Fans wonder as the Wild returns

-- L. Maurice Draine

Minnesota Wild hockey is back, apparently, but is there anyone left on the roster that’s worth seeing? Are they going to have a rock-solid defensive group this year? Will the young guys pan out? Where are all our big-name players on this team? Will the average fan come back? I don’t have the answer to these questions. Only time will tell. But I do know that October is right around the corner and we all will see first hand.

Is it just me, or does the Wild resemble the Twins a little bit? Look, I don’t try to claim that I know a whole lot about hockey, like I do baseball, football, and basketball, because I don’t. But it just seems that the Wild is a whole lot like the Twins when it comes to signing big-name players and spending money in general.

They both consistently stay way under the salary cap each year; the Wild right now is $18 million under, and the Twins’ entire payroll is only about $50 million. Both owners are extremely cheap, pocket huge profits every year and laugh all the way to the bank. When they need players, they both call them up from their minor league teams; these two are almost spitting images of each other.

On another note, this past draft, they picked up a couple of young, promising rookies, Patrick O’Sullivan and Beniot Pouliot. Hopefully they both make the team and contribute in the next few years. Fans are already high on O’Sullivan; some are saying that he has the potential to be an all-star in the league someday. They also picked up some free agents. The Wild picked up Mikku Saku, who is a career minor-leaguer, but he still may be a good addition toward season’s end if he can stay healthy. And they also picked up Brian Rolston, and Todd White from Ottawa.

One huge blow to the Wild that will definitely be felt immediately, is the departure of Andrew Burnett to the Colorado Avalanche—one of The Wilds’ leading scorers every year he was here.

Another big question is how good their group of defensemen will be? It seems like their defense may have a little trouble getting the puck up the ice to the forwards, being that they’re undersized and may receive more punishment than they dish out. Let’s just hope that Brent Burns can play some defense. Willie Mitchell should be sold; Andrei Zyuzin generally won’t hurt you; and Nick Schultz is still a young guy. Fans on Minnesota Wild message boards everywhere are saying that their defense will be the number one and number two worst defense in the league this season.

I’m with the small number of fans who are not ready to go that far yet. I really think that they’ll be fine this year. Don’t forget their offense is pretty good and still have good forwards that play very well together: Marian Gabork, Pascal Dupuis, and Wes Walz. We also still have our two stud goalies: Manny Fernandez and Dwayne Roloson.

Wild fans, don’t worry about the attendance right now—don’t hit the panic switch just yet. The die-hard fans will always come back. After The Wild rips off a couple of winning streaks, the casual fans will come back, too.

If you have comments about the sports column or sports in general, please feel free to contact Maurice at drainele@go.metrostate.edu.

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