Too little, too late?

Teemu Selanne, after taking 53 games off to "ponder retirement," has decided to return to the Anaheim Ducks to play the remaining 29 games in the regular season. But should he be allowed back this season after such a long break? Of course, all Ducks fans will say yes, and I would expect nothing less. Selanne, who is 37 years of age, recorded 48 goals and 46 assists last year while on the Stanley Cup winning Ducks. The fact that I hail from Minnesota and have had a chronic feeling of hatred for the Ducks since last years playoffs has no bearing on the stance I am taking here. I griped about the fact that Wes Walz took an enormous amount of time off from the Wild barely into the season to figure out that he wanted to retire, and if players are going to take forever to figure out if they want to return or not, they should have it figured out before the season starts (of course if some sort of emergency comes up with a player, that's a different story). The Ducks have now had two guys, Selanne and defensemen Scott Neidermayer, that have taken a ton of time off to think about whether they wanted to retire or not. Selanne says that he was on the brink of retiring until he got back to going to games and being with the team.

"If Brian Burke had told me he needed a deadline in training camp or November, I wouldn't be here today," Selanne says.

That deadline that Teemu speaks of is exactly what needs to be implemented to prevent guys from coming in halfway through the season. I know there is already some sort of date that is set for players to return, but that date needs to be moved way up for it to have any effect. Allowing Selanne to join the team now robs a player who has been working hard all season to either get sent down, waived, or traded, all because a veteran decided 53 games into the season he can't step away from the game. I understand how hard it is for these older guys to have to even think about retiring, but seriously, these guys are grown men and they ultimately know what they want to do. Even teams that make it to the Stanley Cup have a couple months to ponder what they want to do regarding playing. Why was it so hard for Selanne and Neidermayer to figure that out in the offseason? The fact that Selanne is deciding to rejoin the team now just looks like he is taking the easy way out. I can just imagine him thinking "Wow, I'm not even playing half of the season yet I can rejoin the team, make millions, and have a shot at another Cup." I believe that if a guy wants to win the Stanley Cup, he should have to go through training camp like the rest of the players on the team and not take the easy way out just because he can. Yes, Selanne's wife just had a baby seven weeks ago, and yes I understand that changes his entire life, but what needs to happen then is for him to sit out the entire season and then think about coming back next year. Now I've never been a big fan of Commissioner Gary Bettman, and I know he won't think anything of this whole situation, but the fact of the matter is there needs to be an earlier deadline set for players to return to action. I would say they have up until the first game of the season to sign a contract. If you haven't signed a contract with a team by the drop of the first puck, then you should have to miss out on the season. Both Selanne and Neidermayer need to show some respect to their organization. I know that GM Brian Burke welcomed both of them back with open arms, but somewhere in the crazy mind of his he's got to be thinking that it's a hell of an inconvienence for these guys to show up when they did. It will be interesting to see if Selanne's return to the Ducks, who are currently in 5th place in the conference, will be positive or negative. I'm sure players and teammates are glad to see him back. Who wouldn't want a 40 goal scorer to rejoin their team? But I also have to believe there are those few players on the team that resent the fact that Selanne was given all that time and now he gets a free pass based on his resume.

It's Wild on top of the Western Conference

It seems like just yesterday that the Minnesota Wild were playing mediocre hockey, not being able to complete a pass or score a goal. They bottomed out in San Jose, where they fell behind quickly and couldn't catch up. It was frustrating as a fan watching the Wild struggle so mightily when I knew they were capable of so much more. After that dismal showing in San Jose, the Wild had a few days to collect themselves before heading to Anaheim to face the Ducks. The Wild were desperate to get something going, and by the way they played that night, they were ready for it. The Wild swiftly broke out of their scoring slump and dropped 5 goals en route to a 5-2 win. With a new bounce in their step, the Wild finished their swing through California with a game in Los Angeles. Although the Wild couldn't stay hot with the goal scoring in LA, Josh Harding played stellar in goal to lead the Wild to a 2-1 win over the Kings. The Wild were cautious not to get ahead of themselves while on this short two game win streak, but they knew that they had to keep the confidence they had to be able to continue playing well.

The Wild headed home to take on the Nashville Predators on December 18th, three days after their close game in Los Angeles. The Wild, still in a bit of a scoring slump, knew that they needed to score early and often against Nashville to have a chance of winning. Unfortunately, it was the Preds that got going much sooner than the Wild had hoped. Jason Arnott scored for Nashville at the 8:50 mark of the first period to set the tone for the first 2 periods. The rest of the first period came and went quietly, but the Wild didn't play their best, putting them at risk for a defeat. The second period was a little better, yet the Predators again got on the scoreboard with the Wild missing out. The Wild went into the locker room a little disappointed; they had played a good two periods, yet Nashville was being rewarded with tip-in goals. After the way the first 40 minutes of the game went, it was fairly apparent the Wild were ready to break out, and break out they did: three goals in the third, the last one coming with just over a minute left, to propel the Wild to their 3rd win in a row.

Now riding high with a legitimate winning streak, the Wild faced the New York Rangers on Thursday night. The Rangers, although not particularly hot their last ten games (4-5-1), are always a team that can light the lamp on you. Luckily, the Wild had other ideas for this night. The Rangers got on the board first when Michal Rozsival found the back of the net just over 9 minutes into the game. Just 3 minutes after that goal, the Wild responded with one of their own. Gaborik scored the first of his FIVE (yes 5) goals on the night, beating Henrik Lundqvist with a wicked snap-shot after a beautiful pass from Pavol Demitra. Soon after Martin Skoula took an ugly tumble in the Wild zone (and by ugly I mean he looked like a first-time skater), Nigel Dawes scored for the Rangers to get them within striking distance. The Wild were quick to extinguish any hope for a New York comeback when Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored 3 minutes after to put the Wild again up by 2. The Wild finished the game with two more Gaborik goals to win the game 6-3. Although the Wild were again back on the winning track after a 4 game winning streak, that was put on the back-burner for a while. Thursday night belonged to Marian Gaborik and his historical 5 goals.

Gaborik's night was the first time in over 11 years that any NHL player had recorded 5 goals in a game, and the first time anybody had done it in Wild franchise history. Gaborik also assisted on Bouchard's goal, giving him 6 points on the night and making him the toast of Minnesota. So impressed were his teammates with his effort that two of them carried him off of the ice. Gaborik was definitely on all night; he was zipping up and down the ice like there was nothing to it and scoring so effortlessly that he could have easily recorded 6 or 7 goals on the night. After being stuck in a slump for a good six weeks, it was great to have a four game win-streak going and to have such an exciting game during the streak. Now the Wild are not-so-securely in second place in the conference, yet still in control of the standings. The Red Wings have a fairly comfortable lead in the West, but one decent slide by them can open up the door for the Wild to sneak into the number one slot in the conference. Tomorrow will be a good start on their quest to catch Detroit, since they face the Wings at the X. The Wings are obviously the superior team in the West, they have too much fire-power to go along with stellar defense and goal tending, but if the Wild can shut down their top line of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, they have a very good chance of winning the game.


Yet another big game coming up for the Vikings on Sunday as they take on the Washington Redskins at the Dome. With a Vikings win and a Saints loss, the Vikings guarantee themselves a playoff birth. It's been an interesting season for Minnesota fans, to say the least. When the Vikings stumbled out of the gate to a 2-5 start, the whole Vikings contingent of fans was hoping for a good draft pick for next year. Now that the team is 8-6 and looking very promising, it's once again exciting to watch this team. Adrian Peterson is still lighting up the field at will, and Tavaris Jackson has looked great the last 5 games or so. Now that they have something to play for, I find myself getting very into the games again. With the way they are playing recently, I can honestly say I believe that the Vikings could give the Cowboys or Packers a run for their money in the playoffs.