30 teams in 30 days: Minnesota Wild
Finished: 9th western conference
Leading scorers: Mikko Koivu 67, Andrew Brunette 50, Pierre-Marc Bouchard 46, Owen Nolan 45
Who did they add?: Martin Havlat, Shane Hnidy, Greg Zanon, Kyle Brodziak
Who did they lose?: Marian Gaborik, Stephane Veilleux, Kurtis Foster
Overview: The Wild’s season is indicative of the talent they have on their roster. A lot, but not enough. The Wild finished with 89 points last season, 3 out of a playoff spot, all this with a mix of mediocre young and old players. Their forwards are led by Mikko Koivu, who will be looking for some scoring support in the form of newly added Martin Havlat, who is coming off his first injury free season in his career, in which he tallied 77 points. Koivu finished with 17 more points than the Wild’s second leading scorer, and will need more support out of Havlat, PM Bouchard and Andrew Brunette for the Wild to be successful. They also don’t have Marian Gaborik anymore, which takes a huge bite out of the Wild’s offensive setup. The defense is led by Brent Burns, who had a stellar season last year, and should be on the top pairing alongside Marek Zidlicky. Adding depth to the group are Greg Zanon, Shane Hnidy, Kim Jonsson and Nick Schultz. A solid group of D, yet they are lacking some offensive punch. The goaltending remains the same with one of the league’s best Niklas Backstrom at the helm, backed up by Josh Harding and Wade Dubielewicz. The Wild have a solid, playoff calibre group, who just need to produce to make it in. They can contend for a division title in the very competitive northeast division, but if they don’t produce, look for them to finish 9th or 10th.
Winners or losers?: The Wild are losers this offseason. Yes, they are a playoff calibre team, but they need more scoring, and didn’t really add that. They lost Marian Gaborik, who is flashy but injury prone, and replaced him with Havlat, who is basically the same, just not as good at scoring.
