Outlook:
The Marian Gaborik era in Minnesota is over and now the Wild will move on. Okay injury history aside, it might have been risky to sign him, but he’ll still be a big loss nonetheless.
With Gaborik off to Broadway and playing for the New York Rangers, the Wild went out and signed Martin Havlat, who was last seen with the Chicago Blackhawks. Havlat, who was instrumental to the Hawks playoff run last year, comes to a team that had Mikko Koivu, Andrew Brunette and Owen Nolan as their only 20-plus goal scorers. The addition of Havlat should help the goal-scoring department, but other players have to step up.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard has stepped up in the offensive department for the past few years, and has posted one 20-goal season in his career. If the native of Sherbrooke, Quebec can post anywhere between 20 and 30 goals this year, then the Wild could make some noise, with that extra goal scorer. Antti Miettinen could be on the verge for a career year, while Eric Belanger should also chip in on offense.
While the offense still has question marks in Minnesota, the Wild’s defense is still very strong.
In his first season in Minnesota, Marek Zidlicki showed that he’s still a threat on the power play as he tied his career high in power play goals with 10. The former Nashville Predator had 12 goals last year for the Wild.
Brent Burns returns to the Wild blueline along with Kim Johnsson and Nick Schultz. Two notable additions during the offseason were Greg Zanon from Nashville and Shane Hnidy from the Boston Bruins.
Elite goaltender and Niklas Backstrom is back for 2009-10, while Josh Harding, should get some time in as the No. 2 goaltender.
This year will be a season of change for the Wild. Gaborik is gone and so is General Manager Doug Risebrough, who was the first GM in Wild history, and head coach Jacques Lemaire.
With new GM Chuck Fletcher and new head coach Chuck Fletcher with the team, this year will be a work in progress. But with that said, they are still one of many playoff contenders in the Western Conference.
Prediction: Fourth in Northwest, 13th in West
Projected Lines:
Andrew Brunette – Mikko Koivu – Martin Havlat
Owen Nolan – Pierre-Marc Bouchard – Antti Miettinen
Benoit Poullot – James Sheppard – Eric Belanger
Robbie Earl – Colton Gillies – Kyle Brodziak
Kim Johnsson – Brent Burns
Marek Zidlicky – Nick Schultz
Shane Hnidy – Greg Zanon
Niklas Backstrom
Josh Harding
