It's been a tough couple of days for the Minnesota Wild and its fans alike, and it's not going to get any better as the summer wears on. After a season filled with so much expectation and promises, it was over just like that after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. So many questions remain, and the one that everybody is asking is: Who's the blame for the Wild's failure? I'm going to spread the blame out through the team, from the players to the front office, but I will admit that some are more to blame than others.
1) Jacques Lemaire: Jacques has more Stanley Cup rings in his possession than fingers on his hands, but that hasn't translated into championships here in Minnesota. It's hard to fault a guy that has shown he knows how to win, but he deserves some of the blame. The Wild make one trade at the deadline, Chris Simon, and that was originally to build up our toughness come playoff time. It turns out we didn't need the toughness against the Avalanche, therefore Lemaire decided to sit Simon. Big mistake in my opinion. Watching Simon play these last couple months of the season led me to breathe a sigh of relief; we finally had a guy that went to the front of the net and stayed there in the offensive zone (Todd Fedoruk does that too, but I'm not focusing on him right now). Simon has played in a total of three Stanley Cups, and he has a Cup to his credit, yet Lemaire decides to sit him in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I agree he may not score as often as he used to, or that we don't really need the tough side of him, but he does what no one else on the Wild does, and that is be physical while also doing your job. How are most goals scored in the NHL? By a player setting a screen and having another play take advantage of that. Chris Simon was the one who set up the screen whenever he got a chance, but Lemaire decides to sit him. And we wonder why the Wild struggled to score this series. Lemaire switched up lines so much and sat guys that could have helped the team that he definitely has to be blamed a little bit.
2) Marian Gaborik: Just to appease most Wild fans, I would have to say that Gabby should be blamed for some of the failure, but I'm in the minority when I say he doesn't deserve too much blame. Gabby is a pure scorer and has proven that in the regular season as well as the Wilds previous playoff appearances. It sucks that Gabby didn't show up in the series against the Avalanche, but is it totally his fault? Gabby played with 4 different centers this year and scored 42 goals, yet he did the same thing in the playoffs, and scored zip. I think that with a consistent center that always played along side him, Gabby could have scored even more in the regular season and definitely gotten going in the playoffs. Either way, a team should never have to count on one player scoring to win in the playoffs.
3) Doug Risebrough: Risebrough has usually had a knack for making good decisions, but this year when it counted, he screwed up big time. Just a month into the season, the Wild lost one of their most reliable centers in Wes Walz. That opened up a huge hole at the center position that was never closed, even as the trade deadline approached. There were rumblings that the Wild might go after a center like Bobby Holik out of Atlanta, and that would have been a fantastic idea. The Wild were a good team most of the season, but acquiring a quality center to play with Gabby and win faceoffs in the offensive zone would have made them a great team. So when we need a center, what does Risebrough go out and get? A forward in Chris Simon (this is not a knock on Simon, I like him and want him to stay with the team). As soon as the trade deadline passed, I immediately questioned Risebroughs commitment to winning. We could have used another solid defensemen as well, but we got nothing. All this while our first-round opponent is out getting Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote, and Ruslan Salei. This made the difference in the series and I believe that most of the blame lies right here on Risebrough.
4) The Team: Usually I don't like to blame anybody other than the players, but this time I think it is split. I always believe most of the blame belongs to the team, since they're the ones playing the game, but again, I split the blame. The Wild actually played a pretty good series, but the better team won. Part of the reason the Wild lost was the defense: not because they were bad, but because they were tired. Once we lost Kurtis Foster to a broken leg, our defense was tremendously weaker. Then just a week before the playoffs start, Nick Schultz, arguably our most consistent defensemen, goes down with an appendectomy that sidelined him until game 6. That left guys like Brent Burns, Kim Johnsson, and Martin Skoula to play upwards of 30 minutes a game with back-to-back games thrown into the series. All that together is a recipe for disaster.
The Wild will undergo a major makeover this offseason, so who knows if they will make it back into the postseason next year. Hopefully with Craig Leipold now taking over as owner of the team, the Wild will be spending some money to bring in some major talent to compliment the talent they already have. Re-signing Gabby would be a good place to start, and then they should go after either Marian Hossa or Brian Campbell. A high-profile player that has proven himself will be the key to bring in, and if it doesn't get done, it will be a disappointment. Now that the Wild season is over, it is time to shift gears to the Twins and the Vikings.
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