The Fergus Falls Daily Journal

A Wild streak

By Tom Grout

February 25, 2008

-The Wild have been on a loosing streak lately. They were in first place in their division by 6 points then all of a sudden they are in third place. The division has been close all season so the fact that the teams are close is no surprise. It's just that the Wild a few games ago were finally able to get that 6 point lead which no team in the division was able to do.

        It's hard to say what is going wrong and what they need to do to get things turned around again. I know a couple of games, Vancouver and Chicago, I thought the Wild were getting beat physically. Todd Fedoruk and Aaron Voros tried to be a little rough an tough but it didn't help. Chicago especially pushed the Wild players all over the rink. The NHL has done all they can with rule changes to take away the physical play but with Anihiem pushing and shoving their way to a Stanley Cup last year, the good teams have gone physical too. 

       I can't help but think the Wild is missing Derek Boogaard who is out with a back injury. The Boogy man is just as big a force on the ice as his 6'7” stature looks on skates. I know that Edmonton is scared to death of him, including their coach, so he is a factor just by being in the lineup with them. Vancouver is a big rivalry of the Wild and the games between them get rough and without some protection our skilled players are getting pushed around. I have mentioned before that my son works at Parade Ice Gardens where the Wild practice and he has gotten to know Boogie a little bit. He told my son that he is about 2 ½ weeks away from being able to play which is unfortunate. I worry that the Wild will let Boogie go at the end of the season because of his injuries this year. I think that would be a mistake unless the injury is a career threatening one. 

       Boogaard had said he came back too fast the first go round with the back injury. I just hope he is able to come back. He is the best enforcer in the league because he not only has the reputation as one of the best fighters in the league, he is smart too and has always been able to draw penalties which  puts the team in the power play. I really miss the guy and I think the team does too.

      The trade deadline is Tuesday and the Wild may make a deal before it's over. I was really hoping that they could sign Peter Forsberg but I see that Colorado just signed him. The Wild could really use a center and the name of Olli Jokinen from Florida has come up. Jokinen is famous now for being the guy whose skate came up and cut teammate Ricard Zednik's throat. Jokinen, though, is good player and has 30 goals and 30 assists and he would fit in well with the Wild.

      The Wild's new owner, Mr. Leopoldt, has a reputation of going out and getting the people necessary to help the team but he needs to be careful. It may be they will have to trade draft choices or young players to get him. That my hurt the team next year depending on what Mr. Leopoldt wants to do with the numorus free agents they have. It was encouraging that they signed Nick Shultz. 

      It will be interesting to see what they do because I think they have a good chance to advance in the playoffs. When the Wild get hot they are almost unbeatable. This is the best chance we have of a pro team in Minnesota do do anything this year.