wild/nhl

God, I love the way this woman writes. Every time I read her, I become more convinced that she's the only sane sports journalist left in this city. Thank you, darlin'!

You actually get paid for this Rachel ? There's plenty talent on this team, it just has to be utilized correctly. Only one player in the entire league broke 100 points, scoring is down but you have to shoot on goal to score and the system they were playing didn't accomplish that. Richards made the common mistake of coaches in all sports, believing the system is one size fits all rather then adjsting to the players abilities.

Really?? WOW, just WOW. The Wild needs an new infusion of talent, just brilliant. Does this reporter actually get paid to have this statement put onto newsprint? How about some NAMES of future prospects or draft picks? Zero. This team will be as bad as the puppydogs within a few years, the joke of the league. Man, that Naegle sure got his money's worth, at the taxpayer's expense, of course.

Apparently you get paid to write this stuff, pretty amazing! Richards lost the respect of the team, and never utilized what he had. "Sensitive ego" Havlat wanted more ice time, something Richards had to be told by his player. You forgot to mention the sensitive ego of his Captain, who apparently didn't want to play with anyone but his pal Miettenen, and RIchards caved. The coach pilots the ship, and he ran it way off course.

Apparently some of the posters must have had their Wild pajamas pulled over their eyes like a Clayton Stoner sweater when they see all this talent on this team, I noticed they didn't mention who, the injured Lats,or Zid, or maybe the concussed Butch who only played a half season, should I go on maybe Cullen 12 goals -14 or Burns who passes the puck in front of his own net, they teach you not to do that when your 10. Wake up the Wild are nothing more than an ink spot in the standings, everybody in the NHL says nice things about them but they are a non entity to most organizations in the league, just 2 more points for their club. The Wild's 1st line would be a 2nd on most teams with mittens being a healthy scratch most nights so don't talk about so much talent on this team, put your "State of Hockey" pennant down and see how things really are. P.S. The Wilds prospects are rated 26th in the league, so they are loaded in Houston with talent too.

Since you guys are such great minds and writers, why don't you suggest some names and what to do with the Wild?! Wait, I didn't read one damn thing any of that. Only complaining!

You can't write an article on needing more talent when you can't even get the most out of the talent you have Rachel. Remember what your parents said when you wanted a new toy ? You got a closet full of toys you have not played with yet...... This is not all on Mister Richards as he is the typical fall fall guy, keep Mister Richards somewhere in the organization for his money..... The stats of all the players with exception of Brodziak are all underachieving in comparison to players past stats....... Lemaire never had this much in his years in Minnesota

mkia" Lemaire never had this much in his years in Minnesota" WHAT c"mon he did so he had Gabby,Rolston,demitra,Burns,your great Kimmy J,Foster most of which the great DR all let go for nothing.

"Richards bears some blame, but much of the responsibility for the Wild's sorry performance lies with a roster that simply doesn't have enough talent, particularly for the up-tempo style he tried to institute." ----- Clearly, the author has no coaching experience: If your roster doesn't have the talent for a particular style, then you DON'T use that style. Plain and simple...square peg in a round hole.

The question is, Where is the talent going to come from? The only resource we currently have is probably Burns. And we probably won't be able to trade him for an elite scorer; most likely we get some good future assets, like picks and prospects from a Cup contender. The free agent market is paltry this summer, and we go 10th in the draft. It's too bad we didn't see the post-trade deadline slump coming before the trade deadline. CF could have shopped all our UFA's. Ottawa did that and has 5 picks in the first two rounds this summer, Minnesota, currently only 1 pick. I bet we'll see Fletch sell what he can on draft day in St. Paul.