicky had great campaigns but at the end of the day, the only players with a positive plus/minus rating on the team are guys who weren't on the squad for a full season. Cam Barker leads with +7 but how much of that was due to playing for the Chicago Blackhawks prior to being traded?

Finally, the defense was solid, yet slightly underwhelming and should probably adopt a more "stay-at-home" presence for next season. Not to discredit guys like Greg Zanon and their efforts, but the blueline was just as guilty as their offensive group was in not doing enough to prevent the pucks from going in. Yes, great goaltending is key and the forwards have to score, but you can't neglect that area of ice in between. Luckily, Brent Burns will be healthy, Cam Barker will be a full-time member next season, and the defense will have another year with a new coach, so I expect them to rebound sooner than later.

So what's next?: While the golf clubs will be coming out early this season, these are another one of those teams that should only be a player or two away from returning to respectability in a conference where teams are either inconsistent or just downright bad. If Richards and new GM Chuck Fletcher can start planning for the next season immediately after this one begins, the results for next year should be worlds different.